Chapter 23: Shocking news
Björn was breathing and panting heavily, clearly had had been flying like a plane to get back here in only 2 days.
All eyes were on the scout, who clearly had interrupted something importantly.
Andor and Amalia, however, did go to their scout and even offered him a cup of water. The cup was made of a coconut.
"Alright there, Björn, take a deep gulp and after that a deep breath." Andor told his scout.
Björn did as his chieftain commanded and calmed down. All eyes were still pointed at him.
Björn then came closer to his chieftain and chieftainess and whispered something in their hearing holes.
"What do you think he's saying to them, Uncle Tommy?" Tiago asked Thomas.
"No idea, Tiago. We'll hear soon enough." Thomas replied.
After some whispering, though, a wide smile emerged onto Amalia's and Andor's face.
Andor and Amalia then directed themselves towards the crowd and spoke towards their clan members. Björn was still trying to catch his breath again.
Andor: "Azuls! We're staying here until our other scouts return and then we'll go further westwards. Björn had flown with incredible speed, but he told me that if we fly normally, in 2 to 3 days we'll reach our new destination."
Every Azul and other bird listened attentively.
Amalia: "Two to three days westwards from here… LIES OUR ANCIENT HOME, XLAXLAN TWELVE PEAKS!"
There was a moment of pure silence, especially amongst the Azul clan members, who were breathless.
Then, one Azul clan member broke the silence by yelling: "I told ya'll that we would reach our old home!"
Suddenly, all the Azul Clan members erupted in a roar of excitement, yelling 'HURRAY!'. Many Azuls hugged each other and even gave them kisses. Some Azuls, in their excitement, hugged other birds not of their clan.
Then, Bruno, Astrid and Henrik flew towards their parents, hugging them tightly.
"Are we really going to Twelve Peaks, mom and dad?!" Henrik exclaimed happily.
"Yes, dear, we're finally there!" Andor said happily.
Jasmine and Thomas flew over to their adoptive brother and Jasmine happily said: "Even though we're staying with our younger brother in this tribe, I wish to see our old clan reclaim their now abandoned home."
Amalia and Andor smiled at this.
"Know Jas, that you are always welcome with us, no matter what." Amalia said.
"And I wouldn't agree more that she and Thomas can go a few days with you and see their ancient home." Blu said, now joining the conversation. "In fact, I myself am kinda curious of how this Twelve Peaks looks like."
"Me too!" Tiago said happily.
"Same here, I wish to see those toxin plants that Auntie Jassie told us about." Bia said.
There was a lot of happy commotion across the entire Azul clan, but Björn suddenly tapped onto Andor's and Amalia's shoulders, wanting to say something else.
Andor and Amalia had to calm the clan down and ordered them to be quiet, since else they couldn't hear Björn's whispers. Although they were now quiet, the happy atmosphere within them was still high.
But as Björn whispered something to Amalia and Andor, their smiles dropped instantly.
They looked at each other in horror and everyone at the show seemed to notice.
Then, Andor spoke up.
"Azul clan. Björn just told me also bad news." Andor said with a sigh. "It appears that Xlaxlan Twelve Peaks has been taken over by our demonic enemies who first started the entire war."
All the happy faces of the Azuls suddenly faded away and they became dead silent. The other birds and animals were also confused. A war? What were they talking about.
There was a lot of murmur across the Azul clan and some even shouted things like: "How dare those demons desecrate our sacred halls and temples?!" or "We must show those devils that we are the true rulers of Twelve Peaks!" and more.
Eduardo then asked confused to Andor: "What demons and devils are you all talking about?"
Tiago then interrupted.
"Auntie Jassie and Uncle Tommy told me, my siblings, mom, dad, Aunt Mimi, Uncle Beto, Uncle Rafael, Uncle Nico, Uncle Pedro and Aunt Eva about it. They told us that it was a bunch of bloodthirsty orange birds from Peru with an orange color and calling themselves the Amberwings, or something like that." Tiago said to his pop-pop and everyone in the crowd.
"No, the Emberwings, Tiago." Bia pointed out.
"Yeah, that's what I meant." Tiago snorted.
Sapphire's eyes suddenly widened, unbeknownst to Eduardo. She then looked at Mia, Arturo and Megeslav, who had their beaks open in complete shock.
"Well, we can call ourselves the Red Wings and the Blue wings if they wish to brag about the color of their feathers." Felipe said boastingly.
However, everyone, including the Azul Clan stared at Mia's scarlet tribe as they too started muttering things like: "How can it be?", "Are they truly alive?" and "How were they able to survive?".
"What's going on with the-" Andor was about to say something, but then he felt 2 wings on his shoulders, and he was turned around. He met the shocked turquoise eyes of Sapphire.
"The Emberwings?" Sapphire asked extremely shocked and also very serious. "Bloodthirsty orange macaws led by Terrin, Terrin the Terrible? And his inner circle of evil with his deranged wife called Davina?"
"Uh, yeah all of that is true." Andor said, struggling a bit to come to his words.
"Wait a second." Jasmine said confused. "Sapphire, you know them?"
Sapphire looked at Arturo, Mia and Megeslav with a worried look. Everyone noticed it too.
"You know them too?" Willfried asked shocked.
"What exactly does this 'Xlaxlan Twelve Peaks' look like?" Sapphire asked very seriously.
"Why do you want to know, Sapphire?" Andor asked.
Sapphire didn't seem to have time and said very sternly: "Just tell me what it looks like."
Andor gave Sapphire a very detailed description of Xlaxlan Twelve Peaks and when he was finished, shock was written all over Sapphire's, Mia's, Arturo's and Megeslav's faces.
"Mia, Arturo, Meg, we need to get the defenses ready…." Sapphire said.
"Wait, what?" Jewel and Eduardo said confused.
"EVERYONE! WE HAVE TO BUILD UP MORE DEFENCES AND SET OUT MORE PATROLS!" Sapphire suddenly yelled, to everyone's shock.
"Whoa, there, Sapphire! What's going on?" Blu asked very confused.
"THERE IS NO TIME FOR EXPLEATION EVERYONE! WAR COULD BE ON OUR DOORSTEP!"
To be continued…