Chapter 11

The Early Migration And The Storm

As Tree Haven continued to be devoured by the flames, a mass of dark smoke arose from inside the hollow tree. Rachel continued to watch helplessly as her tears ran down her cheeks. Suddenly, she heard faint whispers and saw flame-like images of various birds, bears, wolves, and bats rising from the smoke and then vanishing without a trace. Rachel knew right away of what they were and where they were coming from.

'The Echo chamber!' she mentally exclaimed. True enough, the flames had reached the Silverwings' echo chamber and have released the echoes of their past.

"W-what's that strange smoke coming from the fire?" Breeze stammered, as she quivered from her tree.

"The echoes of our history have been lost." Frieda explained to the young teen and to the rest of the colony. She then gently comforted everyone with her wisdom as she continued, "But history is kept in memory as well. As long as Silverwings fly, our heritage will never be lost."

Frieda's comforting wisdom touched Rachel's heart, but it had not yet restored the fractured hope from within. Not only did her headstrong opinions cost the Silverwings their home, but they also cost them their colony's echoed history. For that very reason, she lowered her head and wrapped herself tighter in her wings while her tears continued to run down her cheeks.

Shade was also overwhelmed with guilt. He wanted to help his new best friend feel free by looking at the sun with her, but ended up getting his home destroyed. The very thought made the young Silverwing lower his head in shame. Then he sadly turned to his mother, "What now?"

"I'm not sure." Ariel replied honestly.

"Does your wing hurt? Can you fly?" he asked out of worry.

"I'll be fine." She reassured her son, consolingly placing a hand on his shoulder.

Bathsheba bitterly flew over to Frieda with a scowl and glared at Shade and Rachel. "We'd still have our home if we handed those troublemakers over to the owls!" she complained loud enough for them to hear her. Rachel looked up at Bathsheba with a disapproving glare.

"Finding a new home is easier than replacing a child." Frieda tried to reason with her fellow council member. "And Rachel still has much to learn about the ways of the Northern forest." Then the wise elder glided over to a higher branch from a nearby tree. "Since our home has been destroyed," she announced to her colony, "we must begin our migration to Hibernaculum early."

The Silverwings all begin to mutter in consideration.

Bathsheba huffed in annoyance and disbelief. "Unbelievable! Sacrificing our summer roost for a free-spirited, gold-dusted rouge and a scrawny bat too small to make the migration anyway."

"Too small?!" Shade retorted, taking offense about his size.

Rachel placed her hand on his shoulder and shook her head, encouraging him not to make things worse. "Shade, don't." she said softly. Shade's appalled glare faded away into a soft frown, seeing his best friend giving him a sad expression.

Then they both looked around to see the nearby families glaring at them with cold distrust and pitty. The two teens turned to see Chinook, Todd and Breeze roosting from another nearby branch. Chinook only glared at them with pity and turned his head away giving them the cold shoulder as if he was saying 'don't look at me. I'm not the one who saw the sun'.

Hearing the dawn chorus, Mercury flew over to Frieda's branch and landed beside her. "Dawn is coming soon." he alerted her. "We have to start moving."

Frieda turned back to her colony, "Silverwings! We must ready our children for the long journey ahead."

"I can make it." Shade said to his mother, putting on a brave face. Then he turned to Rachel with a confident smile. "We both can make it," he corrected himself.

"Of course you can." Ariel replied encouragingly. She then placed her hands on his shoulders as she continued, "Shade, I have to sing our migration sound map to you now. You need to know the way to our winter roost."

"The whole thing?!" he exclaimed in disbelief. How would he be able to remember the whole sound map? Then he remembered that Rachel still hasn't learned sound mapping yet. How will she be able to understand it all? "But… but what about Rachel? She still hasn't learned how to use a sound map."

The very idea made Rachel's eyes lit up with realization. After everything that has happened, she had completely forgotten about it. "He's right!" she exclaimed in agreement, "I'm still learning the ways of the forest, and there's still so much I have to learn."

"There's no time to sing it to you in stages. Like we usually do…" Ariel explained to her son. "Besides, there's no time to teach Rachel right now. We'll have to teach her until after we've reached our first resting stop. Okay?"

Realizing there was no other way, Shade sighed and agreed with uncertainty. "Ok…"

"Close your eyes and listen well." Ariel instructed him.

Shade was still unsure if he would be able to get the whole sound map, but he had to get it all, especially if he was going to help guide Rachel on this journey. He was her only hope. So, he did as he was told and closed his eyes, concentrating as hard as he could to his mother's song.

As she sang the sound map to him, Shade began to see a blooming scenery in his mind. He first saw their Tree Haven, followed by a red barn, a lighthouse, a large human city, a cathedral, a line of electrical power cables that lead a trail to two towers with fire, a pine tree with a broken tip that was shaped like an arrow, a gorge, two snowy mountain peaks that formed like a pair of wolf ears, a human's airport, and then finally a river that just ended in mist.

Shade was so overwhelmed by the process that he clutched his head and groaned. Rachel tried to catch him before he lost his balance and fell off the branch, but she missed him by an inch. Luckily, he was able to catch himself in mid-air and fly back onto the branch.

"Did you get all of it Shade?" Ariel asked.

"I uh… I-I think so." he replied to his mother with uncertainty,

At that moment, the other Silverwing mothers also began singing their soundmaps to their pups. Rachel could hear the sweet harmonious humming sound of their singing as it softly rang in her ears.

Frieda gazed at the burning Tree Haven, as the fire was slowly dying, before mentally bidding the colony's former home farewell and then gaze at the horizon. Suddenly a strong wind began to pick up. It was so strong that it made Frieda shut her eyes and took a step back. In fact, the wind nearly blew Mercury off his perch.

Deciding to leave now, Frieda spread out her wings and began to lead her colony to Hibernaculum. One by one, the Silverwings took off from the trees and followed their elder.

Mercury flew up to Ariel, Shade and Rachel. "Hurry up you three!" he told them, and then followed after Frieda.

Ariel turned to Shade and Rachel with a smile. "Ready?"

The two teens smiled in return. "Ready," they both replied. Then they followed Ariel and joined up with the migrating Silverwings.

About an hour and a half later, as the colony continued to fly south, Rachel couldn't help but feel heavy guilt in her heart weighing her down. If only she'd have kept her mouth shut, Tree Haven would still be standing. Then she saw Frieda up ahead. Deep down in her heart, she knew what she had to do. She had to go and talk to Frieda.

Rachel sped up her pace to catch up with Frieda, but her path was blocked by the scowling Bathsheba. "That's far enough, you rouge!" she sneered.

"I wish to speak Frieda. Please." the Goldwing begged, but the old hag refused to let her pass.

"Haven't you caused enough damage to this colony, already? I will not let an outcast like you endanger this colony any further."

Rachel's eyes flared up with anger, appalled by the elder's vile behavior, but she kept her cool and stood her ground. "Think of me as you will Bathsheba, but do I need to speak to Frieda."

Bathsheba grew livid of her defiance, "I forbid you to-"

"Bathsheba, please. Let her come to me." Frieda interrupted, insisting to let the Goldwing have an audience with her. Bathsheba scowled, but let her pass. "I sense that you are in deep distress. What troubles you, my dear?"

"Frieda, I owe you an apology." The Goldwing began. "I'm sorry for being so headstrong and free-spirited. I got caught up in my emotions due to some… personal problems back home. I betrayed your trust and it's my fault that Tree Haven is gone. I should've just stayed put and -"

"No Rachel. You do not need to apologise." Frieda interrupted her.

Rachel was taken by surprise. "But I-"

"Rachel, you have a kind loving heart and a strong spirit, and yes you can be headstrong, but you were only standing up for what you believe is right." the elder reasoned with sympathy. "And you are right about one thing… just because what's done, doesn't mean it's what should be done."

"And yet that cost you your roost and your colony's history. Now I'm starting to think that maybe I should've…" Rachel began to become overwhelmed with doubt that she couldn't finish her sentence, but that didn't stop Frieda from lifting the girl's spirit.

"My dear," Frieda began, "we all make mistakes and in time, we would all come to learn from our mistakes and move on with life."

Rachel took those words into deep thought. "Because learning from your mistakes..." her eyes lit up realization and smiled, "... makes you wiser and more experienced."

"Precisely." She continued to further explain, "When you first came to this colony, I could sense that you wanted to be more experienced, and you have already learned so much so far, and I know that you will continue to learn throughout your journey. Despite everything that has happened, and what others might say or think about you, I believe that Nocturna has brought you into our lives for a reason. Which is why I must ask you to do something for me."

"Anything." Rachel waited for Frieda's request.

"I want you and Shade to look out for each other. The two of you have much more in common than you think, and you will be needing each other's guidance throughout this journey. Do you understand?"

Rachel gave Frieda a warm smile and nodded.

"Now go. Be with Shade and Ariel." Rachel did as Frieda told her, and then flew back to rejoin Shade and his mother.

As Rachel was flying back to Ariel, she caught sight of Chinook and a scorned Todd.

"Nice going, chickenwing." Todd argued.

Chinook raised one eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well, this is just as much your fault as Shade's and Rachel's." Todd glared, accusing him of provoking this whole mess.

"What?!" Chinook exclaimed in disbelief.

"If you didn't take up Shade on that stupid dare and offended Rachel, this wouldn't have happened!"

Feeling like Todd had crossed a line, Chinook furrowed his eyebrows and he bared his fangs. "I'll show you who's a chicken." He swooped down to strike his friend, but Todd easily dodged out of the way.

Todd gave him a warning, "Chinook, just remember. I know what you did."

At first, Chinook was stunned to learn that Todd knew he backed down from the dare and flew away like a coward. But then he glared at him angrily and looked away. After taking a brief moment to think what Todd had told him, Chinook's frown faded into an unease expression and began to feel a seed of guilt growing inside him.

Rachel noticed the guilt in his eye and flew up to talk to him. Even though Chinook acted like an arrogant pig head, Rachel was not the kind of bat to give up on anything or anyone; and Chinook looked like he could use a friend to talk to.

"Chinook," she got his attention.

"Rachel?" He glanced up at her before sadly lowering his eyes with a heavy sigh. "Rachel, I… I'm sorry for… you know… for last night. I was just trying to impress you, but then I really crossed the line by calling you a 'human's pet'. I should've realized that sooner. And for that, I am sorry."

"It's alright, Chinook. I know you mean well." she reassured him. "It's like what Frieda told me just now, we all make mistakes and in time, we would all come to learn from our mistakes and move on with life."

Those words touched Chinook's heart. He glanced up to her with a warm sympathetic smile before she continued, "However… You and I both know that I'm not the only one you should be apologizing. You really crossed the line when you offended Shade about his father. He's already been through a lot, and you were supposed to be his friend not a bully."

Chinook heavily sighed. He knew she was right. "Yeah… I know."

"I also think that you should tell Ariel." Rachel added. "She needs to know how this whole mess got started in the first place."

Chinook gave her a nervous worried look. "I-I don't know if I can, Rach. Ariel will never forgive me if I-"

"Chinook, you don't know that." she interrupted him. "You've got to at least try."

There was a silent moment, and Chinook looked away with uncertainty. Rachel took a deep breath."Chinook…", she added before he looked back at her, "Do not allow yourself to keep waiting in the wings. I should know… I've been doing that my whole life."

Touched by her friendly encouragement, he gave her a warm smile nodded thankfully. After talking with Chinook, Rachel made a sharp right turn and flew over to the back to rejoin Shade and Ariel.

Meanwhile, a single dead leaf had been blown off course by a strong wind. The wind's current had carried the leaf all the way to the city of Montreal, heading towards the Hart Chiropterology Research And Rescue Conservatory. The dead leaf got sucked into the building's air vent, and the air current pulled the leaf to the left, leading it straight to an artificial jungle, which was connected to a research lab full of lab equipment. The dead leaf slipped right through the vent, into the jungle and then gently touched the ground.

Now this artificial jungle was filled with exotic plants and canopy trees, but it also contained something… very dangerous.

Then, from out of the bushes, a large ominous shadow of a giant carnivorous bat walked up to the dead leaf. Using his sharp right index claw, the bat picked up the leaf and examined it. While he studied it, he hummed to himself in thought, and then turned his gaze towards the air vent up ahead.

The carnivorous bat's lips curled into a dark sinister smile, as an idea formed in his mind. "No more waiting in the wings." he softly said under his breath, followed by a dark chuckle. Then he turned to his short, chubby companion, who had flown down from his roost to see what his partner had found. "Soon mi amigo, we will be free."

The second bat chuckled with glee and flew back to his roost. Then his taller partner turned his gaze back to the air vent, while he playfully crumbled the dead leaf into little pieces. "And... I will find that beautiful voice."

At that moment, flashes of thunder and lightning silhouetted the artificial jungle, as a storm was being conjured from outside.

The storm was getting worse as the icy cold rain came pouring down hard followed by the roaring thunder and the constant howling of the strong wind.

Frieda squinted to keep the rain out of her eyes, and cried out to her colony, "Heavy gusts! Keep in tight formation!" The Silverwings and Rachel all drew closer together, forming an oval shape.

The hardening storm was becoming a challenge for Rachel to keep up as the cold rain and the harsh winds were weighing her down. But that wasn't going to stop her, especially when she has already come this far to experience her first winter migration.

The Goldwing was flying right beside Shade and noticed him panting while he was flapping his small wings as hard and as fast as he could, so he could try to keep up with his mother. Problem was… he was still falling behind.

Chinook flew down to them and gave Shade an encouraging smile. "Come on! I know you and Rachel can do it, runt!" he cheered, before flying on ahead.

Rachel flew closer to Shade while he tried to force his wings to flap faster. She was about to tell him to keep going when Bathsheba flew passed them.

"You're lagging too far behind! Hang on to your mother, boy!" The bitter elder shouted to him and then shook her head as she continued on flying.

Rachel furrowed her eyebrows, disliking the old hag's discouragement towards Shade. She flew even closer and called out to him, "Don't listen to her, Shade! Just keep-ahh!" She flinched and yelped as the lightning flashed. The storm was becoming dangerous.

Shade flinched from the lightning flash also as he grunted from his wings growing heavier and heavier by the second.

"Cling to me Shade!" His mother called out to him, slowing her pace until she was right under him.

"No!" Shade protested, panting from all of the forced flapping. "You're hurt! I'm fine. I can keep up!" He flapped his wings even harder.

"Shade!" Rachel cried to him when suddenly - CLASH - from out of nowhere, a huge lightning bolt struck down through the colony, causing a strong sonic shock wave to scatter the Silverwings around.

"AHH!" Shade gasped as he got caught in the blast and was sent backwards, and smacked right into Rachel, knocking her out cold.

"SHADE! RACHEL!" Ariel screamed.

Mercury heard her distressed scream and swooped down after the young bats. "Shade! Rachel!" He tried to reach for the boy, but he was already out of sight.

"MOM! MERCURY! HELP!" Shade screamed from the top of his lungs, as the strong wave continued to carry him and the unconscious Rachel into the abyss below.

Goldwing16's Note(s):

FUN FACTS:

1. Due to current events, Rachel has finally learned her first life lesson in the Northern Forest: Learning from your mistakes makes you wiser and more experienced.

2. Someone from inside the artificial jungle, and I think we all know who, is attracted by a certain Goldwing's beautiful voice. Now, not only is he going to escape to return to his jungle... but he's also going to come after Rachel! Oh boy.

3. From Fun Fact #2, If you all recall from Chapter 1, when Rachel was singing Waiting In The Wings, she was unaware that someone was listening from the other side of the air vent.

So as you can see, I thought it would be both fun and clever if a certain Vampyrum Prince we all know would get the inspiration to escape from the artificial jungle from Rachel's voice and her song (from Chapter 1) and decided "no more waiting in the wings". See the connection?

Anyways, enjoy reading and stay tuned for Chapter 12!