Chapter 2: A talking bat?
I awoke in sheer darkness and with a hell of a headache.
''All right, what's going on here?'' I thought, rubbing my head and looked around. At first, I couldn't remember what had happened to me. But after a few seconds of sitting there in the dark with my nerves slowly calming down, I eventually recalled my evening walk through the woods without a way out, the blue-eyed raven and the strange pearl that suddenly began to glow like a spotlight and then…
''I guess I must have lost consciousness or something'' I said to myself while still wondering where I was. This place certainly didn't look like the forest. On the other hand, it was so dark that I couldn't even see my own hand in front of my eyes.
Close to me did I discover a soft light spot and carefully started moving towards it. Fearing to bump against something, I crawled forward on all fours, noticing something soft and fabric-like under my fingers. Before I could examine it any further, I eventually reached a kind of opening and stepped outside. Taking a short glance around, I realized that I was still at the same small clearing.
Time must have passed while I was knocked out because it was already deep at night.
Everything around me was dark and quiet except for a few bugs buzzing around some flowers nearby.
Strange. Was it just me or did these flowers look a little bigger than they were supposed to be?
I looked more closely and also noticed how not just the flowers but everything else around was much taller than I remembered as well.
''What the hell...?''
Moving a bit, I heard a crackle under me and look down on a carpet-sized leaf right under my bare feet. How strange... Wait! Bare feet? What happened to my shoes?
With an uneasy feeling and increasing confusion, I slowly took a full glance down on myself.
As expected, I was missing not only my socks and shoes but also all my other clothes as well.
In other words. I was stark naked.
''WHAT THE HELL?!''
Totally shocked I instantly covered my private parts with my arms and hands and searched around for my missing clothes. What had happened to them and what was that for a strange cave I…? Oh!
Turning around, I noticed that the so-called cave was actually the sleeve of my black sweater, which meant there could only be one logical explanation for what had happened to me. I got shrunk.
... Wait! ... WHAT?
How on earth was that even possible?
That made no sense. People couldn't just turn into mouse-sized versions of themselves. Well, maybe in movies or something, but not in reality. Had someone shot me with a shrinking ray or ... Wait a second!
''The pearl! The blue light must have done that to me,'' I said feeling sure about it, even though it sounded pretty crazy. But it was the only explanation I could think of. Unfortunately, after taking another quick look around I realized that the pearl was nowhere to be seen. Either it was hidden somewhere under my huge clothes or it had vanished into thin air. Anyhow it was gone.
''Just great. Now what?" Feeling helpless about my situation, I sat down on my sweater and thought about what I should do now. First I got lost and now I was shrunk and naked. Could this get any worse?
Yes, it could.
A loud cawking noise from above made me glance up. A black bird fluttered down and landed a few steps from me on the forest floor.
It was a raven, just like the one I encountered earlier. But this one had regular black eyes, not bright blue ones.
For a moment, the raven just stared at me and I stared back. Then, without warning, he croaked again and stormed straight towards me.
With a yelp I jumped out of the way just before the raven could impale me with its sharp beak and watched him dug a hole in my sweater instead.
''Hey stop it! I'm not a bug,'' I shouted outraged, as the bird started another attack without listing to me. As fast as I could, I run away from the raven, hoping to get rid of it somehow.
But It wasn't long before I started to ran out of air. Fortunately, I found a small hiding place under a bush.
''That was close," I said in relief as I crawled underneath, gasping for air. I wondered if I had escaped the raven, but didn't dare to check. I had no interest in running any further in case it was still after me. Especially with no clothes on. What was its problem with me, anyway?
Looking around, I spotted a pile of large green leaves right next to me.
''Hm, maybe those could be useful to me?'' I thought out loud and tore off two great leaves to wrap them around my body. Then I plucked a few long and strong looking grass stalks and bound them around my waist like a belt to keep my leaf dress in place.
''Much better'', I said happily looking down on myself. It was simple and definitely not made for the cold but at least better than nothing.
Just as I finished, I heard the familiar cawing again, and it sounded close.
''Oh, not again,'' I said and tried to hide deeper under the bush. But the bird dashed inside, not caring about the undergrowth that ruffled its feathers.
I rushed out and towards another hiding spot but before I could even find one I got grabbed by two big and sharp claws that grasped my arms and pulled me up high into the sky.
''WHAAAA! NO! LET GO!'' I screamed in fright and wriggled wildly in the bird's grasp.
Unfortunately, the raven didn't seem to do me the favor, so I did the first thing that came to my mind and bit the bird right into its foot.
Screeching in pain it finally let me go and I realized the fatal mistake of my plan.
Like a hailstone, I fell straight to the ground and promptly into a tree where I fell deeper and deeper, grazing branches and scratching my arms and legs.
Eventually, I managed to grab a thin twig of the lowest branch of the tree. Stopping my fall.
For a moment I just hung there and took a deep breath while a shiver ran over my spine because of the shock.
Taking a few deep breaths to calm myself down, I tried to climb up the twig and onto the branch. But my fingers kept slipping off the wood.
''Ngh, now come on...!'' Desperately I dug my fingers deeper inside and tried to ignore my racing pulse and the impending panic caused by the height.
''All right Vanessa'', I tried to calm myself. ''You are almost there. Just a little bit fur...Yikes!'' Again, my fingers slipped, so I hastily wrapped my arms and legs around the twig in fear of falling down. The twig trembled violently under my weight while I clung to it like a sloth.
A very scared to death sloth by the way.
Since I had no idea what to do now, I just closed my eyes and wished myself far away. But then I quickly reopened them again hearing an ominous cracking sound.
This twig was definitely too thin to hold my weight any longer. Desperately I hoped it would last just a little bit more, but it did not. With a soft crack, the twig finally lost its grip on the branch and broke off. I almost screamed and already saw myself bursting onto the ground like a raw egg.
Then I felt an unfamiliar hand grasping my own.
''Don't worry, I got you,'' a masculine-sounding voice said above me and pulled me up on the branch.
I wondered who that was, but also let the stranger pull me up and then just sat on the branch, sighing in relief. I was still not safe, but at least I wasn't dangling in the mid-air anymore.
''Are you alright?'' my savior asked me and I looked up to see who it was. No idea what I had expected to see but definitely not what I then saw right in front of me.
What I saw was a bat. A male to be exact with light blue fur, darker colored wings, a creme-colored mane around his neck and a dark blue goatee growing on his chin.
With his deep yellow eyes, he looked down at me waiting for an answer.
''Uh...I'm fine,'' I told him, my voice barely a whisper. I felt amazed and slightly freaked out by the sight of a real bat so close to me. I mean a talking bat. How on earth was that even possible?
On the other hand, after everything that happened to me today, let alone the fact that I somehow had gotten shrunk, it shouldn't surprise me at all. But still…
''I am fine. Thank you,'' I repeated myself more clearly but noticed in his mimic he wasn't buying my words.
''You sure?'' he asks, raising an eyebrow, ''you look kinda shocked. Then again, I shouldn't blame you. You almost dropped to your death. May I ask what you were doing on that twig, anyway?''
''Well, I ... There was this raven who tried to kidnap me ... I think. So ... I bit its foot to make it let go of me which in the end wasn't such a good idea because we were flying high above the sky. Luckily, I managed to grasp the twig to stop my fall.''
''I see,'' the bat said thoughtfully then shrugged ''Well, at least you are safe now. That's the main point.''
''Hehe, yeah...safe.'' I clenched my teeth not fully agreeing with him on that matter but said nothing.
''Excuse me, but may I ask you something?'' he inquired, causing me to look at him again.
''Ehm, sure. What is it?''
''What are you?''
I felt speechless for a second and wondered if I should tell him the truth but then again what else could I say?'' I am a human,'' I told him.
The bat looked at me in surprise. ''A human? But those are giants and you are ... well no offense but you are surely not the size I imagined humans to be,'' he said.
''Yeah, that's kind of a long story but I really am a human even though I'm not as big as I should be.''
He still seemed puzzled but asked no more questions about it. ''Well, alright then, human. Do you have a name?''
''Sure, it's Vanessa.''
''Nice to meet you, Vanessa. I am Mercury, messenger, and scout of the Silverwing colony,'' he introduced himself, smiling friendly. I blinked. Messenger? Silverwing? What was that supposed to mean? But before I could ask, there was a sudden growling sound coming from my belly. This reminded me: I had eaten nothing since noon beside the snacks I had with me on my pick nick by the lake.
''Was that your stomach?'' Mercury asked with a nod towards my belly.
''Eh, yes. It's been a while since I've eaten something.'' I said, feeling slightly embarrassed that he had heard it too.
''I see but having an empty stomach isn't so good during this time of the year. If you want, I could catch you something to eat,'' he offered.
''Oh, ok sure, but you really don't have to.''
He smiled at me. ''It's alright. I just want to help, besides I kind of doubt you are able to get food for yourself,'' he said and looked at me as in checking my body size.
Now I started to feel slightly offended. What did that mean I can't get me some food by myself? I would've loved to show him how wrong he was with that. But on the other hand, he was probably just talking about the fact that I couldn't go anywhere. Unlike him, I had no wings, so I was practically stuck on that tree we sat on.
Mercury looked around with a slight frown on his face. ''Hm, there is still some time to get you some food but I think I should take you to my colony first.''
''Why?'' I asked ''Uh, I mean wouldn't that make an uproar when you come back with a human?''
He thought about it for a moment. ''That might be true but you definitely need help. And I'm not that kind of a guy who would leave a person in distress,'' he said, ''Besides, no offense Vanessa, but you don't look very dangerous to me.
''Ehm, ok but how do we get to your colony? I mean I can't fly so...''
''Just climb onto my back. I'll carry you over,'' Mercury said and bend down a bit. I hesitated for a second but then climbed on. Soon after he stretched out his leathery wings and jumped back into the air. I did my best not cling on him too tight and shut my eyes until I felt him landing again. As I opened my eyes, I noticed that we were on a branch of another tree with a round opening in front of us which I assumed to be the entrance.
I climbed down from Mercury's back and heard him asking me once more if I was feeling alright.
He probably thought the greenish color in my face was because of the nervousness about what might happen next. I just told him I was ok whereupon Mercury nodded and then walked into the tree. I hesitated a moment, wondering if this was really a good idea, then followed him inside.