Chapter 18- flight down memory forest
Meanwhile, on one street in Rio
The people who live in this street continued to walk about while drivers drove past in their vehicles on the road. However, as human passers-by with some of them with dogs continued to walk, something dropped from the top of a roof from one of the houses, startling some of the humans into running or backing away. Then to their surprise, a small flock of frightened birds and bats and a marmoset appeared and scurried away, cornered sharply at a junction of an alleyway to the street and plunged into the alley, terrified squeaks and chirps escaping their beaks and mouths. On their tail, a group of cats and a few ravens, some of them carrying cages, appeared and gave chase. They, too, plunged into the alleyway. The group of birds, which were small honeycreepers and finches, among them Tiny, a green finch; bats of the microbat species native to Brazil and the marmoset similar to those in Mauro's pack continued to run or fly down the alley until they reached the dead end. As the birds and bats saw this, they tried to fly upward but the two ravens appeared and cut off that route of escape. Then the cats, among them Lysandre the lead ginger tom and Xerosic the Russian grey who lead the team, then began to close in on the cornered group of frightened finches, honeycreepers, microbats and marmoset and they huddled together. Two of the cats, one of them a male Persian cat named Blofeld and the other, a female American grey, white and black striped American shorthair named Ria, were armed with cages, open and ready for capturing the victims. As they approached their victims as they huddled together, Lysandre's mouth widened.
"Hah, there's no escape for you lot now, our lil' gemstones," he crooned, "It is time for you to be caught an' caged."
Tiny and the others continued to huddle together and quivered as the cats closed in on them. Then Lysandre nodded to the ravens above the group to pounce onto them and they did while the cats pounced. A small scuffle exploded as Tiny and company fought to escape but they were all seized and stuffed into Blofeld and Ria's cages. This done and the cages locked, Lysandre gazed meanly and triumphantly at the now-captured finches, honeycreepers, bats and marmoset, the other cats and the two ravens looking on also triumphantly.
"Now, it's time for your ride back to our den and stored there before your trip out of Brazil comes," crooned the lead ginger tom tauntingly, "Once we've caught the fourteen valuable blue macaws and bats including the Spix macaw family of five, that is."
"What do you mean 'Spix macaw family of five'?" asked Tiny in a squeaky voice.
"You'll see when we catch 'em," Lysandre replied, "In the meantime, just look forward to your trip back to your temporary home until your flight."
He then put a paw onto the cage to help carry it but then Tiny, after plucking up some courage, did something she did not normally do. She immediately lashed at Lysandre's paw and bit one of its digits, HARD. A pained screech exploded from Lysandre's mouth and he waved his bitten paw and put it in his mouth to suck it and help soothe the pain. Tiny looked on angrily but then the cage door opened and a ginger paw rushed in and seized her. Then to the horror of the other finches and bats in the cage, Tiny was yanked out of the cage and right in the face of an enraged ginger tom, his blue eyes ablaze with blue fire.
"How dare you bite me paw, you little rat," snarled Lysandre angrily, "HOW DARE YA!"
Tiny, all courage vanishing at the glare of the pair of blue flames and the thunderous snarl of the cat's voice quivered and uttered timid whimpers.
"Ah, please don't hurt me!" she squeaked and covered her head with her wings. Then Lysandre looked over her.
"Hmm, if I were to have a lil' snack, little bird, what would you taste like?" he asked tauntingly, "Fish... or CHICKEN!?"
He bared his teeth at Tiny after he said this and made her wince and scream. The others looked on from their cage as Lysandre continued frightening the green finch.
"I... I don't know," squeaked Tiny, "Pl-pl-please don't hurt me. I'll obey an' not bite ya fingers again, I promise."
Then Lysandre vaporised his rather dry sense of humour and shot her an angry glare, satisfied that she will comply.
"Then you shall do that and obey our orders to NOT mess about or attempt to fight back during the trip, little bird," the ginger tom growled, Tiny lifted to his eyes again, "Decide your destination, you little feathered rat: our smugglers' den... or my BELLY!" Tiny winced as Lysandre spat the final word into her face, some spittle flying from his mouth with it. Then Lysandre stuffed Tiny back into the cage and slammed the door shut and locked it.
"Blofeld, Sombra, Morty, you take that cage away ready for our trip back to our den," Lysandre commanded the white Persian and the two ravens that hand helped to block off the birds and bats' attempted upward escape. The three obediently did that and took the cage away before Lysandre turned to Xerosic as he came up to him, a phone in his paw. Before splitting, the poachers' pets had stolen a set of old phones from a second hand phone shop, all of them with sim cards already inside them, to use as communication over long distances while they were out on their catching trips and hunt for Aurora, Zephyr, Brisa, Orion, Ahsoka, Celeste, Milo, Samara and Sirius and also Blu and his family.
"I've just been talking to Brutus' dog team visiting the outskirts of the Blu Bird Sanctuary, Lysandre," said the Russian grey tom, "They've been searching for the Spix macaw family but couldn't find them. They had to retreat when the density of human visitors became too great for them to stay hidden."
"I'm not surprised," said Sombra, one of the ravens.
"The Blu Bird Sanctuary is a protected area," added Morty, the other raven. Lysandre turned and glared at the captured finches, bats and the marmoset as they began to fight back against the other cats handling their cages.
"We'll discuss the subject later," said the ginger tom, "Right now; we gotta get that captured lot back to our poachers' den, so let's move out."
With that, the group of cats and the two ravens left the alley in the direction of their owners' den, taking Tiny and the others with her with them in their cages.
Meanwhile
Aurora, Zephyr, Brisa, Orion, Ahsoka, Celeste, Milo, Samara and Sirius continued through the forest with their new friends Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia, Tiago, Rafael, Eva and the latter two's 25 offspring. Samara walked behind though she still had to keep up for she was still chained to Sirius. She was walking behind in shame after she had severely insulted Blu and Jewel. None of the other animals would talk to her and were giving her the silent treatment and will give her that until she changed her attitude. However, it was clear that Samara was truly regretful of treating others badly but she continued to keep her distance as ordered from the others, especially Jewel and her family until she was ready to interact with the others without being nasty to them.
As they walked along, Sirius continued to explain to Blu and his family that the second band of poachers were after him and his family.
"What Orion and Ahsoka have explained to you when they found you to enlist your help in getting these chains off of us was true," the male glaucous macaw said, "The second band of smugglers is TRULY after you."
"Probably because you're currently the only known breeding pair of Spix macaws alive," said Aurora, "You'd be worth an absolute fortune, possibly as much as Sirius and Samara, and Orion and Ahsoka."
"And they and their pets will stop at nothing in hunting down and capturing you," added Milo, "And I sure hope our human friends are working hard in tracking down those smugglers and capturing them."
When Eva heard this, she flinched but Rafael told her that it was true.
"My mate Jewel here is like a momma bear to our chicks," said Blu, a nod to his mate who was EXTREMELY aggressive. Near her, Carla, Bia and Tiago walked along as Blu added, "You threaten our chicks, and you will have JEWEL to answer to."
"But aren't you the main protector of your family as a father?" asked Ahsoka as she walked with Orion.
"It does," said Blu, "And I will do ANYTHING to protect my gem of the forest and my precious son and daughters."
"Then you're gonna need it at max," said Celeste, "Once those poachers' pets find us, which I hope they don't, then you're gonna have to get prepared to apply your protective parental instinct."
"Especially against Vecna," added Milo. He then caught his foot on the chain linking him to Celeste and he stumbled. However, he flapped and caught himself in the fall before he could faceplant. Milo shot a bitter and impatient glare at the chain, Celeste doing the same. "I sure can't WAIT to get this thing off, I can tell you."
"Same here with ours," grumbled Aurora, "Brisa can hardly walk normally because she is chained directly to our first chain," she turned and saw Brisa struggling to do said movement, Zephyr also looking on bitterly. Sirius and Samara and also Orion and Ahsoka also struggled.
"Zephyr, Brisa and Aurora are the in a far worse situation than the rest of you," said Blu.
"It's because we're chained as a three and not as a two like the others, pet," snapped Zephyr as he also struggled with the chain. Blu flashed him an angry glare as he used his most detested 'p' word again.
"It's companion," he retorted slightly.
"Whatever," said Zephyr as he struggled with the chain to Blu's irritation. Then Jewel convinced Blu to accept that Zephyr and Brisa and even the others will refer to him as a pet since that was technically what he was under Linda's care. The only human-raised member of the group that was not one was Ahsoka for flying foxes could not be pets due to biological risk factors. Blu wished he shared Ahsoka's title. Then Ahsoka complained but not about Blu's hatred of the word 'pet'.
"It's like we're doing a three-legged race, a type of race where pairs of humans compete by having their inner legs tied together and they have to walk as though they are one organism with three legs," said she.
"Then you need to do just that," said Jewel, "That is how Blu and I had to move when running."
"We just want these chains off," grumbled Sirius with impatience, Samara behind him and the others nodding in agreement silently. Aurora also nodded but as she turned to her left, she froze. Sirius, Ahsoka and Milo turned and also stopped, stopping the others.
"What is it, you four?" asked Rafael when he saw the four gaze in a particular direction. Near him, Eva and his 25 (current) kids also stopped. Samara, Zephyr, Brisa, Orion and Celeste also looked on though Orion had stumbled when the chain linking him to Ahsoka became taut when she stopped.
"I really wish you wouldn't suddenly stop without telling me..." he snapped irately at Ahsoka but when he saw the ginger bat gaze at the trees in wonder, his irritation flashed to curiosity, "Ahsoka?"
Sirius, Milo, Aurora and Ahsoka did not answer and continued gazing in the direction of a particular set of trees. Then the four began to walk towards the area, forcing the other five into following due to their chains.
"Where are you going?" asked Celeste as she went along with Milo.
"We're supposed to be going to Rio," added Rafael but Blu raised a wing to tell him to be quiet. Then Eva examined the behaviour and facial expressions of the four human-raised animals, her kids following along behind her VERY obediently like sheep after their shepherd. This was surprising since most of them were normally rambunctious and disobedient but with Eva around, they were always alert of her strictness.
"I think they are familiar with this place?" she asked. The others didn't answer and continued gazing at the quartet. Then Aurora looked up at the canopy and felt a flashback flash in her mind. The flashback contained sounds of song and colourful forms flying around through the branches up there. Sirius did the same and the same thing happened. The pair then looked around in wonder.
"We know this place," Aurora finally said, proving Eva's guess to be correct.
"And it feels UTTERLY familiar indeed," added Sirius. The others came in including Samara and they looked on in wonder.
"Maybe you were born here?" asked Zephyr.
"And this was your home when you were younger?" asked Brisa.
"But how can that be?" Samara unintentionally spoke but then she went into silence for she was to remain that way as punishment for saying something totally stupid to Blu, Jewel and Aurora. However, the others didn't react to Samara speaking.
"You told us that you spent 12 years growing up in the UK and Australia," said Orion.
"The only one of you four who had remained in Rio all that time is Ahsoka," said Celeste with a nod to the ginger bat.
"I sometimes visited the Blu Bird Sanctuary with Joanna as I was growing up under her care," said Ahsoka, "It's... it's just that I've not been in this area of the Sanctuary... but still..."
"Funny," said Blu, "I had that same strange feeling when I visited a certain area of the jungle, indicating that I, too, was born here."
As he said this Sirius turned in a particular direction and as he did, he flinched.
"It couldn't be," the male glaucous macaw whispered and with that, he ran off, forcing Samara into following due to the chain.
"Sirius," she yelled, "SIRIUS, YOU KNOW..."
The others also followed. Sirius continued until he came to the foot of a particular tree, some grass and small ferns growing around it.
"Sirius," called Orion as he appeared with Ahsoka. Then Sirius began to examine the surroundings with Aurora and Milo doing the same.
"I'm gonna fly up to examine the canopy above here, Zephyr and Brisa, to see for sure that this area is what I think it is," she said to the brother and sister chained to her, "You're gonna have to fly with me."
"Why's..." began Zephyr but he and Brisa were forced to comply when Aurora lofted into flight and they did so. Sirius followed with Samara following him and close behind the glaucous macaws, Milo followed with Celeste. Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia, Tiago and Rafael also followed, leaving Eva, the 25 toucan kids, Orion and the still-flightless Ahsoka on the ground. As the three ascended to the area of the canopy in question and perched on some branches, Celeste complained about the chain again.
"Not only is walking on the ground difficult with these chains," she muttered, "They are also making flying difficult too."
"Why up here, you three?" asked Blu as he perched with his family and Rafael. Aurora didn't reply and began to take in the trees at this level, Zephyr and Brisa exchanging looks. She then winced as another flashback flashed in her mind, this time in this area. Then as she turned her gaze to a particular hole in the tree trunk, she gasped. Then Sirius and Samara came in and perched near them.
"What is it, Aurora?" asked the male glaucous macaw, the female looking on in wonder. Aurora replied by turning his head in the direction of the hollow just as Milo and Celeste came in.
"Look there," Aurora told Sirius, "Look at that hole in the tree. Imagine a family of Spix macaws gazing out of that tree, together with a darker blue macaw chick..."
She then went over to Milo and turned his head the hollow's way as well, "You too, Milo."
Milo gazed at the tree hollow and felt familiarity prick at him. Aurora continued, "And also a variety of birds and a few bats flying around this area, singing and doing acrobats... and monkeys swinging around on the branches..."
Sirius and Milo continued gazing at the area as Aurora continued to add, "And also... a glaucous macaw family perched on that branch there," she pointed to a large branch stretching out from near the hollow, "That family used to live in that tree hollow over there," she pointed to a hole in another tree nearby. Sirius turned his gaze to it. Samara, Zephyr, Brisa, Celeste, Blu, Jewel and Rafael exchanged slightly confused looks whole Carla, Bia and Tiago looked on.
"That tree hollow is now home to a scarlet macaw family," Blu explained before he gazed at the hollow where Aurora believed some Spix macaw family lived, "I don't know if they are out, but..."
"Don't interrupt, Blu," Jewel rebuked, silencing him as Aurora continued.
"Also, imagine two Spix macaw chicks and two glaucous macaw chicks learning to fly with their parents watching on with some red macaws and giant bats, there," she added with a wing point to a particular spot. Sirius and Milo turned to that area and as they did, a flood of memories they had kept buried for 12 years reared up in their minds and soon, recognition crashed upon them.
"This was our home," the male glaucous macaw spoke in stun.
"As chicks," put in Milo. Aurora also gazed at the area and felt the same way. This area was indeed the three's home when they were young and not only that, it was Sirius and Aurora's birthplace while Milo was adopted. Further, Ahsoka used to live here as well though her main home was somewhere else in the jungle, not too far from here. Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia, Tiago, Rafael and also Zephyr, Brisa, Samara and Celeste looked on in silent wonder for a while. Then a family of red macaws with colourful wings appeared after an outing as Blu guessed and when they saw a group of blue macaws and toucan perch near their now-home, Rafael and Blu flew to them to explain to them why they were here.
"I guess that confirms that you three were definitely born here like Ahsoka was," Jewel said. Milo, Aurora and Sirius slowly nodded.
"And my original name was Bruno as well," added Milo, "before Audrey renamed me as what I go by now. Ahsoka also had an original name, Ginger."
"That explains why you were so eager in examining this place," said Zephyr.
"But why were you so unnerved by those poachers back in that vile den?" asked Brisa. As she asked this, Aurora happened to turn in a particular direction but then another cascade of memories, this time a bad one, crashed upon her. Sirius and Milo also felt that cascade and the three of them winced to the concern of the others including Samara. Flashes of comets appeared in their minds, accompanied by squawks but these squawks were not happy singing, but terrified cries. Milo then turned to the now-scarlet macaws' home and winced as he felt flashbacks specific to him flash in his mind. He felt himself plummet from that hollow to the floor below and a voice yell at him, "Bruno, flap your WIIIINGS!"
As this played; Milo's breathing suddenly began to accelerate and he began to tremble with fright at the memories.
"Milo?" asked Celeste, "Milo, are you okay?"
Then Aurora and Sirius looked up and flinched when they saw something disturbing flash in their minds as well. It was a fight between two forms, one blue and one right among the blizzard of colourful comets. As they played through this horrible flashback, they, too, began to breathe faster, shake and weep. Samara looked on with genuine concern.
"I think something HORRIBLE has happened to them here," she said, "I don't know if poachers had something to do with it but..."
"I don't know but being here is clearly affecting them negatively," said Jewel seriously, "We need to get 'em outa here now."
She then commanded Zephyr, Brisa, Celeste and also Samara to take the three trembling and weeping macaws back down to the others on the ground while she called Blu and Rafael and the four did just that. Blu and Rafael then apologised to the scarlet macaw family and left with Jewel and they followed Aurora's group, the red macaw family looking on in wonder but also with sympathy. However, Blu and Rafael had explained to them that this area was where Aurora, Bruno and Sirius lived as chicks, their hollow being Aurora and Milo's original home but something had happened to them which was why they were visiting this area. They had also apologised to the family for their intrusion before Jewel called them to leave as the three macaws were experiencing a flood of bad memories, and they did, saying goodbye to the family and that they will meet again at some point for a proper explanation. The scarlet macaws exchanged looks and returned to their hollow which used to be Aurora and Milo's home. Then once they were down on the ground, the group moved to get Aurora, Sirius and Milo out of that area, especially as memories of them getting caged and someone screaming flashed and echoed in their minds and they began to whimper and weep. However, Ahsoka soon found herself facing a torrent of bad memories flood her mind as well as the group passed through another area and she too began to enter panic mode.
"Oh, not you too, Ahsoka," grumbled Orion as she began to shake as well. Ahsoka then winced as she heard familiar voices echo within her mind.
"Quickly, Lily, get Ginger outa here NOW... AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHH!
"Get back 'ere, you winged RAT! There's NOWEHRE for you an' ya lil' baby t' fly now. You're gonna be caged whether you like it or NOT!"
(Flapping sounds happen, along with the gasping of a desperate female)
"(whisper) Ginger, you are loved... by your clan... by everyone around here including our macaw friends... Momma loves you... so does Dadda... please be safe... and strong..."
"What a lovely mother an' daughter moment."
(Fight and agonised screams)
As the flashback ended with Ahsoka plummeting to the forest floor, the ginger bat winced and drew in a sharp gasp. Then her tears increased to rivulets to the concern of the others. Immediately, Blu, Jewel, Rafael and Eva, together with Orion, Zephyr, Brisa, Samara and Celeste accelerated their removal of the four from this area of the forest and took them to a place where they could calm down.
Later
Once Aurora, Sirius, Ahsoka and Milo had all overcome their torrents of traumatic flashbacks, they began to explain to the others on a rock. Orion, Zephyr, Brisa, Samara and Celeste sat nearby due to their chains to the four but they didn't mind this time.
"We were INDEED born here," said Aurora, "And I even remember my family to some degree. I had a mother and a father... and an older brother but I can't remember their names..."
"And I was adopted by that family," added Milo.
"And I also had a family," said Sirius, "A mother, a father and a sister."
"And I think we were smuggled out of Brazil and I and Sirius ended up in Brandon's care in London, England, and Milo as Audrey's pet in Australia," added Aurora, "And I believe my parents had been killed by a white form. Either it was Vecna or another white form..."
"That other white form would likely have been that vile vulture Nigel," said Rafael. Milo then turned to Ahsoka who was still shaken from her own set of bad memories and was being comforted by Orion and Celeste, "And as for Ahsoka, she lost her parents and ended up in Joanna's care as a foster bat."
"I know I had lost both my parents," Ahsoka said in a strangled voice, "But my macaw friends including Blu and Jewel believe that their killers had been those ravens and crows, but from what I can remember, the form appeared entirely different and I don't believe it had been black like a raven..."
"Could your parents' killers have been something, or someone else, Ahsoka?" asked Blu.
"I don't know," Ahsoka replied, wiping her eyes with a wing-thumb and sniffling slightly, "As vivid as those memories were; that form in the memory of my mother dying had been unclear and blurry..."
"The only other flying helpers of that poacher group had been Nigel and Vecna," said Jewel, "Unless they had other flying helpers they're the only two I can name."
"Can you remember how your parents died?" asked Sirius but Aurora and Milo shot him a glare at this rather insensitive question but Ahsoka didn't mind and tearfully shook her head. Then Rafael stepped in.
"Well, it seems that you four certainly have had a traumatic childhood at the hands of those poachers," said the toucan, "but not to worry. Our human friends have set up our home as a sanctuary now and I sure hope they will be hunting down that second band of smugglers and jailing them as it is now illegal to poach animals from the sanctuary to smuggle out of Brazil. The only thing I can say to you is put that aside for now and move on. You cannot change the past, but you can have a future, starting with..." he then eyed a certain member of the group. Ahsoka winced as the others turned their gazes her way as well.
"Oh, you don't mean..." she began.
Meanwhile
Tulio, Francisco, Audrey, Brandon and Joanna drove in the middle one's jeep with Jack and Jill giving them directions. With them were Charon, Katrina and Sunspot, the young raven, calico cat and Dalmatian puppy respectively and they were still driving to the smugglers' den. However, they had been given difficulty due to the density of traffic in downtown Rio. Rio de Janeiro can be a VERY busy city indeed and the roads can get jam packed but there was an additional factor thrown into the mix. Francisco glared at the traffic jam in the road.
"It's approaching Carnival season," he grumbled and impatiently, "Sooner or later, they'll be closing off the roads."
"Can't we get out and walk?" asked Joanna.
"That would take too long," said Tulio, "Rio is a MASSIVE place, possibly bigger than Brandon's home city of London."
"Y-y-you used a m-m-motorcycle to get to th-th-the previous smugglers' d-d-den, didn't you?" asked Audrey.
"We don't know where or how to get a motorcycle," said Jack with Jill looking on in agreement.
"Well, we still need to get to that den as soon as we can before Blu and his family end up caught," Tulio grumbled, "I do NOT want the ONLY breeding pair of Spix macaws in those criminals' hands."
The other humans flinched as Tulio shouted the final few words but it was clear that he was flustered. Worries for Blu and his family besides the nine missing macaws and flying foxes were clearly boiling in Tulio's mind and he wanted to vet those smugglers found and caught as soon as possible before they take their plans further. Sadly, the group continued to drive on through the dense traffic.
Somewhere else in the city, another group of smugglers' pets had been hard at work, having caught a small flock of more birds, most of them parrots. This group was Vecna's team and with the massive monster swan were Dooku and several of his raven and crow cronies, among them a truly nasty female crow named Noire. As the band of corvids looked over the cages of frightened and weeping birds in a secluded area away from the eyes of public humans, Vecna said, "Congratulations, crows and ravens, we've caught plenny of those gems."
"But we still haven't found those fourteen most important ones yet, Boss Vecna," said one of the crows.
"And I wonder how that cowardly runt Charon is doing with Sunspot, Katrina, Jack and Jill," said Noire nastily, "I hope they aren't up to any trouble that would jeopardise our smugglers' secrecy..."
"Well, if they are, Noire," Vecna said in his growly voice sounding like a brute, "Then the five shall be facin' some DIRE consequences, I can tell ya," he then raked his single one-eyed glare laced with ice over the captured birds, especially the macaws, "An' I certainly can't wait to see what sorta nightmares these VILE scum pieces of the Earth will face once we leave this country after our job is done," he then topped this off with a wicked cackle. However, as he did this, one of the yellow and lime green parrots who was in a cage on his own, shot Vecna a CAUSTIC glare and began to drag himself and the cage towards the swan, none of the crows and ravens, not even Dooku, noticing. Then as soon as he was near Vecna's legs, the parrot reached his neck through the bars and clamped his hooked beak onto Vecna's left leg HARD. A MASSIVE screech of agony erupted from the NASTY and scarred swan's orange and black beak as pain ripped through his left leg from the parrot's bite, making the crows and ravens including Dooku and Noire and also the other caged birds jump about a feet into the air. Then Vecna, upon realising that what bit his leg was a parrot, his most DETESTED bird on the parrot, then glared volcanically at the yellow and green parrot who quivered violently at the sight of the massive and rabid swan, instantly regretting his action of biting him. Then what happened next sent a MASSIVE wave of horror coursing through the captured birds and the ravens and crows excluding Dooku and Noire. Vecna opened the cage door and seized the yellow and green macaw by the neck with his beak. The sounds of terrified and agonised squawks exploded into the air along with yellow and green feathers as the evil swan savagely attacked the parrot by swinging him around in his beak and tearing out his feathers. The other caged birds released screams of terror at the horrific scene and some quivered and even a few of the ravens and crows looked away. Then once he was done savagely attacking the macaw, Vecna spat out some yellow feathers and there lay the parrot, many of his feathers torn out and nasty bite injuries on his body. One of his wings was broken and most of his feathers lay like torn coloured paper around him. Then Vecna released a MASSIVE hiss-roar at the other macaws as a warning to NEVER mess with him or THAT will happen to them as well and the macaws and other parrots trembled violently with some of them weeping. Noire and another crow went to re-cage the yellow and green macaw but Vecna yelled, "Don't bother with that one. We'll use the cage for another gem. Let's MOVE ON!"
Immediately, Noire and the crow aborted their plans and obeyed. The macaws nearest to the savaged yellow and green macaw in their cage looked on and began to comfort him. A green-winged macaw reached a wing out to his severely injured friend and placed it gently onto his back as his life slowly ebbed away. It was clear that Vecna had savaged him so violently that he had injured him fatally. He released a mournful caw as Dooku and two ravens came, seized their cage and carried them away, none of them even batting an eyelid at the fatally savaged creature. The other macaws with him also bowed their heads in mourning. On the way, Vecna commanded the crows and ravens to fly straight to the smugglers' den with the caged birds and to return straight to him once they were done.