Bia was delirious and in so much pain - her chest was on fire, but she didn't want to look at it or allow anyone else to, so she was shielding it from view with her wings. It had been several hours since her chest had been torn, and while the eagles had not returned, Bia was petrified. Since she had woken from being fed a lilac berry, Bruno had told her that whatever he had put on to her wound was supposed to be soothing - it had done nothing. Well, that wasn't exactly true - initially, the leaf had worked, a cooling effect taking place. But then it had faded to a dull ache, until she felt it - a warm sensation that had intensified, until it burned. Bia was trying to ignore it, but she couldn't. She was tossing and turning, wings wrapped around her shoulders, as if she was cold - but she was hot. Unbearably. She whimpered, but regretted it when someone was at her side like lightning. She didn't want to be fussed over.
"Bia?" Azure whispered, in a frightened voice. Bia opened her eyes, squinting to see him in the darkness of the hollow. She could just about make out Bruno and Carla, propped against the wall, wings wrapped tightly around each other. Carla had been so much more affectionate to Bruno - he had stopped Bia from bleeding to death, after all. Without him, she could've been even weaker than she already was, or worse. Bia wanted to thank him, but she could barely bring herself to speak. Outside, she could see Tiago and Orchid, backs to the hollow entrance. Orchid's head was resting on Tiago's shoulder, and his wing was looped around her, his head was tilted up - he was looking up at the starry night sky. Suddenly feeling oddly cold, Bia tried to feel for Azure's wing. Finally, she found it, struggling to speak. She felt unusually cold, which was peculiar, since she had been the opposite minutes before.
"I'm cold." Bia muttered. Azure blinked - how could she be cold? It was an incredibly humid night. But he couldn't let her feel uncomfortable. Azure sat down next to her, resting his wing across her, terrified that he may accidentally brush against her wound. Bia shivered, shuffling closer to him from where she lay. "Thank you." She sighed. Azure had a face like stone, but underneath, all kinds of terrors were racing through his mind, as he imagined all kinds of worst-case scenarios. Was this how Blu felt? Powerless, terrified, as he watched Jewel in her sickness?
"This is all my fault." Azure murmured, feeling tears once again threaten his eyes. "I was so stupid. Why did I go toward you, when I was being chased by two eagles? I knew the danger, but I still lead them straight to you and Orchid. They could've killed you, and she could've been hurt, too. How could I let her be so reckless, taking on that eagle solo? I'm the worst Spix's macaw ever invented."
"Please don't say that." Bia whispered, pushing his wing away, as she was now too hot again.
"But it's true!" Azure insisted, head sinking into his wings. "I've almost killed you twice, now. First, it was the fire. And now this."
"It's not your fault - please don't blame yourself -" then Bia felt a burning sensation on her chest, and she gasped. Azure pried his wings away from his face, looking down at her.
"What? Is it your wound?"
"No," she lied. Bia didn't want to worry Azure, but she wasn't a good liar - he didn't believe her. Azure instead felt her forehead, frowning with worry.
"Heck, Bia - you're really hot. Like... hotter than the air." Bia felt a hot surge of frustration at Azure's comment. They were all fussing over and worried for her, and she was sick to death of it. She pushed his wing away from her forehead, before turning away.
"Look, Azure, I'm fine. Just... leave me alone." Bia said, a little more sharply than she intended. She then rolled onto her side, so that her back was to him. Azure's eyes flashed with hurt, before he looked away.
"I see. Fine, if that's what you want." He got to his talons, before leaving the hollow. Meanwhile, Bruno opened an eye, frowning at what Azure had said. Hotter than the air? Quietly, so not to wake Carla, he stood up, walking over to Bia. He stopped, to check her breathing - it was now uneven and laboured. Frowning again, Bruno rested a wingtip on her forehead, eyes widening as he did. No, it can't be.
"Carla, wake up." He whispered. Behind him, Carla muttered. Bruno turned, speaking urgently. "Carla! Seriously, wake up!" Finally, Carla woke, looking up at him drowsily. "There's something wrong with Bia, help me wake her." Outside, Tiago looked up as Azure left the hollow, this movement causing Orchid to wake. They blinked tiredly at Azure.
"She okay?" Orchid asked, immediately. Azure simply nodded, before flying up to a higher branch in silence. Orchid and Tiago looked at each other, confused. "Did he seem alright to you?" Orchid asked, to which Tiago shrugged. Orchid frowned in concern, as Azure stood in the leaves above, unmoving and distant-looking. Orchid looked at Tiago, where he was staring into the trees warily. Ever since the eagles' attack hours before, he had been awfully quiet. "I'm really sorry, for what happened to Bia." She said, hoping to cheer him up. Luckily, it seemed to have worked, as he flashed her a grateful glance.
"Thanks, Orchid... and also, I can't thank you enough for attacking that Harpy. It was really brave, and because if that, you saved us all." Tiago wrapped a wing around Orchid, and she leaned against him.
"Oh, that's alright. I just... couldn't stand the idea of it. Coming all this way, just to get eaten by a Harpy. And Bia's my friend - I couldn't let her get hurt anymore." Orchid's eyes travelled to the smudge of grey mountains. "You really think it's there?" She asked, hoping for a distraction from Bia's injuries. The mountains were closer than they had been before Bia had been injured, and, when she and Orchid had been separated from the others, Bia had told Orchid at how close she felt to it - it was deep in those mountains, somewhere.
Orchid had faith in Bia, and she shared a similar thought - only she felt as though it were closer. Almost as if it wasn't too far into the mountains, but in the closest ones. It was nearing twilight, the sky turning lilac, the stars beginning to fade out. Twilight was her favourite time of the day - there was something about how it was between night and dawn, the sky turning that gorgeous colour, but with the stars and moon still thrown onto it.
"Oh, I don't know." Tiago replied. "I... I just hope it's close. Because I just have a bad feeling, you know? It's almost like I'm dreading going back."
"What do you mean?" Orchids asked, with a frown. "Not about your mom..."
"That's the thing - I have a feeling she'll be okay. It's...like there's something else." Tiago commented, sounding as confused as Orchid felt. "I don't know what it is. It's odd." He looked back at the mountains. "They really are getting close - I'd say less then an hour's flight to get to the base, maybe a couple of hours to get halfway up one. It's going to be so difficult - what are we going to do, search the mountains one at a time? That'll take days, maybe weeks. There's gotta be a sign, at some point." Tiago then went quiet, blinking. Orchid frowned.
"Tiago?" She asked. Tiago was staring into the mountains, at the closest one. Orchid followed his gaze. This mountain was fairly small, at least compared to the others - the rainforest faded to grassland, and then it became more sparse. It became rocky and grey, dotted with occasional shrubs - they would have to carry some food up there with them, since there wasn't a lot of edible matter. Then Orchid saw what Tiago did. A single, blue light - none of the artificial human creation, but soft and glowing, like a star sparkle. Orchid and Tiago then heard a whispering - a ghostly murmur, but not the scary kind, of inaudible words. The light shone for a few moments, before it winked out. "Tiago... are you hearing and seeing what I am?" She whispered, in awe. "Azure, you witnessing this?" She looked up, where her brother was just about visible. He was staring at the mountain they were, and even though he never said a word in reply, Orchid knew he saw it.
"The Estrella only shows itself to those who need it!" Tiago exclaimed, leaping to his feet, with pure joy. "Carla, Bruno, get out here!" He began leaping on the spot, wings thrown into the air above him. "We're saving mom and Bia afterall -"
"Guys!" Bruno's head appeared from the hollow. His feathers were bushed, his face filled with dread. "If you know where it is, we've got to get moving, fast!" They knew that only meant one thing - Bia had gotten worse. Then Azure, Tiago and Orchid were fighting to fit into the hollow, fighting to see Bia. Carla was sunk against the wall, staring at Bia, who was shivering on the ground, trembling, her feathers glistening with sweat. Even from a foot away, they could smell it - festering. Azure had thought he had detected it, sitting next to Bia, but he hadn't thought it was her wound. Now, hours since she had been struck, they knew what infection looked like. A few hours before, it had been pink and shiny. Now, it was different. Painfully swollen, with a yellow-white liquid forming on it's surface. And the wound was now red - the ragged edges were hinted with green, and they knew that Bia was in absolute agony.
At first, none of them knew how it happened. They had been so careful - cleaning the wound, making sure nothing got into it. Then Bia muttered weakly, through a clenched beak. "Harpy eagles are scavengers, you know." And that explained it all. As well as being hunters, Harpies would scavenge on animal carcasses - and those carcasses could be days old, infested with all kinds of bacteria. That female Harpy could have had her claws in anything - fish, cabybara, deer flesh. And now Bia was paying the price. The infection looked terrible, and Bia clearly had a fever. Infections, especially with one's of Bia's nature, could be deadly.
"Okay, we're leaving, right now." Carla said, firmly, somehow concealing her fear for her sister. She seized the bag, before turning to the others, determination filling her eyes. "She's too weak to fly, who's -" Carla didn't finish, as Azure was already wrapping his talons around Bia. Satisfied, Carla turned to Tiago and Orchid. "Lead the way, Tiachid."
Meanwhile
Mina slid in alongside her Hyacinth tribemates, hating the feel of the cool stone beneath her. Her tribemates were talking loudly, all speculating about the purpose of this meeting. She had just about managed to sneak out of the ravine unnoticed by Hyacinth trespassers; her mother had established spies close to the home of the Spix's macaws, but Eduardo and Mimi had shown her an alternative entrance and exit Kerja most likely did not know about. The cave behind the waterfall was a secret within the Spix's tribe, and until now even Felipe and the Red macaws hadn't known about it. Deep within the cave, it had a small tunnel that lead off to the right. This tunnel sloped upwards for some feet, and it took around twenty seconds of running to get to the ground. The tunnel entrance and exit from the outside was hidden by a tree stump, and Mina hadn't been seen by Kerja's placed spies.
It had taken Roberto some convincing to stop him from charging to the Hyacinth cave to rescue Sophia, but they needed a plan - a plan where nobody got killed, where Mina wouldn't be figured out, and one where they actually managed to get in. While they had been discussing ways to rescue Sophia, Mimi had suggested that this was also an opportunity - an opportunity to get rid of the Hyacinths' weaponry. The current plan was to rescue Sophia, while another group got in and destroyed the weapons. Mina knew that they were kept in that cave, the one where the stream ran into the darkness - and the stream was the perfect way to get rid of them quickly. Without weapons, the Hyacinths were more vulnerable.
"Shut it!" Shouted a voice, from the stone perch. Mina stood on her tip-toes, struggling to see past her looming tribe mates, until she finally caught a glimpse of her mother. Kerja was wearing her jaguar tooth necklace, the one with the feathers of all their conquered tribes. Mina felt a flash of anger everytime she saw it - she couldn't believe Kerja took pride in wearing it. Now, there was a thunderous look on her mother's face - and Mina's heart began beating even faster. "There is a traitor amung us!" Kerja shouted, rage burning within her gaze. "Apparently, someone in this cave helped an injured Spix's macaw, and we have reason to believe that they are involved with the enemy!" Shocked gasps sounded around Mina, and immediately, suspicious eyes turned, to try and see who the culprit could be. Mina held her breath, trying to copy the looks so not to show how nervous she was. That would arise suspicion, and nobody lasted long around here if they were suspected of being a traitor.
"Who and why?" Snarled an older male on Mina's right.
"Now, I'm aware that there are several of you in here who are against our ways -" Kerja's scorching gaze raked across her audience, as if accusing every single macaw she laid eyes on. Mina tried not to flinch as it rested upon her. Does she suspect me? "-but you must all accept it!" Kerja firmly placed her deformed foot down, lifting it again, only now it was tightly wrapped around her knife. "We are Hyacinths - and we will inherit this sanctuary. We will get the land we need and deserve, and we will drive out the pathetic species who stand in our way! I know that one of you here is the culprit, and I am willing to give you one final chance to cut contact with the Spix's." One chance? You liar, Mina thought. If Kerja finds the traitor, she'll skin them alive - even if it's her own daughter. "I am warning you once - if you continue to betray your ancestors and jeopardize the lives of your future descendants, we will hunt you down..." Kerja paused dramatically. "...and kill you." Kerja then whirled around, vanishing into her stone hollow, as the cave erupted into voices.
Mina stood there, speechless, as her tribemates turned on each other, accusing the other of being the traitor. Desperate not to be blamed herself, Mina slipped through the crowd, heading for a smaller exit to the cave that was usually avoided. She had to warn the Spix's and the Reds that they couldn't talk about her - and she had to find out if they had a rescue plan for Sophia. Reminded of it, Mina quickly changed direction, heading instead for the deeper tunnels. She had to find out where they were holding Sophia - and, most importantly, what they were doing to her. They needed time to figure out a perfect plan, but if Sophia was in a dark place, they had no choice but to go as soon as possible.