Serenity cocked her head. "Tree flock?"
Dove shot a grateful glance at Rose and began limping towards Silverfluff, terrified at the sight of her limp form.
(Tree) Comet puffed up his hackles playfully at Beak.
(Tree) Huckleberry let out a high-pitched chirp and suddenly there was commotion in the undergrowth below. The other members of Tree Flock flapped and scrambled onto the branches of the tree. "Is everyone here?" Huckleberry said, clicking her beak.
(Tree) Comet opened his beak to say something, then he heard the signal. "Gotta go!" he said and lunged upward, flapping wildly, until he was out of sight.
"That's all?" Raven asked, but took no time. She haphazardly scrambled to the ground and followed them. Chicken's night vision is nada, so she followed and kept tripping over branches. Unnoticed yellow eyes followed the oblivious chickens. The insect cacophony was deafening.
After only a few feet of ground had been covered, a quick d'uccle mix hen suddenly stopped, her head up and her eyes scanning the undergrowth. She let out three loud, rapid chirps, and all the other Tree flockers stopped too, then flew towards the nearest tree. Huckleberry was about to follow when she noticed Raven looking quite confused. "It's an alarm call!" she clucked quickly, "Fern spotted a predator." Huckleberry didn't wait a second longer, launching herself into the air and scrambling onto a branch, looking down at Raven.
But Raven had already made it to the tree, recognizing the alarm call as well. "Do you think our flock would have survived if we couldn't recognize alarm calls?" She said politely as possible. She soon afterwards that her flock was the one that survived, and theirs didn't. "And in no offense," she added in apology.
Huckleberry snorted, "I don't think your flock often runs through the forest at night."
"I don't think yours does either. Why would you blindly run through a place full of things that can eat you when you can sleep. Perhaps that is why you need help. I'm sorry if it sounds harsh, but take it a thought." She replied, almost dropping her apologizing tone.
Huckleberry's eyes darkened. "Our flock-" she started, but a flurry of feathers interrupted her as a small, whitish hen flew into Raven, gripping her with her claws, her eyes fiery with anger. "You don't know anything about our flock!" she screeched, "You don't know what we've been through- what we've done to survive!" her voice broke, and Huckleberry grabbed her hackles and dragged her off the other hen. "Rocket! No need to react like that!" she scolded, squinting angrily at her.
Raven jumped back, but held on to her polite attitude with an iron grip."I'm sorry if it offends you, but why would you run through the forest at night? The moonlight doesn't get through the trees. It's like running blind. Roost in the trees, the Wild Fowl don't come out at night either. No wonder it is hard to survive," Raven was fronting all the flaws of this flock, but she tried to be polite.
Huckleberry sighed, and her head drooped, making her look much older than she actually was. She looked up at Raven, but her eyes weren't angry, just sad. "You're wrong. The Wild Fowl attack only at night, or when our guard is down. They usually don't even kill their victim in our camp. They'll take the chicken, still alive and screeching, and rush away into the undergrowth. We always follow them though, even if we know it's no use. Sometimes we find the body the next day, torn to shreds." she shuddered, but continued on, "So, the entire flock is trained to run at night, for long periods of time. We have been successful, once before. A year ago, the Wild Fowl raided our camp, taking our only three chicks. As we chased them desperately through the dark undergrowth, they dropped one, and we were able to save him." she nodded to Comet, who was uneasily watching the ground below. "That's him, but he didn't come out of that unscathed. He is blind in one eye."
