Play the same old tricks whenever possible.
– FROM THE BOOK OF HERESY
17 SECOND RAID
As the cardinals and the theater birds watched helplessly, flames swallowed up the Bluewingle camp. But then a flash of lightning lit all the faces of the birds, followed by a deafening roll of thunder. Rain started to pour down and extinguished the fire within minutes.
Flame-back, Cody, and a few strong cardinals went into the remains of the camps to look for survivors. They found Glenagh trapped in a corner of his study, lying on a pile of charred books and documents, with his wings open to cover them. A deep cut over one eye was bleeding freely.
“Glen! Are you all right?” the cardinal leader cried.
“Oh…the song to call Swordbird…the Old Scripture…they’re burned!” croaked Glenagh in a raspy voice.
Cody helped the old blue jay up. “Don’t worry, Glen. I can still remember the first verse of the song.”
“Our camp has a copy of the Old Scripture too, Glenagh,” said Flame-back. “You’ll all have to come back with us. Bring the wounded. You’ll be safe there.”
Shadow and his scouts and archers glided over the gate of Fortress Glooming and landed breathlessly on the steps of the main building. He dismissed his birds with a flick of a wing and dashed up the stairway to Turnatt’s private chamber.
“Come in, scout,” grumbled Turnatt.
Shadow respectfully bowed his head. “Yes, Your Majesty. We’ve burned the blue jays’ camp and killed many blue jays with arrows. But when we returned to fetch some oil to burn the cardinals, it began to rain.”
“Not bad,” growled the hawk lord. “Attack the cardinals tomorrow night if the rain stops. Beware, the woodbirds may have set up defenses.”
“Yes. Thank you, Your Majesty. Good night, Your Majesty!” Shadow saluted the hawk and backed out of the room.
When the woodbirds and the theater members arrived at the cardinals’ camp, the first thing they did was to clear out a nearby cave. This cave was a big one, with a small pond inside. The cardinals had often come here to drink the water because it was the sweetest for miles around. The birds piled some straw bedding around the pool and carried the wounded in. A medicine bird was called to tend them. The theater birds also escorted the hatchlings and the old, weak, sick, and disabled birds into the cave so that they could be sheltered if an attack came.
Flame-back and Skylion led a group of birds to hang nets around the camp trees. Although it was still raining outside, lightning and thunder became less frequent.
In the cardinals’ tribe there were several large nets made out of a kind of sturdy weed. They were used for capturing dangerous animals that came too near for the cardinals’ liking. Each was cone-shaped, with a thick rope tied at the end. The rope would be hung on a high branch, with the other end inside a room. As a beast came near, a bird would release the rope, and the nets would crash down.
The rain stopped, and in the eastern sky the first rays of sunlight shone.
After setting out sentries around the camp, Flame-back and Skylion went inside to discuss the next step.
“The enemies attacked my tribe at night, so they’re likely to do the same again,” Skylion reasoned. “Judging from the flames last night, I think that they poured oil on the lower part of the trunks before they set them on fire. So we must stop the birds one way or another before they do it.”
Flame-back nodded. “Right. We have some nets, but they may not be enough.”
“We certainly can station some archers,” the blue jay leader said slowly. “But it would be even better if there were some gigantic spiderwebs-”
“Why, Skylion, you remind me! Have you ever used sticky-grass to catch winged insects to eat?” Flame-back asked.
“Do you mean the leafy grass with resinlike sap in the stems? Oh, yes, of course I have used it,” Skylion said with interest. “When you break the stem, the sticky, clear glue will flow out. If you smear a bit on one branch and move the stem, it will make a sticky string. Apply the glue on another branch, stretch it and stick it on another, and another… When finished, it will resemble a spiderweb. There always will be some mosquitoes and flies stuck in the web the next morning. Pick them out and you’ll have a wonderful breakfast.”
“We have lots of sticky-grass growing behind our camp, Skylion. Let’s pick some and make webs all over the tribe-trees’ branches! It would be much safer with these sticky webs,” Flame-back suggested.
“Good idea! Let’s get some birds to help us do that now!” Skylion couldn’t wait.
Just as predicted, Shadow and his scouts showed up that night. They perched near the main tree, observing it through the leaves.
Shadow turned to his scouts. “You two set fire to the main tree. Be carefuclass="underline" There are birds awake there. Pour oil onto the base of the tree too.”
“Yes, sir!” The two scouts flew off with two large buckets in their claws.
Shadow waited for quite a while, but there weren’t any flames. He ordered the rest of his band to pour oil and set fire to the camp trees and let the archers follow the scouts to protect them from behind. Again nothing happened. At last he could not wait any longer and flew to the main tree to see what had gone wrong.
When he got close, he heard the halting cries of crows from sticky webs in the trees, and nets. He cursed and drew out an arrow, taking careful aim at a cardinal sentry. But just before he let the bowstring go, somebird else’s arrow flew out of the darkness, brushing the feathers on his head. His shot went wild as he turned to face a large cardinal who swooped down from a branch. He had a bow in his claw and a quiver on his back, with knives and darts in his belt.
“I am Flame-back, leader of the Sunrise tribe,” the cardinal said in a threatening voice. “Leave now and I will let you go with your life.”
“Never, fool! Death to you!” Shadow hissed, and lunged at him, saber flashing. Flame-back nimbly skipped away and with a twang shot another arrow at the scout. Shadow ducked, the shaft whistling by his ear. “Fight with me if you dare!” he growled. But Flame-back turned and flew out of his sight.
Furious, the scout dived after him. He came to another camp tree but didn’t see the cardinal. He listened intently. Suddenly he snatched out a knife and threw it. The long knife first split an arrow that came from that direction and then landed with a muffled thud somewhere out of Shadow’s sight. There was a soft moan. Shadow, his eyes shining with malice, eagerly rushed toward the sound. His black cape billowed behind him like a ghost.
The wounded Flame-back didn’t give up. He yanked the knife out of his side and with a grunt used it to block a deathblow aimed at him from Shadow’s saber. He scrambled up, and the two birds clashed in a blur of blades. Crows are naturally larger than cardinals, so Flame-back’s chance of winning the battle was slim. But his angry face and the unusual amount of weaponry on him made Shadow a little uncertain. And Flame-back was extremely quick-clawed and agile, so before long the scout was breathing hard.
Neither seemed to gain an advantage as they parried and thrust around the camp trees. The air filled with the clangs of metal.
Shadow laughed and managed to quickly wrench Flame-back’s knife out of his claws, but just as fast Flame-back pulled out a scimitar and lunged at Shadow. The sudden movement caught Shadow off guard. The scout immediately lost his smile as a good number of feathers were chopped off, leaving a patch of skin bare.
Shadow was infuriated. “You’ll pay for that, scalawag!” He charged at the cardinal again. The scout’s saber sliced a piece of flesh from Flame-back’s claw, and the cardinal dropped his scimitar in pain. Seeing his chance, Shadow aimed blow after blow at Flame-back, and the cardinal could only duck and retreat.