Chapter 9: Unwelcome
''It can be a rough ride,'' said Marina, as we hang and sat there on the branch with a crescent moon shining in the clear sky accompanied by a few stars and a soft breeze flowing through our hair and fur. ''But you shouldn't have too much trouble even with those stubby wings of yours.''
''My wings aren't stubby!'' Shade said frowning at her.
''Well, they are certainly not as big as mine,'' she said, stretching herself a bit, ''It's a simple fact: The bigger the wings, the faster you fly and up here on the high sea speed is the name of the game my little friend and in that department, I've got the edge.''
I just rolled my eyes while listening to this and hoped we won't regret traveling with her if she keeps going on with this.
''All I know is me and Vanessa made it through the storm last night,'' Shade muttered, ''And those winds were pretty bad. I can handle it.''
''Sure, if you say so. But don't expect me to carry you as soon as your wings grow tired on the way,'' With that Marina lifted off from her roost with Shade following her a few seconds after with me dangling under his feet.
I wished I could fly as well and hoped Shade won't accidently let go of me like he did when we broke the law and glimpsed at the sun.
Taking an unwanted bath in the sea wasn't in my interest and I doubted Marina would offer to carry me instead should Shade really grow tired after a while.
At least the weather was calm and clear unlike last last night during the storm.
''I never thought I would leave that Island,'' Marina said after a short while closing her eyes with a sigh. ''You guys do remember what an island is right? Body of land. Surrounded by water." Instead of answering Shade just grunted and panted while trying to catch up with her. ''Keep it up Shade. You are doing great. For a Silverwing.''
I wondered if she thought about convincing Shade to drop me into the water to move quicker and held tighter onto his feet.
''Don't worry Vanessa. I've got you.'' Shade grunted with effort. I just nodded at him thankfully not wanting to start a conversation at our current situation.
''Come on it will soon be sunrise,'' Marina reminded us and as I took a glance at the eastern sky I could see the horizon lightening up already.
''Thanks for the update.'' Shade muttered and flapped his wings a bit harder.
Suddenly I heard squawking over the clouds above us, which sounded like laughing. Right then a seagull glided down to us from the clouds, chuckling in amusement.
''What's so funny?'' Shade asked frowning at him.
''You guys are working way too hard.'' the bird said, chuckling some more than flew back up into the clouds. Slightly confused I watched Marina following the bird and heard her ordering Shade to fly higher as well.
The seagull from before circled around us together with two others chuckling and squawking with joy.
''You brought us here to watch feeble bird tricks?'' Shade asked Marina slightly annoyed due how exhausted he must've felt.
"No, just hold your wings out,'' Shade looked at her funny but did as he was told just to drop down a few centimeters, making me squeak in fright. Luckily he quickly caught himself again and flapped his wings back up to Marina. I clung to his feet as if my life depended on it.
''Don't ... do this ...again!'' I hissed, still feeling startled.
''Sorry,'' Shade said sheepishly and looked back at Marina to see her holding her wings out like he did earlier but unlike him, she didn't fall but glided through the air without effort. Curiously he carefully spread his wings out again and was surprised at the feeling of the wind that seemed to carry him over the sea.
''Oh, wow. This is so much easier,'' he said joyfully.
"Yeah its was pretty clever of me," Marina smirked.
I raised my eyebrow, knowing she probably just took it from the seagulls floating around us.
Then Shade came up with a brilliant idea about a race towards mane land.
Before I object, the Silverwing took off, not even finishing the countdown and rushed ahead with the help of the wind on his back.
I felt sick.
Luckily, I didn't have to endure this hell of a trip for long. Shortly before sunrise we finally reached the coast and looked for a good place to rest in a small cave nearby.
Shade and Marina kept chattering about their race and debated on who had won for hours while I couldn't care less about it and just laid down on the rocks, using my new cloak as a pillow and fell asleep.
In the city, not too far away from the coast, two pigeons sat on a rooftop deeply involved in a friendly conversation not feeling like they have to worry about a thing in the word. Not even the loud purring sound of the circling fan in the air vent close behind them seemed to bother them much.
''Haha so the next thing you know blamo! He's flown right into the other bird again,'' one of the pigeons laughed telling his friend a funny story about someone else not noticing the danger that sneaked further from the depths of the air vent.
Silently like the night, the rotation of the fan got stopped by a clawed hand and a dark figure quickly rushed out and up to the two oblivious birds.
''And then it hits me,'' the pigeon continues with a wing over his head, ''I says: It's a mirror. Oh boy did he feel stu ... Huh!'' He stopped talking noticing a giant shadow looming over him.
Eyes widen in shock as he watched a creature like he had never seen before grabbing his friend by the neck and dragging him away to kill him instantly. Petrified with horror the pigeon covered a nasty scratch on his neck with blood oozing out of it before letting his surviving instinct kick in and dash away as fast as he could, screaming in terror.
The next evening I woke up to the sound of the wind blowing over the sea and a dry feeling in my throat.
Not wanting to wake up the others, I carefully got up and climbed out of the cave in search of a few drops of fresh water.
Outside the sun was nearly gone, turning the horizon into a beautiful picture of orange and pink.
Despite hearing water dripping, the only aquatic liquid I could find was a few drops falling from the roof of the cave that barely eased my thirst and the sea close by which was much too salty to be drinkable. Hoping I might find something better I kept wandering over the sandy ground until I heard wings flapping behind me.
Turning around I saw Shade landing behind me with a couple of berries in his claws.
''Here, ''he said, handing them over to me, ''I was looking for you after I woke up and found this berries at the edge of a forest close by. Thought you might be hungry, so I picked them for you.''
''Thank you, Shade,'' I smiled at him thankfully and took the berries, feeling hungry indeed.
They tasted a little sour but it didn't matter. At least I had something to drink thanks to the berry juice.
As I was eating Shade took off again, either to check on Marina or to go hunting. Probably both. I was still mentally debating on the idea of having her with us. She wasn't a bad person/bat but I still felt kinda unwelcome around her and I really hoped this would change soon otherwise this would be one hell of a journey. At least for me. Rather, would I travel around on my own, instead of being in company with someone who prefers that I leave the group as soon as possible.
But like I said, things might change, so after I finished eating my berries I tried to think of something else until I saw Shade returning from his hunt accompanied by Marina.
''Well, I suppose we dawdled away our time enough already,'' she said, ''we should get going or the sun will rise again before we even left the coast.''
''Geeze,'' I thought, ''The sun just barely set a moment ago, no need to panic.''
''Sure, let's go,'' Shade said seemingly not feeling bothered by Marina's tone.
''Alright, then call up your sound map and check your colonies migration route.''
Immediately the excitement vanished out of the Silverwings face. ''The ... what?''
Marina rolled her eyes. ''Your sound map. You know that thing your mother sang into your ears before the beginning of your journey?!''
''Oh, that. Hehe yeah I know,'' Shade said chuckling nervously which made me wonder if there was something wrong.
''So, would you please now tell us which way to go?'' I could see how annoyed Marina was getting by the way she looked at him with her wings crossed before her chest but I doubted Shade was playing some joke on her. He nervously bit down on his underlip as if thinking about what to tell her.
''Eh, well the thing is I've ... never actually called up the sound map.'' he finally admitted, causing Marina to laughed at this probably thinking he was jokeking. But then she saw the shameful look on his face and groaned in annoyance.
''Holy sunlight Shade, now you are telling me this?!''
''Oh ... I ... It never came up before.''
Marina let out a sigh shaking her head a little then looked back at Shade.
''Okay listen! Close your eyes and try to remember what your mother sang to you.'' Shade did what she said and closed his eyes as he tried to focus on his mothers sound map. Unfortunately, he seemed to be having troubles concentrating and shut his eyes tightly while holding his head with both hands like he was having a headache. Eventually, he opened his eyes again with a gasp and shook his head heavily.
''Overload,'' he said catching his breath, ''I can't process it all. How about we just use your sound map, Marina?''
''Genius idea Shade, if we want to find my colony. Ugh,'' she ground and face palmed herself.
''Just try it again. We don't need the whole map just the first part of it,'' I said trying to be helpful. Shade nodded and closed his eyes once more, concentrating hard.
''... I see a human city nearby,'' he managed to say after a moment but before he could tell more Marina quickly cut him off.
''We'll start there,'' she simply said and flung herself back into the air.
Oh boy. ''We better follow her Shade.'' He nodded and jumped into the air to grab my hands with his feet and after a few seconds, he finally managed to lift me off from the ground and took off after Marina.
We flew right along the coastline, following a human road and kept up a good pace through the night. Under my feet, the grass stretched for miles, sparkling with frost and despite the warm clothes I was wearing, I shivered like a leaf and even sneezed a few times. Hopefully, I wouldn't catch a cold or something. This was really the last thing I needed right now.
''I've been thinking about this promise,'' Marina suddenly said after a while, ''About coming back into the light. Wouldn't we go blind?''
''Only if you stare at the sun for too long,'' I explained.
''But you guys just saw a bit of it right?''
''Well yeah,'' Shade replied, ''But Vanessa here saw it all before comming to us. They just don't want us to have it. The other birds and beasts.'' he frowned thinking about this. ''Know what I think? If we could get the sun we'd grow, and we wouldn't have to worry about the owls hunting us. We can ask the other Silverwings. The males who are banded. ... If we ever catch up.''
I followed Shade's gaze into the horizon silently wondering the same.
''Do you think the humans will help us somehow?'' Marina asked Shade, peering doubtfully down at me.
''That's what Frieda thinks. So I guess it's worth a try,'' he said with a shrug. Marina didn't reply anything to this and just kept flying silently beside Shade.
Moments later I heard wings flapping not too far away from us and I looked to my right to see a colony of bats passing by.
''Hey Shade, over there. I think it's your colony,'' I called out to him, causing the Silverwing to look at the bats as well, beaming with joy.
''Come on, Marina!'' Quickly Shade burst through the sky until he was close enough to the colony so the last ones should be able to hear him calling out to them. ''Hey! Hello! It's us. Shade and Vanessa. We are back.''
Three bats to the rear stopped and looked back. Noticing us they came closer and for a moment I felt a grin appearing on my face imagining it to be Ariel or Mercury and how overjoyed they must be to see us. But as soon as the bats came closer I heard Shade breathing sadly and my expression changed into disappointment.
Those weren't Silverwings. They were Greywings with thick grey fur and handsome sideburns covering their faces.
Landing on the nearest tree we waited for the three bats to come talk to us. Maybe they could at least give us some informations about the Silverwings whereabouts.
It were three males. A young chubby one with light grey fur, amber eyes and black hair matching his mane and growing beard, a slightly older one with darker fur, blue hair and brown eyes and a middle aged male with pale blue eyes, silver colored fur and dark grey wings.
His body was covered in lots of faded scars he probably got from fights in his younger years and his left hand was even missing half of his thumbclaw.
''Where are you two headed?'' the chubby one asked, smiling down at us friendly, seemingly not noticing me behind my two companions.
''We are looking for the Silverwing colony,'' Shade said, ''Have you seen them?''
To our frustration, the Greywing shook his head. ''We came from the northwest. We saw a few other colonies but no Silverwings.''
''Which way were they headed?'' asked the second one.
''South down the coast towards the city.''
''Probably not too far ahead of us then. Did you get lost?''
''Two nights ago in a storm.''
''Too bad,'' the blue haired said with a compassionately sigh, ''Well I don't envy you going into the city. It's not a good place for bats. We prefer avoiding it and go around it before continuing south. You are free to come with us for a while if you like.''
''Thank's we really appreciate this,'' Shade said and smiled happily.
I looked up and stared at the Greywing colony in the close distance. Mothers and Fathers flying with their children, sometimes whirling off to quickly catch some food then come back together.
It seemed temptingly, flying with a big group like this and it would probably be much safer than continuing our way alone on our own. But I also felt a bit uneasy traveling with a large crowd where I knew not a single soul.
Suddenly the old Greywing gasped and I turned my head to see him staring directly down at me, his eyes widen in horror.
''Eh, is something wrong?'' I asked feeling slightly confused but also worried.
''Great Nocturna help us!'' he breathed and his expression changed into anger as he glared down at Shade furiously.'' Are you out of your mind boy. Carrying a human creature along with you and your friend?''
''What? Why? She is not that bad, really we ...''
''Abraham, look!'' the blue haired Greywing hissed pointing towards Marina, ''She has a band.''
''A human and a cursed bat?!'' Abraham growled not believing his old eyes, ''That's bad luck, very bad luck. Didn't your mother teach you anything? They'll bring doom on all of us.''
Shade shook his head and tried to convince them of the contrary but they didn't want to listen.
''You are welcome to travel with us Silverwing. But they are not!''
Abraham and the other two male Greywings stared coldly at me and Marina, growling softly.
Shade looked at us both for a second then shook his head and glared back at the three Greywings. ''If they can't come. I'm not coming either,'' he said.
''Suit yourself. But If I were you I'd ditch them before it's too late.'' The Greywings darted back to their colony and on their elders command they swung inland, away from the water, away from us.
Soon after they were gone I heard Marina sighing sadly. ''I'm sorry,'' she said, ''I forgot to cover the band. I thought they were yours.''
''It's alright,'' Shade replied, ''I just don't understand. Why do they think the bands are bad luck? Something must have happened, more than just stories.''
''Probably.'' I thought, wondering what the origin of this superstition was.
''Maybe you should have gone with them.'' Marina said briefly.
Shade looked at her in shock. ''Why should I?''
''Nothings stopping you.''
''I'm not leaving. Not you nor Vanessa.''
''You think I need your company? I'm used to living alone. I don't need you or your colony, Shade.'' She stared at him hardly then looked away. ''I'm ... forget it.''
''Maybe there are different kinds of bands,'' Shade said, ''Good ones and bad ones. I don't know.''
''And which have I got? Guess I'll know when I burst into flames.''
''That won't happen, Marina,'' I said and flinched at the venomous look she threw me.
''What do you know?'' she snarled, ''Those stupid bands wouldn't even exist if it weren't for your kind.''
I clenched my teeth together and looked away with a frown, feeling hurt by her words. So she still hadn't changed her mind about this topic so far.
''Girls, please. Let's not argue with each other. We have more important things to think about, remember? Let's just continue our way into the city. There must be a tower we need to find. It's a landmark on my mothers sound map.''
''Alright,'' Marina huffed and nodded at Shade but not without giving me another cold glare, making me wish that stupid pearl had turned me into a bat instead of just shrinking me.