30 million years after a global cataclysm has wiped out humans and most mammals, a tribe of "people" evolved from birds live in a Fertile Crescent of early agriculture. When the leader’s daughter falls in love with the son of an adversary and betrays her village, her tribe is driven out into a wilderness of huge rat-predators, cunning insects, giant toads, intelligent crocodilians and other monstrous life forms. Helped by outlaw raptors, they struggle to survive and reclaim their home.

SYNOPSIS:

Thirty million years from now.

The continents have migrated into two new supercontinents. The era of primates ended long ago in a massive meteorite strike and mass extinction. Only some birds, rats, reptiles, amphibians, insects, one-celled animals, and bacteria survived to rebuild the earth's biota.

Altricial birds (songbirds and raptors) have evolved into the dominant niche once occupied by man. As the über species, they have lost their ability to fly. They are bipedal, beakless, and their wings have re-evolved dexterous fingers. They give birth to live offspring.

The bird “people" are divided into Parrot tribe (the “Rhia”) and the Raptor tribe, (the “Fhje”). The Parrot people have basic agriculture, make music, and have early writing. They are locked in competition with the nomadic, hunting Raptors and live in constant fear of raids and battles.

Rodents have evolved to fill the niches once occupied by lions, hyenas, leopards, bears, weasels and other predators. The Parrot people have domesticated rat dogs, rat horses, rat-sheep, rat-cows, and rat-goats. The Raptor people have turned the riding of rat-horses into a fine art like the Mongols.

Some insects became earthbound and grew enormous. Their brains are larger, and they have developed cunning hunting strategies.

Bird feathers have evolved to be more hair-like, but the head feathers have grown long, silky and multicolored, driven by sexual selection. The Parrot-People take a lot of care with their "hair." They paint and tattoo their faces and bodies. The Raptor-people are tougher, and their coloring is earth-toned for camouflage, since they live an outdoor, hunting life.

Tribes of highly evolved bird-“people” are living in an area with a climate like the Fertile Crescent. Their civilization is at the point where humans were about 10,000 years ago.

Parrot language is complex and musical, while raptor language is harsh and guttural. Both tribes make music. The Parrot people tell long fables in song, while the Raptor people tell of hunts and mimic animals perfectly.

Beyond the boundaries of the Parrot-village of Hakha is a menacing wilderness filled with rat-predators, snakes, huge, intelligent crocodilians, and massive insects. This land is also full of bird people outlaws who live by raids and robbery. Some are raptors banished from the tribe. Parrot people who are banished do not live long because the parrot people have lost the ability to live off the land.

Some outlaws are the offspring of illicit matings between parrots and raptors. They all live a nomadic, danger-filled life. Spurned by both tribes, they are considered barbarians and are feared and avoided.

Bird people are unaware of long-vanished humans, although ancient fables and myths about godlike beings persist. There are still man-made structures but the bird people do not recognize that and think of them as part of nature.

Both tribes wonder about earth's past, the stars and the sun, seasons, mathematics, etc. The Hakha village teacher, MOTEBO, a scribe and scholar, ponders the stars and the seasons. He teaches a small group of students early engineering, medicine and science. WAGAR, the Parrot prince, is one of Motebo's brightest students.

In addition to guarding their village and its fragile agriculture, the Parrot-people must constantly fight off raids and attacks by the Raptors, led by the powerful and ruthless prince, THOTOR.

Beautiful LANITRA, the daughter of Parrot king AASKEL, is betrothed to the young noble and soldier WAGAR. Wagar and Lanitra are planning their wedding. One day, Lanitra and her sister BARI, are strolling when they are attacked by a raptor raiding party. Lanitra is saved and returned to her village by an outcast named TRAGNATH, but Bari is captured by the raptors.

In the raptor encampment of Fhje, the Raptor prince, THOTOR, falls in love with Bari, who learns to enjoy the vigorous Raptor way of life. Bari had always been jealous of Lanitra, and she responds to Thotor's toughness and passion. But having an outcast offspring would mean banishment.

In a daring raid, Bari is rescued and brought back to the Parrot village of Hakha. But she is changed. She misses Thotor and has turned against what she sees as the luxury and decadence of her own people.

Meanwhile, Thotor and his Raptor Fhje tribe endure a very hard winter. Bari, who keeps in secret contact with Thotor, sneaks food to the starving Raptor village. But to survive, they decide to raid the Parrot village to capture territory and stored food.

Moved by the plight of the Raptor people, Bari is persuaded to betray her village and let the Raptor raiders inside the gates. Thotor promises to make her his queen. She tells herself that she is uniting the two tribes rather than being a traitor.

In a pitched battle, the Parrot village is captured. Wagar, Lanitra, Aaskel, Motebo and other survivors of the Parrot tribe barely escape. They set off on a flight for their lives, nearly undefended and without food in a terrifying landscape crawling with rat-lions, rat-bears, giant insects, giant toads, and other terrifying life forms. They are starving because their farming lifestyle has left them ignorant and unprepared to live off the land.

TRAGNATH and his mixed-species outcasts, who are skilled at living in the wilds, come to their aid. They have been looked down on and even hunted by Parrot people and Raptors both. Now they are the only hope of the Parrot tribe.

The Parrot people are set to work as near-slaves by the Outcasts, but at least they are fed and defended. As they live and learn from Tragnath, they realize that their prejudices were wrong. Tragnath and his people are more intelligent and just as quick to learn. In fact, Motebo realizes that in many ways they combine the best traits of both tribes. He yearns for a time of peace.

The Outcasts are under constant attack, but the worst danger are huge, cunning and stealthy insects evolved from praying mantises, who keep them constantly on edge.

Motebo, Aaskel and Wagar put their design skills to work devising a new superweapon that fires projectiles --- a crude gun. They manufacture several more and the next time they are attacked by a group of insects, they destroy the entire band.

The rat-lions, rat-bears and other predators soon feel the weapon too. Rat-deer and other prey animals are taken and eaten in huge banquets.

The wise old Motebo, stunned at the success of the weapon, realizes that he has loosed something potentially terrible on the world. Yet, he yearns for his village home. He supports the plans of Wagar and Aaskel to retake the village.

Meanwhile, Tragnath takes them far from the forest and shows them the shores of a vast new ocean, composed of the Atlantic and Pacific, which united after the isthmus of Panama disappeared. They all marvel at the first boats that Tragnath and his people are building to sail short distances around the coast. The world is so much bigger than they had ever imagined. Why fight for their small village when there is so much to see, so many places where new lands await?

But their leader Aaskel lives only for revenge. He cannot abide the thought that Thotor and his Raptor tribe—and his traitor daughter Bari, are living in the village that he founded. So they spend their time building more weapons and drilling troops to retake the village.

In another epic battle, the Parrot people re-invade their terrain and this time they conquer the Raptor people. Their new weapons nearly massacre them. Thotor and Bari are taken prisoner and put on display. The proud Raptor warriors are in chains, enslaved to work in the fields.

As he surveys the victory, Aaskel and his Parrot tribe are now faced with a double dilemma: He owes Tragnath and his hybrid outcasts his victory. Bari, his daughter, is in love with his enemy and intends to die with him. Can the large brains of the parrot people, with their keen intelligence and language, find a way to live in peace with both the raptors and the hybrids?

The jubilant wedding of Wagar and Lanitra is celebrated as the Parrot people rebuild. Some are beginning to realize that they cannot found a new civilization on the broken hearts of the Raptor people. And that the hybrids are perhaps the way of the future, as Bari and Thotor welcome a son in their captivity. Can Aaskel see his own grandson a slave and outcast? Lanitra begs Aaskel to forgive Bari and take her back, but Thotor as a captive is still vowing vengeance.

In a last scene, the scholar Motebo excavates a cave full of ancient books from the human race. He is dazzled by the strange words, pictures and concepts which he immediately sets about translating. He realizes that they are not the first intelligent beings to inhabit the earth.

AVIANA