Chapter 64- the rescue of Carla and company begins part 2
Blu and the others followed Lusamine's group toward the dividing mesh between Dundee's land and the Compartment of the Carnivores. As the group rushed along, Blu, Jewel, Athos, Aramis, Phoebe and Levi noticed a scattering of footprints and drops of dried blood.
"These are Dalek's footprints," explained Kiara as the six macaws gazed at the prints and blood dots, "It's clear that that chameleon has dragged his victims to the Carnivore Compartment."
"Looks like they must have put up a pretty savage fight," said Aramis with concern.
"They likely did," said Mina the Tasmanian devil with a dark look. She was still clearly shaken from seeing that horrible chameleon injure that glaucous macaw and thus his true colours for the first, and to the Tasmanian wolf's relief, only time and she had hoped that she would never see such sadistic craze ever again, "but that chameleon's gone for good now. Let's focus on rescuing those other victims Dalek had shoved into the Compartment."
Blu, Jewel and Aramis did so when the group stopped before the mesh. Lusamine then went over to the small hole in the corner.
"Sandalwood and the others with him went through this hole," explained the little Livingstone's bat. As she said this, Dundee walked over to the hole and glared at it.
"Then we're gonna follow them," said the emu with determination. The other animals flashed the emu a look.
"But how are you and the other large animals going to fit through that tiny hole, Dundee?" asked Lusamine's father.
"That hole's small enough only for a macaw and similarly sized animals to squeeze through," added Aramis before his gaze turned to Phoebe, Indigo and Victor and saw that these hyacinth macaws would not be able to pass through that small hole, unlike the younger Sugilite for she was smaller. Dundee then gazed at Aramis, an undeterred look on his face.
"We don't need to worry about that hole being too small for large animals such as myself," said the emu in a firm voice, "We just need to make it bigger."
With that, he nodded to Wally and some other apes including Herbert and some of the other chimps. With obedient smiles, the apes, those that were super strong, walked forward towards the barrier mesh while Dundee, Olympia and Mulan commanded the other animals to stand back. Wally, Herbert and the other chimps and orangutans then hooked their fingers onto the holes of the mesh and began to pull with all their might, straining as they did. Some of the other animals, among them Mina and her group, came in to help and soon, the sound of metal wire being ripped from their foundations under the sand, accompanied by the straining noise of various animals, filled the air.
As Wally's group began to tear the mesh from its binding points, the sounds of human chattering reached the other animals' ears. Blu and the others including Gylfie and Aurum who had come to help, turned in the direction of the noise and saw some of the humans run about outside the artificial jungle.
"Sounds like those humans are searching for us," said Levi worriedly. Dundee then felt a flash of dread well within him. He did not want the humans to see what his group was up to with the barrier mesh.
"Hurry, Wally, gang," he commanded.
"We're working on it!" retorted Wally as the orangutan and his gang continued to heave the mesh from its foundations and distort the net of wires upward to widen the hole they had made.
Meanwhile
Carnassial and his gang then stood the bound and gagged Carla, Bia, Tiago, Jasmine, Aiden and Finn against another tree trunk while the rest of the caracals and the servals sat in a ring as they prepared for their meal. Above the group in an adjacent tree, D'Artagnan, who had sneaked along with great care to avoid getting spotted, then glared down at the caracals and servals below him. Augustus sneaked past D'Artagnan and clambered onto the branch of the tree whose trunk was used as a support to stand Carla and the other five against by Carnassial and his gang as well as where the gang of caracals and servals were. Then as soon as he and his gang had set up the six bound macaws on their sticks, Carnassial admired the soon-to-be meals one last time, his greedy feline mouth stretched into a grimace.
"Dalek certainly has done a good job in catching us six adult macaws," he said greedily, stopping briefly to lick his lips as he looked forward to the very rare taste of adult macaw flesh landing in his mouth, "I hope we make the most of these delicious parrots since this is, after all, a rare treat."
"And after this, we'll perhaps cause those dingoes over there trouble," said another of the caracals, a nod to a group of Australian red dogs nearby. Carla, Bia, Tiago, Jasmine, Aiden and Finn, their beaks tightly bound by the vines, all whimpered as Alecto, one of the servals with a wide smile stretching across her face as she relished the caracal's suggestion in causing some dingoes bother and looked forward to it, came forward. Behind Carnassial, the rest of the caracal and serval gang all smiled greedily and licked their lips too and also nodded at the caracal's idea. However, they were unaware that a small group of younger macaws and a flying fox were nearby, had overheard the caracal's suggestion and had crept towards the cats' targets in mind.
Sandalwood, Sirius, Spica, Bellatrix, Canopus, Katniss, Vega and Regulus had sneaked towards a living spot where a small pack of dogs from Australia, dingoes, lived and were asleep, Regulus having overheard what one of the caracals had said about potentially causing these dogs trouble. He had relayed this to Sandalwood and the others and had suggested to them in telling the dingoes what the serval had said and have them attack Carnassial and his gang before they did which would potentially provide the group and also Augustus and D'Artagnan, a distraction they needed in rescuing Carla, Bia, Tiago, Finn, Aiden and Jasmine. As the eight kids crept carefully towards the pack of dingoes, being careful to avoid waking them up until the time was right; Regulus flashed a worried glance at Carnassial and company.
"Hurry, you lot," he whispered to the other seven, "Carnassial and his gang are about to start their meal."
Sandalwood flashed his own worried glance at Carla, Bia, Tiago, Jasmine, Aiden and Finn and shuddered before resuming his concentration on the dingoes. However, a hair and feather-raising question emerged from one of the servals' mouths from Carnassial's gang and reached Sandalwood's group's ears, turning their blood to ice.
"Which macaw would you like us to eat first?" asked Alecto. Carnassial's piercing eyes then began to scan the six macaws back and forth twice until finally, his eyes landed on the macaw of choice.
"This one," he said, a paw pointing straight at Carla, much to the macaw's alarm and the alarm of the other five. Bia, Tiago, Jasmine and Aiden squirmed fearfully while Finn shuddered due to his dislocated shoulder as Carnassial continued, "Because she is the fattest and is likely to contain plenny of meat than the other five, and I lu-u-urve fat birds."
Alecto smiled, reached with her paws towards the stick holding Carla and seized it. Above Carnassial and Alecto, Augustus and D'Artagnan glared down as Carla, terrified whimpers escaping her tightly bound beak, was moved on her stick and taken away from her brother, sister and the other three, the latter looking on with fearful, tearful eyes. Bia tried to call Carla's name but her beak was so tightly bound by the vine that she could not get her older sister's name out. Then Tiago tried to spit acid at Carnassial and his gang but like Bia, he could not get words out of his vine-bound beak and the only sounds he made were muffles and strangled screeches. Then Carnassial laid Carla on her stick down in the middle of the ring formed by his prepared gang and began to whisper taunting words to his first prey. As he did that, D'Artagnan prepared to drop down upon the caracal the moment he could set to his kill while Augustus prepared to formulate a distraction for some of the servals standing on guard around Bia, Tiago, Aiden, Jasmine and Finn as these five helplessly looked on at Carnassial as he then began to taunt Carla, something he had always done to his previous parrot victims Dalek had given to him and his gang before killing and eating them.
At this moment
While Augustus and D'Artagnan prepared to rescue Carla, Bia, Tiago, Finn, Jasmine and Aiden, Aurora and Trixie continued to follow the servals as they had Spyro in his cage. The servals had placed the caged archaeobird who was wincing slightly from the pain from the small cut on his neck, the result of being forcibly shoved into the tight cage, amongst some rocks before retreating to some bushes themselves to talk and rest as well as wait for Carnassial's call to join the macaw treat with the other wildcats. As the servals checked Spyro in his cage one last time, the archaeobird tried to casually talk to them in the hopes of convincing them to be allowed out of his bone cage.
"Hey, I can, um… help you divide the meat you receive from your human carers for I am good at dividing large lumps of food into reasonable portions," said Spyro, "But only if you let me out of this cage."
However, none of the three servals replied and just walked away towards the bushes. Spyro began to enter pleading mode.
"Please, just let me out of this cage and I'll do anything for you," cried the strange four-winged dinosaur-like bird in a more desperate voice. In reply, one of the servals bluntly turned round and shot Spyro a nonchalant look.
"The only thing you'll be doing for us is wait in there until Carnassial decides on your fate," said the spotted cheetah-like cat unsympathetically, "Now do us a favour and shut that snout-like beak of yours or I'll do it for you."
Spyro flinched. Aurora and Trixie who were in hiding also winced. This tone of voice used by the serval and his choice of words brought to the Spix and unusually small glaucous macaws' minds the way the poachers' cats of Brutus's group often spoke to caged birds in their clutches all those years ago. However, Aurora and Trixie pushed aside this thought and re-focussed on planning on rescuing Spyro. Then as soon as he was sure that Spyro had taken in his threat, the serval left and joined his two comrades, certain that there was no-one around to rescue the archaeobird. Then as soon as the three servals were some distance away from Spyro, Aurora and Trixie began to make their move and began to creep towards the archaeobird.
While they did this, a few young birds and a flying fox arrived and hid behind a large boulder and peered at the three servals as they left Spyro unattended. Achernar, Polaris, Arcturus, Acerola and Atreyu had crept after Aurora and Trixie and were now gazing at the three servals. Polaris turned her gaze in Trixie and Aurora's direction as they slowly crept towards Spyro.
"Those three spotted margay cats have made a careless mistake in leaving Mr Spyro unattended," whispered she to the other four.
"Those three servals could do with a distraction to buy Mrs Aurora and Mrs Trixie some time to rescue Mr Spyro," whispered Achernar. Acerola, Atreyu and Arcturus gazed from the trio of servals as they settled down to chat and Trixie and Aurora as they reached Spyro and saw that the two Spix macaw chicks had a point. Though the servals were too engrossed in talking with each other, being cats they were likely to have sensitive hearing. Also, one or all of them could potentially flash a glance at Spyro occasionally to make sure that no-one was rescuing him and since Aurora and Trixie were macaws, those three servals would not hesitate to pounce onto them and possibly bind them to take to Carnassial and the rest of the gang of caracals and servals where they would join Carla and the other five in becoming meals for those wildcats. While Acerola's group began to ponder on what distraction they could use to direct the servals' attention away from Spyro, Aurora and Trixie, the latter two had finally reached the archaeobird much to his relief.
"Oh, am I glad to…" began Spyro but Aurora hushed at him to be quiet.
"We're gonna get you out of this place," whispered the pigtailed Spix macaw. Spyro's wing claws then went to the scratch on his neck.
"Those plain ear-tufted and margay-like feline brutes weren't half rough with me when they shoved me into this cage of ribs," grumbled Spyro in a low voice as Trixie and Aurora set to moving the ribs containing him. His gaze then turned to a sharp tip of one of the bones, "During that process, my neck got caught on the tips of one of them and inflicted a scratch. It was quite painful."
Aurora and Trixie did not reply and lifted the cage containing Spyro from the rocks.
However, as the two prepared to move Spyro, something walked by. Trixie happened to turn her gaze in the direction of the large four-legged moving form as she watched her step amongst the smaller rocks and as soon as her eyes connected with the stare of the creature, which was a rare and endangered species of Asian wild dog with reddish-brown fur, a short, sharp screech erupted from the shorter-than-average glaucous macaw's beak. In turn, the wild dog emitted a bark of surprise and darted off. Trixie and the dog's cries of fright startled Aurora and Spyro and they both flashed Trixie an alarmed look while the three servals nearby, and also Acerola and company, jumped to attention when they heard a parrot squawk and a dog bark.
"Did you guys hear that?" asked the first serval to his two comrades. The other two small spotted cats nodded and began to examine the surroundings. When they saw the three servals enter alert and suspicion mode and begin to examine the source of the noises, Achernar, Polaris, Arcturus, Acerola and Atreyu felt alarm tear through them. Acerola turned her gaze toward Aurora, Trixie and Spyro as the three calmed down, Trixie holding her chest as her heart was beating rapidly and her breathing rate was heightened, both the result of the scare by the Asian wild dog which Achernar had identified as a dhole from one of Bia and Virgil's rare animal books back in Brazil, and began to rapidly formulate a plan.
"We'd better intervene there and then, folks," said the auburn flying fox pup.
"But those servals could be very dangerous," protested Achernar, "They may be small but they can be fierce…"
"They're heading for those three brightly coloured tree birds," said Atreyu. Acerola and the three macaw chicks shot an alarmed look at the servals and saw that Atreyu was right. The servals were heading back towards where they had placed Spyro, suspicious looks lacing their faces. Seeing that Trixie and Aurora were in imminent danger of getting caught by the three servals, Acerola and the other four left their hiding place to plan an interventional attack on the servals.
Aurora glared after the reddish-brown dog as it darted away while Trixie continued to calm her nerves.
"That dog looked like one of those Asian canids," said the pigtailed Spix macaw.
"What's a 'canid'," asked Spyro.
"Dogs such as wolves and the city dogs like our greyhound friends back in Brazil," explained Aurora, "But we don't have time to talk about animal types. Let's get out of here before those spotted cats see us…"
No sooner than these words had left her beak when a scornful and mocking voice made their blood, and the blood of Spyro, freeze.
"I'm afraid you've spoken too soon, you two attempted thieving parrots," it said. Aurora and Trixie, Spyro in his bone cage in their wings, turned to the speaker and found themselves on the receiving end of three pairs of piercing wildcat eyes and under those eyes were mean smiles stretched across their faces.
"Oh dear, looks like your cover has just been blown, you two macaws," hissed the lead serval meanly when he saw that Aurora and Trixie were stricken with surprise.
"And it looks like Carnassial and his gang will be havin' two extra treats to the six they already have," added one of the leader's companions to which Aurora and Trixie could not reply, the stun from being spotted blocking their choice of words. The lead serval then turned to him and the third serval.
"Seize them," he said, "and bind them to take to Carnassial…"
As the serval spoke, another sound erupted, cutting the lead serval off, making the group freeze and the three servals into shooting suspicious glances this way and that.
"Now what!?" snarled the lead serval in frustration and with impatience. Aurora, Trixie and Spyro also scanned the environment.
"That sounded like a flying fox screech," said Spyro for a hunch as to the sound's source had welled within him.
"In a place where only carnivores live?" asked Aurora. Then Trixie felt suspicion well within her but she was not at all pleased. That sound was indeed a flying fox cry but it wasn't from any flying fox.
While the three servals, the small glaucous macaw, the Spix macaw and the caged archaeobird continued searching for the source, a small auburn furred comet with black membranous umbrella-like wings of skin exploded from behind a tree trunk, heading straight for the three servals. Her blue eyes were ablaze with fire like that of burning sulfur and her mouth was open and poised for attacking as she surged towards the three spotted wildcats. However, as Acerola rocketed towards the three servals, the third serval spotted the furry auburn and black comet.
"HEY!" he cried. The other two servals, and also Aurora, Spyro and Trixie, followed the third serval's glare just in time to spot Acerola surge towards the lead serval's face and, without hesitation, sink her teeth into the serval's ear as hard as she could. A massive screech of agony erupted from the spotted cat as Acerola shot away before his paws shot to his bitten and bleeding ear. Aurora, Spyro and Trixie threw on flabbergasted looks as they identified the auburn creature.
"ACEROLA!?" barked Aurora. Suddenly, a serval paw appeared and seized the pigtailed Spix macaw by the neck much to the alarm of Trixie and Spyro.
"AURORA!" cried these two together as the second serval yanked Aurora away but before he could run off with her, several more winged comets, this time blue-purple, blue and grey, and teal-cerulean, appeared and pounced onto Aurora's captor and the other serval and began to savagely bite and claw at their faces and upper bodies; Achernar, Polaris and Arcturus had attacked. The moment the two Spix and glaucous macaw chicks were upon the other two servals with another attacker, a penguin chick with a black and white head and grey downy feathered covered body armed with a stick, joining in the fray with Acerola returning, the serval released Aurora, prompting her to flee and return to Trixie and Spyro. The three older adult macaws and archaeobird watched in utter astonishment as Acerola and company continued to savagely bite, claw and attack the three servals, Acerola going for the lead serval, his paws grasping his bleeding ear where the flying fox pup had bitten him, once again to tear out his facial fur and score her claws over his face. Seizing the opportunity brought about by the distraction thanks to Acerola and her group's intervention, Trixie commanded Aurora to take Spyro to safety.
"Get Spyro outa here while I help those kids," commanded the small glaucous macaw. At first, Aurora hesitated, fearing for Trixie's safety especially for her size but then she relented. While Aurora hurried off with Spyro in his cage in her talons, Trixie launched herself into the fire consisting of the brawling servals and Acerola and her group.
While Trixie went to rescue Acerola and her group as they continued to savagely attacking the trio of Spyro's serval kidnappers, D'Artagnan and Augustus continued to watch Carnassial as he continued to taunt a tightly bound and gagged Carla, the rest of his gang waiting patiently for the share of their first macaw. Finn, Bia, Tiago, Aiden and Jasmine looked on helplessly as Carnassial continued to taunt the older sister of the two Spix macaws, some servals and caracals standing around them to guard them. Across the clearing from Carnassial's gang, Sandalwood, Sirius, Spica, Bellatrix, Canopus, Katniss, Vega and Regulus were, by now, dangerously close to the pack of sleeping dingoes. However, they continued watching the unfolding drama within Carnassial's group as the lead caracal continued giving Carla taunting remarks.
"I'm afraid you have nowhere to go now, my fat tasty treat for my gang," crooned Carnassial meanly; his mouth hovering close to Carla's terrified face, "except into our mouths and bellies along with your four little friends over there," Carla shuddered and began to whimper timidly. Carnassial's smile widened when he saw the fear in his first victim's eyes, "but you don't need to worry, it will only be a quick death," as he said this, the caracal raised his paw and clicked the lethal claws, before lowering the sharp weapons to Carla's neck, right near the area where the carotid artery, the main artery of the neck, was, "All I need to do is sever the most important blood vessel in your neck and make you bleed out…" Carnassial paused dramatically, "just like how I did our previous parrot treats before we consumed 'em."
Carla shuddered and whimpered all the more as Carnassial then prepared to make his final move. Looking up to his serval and caracal gang members, Carnassial said, "You ready for our first meal, gang?"
All the servals and caracals, their tongues sliding around their mouths greedily, all yelped yes in unison.
"Let's just get down to it, already," growled Alecto impatiently. Banzai, Shenzi and some of the others also made impatient frowns, much to Carnassial's gleeful smile. Turning back to Carla, the caracal raised his claws.
"Say goodbye to the light of day, our first macaw treat," crooned the caracal, his small fishhook-like claws glinting in the light like daggers much to Carla's terrified whimpers and squirming. However, she could not move much due to being tightly bound to the stick. Bia, Tiago, Finn, Aiden and Jasmine looked on, whimpers escaping their bound beaks but before Carnassial could make the killing blow on his first victim, he and the other caracals and servals failed to notice an older adult Lear's macaw creeping above them on a branch directly above Carnassial and Carla.
D'Artagnan continued to watch Carnassial as he prepared to slay Carla and the moment his eyes landed on the caracal's claws about to strike her neck, his protective instinct violently erupted within him. With an extremely loud screech, the Lear's macaw launched himself from the branch and pounced directly onto Carnassial's back, much to the immense horror and shock of the other caracals and servals, surprise of Carla, Bia, Tiago, Jasmine, Aiden and Finn and also Sandalwood and company near the dingoes. Then as soon as he was on Carnassial's back, D'Artagnan, his eyes blazing grey infernos, then began to score his claws into the caracal's back flesh. A massive screech of agony erupted from Carnassial as wounds opened in his back and blood was drawn, making him bolt away from Carla. Carnassial's cries, as well as the screeches of D'Artagnan, carried through the air of the Compartment of the Carnivores and attracted the attention of many of the other animals, and the dingoes Sandalwood and the others with him were about to wake were jolted from their slumber, much to the young bat pup and chicks' alarm. The other caracals and servals then surged in to help their leader to seize D'Artagnan when suddenly; a brown and black comet dived in and struck each of them across the face for Augustus had attacked. With his blue eyes blazing fires like those of D'Artagnan's grey ones, the flying fox struck some of the servals and caracals across the faces with a wing and sank his teeth into either the cheeks or foreheads of some others. As the comet of black membranous wings and brown fur soured over their faces, the stunned caracals and servals either screeched in pain or were thrown back by the force of the strikes from Augustus's wing. Then as soon as he had stunned many of the members of Carnassial's gang, Augustus made a beeline for Carla, seized her and began to try and drag her to safety, Carla's green eyes beaming with joy.
While the chaos continued between Carnassial and his gang and D'Artagnan and Augustus, Sandalwood, Sirius, Spica, Bellatrix, Canopus, Katniss, Vega and Regulus found themselves on the receiving end of some canine glares. Immediately, the flying fox pup, three Spix macaw chicks, two glaucous macaw chicks and two Lear's macaw chicks all returned the glares of the dingoes with timid gazes. The group of dingoes, who resembled domestic dogs with reddish fur and white bellies and originated from Australia, then glared down at Sandalwood and the seven macaw chicks suspiciously and angrily, striking fear into the eight small kids. As their fear and intimidation caused by the Australian feral dogs' stare continued to boil, Bellatrix flashed Sandalwood a look.
"Wh-wh-what were we g-g-going to t-t-tell these w-w-wild dogs again, S-S-S-Sandalwood?" she stammered. Sandalwood, however, felt his tongue freeze in his mouth, the fear of the dingoes' vicious stare blocking his ability to reply. The fear then jolted within them as one of the dingoes, the leader of the pack then spoke in a very angry and suspicious voice.
"What are you pesky little birds and bat doing in here!?" growled the reddish dog. Then Regulus, the reason why they had approached the dingoes in the first place finally surfacing within him, stepped forward to explain. However, due to the immense fear of the outraged dogs which caused his body to shake, the son of Neytiri and Tristan, and Trixie and Aiden's nephew, struggled to form words.
"W-w-well," he stammered, his gaze glued to the fierce glare of the lead dingo's face, "Y-y-y-you kn-kn-know th-th-those c-c-c-caracals and servals o-o-over there?"
The lead dingo's eye blinked with confusion.
"You mean those furballs Carnassial and his gang?" snapped the Australian dog.
"What about them!?" added another dingo fiercely, a female surrounded by three smaller dogs which Sandalwood and the others deduced were puppies. Sandalwood and the others then flashed Carnassial and his gang as they continued combating D'Artagnan and Augustus, Augustus having managed to drag Carla to the safety of some bushes and untie her from her bounds and stick, much to her relief and D'Artagnan still savagely attacking the caracals and servals as they tried to catch him. However, Finn, Bia, Jasmine, Aiden and Tiago were still tied up, in need of rescuing.
"W-w-well, um…" began Regulus but then he found that his tongue refused to move due to the immense fear caused by the dingoes' glare piercing him and the other eight. Then the lead dingo's ears fell back, his back hackles raised and his head lowered and he began to advance toward them, making the fear boil all the more within the nine kids and making them back away.
"Well, if you little troublemakers are here to make a joke, we will NOT TOLERATE IT!" snarled the lead dingo, his teeth gritted, making Sandalwood and the seven macaw chicks spring about an inch into the air and their feathers, and Sandalwood's fur to spike out. Behind the leader, the other pack members also began to advance towards the eight young animals. Bellatrix's pigtail feathers and the feathers in Spica's Jewel-like crest also fanned out. The fear was boiling so much that the minds of all nine of the kids went fully blank and they felt like running. Then at last, Vega came forward and in a split second, managed to get the reason out.
"Carnassial and his gang are planning on causing you dingoes TROUBLE!" she blurted out in an instant. Immediately the dingoes stopped and exchanged confused glances. Then the leader glared back at Vega.
"Are they REALLY!?" snarled the reddish dog furiously, his fur bristling.
"Those servals and caracals are honestly a PAIN IN THE TAILS!" growled another of the female dingoes. Then Regulus stepped forward, a sliver of courage he had managed to find streaking within him.
"It's true," he said, "Carnassial and his gang want to cause you dingoes trouble after eating those six macaws but…" he flashed a glance at D'Artagnan as he continued viciously attacking Carnassial and his gang when suddenly, a caracal paw managed to hit home and the Lear's macaw was sent flying towards the group. Sandalwood and the seven macaw chicks all let loose screams of horror when they saw D'Artagnan tumble to a stop near a pile of bones, dazed from being hit so hard. The dingoes looked on in surprise as Regulus and Vega rushed over to their dazed grandfather.
"GRANDPA!" cried the two Lear's chicks together. Sandalwood, Sirius, Spica, Bellatrix, Canopus and Katniss then returned their gazes to the dingoes as they glared bitterly at Carnassial and his gang as they prepared to move Bia, Tiago, Finn, Jasmine and Aiden while three of them, Alecto, Shenzi and Banzai, had cornered Augustus and the freed Carla. Wrath began to boil within the leader.
"Let's go over to those rotten cat brats and GIVE THEM A PIECE OF OUR MIND FOR PLANNING TO CAUSE US TROUBLE!" barked he, his gaze on the equally wrathful members who replied with agreeing barks. Sandalwood and company then saw the dingoes as they entered attack mode.
As soon as the Australian dog pack launched themselves into a bound towards Carnassial and his gang, the six darted to the side out of the dingoes' way, Sandalwood running along.
"Nothing like enlisting additional help from those caracals and servals' biggest rivals and enemies during a big rescue, eh, gang?" cried Sandalwood excitedly as he ran away with Sirius, Spica, Bellatrix, Canopus and Katniss flying just above him. As soon as they had reached a safe distance, the six stopped and turned to watch the dingoes as they charged towards Carnassial and company, angry barks erupting from their mouths.
Augustus continued trying to intimidate Shenzi, Banzai and Alecto, his membranous wings spread protectively across Carla as she timidly backed away against a rock.
"I think we should have changed our minds about that little white bat and included it in our meals as well," growled Shenzi fiercely, her cat eyes boring into Augustus, "but unfortunately, flying foxes are grotesque RATS with WINGS that are totally UNPALATABLE to US!"
"Well, I'm glad to hear that but I wish YOU found parrots equally unpalatable as WELL!" retorted Augustus fiercely, his attention completely away from the insult of flying foxes being 'rats with wings'. Carla's eyes flashed with surprise at Augustus's boldness. It was clear that his courage to stand up to his deranged brother and sister-in-law during the Great Battle for the Sanctuary back in Brazil had grown since then. Shenzi, Banzai and Alecto each exchanged stunned glances but then returned their glares at the furious flying fox.
"I think talking with you winged rat is a WASTE OF TIME!" bellowed Shenzi and with that, the female caracal raised her paw, flared her claws and prepared to swipe Augustus whose boldness had quickly flashed to alarm, causing him to cover Carla protectively. However, Augustus and Carla's alarmed glares darted towards something behind Shenzi and her comrades. When he saw the tsunami, the flying fox barked at Carla to flee and the pair quickly bolted like a pair of gazelles. Shenzi, Banzai and Alecto looked on in surprise as Carla and Augustus made a break for it but before they could wonder what made the two dart off so quick, a bark reached their ears an d before the three cats knew it, they were tackled in the side by some reddish comets on four legs. Shenzi released a screech of surprise as a dingo rammed into her side and slammed her against a nearby tree trunk while Banzai and Alecto were sent flying into a nearby thorn bush, resulting in them facing a thorny and painful landing. Then soon, a seriously dazed and surprised Shenzi found herself face to face with an angry glare from a reddish dog while behind her, many of Carnassial's gang found themselves confronted by more dingoes. From a distance, Sirius, Spica, Bellatrix, Canopus, Katniss and also Vega and Regulus with D'Artagnan, and Sandalwood and also Carla and Augustus watched on as the confrontation between the dingoes and Carnassial's gang began to unfold. The lead dingo glared daggers with Carnssial who was wincing from his bleeding back inflicted upon him by D'Artagnan.
"We've been told that YOU fur-eared menace was planning on causing us TROUBLE!" snarled the Australian dog fiercely. Behind him, several more dingoes, their ears flattened; teeth bared and back fur spiked upward, growled in agreement. Carnassial shot confused glances this way and that before returning his timid gaze to the lead dingo. Now it was HIS turn to be afraid.
"I-I-I-I d-d-d-didn't say anything about c-c-c-causing you d-d-d-dingoes trouble," he stammered, trying his best to look innocent, "H-h-h-h-honest."
However, the lead dingo looked unconvinced. Behind him, several servals and caracals had managed to seize Bia, Tiago, Finn, Aiden and Jasmine who were still tied up and sneak away the moment the dingoes arrived. The dingo and his gang then prepared to attack Carnassial and his gang.
"I'm afraid your immature protests don't fool US!" he bellowed and with a massive bark of pure rage, the reddish dog sprang himself into the air and leaped at Carnassial. However, the lead caracal, despite his wounded back, darted to one side, making the dingo miss. Around Carnassial and the lead dingo, the other dingoes had launched themselves at the servals and other caracals and within seconds, a massive fight broke out. However, the servals and caracals that had Bia, Tiago, Jasmine, Aiden and Finn managed to sneak away and make their escape. Augustus and Carla rushed over to D'Artagnan as he struggled to his feet with Sandalwood and the seven macaw chicks' help. The moment Carla saw Sirius, Spica and Bellatrix; she released a cry of immense disbelief and joy and rushed over to them. The three Spix macaw chicks turned just in time to be swept into a massive hug from the freed Spix macaw. While Carla and the three chicks relished their union, Augustus was giving the other five the furious eye along with D'Artagnan who had managed to come to.
"How DARE you wander off into danger, you LOT!" he bellowed, making Sandalwood, Katniss, Regulus, Canopus and Vega flinch, "YOU could have been KILLED!"
"We're sorry, Grandpa!" cried Sandalwood in a strangled voice. Augustus and D'Artagnan then softened and swept the five kids into a tight hug as relief took hold.
"Oh, don't you lot EVER endanger yourselves like that again," cried D'Artagnan, "You had us worried when we saw you wandering around in this dangerous place."
Sandalwood and the five macaw chicks returned the older flying fox and Lear's macaw hug when suddenly; Carla's voice brought them back to reality.
"Wait, where are Bia, Tiago, Finn, Jasmine and Aiden?" cried the chubby Spix macaw and Spica's mother. Augustus and D'Artagnan looked this way and that when Katniss' eyes landed on something sneaking away from the brawling caracals, servals and dingoes.
"THERE!" she cried and pointed to the something. Immediately, Augustus, D'Artagnan and Carla followed the glaucous macaw's point and when their eyes landed on the still-bound and gagged Bia, Tiago, Jasmine, Aiden and Finn in the clutches of some of the caracals and servals receding into the distance with a familiar caracal with a scratched back following them, alarm tore through them. Augustus flashed D'Artagnan, Carla and the kids a stern look.
"You re-join Aurora and Trixie and help them rescue Spyro if they hadn't done so already while I follow those wildcats," he commanded and before anyone could protest, the flying fox was off. Giving up, D'Artagnan commanded the others and they darted off to look for Aurora, Trixie and Spyro and also Acerola, Achernar, Polaris, Arcturus and Atreyu who had gone to help the two macaws rescue the latter one's father.