Heroes of Disney #1: Rise of the Firebird

Ch. 24: Following the Leader

The good news was, Buck was breathing.

The bad news was, he was screaming in pain.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" He squealed, as Tiana tried to reposition his leg in the prickly bush.

Tiana winced. "Sorry! I'm trying to be as gentle as I can."

I grimaced at the sight of Buck, lying there in the prickly bush, legs flailing everywhere. Well, at least three of his four legs.

"Is his leg supposed to bend like that?" I asked Tiana, who was trying to come up with a way to properly and safely remove Buck from the thorns.

"Not at all. His leg is fractured." She theorized.

"How do you know? Have you worked with animals before?"

She nodded. "Only for a few years though. Before I got my job at the diner, I often helped my uncle out in the ranch in Texas. He paid me enough to help my mama and I get by."

I looked around our whereabouts. We were in the middle of a clearing, surrounded on most sides by almost a mile of thorn bushes, and behind us a hill that led back up to King Louie's compound. You could see the path that Buck and King Louie tumbled through. Both being fairly large and heavy animals, they cleared a long pathway down the hill and at the bottom of prickly fields. Dodger and Perry were standing off to the side, watching the event take place in front of them.

Tiana stood up and huffed. "Well, frankly this isn't going to be easy. We're going to have to wake up Hercules. He's the only one who can lift Buck and carry him back up to the compound."

Buck's eyes widened as the realization hit him. "What? I don't want him carrying me! He'll probably hurt me more!"

Tiana rolled her eyes. "Well what do you suggest, Buck? Both mine and Jamie's combined strength couldn't lift you. Horses are heavy. It'll hurt, but once you're back up in the compound we can try and splint you up."

I turned toward our small, furry companions. "Do you guys think you can go revive Herk?"

Dodger nodded. "No prob, Jamie-boy."

"GGGGGGRRRRGGGGG."

Then the two turned around and high-tailed it back up the hill.

Tiana continued to try and reason with the horse about how Hercules is the only capable person to lift him, while Buck argued that Hercules was a disaster waiting to happen. Buck's logical reasoning was that Hercules has been knocked out in both battles that the entire group has participated in. I guess I could kind of see his point, but he still didn't have to completely dismiss the idea.

Tiana turned to me. "Speaking of battles, what happened out there, Jamie?"

I was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"The last time you were about to shoot Louie and his monkeys with your ring, you stopped. Then you let him come closer. What happened?"

It took me a minute to realize what the princess was referring to. Then I remembered, pulling my ring off of my finger. "I don't know." I said, staring into the once luminescent diamond. "It just stopped working. I was about to shoot fireworks at them, but then the light started to fade in the ruby inside the ring, and within seconds it died. I don't know what's wrong with it."

"Try it again." She encouraged.

I stuck the ring back onto my finger and pointed it at a nearby tree.