A/N:

First off, thanks for reading this little pamphlet. Second, this takes place somewhat after the events of Firewing, Shade still dead yet somewhat, quote-unquote 'alive'. Third, this was a project that spanned over a few years, and my writing was more structural and better than now, and if you read quite well, you may be able to notice a few differences between the first three chapters and the rest. I apologize for the length of the chapters, (Quoting Kenneth Oppel's official bio: "I wrote a long story which turned out to be a short novel") cause from the size that I was writing in (12 pt.) it seemed like I was writing at the approximate speed of Dan Brown on steroids. Also, the chapter numbers are a bit messed up. Sorry for that. I'll fix those later on! :)

Prologue - Cedric

Cedric woke up with a start. He had that dream again. Shaking it off, he swiveled his head across the hollow his unknown mother and father carved out. It was empty - as usual. He unfurled his wings and yawned a bit.

Letting his wings extend to their full length, (which halfway touched both walls of the roost) he took a moment's pause, and not a wingbeat later, he shot out of the squeeze that served as a gateway in and out of his home, winded his way across the somewhat cramped system of rooms and mini-nurseries and lookouts, narrowly avoided an upwards bound bat, and blasted out of the sugar maple's knothole.

Sure enough, there was everyone. A few newborns flew past, giggling and accusations of cheating following after. His father's friend (or so everyone said) Archer, was giving chase to a winged beetle. A few older newborns were diving from a high branch in one of the trees, waiting until the last possible moment and then pumping their sails out, using the momentum to skim across the ground. They were either trying to impress the females, or practicing for their first hibernation. Since his father wasn't here, he stayed with the females and was usually the only male broody during the hibernaculum retreat.

Cedric Silverwing was a bit too late, and everyone was done hunting for the most, and were just muttering or flying around. He looked upwards and saw the sky slowly transitioning from a dark blue into a jet black. The clouds were rolling from left to right, and angled his head to the tree canopy and surveyed his surroundings, which weren't that new. The hunting grounds hid the Silverwing colony from prying eyes, and the hunting grounds were a more lighter part of the expansive forest that they lived in.

Around the grounds were dense greenery, and to the immediate east was a strong and flowing river which owls frequented. A bit farther to the north were the smoldering remains of a used-to colony which everyone called 'Shade's Tree'. Cedric had no idea who Shade was nor why they had to name a dead tree after him, but still.

After milling around a bit and spitting dollops of sound here and there, he found a lone mosquito, beginning its sluggish retreat back into the dense of the green lands. Too late, he thought. After quietly stalking his quarrel for a bit, he lunged and caught it in his mouth. Mosquitos were generally avoided if you were a hunter. They did little to soothe your stomach, left a nasty aftertaste, and were mostly ubiquitous around forestry, but if he wanted to quell the growing hunger, he had to eat some of these ugly and tasteless things. The rest of his hunting hour went like this, boring, unappetizing, and boring.

Eventually, he finally found a delicious morsel he would surely enjoy - a tiger moth. Oh, how he loved tiger moths. The thrill of the hunt, the tangy taste and the oh-so satisfying crunch. Cedric gave chase, and the tiger moth knew instantly it was being chased. It was no use viewing the world through his echo filters, the tiger moth's own echoes left his vision an endless sea of silver ripples. Angling his sails downwards, exactly how Archer taught him, he skimmed the ground, and he could definitely feel the newborns eyes on him now. Smiling quietly to himself, he adjusted his speed until he was a bit behind the moth, and shot upwards, his mouth open. He caught the tiger moth, and crunched it down quickly.

He had heard funny stories about bats who had caught a tiger moth in their mouths, but due to their slow uptake on closing their mouths, the prey would escape.

But soon after Cedric noticed where he was heading - he was traveling too fast up, and despite all of his attempts to stop, he crashed into a thick, hanging branch of a tree and crumpled. But before his world went black, he felt the warm touch of life embrace him once more and then leave, being replaced by death's cold vice grip. Then, without fighting, he met death and did not smile nor frown, but accepted it freely - and closed his eyes for the final time.