Chapter 14

Back To Montreal City

They flew through the forest, not sure where Marina was taking them. "Hey! Where are we going?" Shade asked Marina.

"Just a little further." She sang.

Rachel, on the other hand, was anxious to know what the surprise was. "C'mon Marina. Why couldn't you just tell us… whoa!" Her eyes trailed off towards something in the clearing. Then her eyes widened in astonishment and amazement as she gazed upon the most remarkably breath-taking site.

There, right in front of them, was a big, bare, hollow tree. Bigger even! In fact, it was bigger and better than the old Tree Haven. And at least this one wasn't standing on a cliff ledge.

Shade couldn't believe his eyes either. "Whoa!" He gasped, gazing at the tree's every detail.

"So?" Marina grinned down at her friends who were quickly cheering up. "What do you think? It's big, it's hollow it's gnarly..."

Rachel was overjoyed, her eyes swelling up with tears. "Oh, Marina. Marina, you're the best! It's beautiful! It's incredible!"

Shade and Rachel flew around the tree, feasting on every single detail from the inside and out. Shade was particularly overwhelmed with joy as he explored every chamber and roost, slipping through every entrance and exit. "Wow!" he exclaimed.

When the two had finally finished inspecting the hollow tree, Rachel gleefully exclaimed, "Amazing! Shade, there's a lot more space than your old roost! In fact, it's got enough space for two colonies! Can you believe it?"

"It's perfect!" Shade agreed. "This could be our new Tree Haven! Alright!"

With hope in his eyes, Shade had changed his mind and decided that he would go back to his colony. Especially now that he and his friends have found a new home, all thanks to Marina.

The three friends roosted in a nearby tree. Shade turned to Marina, "I've got to let the colony know about this! Heh. I guess you'll get to meet Frieda after all." Then he turned to Rachel. "And Rachel, you'll get to gain more experience along the way to Hibernaculum, just like I promised."

"I like the sound of that." the Goldwing chuckled.

Marina cheered, "Then it's settled! We'll head for the mainland. Together."

"Uh… which way?" Shade asked curiously.

With her clawed finger, Marina pointed south toward the ocean. Shade gasped at the horizon. The distance seemed farther than the ocean itself. Much farther.

Rachel sighed. "Well, it's now or never guys."

The trio took off from their perch, flying south towards the horizon. As they flew further and further away from the island and feeling a calming gentle sea breeze in the air, a contented Marina was looking forward to start a whole new life with her new found friends… and to meet Frieda Silverwing. She was even quite relieved to get off that lonely island for once.

"I never thought I'd leave that island." Marina sighed with content.

"Yeah, and it was a nice little island too." Rachel added. "But there's a whole new world to see."

"You do remember what an island is, right Shade?" Marina asked teasingly. "Body of land, surrounded by water."

The girls looked back to see Shade flapping his wings exhaustingly, trying to keep up with them. Rachel could tell that he was really struggling as he did during the storm. But the little Silverwing was not going to give up.

"Keep it up, Shade! You're doing great!" Marina encouraged him. "... for a Silverwing." She then muttered to herself.

"Heh. Don't worry about me. I'm uh… enjoying this." he panted with a strained smile.

Marina called back, "Come on, it'll soon be sunrise."

"Thanks for the update." Shade muttered in a groan.

As he continued to struggle, Shade heard squawking laughter from up above the clouds. Descending from the clouds was a seagull, amused for some strange reason. The amused seagull continued to laugh as he hovered over the three teens.

"What's so funny?" Shade demanded irritatingly. Clearly he was not a fan of birds; mostly owls, especially after what happened to Tree Haven.

"You guys are working way too hard." the seagull laughed. Then he ascended back up into the clouds.

Using her echolocation, Marina was able to see three seagulls a few feet above them. Curiously, she flew up towards them, followed by Rachel who too was quite curious.

Shade continued to flap his wings as hard as he could until... "Hey Shade! Up here!" He heard Marina calling him. So he flew up into the clouds to join his friends. Once in the clearing, the Silverwing and his friends watch three seagulls laughing and gliding around them like a circle.

One of the seagulls, named Stubbs, had some grey feathers on his head, and he glided over to Rachel's side. It was almost as if he was gesturing a little flying tip to the young bats.

"You brought me here to watch feeble bird tricks?" Shade asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No. Just hold your wings out." Marina explained.

"She's right." Rachel agreed. She held out her wings and then gestured her gaze to the seagull named Stubbs, gliding beside her. "Look. See? Exactly how he does it."

Shade didn't quite get it on his first attempt, but he quickly caught himself and flew back to the girls. His second attempt improved as he spread out his wing and floated gracefully in the wind. "Oh wow!" He chuckled at this new experience. "This is so much easier!"

"Yeah, it was pretty clever of me." Marina grinned.

Rachel chuckled. "I'd say half the credit goes to Mr. Seagull and his pals, here." she turned her gaze towards the seagull. "Thanks for the tip, fellas."

"Gah, you can call me Stubbs." he squawked. "And no 'thanks' necessary, Sparkles. Happy to help anytime."

Rachel couldn't help but smile and giggle.

As Marina was twirling around and having a little fun, Shade came up with a fun idea. "Wanna race?" he challenged.

Marina smirked, "you're on!"

Rachel chuckled, "I'm game."

"Okay! One… two…" Shade sped off ahead. "… three!"

"Hey!" Marina exclaimed, and then took off, increasing her speed.

"Oh, no you don't." the young Goldwing chuckled. She was about to take off to join her friends, but not before saying goodbye to Stubbs the seagull. "I gotta go! Thank you, Stubbs!"

"Anytime, sweetie! Anytime." the seagull bid farewell. Then, he called out to her. "Oh, hey! Sparkles!"

"Yes?" she stopped in her tracks.

"It'll soon be dawn by the time you and your friends reach the mainland. Luckily, there's a nice little cave nearby. Not too far from the docks. You can't miss it."

"Okay, thank you!" Rachel waved him goodbye and then quickly made a turn to join her friends. As she flew further and further away, she could faintly hear Stubbs shout out, "You kids play it safe, alright?"

Rachel picked up speed until she was ahead of Shade and Marina. She stuck her tongue out and laughed. "C'mon, you guys. If you're gonna ditch me, you're gonna have to do better than that." she said jokingly.

The three friends continued to race each other as they were gliding south towards the horizon, laughing, whooping and having a blast. Finally, they spotted the mainland. Then, Rachel spotted something out of the corner of her eye. Using her echolocation, she caught a glimpse of a nearby cave, right off the mainland; just as Stubbs had mentioned earlier.

"Hey guys, there's a cave up ahead." she informed them. "What do ya say we call it a day and roost there until dusk.

Shade and Marina spotted the cave too. "Nice eye, Rach." Marina complimented. "And just in the nick of time too. It's almost dawn."

Rachel led Shade and Marina to the cave. It was modest, but comfortable. And at least it was big enough to fit a colony inside. Just as the trio hung from the ceiling to roost, Marina tapped Rachel's shoulder before she could close her eyes. "Hey, Rach. Shade."

"Hmm?" the Goldwing responded, sleepy.

"I never got to say thanks."

"For what?" Shade asked curiously.

"For helping me see the goodness of the humans and the bands."

Rachel gave a warm smile. "You're welcome." then, she yawned, "good day, you guys."

"You too, Rachel." Shade yawned in reply, followed by Marina.

The trio went right to sleep. Little did they know that, at that very same moment, their troubles were about to take a turn for the worse, and they would eventually soon face the unexpected dangers that await them in the great city of Montreal.

Just before dawn, as the sound of the city continued its orchestra of wailing sirens, honking car horns and the berating of foul language, two male pigeons were perching on the rooftop ledge of the bat conservatory. Completely unaware of the danger that awaited for one of them. One pigeon, named Hegland, was chatting with his feathered companion.

"So the next thing you know - WHAMO! He just flew right into the other bird again!" he laughed.

A few feet from the pigeons, within the air shaft, a dark ominous shadow of the tall carnivorous bat spotted them with hungry eyes. The bat's hungry companion crept up to the air shaft and grabbed the rotating fan, creating an exit. The fan made a metallic screech as the bat held onto it with such incredible strength. The taller bat took the opportunity to quickly slip through the exit and stealthily creep up on his prey from behind.

"And then… and then it hits me," Hegland continued after catching his breath from laughing so hard. "I says, 'it's a mirror!' Oh boy, did he feel stup-" His eyes trailed off to the approaching demonic shadow from the corner of his eye and he froze with horror. His eyes widened as a large, monstrous bat crept closer. Hegland gasped, "Gah!"

In puzzlement, Hegland's friend blinked for one second before he was snatched by his attacker. He cried as the monstrous bat pinned him to the ground. The left side of Hegland's neck was clawed in the process, leaving him trembling with fear. Frozen stiff, Hegland watched as the giant bat allowed his prey to whimper pathetically for dear life, until - CRUNCH - the beast sank his fangs into the pigeon's throat, sealing his fate. Then the giant bat chuckled darkly in delight, and began to devour his prey.

Terrified by what he had witnessed, Hegland saw another giant bat exit the air shaft. He was shorter and more obese than his tall, muscular companion. There was not one, but two giant bats! But when the taller bat stared at Hegland and gave him a deadly smirk written "you're next", Hegland flew away as fast as he could with his life, screaming his lungs out.

Hours have passed and dusk was fast approaching. The three teenage bats were still in their snooze. As if sensing the setting sun, Rachel was the first to wake up. She stretched and yawned, removing the sleepiness from body.

She quickly noticed that the rim of the setting sun was about to touch the ocean surface, so she dismounted from her roost and flew over towards the cave's entrance to watch the beautiful sun set. Afterall, the law technically says that bats are not allowed to see the sun during the day. However, it never implied sun sets. Hint, hint.

The Goldwing breathed in the moment, watching the sun beautifully descend into the horizon; the colors transition from a cotton candy pink to tangerine orange, to a calm of star-gazer blue. Suddenly, her ears twitched to the faint sound of yawning, and then turned her head to see that Marina has already woken up. Marina noticed that Rachel was standing at the cave entrance looking at the sun when she wasn't supposed to.

The worried Marina dismounted from the ceiling and flew over to the entrance. "Rachel no!" she protested. "We're not allowed to see the sun, remember? Have you forgotten what happened the last time you gazed at it?"

"Technically Marina, the law dictates that bats are not allowed to see the sun during the day." Rachel corrected her, smirking. "So, I am pretty sure that sunsets don't really count."

Marina opened her mouth and was about to protest again, but she quickly took a moment of relapse. Then, she put it all together. "Ahh, I see what you did there. Very clever."

The girls giggled, and then Marina added, "You know, for a Goldwing, you really are something."

"Thanks. I have my moments." Rachel shrugged her shoulders, smirking.

"Hey Rachel, mind if I ask you something?

"Sure, anything."

"Well, I've been dying to ask… why did you leave your colony?"

Rachel recalled Marina asking her why. "Oh, right! We never got a chance to get back to that conversation after your grand island tour and the whole 'swallowed-by-a-whale' fiasco." She chuckled before telling Marina about her life in human captivity, her family, her human friend Daria and her cat Ambrose, her whole colony being banded, and so on.

The Brightwing was taken by both surprise and amazement by Rachel's backstory. "Wow! Really?"

"Yeah." Rachel continued to explain, "But unlike my colony, I wanted to get out more. You know, be more experienced. See and do new things. Besides, I pretty much prefer the fresh clean air and wide-open spaces over a stuffy, boring fake forest. So, I left my colony to experience life out here in the world, and go on my first winter migration."

"And how are you liking it so far?" Marina asked, smiling with empathy.

"Well… aside from breaking the law, nearly getting killed by owls, losing Tree Haven, getting blown off course in the middle of a storm, and almost being drowned by an orca… I love it! And, I never want to go back to that artificial forest. I only wish my colony was here with me. They would have loved to call the Northern forest home."

"Do you miss them?" Marina asked curiously.

"Yeah, a little bit." Rachel took a brief moment to stare out in the distance and think about her colony. Then, she noticed a still-asleep Shade and giggled of how adorably cozy he looked. She turned to Marina, "C'mon. Let's go wake up Sleeping Beauty so we can continue our journey."

Marina nodded and the girls flew back and landed underneath the sleeping Silvering.

"Hey, Shade." the Brightwing tried tapping his shoulder, but he wouldn't budge.

"Psst. Yoohoo. Earth to Shade. Wakie wakie. C'mon Mr. Lazy-Bat, the sun is down." Rachel tried waking up too, to no avail. She even tried tickling him behind his left ear, but he only brushed it off and that made the Goldwing huff.

Rachel turned to Marina, and the girls gave each other mischievous smirks, as they were both thinking the same hilarious idea to wake Shade up. Marina gave the sleeping Silverwing a quick shove.

"Gah! Hey!" Shade shouted. Then he moaned, turning towards the Brightwing. "What did ya do that for?"

Marina smiled, acting like nothing happened. Then she played the "innocent" act, "Do what? You startled yourself awake."

Rachel giggled. She tried to look innocent as well, but failed. Shade frowned at her. "Rachel, why did you let her shove me?"

"Don't look at me. I didn't see a thing." She denied, not even looking at him in the eye. "I was just watching the sunset while waiting for you guys."

Shade didn't buy it one bit, but he let it slide. "Ha ha. That's very funny." He stretched out his wings and dismounted from his roost to another rock. "Okay. I'm up."

The girls joined him, then Marina instructed, "Well, call up your soundmap and check on your colony's migration route."

Shade turned his gaze away from her, looking unsure. "I've never actually called up the soundmap."

"Yeah right. Quit playing games." Marina chuckled, thinking it was another joke. But the Silverwing kept his silence. The Brightwing's smile faded. "You're not kidding… are you?"

"Nah… I don't think he is, Marina." Rachel shook her head.

"Holy sunlight, Shade!" Marina frustratingly exclaimed as she hopped over to him. "Now you tell me this?"

"It never came up before!" Shade defended himself.

"Close your eyes and try to remember what your mother sang to you." Marina instructed him.

Shade did as he was instructed and tried to concentrate on calling up the sound map. As he did so, the map's scenery began to appear, although it was slightly fuzzy. The little Silverwing quickly looked past the old Tree Haven, the red barn, the lighthouse, the city, the church, showing the trail of power cable and the fire towers, the gorge, the wolf ear-like mountain peaks, the humans' airport, and the waterfall until it finally vanished into the mist.

Shade was struggling himself, trying so hard to concentrate that he strained and clutched at his head. Apparently, calling up the whole sound map was really overwhelming. Plus, the images of each resting stop were moving too fast that Shade couldn't keep up. Then his eyes shot open and he cried. The Silverwing stumbled a little, nearly losing his balance.

A worried Rachel jumped in and caught him from falling. "Shade! You alright?" she asked as she helped him regain his composure.

"Whoa…" he groaned and shook his head, "Overload. I can't process it all." Then he turned to Marina. "How about we just use your sound map?"

"Genius idea, Shade… if we want to find my colony." Marina rolled her eyes, sarcastically. She pacepalmed and groaned frustratingly. Then she turned to Rachel. "What about you, Rachel?"

Rachel shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "Nope. Sorry, Marina. I don't know how to do that yet. I've never really had a sound map before."

"Really, never?" Marina was surprised.

Rachel shrugged her shoulders again. "Born in human captivity, remember? Besides, after the whole sun fiasco with the owls, I never got to learn how to use a sound map. Shade and his mom were gonna teach me on the way to our first resting stop until we were caught in that storm."

Marina sighed and then Rachel turned to Shade. "Alright Shade, why not give the sound map another go? But only to where we have to stop next."

"She's right." Marina agreed. "We don't need the whole sound map, just the first part of it."

Shade decided to give the sound map another shot. Once the scenery of the map reappeared, Shade saw a large human city and in the city was a cathedral. Presumably, that was where Rachel was from and where the Silverwings will be stopping next. "I see a human city nearby."

"We'll start there!" said Marina, and she took off towards the exit, breaking Shade's concentration.

"Hey!" Shade protested.

"Wait for us, Marina." Rachel and Shade exited the cave with Marina and headed towards the great city of Montreal.

Meanwhile, the migrating Silverwings were only a few miles away from the city, completely unaware that Shade and Rachel were ahead of them, as well as the danger they would soon be in. As she was leading the colony to their next resting stop, Frieda looked back to see that Ariel was still desperately looking for Shade and Rachel. The elder sadly shook her head in remorse.

Ariel continued scanning for her son and the young Goldwing girl, believing they survived the storm. She had already lost her beloved Cassial, she could not afford to lose her only son and his new best friend. Suddenly, Mercury flew over to her side, as he was helping her search for the two lost teens. "Any sign of them?" Ariel asked desperately.

"I'm sorry, Ariel." he sadly replied with a sigh. "Nothing." Then the scout flew on ahead.

Bathsheba flew over to Ariel's side, wanting her to put an end to this impossible and hopeless search. "For your own good, you should forget about your boy and that rouge," the bitter, nasty hag sharply recommended. "There's no way they survived that storm and I knew that girl was a menace the moment she first came to us. She never belonged here and she never will."

But Ariel refused to back down from her search. "You're wrong." she calmly protested. "They're still out there. I can feel it." She knew that Rachel was a good girl, and she and her son are keeping each other safe, and are on their way back to the colony.

Bathsheba, however, was not one for sentiment… she never was. "A mother's faith. Touching, but foolish." Before the bitter elder could say anything further to fracture Ariel's hope, Frieda intervened between them.

"We must continue on to the cathedral where we can wait for one more night together," Frieda's statement put a warm smile on Ariel's face, but it also made an annoyed Bathsheba bare her teeth.

"As an elder, you'll have to think about what's best for the entire colony," the bitter hag argued, once again going against Frieda's decisions.

"We are well ahead of schedule," Frieda calmly replied to her fellow elder, "We can afford some extra time in the city." she added, as she turned to give Ariel a reassuring smile.

"Fine! But if they don't show by up then, we move on." The ill-tempered Bathsheba spatted, then she flew on ahead without saying another word.

"Thank you, Frieda." Ariel smiled gratefully.

"I think your faith in Shade and Rachel is well placed," Frieda supported her. Then her empathetic tone changed to that of warning. "But Ariel, a word of caution. Watch what you say to Bathsheba."

Ariel nodded, and she, her elder, and the rest of the Silverwings continued onward to Montreal City.

Goldwing16's Note(s):

FUN FACT(S):

1. In the beginning of this chapter, Rachel's reaction to Marina's surprise (the New Tree Haven) was as similar to Ariel's when Flounder surprised her with Prince Eric's statue from The Little Mermaid, which I used as a reference. I was watching The Little Mermaid on Disney+ one night and when I saw that scene... I thought it was perfect.

2. When Rachel, Shade, and Marina left the island met a few laughing seagulls, one of the seagulls I named 'Stubbs' because I thought it was the perfect name for him, and I never really knew his name. To be honest, I never read the book of Silverwing, I only read the beginning of it and that was it. Stubbs is based on a clown of the same name from one of my favorite childhood movies We're Back: A Dinosaur Story. He is also based on Skuttle the seagull from The Little Mermaid. So I used two Little Mermaid references.

3. In the passage of Prince You-Know-Who's first attack on the pigeons, I was quite proud of myself of how perfectly I worded it out. Especially this passage, "Just before dawn, as the sound of the city continued its orchestra of wailing sirens, honking car horns, and the berating of foul language..." I'd say that was quite poetic, don't ya think?

4. When Rachel wakes up and watches the sunset, I thought it would be clever if to add that the Law never implied sunsets. Hint, hint. Pretty clever, right?

Anyways... Stay tuned for Chapter 15!