Chapter 25- the evacuation continues, panic for the stargazing group
In the blue-and-gold tribe's home patch, most of the blue-and-gold macaws had gone to bed for an uneasy night for the heat still lingered in the air. Soleado was outside his family's hollow, looking at the night sky. He could not believe how hot it had been in the past few days and it had been affecting the activity of his tribe and the other animals, but in droughts like this, it was to be expected. However, the incident involving the Jandayan parakeet at the clutches of those three flying foxes just outside the blue-and-gold tribe's boundary had inflicted a dent on the tribe's peace, especially Soleado and Zoie. The parakeet had died from his injuries and Soleado had sent patrol groups to find the parakeet's family and also to check the border for any more suspicious bat activities. To his gladness, there had been none for the rest of the day but after what happened to the parakeet still troubled Soleado. The family of the parakeet, the now-widowed female Jandayan parrot and three chicks who lived on Soleado's tribe's territory as non-tribe residents, had been escorted by a patrol group from their home to Fedor, Falkor and Ámbar in the Navyfeathers' territory to be looked after. After the news of the mate and father's demise reached them, they had been devastated. As the events of today went through Soleado's mind, a voice of an adolescent macaw penetrated through his daydreaming, making him jump.
"Dad, are you alright?" asked the macaw, his head peering out of the hollow. Soleado looked at him, a troubled look marking his face.
"You've had that concerned look since the parakeet incident," said the young macaw, "Is everything alright?"
He then glanced back into the hollow to check on a clutch of three eggs in the hollow. Soleado and Zoie had three eggs and they were due to hatch soon and it was their second brood. They already had one son, this macaw named Tobias, who was now an adolescent and he was a singleton, or the only chick of his brood. He was helping his parents to incubate his soon-to-hatch siblings. Soleado sighed and walked over to his soon-to-be eldest son and chick.
"I've been concerned about those bats and what happened to that parakeet, son," he said in a small voice, "I hope those flying furballs aren't planning on launching attacks on our territory's none-tribe resident birds, or the non-tribe and clan birds on the territories of the other macaw tribes and clans. If they are, those bats are going to be in serious trouble."
Tobias looked back at him and tried to assure him. "I'm pretty sure this is just a one-off. The patrollers have reported no other flying fox activity at our border and the un-owned zone throughout today since that incident, haven't they?"
Soleado sighed. Although that was true and there had been no flying fox activity other than the attack on the Jandayan parakeet, his troubled feelings did not subside. Not too far away, Orquidea was standing outside her and Porthos's hollow as well, having tucked her other son, Wilbur to bed. She was concerned about Porthos and Azul out with the stargazing group and had the option to join but had been too tired. Orquidea had planned to take her family out on her own stargazing trip some time but it had just been too hot, and the nights didn't seem to feel any cooler.
As Orquidea gazed into the black canvas awash with a massive sea of glitter, she was amazed. She had always loved nights like this, night skies without the glare of the moon or the screening of clouds in the way, and sometimes had romantic nights out with Porthos gazing at the night sky before the two started their family back in Rio. But despite those peaceful memories, like some of the other blue-and-gold macaws, Orquidea had been troubled by the incident with the Jandayan parakeet at the clutches of the three flying foxes. Any hearings of those bats and their colony always terrified Orquidea, even though she had not met any of them face to face. However, as a youngster after she was torn from the blue-and-gold macaw tribe during the fire all those years ago, she had seen a group of them brutally slaughter a family of orange-winged amazons and had been terrified by their size. Those flying foxes, fully grown, were about half-way between the heights of a blue-and-gold or Spix macaw and a hyacinth macaw with massive wingspans reaching as wide as one-and-a-half metres, larger than the average wingspan of a blue-and-gold. As Orquidea thought about the flying foxes, one macaw who had actually faced those monstrous winged beasts up close came to mind: Lapis Lazuli. She could not imagine what that poor glaucous macaw had been through during her escape from those bats during their siege on the glaucous macaws. 'It must have been a living nightmare for her,' she thought, 'facing such monstrous bats more than twice her size…'
As Orquidea thought about these things, a male voice sounded nearby.
"Orquidea, are you alright?" it said. Orquidea turned and saw one of her childhood friends and the blue-and-gold Pit of Doom's team captain, Ignacio, approach her and perch beside her, his face creased with concern.
"You look a bit troubled," said Ignacio. Orquidea, at this, shook her head.
"Oh, I'm fine, Ignacio, thanks," she said, "Just troubled by what happened today, especially with that parakeet."
Ignacio sighed. "I know. It's been quite a shock."
Orquidea nodded in agreement.
"So how are things now between you and your mate Sandra?" she asked.
"Oh, we've made up," said Ignacio, "Yeah; we've had a bit of a falling out today because I was seriously tired from the heat but we've apologised to each other and to our daughter Preciosa. It's been so hot today and the past few days."
And with that, Ignacio fanned his face with a wing while Orquidea sighed. Suddenly, she saw some macaw shapes enter the blue-and-gold macaws' home patch. At first, she thought they were from her own tribe but when she saw that they were of a different set of colours (green with blue and red markings) based on the flashes of colour under the starlight, she realised that they were from Alonso's tribe.
"Some of Alonso's tribe members, what are they doing here?" asked Orquidea curiously. Ignacio squinted and saw that the green macaws, six of them, were in a panicked and frightened state based on how they flew.
"They look extremely frightened," he said in shock, "I wonder why."
Orquidea observed the macaws closely as they made a beeline for Soleado and his family's tree and saw that Ignacio was right. The six green macaws were flapping like mad and looked as though they had seen a frightening monster. An angry suspicion entered Orquidea's head.
"Don't tell me those macaws have seen any suspicious flying fox activity, have they?" she growled to Ignacio, who replied with a shrug of his shoulders. Then the two macaws watched the six green macaws talk with Soleado. Their voices can be heard but the words were blurred together, so Ignacio and Orquidea could not understand what they were saying. Behind the two macaws, a small head out of the hollow. Wilbur had come to watch his mother and her friend. He could not go to sleep due to the heat and had wanted his mother but when he saw that the two adults were focussing on something, he followed their gaze. It was then that Soleado's voice exploded with, "WHAT!?"
Ignacio and Orquidea almost jumped off the branch when they heard that word fly out of Soleado's beak. At first, the two thought that Orquidea's suspicions were true but what came next proved that the reason why the green macaws came was something else entirely.
"Thanks for the warning, you six. We'll evacuate our tribe to our cavern right away. You make your way back to Alonso's tribe before the fire hits. Now MOVE IT!" screeched Soleado's voice. The six green macaws obeyed and left while Soleado turned and called Zoie. Dread hit Orquidea and Ignacio and they immediately took action.
"Orquidea, you get your son to our cavern while I get Sandra and Preciosa!" yelled Ignacio as he lofted into flight. Orquidea was about to do so when suddenly, a thought hit her. Two of her family members, her mate and other son, were out stargazing.
"Ignacio!" screeched Orquidea, making Ignacio stop into a hover. Orquidea then rushed towards the hollow but when she saw Wilbur already awake, she ushered him out straight away.
"Take Wilbur with you," Orquidea yelled, sending her younger son into flight after Ignacio, "I've gotta find Porthos and Azul and the others with them and warn the RIGHT AWAY!"
Ignacio rushed back and wrapped his talons around Wilbur. As he did that, the little chick screamed after his mother but she assured him.
"You go with Ignacio and stay with him and his family until I get back," ordered Orquidea, "Your father and brother are still with the stargazing group. I've gotta find them right now before the fire gets here!"
Then without hesitation, the panicked blue-and-gold macaw flew off.
"Be careful, Orquidea," yelled Ignacio while Wilbur in his talons shouted for their mother. Then Ignacio turned to him.
"Hold on tight, Wilbur," commanded he and with that, he shot off in the direction of his tree where Sandra and Preciosa were, taking Wilbur with him.
Moments later, the home patch air was filled with blue and yellow comets as blue-and-gold macaws began to evacuate for the cavern, just like how the green macaws did earlier. Chicks, eggs and macaws with wing injuries were carried toward the cavern while Soleado was flying around, barking orders for all macaws to evacuate. He had sent a few patrollers to search for Zoie and the stargazing group to warn them, and those macaws had flown away to look for them. Tobias, meanwhile, had taken his parents' three unhatched eggs toward the cavern in a special basket woven out of tough sticks as commanded by his father. The blue-and-gold macaw tribe's evacuation spot was a large mouth in the ground outside the macaws' home patch that led to a large underground labyrinth that served as a fire evacuation point. It was in a clearing with no plants but a few grass and ferns so it was safe from the spread of fire. A large protrusion of rock hung over part of the mouth, forming a sort of shallow overhang. Blue and yellow birds had begun to converge towards the mouth and disappear through it. Some macaws had also raided the food stocks placed into some trees for the drought to take with them to the cavern for they knew that when the fire burns these, the tribe would be left without food. Thus the evacuation of the blue-and-gold tribe was underway.
In the Spix macaws' ravine, the Spix macaw tribe was also turning in for the night, but they too were about to hear the news of the impending disaster. In one tree, Zephyr was standing at the entrance to the tree. He had already tucked the other three chicks Charlotte, Matilda and Justin into bed and had seen Aurora and Virgil off when they left with some of the other Spix macaws with Eduardo and Mimi to go stargazing. However Zephyr had decided against going because he was too tired and wanted to get an early night. Now that tiredness has disappeared due to the night being very warm. Zephyr stood there leaning against one side if the hollow gazing out into the dark air of the ravine where a few macaws were flying around. He wore a worried expression as thoughts about Aurora bubbled in his head. He was clearly concerned for his mate, for she had only been in the jungle for a few days. Despite having adapted quickly, Aurora still had a long way to go before she was truly an expert in surviving in the jungle, and Blu was similar.
"I hope the stargazing group hasn't gone far," murmured Zephyr to himself, "I know Zoie is good at keeping groups safe but I just hope Aurora, Virgil, Blu and Bia are alright…"
Just then two cerulean forms, one with a blue-white head came by with two more blue forms with grey heads: one teal-tinted turquoise and the other a rich blue. However, these two macaws had yellow eye rings and beak lappets. Zephyr saw the quartet.
"Hey, Brisa, Jewel, Levi, Lapis Lazuli, what are you four still doing up? I thought you've all gone to bed," he said.
"Oh, it's too hot, Zephyr," said Brisa, "So we decided to get up and have a talk."
"Our chicks Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie together with D'Artagnan and Sapphire's chicks Miranda, Jasmine and Annette and Travis and Sunset's chicks Eustace, Milo and Rosa have been struggling to sleep due to the heat," said Levi.
"Roberto, Travis, Sunset, D'Artagnan and Sapphire are currently telling them a story to help them relax but it doesn't seem to be doing anything," said Lapis Lazuli, "Levi and I are just having a walk out with Brisa and Jewel here."
"Levi and Lapis are still troubled by thoughts about those glaucous macaws," said Jewel, "They have been all day."
"I've heard that your father had tried to convince those macaws of their vulnerability with living outside the sanctuary," said Zephyr, "but to no avail. It's sad really, they're such rare birds."
"Athos, Aurora and Blu came with us too," said Lapis Lazuli, "We needed backup with Eduardo to help convince Rudi my cousin, who leads the glaucous macaw tribe now, as Eduardo by himself wouldn't have been enough."
She then looked up at the night sky and sighed admirably at the sea of stars streaking the sky.
"It sure is beautiful tonight despite the heat," she cooed, "I might take our chicks out stargazing sometime…"
"Our daughter Bia is absolutely fascinated with the stars," said Jewel with an amused smile, "So is Athos and Ruby's daughter Poinsettia. It seems to be one of their favourite things besides nature, physics and maths…"
"Blu seems to be into the very same things as Bia and Poinsettia," said Zephyr, "I've seen him help Susan and Lucy, Aurora and the others' former owners deal with the measurements for the construction of Travis and Sunset's birdhouse when we were in Rio. He's a very clever brainbox, he is."
"He is indeed," said Jewel proudly, "That's one of the things I like about him."
"I wonder if Bia and Poinsettia would make a great pair of friends when they grow up," said Levi, "Since they're both into the same things."
"It's a possibility," said Jewel with hope, "They show no signs of a rivalry developing."
The others smiled at this. Suddenly, Jewel looked up and saw a small cerulean form and a small blue form loitering about near the edge of the ravine pool. She formed a frown and walked over to them.
"Oi, Carla, Tiago, what are you two still doing up and outside our home?" she asked angrily. As she left to deal with the two chicks, Brisa sighed.
"I would like to have chicks one day," she said, "But I can't seem to find the right male to be my mate…"
"Don't force things, Brisa," said Levi, "Your time will come if it ever does."
Brisa sighed. Though she had some admiration for many of the young male macaws in the tribe, Roberto included, none appeared to appeal to her. However, it did appear that she had some feelings for Roberto for she was often enamoured by his singing talent and confidence apart from his phobias of humans except the well-meaning ones, and flying foxes after what happened to his family. Then Levi moved onto something else.
"I heard Roberto had been the victim of a flying fox attack," he said, "I'm sure he wouldn't mind me asking but what happened?"
"Roberto has given me permission to explain to newcomers of his history and why he's afraid of bats," said Zephyr, but before he could launch into an explanation of how Roberto's family had died at the clutches of a group of flying foxes, the group heard Eduardo and Mimi's voices echo throughout the ravine air. The group's heads were drawn to two forms flying frantically around the ravine and shouting.
"That's Eduardo and Mimi," said Levi, "They sound really frightened."
Zephyr, Brisa and Lapis Lazuli began to listen to the tribe patriarch and his sister's cries.
"Fire, everyone!" shouted Eduardo, "There's fire on the way!"
"Everybody evacuate and get into the waterfall cave, NOW!" shouted Mimi. When the word 'fire' reached the ears of the group, the colour drained from their faces, and Zephyr, Brisa and Lapis Lazuli felt fright flare up within them like the fireworks that exploded on New Year's Eve. Not too far away, Jewel also began to shake having heard her father and aunt's warning cries as well. Fire was what tore her, Zephyr, Brisa and Tornado and Gael from the Spix macaw tribe, and what Lapis Lazuli had faced when she was young but thankfully she was not separated from her tribe like some of the other macaws of the other tribes and clans were. She was torn from her tribe by the flying foxes when they attacked her tribe to drive them out. Then Lapis Lazuli panicked.
"I'll warn Roberto and the others at his tree and help them evacuate!" she shouted and with that, she rocketed off in the direction of Roberto's tree where Travis and D'Artagnan and their families and her chicks were staying with Levi following. Then thoughts about Aurora, Virgil, Blu and Bia and the others hit Zephyr. Turning to Brisa, he said, "You take Justin, Charlotte and Matilda to the waterfall cave! I've gotta fly out there and search for the stargazing group!"
And with that, he rocketed off in the direction of the ravine entrance while Brisa, without hesitation, rushed over to her brother and Aurora's tree to call out the three chicks. Nearby, Jewel had begun to take Carla and Tiago to the waterfall cave. She was trembling violently as memories of her fiery nightmare as a young macaw- trees ablaze all around, animals trapped and screaming helplessly as the fire consumed them, and trees falling down, and no other Spix macaw in sight, came cascading down on her.
"Mom, what's wrong?" asked Carla, her Ipod on her.
"Just get behind the waterfall," commanded Jewel timidly. Then thoughts about Blu and Bia hit her through the flood of her memories of the fire. They, along with Aurora and Virgil, were still out there with the other stargazers. Panicked, she looked around and saw Brisa take Justin, Charlotte and Matilda toward the waterfall. Behind Brisa, cerulean and blue comets were emerging from the trees and making a beeline for the waterfall cave as Eduardo and Mimi continued shouting their warnings and barking orders for the tribe to evacuate.
"Brisa," called Jewel, "Brisa!"
Brisa, at the call of her name, stopped and turned to the caller.
"You take Carla and Tiago with you and look after them," shouted Jewel, "I've gotta…"
And with that, she rocketed off in the direction of the ravine entrance.
"Jewel, where are you going?" called Brisa, "Jewel, JEWEL!"
But Jewel was already out of earshot. Brisa, seeing no other choice and seeing Carla and Tiago fly after their mother, calling for her, immediately flew in front of the two chicks and stopped them.
"Get to the waterfall cave, NOW!" commanded she firmly. Carla and Tiago reluctantly obeyed and followed Brisa toward the waterfall, with Justin, Charlotte and Matilda alongside them. As she took the five chicks around the edge of the waterfall and into the cave which had begun to fill up with cerulean birds, she was met by a blue form with a blue-white head.
"Brisa," demanded Tornado urgently as Gael helped the macaws to carry eggs and chicks to the moss prebuilt in the event of an evacuation, "Where is your brother?"
"He's gone to look for the stargazing group," said Brisa, "So has Jewel by the sound of it. Blu, Aurora, Bia and Virgil are still out there with the stargazing group."
When Tornado heard these words, horror exploded within him. Without hesitation, he shouted, "Stay here with your mother and help her with the macaws with the eggs and chicks. I'm gonna go out there and look for my son, Jewel and the stargazing group! If she asks where I've gone, tell her that, okay!?"
And with that, Tornado shot off out of the waterfall cave in a blue and blue-white blur.
Moments later, a colourful group turned up. Travis and Sunset took their chicks Eustace, Milo and Rosa toward a bed of moss and lay them down in it while Levi and Lapis Lazuli placed their four chicks Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie into another bed of moss. Sapphire and D'Artagnan also led Miranda, Jasmine and Annette to another bed of moss. The chicks were clearly frightened and though they had never experienced a forest fire, they knew how frightening they were based on the stories Jewel, Brisa, Zephyr and the others had told them. Then Roberto appeared.
"Brisa, where are your brother and Ju-Ju?" he asked. Brisa shot him a horrified look. Then Roberto saw Justin, Charlotte and Matilda, Carla and Tiago as they settled down into a large bed of moss.
"They've gone out looking for the stargazing group," replied Brisa, "But these chicks need to be looked after."
When Roberto heard this, horror exploded within him. When Jewel had been reported missing and presumed dead in the previous fire, Roberto's heart had been torn in two. But seeing that the five chicks needed an adult, Roberto said, "We'll have to get Eduardo to send out some patrollers to look for the stargazing group and collect them before the fire reaches them!"
And with that, he flew off to find Eduardo while Brisa stayed with Justin and his siblings and Carla and Tiago. She wore a horrified and worried expression. Her sister-in-law and one of her nephews, alongside Jewel's mate and one of her daughters were out there with some of the others. She hoped that they would be found before the fire reached them.
The fire continued raging and tearing through the trees. It was by now deep in the Sanctuary de Amazon and continued to quickly spread; eating away at the desiccated plants and trees and setting them alight. In the Lear's and green tribes' territories, trees were up in flames. The green tribe with a few glaucous macaws with them, watched in utter horror as the trees the green macaws called home were consumed by the flames. The Lear's macaw tribe that had taken refuge in their underground cave could see the orange glow of the fire as it consumed their home through holes in the cave ceiling. They trembled violently as they watched the awful sight. Outside in the Lear's macaws' ravine, there was an inferno. All the trees were alight in the ravine and around it, and the insides of the holes along the cliff faces, called home by most of the Lear's macaws, were searing and choked by the smoke from the flames. Any macaw that stayed in them would suffocate or be burned alive by the searing heat which was why they had to evacuate their homes. Outside the Lear's macaws' homes, the fire continued raging and consuming more trees. Animals fled ahead, among them dozens and dozens and dozens of glaucous macaws as they desperately searched for spots of refuge to escape the flames. Burning trees tumbled down and made terrifying crashing sounds while fiery branches rained down like volcanic rocks from the above canopy. The fire was indeed spreading very quickly through the territories of the green and Lear's macaw tribes and will soon spread to the trees of the other macaw flocks' territories.
Back in the Spix macaws' ravine, the waterfall cave continued filling up with more and more blue and cerulean birds. Eduardo and Mimi continued watching the macaws as they evacuated to this massive cavern. Then a dreadful thought hit Eduardo.
"The stargazing group, Mimi," he shouted; "I FORGOT THE STARGAZING GROUP!"
Mimi reacted in horror just as Roberto flew in.
"Eduardo," he called, "Jewel and Zephyr have gone out to look for the stargazing group."
This made an even bigger shockwave of horror tear through Eduardo. Jewel was his only daughter whom he had lost in the fire and had been fortunate to have survived it but she had been separated from her tribe for well over fifteen years. He did not want to lose her to that same disaster again. Flooded with dread, Eduardo spread his wings and took off.
"Mimi, you and Roberto continue to help with the evacuation while I look for my daughter, Zephyr and the stargazing group," he ordered. Mimi nodded and continued helping the macaws to evacuate.
"I hope you make it back with Ju-Ju and the others," yelled Roberto but Eduardo was already out of earshot. Seeing no point in calling after him, Roberto resumed the job and helped a family of macaws carry their chicks too young to fly over to a bed of moss.
Meanwhile
The stargazing group led by Zoie continued to observe the stars. Blu had brought his binoculars along in his fanny pack so that the macaws could look through the magnifying lenses at the distant dots of light. Each macaw took it in turns looking through the human-made lenses and the one handling them was Athos for he was one of the macaws who knew how to handle human things well based on his experience with them when he lived as a pet. He allowed both chicks and adults to look through them at the stars. While he did this, Blu explained to the group about the stars. He had been reading about the night sky a lot when he lived with Linda and thus knew quite a bit about the stars and constellations, and had been selected by Zoie to be the group's star guide.
"That three star row is Orion's Belt," said Blu, pointing a talon to a trio of stars that appeared to be aligned in a row. All eyes followed his point and saw them.
"And the fuzzy protrusion below those stars is Orion's Sword," said Blu, "In which the Orion Nebula can be found…"
Bia looked at the nebula through the binoculars held by Athos and saw a fuzzy smudge.
"Wow, it's awesome," she said, "I wanna be a nature teacher like Dad when he grows up."
"Let me see, Bia," said Virgil. Bia moved aside so that Virgil could look through them. He breathed a sigh of amazement when he saw the Orion Nebula. Athos looked at Bia and smiled at her desire to follow Blu's footsteps.
"Well, when we get the chance to go to Manaus or Rio in future," he said, "I'll help you look for some books on astronomy, nature and maths if you would like."
Bia smiled as Poinsettia fluttered in.
"I wouldn't mind sharing mine with Bia, Dad," he said. Athos smiled.
"We'll see about that when we get to it," he said, "But for now, let's focus on the star tour. Blu has something else interesting to say…"
And with that, Bia, Poinsettia and Virgil turned to Bia's dad as he began to explain the stars in the constellation Orion.
"That red-orange star on the top left of the pattern is called Betelgeuse," said Blu, pointing to the reddish star in its said location, "It's a red supergiant star nearing the end of its life according to human astronomers, that is, humans who study the stars…"
Athos and some of the others looked up at the reddish coloured star. Nearby, Alexandre and Spinel, Poinsettia's siblings, and Sheldon gazed at the Orion pattern.
"Betelgeuse and Rigel," cooed Spinel, "I wouldn't mind naming my chicks after those two stars when I start my own family."
"Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka sound good as names as well," said Alexandre as he hovered near Porthos and Azul.
"How are you doing with this trip?" asked Bia.
"Oh, very well," said Azul, "And I really do admire your father's knowledge in this subject. You seem to take after Mr Blu in more ways than one."
"Poinsettia seems to have a similar talent in intelligence as you and Mr Blu," said Azul and with that, he gave Poinsettia an admirable look. The red chick blushed slightly while a slightly jealous look formed on Bia's face briefly. However, she put it aside.
"Don't worry, Bia," said Virgil, "You're just as good as well. I especially admire your talent in maths. I could never get most of it, especially the advanced equations."
"I still remember you drawing Albert Einstein's equation of relativity in the sand once," said Azul, "When you were reading a book about quantum mechanics. I can only go as far as understanding classical mechanics like forces and motion, which means you're better at the maths side of science than I am…"
Bia smiled at this and Virgil began to wonder if Bia and Poinsettia might hang out quite frequently due to their similar interests and he began to hope that the Spix and scarlet macaw will not become competing rivals. Then Aurora nearby let a yawn escape.
"Well, by the time we have finished this session," she said, "I'm going to go take Virgil straight to bed and then go myself. I'm getting tired and Zephyr will be expecting us to be back soon."
"Yeah, so am I," said Porthos tiredly, "It's been a tough day for all of us."
"I couldn't agree more," muttered Athos as he thought about how hot it had been for the past few days and nights. Nearby, Cherie, the red tribe's Pit of Doom scoremarker, nodded in agreement.
"This drought's been a horrible obstacle to deal with, as it's always been in the past," she said, "I just hope we have a better night's sleep tonight."
Athos, Aurora and Porthos sighed when Zoie flew in.
"Well, once Blu has finished talking about the Orion constellation, we're going back to our respective tribes," she said, "It is getting late for our kids after all."
And with that she looked down at the group of chicks including Bia, Virgil, Alexandre and his two sisters Spinel and Poinsettia, Azul and also Sheldon the green-winged/scarlet hybrid chick nearby with his green-winged mother Dani. Athos then prepared to hand the binoculars back to Blu to put away in his fanny pack the moment he had finished.
"Ruby will be expecting her family back too," he said as the thought of his mate came to mind, "Too bad she had opted against going with us due to tiredness caused by the intense heat…"
"We don't know if this drought will continue further, Athos," said Zoie sadly. Then Cherie squinted into the distant horizon and thought she saw an opaque smudge forming.
"Er… I think the drought might be coming to an end actually, Zoie," she said, "I believe that's a raincloud forming over there…"
Zoie followed her gaze. "Where, Cherie?"
Before Cherie could answer, Porthos thought he smelt an unusual small. But this smell was not from anything fresh. This smell had a revulsion effect.
"What's that stench?" the burly blue-and-gold macaw said, wincing at the smell as it entered his nostrils. Zoie, Cherie and Athos shot him a curious look.
"What stench, Porthos?" asked Athos. Then Porthos began to recognise this odd smell. He had smelt something like this before, and it was associated with a compartment humans used to keep warm, with wood as the fuel for the source of the heat.
"It… smells… like… burning… wo-o-o-od…" he said slowly as recognition which at the same time, spawned dread, crept in. Then the acrid smell entered Athos's nostrils and then those of Cherie, Zoie and Aurora nearby. Blu continued talking about the Orion constellation when he was caught in the web of the acrid smell as well. The other macaws and the chicks also began to complain. Virgil pinched his nostrils with a talon.
"Oh, what stinks," he muttered.
"It smells like a wood-using fireplace," said Aurora. Athos shot her a sceptical glare.
"Out here in the rainforest where there's barely little pollution from burning things?" he asked.
"What's a fireplace?" asked Cherie. Aurora was about to explain when Zoie looked around, but what came next was about to send panic exploding through the stargazing group like a shockwave. It was then that the sound of something burning reached the ears of the group and when Zoie located the source of the sound, she managed to restrain a scream. The crackling sound of wood burning, accompanied by the smell of the same thing, was caused by a sea of dancing orange shapes, amorphous and forever changing at a rapid rate. Black smoke spewed from the tops of these shapes and filled the air. Then the eyes of the stargazing group turned and landed on the spreading orange sea, and it was spreading fast, heading right in their direction. The sounds of frightened animals fleeing from the sea also reached the ears of the group. One word exploded from Zoie's beak.
"FIRE!" she cried. And with that, everything was sent into pandemonium. Screaming, the macaws made a fly for it, scattering in different directions and diverging from each other. Athos had grabbed Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia after handing the binoculars back to Blu who hastily packed it into his fanny pack and had begun to flee. Porthos had seized Azul in his talons while Aurora did the same to Virgil and Bia and the other adults did the same to their chicks, with Dani seizing Sheldon. Blu also began to follow the group. When Zoie saw the group scatter, she realised that if they continued flying in those directions, they may get lost and never find each other again.
"Stop!" she cried but when that went unheard, she screeched the word at the top of her lungs. The other macaws stripped and hovered, turning to her.
"Stay together!" cried Zoie, "And follow me! If you scatter, you'd get lost which would be fatal!"
Obeying her orders, the other macaws returned to her and Zoie began to lead the group away from the fire. Kids were screaming in fright as they watched the lethal orange sea approach the group at an alarming rate, and Athos, Aurora, Blu and Porthos, while they had never experienced a forest fire in their lives before, were extremely frightened. Athos, with a firm hold on his two daughters and son in his talons stole a glance at the sea of orange and cloud of black spitting up from the tops of the orange shapes.
While he had never faced a fire in person before, he knew how destructive fire can be if it got out of control. He had heard of wildfires causing chaos in some other countries like Australia plus the stories of Jewel, Ruby and some of the others being torn from their tribes and clans by a wild fire caused by loggers years ago, and how terrifying fires were. Pushing these thoughts aside, Athos began to focus on escaping and carrying his kids to safety. Then the stargazing group began to make a break for it. Blu then realised that his daughter was missing.
"Bia," he called, "Bia, where are you!?"
"She's in my talons," called Aurora. When Blu saw that Bia was in one of Aurora's talons, he breathed a sigh of relief. Bia and Virgil who clung on to Aurora's talons were clearly frightened, as were the other chicks. They had been told by their parents the story of the devastation the previous fire had caused the tribes and clans, and Bia, along with Tiago and Carla, had been told by Jewel how she and Zephyr, Brisa, Tornado and Gael had been torn from their tribe by it when Jewel, Zephyr and Brisa were young. Ruby had also told Alexandre and his sisters her story of the same thing she had faced as well, and Orquidea had told Azul, along with Wilbur, and Zephyr had told Virgil, Justin, Charlotte and Matilda. Now the chicks were to face a fire for the first time in their lives. The stargazing group continued following Zoie, making sure to stay near the group and not to go veering off for that could have fatal consequences. Behind the group, the fire continued raging and spreading. Animals, propelled by panic, continued fleeing from the lethal orange sea of light and heat, and the choking smoke that spewed from their tips into the air. This smoke was gagging the stargazing group but they continued flying on.
"How on earth did that fire get started!?" yelled Cherie, stealing a brief glance at the fire behind the group, "I thought this area's become a protected reserve."
"I don't know but I'd hate to find out," yelled Zoie in reply, "Let's just focus on escaping!"
Suddenly, yells of agony were heard and when the group turned round, they saw one of the blue-and-gold macaws cry for help as something hot had landed onto his wing. The group stopped into a hover and looked down in horror.
"Ritchie, NO!" cried Zoie as she watched the male blue-and-gold sink out of the air and towards the canopy with a smoking right wing. Aurora then decided to do something very risky. Passing Bia and Virgil to Blu, she folded her wings and dived down after Ritchie as he continued falling through the air and crying in pain.
"Aurora, NO!" cried Athos but Aurora did not listen. As soon as Aurora had reached Ritchie, she saw that a cinder from the fire had landed on his wing. The two macaws landed onto a branch where Aurora began to quickly deal with Ritchie's burning wing. With little time with the fire closing in fast, Aurora began to look around for some water but realised there was none for most of the water had evaporated from the immense heat caused by the drought. Then another thought came to her. She had read a book on fire safety including what humans had to do if their clothes ever caught fire.
"Ritchie, roll around on the branch until your wing stops smoking!" she cried. Ritchie did so without hesitation. He rolled around in a desperate attempt to put out the cinder on his wing. After a few frantic seconds, the smoking stopped.
"Okay, it's out," cried Ritchie but then he realised that he cannot fly for the burned wing was very painful and had damaged some of the flight feathers. However, a blue-and-gold macaw, one of which didn't have chicks in his talons had flown in and had wrapped his talons around Ritchie's wings to carry him to safety. Then the blue-and-gold macaw took off with Ritchie followed by Aurora moments before flames came along and consumed the branch they were on. The stargazing group's escape was back on the track to escaping once again, but this time they were flying faster. Aurora was at the back of the group trying to keep up. She was clearly frightened and after that close shave with the flames a few seconds ago from rescuing Ritchie, Aurora was desperate to get to safety. As the stargazing group continued rocketing on to escape the fire, animals were fleeing all around them. Monkeys leapt from tree to tree while birds were shooting through the air, screaming "Fire, fire!"
When Zoie realised that the group was surrounded by feathered comets, she called, "Look out! Keep a firm grip on your chicks!"
The carriers of the chicks did so while those that were not carrying chicks began to see off the fast-flying birds. Athos gripped his three chicks tightly and stayed in the middle of the group with Porthos who held Azul, and Blu who carried Bia and Virgil. Feathered comets then zipped through and past the group, not caring about what was in the way. The macaws not carrying chicks desperately tried seeing off the comets but some got past the defence group and shot past the chick carriers. Blu was almost hit in the stomach by a small finch, while Porthos was thrown into a corkscrew when a parakeet struck his wing. Luckily, he managed to regain control of his flight and did not lose Azul who were stunned from the rolling. Another Spix macaw that had a chick in her talons was also struck by a fast-flying small bird but a scarlet macaw managed to catch her while she held fast to her chick, and Athos lunged at a green-winged macaw carrying two chicks to knock him out of the way of an incoming parakeet, and Dani, who had Sheldon in her talons, also dodged another parakeet. The defending macaws tried their best to ward off the feathered missiles while Zoie barked orders to them to watch where they were flying and that some of the macaws with her had chicks. However, this made little difference as more comets continued rushing in. Behind the group, Aurora continued dodging the feathered missiles and helping to ward off more incoming birds for she did not have Virgil and Bia in her talons now. As she continued warding off more birds shooting in from behind the group, a large green blur of a parakeet rocketed in and smashed straight into Aurora's back. Stunned, the pigtailed Spix macaw was knocked clean out of the air and began to plummet towards the canopy. The other macaws were too occupied with either escaping or warding off more feathered missiles to notice that Aurora had been knocked out of the air.
Elsewhere, the fire had spread into the blue-and-gold macaws' territory. Glaucous macaws continued fleeing from the fire and looking for refuge spots to take shelter from the flames and some had fled into the blue-and-gold macaws' territory. In the underground cavern, Soleado looked on in utter worry, hoping that his mate would turn up safely with Porthos and Azul and the other blue-and-gold macaws that had gone stargazing with some of the red and Spix macaws. He also hoped that the red and Spix macaws would make it back to their tribes safely, and into their evacuation points, or perhaps somewhere else that was safe until the fire died down. The other blue-and-gold macaws still waiting for their friends and relatives to return, among them Ignacio, his mate Sandra and daughter Preciosa, and Porthos and Orquidea's other son Wilbur, also waited anxiously. However, the blue-and-gold macaw tribe had been in for a shock when a stream of macaws, not blue-and-gold but macaws of a different species, and the species the blue-and-gold tribe had thought perished at the clutches of the flying foxes years ago, poured into the cavern through the mouth. Soleado almost fainted when he saw the lot enter through the mouth like a swarm of turquoise, blue, azure and grey insects.
"What in the world!?" he shouted as the birds flew over the sea of blue, yellow and green and began to fill up whatever space they could find in the crowd. Blue-and-gold macaws parted to allow the panicked glaucous macaws to land. Many had chicks and eggs. Seeing that there was no time to ponder how the glaucous macaws had survived the flying fox attack, Soleado barked orders to his tribe to help the macaws in, which the blue-and-gold macaws did. Ignacio and Sandra led a macaw couple with two unhatched eggs in their talons toward where Wilbur and Preciosa were.
"Oh, thank you, you're a big help," said the female macaw. The male also gave Ignacio and Sandra a grateful look as he placed the two eggs into the moss bed, the two chicks moving out of the way to make space. Wilbur helped with the egg placement but as he did so, shock consumed him.
"Impossible," he cried as he did it, "I thought Mr Levi, Mrs Lapis Lazuli and Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie were the last glaucous macaws alive."
"We didn't think that any of you would have survived that bat attack," said Sandra to the glaucous macaw couple, scanning the surroundings and examining the other glaucous macaws being helped by her tribemates, "How did you manage to escape being completely slaughtered?"
"It's a long story," said the female glaucous macaw as she checked her two eggs, "We'll explain later."
Ignacio and Sandra sighed and then turned their eyes back to the entrance as the last of the group of glaucous macaws entered the cave.
"Oh, Orquidea, I hope you come back safely with Porthos, Azul and the others before the fire completely engulfs our home," Ignacio murmured hopefully and tearfully. Wilbur also wept for his family. Both his parents and his only brother were out there.
Soon, word had reached the ears of the red macaw tribe, the blue-throated macaw clan and Bluewing hyacinth clan, and the Navyfeather Clan. Felipe, Reynaldo, Demetrio and Flavio had immediately began evacuating their tribes and clans to their evacuation points too and Felipe had sent a group of patrollers to find and retrieve the scarlet and green-winged macaws, among them Athos, Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia, from the stargazing group. As the cave outside the red macaws' home patch began to fill with red birds with yellow, blue, green and teal wings and tails, Ruby had moved to the cave, together with Ramon, the scarlet father of Sheldon and in there, eggs and chicks were placed in nests. Ruby was totally on edge, and was hyperventilating and fidgety and Ramon was trying to calm her despite worries for his green-winged mate and their hybrid son also being out there.
"Athos and all my three chicks are still out there," Ruby cried, glancing at the dark forest outside.
"Ruby, breathe," said Ramon, "Felipe has recommended against us flying out into the dark forest to look for them. Leave it to the patrol team Felipe has sent out."
However, his words could do nothing to ease Ruby's panicked state, but Ramon understood why. Her entire family, along with his, was out there and he dreaded to think what could happen to Athos and the others if the fire ever caught them. Then soon, Ruby was so overcome with panic and extreme worry, fainted. It was just too much to take in. History was repeating itself with the same disaster, that very same one that tore her from the red tribe. This time, her family was out there and was likely to face a disturbing demise. When Ramon saw his friend fall backwards, he drew in a gasp.
"Ruby!" cried he and with that, he went over to her, two green-winged tribe nurses close behind for they had seen Ruby faint. As these two green-winged macaws examined the limp scarlet macaw, one of them, a male, felt her pulse.
"She's fainted," he said, "We'd better take care of her."
Ramon looked on, speechless at first but then he remembered.
"This is exactly what Jewel, Ruby and some of the others went through during the last fire, isn't it?" he said. The other tribe nurse, a female, nodded.
"If her mate and three chicks are found missing after the fire, or worse, she's going to be in total bits," said the first tribe nurse. Ramon knew what that meant. If that were true, Ruby's heart would shatter like glass. Of all macaws, Athos was the one she loved most, and she also loved her three chicks dearly. She did not want them all to perish in the fire, certainly not after they had just moved to the Amazon to live as wild birds. But Ramon himself had worries for his own family, his green-winged sweetheart Dani and their chick Sheldon. If they ever meet the same demise, he'd be broken to. Flooded with worry for those two macaws and the other stargazers and hoping that they would make it to safety, the shuddering scarlet father gazed at the other red macaws as they entered the caves, chicks and eggs being carried.