The Hyacinth territory was even more barren then the rescue party had expected. Mina had described it to them, at how much of it was half-dead - and it was absolutely true. Most leaves lacked the healthy, rich green of the outside land - most of them were pale or withering, with more insect bite marks taken out, more commonly than in the Spix's, Red or Blue-and-Gold territory. There was definitely something sinister about the plantlife and wildlife. There were practically no birds, other than Hyacinths. There were, however, predators and dangerous animals. Large, poisonous spiders and amphibians, and the roar of a jaguar from somewhere in the trees. Night had fallen in the Amazon; the moon was half-full, and the stars were barely visible.
Roberto followed Mina, his heart thumping in his chest. Around and behind him, around a dozen macaws, a mixture of Spix's, Scarlet, and Green-Winged, were looking around, cautiously. Despite their very convincing disguises, they were all suspicious - none of them were as tall or heavily built as their neighbours. From a distance they could pass for teenaged Hyacinths, but up close, their true ages were clear. Mina's condition was rare, so the idea that they all had the same issue was dubious. They would have to avoid being seen at all costs. Roberto himself was also a problem - Kerja knew exactly what he looked like, regardless of the disguise. So, as uncomfortable as it was, Roberto had pulled his crest feathers back and tied them with a stalk. He looked odd with them tied back, and it was severely uncomfortable, but he looked much different.
"Stop." Mina whispered; they halted, landing on a leaf-ladden branch, and peering out at the cave. A giant black hole appeared in a sudden rock cliff, around ten foot wide, and eight foot tall, with jagged edges, making it look as though the cave was a mouth full of teeth. Stood on rock ledges around the cave mouth, four large, burly Hyacinths stood, guarding the entrance. They looked weary, and all four held weapons. "This is it." Mina glanced at a young Scarlet female, Delores, her species hidden under the blue and yellow flower paint. Delores nodded, before letting out a bizarre call; it wasn't birdlike at all, but sounded like a kind of non-avian call.
After a few moments, the same sound was repeated several times along the tree line before the cave. Suddenly, as they craned their necks, they saw it. Several bright flashes of amber light, waving back and forth within the tree line, some distances apart. Some blinked out, only for others to spring up along the treeline. The group suddenly began skimming the trees, remaining hidden but heading for the rock face. They all pressed themselves against the rock walls, a few feet from the cave edge, watching to see if Johanna's idea of fire distractions had worked.
Johanna's idea had proved a good one, as, upon seeing the bizarre lights in the trees, the four Hyacinths leapt to their talons, squawking into the cave. Within seconds, dozens of Hyacinths were flooding from the gap, muttering in speculation and unease - they could slip in. "Go!" Mina whispered. She slunk along the wall, concealed by shadow, before vanishing into the cave. Roberto looked at his companions. "Okay. Remember: I go with Mina to get Sophia, and you guys go down to the weaponry cave. Dispose of them via the underground stream, and then we'll meet up at the passage outside the individual tunnels we need." The group all nodded to show they understood, before Roberto turned. Inhaling, he followed Mina into the cave.
They walked on the ground, keeping to the shadows on the walls, keeping silent. Roberto whispered to Mina. "Where's Kerja?" He hissed, feeling a flash of anger at the matriarch's name. Mina looked back at him, shaking her head to show that she didn't know, but she looked uneasy. Kerja could be anywhere, and she knew every face in her tribe. Seeing these strangers would make her realize that something was going on. The cave was far from empty - dozens of Hyacinths swarmed around them, deep in conversation about battle moves, oblivious to the intruders hiding in plain sight.
So preoccupied with listening in, Roberto then crashed into something, and gasped, staggering back. He looked up, with enormous blue eyes. The group behind him froze in the shadows, hoping to remain unnoticed. A large male Hyacinth with greying feathers narrowed his eyes down at Roberto. Long scars marked his throat, and his voice was cold and hostile. "Woah. Watch your step there."
"Uh... yeah. Sorry, buddy." Roberto muttered, trying to move around him - only to be blocked by a large wing. He looked up, praying that none of his body paint had smudged. It would all be over. He gave the older macaw a weak smile, gulping, as he noticed how suspicious the macaw looked.
"Who are you?" Asked the male, suspiciously.
"I..." Roberto stammered, but, fortunately, Mina came to his rescue. She rushed forward, with a convincing smile.
"Lorenzo, this is... uh, a new recruit. Came from one of the outsider families." She lied, quickly. Lorenzo squinted down at Mina and Roberto, and, for a moment, they didn't think he believed them. Then he grumbled.
"Outsider family, eh? He's a bit small, if you ask me... but I guess it's one more soldier." Lorenzo then trudged away, muttering to himself about a sore back. Roberto sighed, rolling his eyes and looking at his companions.
"That was really close." Muttered Carlos.
"Come on. The sooner we get this over with, the better." Said a Green-Winged macaw, eyes flickering around with nervousness. Having recovered from the close encounter, the group resuming heading for the tunnels; but Lorenzo looked over his shoulder, eyes narrowing once again. The greying macaw muttered, before shoving through the crowd.
Roberto's heart was beating rapidly with trepidation; his kids would never forgive him, if he failed in this mission. And he knew losing Sophia, the one female he had ever loved, would break his heart. And Mina had refused to tell him about 'her state'; what was that supposed to mean?
The tunnels were a small hole in the wall, and once inside, the tunnels were around a metre high and four feet in width. It would've been pitch black, had it not been for several human lamps every couple of metres. The lamps had red lights - when they casted light on the walls, it looked as though the stone was washed with blood. Then the passage split, heading into three directions. There had been others like this along the passage behind, but not as large. The group slowed to a halt. Mina turned around, facing them all, indicating to the middle tunnel. "The weapons room is this way. It will be empty at this time of night. Once you're in, stay quiet and dispose of the weapons in the stream. Once you're done, we'll meet back here."
"Where does that tunnel go?" Asked Antonio, motioning toward the one on the far right. This tunnel looked different to the other two; unlike the other two, this one was made in earth, rather than rock.
"That's the Forbidden Tunnel." Mina informed, darkly. She looked uneasy saying it. "The Forbidden Tunnel is made mostly from soil and individual stones, unlike the others, which are solid rock. Over the years, the soil has grown more and more unstable - they've had to use sticks to stop a collapse, but even those are frail after years of not being replaced. They'll break easily - just breaking one will make the entire tunnel collapse. The tunnel leads to the outside, but that tunnel... It's incredibly dangerous." The tunnel looked as sinister as Mina made it sound. The sticks that Mina described were in poor condition, splintering and notched, and they looked so fragile.
Roberto felt a shiver run down his spine, but what he heard next made his blood freeze. A blood-curdling scream, echoing from the left tunnel. He knew that scream. Mina gasped, turning to the others. "Go, get rid of the weapons, and hurry!" She urged. The group hesitated for a moment, hearing the shriek; then they plunged into the weapons tunnel. Mina turned to face Roberto, but he was already gone, racing down the left tunnel.
Roberto began calling Sophia's name, but she didn't reply. She continued crying out, shrieking, and as the end of the tunnel grew nearer, Roberto heard the impact of a body upon stone. Behind him, Mina was close behind, trying to keep up. Finally, Roberto exploded into the stone chamber, breathing heavily. He was horrified. Sophia was crumpled on the stone floor, while a female Hyacinth towered over her, sneering. "Spix's macaws are strong, eh? We'll see about that when I break your bones."
"No you won't!" Roberto shouted. The female whirled round, eyes lighting up with surprise; but she didn't expect the intruder to move. Roberto flung himself at her, claws raking over her face. She cried out, staggering, and behind Roberto, Mina emerged. Seeing the fight, she gasped, looking around frantically. The orange rope the Hyacinths had used to tie Sophia's foot to the wall lay discarded. She seized it, rushing to the struggling Hyacinth.
"Roberto!" She exclaimed. "Shut her up!" Roberto's talons wrapped tightly around the female's beak, silencing her. She tried to reach up with her wing to push him away, but she couldn't move her wings. Mina had whipped around her tribemate, the rope wrapping around her, until she lost her balance - she toppled to the ground, giving Mina the opportunity to tie the rope into a double-knot. Her eyes blazed with shock as she looked up at Mina.
"You traitor!" She snarled; but before she could say anymore, her beak had been tied shut by another piece of the orange rope. Mina tied the end to the wall, glaring down at her tribe mate, not saying a word. Then she turned around to look at Roberto and Sophia.
Roberto spun round, eyes wide, as he looked at the limp pile of feathers on the ground before him. Upon seeing Mina and what looked like a Hyacinth, Sophia shrieked, leaping to her feet and frantically scrabbling backwards, until she was against the wall. "Don't touch me! Stay away!" She screeched. Roberto stared at Sophia, horrified by what he saw. She was unrecognizable.
Half of Sophia's feathers were stained with dark red, and half the feathers from her right wing were missing. Several too were missing from her body - on the exposed skin, dark bruises bloomed, mottled and grey. Cuts marked her body, noticeably her front and face - and some of her feathers, for some reason, were black. They were the same black Roberto had seen on burned feathers, like those of Azure, when he had narrowly escaped the fire with Bia. Sophia looked gaunt, her ribs starting to show, and dirt coated the majority of her feathers. But what was most shocking was her eyes. The dark blue irises were filled with an unspeakable terror, something Roberto had never seen on Sophia. They were wild, and darting around as though she couldn't control them. Sophia continued shrieking, as if driven insane. "Go away! Get away!" She turned to bolt for the exit, but Roberto intercepted - they crashed to the ground, but Sophia still failed to recognize him. She struggled violently, trying to claw and bite, not recognizing him in her frenzy - Roberto yelped as one of her talons made contact with his shoulder.
"It's me!" Roberto exclaimed, shocked. Frantically, he reached up behind his head, yanking the stalk, freeing his crest feathers. They flew forward, cloaking his face, and he swiftly brushed them out of his eyes. Maybe now she would recognize him under the paint. Upon seeing this, Sophia slowed down, until she froze. She stared up at him in silence. Roberto stared back, pleadingly, praying that she would recognize him. Sophia was silent for a few moments. Then she reached up slowly to touch Roberto's face. Her wing tip came away, covered in dark blue and yellow. Then she began trembling. She knew it was him.
"Roberto?" She whispered, in a shaking voice, in disbelief. Roberto slowly nodded. Then tears flooded Sophia's eyes. She then began weeping, tears streaming down her face. She threw her wings around his neck, sobbing, while Roberto's own eyes turned shiny with tears. The moment was then broken, by a commotion outside. Mina looked up, eyes widening. She looked at Roberto and Sophia, leaping to her feet. A proper reunion would have to wait.
"We've got to go!" She exclaimed. Roberto finally let go of Sophia, before wrapping his talons around her. Sophia looked as though she were about to faint; she had barely acknowledged the fact that Mina was a Hyacinth. Roberto and Mina, with Sophia in the former's talons, raced down the tunnel, hearing the voices up ahead. As they emerged from the tunnel, they halted. The group was gone - but when they looked down the Forbidden Tunnel, they saw the group, half way down there. The group was shouting at them to follow them. Then they knew why. Roberto shoved Sophia behind him, as they came face-to-face with Kerja and five other Hyacinths. Sophia began shaking in terror. At first, they had no idea how it happened. Then they remembered the elderly macaw, Lorenzo.
"Are we interrupting?" Kerja asked, in a sickly sweet voice. She had a look of thunder on her face, and her knife was raised. The other five were staring at the three, shocked and enraged. Kerja's eyes were grey flames. "Mina. I should have known that it was you, all along." The five Hyacinths, one of whom was Beryl, were all glaring at Mina, with fierce rage. Kerja's eyes blazed once again, and spittle flew as she shouted at Mina. Mina hadn't moved, her expression unreadable. "I will give you one last chance to tell me why you betrayed us. I -" but Mina didn't allow her to finish. She was shaking with fury, and everything that she had bottled up was coming out. She had been afraid for far too long - now that she had no place in the tribe, she may as well let it all out.
"You want to know why?" Mina asked, her eyes blazing with a fury Roberto had never seen. She leapt forward, glowering up at her mother, inches from her face. "Because you're barbaric! I can't stand you, and I know you can't stand me!" Kerja's face flooded with shock at Mina's outburst, and she actually took a step back. "From the moment I was born, I had no choice but to trust you. But you don't have a shred of love for me!" Mina then stepped away. "You know, I'm glad Dad left the tribe when I was a kid, to join that family. He would've been ashamed!"
"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" Kerja screeched; but then Mina reached up without thinking. Kerja gasped, stumbling, wings covering her face. Blood seeped through the feathers, and, for a moment, the five Hyacinths forgot Roberto, Sophia, and Mina. Mina whirled round, shoving them both. This was their only chance.
"Go, go!" She cried. Roberto didn't hesitate. With Sophia clutched in his talons, Roberto rushed into the Forbidden Tunnel, Mina right behind them.
"Seize them!" Kerja commanded, with an ear-splitting shriek, the blood from Mina's attack flying. Beryl and the other Hyacinths plunged into the tunnel, flying faster than the smaller birds could. They were cackling.
"We got you now, flithy little traitor!" Beryl sneered, in triumph. Then she began laughing along with her other tribe members - mechanical laughs that didn't sound real. The tunnel was very long - too long. Already, the space between Roberto, Sophia, Mina and the Hyacinths was getting smaller. Mina knew that Beryl and the others were flying too fast. Roberto and Sophia would never get out alive - once they were caught, they would be slaughtered. She had to do something - they had to get out, even if that meant she didn't. Mina slowed down, until she had stopped.
Roberto, meanwhile, realizing that Mina had stopped, whirled round. He stared at Mina in bewilderment, unable to leave her behind. "Are you out of your mind?!" He spluttered. "Why have you stopped? Come on, what are you waiting for? We've got to go!" Mina turned, her eyes on Sophia - after everything she had been through, Mina owed it to Sophia to prevent them being captured - no matter what Mina's cost. She looked back, where Beryl and the others were seconds away, where they would capture her. Likely torture her in front of the entire tribe. Mina then looked back at Roberto and Sophia, screaming in a strangled voice. It was too late now.
"Run!" Mina's voice echoed off the walls, piercing and desperate. Then she turned toward one of the fragile poles, the only things preventing the tunnel's collapse. Roberto realized what she was going to do.
"Mina, no!" He shouted. But he was too late. Mina's wings closed around the stick, and the moment they did, it snapped. The tunnel began shaking violently. He had no choice but to flee - the last he saw of Mina was a blur, vanishing as rocks and soil fell in her place. Roberto began flying for his - and Sophia's - lives. The soil behind him began crashing down, along with years' worth of dust. Beryl and the other Hyacinths began gasping and shouting, frantically shoving past one another in a frenzy to retreat, to get back to the stone part of the tunnel; Kerja was shrieking Mina's name.
Then he saw it ahead - light. The patrol stood there in the exit, shouting at him to fly faster - Roberto began coughing as dust filled his lungs, and so did Sophia. Then moonlight poured into his eyes. Roberto let go of Sophia, knowing he was going to crash-land. As she was caught by several wings, Roberto crashed onto the loose soil, rolling several times until he ceased to a stop. Spitting out dust, he looked up at the exit - it was now transformed, replaced by rock and soil. He felt a wave of horror, as the consequence of Mina's selfless decision dawned upon him.
Mina was gone.