Chapter 17- a close call and an amazing discovery
Morning
The storm had finally passed and the sun was beaming its golden rays down onto the Guyanese forest and landscape, though there were some large clouds still present. However, the rain had stopped and the winds had died down. The sunlight poured like transparent liquid honey into the entrance to the cave where Carla and her subgroup had taken refuge from the storm last night. Carla, Bia, Tiago, Finnick, Lavender, Justin and Azul all awoke from their sleep. However, as they stretched their wings, which were now dry, they realised how stiff they were. Kira and Aiden woke up as well and like the other seven were also stiff. The flight muscles and wings of all nine birds had eased up.
"Ow, ow, ow," cried Justin, his face twisted in pain from the shooting pain from his stiff muscles from every twitch, "Honestly, my muscles feel like they've solidified."
"Yeah, mine as well," said Azul as he winced from pain with every step, "Must have been all that flying we had to do last night."
"We didn't half sleep like logs though," said Lavender as she shook her head, sending her ponytail feathers flapping from side to side.
"Yeah," said Finnick, also shaking his head as his Roberto-like head feathers flopped into his eyes. He then winced and uttered an 'ow' every time he moved his wings. Then he gazed at Carla, Bia and Tiago and asked, "So, what next, you three? Are we going to go out and search for the others?"
"The storm's definitely passed," said Azul, "I've looked outside while it was still dark."
"Ow," said Carla, also wincing from her painfully stiff muscles, "Yes, but… it seems like we have a small problem."
Hearing this, Aiden and Kira began to moan and complain again.
"Yeah, we're gonna struggle to fly with these aching wings," growled Kira bitterly.
"Why do muscles have to ache SO much after all that rapid flying we had to do!?" growled Aiden as he grasped his chest where his wing muscles were.
"It's lactic acid," said Bia, "When muscle performance exceeds the energy production of the mitochondria in the muscle fibres, anaerobic respiration takes place and lactic acid is the result. That's what's causing the pains."
Bia then winced at the annoyed and mocking glares from Kira and Aiden.
"Yeah, talk gibberish, brat," snapped Kira sarcastically.
"We would rather suffer this wretched muscle pain than listen to YOU yap on about how they are caused, miss make-no-sense," said Aiden. At this stinging comment, Bia's eyes flashed with hurt and she backed away, making Carla and Tiago shoot Kira and Aiden shocked and enraged glares, but the two macaws just chuckled. When Azul saw this, he darted forward towards the two bratty macaws, ignoring the pain in his stiff wings and legs and seized both of them by the chest feathers with his talons, yanking both of them close to his face.
"Now listen up, you two birdbrains," snarled the male blue-and-gold macaw, his aqua blue and yellow feathers bristled as he spat the words right into Kira and Aiden's face, "If you're gonna say those spiteful remarks about ANY of us, least of all Carla, Bia and Tiago here, we're gonna leave you both to find your own way home, wherever you live, is that CLEAR!?"
"What's it to you, leaf-head?" retorted Kira sourly. She got her reply with a hefty shove from Azul's powerful talon towards the bag. Kira gasped as she tripped over the bag and fell on her back. Aiden followed suite but he fell onto the cave floor. Then Carla stepped forward and raised a wing, prepared to slap the two macaws across the face when Kira and Aiden's spite transformed into fear and alarm.
"Alright, alright, we're sorry," cried Kira, her wings protectively hovering over her face.
"We won't say those things again," cried Aiden.
"IF you promise us that," growled Carla, her cerulean feathers bristled and her wing lowered. Kira and Aiden lowered their wings and stood up, nodding. Then Azul placed his wing on his stomach as it began growling.
"I think we could do with getting the show back on the road, guys," he said, "But I'm hungry."
"Yeah," said Finnick in agreement, his stomach also rumbling, "We're ready for breakfast."
Carla rolled her eyes and unzipped her fanny pack to check to see if she had any more fruit left. To her frustration, she eyed the others.
"Do any of you have any fruit left in your fanny packs?" asked she, "Mine's empty."
Bia, Tiago, Justin, Finnick, Lavender and Azul checked their fanny packs and replied with head shakes.
"No," said Finnick.
"I'm afraid we've used all the fruit we've had in attacking those gangster birds during the chaos last night," said Azul.
"Is there any fruit left in the bag?" asked Justin. Tiago and Finnick went to look into the bag but found it empty as well, except for Bia's drawing things.
"I'm afraid not, Justin," said Tiago.
"We're well and truly out of fruit," moaned Finnick with disappointment. Kira and Aiden then kicked the bag childishly.
"That's just great then, isn't it?" snapped the childish Spix macaw bitterly.
"And perfect timin' as well," added the other. Azul then shot the two macaws a furious glare.
"We would have had some fruit left in that bag, if you and your rotten so-called 'friends' hadn't pigged out on our supplies from it, you gannets," he growled.
"Hey, how DARE you call Ilosovic and his gang our 'so-called rotten 'friends'', you blue-and-gold feathered hog," snarled Kira in retort.
"They're our friends, you know," put in Aiden. Azul darted forward and shoved his beak into the faces of the Spix and glaucous macaws, his eyes flashing beige bolts of lightning like those in last night's storm.
"You don't realise what a HORRIBLE group those birds were, you two," he shouted, "They left you behind last night shortly after we had escaped those two harpy eagles. Ya GET IT!?"
"ENOOOUUUGH!" screeched Carla at the top of her voice, making the other eight flinch. Carla's voice echoed off the cave walls and carried outside. A few birds lofted into flight as they were startled by the cry. Azul, Aiden and Kira then gazed at Carla as she continued, "We're not gonna get anywhere with these fiery arguments, okay? We're a team here, and we must work together. Remember, birds of red, orange, green, yellow, blue, turquoise, navy blue and grey feathers…"
"…Have to stick together," finished Bia, Tiago, Finnick, Lavender, Justin and Azul whose temper had been restrained by Carla's shout. Kira and Aiden, however, glared at Carla but said nothing.
"Exactly," said Carla. She then hopped up onto the bag to use as a platform to speak with the others.
"Now, here's what we're gonna do," she continued, "We're gonna fly out of this cave, search for some fruit and have breakfast here in this cave," the others all groaned and felt their aching muscles but Carla hardened her gaze. "I know you lot don't like the sound of that due to our stiff muscles but we have to eat something. Then after that, we're gonna leave this cave and search for the others. Is that clear?"
The others apart from Kira and Aiden, sour looks still smothering their faces, nodded. Carla's wing point then shot at the two sour-faced macaws like a dart.
"YOU'RE gonna help too," shouted Carla in a commanding tone, "Since after all, you've troughed through all the fruit in our two bags with the other gangsters, so you're gonna participate in the foraging trips… without question!"
"Who do you think you are?" Aiden obnoxiously retorted, "our mother?"
"Do as my sister says," snapped Tiago angrily.
"Or you'll face serious consequences," put in Justin, "And do mean SERIOUS. Is that clear?"
Aiden and Kira grouchily huffed.
"Alright," growled Kira bitterly. Aiden just said nothing. Carla, Justin and Tiago smiled.
"And make sure that you do," said Carla firmly. Kira and Aiden just huffed again as Carla turned to the others.
"Right, let's split into groups," she said. And with that, Carla began to allocate the other eight into three smaller groups. She placed Bia, Justin and herself into one party, then Tiago, Lavender and Kira in a second and then the remaining three, Finnick, Azul and Aiden in a third. As soon as all nine birds were in the three smaller groups, Carla said, "Right, we're ready. Group one, my group, will search for some fruit trees to the left of the cave, Tiago's group will search the trees straight in front of the cave entrance…" Kira just rolled her eyes grouchily.
"…And Finnick's group will search the trees to the right," added Carla, "When you find any ripe fruit, pick it and bring it back here and make sure there is enough to feed your group. However, don't go too far from the cave. The last thing we need is anymore of us getting lost. Do you all get your tasks?"
The others apart from the sour-faced Aiden and Kira nodded.
"Good," said Carla, "Now, let's move!"
And with that, the three groups walked towards the cave entrance, opened their wings and all took off, one by one. It was quite a struggle due to their aching muscles, which made flying rather clumsy. However, they were sure to get over the aches and pains if they put their muscles to use in gentler flying than all that hectic flapping last night. As the birds left the cave, Azul whispered to Finnick, "Carla certainly is quite wise, isn't she?"
Finnick nodded in agreement. However, Aiden rolled his eyes and followed the other two. Then the three small groups split up and began to look for some fruit trees.
Somewhere else in the Guyanese jungle
Miranda's group had emerged from the hollow in which they had spent the night. Like Carla's group, the birds of this group were also aching from stiff muscles due to the serious flapping they had to do last night. However, they had managed to ignore the complaints from their muscles and had already foraged enough fruit for a filling breakfast. Miranda, Matilda, Sheldon, Brooke, Tristan and Neytiri were sat in one of the highest branches of a tall tree, eating a low variety of collected fruit. Berries, papayas and guavas were all they could find but they didn't mind. As long as they had fruit to eat, it was good. The six macaws had also filled their bag and some of their fanny packs with more of the fruit. As they ate, Matilda said, "It sure is strange to have our first properly foraged meal in a country other than Brazil, isn't it?"
"Our first one in Guyana," said Brooke as she relished the sweet taste of the guavas. As they continued eating, Neytiri stared out into the Guyanese air. Small specks of birds flew by above the Guyanese forest and Neytiri thought she heard the noise of a howler monkey in the distance. It truly was strange being in a different country altogether, especially with different habitats sprinkled over the land, such as savannahs and other types of forests.
"I'm going to have a look round to see where we are," Tristan said.
"Okay, don't go too far," said Miranda. And with that, Tristan opened his wings, wincing from the stiffness of his muscles and took off. He ascended to several metres above the forest and began to examine the surroundings. As he looked all around, Tristan's eyes landed on a rather interesting object in the distance. It was a large pale sandy brown lump of rock that appeared to stretch for miles and its shape reminded Tristan of the Spix macaw tribe's ravine for it had similar sort of cliffs enclosing it. However, it was small compared to the cliff Tristan had his eyes on. Curious, the male glaucous macaw and Levi and Lapis Lazuli's oldest son descended to the others and perched near them.
"See where we are?" asked Miranda.
"There's an interesting spectacle in the distance," replied Tristan, "It's some sort of cliff face or something, like those enclosing the Spix tribe's ravine but very long. I think we should check it out once we have finished breakfast."
"I think we should consider finding Carla and the rest first, Tristan," said Brooke after swallowing a piece of papaya, "That's our first priority."
"Yes," said Sheldon, "We must reunite with the others."
Tristan nodded and sighed. He then went back to finishing filling whatever space was left in his stomach when suddenly, he stopped when he heard something from below. Startled, Tristan froze and stared down through the canopy at the forest floor.
"What?" he whispered. He then felt curiosity bubble within him. Shooting a glance at the other five as they continued eating, Tristan took off from the branch and descended through the canopy. He then perched onto a low branch and peered out from behind a cluster of leaves. But when he laid his eyes on the source of the sound, the young male glaucous macaw felt both disgust and horror spark at the same time within him. The noise Tristan had heard was a mournful whimpering noise, and it was coming from a monkey, and it was being carried in a cage by the object of Tristan's disgust. However, Tristan could not recognise what species of primate it was, but he knew that the monkey was frightened and in distress, its fright filled eyes darting about at the cages and its hands gripping the bars as it was helplessly carried away by a woman. Behind the woman were two more people, both men. The three humans were talking in Portuguese and Tristan, having received lessons in the language from his mother Lapis Lazuli back home alongside his two sisters Trixie and Larimar and brother Quincy and father Levi, managed to translate some phrases to English in his head. Tristan immediately recognised the three humans.
"Poachers," hissed the glaucous macaw in utter disgust. His turquoise and grey feathers bristled and he felt the hotness of unease radiate from his inside, remembering the warnings and stories he had heard from birds who have been captured by poachers, such as Roberto. Further, his sister Larimar had almost been a victim. The three poachers, who appeared most likely to be from outside Guyana based on the language they spoke, were precariously close to Miranda's group's location, directly under them. Then dread hit Tristan. Four of the other six macaws including himself were extremely rare species of macaws. Two were glaucous, one was Lear's and the other was Spix, and it seemed that the second man and the third one in the line, armed with a net gun, was scanning the trees for any flash of colour to catch, and if he spotted Tristan (himself), Neytiri, Miranda or Matilda, he would not hesitate to net them. Then Tristan felt panic begin to boil within him. He knew he had to fly up to the other five and warn them but he daren't make too much noise which would give his position away to the poachers.
Then Tristan decided to quietly back away from the poachers, examining their every move as they scanned the environment and carried the caged monkey. He took one step, then another and then another, making sure that the poachers weren't looking his way and freezing whenever the one armed with the net gun did. Then what happened next threw everything into chaos. As Tristan continued stepping carefully away from the poachers, his talon landed on a twig too weak to support a young macaw's weight. The moment it did, the twig dropped out from under him and Tristan was sent tumbling from the branch to the forest floor! That sent the young glaucous macaw's panic levels skyrocketing through the canopy. Screeching and squawking, Tristan hurtled downward, tumbling violently and flailing his wings, desperately trying to fly, towards the forest floor. His squawks alerted the poachers and they snapped round in his direction. Then Tristan landed on the forest floor with a soft 'whumph'. However, his panic wasn't over. Tristan then tumbled down a slope in the floor and the next thing he knew, the glaucous macaw youngster felt something tangle around his talon. Feeling this, the glaucous macaw's terror-filled pale blue eyes travelled to whatever snagged his talon and when he saw some sort of string connect to a setup, horror exploded within him. The string, which was tied in a loop and strategically placed on the floor to possibly trap an animal's leg, was connected to a bell which was hung from a low branch. Tristan drew in a sharp gasp, remembering how hunters sometimes used traps like this to catch game like deer. Only this trap was used to catch animals to take out of the environment. Flooded with immense panic, the glaucous macaw tried taking off but then he found himself suspended in mid-air, flapping his wings but not moving. His movements, however, tightened the string and shook the branch, ringing the bell. However, Tristan let loose distressed screeches that echoed into the forest as the woman and two men ran over to him, shouting in delighted Portuguese at the sight of the rare bird.
Back in the tall tree, Miranda, Matilda, Sheldon, Brooke and Neytiri had just finished eating their gathered fruit when they heard distressed macaw sounds. Immediately the upper bodies of all five birds stiffened like a stick being twanged.
"TRISTAN!" shouted Miranda, her head snapping down to the forest floor. The other four also shot horrified looks downward. Tristan continued flapping and screeching as one of the men cut the string attached to his ankle and shoved him into another cage. Tristan screeched in pain as his head hit the bars, and the sound of the door being closed and a padlock placed was heard. Then the next thing he knew, he found himself gazing into the triumphant face of the man who uttered in Portuguese, which Tristan translated in his head, "Whoa, a RARE blue macaw! This bird would make us BIG money!"
"What sort of species is it?" asked the woman, also translated by Tristan in his head.
"I don't know but I believe it could be a Spix macaw," said the man (translated by Tristan also), "But we don't have time to deduce exactly what sort it is. Let's get outa here before…"
Suddenly, some enraged squawks exploded from the above canopy, cutting the man's speech off and making the three poachers freeze and look around. Tristan did the same, his head through the bars of the cage with his talons gripping two of them, while the monkey also examined the vegetation, eyes wide. Another squawk sounded, making the three poachers turn in another direction. However, they did not see a navy blue and dark teal comet wearing something brown explode from some leaves and swoop down on them from behind.
Miranda, who had heard Tristan's distressed screeches, descended like a hawk upon the three poachers; her talons poised and ready to inflict injury, her eyes flashing grey lightning bolts. Then within seconds, Miranda's razor-sharp talons made contact with one of the poachers' faces, slashing over that of the man who held the caged Tristan. The attack was so brutal that blood drops flew after Miranda as she flew away. Then agonised screams erupted from the man as he covered his slashed face, dropping the cage holding Tristan which went clattering to the ground. The other man, the one armed with the net gun, and the woman who held the monkey snapped their heads in the direction of the navy blue comet as it veered around through the trees. Then suddenly, two more feathered rockets, one red with blue, yellow and green wings and the other blue and yellow, also wearing something brown, shot in and struck the two poachers from behind. Sheldon then furiously went for the woman and began to mercilessly tear out her hair with their beaks and talons while Brooke went like a savage cat for the net gun holding man's face and arms, screeching loudly. The woman, who had dropped the caged monkey, screamed as locks of hair were painfully torn from her head by the enraged scarlet/green-winged hybrid macaw, her hands over her head to protect it but Sheldon fiercely clawed and bit them as well, while the man, who had dropped his net gun from the surprise attack by Brooke, ducked and covered his head with his arms and hands to protect it from the aggressive blue-and-gold macaw who scored her claws over his arms and head, drawing blood. Tristan and the monkey gazed in horror as the three macaws savagely attacked the two poachers while Miranda, who had returned, mercilessly went for the other man and bit and clawed his face and arms, screeching like an enraged cat. While the Lear's, the red and the blue-and-gold macaws kept the three poachers occupied, Neytiri and Matilda rocketed in and seized Tristan's cage and also the monkey's cage respectively, before hurling both of them away into the canopy, despite their aching muscles.
The woman whose face and arms were covered in bleeding scratches then began to swipe her hands at Sheldon but he dodged, screeched loudly and continued scratching her and tearing more hair out of her head. Brooke then sent the man who had the net gun toppling towards the woman. His foot snagged on a tree root and the man lost his balance as Brooke clawed his face one final time and fell like a tree trunk towards the woman, crashing into her. The two then fell down in a heap while Miranda knocked the other man down by tackling his face. This done, the three macaws retreated into the above canopy after Neytiri, Tristan and Matilda, leaving the three poachers dumbfounded. A few minutes later, Miranda, Brooke and Sheldon, with Tristan, Neytiri and Matilda up ahead, continued flying like mad through the trees, trying to put as much space between them and the poachers as possible. The three had cleaned their talons of human blood and had seized the bag before making their hasty departure, also making sure that they had their fanny packs still around their waists. The five flew on and on until finally, they came to a large tree where they took refuge. Neytiri and Matilda set the two cages holding Tristan and the monkey down on a branch while Miranda and Matilda appeared and flopped down on another branch next to them, the bag's straps catching hold of the end. Then the five macaws, breathing rapidly, began to calm down. Their bodies were shaking with adrenaline and terror and their feathers were flattened. Tristan had almost been taken by poachers but the most frightened of all was Tristan for it had brought back terrible memories of his sister Larimar almost getting caught by the same type of people. Then as soon as they had got their breath back, Miranda shot Brooke a panicked look. The padlocks on Tristan and the monkey's cages must be unlocked or broken.
"Get something rock-hard, Brooke, quickly, and I want two of them," she said. The female blue-and-gold macaw nodded and left to search for said objects. Then Miranda shot Tristan a fierce and terror-filed glare.
"What in the WORLD were you doing down there!?" she bellowed, making the glaucous macaw flinch, "We could have lost you!"
"Yeah, had we not heard your screeches for help," added Matilda, "You could have been TAKEN by those pesky humans; JUST LIKE YOUR SISTER would have been during that trip with Aunt Phoebe's family!"
"Don't you know that we're outside of a protected reserve?" put in Sheldon. Neytiri, who was frightened, said nothing. Tristan then looked back at the others with shame in his blue eyes.
"I'm s-s-sorry," he replied, "I heard something and I was about to warn you but I ended up caught…"
Miranda then felt her anger melt to relief and she hugged Tristan through the bars.
"Oh, please don't wander off again like that," she cried with relief, "We thought we were gonna lose you. We honestly don't want any more trouble after all that we've went through last night."
Tristan returned the hug and began to weep while Sheldon, Matilda and Neytiri looked on. Then Brooke's voices reached their ears.
"I've found these two sticks but I don't know if they would unlock the padlocks," said Brooke, her talons grasping two sticks. Miranda then took one of the sticks from Brooke and together, the pair set to work with picking the padlocks locking Tristan and the monkey in their cages. It was a torturous wait and it took Miranda and Brooke a good while to solve the puzzle but a clicking sound from each of the padlocks finally sounded in their ears. This done, Brooke and Miranda tossed the sticks aside, removed the two unlocked padlocks and also threw them away and opened the doors. Without hesitation, Tristan and the monkey struggled out of their cages. The former went into the wings of his group while the latter looked on in curiosity. Neytiri said to the monkey, "Go on, off you go into the jungle and this time; watch out for poachers."
The monkey first stood there, confused but then it left, swinging through the trees and disappearing out of sight. At that moment, Tristan and the other four had broken their group hug. Tristan was clearly frightened by the whole ordeal and had hoped that he would never run into danger with poachers again. Then after everything had calmed down, Miranda said, "Right, let's move on and find Carla and the rest."
"Guys, look," said Sheldon. The other five came and gathered round him.
"What is it?" asked Miranda but when she saw what Sheldon was looking at; she drew in a sharp gasp. The other four did the same. Rising up before them tens of metres away was a wall of sandy brown rock, like the rock of the Spix macaw tribe's ravine walls. The wall seemed to stretch high into the sky and span laterally both ways for miles.
"I wonder what that structure is," said Tristan, the horror from his ordeal forgotten. Miranda rubbed her beak, opened her wings and took off. Tristan, Neytiri, Sheldon, Brooke and Matilda all followed and brought the bag with them. The macaws felt less stiff but it was still a bit painful to fly. Nonetheless, the group continued flying towards the sandy brown wall. As the group got closer, Neytiri looked to the side and saw a flying creature in the distance also heading towards the cliff face. Curious, she squinted at it. The flying creature, which was about the size of Eduardo, was a funny shape. At first, Neytiri thought it was a bird but then she noticed something odd about it. Its wings appeared smooth and there was something on its back. However, it was too far for Neytiri to get a glimpse of its shape. As she gazed at the creature with the thing on its back, inquisitiveness and fascination fired up within the young female glaucous macaw and she immediately deviated from the flight path of the others and began to follow the shape.
"It actually looks like a giant ravine wall," said Matilda, her eyes on the face, "Like the walls around my tribe's home."
"And also the Lear's macaw tribe's home too," said Sheldon as he carried the bag with Brooke, "Does it remind you of your tribe's ravine, Miranda?"
"I don't know but it's too large to be a ravine, anyway," said Miranda as she led the group. Suddenly, Tristan's voice barked, startling the other four.
"Neytiri!" shouted he. Miranda, Sheldon Matilda and Brooke's heads turned and followed Tristan's angry glare and when they saw the grey and aqua blue shape of Neytiri wander away from the group, horror and irritation flared up within them. Immediately, the five abandoned their flight path and chased after Neytiri as she continued following the strange pair of creatures.
"Oi, Neytiri!" barked Miranda, "Get back here!"
"We don't want you getting caught by a hazard after Tristan with the poachers!" shouted Sheldon.
Neytiri stole a glance at the other five and said in fascination, "There's a strange creature over there."
And with that, she continued flying after it.
"Neytiri," shouted Miranda, "Neytiri!"
The other four also shouted Neytiri's name but the female macaw continued chasing after the creature in front. Then the creature flew upward, parallel to the tall sandy brown wall. Neytiri also began to fly upward, the other five following and shouting at her to return.
Meanwhile
Carla, Bia, Tiago, Finnick, Lavender, Justin and Azul, together with Aiden and Kira, were flying towards the large cliff structure as well. They had just finished their breakfast and were now flying to investigate the strange cliff face up ahead. Their muscles were less stiff and they were able to fly relatively easier but it was still somewhat awkward. Kira, Aiden and Azul's scratches, which they had received from the harpy eagles during the chase last night had also clotted over and to the relief of the others, the scratches had not become infected. The rain must have cleaned their shallow scratches, and the three macaws were able to fly by themselves again. As the group flew along, Lavender, Finnick and Tiago carried the bag with them, holding it by the straps. As the cliff face approached, Justin looked worried.
"We still need to find the others," he said, "I sure hope they are alright."
"That storm last night wasn't half turbulent, I can tell you," said Finnick with a shudder.
"Yeah, flying through conditions like those is very dangerous," said Azul, "Especially at night."
"It was like a nightmare, honestly," moaned Lavender timidly as she dragged the bag along, "I thought we were gonna die."
"It was actually my fault for allowing us to fly through that storm," said Carla guiltily, "But I was so blinded by the desperation to get away from those gangsters led by that ugly frigatebird with that pirate-like patch over his eye as soon as possible, I just didn't consider the risks."
She then breathed a sad sigh while the others looked on with sympathetic eyes. Aiden and Kira, however, maintained a bitter glare and aimed it at the chubby green-wed Spix macaw.
"Those missing birds will be struggling out there, lost and alone," said Carla, tears beginning to well in her eyes. She gazed around the passing Guyanese jungle, imagining Miranda, Virgil and the others struggling in the strange environment. Justin sighed; worried for his brother and sister Matilda while at the same time he hoped that the rest were alright. Azul, however, was hopeful.
"I'm sure they're alright," he said, "They'll be looking for us like how we're looking for them, and I'm sure we'll find them eventually."
"Yeah, right, blue-and-gold brat," snapped Aiden scornfully at the back, "And because of your fatso friend up in front, we've been separated from our friends."
Kira also glared bitterly but said nothing. Azul, hearing Aiden's offensive comment about Carla reach his ears, snapped round, flew over to the glaucous macaw and snatched him by the chest feathers with a talon once again. He then yanked Aiden to his face.
"Will you shut up about Ilosovic and his gang," Azul growled; his beige eyes ablaze with anger at the glaucous macaw's obnoxious attitude once again, "And also stop calling Carla names!"
Aiden whimpered timidly as Azul shoved him away from him. Aiden was then met by the acidic looks from Lavender, Finnick and Tiago, the bag carriers, and also from Bia.
"You seriously need to learn some manners, nitwit," growled Tiago fiercely. Aiden just breathed a sulky sigh and flew on.
"When are he and Kira gonna learnt to be nice?" asked Lavender grumpily.
"I don't know but if they don't stop this behaviour," said Bia, "Then they're gonna face a thick ear, not that we birds technically have ears. You know the outer part called the pinna that mammals have but you know what I mean."
The others nodded and continued flying on.
A while later, Carla's group arrived at the stony face of the large cliff and the moment they did, they began to ascend towards the sky. The rainforest leading up to the foot of the cliff began to recede as the birds gained more and more altitude.
"Boy, it sure is high," shouted Carla as she led the other twelve up the face. Bia then stole a glance behind and saw the green sea of the Guyanese jungle recede into the distance. She looked towards the horizon and saw paler green and yellow patches which he assumed were savannahs or smaller forests. She thought she saw a few brightly coloured spots against the green canvas, presumably birds. However, Bia pulled her gaze away from the receding Guyanese landscape and focused on following the others up the cliff face. Then within about ten minutes, Carla and company arrived at the top when the rock face curved from a vertical wall to a horizontal, flat surface. The group followed the surface and were soon flying horizontally again, puffing and panting from flying against gravity. The top of the cliff appeared stepped and jagged, with rocks protruding into the air. Next, Carla and company followed the surface until they eventually came to the edge where the cliff dropped down again. They stopped and perched on the precipice. Then when they gazed down into the land on the other side of the cliff, sharpened gasps were drawn in by the group, apart from Kira and Aiden.
Stretched out before the group was a lush jungle like the one outside the cliff and on the other side of the jungle was another rock face. When Carla scanned the land she realised that it was enclosed in the sandy brown rock, like a miniature canyon. Small white fluffs of cloud hovered over some of the green sea and silvery ribbons of water snaked through the green trees. A waterfall cascaded into the river on one side of the mini-canyon, or large ravine. The ravine was much, much larger than the Spix and Lear's macaw tribes' ravines combined; probably about twenty times their size or larger than the two's areas added together. As the group continued examining the enclosed jungle and land, Lavender caught sighted something flying over the trees.
"Guys, LOOK!" she shouted, a point to the objects. Carla, Bia, Tiago, Finnick, Justin and Azul followed Lavender's point and saw them. Kira and Aiden also saw them. Gliding over the green sea of trees were three flying creatures. They had wings and beaks like birds but then Carla and the others saw that they had features they had never seen on any bird species they were familiar with. Though they were too far to be seen from this distance, the group noticed that the wings were shaped like a falcon's. Then Kira noticed something else about the creatures.
"They seem fluffy but I can't tell if they are feathers or fur," she said with a curious frown. Carla, Bia and Tiago and the others gazed harder and realised that Kira was right. However, the three creatures disappeared into the green sea before the birds could properly deduce Kira's statement, but Azul had managed to reach a conclusion.
"They certainly appear to be covered in some type of coat and their wings are membranous," he said. But then realisation washed over him as the others gawked at him in shock. There was a minute's silence but then Alexandre broke it. He remembered the legend Zebedee, Indigo and Victor told them about.
"Flying creatures that have wings and beaks like birds but membrane wings like a bat!" he blurted out in sheer joy, "Bat-birds, and how some of them had survived extinction of the giant lizards and moved to remote places away from humans, one of which is an enclosed ravine in Guyana! This must be it!"
Then it was the others', apart from Kira and Aiden's, turn, to sense realisation flare within them.
"Of course," said Carla with a jubilant smile, "The Navyfeather Clan's legend!"
"Looks like we've found it," said Bia.
"And hopefully, the deposit of treasure should be somewhere in this giant ravine," said Tiago.
"We're gonna save the Sanctuary de Amazon after all," shouted Finnick, his wings around Lavender. The brother and sister then cheered and jumped together excitedly. Justin and Azul also whooped in jubilation while Kira and Aiden just looked on with frowns on their faces, disinterested. Carla's subgroup couldn't believe it. They had found what the mythical place they were looking for. However, another thing came to Carla's mind, one that killed the jubilant feeling. The other birds who were still missing. Where were they?