Sandalwood and his Friends and the Paradise Sanctuary- edited

by VPVPVP

Carla and company's trip to Rio goes badly wrong when some of their kids are caught by poachers. The kids get rescued and placed in a conservation area with various animals from around the world, but they soon suspect something off about the area. In Rio, Blu and the others must deal with another problem on the Blu Bird Sanctuary while figuring out a way to rescue the poached kids

36. 36- near theft in Tulio's Aviary

Chapter 36- a near-third theft at Tulio's Aviary

Meanwhile, back in Rio

Night had also fallen on the Brazilian city of Rio and the usual nightly activities were beginning to emerge in both the human city and the animals' jungle home on the Blu Bird Sanctuary. The cityscape of Rio was studded with a sea of artificial stars formed by the lights from the streets and houses while the sky overhead was partly cloudy with the sky studded with real, natural stars and a half moon showing through the gaps in the few clouds that were present. In Tulio's Aviary, the nightshift employees were up to their usual business. Many of the bird patients were asleep in their cages with a few on the worktops and the blades of a slowly rotating fan hanging from the ceiling in the main medical room. Among some of the birds in this room, certain individuals were still up for they did not feel like sleeping.

Eragon, Vincent and Luna sat on the worktop, chatting with Tristan, Velocity, Merlin, Stella and Soren. The two falcons and the parents of Sandalwood had decided to visit the Aviary to check on the three casualties and also provide updates on the news and actions of the rest of the gang. Before they departed to Tulio's Aviary, Athos had granted the glaucous macaw, two flying foxes and two falcons permission to tell Eragon, Vincent and Luna the truth about what Sofia had said to Tristan, his mate Neytiri and also Trixie, Aiden, Spinel and Sheldon after they had left Tulio's Aviary during their last visit. When the visiting five had finished explaining what Sofia had said to Tristan's group, Tristan deciding to come along for he had been there when the incident happened, and how it had badly affected them, especially Spinel and Sheldon, outrage tore through Andromeda's mate, Eustace and Serena's son and Yolanda's brother, and the sister of Sebastian and Luna.

"What!?" snapped Vincent incredulously, his eyes blue-green flames and orange banded yellow crest flaring, "Sofia told you that you were stupid in having your kids and that they shouldn't have been BORN!? What a totally OUTRAGEOUS and INSENSITIVE THING to say! Why didn't Blu and the others with him tell us about that?" the adolescent cockatoo then paused to shoot glances at the sleeping birds around the room to ensure that he hadn't woken them, especially as some of them stirred.

"They didn't want you worried," said Velocity, "Especially since you cannot fly with that broken wing, Vincent."

Vincent shot the falcon and her mate a glare. Then Eragon came in.

"I can't believe those toucans would say something so acrimonious to you, Tristan," he hissed, "They're just pouring poison into the wounds of those poor individuals including yourself and damaging their relationships, like what happened to Spinel and her scarlet/green-winged hybrid mate. It's an OUTRAGE! It's a SCANDAL!"

"An outrage and a scandal would be an understatement," said Soren as he stood by Stella, "It's borderline unforgivable," he paused, "Especially since some of THEM had contributed to our son Sandalwood and the other kids into getting caught and snaffled by those poachers."

Stella, a look of mixed outrage and sombreness lacing her face, nodded in agreement. Since that horrible incident, she had begun to utterly despise the many, many offspring of Rafael and Eva and their kids apart from the few that had begun to realise the problems their behaviour and constant breeding was causing for anyone, such as Carlos and Rita who she and Soren had heard had broken up with their mates after being pestered by them into having another brood over and over again. Then Soren moved on.

"So, how is that pair of golden fruithawks doing in the breeding chamber?" he asked, trying to manage a smile.

"Aurum and Gylfie?" asked Vincent, "They… still haven't had eggs yet, and the ornithologists or bird studiers are getting pretty anxious since they are the last known male and female golden fruithawks in the entire world."

"Their species is definitely on the verge of extinction," said Eragon, "And if those two don't have chicks anytime soon their species will never have another chance at life."

"True," said Soren. Suddenly, the sound of a door opening reached the group's ears, followed by the sounds of protesting squawks. Tristan, Velocity, Merlin, Stella, Soren, Eragon, Vincent and Luna turned in the direction of the main entrance and saw some humans walk in with some cages. When they saw the contents in the cages, Merlin's eyes widened in surprise as many of the sleeping birds were roused by the screeches of toucan chicks.

"They've caught some of those naughty big-billed chicks," he said. Tristan then picked out Jack and Jill as they helped one of the women carry a big cage containing at least a dozen toucans and place it on a worktop, before her gaze travelled to the chicks in that cage. The toucan chicks were screeching and shaking the cage bars frantically, their eyes saturated with immense terror and distress. These distress-laced faces were mirrored on the other toucan chick in the other cages. At first, Tristan felt a pang of pity for the chicks but then indifference came in and overshadowed the pity.

"At least our human friends have made a start in catching some of those many, many toucan chicks that are ravaging the sanctuary," he said.

"Yes, but they've still got a long way to go," said Velocity sadly, "With THAT many toucan kids in the Sanctuary to selectively catch and cage, it's going to be one massive job."

"Blu and the others are going to help out in case any of the aggressive parents intervened," said Stella. Her face and ears then fell. "I feel sorry for the other bird and animal residents who have faced so much trouble and competition for resources from those profusely-breeding toucans and their bad behaviour. According to Aramis and some others, they have moved to a place outside the sanctuary."

"And then there are these poachers to deal with," added Soren disgustedly. As he said this, some movement appeared out the corner of Eragon's eye. The male archaeobird turned and when his eyes fully landed on that movement, they flared up as alert took hold. Suspicion welling within him, the archaeobird's gaze darted this way and that until it landed on a stick thing lying on the desk nearby. This stick was a stiff, flat piece of artificial material and had numbers and lines carved along its length, and to the animals familiar with human things, it was called a ruler. Eragon quickly rushed over to the ruler and seized it with his left wing-claws; his right wing was still in a cast for his injured shoulder was still healing. Then Eragon darted off to the suspicious movement, the ruler in his wing-claws poised to attack.

As the humans continued placing the caged toucan chicks they had captured onto the floor or worktops, Jack and Jill's eyes happened to catch a familiar turquoise and grey macaw standing with the mixed group of animals. The twin brother and sister went over to Tristan, the decision to check on them having seized them. As the pair approached, Stella and Soren backed away and hid behind Vincent, Velocity and Merlin for they were still shy around humans.

"Hey, little glaucous macaw Tristan, how are you doing?" asked Jack who was aware of the macaw's name, Levi having written the names of his and Lapis Lazuli's four first-brood children on a piece of paper to let him, Jill and the other humans know. Tristan stood there, a saddened look on his face, something Jill noticed.

"Wait, didn't this macaw and his mate have two chicks?" asked she, making her brother shoot her a surprised look.

"What?" he asked. Jill returned her gaze to Tristan. "Lucy, Susan and Bernardo told us that Tristan and his mate had two chicks when they took a picture of the family," Jill gazed at the saddened Tristan as his head lowered; the painful memories of Canopus and Katniss, his and Neytiri's chicks flooding his mind again.

"Don't tell me something terrible has happened to his chicks, has it?" said Jack suspiciously. Suddenly, their names were called from across the medical room.

"Can you two help me please?" said one of the men as he handled a cage of enraged toucan chicks. Jack and Jill stole one last pitiful gaze at Tristan and then left to help the man. Vincent came in.

"Those toucan chicks certainly are putting up a fight, aren't they?" he said with a frown.

"It's gonna be even worse when they try to catch some of the chicks with their parents around," said Velocity with a dreaded glare, "I've just heard from one of the women that Francisco's group had just been viciously attacked by some adult toucans while targeting a huge flock of chicks in another part of the sanctuary…"

Tristan, Vincent, Luna, Merlin, Stella and Soren shot the falcon a horrified look.

Suddenly, the rather calm air, apart from the screeching of a bunch of distressed captured toucan chicks, was shattered by an enormous shout of a human from the direction of the breeding chamber's entrance. The heads of all eight animals and all the humans shot horrified gazes in the direction of the chamber while birds were all jolted awake from their slumber. Then a man jumped out from the door to the breeding chamber, his face laced with immense terror.

"What is it, Marcus!?" demanded another man as he helped a rather stunned and dumbfounded Jack and Jill handle one of the cages containing some of the toucan chicks. But nothing could prepare the humans and Tristan's group for what the man named Marcus said next.

"There are crows in the breeding room and they're trying to seize the two golden fruithawks!" Marcus managed to blurt out. The colour drained from the faces of the humans while looks of horror were thrown onto the faces of Tristan, Vincent, Luna, Merlin, Velocity, Stella and Soren. This was reminiscent of the two previous incidents involving theft through assistant animals: one with Nigel the cockatoo involving Blu and Jewel and the other with cats involving Aurora, Zephyr, Brisa, Levi, Lapis Lazuli, D'Artagnan and Sapphire as well as the other birds at the time.

"Not again!" snarled Velocity bitterly. Then Vincent noticed that the archaeobird was missing.

"Wait, where's Eragon?" he said. The other seven looked this way and that and noticed that Eragon had disappeared. Then Merlin and Velocity's wings shot out and the two falcons lofted into flight in the direction of the breeding chamber the moment suspicious dread tore through them.

"Velocity, Merlin!" cried Vincent. Then Tristan, Stella and Soren lofted into flight with the latter two dropping from the desktop to take to the air. Luna and Vincent then rushed to a nearby mop stick propped against the side of the worktop, for they could not take off due to the latter's wing still healing and Luna still on the road to recovery. The two latched onto the mop's handle with Vincent using his talons and beak and Luna, her wing thumbs and feet, and slid down it like a pole before dashing off to the breeding chamber on foot the moment they hopped off the bottom at the bristles of the mop, narrowly avoiding the pounding feet of some of the humans including Jack and Jill as they dashed to the room, some of them staying behind to look after the captured toucan chicks.

In the breeding chamber there was chaos. Eragon had managed to subdue a suspicious creature with the ruler in his only functioning wing but the moment he identified it after doing this, his blood turned to ice. The creature had black feathers and four-toed feet with one toe pointing back and three pointing forward. And based on its body shape, it was clearly a corvid, the same type of birds that had made off with Sandalwood and the others before many of them were successfully kidnapped by the poachers, and Eragon soon realised that there were a few more of these dreaded birds flapping about the breeding chamber, searching for two specific targets. Moments later, Velocity, Merlin, Tristan, Stella and Soren exploded into the room with some of the humans, followed by Vincent and Luna moments later. As the group entered the breeding chamber, the flapping crows dove into hiding amongst the leaves, hollows and any other nook and cranny they could find. As the eight animals arrived in the breeding chamber with some humans, Eragon called them over.

"Guys," he called. The two falcons, the glaucous macaw, the three flying foxes and three-quarter-sulfur-crested cockatoo pattered over to the archaeobird. When Soren and Stella's gaze landed on the bird Eragon had subdued, their blood froze and a scream almost escaped their mouths. Tristan also shuddered.

"This bird must be the same sort of birds that made off with those kids before those poachers captured them outside the sanctuary," said Eragon, before his gaze travelled around the breeding chamber's room as the humans began to look for the intruders, "And it seems that some of these fiendish animals had managed to find their way into this manmade habitat-looking place."

"Where are the two fruithawks?" asked Vincent. As he said this, Tristan, Velocity and Merlin's wings shot out and the two took to the air despite protests exploding from their companions' mouths and beaks.

Once they were airborne, the two peregrine falcons and glaucous macaw began to search for the very last known, and also the only potential breeding, pair of the species, in existence while the humans began to search the trees and the hollows. In one tree's leaves, a group of shadowy figures, fiendish glares saturating their eyes as they glowed menacingly in the dark, gazed at each other as their owners chatted about their next move while at the same time observing the humans' movements. On the ground, Stella, Luna, Soren, Eragon and Vincent began to slowly saunter along the floor, wary eyes examining their surroundings at all times. They were trying to find both the crows and the two fruithawks at the same time. From a few bushes, menacing eyes glared at the five as they continued to examine their surroundings.

"Those fruithawks must have dived into hiding the moment we arrived in here," said Soren as he looked around, "but those crows must have done the same."

"Tristan, Velocity, Merlin, can you find the fruithawks?" shouted Vincent.

"No, I can't," said Tristan as he flew overhead.

"We don't know what they look like," said Velocity.

"They're gold feathered birds of prey with yellow heads," said Vincent, "They are typical hawks with sharp beaks and lethal looking talons."

As the two falcons and Tristan continued examining the breeding chamber's trees and artificial plants from above, the humans also creeping about searching for the intruders, Velocity's bulbous eyes turned to a specific tree hollow when they spotted a golden sheen in the shadow of that hollow. The peregrine falcon squinted at the sheen and saw that it belonged to a hawk-shaped bird. Most of the hawk's body plumage was a gold colour, like that of the metallic yellow metal that Bia told Velocity had the symbol Au. However, the hawk's underwing coverts, which were visible for the hawk had had its wings spread out, were pure yellow, like most of Nico the canary's plumage. The head and neck of the hawk were also yellow and the neck feathers formed some sort of ruff or mane. The hawk's cheeks had golden spots, placed below the hawk's gleaming sea-green eyes like a cockatiel's cheek patches, and the hawk sported a large yellow flick from the crown of its head. The hawk's beak and talons, which were shaped like the beak and talons of every other hawk, were orange with the upper beak bearing a black tip at the overbite-like point. Based on its size and build, it appeared to be male for Velocity had read that like in falcons, male hawks were generally smaller than the females.

The hawk's sea-green eyes were laced with awareness as they gazed out into the open, especially at the humans. As worry for the hawk's safety took hold, Velocity flapped forward when suddenly, a black and white comet shot in from behind her, accompanied by Tristan's shout of, "Velocity, look OUT!"

The peregrine falcon turned round in time to see a black and white corvid bird, its eyes laced with the most sadistic glare as it pierced the falcon, zoom like a rocket towards her.

"Get away from our prized jackpot hawk, you…" but the crow's sentence explosively changed to a screech of agony as Velocity ducked and raised her razor sharp talons, slashing the crow's belly with the fishhook like claws on the end of her toes. Tristan immediately ducked as the injured crow flew in his direction while Stella, Soren, Eragon, Vincent and Luna all covered their heads with their wings (or one wing in the case of Eragon and Vincent), as well as the crow flew over them and crashed near them. The crow's screech of agony and crash drew the attention of the humans, including Jack and Jill, and when they shot alerted glares at Velocity as she screeched at something, they hurried over to her when suddenly, the air exploded with more black or black and white feathered comets as more crows explosively erupted from their hiding places, diving straight for the humans. Crow squawks also flooded the air as their owners then began to unleash their fury on the humans by biting and clawing them with their beaks and talons, as well as flap madly around their heads, forcing the humans to drop on their fronts, curl up and cover their heads protectively with their hands and arms. Stella, Soren, Eragon, Vincent and Luna also hastily dived into a patch of artificial ferns to escape the savage attack of the crows. However, two more bird screeches, the first from one macaw and the second from two falcons, tore the air apart. Stella, Soren and Vincent peered out from under the fern fronds just in time to see three feathered comets, one turquoise and grey and the other two slate grey and ivory, zoom in at a flock of crows as they savagely assaulted the humans.

Tristan, his eyes blazing light blue thunderstorms, zoomed in at the crows viciously scratching and biting Jack and Jill, his talons poised for inflicting injury and his feathers flattened. The turquoise glaucous macaw then ploughed right through the crow flock. Crows flew everywhere, alongside some feathers as some of them were mercilessly slashed by Tristan's barb-like talon claws, and Jack slowly raised his head, a stunned look plastering his face as he watched the corvids crash like meteors all over the place, squawks of pain erupting from their beaks. However, this was just the first strike from the enraged Tristan on the crows. The volcanic glaucous macaw swerved round an artificial tree close to one of the walls painted to resemble a jungle landscape complete with a natural blue sky with clouds, and like a boomerang charged back at the crows a second time. Before the crows could get up, they were struck down again by the turquoise and grey rocket that was Tristan. Vincent looked on in awe at the firstborn child of Lapis Lazuli and Levi and could not help but admire his determination to help the friendly humans despite the grief over the loss of Canopus and Katniss still burdening him heavily. However, Tristan was willing to put aside his anguish to help the humans in dealing with these poachers' pets.

Nearby, Velocity and Merlin savagely went for more crows attacking Jill and the other humans, driving them away. Seeing that the crows were occupied with fighting the two falcons and Tristan with feathers flying everywhere, accompanied by screeches and squawks as the two falcons and glaucous macaw fought the crows, Marcus and his team all jumped back onto their feet and began to frantically search for the golden fruithawks.

"Where are those two golden hawks?" demanded Marcus. As he shouted this, Soren and Stella climbed up a nearby tree trunk and took to the air while Eragon (with his ruler still on hand) and Luna dashed out from under the fern fronds and joined in the fray with Tristan, Velocity and Merlin as they continued to fight the crows, despite Vincent's protests and also despite the fact that Eragon still had a shoulder in the process of healing. Seeing that the flying fox and the archaeobird were too engrossed with the determination to help the glaucous macaw and two falcons in keeping the crows occupied while the humans began to search for the two precious fruithawks, Vincent also abandoned the group's hiding place and began to search for the golden fruit-eating hawks on the ground in case one of them had dived for cover amongst the ground vegetation.

As the fight between the crows and Tristan, Velocity, Merlin and now Luna and Eragon as well, continued to rage, Stella and Soren, determined looks plastering their faces then flew around the air in search of the fruithawks.

"We're NOT gonna have those two fruit-eating birds of prey suffering the same fate as our Sandalwood and the other kids," snarled Stella angrily.

"Stella, look! I can see one, in that hollow!" said Soren, a membranous wing pointing to a specific hollow. Stella followed her orange furred mate's point and soon enough, her albinism-based reddish gaze landed on a flash of golden feathers glinting like precious metal in the blackness of the hollow.

"We'll have to lead those humans to that hollow, now," said she.

"You get their attention while I see to that fruithawk in the hollow and protect it from the crows," said Soren. Stella nodded and with that, the two flying foxes split up. Jack and Jill, together with the other humans, continued to frantically search for the fruithawks by looking behind trees and amongst the ferns. On the ground, Vincent helped. Stella then flew over to Jack and Jill, on the way stealing a glance at the feathery and rather brutal inferno formed by the fighting crows and Tristan, Merlin, Velocity, Eragon and Luna, especially as Eragon sent two of the crows flying and slamming hard into a tree trunk with a whack of his ruler. Stella looked on as the archaeobird, despite only having one functional wing with the other in the cast, then jumped out of the fighting cloud with the ruler over his head and held in his left wing claws, his eyes a fiery green maelstrom as they glared at the two dazed crows, and as soon as he neared the two corvids, Eragon slammed the ruler onto the crows' heads as hard as he could, making Stella wince at the resulting pain that exploded from the impact. Pulling her gaze away from the fight, she re-focussed her attention on homing in on Jack and Jill as they raised their heads from a patch of artificial ferns. The moment she neared the twins, the albino flying fox began to flap around their heads, much to their surprise. She did not want to risk attracting the attention of the crows by screeching to Jack and Jill so she chose this method, and it was proving effective.

While Stella alerted Jack and Jill and the other humans, Soren approached the hollow in which one of the fruithawks had taken refuge. However, he was suddenly startled by a very frightened screech from the gold and yellow bird.

"It's alright, I'm gonna help you out of this chaos," said the bat trying to assure the bird. However, the golden fruithawk scrambled further back into the hollow, before its sea-green glare morphed into one of defensive threat. One of its orange feet rose and the claws, which the fruithawk used to tear apart the flesh of fruit and nuts rather than of the meat of animals, were then flared, much to Soren's alarm. The lush gold and yellow feathers also spiked out as the hawk took on a defensive stance.

"You come an inch closer, and I'll SLASH YA!" snarled the hawk threateningly. Soren then began to cautiously protest.

"But... you're the prime target of these intrusive crows, and they're intent on kidnapping you and talking you to their poacher owners," he said, "And so is the other one, wherever she's gone…" his gaze flickered about the breeding chamber.

"You mean Gylfie?" snapped the hawk, which was definitely a male, "We never really got along even before were caught and imported into this place."

Soren flashed the hawk a surprised gaze when suddenly, another bat, a white furred one with chalky grey-white wings, flapped up alongside him.

"The humans are on their way, Soren," she said. Soren turned and saw Jack, Jill and the other humans with them rush towards the tree and backed away, leaving the fruithawk dumbfounded. However, he was soon faced with some human hands reaching into the hollow, much to his rage. Not wanting to be seized, the fruithawk began to apply his beak and talons to drive back the hands. Stella and Soren looked on as Marcus then gently but quickly coaxed the male fruithawk out of the hollow as he continued to lash his beak and talons at his hands. A cage was held by one of the women nearby, ready to receive the fruithawk the moment he was gently seized, relief that one of the precious birds was being moved to safety. However, that relief was immediately shattered when the sounds of crow screeches erupted from behind the two bats. Alarmed, Stella and her mate snapped their gazes in the direction of those screeches but the moment those landed on what was coming behind the group of humans, horror tore through them. Some of the crows were surging forward towards the humans as they were in the process of moving the fruithawk from the hollow.

"Stella, Soren, look OUT!" screeched Tristan who was covered in a few cuts and bruises and some bald patches, from nearby. Stella and Soren dove aside as the volley of crow rockets rushed past them. However, the two bats immediately swerved round and charged at the crows as they began to viciously attack the humans again. Shouts of frustration, pain and curse words erupted from Marcus's team as human hands went to their heads as crow beaks and talons pecked at or clawed at them.

Amidst the chaos, a golden and yellow form was dropped. The golden fruithawk crash-landed in a flower patch. As the hawk stood up and shook himself to, he was suddenly set upon by several crows.

"Seize the fruithawk!" shouted one of them and soon, the fruithawk found himself under attack from crow talons determined to seize his wings but the hawk, the instinct to defend himself taking control, fought back full force and began slashing his talons at the crows. However, some of the crow talons managed to break through his defences and latch onto his shoulders and talons and soon, the fruithawk found himself beginning to be overwhelmed by his attackers and subdued. Nearby, the other crows continued savagely attacking the humans who continued to protectively cover their heads and upper bodies with their hands. One of the crows seized one of the employee's glasses and made off with them, cackles escaping its beak as the glasses' owner lunged at it, shouts of frustration and profane words exploding from her mouth for she could not see without them (this woman is not Linda). As the fruithawk struggled and writhed in his attackers' iron grasp, screeches erupting of rage from his orange and black beak especially as his talons were frozen firmly in the grip of some of the fiendish corvids, one of the crows shouted, "Alright, we've got one of our targets. Let's get outa here before we get attacked again."

No sooner than this sentence had left his black beak when an enraged, "I'm afraid what you've said is COMING STRAIGHT AT YOU, you CORVID PESTS!"

The crows looked up just in time to see a white furry comet with chalky grey-white membranous wings, her eyes blazing pink-red firestorms, zoom in towards them. Then before the crows could react, Stella ploughed right into them. Crow screeches of surprise erupted as some of the corvids were flung into the air by the bat. Amidst the chaos whipped up by Stella, the crow talons restraining the fruithawk's wings and talons were released but before he could escape, a pair of human hands came out of nowhere and seized him, much to his frustration. However, the fruithawk soon found himself carried away from the chaos by a human known to Stella and the others as Jack.

As Jack hurried off for the safety of the door with the male fruithawk in his hands, Vincent continued searching for the other fruithawk, the female, amongst the ferns and other ground plants while Velocity, Tristan and Merlin continued to keep the crows occupied. Eragon then came in, his lungs straining for air from the strenuous fighting he had to do and his ruler, which he had used to bludgeon the crows, snapped to half its length for one of the crows had been wrestling with him for the weapon, possibly in an attempt to disarm and seize the archaeobird but the quick-thinking Eragon had deliberately snapped the ruler and made a hasty retreat, leaving the stunned crow with half of the ruler in the process.

"Looks like one of the fruithawks has been successfully rescued," he said, "I've seen that young human male run off with it in his arms."

"There's still the other fruithawk to rescue," said Vincent. Suddenly, extremely loud screeches and squawks laced with distress reached the ears of the archaeobird and cockatoo, making the two jump a few inches into the air. Nearby, Stella and Soren flapped in and shot confused glances this way and that, trying to locate the source of the cries, while the humans continued to frantically search for the remaining fruithawk. At first, Stella and Soren thought those distressed squawks were from Velocity or Merlin but then they realised that it was from another type of bird of prey.

"That sounds like the screeches of the other fruithawk," shouted Soren above the screeching. Stella continued shooting desperate glances this way and that until her eyes finally found the source but the moment they landed on said source, her heart dropped. Soren followed her horrified gaze and his heart also plunged into ice.

A flash of gold and yellow feathers, like the feathers of the first fruithawk, with orange and black beak and feet, was struggling like mad in the grasp of around two dozen crows who had their talons and beaks latched onto the gold and yellow form's wings and orange talons in an attempt to restrain it. Like the male fruithawk, this bird had golden body plumage, yellow underwing coverts and yellow head and neck with the neck ending in some sort of mane, and she was clearly larger than the male. Her cheeks were decorated with a spot of gold and her crest was a sheet of feathers rather than a yellow flick and her eyes were a shade of brown, but those eyes were blazing with distress and rage as their owner tried to dislodge her attackers. Her beak, which was orange with the beak tipped in black like a toco toucan's beak and the beak of the male fruithawk, was emitting the extremely loud screeches. Eragon, Vincent and also Tristan, Merlin, Luna and Velocity, who were now covered in a few scratches and bruises with Luna bearing a black eye, also saw the writhing fruithawk.

"That must be the other golden fruithawk," shouted Velocity. The humans, among them Jill and Marcus, then began to surge forward to save the female fruithawk but were viciously attacked by the crows and stopped in their tracks. Jill screamed as one of the crows slashed its claws over her face, cackling evilly but that crow was tackled away from the young lady and Jack's twin sister by Soren, who screeched, "Don't you DARE claw this human friend of our friends, you BRUTE!"

And with that, he launched a second attack on the crow in the form of a slash of his foot claws to the crow's neck and chest, making the crow screech in agony and back away as the flying fox's foot claws tore out some black feathers. Jill, her forehead streaked with bleeding lines that ran dangerously close to her left eye, flashed Soren a thankful glance before Soren turned his attention to the struggling fruithawk. He, together with Stella and also Merlin, Velocity and Tristan, all surged forward at the crows as they continued mercilessly restraining the female fruithawk and together, smashed right into the flock. Screeching crows flew everywhere once again as the two falcons, glaucous macaw and two flying foxes charged right through the cloud. However, those gripping the fruithawk's wings and legs still had their grasp on their target and began to make for the door while the other crows kept the humans occupied.

Vincent, Eragon and Luna ran along the ground, their eyes on the crows as they made a beeline for the open door, the entrance and exit, with the female fruithawk in their grasp and with Soren, Stella, Merlin, Velocity and Tristan in hot pursuit in the air.

"Don't let them get away!" shouted Luna to the flyers. As the five flying chasers continued pursuing the crows, Merlin rocketed into the air and accelerated towards the space above the crows as they neared the open door. Then as soon as he was above the flock, Merlin immediately dived down on the corvids like a stone and landed on the back of one of them carrying the fruithawk by the shoulder. The crow, which happened to be the biggest of the flock and the ringleader, taken by surprise from the male peregrine falcon's attack, then began to writhe and shake to dislodge the falcon as he began to apply his beak and talons full force in an attempt to get it and its comrades to drop their prize that was the female fruithawk. Merlin's attack was successful in slowing down the attempted kidnappers of the fruithawk and soon, Soren, Stella, Velocity and Tristan had caught up and had thrown themselves into the fray. As yet another fight erupted, the crows attacking the humans, upon seeing their comrades struggle to carry the fruithawk out of the door, stopped their assault on the humans and rushed off to help but Eragon, upon seeing this group rush towards the inferno ignited by Stella, Soren, Merlin, Velocity and Tristan, immediately scrabbled up a rock and tossed the remaining half of his ruler at the flock, aiming for the one at the front. The throw was a well-aimed toss and the broken ruler, which spun like a thrown club, clipped the crow at the front on the wing, sending it into a chaotic tailspin and crashing into some of its comrades, resulting in a chain-reaction and causing some of the crows to fall out of the air and crash into either a nearby tree or the ground. Eragon uttered a hiss of triumph as he watched the action while Luna shouted, "Nice move, Eragon!"

Vincent then hurried off to the humans as they struggled to their feet.

Back in the inferno, Stella, Soren, Velocity and Tristan had managed to force the crows into releasing the fruithawk by biting and clawing at them while Merlin continued his merciless attack on the ringleader crow. As he continued clawing the crow and biting at it, the crow finally erupted into a violent temper.

"THAT DOES IT!" it screeched and with that, the enormous corvid bolted sharply like a horse and launched Merlin into the air, much to the peregrine falcon's shock. Then as Merlin fell back down, the crow, its eyes blazing furious fire, then tackled the falcon in the belly and forced him towards the open door. Merlin did not have time to react when suddenly; he was slammed HARD against the edge of the door, the back of his neck crashing against the slab of wood. Velocity saw the crow do this to her mate as she, together with Soren, Stella and Tristan and a number of other colourfully feathered forms of several of the other bird casualties who had minor injuries, were able to fly and who had heard the chaos in the breeding chamber and thus had come to help, serving as reinforcements for Stella's group in the process, managed to get the crows to finally release the female fruithawk. As soon as she was dropped, Eragon and Vincent rushed in and caught her with each of their functioning wings before she hit the floor. At the same time, Merlin flopped limply from his impact site and onto the floor at the foot of the door as the crow backed away, a sadistic look lacing its face as it glared at its opponent as he fell, before being mercilessly slashed down the back by a massive hyacinth macaw who had a bandage around its head. The crow screeched in agony and was forced to retreat as the enormous navy blue bird lashed at it with its enormous beak and talons, furious screeches exploding from its beak.

"MERLIN!" cried Velocity and with that, she darted out of the inferno as Tristan, Soren, Stella and their reinforcements managed to drive away the other crows while Eragon and Vincent handed the female fruithawk, who was badly shaken, to Marcus and the other humans. Within moments, the last of the crows were viciously driven out of Tulio's Aviary. After this, the chaotic atmosphere in the breeding chamber calmed, especially as the humans were relieved that the two precious fruithawks, named Aurum (the male) and Gylfie (the female) were safe and sound. However, not everyone was relieved. Velocity stood over Merlin's limp body and began to try and shake him awake.

"Merlin," she cried, her wings on her mate's body, "MERLIN, please wake up! MERLIN!"

Behind her, Tristan, Eragon, Luna, Soren, Stella and Vincent, as well as the other birds that had come to help and serve as reinforcements, stood a short distance away as the peregrine falcon continued crying to her mate and shaking him to wake him up. Jack also stood by, Jill and the other humans having gone to get their injuries treated, especially Jill for the scratch on her forehead inflicted on her by one of the crows, just above the left eye. Dread hung over the group as Velocity continued trying to shaking her mate awake, tears welling in her bulbous eyes. Then it dawned upon Velocity. Reluctantly, the female falcon placed two toes of a talon where the claws emerged from the fleshy part onto Merlin's neck to check for his pulse. The others looked on, sombre looks on their faces. Tristan looked on, a look of dread on his face while Stella and Soren huddled each other, tears also falling from their eyes. Vincent, Luna and Eragon also stood by, sympathetic looks on their faces. The other birds also looked on, fear for Merlin boiling within them with a few of them, which were couples, in sad embraces like Stella and Soren. Velocity continued feeling for Merlin's pulse for a few more seconds but when she got the result, a horrified and anguished gasp escaped her beak and her wing flew to it. Her eyes began to ooze more tears and sobs began to escape her throat as realisation finally took hold. As her heart began to break over her mate's demise, Velocity buried her face into her mate's limp body and began to sob hard.

"Mer-her-her-li-hi-hin!" wailed the falcon. Tristan also began to weep and turned his face away while Stella and Soren nearly crumpled, grief overwhelming them. Vincent also closed his eyes and also looked away in disbelief while Luna's membranous wings covered her mouth in utter shock. Eragon also lowered his head and closed his eyes, a tear seeping through the eyelids of his left eye and running down his cheek. The other birds including the hyacinth macaw that had driven away the enormous crow also looked on sombrely.

"I'm so… so… sorry for your loss, Velocity," said one of them, a parakeet, while another bird, a golden conure, slowly approached Velocity and put a comforting wing on her shoulder as she continued to sob into Merlin's chest. Tristan and Vincent raised their heads and did the same while Jack nearby also raised his hands to his mouth in shock and began to shed tears as he watched the group of birds and three flying foxes continue to sadly watch Velocity as she continued weeping into her limp mate's chest feathers, grieving for him.

Merlin was gone, having sacrificed himself to help rescue and prevent one of the priceless golden fruithawks and the last female of her species from being kidnapped by the poachers' crows.