"Eagles! Get out! Get out!"
The shouting passed from hollow to hollow, causing many to shoot out in alarm. Multiple started rushing toward the Harpy Eagles, but were simply too far to prevent what happened next. The vicious predators lashed out at their two targets, two young Spix's macaws. The two bolted away, but ended up going away from the tribe, and the pursuing eagles only made the gap bigger and bigger.
"Come on! Faster!" Caio yelled over the eagle's excited screeching. His recipient was panting heavily, unable to keep up with the physical stress of the chase. Bia could slowly feel the ache and burn in her muscles override her adrenaline and the bite of the cold, slowly causing her wings to fail. Caio was not at his top speed, flying beside Bia. The eagles chasing behind were speedily catching up, extending deadly talons at the intended victims. The yelling from the tribe got fainter and fainter as the four exited Spix's Macaw land. The few macaws chasing after the eagles strangely ceased the pursuit, refusing to follow any closer.
"Duck!"
Caio slammed into Bia's side, causing the two to barrel sharply towards a side. The area was rocky, but due to the weather, it was caked in significantly thick layers of snow. The macaws crashed into the snow, stunned briefly by the impact. Both eagles landed heavily nearby, unable to strike accurately through all the white distraction. Bia could see her vision turn double, and her head started throbbing. She felt Caio drag her by her wing, and could faintly see something large narrowly missing her. A seemingly muffled screech was registered, but her heavy breathing seemed to take over anything she heard. A dizzying wave of nausea hit her hard as she took a few more steps, but Caio pulled harder, almost dragging her across the snowy rocks, with the two Eagles pecking and slashing at them. Suddenly, Caio felt a rush of air upward, and felt the ground beneath his feet crumble downward. His instinct caused him to attempt flight, but it was too late, and both macaws tumbled into a crevice, with the snow crumbling around the sides. Caio squeezed as far into the crevice as possible, dragging Bia in front of him, wings wrapped tightly around her. There was a very brief moment of silence, before the Harpy Eagles attempted another try at the two. Snow crumbled in as the Eagles scratched at the crevice entrance, unable to fit their larger bodies into then, raining upon Caio and Bia. The adrenaline painfully faded, revealing the cutting chill of the snow, and the aching of his muscles. Caio flinched holding Bia tighter as a beak thrust through the thin opening, snapping at thin air. There was an angry screech, and the beak withdrew, only for another one to attempt the same thing.
"You idiot! Can't even catch little macaws!" A gruff voice boomed.
"Get out of the hole! You can't stay in there forever!" Another voice screeched, much higher, but just as unwelcoming.
"As if they will! Use your damn brains!"
Caio peered at the arguing eagles, considering an escape, but his muscles were aching like he'd never felt before, and Bia was probably about to pass out. His thoughts briefly wanderer to Bia, and suddenly, he realized that she was ice cold. Her body was not as warm, and cold sweat seemed to form a thin layer around her forehead and neck. Her breathing was haphazard, fast and yet it seemed to be slowing.
"Breathe! Breathe!" Caio whispered sharply, loosening his grip slightly. Bia's breathing slowed more in reaction to Caio, but it was still sharp inhaling and exhaling. Caio was about to say something else, but then snow started pouring into him. He looked up in confusion, only see one of the eagles pushing snow into the crevice.
They were trying to force them out.
Panic uncontrollably seeped into Caio's mind, and he frantically shook off the snow, but it simply went below him and the continuous stream of snow entering the crevice remained unbroken. The snow below the two macaws accumulated, slowly forcing Caio up toward the surface, and toward the threat. Devoid of any other option, Caio simply panicked.
"HELP!" He yelled out, his voice echoing for a long distance around.
"Nobody's here to help you, scum! Give up!" A gruff voice answered. More snow poured into the crevice, partially burying Caio in the white powder. Strangely, Caio felt his panic slowly die away, into an awful pit in his stomach. Tears welled at his eyes, as the eagles got closer and closer to their goal.
"I'm sorry, Bia," Caio whispered, tears escaping his tightly shut eyes. Silence continued, and the bite of a cold breeze started to make itself more known. Caio's shut eyes refused to open, and his fear was getting amplified every second. The whistle of the winds muted whatever was outside, causing a dreadful lack of detail.
Then all together, the sound of the winds died off as well. Caio's fear gave way to confusion, and his eyes slowly screwed open. The tears clouded his vision, but all he saw was two wings reaching into the hollow. Caio was briefly stunned. The eagles were toying with him? Something within him snapped, and all his fear and confusion translated into pure anger. With all his might, he bit the wing closet to his face, rolling over so that Bia was below him. There was a curse, and the win retracted, pulling Caio out with it. The victim of Caio's bite slammed him into the ground, causing Caio to let go of the wing. He tumbled down some distance, slamming into a few rocks. The dizziness overtook Caio, and his clouded vision was obscured even further. Something grabbed him with talons, but Caio had already lost all of his fight, and couldn't do much to struggle. The world went black as he slipped into unconsciousness.
"Oh we're finally here!"
"No we're not, this is only the edge of the Amazon. The infestation is still quite some distance away."
"That's fine, it won't be too long now!"
Bia coughed and spluttered as the worst of her nausea passed. She forced her eyes open, propping herself up against the floor. The rocks below her were warm, and a heater stood nearby, keeping the cold at bay. A groan caught Bia's attention, and she attempted to locate the source of it, but her blurred vision disoriented her other senses. Blinking a few times to try and clear the dizziness, the surroundings made themselves clear. She was in a rocky room of some sort, with an opening not too far away. The heater was positioned in the middle of the room, along with something else. Someone else. Bia went closer to the figure sprawled across the floor.
"Caio!" She called, as loud as she could. Caio seemed to twitch, but otherwise didn't really react. Bia's nausea seemed to dissipate instantly, and she rushed over to him. She pressed her head against his chest, dreading the result. A steady heartbeat calmed her, and she sighed in relief. With some effort, she dragged him towards a wall, and leaned him against it. She slumped right next to him, facing outside, panting softly. As her mind started to organize itself, the inevitable question soon hit her.
Where am I?
The winds seemed to have died down, resulting in a gentle breeze that whistled calmly in the background. It's recognizable pattern in its tune continued, until it was broken by the flapping of wings. Bia peered toward the entrance, not sure who to expect. If the harpy eagles had brought her back to their nest, she or Caio would've been eaten already; if the Spix's macaws found them and brought them back, they would at least be in a hollow. The figure that appeared at the entrance soon shot down all her doubts, and aroused twice as many new ones.
"You?"
"I see you recognize me. Do you know who I am?" The macaw asked. It was a Spix's macaw, though her appearance was different from the ones Bia had grown so accustomed to seeing in the tribe. Her feathers seemed more ruffled, and she had a more or less expressionless look compared to the frequently joyous Spix's macaws.
"You're Crystal, aren't you?" Bia inferred, still slowly taking in the macaw's appearance. Crystal nodded slowly, examining Bia thoroughly from her spot. Bia felt a wave of unease, and couldn't help but feel spooked. There was an aura about Crystal, like the last time they'd met. It wasn't something Bia could easily forget. It was an aura of control, an aura of authority. And also an aura of fear.
"Why did you save us?" Bia asked, staring warily at Crystal.
"You're a smart one. I'm sure you know," she replied, taking a step towards Bia.
"You want something?" Bia guessed, voice soft, half afraid of inciting her host.
"Doing anything requires a motive. And a motive is always a want," Crystal reflected Bia's guess back to square one, and peered at Caio, with slight curiosity. Worry etched into Bia as she began to wonder if Caio had anything to do with it.
"Madame," a voice interrupted. A bat was peeking in from the entrance. Crystal left with the bat, without saying anything else. Bia took the chance she had, and tried to look out the entrance. A largely built scarlet blocked her view before she could decipher her surroundings. The sentry's eyes narrowed, and Bia instinctively edged back into the room, out of the sentry's view.
"Hey is that a crocodile?" Tiago pointed at what seemed like a piece of debris floating around in the river.
"I'm pretty sure that's just a log," Carla replied, observing the same object. The object seemed to drift toward the river bank. A scaled, streamlined body emerged from the murky depths, revealing the full predator that was once concealed from sight.
"Ha! Told ya!" Tiago whooped, still staring at the reptile from the skies.
"Guys, you won't believe what we just saw!" Bruno yelled from a distance, with Ana close by.
"There's a giant snake not too far from here!" Ana exclaimed in excitement. The four raced to the snake's last known location, and sure enough, the long animal was still sliding silently through the dense greenery on the forest floor.
"Hey, I've seen this kind before. In Rio," Tiago recalled.
"Yea Bia said it was a... Er... constrictor, was it?" Carla tried to remember.
"Boa constrictor," Tiago corrected, looking in fascination at the snake.
"It makes me wonder how you remember those things," Carla smirked. "And not the alphabet."
"The alphabet is so boring!" Tiago sighed.
"What's the alphabet?" Ana asked, looking completely confounded at the new word.
"Humans use these drawings to communicate sometimes. The Alphabet is what the drawings are called," Carla explained her interpretation.
"I'm going to forget anything to do with your 'alphabet', all it's doing is confusing me," Bruno stated bluntly.
"It's actually quite handy in Rio, but there's hardly anything to read here," Carla shrugged, looking around for anything interesting.
"Hey guys! I found the best thing ever!" Tiago yelled from a distance. In the brief conversation about the alphabet, he had slipped away to look for anything entertaining.
"I am actually worried about getting eaten by that," Ana commented, looking from a distance.
"It's huge," Bruno stared at the subject, which was nested in a hole in the ground. It was a gigantic tarantula, nearly as wide as Blu, and just as broad.
"It gives me the creeps. I don't want to be near it," Ana concluded, leaving the scene.
"Oh Bia would love this," Tiago laughed, but was unwilling to get too close as well.
"This area seems vaguely familiar!"
"Yes, we are here. Just a little more."
"Look! It's a macaw!"
"Splendid, shall we ask for directions?"
"Oh I'm sure she'd love to help us!"
Ana was on a tree beside the river. There were multiple partially submerged ones near the middle of the large water body, the result of the rising river. Ana peered into the murky waters, trying to make out her own reflection, but was unable to do so, other than a slight discoloration among the muddy brown. Ana grunted at the disappointing outcome, and leaned against the bark, waiting for the rest to finish fussing around the tarantula.
"Who would even like things like those, they are hairy, and creepy..."
Ana grumbled to herself, completely bored with nothing to do. The flapping of wings heightened her spirits, and she turned to look at who was coming. Her eyes widened, and her instinct overtook her mind, attempting to shoot away.
Too late.
"What was that scream?" Tiago looked up, away from the tarantula.
"That's Ana!" Carla recognized, and immediately bolted toward the source. Bruno and Tiago were quick to follow, discarding their interest in the arachnid. The many branches and leaves barred them from making it across to Ana easily, but the process slowly got easier as the river came into sight.
"Where is the tribe, girl?" A cockatoo demanded, with a powerful talon holding Ana tightly against a branch. Ana couldn't respond, fear and shock overtaking any logic she could've used. She struggled fruitlessly against the talon.
"Shut up!" The cockatoo yelled, silencing and halting Ana's actions. Her widened eyes, stared at her captives, and she shivered at the sight of them. A large cockatoo, with ruffled feathers, and a sort of attachment to the back of his wing. A bright purple frog was perched on the cockatoo's shoulder, grinning widely at Ana.
"Come on, tell us where! You wouldn't want to be poisoned now, would you?" The frog smiled as sweetly as possible, edging closer with her last statement. Ana pinched her beak shut, shivering more. Her face was dangerously close to the frog, much too close for comfort. The frog reached closer, with a webbed hand almost toughing Ana, who tried to edge as far away as possible. A loud interruption halted the frog. Ana, and the two aggressors turned to look. Tiago, Carla and Bruno were there, staring in shock at the scene.
"Oh, more guests. How perfect!"
