Chapter 11- a life-risking act

Meanwhile, at Dionaea and her mixed clan's town

A certain colourful and aging Manticore with a set of MASSIVE claw mark scars running down her left side from the shoulder to her hip of her Lion's body overlooked the evacuation of the young members, all of them young and teenaged Curupira, Capelobo, Fauns, various Talking Beasts such as Badgers and Beavers, Raccoons and Aardvarks, to the safety of the building called the Meeting Building where the clan leaders of the village would gather and discuss updates for their safety under the guidance of some of the elders. Standing next to Dionaea was Chlorophyll the Longma and Rivier the Mokele-Mbembe. Among the young were some Manti-cubs, among them Dionaea's own grandchildren including Nepenthes, one of her grandsons, and also Chlorophyll's two grandchildren via her daughter, and a baby Mokele-Mbembe, Rivier's great-grandchild. At the entrance to the Meeting Building, an elder Aardvark, Capelobo, two Fauns and a Curupira guided the seeping traffic of children into the building. Looks of dread plastered the faces of the clan elders, especially Dionaea and she shuddered. Chloroplast also breathed a sigh of dread.

"This isn't good, Dionaea," said the green, yellow and orange Bat-winged Dragon-Horse in a low voice, "And certainly NOT something that should occur after the vanquishing of the White Witch's terrible tyranny with a diamond-ice fist harder than ANY metal and the Dawn of Spring and the Golden Age."

"Well, we were warned that there were still some remnants of the Devil Woman at large, Chloroplast," said Dionaea with understanding of the situation despite the worry and dread; "and that they may be cooking up a revenge plan against us and, especially, our Four Monarchs. One such monster is that Cartoon Shadow Cat who gave me this ugly mark," she pointed a Lion's paw to the unsightly scar gashes running like a gardening rake's lines in the dirt through her reddish fur on her left side.

"Why-y-y do-o-o you think Hi-i-igh King Pe-e-eter established those plans in de-e-ealing with tho-o-ose rema-a-aining zombies?" asked Rivier, his long head and neck with the dorsal area coloured deep blue and the underside, white, leaning like a Giraffe's neck towards the passing traffic of children as they continued to enter the Meeting House.

"Do you think that the attempts to lure away and kidnap children could be one of their plans?" asked Chloroplast.

"Well, if that is the case," said Dionaea in confusion, "Then that begs the question: what do they want young Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures for?"

"Well, I did discuss this with Alci-i-ina (Alcina) the pu-u-urple, red, vi-i-iolet and go-o-old Kitsu-u-une and she said that the-e-ese incidents targeting the yo-o-oung are unu-usual," said Rivier, "She e-e-even to-o-old me-e that she-e had witnessed a you-u-ung Swan Cygnet get caught in a trap..."

"Well, there is something fishy about these incidences, I can tell you," said Dionaea sternly, "And I believe they could be tied with the last surviving cronies of the White Witch..." as she spoke, a red, gold, magenta and violet Kitsune with three tails walked in. Her three purple and red tails swung behind her like thick willow branches as she walked in and her eyes became glazed with wonder as she saw the traffic of young clan members of various species heading into the Meeting Building.

"And I wouldn't be surprised," continued Dionaea, "Since they may be capturing young brains to indoctrinate in the beyond-evil ways of the White Witch and hoping to revive the teachings of that Snow Succubus..." the colourful and aging Manticore growled the last two words with pure, unadulterated disgust and rancour, especially as memories of that Snow Beast's methods of tyranny flashed in her mind when she and her friends used to be a part of her crowd. As Alcina heard this, she winced at the Manticore's choice of words to describe Jadis for a Succubus was a creature with such immoral attributes but it was understandable for Jadis was indeed an immoral, wicked being. Then Dionaea began to groan of pain from the bones of her aging Bat-like wings and rubbed her left one with a front paw.

"Caustic words you chose to describe the White Witch, don't you think, Dionaea," said Alcina, "and I think you need to take a rest..."

"I agree," said Dionaea with a pained face with half-closed eyes and her paw on her shoulder and joint of her right wing, "I think my old age is getting to me. I'm not a young Manticore as I once was..." and with that, she broke away from Chloroplast and Rivier's side and walked away, having decided to take a short walk and a break from overlooking the children's evacuation to the Meeting Room. The Longma and Mokele-Mbembe turned to Alcina.

"How is the Kangaroo clan doing with evacuating their joeys to a safe place, Alci-i-ina," said the latter, Rivier.

"We heard you were overlooking their movement to safety after three of them were lured away by a mysterious marauder," said Chloroplast.

"It's going on fine," said Alcina, "The lead Buck, Laventon, has issued a STRICT set of safety rules upon the young Roos that they do NOT go out on their own..."

"We've issued similar rules here," said Chlrooplast, her Reptillian Horse-like head turning in the direction of the children of the clan entering the Meeting Building, "Our children will be staying in there until it is safe to come out and when they need to go out, they will be accompanied by an adult or two, depending on the size of the group, at ALL times..."

"I don't blame you," said Alcina as she gazed at the river of children finally draining into the Meeting Hall with the lead Curupira preparing to issue them safety instructions once they were all in there, "There are still some cronies of the White Witch at large and some seem to be planning to target the children to possibly make new followers of the White Witch outa them."

"Ei-i-ither that or they have sommat else mo-o-ore sinister in mi-i-ind regarding their kidnapped victims," said Rivier. Chloroplast and Alcina nodded in agreement until the latter decided to leave them and follow Dionaea to check on her.

Dionaea continued her short walk, acknowledging the constraints of old age such as reduction of the youthful strength she once bore when she was younger. When Dionaea had been a younger Manticore she used to be agile and had more stamina in both running and flying. Now that she was in her dusk years, those abilities were largely reduced and Dionaea had to be especially careful when engaging in running or flying at high speeds, or any other form of exertion. Strenuous activities like these can be dangerous for an aging Manticore and once, Dionaea had overexerted herself in combating the Cartoon Shadow Cat and had not only suffered a slash to her left side resulting in the gashes of scar stripes running from her shoulder to her hip, she had also rendered herself poorly and since then, a medical Sea-Fish Person had sternly warned her to avoid strenuous activities and also to NOT go to the Battle of Beruna for obvious reasons so Dionaea took the advice and stayed behind. Despite her deteriorating physical abilities and body, Dionaea was still the same friendly and bubbly Manticore she was. As Dionaea continued her walk and approach the trees, she heard a recognisable noise. When her ears picked up this familiar sound which was talking and the sounds of hooves on grass, she stopped and cocked her ears to it. A perplexed frown formed on her face.

"Funny," she said to herself, "It's a bit unscheduled for Queen Lucy the Valiant and her sister Queen Susan the Gentle to be paying us a visit. I thought they was at Cair Paravel Castle helping their brothers to plan and deal with the surviving cronies of Jadis including the Cartoon Shadow Cat," however, under the perplex, suspicion pricked at the Manticore.

As Dionaea frowned at the supposed sounds of Queens Lucy and Susan as their talking continued through the trees, a group of big-footed Talking Beasts of a species that only lives in Australia in our world appeared, accompanied by a species of Talking Beast that was a species of flightless bird that lived in New Zealand. Dionaea turned to eye them.

"Hi, Laventon, Cynthia," she said, before her eyes found three young Kangaroos and a pair of Kiwis, a mother and a son, "I see you're taking those five out for a walk."

"Indeed we are," said the large Buck (the name of a male Kangaroo besides Rabbit and Rabbit-like or part-Rabbit creatures such as Skvaders and Jackalopes, as well as Cervids such as Deer and Perytons), Laventon, "These three are our son, daughter and nephew and my graceful Doe Cynthia here has another Joey in her pouch."

Dionaea smiled when the Kangaroo Doe showed her the young Roo peering out of her pouch. Like regular kangaroos, Talking Roos and other Marsupials carried their young in a pouch and the young were always born VERY early.

"My sister Flax is due to lay her egg," said the female Kiwi, before a pained look formed on her face, "But believe me, laying our eggs is EXTREMELY painful."

"Kind of like how Human Women or Daughters of Eve have their babies," said Laventon.

"I am well aware of the difficulties of childbirth Human Women have to deal with, including the agony," said Dionaea, "But that's another topic. By the way, how are you doing with your clan and your co-inhabitants?"

"We've moved our joeys and our co-dwellers, mostly Kiwis and Perytons and some Alicanto, their young to a nearby cave for their safety," explained Laventon, "And a friend Talking Anaconda is helping to keep watch over them."

"Alcina has been to visit you guys, hasn't she?" asked Dionaea. A look of slight distrust formed on Cynthia's face.

"You mean that three-tailed Fox?" the Kangaroo Doe said in a tone of voice tinted slightly with it, "I think she's being a bit nosey to be honest."

"Absolutely," said the mother Kiwi, her son, a chick not far from adolescence standing near her, "Our little Kiwi clan and the Peryton herd found her constant questioning annoying to say the least."

"I eventually told her to leave in the end," said Laventon, "And I believe she has gone over to check on your clan too, eh Dionaea?"

Dionaea nodded when suddenly, giggles echoed through the trees, attracting the attention of the group. Cynthia and Laventon's older Joey, a daughter, stiffened in excitement, as did the preteen Kiwi.

"Is that Queen Lucy and her sister?" said the Marsupial youngster excitedly.

"They must have come to visit us," said the Kiwi chick.

"Er, um..." began Dionaea, "I wouldn't..." she was cut off by more talking through the woods. The voices clearly sounded like Queens Susan and Lucy and these two were popular among some of the clans, especially Laventon's and their neighbours and Laventon and Cynthia's older daughter absolutely loved them. Then the older Kangaroo daughter launched into a hasty bound in the direction of the voices to the alarm of the adult members and her younger brother and cousin.

"It IS Susan and Lucy," she cried, "LET'S MEET 'EM."

"I wanna be first, Jane," shouted the male preteen Kiwi and with that, he rocketed off after the Kangaroo, "I'll race ya if ya want."

"Jane, Harakeke, GET BACK 'ERE THIS MINUTE!" barked Laventon angrily, but to his frustration, the pair ignored him, their attention cemented to the sounds of Queens Susan and Lucy through the trees. Then Jane's brother was about to take off but Cynthia seized him with her front paws.

"No, Rudi, you stay right here please," commanded the Kangaroo mother. The male young Roo, Rudi, did so and obeyed while his cousin, a male Roo also, obediently stuck by the side of his aunt and uncle and the mother Kiwi. Dioanea's Batlike wings then shot out and lifted the rest of her body into the air to the alarm of the two adult Roos and the Kiwi.

"Dionaea, NO, remember your OLD AGE!" cried Cynthia. However, the aging Manticore ignored her and rocketed off after Jane and Harakeke, the preteen Kiwi.

"Jane, Harakeke, STOP," cried the colourful Manticore, her wings beating furiously as she chased down the bounding female Roo and running Kiwi, the others behind her following. As they followed, Laventon brandished a weapon he had kept hidden around his neck as a necklace to signify his leadership status in the clan. It was a whip made from plant material and the flagellum, the part that struck the target when Laventon flung it, was made of sharp stones and bamboo shards to maximise damage. Few Kangaroos were swordfighters, preferring to use more natural material-made weapons like whips, arrows and even tools similar to a boomerang, as well as their natural weapons like their feet, and battle armour to go with them, and Laventon was a whip-user and kept his whip concealed around his neck as a necklace. Kiwis, one the other hand, due to having no wings, relied on certain combat weapons such as battle helmets and metal talons for slashing at their foes. However, the mother Kiwi had no such weaponry on her and so was unarmed, so she stuck close to Cynthia. Dionaea continued to flap madly after Jane and Harakeke as they continued to follow Susan and Lucy's voices, excitement propelling them like muscles would a Cheetah after its prey and dodging the trees on the go.

"You two; STOP NOW!" cried the aging Manticore, her aging wings beginning to tire. As discussed before, strenuous activity was hazardous to her elderly health, but Dionaea didn't care. All she cared about was saving these two young Talking Beasts from running towards what she believed was a trap. Behind Dionaea, Laventon, Cynbthia (her and Laventon's youngest joey safely in her pouch), their son and daughter and the mother Kiwi continued to bound or run, Laventon ready with his whip.

"YOU TWO, STOP RIGHT NOW!" cried Dionaea, her aging wings beginning to tire as they strained to propel her old body after them. Jane and Harakeke continued tracking down Susan and Lucy when suddenly; several black blurs shot in and swept them off their feet to Dionaea and the others' alarm. Jane and Harakeke released screams of SHEER terror as the black forms then set about binding their feet together in a blur. Cynthia immediately recognised the black forms, especially based on their crests and tails.

"MIMICBIRDS!" the Kangaroo Doe cried, "THEY MUST HAVE BEEN IMITATING OUR TWO QUEENS!"

Laventon, the parental instinct to save his daughter and the Kiwi chick taking explosive control within him, bounded rapidly to the commotion and lashed his whip at the Mimicbirds to drive them away from the pair. The flagellum of his whip consisting of stone and bamboo shards tied to the plant strands flew at the menacing little black birds and struck one of them, killing it instantly. Then one Mimicbird darted from the writhing flock swamping and apprehending Harakeke and Jane and began to savagely attack Laventon, mimicking Lucy's voice to confound him but a branch appeared and swiped it clean from the Kangaroo Buck's face for Cynthia had appeared and had seized a branch, having decided to help her mate but being mindful of their latest joey in her pouch. Then the two Roos began to viciously drive the Mimicbirds away from Jane and Harakeke while Dionaea took on another monster that had been hiding and mimicking Susan and Lucy's voices, a tall, lanky, undead creature with conical mouths on its head... a Siren-Head. The mother Kiwi, together with Rudi and his cousin hid under a shrub as commanded by Laventon as they watched the Manticore slash her claws and lash her Scorpion's tail at the creature. Despite her age, Dionaea managed to land several brutal claw swipes and a sting on the Horror and the mother Kiwi had commanded Rudi and his cousin to hide their faces from the brutal sight. However, the Siren-Head managed to raise a long arm ending in a clawed hand and give the aging Manticore a powerful WHACK. Dionaea was sent careening through the trees and crashing to the ground at the foot of a large tree trunk.

Cynthia and Laventon continued battling the Mimicbirds until eventually, they gave up and retreated when Cynthia reared up on her tail and powerfully kicking one of them into a tree trunk so hard that its neck was snapped, killing it instantly. Once they had driven away Harakeke and Jane's attempted kidnappers, the two adult Kangaroos seized the pair; both partially bound in sinister vine-like tendrils, and dragged them to safety. After this, Laventon turned his attention to the Siren-Head as it sauntered towards a downed Dionaea, her age proving to be a severe disadvantage for the whack and impact of the ground had affected her badly. The brave Kangaroo Buck launched into a bounding charge towards the Siren-Head and lashed its whip at it, striking it in the back before seizing a nearby sharp stick to serve as a spear to battle the creature, its attention now shifted to him. While this happened and after taking a partially bound Harakeke and Jane over to the mother Kiwi and the other two Kangaroo joeys to untie (the binds were thankfully not the magical colourful binds used by some other groups like Pettigrew's), Cynthia hurried over to over the extremely exhausted and dazed Dionaea as she panted and struggled to stand.

"Look at what you've done to yourself, Dionaea," said the Kangaroo Doe angrily, "Flying at that speed and then engaging in combat resulting in you getting whacked and having a bad fall. I thought the medical Sea-Fish Person strongly advised you to avoid such DANGEROUS and hazardous activity due to your age."

Dionaea didn't answer but continued to breathe heavily and sway. It was clear that all that activity had impacted her aged body. Then the group heard a wail. Cynthia turned to see that Laventon had impaled the creature through the chest with his spear-like stick, inflicting the deathblow. The Siren-Head toppled over like a decrepit and diseased tree being felled. This done, Laventon returned to the group but when he saw Dionaea's condition, horror tore through him.

"She put her aging health on the line to save Jane and Harakeke from getting kidnapped," said Cynthia.

"Oh, she's overexerted herself to the point of deadly exhaustion," said the Kangaroo Buck Patriarch, "That is VERY serious."

"Let's get her back to her clan," said Cynthia. With that, Laventon went to find the mother Kiwi Bird, Rudi and his cousin and regrouped the group. Then he and Cynthia picked up the very exhausted Dionaea over their shoulders and began to return to the old Manticore's clan.

Back in Dionaea's clan, Chloroplast, with a Beaver, two Fauns, a Fairy, two Manticores who were two of Dionaea's adult children and a Curupira, a female based on her orange hair, had rushed over to the wall of the surrounding forest, having heard something. They had weapons on them for they had suspected a group of the remnants of Jadis' cronies but they were also very worried and concerned about a certain Manticore. The Manti-cubs who were Dionaea's grandchildren including Nepenthes had attempted to leave the Meeting House but had been restrained by Rivier and their parents and commanded to enter the House and stay there for their safety, which they did, and they and the rest of the children had been ushered into the house quicker. While this happened, Alcina had left to investigate. As soon as the children of the clan were in the safety of the Meeting House with some of the adults stationed to guard them, the clan leaders and their inner circle members rushed over to Chloroplast's group, weapons such as swords and spears brandished in case any intruder was spotted.

"All the children are in the Meeting House, Chloroplast," said an adult Beaver who was a part of the leadership group.

"Excellent, Chewey," said Chloroplast sternly, "at least that's them out of danger..." suddenly, the Fairy's shout cut her off when she saw something, pulling the Longma and the Beaver's attention to something in the woods.

"Oh, no, DIONAEA!" cried the little Butterfly-Winged Humanoid. Chloroplast and the others drew in horrified gasps and flared gawked looks when they saw a small group of creatures emerge from the forest. They were five Kangaroos and two Kiwis and on the backs of the larger Kangaroos was a familiar reddish Lion-like creature with green and red Bat's wings and metallic purple Scorpion's tail and she looked in bad shape. The clan leaders, including a male Manticore rushed over to the group, which were Laventon, Cynthia and the others, and carefully took the Manticore, Dionaea, from their backs.

"What happened!?" demanded Chloroplast.

"Harakeke and Jane here ran off after what they thought were the voices of Queens Susan and Lucy, two of our Four Monarchs," explained Laventon, his, Cynthia and the mother Kiwi's glares on the ashamed young Kangaroo Doe and male Kiwi preteen.

"But they were ambushed by a small flock of Mimicbirds and a Siren-Head," continued Cynthia, "Dionaea put her safety on the end of the branch to stop them and even took on the Siren-Head but was struck down. My husband Laventon here managed to kill the Siren-Head after we had driven off the Mimicbirds and rescued these two who had been bound..." as the Kangaroo Doe spoke, a red, gold, magenta and violet three-tailed Kitsune listened in from a distance and winced. Chloroplast flashed a look at Alcina and resumed listening to the explanation as the mother Kiwi continued.

"She helped save Jane and Harakeke from becoming two more kidnapped youngsters by those marauding remnants of the White Witch," she said, "But at a price..."

"Okay, thanks," said the lead Curupira as two Capelobo medics carefully took the exhausted Dionaea from them to transport to the medical facility, "You get your joeys and Kiwi chick back to your clans right now and thanks for the report."

"Report to us ANYTHING suspicious you find so that we can send you help if you need it," said Chloroplast, "And we will report anything suspicious to you as well."

"Okay, we'll be standing by," said Laventon before the Kangaroo Buck's face formed a scowl, "It is clear that the remnants of Jadis ARE out for revenge for their Mistress' fall and it seems that kidnapping children is one of them," and with that, he and the others with him departed and left for their clans through the thicket. Chloroplast then turned to find Alcina but to her surprise, the three-tailed Kitsune had disappeared. Surprise nipping at her, the Longma pushed that aside and resumed her attention on Dionaea as she was transported to the medical facility.

A little while later, a small gathering surrounded the entrance to the small building, waiting for the news of Dionaea's condition. They knew what this meant for the aging and heroic Manticore and they knew that whatever life she had in front of her was now very little. Among the crowd were Rivier and Chloroplast, worried looks on their faces and the lead Curupira stood outside the entrance with some of Dionaea's adult children, among them Tityus, severely worried and dreaded looks plastering their faces. An anxious wait which seemed to take ages continued to pass by until finally, the lead medic, a male Capelobo, emerged from the entrance. As he made his appearance, the Curupira leader and Dionaea's children gathered around him.

"How is Mother, Doctor?" asked Tityus, hope forming on his face and those of his brothers and sisters. The lead Capelobo medic gazed with a look mixed with sternness, dread and relief.

"She's very weak." Said he, "but she's currently fine."

Relief flowed through Dionaea's children, the Curupira leader and the rest of the crowd including Rivier and Chloroplast. However, the sternness in the Capelobo's glare showed itself and that extinguished the relief of the group.

"But that may not last," continued he, "She's pushed herself to such a limit in flying so fast and fighting that Siren-Head that she's severely worn her aging body down. She'll be lucky and blessed by Aslan if she recovers but next time she overexerts herself like THAT again, she may not be as fortunate."

"But Mother saved that Kangaroo joey and Kiwi youngster from becoming two more victims to these kidnappings," protested Tityus, "And she was willing to sacrifice her safety for theirs."

"She should be honoured," added the Curupira leader.

"Yes, if it wasn't for her brave act," said another Manticore, one of Dionaea's daughters, "Laventon and Cynthia would have lost their daughter like they did with their niece Arezu who had been lured away by that same trick by those horrid birds and skeletal cone-mouths."

"And that mother Kiwi would have lost her son," added another daughter. A small smile formed on the Aardvark snout of the lead Capelobo medic's face.

"Indeed she was despite being an 'old Venus Flytrap Lion-Bat' as she describes herself often," said he, "Even though she knows her limits," his smile then faded, "However, it is important that she does NOT exert herself like that again as doing that again can be fatal. You remember what happened when she took on that Cartoon Shadow Cat and got herself BADLY and BRUTALLY hurt while her husband had unfortunately been killed."

The lead Curupira and Dionaea's sons and daughters nodded. In the crowd, Chloroplast the Longma had broken away to look for Alcina, hoping that she would simply return to check on things with Dionaea. She had assumed that the Three-Tailed Fox had left to check on Laventon's clan, especially his joeys and thought she would return to see how Dionaea was doing. However, as the green, light green, yellow and orange Dragon-Pegasus scanned the surrounding field of the village, to her dismay, she could not find a spot of red, gold, magenta and violet. Giving up and abandoning her search for Alcina, assuming her to have moved on, Chloroplast returned to the crowd gathered outside the medical facility as the lead Capelobo doctor continued to discuss Dionaea's condition, age and future with the lead Curupira and Dionaea's sons and daughters, as well as them.