Chapter 26- despairing news
Orquidea's vision began to slowly creep out of the darkness of unconsciousness. She had no idea of how long she had been out cold but it must have been a few hours. As her vision swam through a sea of blurriness which was slowly decreasing, Orquidea began to stir. Her sense of touch also returned and her hearing began to pick up sounds again. However, as she came to, her head feeling light, she felt something tight around her body and her back against something hard. Orquidea's eyes blinked and slowly slid open until they began to register their owner's surroundings. As Orquidea's gaze crept around, she realised that it was now night time, the sky overhead partly cloudy and strewn with stars, and the full moon beaming down silvery shafts of light onto the clearing. Few half-dead and splintered tree trunks and fallen logs dotted the clearing and around the space's border was a wall of forest, and the splintered tree trunks looked like ugly clawed monsters with their fingers pointing at the sky, the moonlight making them appear terrifying to look at. There were hardly any leaves or branches on these trees, the upper parts of them completely torn off, probably the result of a storm or something else. The logs lying around the clearing like dead animals were rotten, and their decaying bark filled the air with the pungent smell of rotting plant material, and one such log close to Orquidea was billowing out a concentrated smell of the aroma. It was so powerful that it was enough to make her splutter. There was also the sound of rushing water for a nearby stream ran through the area. Orquidea had absolutely no idea of where she was but she dreaded to think of the answer to this question.
Orquidea then tried to raise a wing to her head but realised that it was stuck to her side. Realising this, the female blue-and-gold macaw's pink eyes darted down her side and when she saw some thick green tendrils run over her front, tightly binding her wings to her side and the hard surface, which was one of the ugly-looking splintered tree trunks, Orquidea drew in a sharp breath of horror. She was tied to the tree trunk, bound there by the thick tendrils. Desperately, Orquidea clamped her beak onto the top tendril nearest to her chin and tried to bite through it. However, the tendril resisted her beak's bite. Orquidea tried again but still her beak wouldn't snap through the thick green rope-like piece. As Orquidea did that, she heard her name get called by a familiar voice. Her head immediately snapped up and turned to the speaker. When she recognised the speaker, she drew in a sharp, horrified gasp.
"Nuvem, Esmeralda!" she called. Not too far away from her, a female great green macaw and a male Spix macaw were tied tightly to the trunk of another splintered and dead tree, a larger one, along with two Lear's macaws, two more green macaws, a hyacinth and a red macaw who Orquidea recognised was Alfonso, one of Felipe and Pearl's sons.
Nuvem and Esmeralda, along with the others with them, gazed back at Orquidea with shocked eyes. Then Orquidea began to question them.
"Do any of you have any idea of where we are?" she asked, her voice strangled by revulsion at the smell of rotting wood emanating from the fallen log beside her tree trunk. However, her hopes that they would know were crushed when all the macaws shook their heads.
"No," said a male great green macaw next to Esmeralda named Ted. However, a look in his eye suggested that the group was in a place where they did not want to be.
"When we recovered from our knockout with some type of plant paste," said Esmeralda, "The first thing we realised was we were tied to these ugly shells of trees."
"And these vines are too tough even for a hyacinth macaw like me to break through," said the hyacinth macaw. He struggled in his bounds. "These are honestly as tough as coconut shell fibres."
"Where's Ruby?" asked Orquidea desperately.
"She's tied to another dead tree with Waldo and Lapis Lazuli," said Nuvem, his gaze directed at said tree. However, Orquidea was tied on the opposite side from the tree on which Ruby, Lapis Lazuli and Waldo were tied. Esmeralda gazed at the glaucous macaw as she shuddered in the distance, her terror-filled blue eyes darting this way and that and frightened whimpers emanating from her beak.
"She's not gonna like this, I can tell you," she said, dreading what upcoming horror Lapis Lazuli was due to face. It was clear that the glaucous macaw wished that she was back with her family and tribe and friends, especially her mate Levi and offspring. Then Ted turned to Orquidea.
"By the way," said he, "How did you end up here?"
"Well, the last thing I can remember was roaming the Bluewing Clan's territory searching for my son Wilbur after hearing what had happened to the Bluewing Clan and blue-throated macaws from Clemont and Serena," explained Orquidea, "but during our search for him, we were attacked by some of those flying foxes and knocked out…"
As she said this, she felt a wave of dread crash against her and she stiffened and a look of horror came upon her face, her beak open and eyes wide.
"What is it?" asked Alfonso. Orquidea turned her dreaded gaze to Nuvem's group.
"Do you think we could be in those… um…" she began but she daren't mention the species of every Amazon bird's worst enemy but Nuvem, Esmeralda, Alfonso, Ted and the others knew who she was referring to. Then Esmeralda began to struggle.
"Well, I'd like to be outa here right now," she growled, "I don't wanna come face to face with those wretched furballs."
And with that she began to try and break through the thick vines. However, her beak could not penetrate the surface of the tendrils. She tried again but her beak still wouldn't snap through the tendril.
"It's no use, Esmeralda," said Nuvem, "These vines are too thick and strong."
"Yeah, too thick and strong for even me to break through," said the hyacinth macaw.
"Maybe these vines are intended to prevent us from escaping?" asked Alfonso. Giving up, Esmeralda released the vine tendril and looked up, a despairing sigh entering her beak. Orquidea also made a despairing look until a memory hit her. Porthos, Poinsettia, Clemont, Serena! Orquidea had begun to dread the demise of those four after she and Ruby were taken away from the Bluewing Clan and blue-throated macaws' now-former territory but as she pondered over this, the sounds of flapping wings reached the birds' ears, but they weren't from feathered wings. Accompanying the flapping noises were the sounds of talking.
"Someone's coming!" said Nuvem and with that, the birds all became quiet.
Seconds later, a small group of furry dog-faced forms with charcoal-black membranous wings resembling a human thing called umbrellas came into view. One of them was a brown male with a clouded right eye and a scarred face. Nuvem immediately recognised this flying fox and stiffened, as did the others, some making acidic scowls as this bat, Cicatriz, walked over to the birds, accompanied by six other flying foxes: Shinzon, Ratigan and four other bats, all large muscular males, which reminded some of the macaws that had lived with humans, like Ruby, of human thugs. As they approached their prisoners, Cicatriz continued talking with Shinzon and Ratigan.
"Did you manage to catch any of those four-winged lizard-birds?" he asked. Ratigan shook his head sadly.
"I'm afraid not, sir," he said, "They had proven more than a match for our capturers despite their apparent primitive-looking appearance and inability to fly like the other birds."
"Those bizarre birds seemed to have the remarkable mastery of fire as reported by the groups who went into their territory," said Shinzon, "The foragers and patrollers in particular. Some of them were armed with flames on sticks. Because of this, the plans to capture some of them have been called off due to the dangers involved."
"Especially if for one, we are forced to use brutality to fight off the others to retrieve our darted targets," added Ratigan, "and two, if any target we had darted were carrying those stick-flames and they fell... you can imagine what dire consequences that would cause."
Shinzon nodded in agreement, understanding what Ratigan was insinuating. Cicatriz then gave the two bats a disappointed look but then he smiled evilly.
"It doesn't matter for now," he said, "We'll find out about those birds, as well as who they are, what they are and their origins from these macaws that you've managed to capture. After that, we'll figure out a way to deal with those four-winged feather-balls once the other bird tribes and clans are driven out."
Shinzon, Ratigan and the four hulking bats nodded in agreement and with that, the seven hideous furry creatures began to saunter closer to the tied up birds. Orquidea, her face laced with disgust, anger and pure hatred, squirmed in her restraints. Then as Cicatriz and his six companions stood before the birds, Cicatriz began to open up his speech.
"Well then, you feathered slugs," he crooned wickedly and scornfully, "Now that you've been captured and brought here, I'm afraid there's no way out… except through the next stage of your presence."
None of the birds said anything. Cicatriz paused dramatically and hardened his gaze. "And that is… INTERROGATION!" he added, shouting the last word as a form of intimidation to the macaws, and it proved effective. The way Cicatriz shouted this dreaded word sent shivers down the spines of some of the macaws and Orquidea felt her stomach churn. However, Cicatriz continued, this time in a sterner tone.
"Now, you lot will do EXACTLY as we tell you during the process," he said. "We have plenty of questions to ask you and we expect honest, complete answers to those questions."
"Yeah, we don't want silly stuff, denials or unimportant information or anything of the sort," added Shinzon, "Otherwise…"
He cut off dramatically. The macaws gazed back at the bats with sour or frightened looks on their faces.
"Otherwise?" repeated Nuvem in fearful confusion.
"Otherwise," said Cicatriz. However, he trailed off and smiled. "We'll get to that later."
This made some of the birds quiver more as they dreaded whatever heinous plan Cicatriz and his bats were planning to do to them during the interrogation process and they did not want to know anything about it. However, there was no way ANY of them was going to answer ANY question asked to them by these beastly bats, especially about their tribes, clans, their habitats and other things, but then the macaws realised that they were stuck in limbo. What were they to do now? There was definitely no way out and it only took a few moments for the macaws to realise that they were truly helpless. Then Orquidea began to beg Cicatriz about the safety of Porthos, Poinsettia, Clemont and Serena.
"I have one question," she called, "My mate… a scarlet macaw friend's daughter… and the other two… are they alright? What did you do to them?"
Cicatriz turned back to Orquidea and gave her an unsympathetic and uncaring eye.
"I'm afraid that's not important, blue and yellow rodent," he said casually, much to Orquidea's disgust, distress and despair, "What's more important now is your upcoming interrogation from us…"
"About what?" retorted Orquidea brusquely as the deranged flying fox colony patriarch approached her more. Orquidea squirmed all the more, not wanting the hideous bat stepping another inch near her.
"You'll see when we start asking you our questions," replied Cicatriz. Orquidea released a frustrated hiss. However, she had already deduced what the flying foxes wanted to know.
"Shinzon," called Cicatriz, his face directed towards one of his minions. Shinzon hopped over.
"Yes, sir," said Shinzon obediently. Cicatriz's functioning left eye then travelled from him to Nuvem like a laser beam.
"Help Ratigan and the four strong bats over there to untie that Spix macaw from that tree and drag him to our interrogation area," commanded Cicatriz, "We'll start with him and the other two Spix macaws that you have managed to kidnap first."
Orquidea could only watch on as Shinzon, together with Ratigan and the four large muscular bats went over to Nuvem to remove him from his restraints. Two of the bats restrained the macaws on either side of the Spix macaw while the third, the fourth and Shinzon seized him. Nuvem's protests and angry squawks filled the air as he was forcibly removed from the restraints by the bats who did not care one bit of any potential injury this could entail the poor bird. Orquidea looked on with an enraged and terrified expression on her face while Cicatriz bore a nonchalant look.
"OW, that was my talon! CAREFUL YOU'D BREAK MY WING! YEEEOOOW!"
Then within moments, Nuvem was removed from his restraints. However he was fiercely restrained by Ratigan and the third and fourth thug-like bats who held him very firmly by the wings and talons to prevent him from freeing himself. Then with the struggling and screeching Nuvem in their grasp, the four muscular bats and Ratigan walked away with Shinzon following. The other birds could only watch as Nuvem was carried away. Orquidea then shot Cicatriz a disgusted look.
"You wanna know about our tribes and clans, don't you!?" she growled. However, Cicatriz walked away.
"I've no time to talk with you about unimportant things now, blue and yellow worm," he said nonchalantly and with that, he walked off after Shinzon and his four friends as they continued carrying Nuvem, who was still screeching and shouting, away, leaving a dumbfounded and despairing Orquidea to watch him leave.
The green tribe's home patch
A large crowd of green macaws, with some odd colours sprinkled in the sea of green birds (cerulean and blue from the Spix macaws, red from the red macaws, dark navy blue from the hyacinth and Lear's macaws, grey and some blue or turquoise from the glaucous macaws, aqua blue, green and yellow from the blue-and-gold macaws, and darker blue and yellow from the blue-throated macaws, among other colourful dots from other birds including some archaeobirds), stood around a large tree. Inside this tree, Alonso and Verde were having a meeting with the other tribe and clan leaders and their inner circle birds, among them Blu and Jewel with Roberto, Brisa, Zephyr and Aurora of the Spix macaws, Felipe, Pearl and Athos of the red tribe and so on. Also there were Andromeda, Eragon, Ophiuchus and his mate Honeydew, and Anakin and Spock. The leaders were all having a meeting, discussing about possible plans of action against the flying foxes. However, they could not seem to find an effective solution.
Somewhere in the colourful crowd, some of the macaws were talking. Carla, Bia and Tiago who were with their cousin Kira and friends Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil, Finnick, Felix, Lavender, and Tyler, Ricardo, Annie, Turquesa, Músculo and Garrett (who had been carried here due to his stubby tail which hindered his ability to fly on his own properly) were talking with their non-Spix friends, among them red macaws Spinel, Alexandre, Estelle, Benjamin, Regina and Sheldon, blue-and-gold macaws Azul, Wilbur (whom Carla and company were glad was alive and well), Brooke and Bastian, green macaws Chlorophyll, Petunia and Ashley, and Lear's macaws Miranda, Jasmine, Annette and Finn, glaucous macaws Tristan, Quincy, Larimar, Trixie, Neytiri and Aiden, and hyacinth macaws Zebedee, Indigo, Penelope and Victor of the Navyfeather Clan and Casper and Gloria from the destroyed Bluewing Clan, both who were older than Zebedee and the other four and were also alive again to the gladness of Carla and company. Also there were Alessandro and Rhiannon from the chestnut-fronted macaws, and Caspian and Citrine from the golden conures and Kiawe and Mariposa from the blue-headed macaws and also Eustace, Milo, Rosa, Diantha, Orion (who had been escorted from his hiding place with the birds by some of the green tribe's patrollers to the green tribe's territory for their safety) and Velocity.
When these macaws had met each other, there had been tearful reunions such as Wilbur and his brother Azul for they were glad to see each other again. However, some of the macaws had also been devastated and heartbroken. When Annie had heard the news about her brother Sergio, she had been devastated. Neytiri had also been heartbroken by the death of her cousin Juan while Tristan and his siblings, Miranda, Jasmine and Annette, and Tyler and Ricardo had been worried about Lapis Lazuli (the mother of Tristan and his siblings), Waldo (the half-uncle to Miranda and her sisters), Nuvem (Tyler and Ricardo's father) and Esmeralda (the mother of Chlorophyll, Petunia and Edmund). Alexandre, Spinel, Azul and Wilbur had also been worried for Porthos, Orquidea, Poinsettia and Ruby. These macaws had been found missing when Ronaldo had brought Athos and the others back from the animal hospital while Eustace's group were worried about Clemont and Serena and their whereabouts as well. There was indeed a mixed cloud of negative emotions having over the crowd and they continued to wait anxiously for the emergence of the tribe and clan leaders who were still discussing in the meeting tree.
"When Dad saw that Mom and Poinsettia were missing," said Alexandre, eating a piece of guava, "He had been fraught with worry and anxiety. He's been like that since then."
"I'm not surprised," said Wilbur as he sat with his brother Azul, "So have we with Mom and Dad." He then breathed a sigh. "I wonder where they are."
"I also wonder where Clemont and Serena are as well," added Eustace worriedly, "I hope they have not run into any trouble."
"And coming out with an injury," said Diantha.
"Huh, Orion and Rosa certainly have," muttered Milo and with that, he shot the male peregrine falcon and his sister a glare. Orion just sighed while Rosa said nothing. The scratch on Orion's chest was healing but he still bore his tattered tail. Like Garrett, Orion sometimes struggled to fly properly. The right side of Rosa's head, where she had been struck by one of the flying foxes with a stick during the skirmish leading to the kidnap of Esmeralda, Ted and some other macaws, had developed a bruise and a large lump forming at the exact point of impact. It was painfully tender and Rosa sometimes winced slightly and kept putting her wing to the area whenever it hurt. However she had been assured that the lump would go down in a few days. Orion and Velocity's bulbous eyes then travelled to the group of Spix macaws as they sat or loitered despairingly by a tree. Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil, Finnick, Felix and Lavender, and especially Tyler and Ricardo wore worried and tearful looks as worries for Nuvem continued to churn in their minds; Annie was leaning on Tyler's shoulder with his wing draped over hers, tears still streaming down her face over the death of her brother while Carla, Bia, Tiago, Kira, Músculo, Garrett and Turquesa continued to chat.
"And I feel sorry for that lot over there," said Velocity, a pang of pity sparking within her, "Some of them having been victims to the antics of those bats."
"I didn't think that the stab injury Sergio suffered had been that bad," said Orion. Then Kira came in.
"Well, according to Glimmergem in the hospital," she said, "The stab wound proved fatal and Sergio didn't survive surgery, the injury was that bad."
The others breathed a sad sigh. Then Eustace moved onto something else.
"Were any of the archaeobirds targeted besides Spock the other day?" he asked.
"Well according to Eragon and Andromeda who are in a meeting with the other tribe and clan leaders," said Casper as he sat with Gloria, "The archaeobird patrollers and foragers have had some incidences involving savage flying fox attacks and also those 'sleeping' plant paste-dipped porcupine quill darts you told us about knocking out some individuals and some of the bat-bird mounts. Due to this new threat and the violence involved to rescue their downed comrades, the foragers and patrollers had resorted to using torches, which are flames on sticks, to drive away the bats, taking advantage of their extreme hatred of fire."
"The archaeobirds very rarely use their mastery of fire as a form of defence," said Spinel nearby, Sheldon sitting next to her, "And since those flying foxes have a strong aversion to fire, like Casper said, they were sent flying screaming their heads off so carrying torches proved effective."
"Too bad we have a strong aversion to fire as well," said Sheldon in disappointment, "Especially after we have many forest fires in our history such as the two previous ones."
"The archaeobirds are very skilful in confining their use of fire indeed," said Brooke who sat with Azul, Wilbur and Bastian.
"It's amazing how they do it," said Alexandre. Then Estelle who sat near him turned her gaze to Miranda, Jasmine, Annette and Finn as they talked with Casper's girlfriend Gloria and golden conures Caspian and Citrine. Nearby, Alessandro and Rhiannon were snoozing.
"And I'll never cease to be amazed at how brave Wilbur was in getting Casper's family and his girlfriend there out of that massacre that went on in the Bluewing Clan's home grove while Casper went to help the non-trine and clan residents," said Estelle in awe, her gaze turning to Wilbur.
"It sounded even worse than facing a flock of predatory bat-birds trying to eat you alive, honestly," said Milo with a shudder. The others all murmured and nodded in agreement.
With Miranda's group, Miranda, her sisters and Finn, Jasmine's boyfriend were talking about how much the Lear's macaw tribe had valued their ravine.
"It has been our generation heirloom," Miranda said.
"In fact, our ravine has always been that since our earliest ancestors moved in from the Bahia colony," said Jasmine.
"It's because of the holed sandstone cliff faces in which the majority of you make your homes," said Gloria, "And also that grove of licuri palm trees situated in the ravine and the shelter the ravine itself provides, isn't it?"
"Licuri nuts form a large part of us Lear's macaws' diet," said Annette, "And that ravine is the ONLY place that has sandstone cliffs and a grove of licuri palm trees, two of our biggest requirements for our sustenance."
"And though our tribe has adapted to boarding our diet and sometimes nesting in trees," said Finn, "We still feed on licuri nuts as a main part of our diet and depend on sandstone cliffs to nest in."
"Not to mention that our ravine is now part of a protected reserve," added Jasmine.
"That is why the flying fox threat is so heavy on us," said Miranda firmly, "And to add, since Uncle Waldo has been kidnapped by those bats, Aunt Monique, Mom and Dad have been under serious pressure and want a solution as soon as possible."
"But what would those flying foxes want a sandstone cliff-faced ravine and a grove of licuri palm trees for, anyway?" asked Caspian confused while Citrine said nothing and shrugged.
"Anybody's guess," said Miranda, "But all we know is, we are under serious threat of losing it."
"And that is the last thing our tribe needs," said Jasmine. The two golden conures and Gloria gazed back at the Lear's macaws. It was absolutely true. The sandstone ravine meant an awful lot to the Lear's macaw tribe as it was the only place of shelter and food for miles. Furthermore, the Lear's tribe had contact with friends including their former enemies, the green macaw tribe.
"The Lear's macaws aren't gonna give up their ravine easily, I can tell you," said Caspian firmly.
"Neither will any of the other bird tribes and clans and our little groups," added Citrine, speaking for the first time.
"We can see why," said Gloria. She then sighed as a tear came to her eye as she thought about her and Casper's hyacinth clan and their co-inhabitant blue-throated macaw clan's former home which was now occupied by the flying foxes.
"But having said that," she continued, "Although we're glad that Ariel and Eric are alright at the hospital, and Eriko and his family are thrilled that their other daughter and her boyfriend are alive, we're still grieving the loss of our habitat."
"It has been HORRIBLE, honestly," said Caspian in a strangled voice, "In fact, even facing a harpy eagle would make a better dream than facing a flock of shadow-black bats with red streaks, weapons and gleaming eyes at night."
"And now we're left to pick up the shattered pieces of our lives while those wretched furballs enjoy their newest addition to their territory," growled Citrine with disgust, "Just like how the birds of countless other tribes and clans and smaller groups driven out by the flying foxes had to do."
"And if we've faced such savage loss of our home to the bats so easily," put in Gloria, "What chance does any of the other tribes and clans have?"
Miranda, Jasmine, Annette and Finn gazed at the colourful sea of birds as they continued waiting outside the meeting tree.
"Those flying foxes are capable of slaughtering an entire tribe of birds;" said Miranda, "Think of how they had managed to drive out the glaucous macaw tribe when Aunt Lapis Lazuli was young."
"That's absolutely right," said Jasmine in a growl, "And that is why this is a serious issue, especially for us Lear's macaws."
The others nodded in agreement.
Not too far away, Tristan, Quincy, Larimar, Trixie, Aiden and Neytiri were chatting with Zebedee, Indigo, Penelope and Victor. Victor sat nearby, fiddling with his fruit-shell hat, a sombre look on his face.
"You know something, folks," said Tristan despairingly, "History is soon to repeat itself for us glaucous macaws eventually." He then gazed at the sea of birds and then at Carla's group. "If we can't find a solution to this flying fox threat…" he paused as his left eye leaked a tear, "All this land will soon belong to the bats."
"This is gonna be Mom's ordeal all over again, isn't it?" said Trixie.
"It's already begun," said Quincy, "She's been kidnapped by some of those beastly furballs with membrane wings."
As he said this, Zebedee furiously slammed a talon onto the floor, an angry grunt escaping his beak.
"Those furballs honestly have blocked ears and stubborn intentions," he growled, his navy blue feathers bristled and blue eyes ablaze with rage, "And despite peaceful protests like the sending of the messages, nothing seems to work."
Indigo, Victor, Penelope, Larimar and Neytiri all gazed up at him and had to agree. Neytiri then continued to grieve the loss of her cousin Juan while the others fell silent. However, that moment of silence was shattered by an uproar starting. Hearing this, the group of hyacinth and glaucous macaws all popped their heads up and gazed at the multi-coloured sea of feathers. Miranda, Alexandre and Carla's groups did the same. Eustace and the others with him stood up while Alessandro and Rhiannon were jolted awake.
"NOW WHAT'S UP!" barked Carla angrily. Orion then saw some feathered comets make a beeline for the meeting tree.
"I don't know," he said, "But it ain't good."
"It sounds serious," said Velocity. Then without hesitation, the wings of Alexandre, Spinel, Sheldon and Estelle shot out and within moments, all four red macaws had all lofted into flight. Petunia and Chlorophyll followed while Azul, Brooke, Wilbur, Bastian, Ashley, Benjamin and Regina remained behind. Alessandro and Rhiannon, together with Kiawe and Mariposa, walked up to the group.
"I hope it's not what I think it is," said Mariposa with dread. The others only replied with agreeing glares on their faces which read 'I hope not'.
At the meeting tree, Alonso, Blu, Jewel, Andromeda, Eragon, Felipe, Athos and D'Artagnan emerged with some of the other leaders and inner circle birds after hearing the commotion outside. As Alonso went over to the crowd to address them, he was met by some macaws, a mixed group of Lear's, Spix, green, red and blue-and-gold macaws, who had rocketed in. These macaws had been patrolling the outskirts of the green tribe's home grove. As they touched down before Alonso, they gazed at the green tribe patriarch with alarmed looks on their faces. Blu, Jewel and Andromeda walked in, surprised to see the alarmed patrol group.
"Alonso," cried one of the green macaws, Luis. Alonso gazed back at him.
"What's the problem?" he asked as Blu, Jewel and Andromeda joined him, their faces asking the same question. Then a blue-and-gold macaw stepped forward.
"There's a group of flying foxes approaching the grove," she said. The moment these words escaped her beak, alarm and fury tore through the leaders and inner circle birds. Zephyr walked in with Aurora, a look of thunder on his face.
"Oh, NOOOO!" he bellowed.
"And just when we thought things couldn't get any worse with those wretched flying dog-faced rats," snarled Blu.
"AND just when we were discussing the problem and all," muttered Andromeda. The archaeobird clan matriarch had been completely swamped by stress of the flying fox situation since it started to escalate, and her mate Eragon was no different. The other inner circle and leading birds all exchanged glances and Roberto began to shudder while Brisa looked on with dread. D'Artagnan, Sapphire and Monique all released groans of despair while Athos, Felipe and Pearl stood there with thunderous looks also on their faces. Then Eragon asked Luis and his twin brother Lewin, "How many are there?"
"It's only a small group," replied Lewin, "They're too distant for an accurate count but I'd say around five or six."
"Two of them are large while the remainders were small white creatures and they've got some sort of green leaf hammocks in their clutches," said a green-winged macaw. The leaders and inner circle birds exchanged glances. Not too far away, Carla and company hovered.
"Take us there to meet them RIGHT AWAY!" bellowed Alonso. The patrol group nodded and darted off. Then the air was flooded with the sounds of flapping of dozens of wings as all the leaders and upper-ranking birds took off. Andromeda and Eragon whistled for their bat-bird mounts and hopped onto them. Then Rouge (Andromeda's bat-bird) and Eragon's bat-bird both took off at their owners' command. Carla, Bia, Tiago and Kira, together with Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil, Finnick, Felix and Lavender, Tyler and Ricardo, followed while Annie, Turquesa and Músculo stayed behind with Garrett who was still unable to fly properly due to his tattered tail when Velocity, Orion, Eustace, Milo, Rosa and Diantha intercepted them.
"Do you guys know what this is all about?" asked Eustace.
"Some flying foxes approaching the grove," said Carla, moments before Rhiannon and Alessandro, together with some of the blue-and-gold, red and green macaws appeared. The moment their ears received these words, horror tore through them.
"NO!" cried Rhiannon in disbelief.
"You're kidding!" added Alessandro. None of the others aid anything. Then Spinel, one of the red macaws, accelerated on.
"Well, I'm willing to find out what those bats want," she said with Alexandre, Sheldon and Estelle following.
"If it's something serious," added Sheldon, "We would like to know."
The Spix macaws and Eustace's group all exchanged glances and followed.
Moments later, a small crowd of macaws and archaeobirds had gathered on the outskirt trees of the green tribe's home patch. Ophiuchus, who stood by Andromeda and Eragon on his bat-bird, gazed at the incoming group of flying foxes as they melted out of the dark jungle, their forms flashing in the moonlight shafts. There were indeed five flying foxes and three of them were young white bats while the other two were adults, one brown and the other red-brown, almost auburn. Dangling under the bats were two large green sheets similar to leaf-hammocks and their tips were held by the bats' feet. Around Ophiuchus, the macaws got prepared for action.
"Here they come, folks," called Alonso as Soleado, Verde and Zoie perched on either side of him, all three prepared for action, "The moment those bats approach us, pounce on them and seize them."
"Yes, Alonso," said Blu as he, Jewel, Roberto, Zephyr, Aurora and Brisa took up ready stances. Next to them, Felipe, Pearl, Athos and Phoebe, Cobalto, Flavio, Marinho, D'Artagnan, Sapphire and Monique also got prepared to attack but then Roberto noticed something familiar about the flying foxes. Immediately, his blue eyes lit up and his crest flared out somewhat.
Elsewhere, Rudi, Levi from the glaucous macaw tribe, and Reynaldo and Anita from the blue-throated macaw clan also took up ready poses. While the tribe and clan leaders prepared to attack, Carla and her group appeared with Eustace, Milo, Rosa, Diantha, Orion and Velocity. Athos shot them an annoyed look.
"What are you lot doing here!?" he asked angrily, "Return to the grove will you!?"
"Those flying foxes could be very dangerous!" added Reynaldo. Diantha was about to protest when suddenly, Roberto's voice rang out.
"Wait, everyone, don't attack!" he called. This made all eyes turn to him.
"What are you talking about, Roberto!?" barked Alonso furiously.
"Don't you realise that those bats are intruders?" added Felipe. Then Roberto took some more time to identify the five familiar bats' faces.
"They're Augustus and his family," shouted he. Then Carla, Bia, Tiago, Kira and Finnick, Felix, Lavender, Spinel and Alexandre felt recognition come over them. The incoming bats were the same bats that had rescued Alexandre from certain kidnap the other day, and Ophiuchus recognised the adolescent white male and adult brown male as well. It was then that Athos saw a flash of colour in the large green leaf hammocks the bats were carrying. As he fluttered upward to get a better glimpse of the contents in the hammocks, he drew in a sharp and horrified gasp.
"PORTHOS, POINSETTIA!" he barked. Eustace, Milo and Rosa then saw some flashes of white in the other hammock.
"SERENA, CLEMONT!" bellowed Eustace and with that, he and his brother and sister darted off, Orion, Velocity, Athos and Diantha following. The others, including the leaders, also opened their wings and took off.
As the flock of birds approached them, the flying foxes, which were indeed Augustus, his mate Melissa and offspring Sebastian, Stella and Luna, looked up and then gently lowered the hammocks onto a large broad branch. Augustus and Melissa's hammocks contained Porthos and Poinsettia while Sebastian and his sisters carried the other one containing Clemont and Serena. After lowering the hammocks and their contents onto a branch, the five flying foxes backed away to allow a cloud of colourful feathers to reach the four. Porthos, Poinsettia, Clemont and Serena all sat up in time to be swallowed up by a sea of colourful wings. Azul and Wilbur hugged Porthos while Athos, Alexandre and Spinel hugged Poinsettia. Clemont and Serena, meanwhile, were hugged by Eustace, Milo, Rosa, Diantha, Orion and Velocity while the other birds surrounded them, wanting to hug these four as well. Augustus, Melissa, Sebastian, Stella and Luna looked on with remorseful looks on their faces. They had something important to tell the birds.
While Eustace and company, together with Carla and her siblings, cousin and friends, swallowed Clemont and Serena in a group hug before pulling away, Eustace felt alarm tear through him when he saw some gashes run across Clemont's belly. These gashes had healed up by now and were nothing more than a set of crusty streaks slashing through the white plumage of Clemont's stomach. Serena, meanwhile, bore a black eye, a ring of blue-black surrounding her left eye, one of the injuries she had sustained during her vicious fight with Cruella and she also bore a few scratches. Porthos and Poinsettia were also covered in a few cuts and bruises and the area around Porthos's neck was blooming with blue-black blotches under the yellow and dark aqua blue feathers, evidence of someone's attempts to strangle him into unconsciousness. Then after breaking the hug with his daughter, Athos began to fire a barrage of questions at her.
"Where have you been, Poinsettia!?" he demanded, "And… what has happened to you!?"
Soleado then approached Porthos, Clemont and Serena, an awful expression on his face. Azul and Wilbur and the others moved out of the way as the blue-and-gold tribe patriarch went right up to their ashamed father and shoved his beak into Porthos's face.
"What have I said about you leaving our territory into the Bluewing Clan's, Porthos?" he asked. Porthos did not know how to reply to this but Soleado swept on. "Don't you realise that you've just disobeyed a direct order to stay within the boundary of our territory?"
"Honestly, Porthos, you could have been killed!" added Blu in the background. Then Zoie shot Clemont and Serena a look.
"Not to mention you both," she said, "And I can see you've got quite a nasty scratch across your belly, Clemont. Not to mention that black left eye, Serena."
Clemont and Serena flinched as shame and guilt stung them like bees while Porthos could not reply for shame had stuck his tongue in his mouth and blocked the flow of words. Then Azul and Wilbur returned.
"Dad," asked Wilbur.
"Where's Mom?" asked Azul.
"And also your mother, Poinsettia," demanded Athos. In the background, Alexandre and Spinel looked on, their faces asking the same question, particularly about Ruby. Porthos, Clemont and Serena gazed back at the crowd of macaws before tears welled in their eyes and they began to weep. Outside the crowd of macaws and other birds, Augustus, Melissa, Sebastian, Stella and Luna each breathed a remorseful sigh each and turned away.
"There's a lot we need to discuss," said Augustus slowly. Melissa then shot Athos, Alexandre, Spinel, Azul and Wilbur a saddened look, before gazing at the other birds.
"But you're not gonna like this," she whispered, "Especially you five."
She aimed her nod to Athos, his son, daughter and the two blue-and-gold brothers who gazed back at her with dreaded looks on their faces.