Bia dropped like a stone, hurtling toward the ground. She landed hard, on the black soil, aware of the agony that was tearing through her chest; she could imagine her skin screaming, if it had the ability to. She couldn't get her mind to work - it was as if she was paralyzed. And she was - frozen with fear, as she heard the triumphant Harpy eagle cries above her. Bia clutched her chest, quivering, terrified of what would happen next. She knew all about Harpy eagles - she knew how they killed. Bia was powerless - she couldn't run. The pain was too much, too overwhelming. She rolled onto her side, wings pressed on her chest to stem some of the bleeding, but it didn't slow down. Tears began spilling from her eyes.
In the vines, Azure and Orchid were struggling fiercely, trying to free themselves as well as distract the Harpies from Bia, but they took no notice. Their hungry eyes were fixed upon Bia, who was lying motionless on the floor. All the while, Azure was screeching Bia's name, desperately trying to reach the vine that had caught on his foot. Where are Bruno, Carla and Tiago when you need them? "Azure!" Orchid exclaimed, and his head whipped up - Orchid's beak was open, and then, before Azure knew it, he was falling through the air, the vine on his ankle snapped. His instinct was to rush to her, to help her out of her vine prison, but Orchid was shaking her head, eyes darting from Azure to Bia. "Forget about me! I'll get myself out of this mess, just help her!"
With a moment's hesitation, Azure turned, folding his wings in a dive to reach Bia - the Harpies were circling, almost taking their time in getting to their prey. They knew Bia couldn't move, and it was if they were enjoying it, watching her in pain. Azure shot past them, and immediately, the blue streak caught their attention. Azure almost crash-landed on the ground, but he stopped himself from doing so moments before he made contact with the floor. As soon as his talons touched the mossy ground, Azure ran to Bia's side, calling her name. "Bia!" he gasped, skidding to a halt. "Bia, can you hear me?" She didn't respond - her eyes were closed and seeping with tears, but Azure knew how much pain she was in. Finally, she mumbled his name.
"Azure..." she muttered, in a dazed voice. Azure couldn't see the wound, for she was on her side, wings clasped around her chest, where the eagle had struck. He wrapped his wings around his head, clueless as to what to do. Azure looked up, where the eagles were getting closer. He spread his wings over Bia, in an attempt to shield her. Suddenly, there was movement in the corner of his eye - when he saw who it was, Azure had never felt so relieved in his life. Bruno, Carla, and Tiago emerged from the bushes, panting.
"Azure, that was such a stupid, reckless idea -" Tiago began, but then he saw his sister, curled up in agony on the ground. He stared in shock, but this turned to horror as he realized she had been injured. Carla, meanwhile, let out a piercing shriek.
"Bia!" Carla wailed, throwing herself at Bia's side, where she was hiding the wound on her chest. Tiago looked up at Azure, eyes piercing and filled with fear.
"Was she hit by an eagle?" he demanded, but Azure couldn't reply. He couldn't take his eyes off Bia, where a red stain was creeping through her wing feathers, as they covered her wound. Bruno was now frantically talking to her, attempting to pry her wings free.
"Bia, move your wings - we have to see the damage." Bruno looked up at the others, with wide eyes. "My mom and dad did basic medical training - they taught me about bleeding and medical plants. To stop the bleeding, I need some moss, quickly -" but then Bruno's beak snapped shut, for the group was now cloaked in shadow. Slowly, they all looked up - the female and male Harpies were towering above them, eyes crazed and wild with triumph. Azure felt a spark of outrage as he saw the female's left claws, which were glistening with red - red with Bia's blood.
Above them, a blue comet came hurtling from the vines - Orchid, a few vine fragments still caught in her feathers. She threw herself at the back of the female's head, wings wrapping tightly over her eyes, her own screwed shut. Immediately, the female let out a squawk of surprise, beginning to leap around, wildly, trying to shake Orchid off. The eagle kept tripping and bumping into things, unable to see, while the male chased her, squawking. The group stared in bewilderment, before snapping back to reality.
"I'll help Orchid!" Tiago declared. He looked at Bia, before leaving her side, leaping toward Orchid and the eagles. "Get away from her!" He demanded, but Azure knew that even both Tiago and Orchid wouldn't stand a chance. He looked back at Bia, hesitantly, before he heard Orchid crying out. He whipped round, where the male's beak had closed on the end of her tail, refusing to let go. Tiago was desperately clawing at the male, but his efforts were useless. Looking at Bia once, Azure threw himself at the male eagle, raking at it's head to make it release Orchid. He dodged a snapping beak, looking over his shoulder.
"We'll hold them off! Get her somewhere safe!" Azure begged, before turning back to face the eagles.
"Carla!" Bruno said, urgently, holding one of Bia's wings. "Grab her other wing! We need to get her away, quickly!" Carla looked up, torn between helping the others or helping Bia, before she nodded. Carefully, she wrapped her talons around Bia's other wing, but then she leapt back when Bia cried out in pain. "Carla, help me!" Bruno said, sharply, as the male eagle stumbled their way, trying to dislodge the clawing Azure from it's shoulder. Carla gasped.
"Sorry, Bia!" She exclaimed, before grabbing Bia's other wing. Bia cried out again, but Carla only flinched this time, holding her by one wing, and Bruno the other. Together, they flew up the nearest tree, finding and flying into a hollow. Gently, the pair let go of Bia, putting her down. Carla crouched beside her sister, before she looked up at Bruno with desperate eyes. "What do we do?"
"I need to see the wound." Bruno replied, before looking down at Bia. "Bia? I need you to move your wings, now - you're losing a lot of blood." The blood that was soaking through Bia's wing feathers had expanded, and more was spreading underneath. Bia's eyes snapped open, and she looked from Carla to Bruno, trembling in fear as she heard the eagles, still shrieking, outside. Then her wings went slack, allowing Bruno and Carla to survey the damage. Carla looked up at Bruno worriedly, from where she was holding Bia's head up. Bruno carefully took Bia's wings, moving them aside.
"How bad is it?" Carla asked, unable to look. Bruno didn't reply - he was staring at the wound on Bia's chest. Finally, Carla looked down, and she drew in a shuddering breath. Three enormous claw marks were carved into Bia's chest - weeping with blood, which showed no sign of slowing. The wound was ragged-edged, and dark red. "Oh, no." Carla whispered. Then there was a great commotion in the entrance - Bruno and Carla looked up to see a breathless Azure, Tiago and Orchid.
"They gave up!" Orchid gasped, in relief. "You should've seen Tiago - he clawed the male in the eye -" but her sentence finished with a horrified gasp. She had seen Bia's wound, and so had Tiago. Tiago ran to Carla's side, where he stared down at Bia, wings clasped over his beak. He was silent for a few moments, before he got a few words out.
"Will she... be okay?" He whispered. In the entrance, Azure hadn't moved. He was clutching the wall, half-sunk to his knees, tears streaming from his eyes. Bruno looked up at Tiago, where he was now pressing moss onto Bia's wound. He didn't say a word, but by the look in his brown eyes, they knew that Bruno hadn't the faintest idea.
Meanwhile
Roberto slammed Mina into the wall, blue eyes blazing with fury. His wing pressed against her neck, and she desperately tried to push him away as the others attempted to drag Roberto off. Roberto was shouting, louder than he ever had in his life. Outside, many Spix's and red macaws were peering inside; some were cheering Roberto on, while others winced. Felipe and Azalea were standing in the entrance of Isaac, Bromeliad, Azure and Orchid's room, where Adele and Leti were now asleep. They were just kids - they couldn't be hearing the Hyacinths' plans. Now, Felipe and Azalea weren't daring to interfere. The moment Mina had told them what happened, Roberto had attacked her without a second thought. "Roberto!" Eduardo barked, angrily, his attempts to pull Roberto away having failed. "Put her down at once!"
"You did what?" Roberto demanded, completely ignoring Eduardo's orders. "You let them hit my mate and daughter on the heads with rocks? You knew their plans, and never told us?" Behind him, Isaac had his wings around Bromeliad, keeping her back as she tried to intervene. They had never seen their father look so angry, and Isaac knew that Bromeliad couldn't risk hurting herself, with her head injury.
"Dad, please -" Bromeliad objected, trying to push Isaac away, but Roberto didn't listen.
"You let them take my mate! What kind of birds are you?"
"Roberto -" Blu protested, grabbing him by the shoulder, but Roberto shoved him away. Blu lost his footing, stumbling, before he fell to the floor. Mimi shot Roberto a furious look, before helping Blu to his feet.
"Isn't this a bit much, Roberto?" Mimi asked, angrily. "Are you alright, Blu? Hey!" Mimi spotted the crowd in the entrance. She snapped her wingtips. "Beat it, nothing to see here." The crowd scrambled out of sight, but they were still hiding close by to listen. Blu held his shoulder, wincing.
"I'm going to go... check on Jewel." He mumbled, before he left the tree, muttering.
"Come on, dad!" Isaac insisted. "Let her go - it's not her fault! I'm sure she can explain..." He was just as frightened as his father and sister - what would they do to his mother? Roberto attacking Mina wasn't going to get them anywhere. For a few moments, Roberto stood there, frozen, his grip still on Mina's neck - finally, shaking with rage, he let her go. Mina collapsed to the ground, coughing, the air rushing back into her lungs. Eduardo asked if she was alright, and Mina gave him a weak wingtips-up. Meanwhile, Roberto turned, stalking away, wingtips buried tightly into his crest feathers. He was having a complete meltdown.
"I..." Mina stammered. She looked up at Roberto, Bromeliad, and Isaac, her eye whites pink from how Roberto had almost strangled her. "I wanted to save Bromeliad and Sophia. I would've, but I needed a disguise - like I did for Blu. Without a disguise, do you know what they would've done?" Mina shuddered. "Anyway, we were patrolling, but that's when we found Bromeliad and Sophia. I didn't have the time, and I couldn't act there. You guys need an inside-macaw - if I'd acted then, firstly, I'd either be banished or killed. You would have the complete disadvantage in this war. And lastly, with me out of the picture, Sophia would've been taken regardless - and Bromeliad would've either been left to the mercy of the jungle or killed." Mina looked down, her voice lowering. "Sophia would never have had a chance."
"But..." Felipe looked lost for words, while everyone else was in stunned silence. "You're Kerja's daughter. Why are you... on our side?"
"My mother?" Mina looked up. "She doesn't see me as a daughter... she's never loved me, not really. Maybe it's because I'm so small, or because I have different views from her. I'm on your side because I hate what they're doing. It's sick. Kerja takes pride in the fact that we've driven out six tribes, and she actually enjoys doing it. She's brainwashing Hyacinth kids, and once a Hyacinth grows too old to fight well, they're banished. I can't stand it."
"Are there... others, like you?" Mimi asked. When Mina gave her an offended look, Mimi shook her head. "Not your height - ones who share your views."
"There are some." Mina replied. "But I can't risk bringing them together to help. You can barely keep a secret in my tribe without someone eventually finding out. And Felipe, Azalea -" she looked up at them, apologetically. "I'm so sorry. I would've warned your tribe, but Kerja never told me about the surprise attack. By the time I found out, it was too late." The two Scarlet macaws didn't say a word, at first - before Azalea gave her a sad smile.
"It's alright. None of it was your fault."
"Hello?" Roberto interrupted. They turned around, looking at him. Mina shrank away, seeing that the look on his face hadn't changed. Roberto looked sick with fear and worry. "Why are we sitting here? What are they going to do to Sophia?" All eyes turned to Mina - outside, the gathered tribe leaned closer, with Sophia's closest friends at the front.
"Interrogation." Mina replied, quietly. "They want to know your tribe's secrets - what will drive you out. There's two ways they can extract infomation from her. Firstly, there's a kind of plant. It... makes you deluded, confused, makes you see things that aren't really there. As it confuses her, it could make her tell them everything. But that plant is hard to come by, so chances are, they're not going to use that. They'll use the other way."
"What is the other way?" Bromeliad and Isaac asked, at the same time. Mina didn't say a word, but she lifted her wing, revealing a brutally sharpened pencil. She had a thin vine tied under her wing, meaning that she didn't need to carry it. It was a mandatory thing in her tribe, unless the weapon was too awkward or big to have under the wing. Mina dropped the pencil to the ground, while the others looked at each other.
"They'll use anything to get the infomation they want." She murmured, knowing that the weapon would make them understand. "I'll tell you everything they're planning. Then we need a rescue plan, and we need it fast."