Chapter 26: Hidden Evil

Shade, Marina and I were more than happy to meet our feathery friend again. And it was clear to see that Orestes was joyful about this as well.

''I'm so glad I found you guys,'' he said after giving us a big group hug. Worry sparkling in his big yellow eyes.

''What's wrong Orestes?''

''It's my dad. He has his troops stationed all over this area to capture all bats who pass through in order to workout operation R. J.''

''What is operation R. J?'' I asked, looking puzzled.

''It stands for operation retributive justice.''

My eyes widened. ''Let me guess. That's the military code for the sky being closed to all bats.'' Orestes nodded.

''Oh, no!'' Marina gasped, ''The message has been spread up to here already?''

''That's not all. Lieutenant Atlas reported that they already fulfilled the operation on one colony.''

''The Greywings!'' I lightly shook my head at the gruesome memory of thousands of tattered bat corpses scattered over the snow in the mountains.

''Hearing this I needed to find you guys,'' Orestes continued. ''Not that my father's soldiers got you already. Or your colony Shade.''

The blond male's eyes widened in shock, thinking about this. ''Hopefully not. But who knows how far ahead they are. What if they get captured before they reach Hibernaculum?''

''Relax Shade,'' Marina tried to soothe him and put a hand on his shoulder. ''I'm sure your colony is fine. They probably already know about the whole closed sky thing and are being extra careful not to be seen.''

I nodded in agreement. ''Yeah, Frieda will make sure that they will reach Hibernaculum right on time. And there is also Mercury. He will warn them in case there might be owls or other birds around.''

''I know,'' Shade sighed, ''And there are also the males who should be with them by know. But still ... How come Brutus didn't see Goth's body by the fire towers? It would have proven that he is responsible for all the owl killing, and not we northern bats.''

Orestes sighed. ''I tried to persuade my dad to go there, but he didn't listen to me like always. He thought I merely wanted to show him another, what he calls, useless insect. So I thought I would bring him the corpse to make him see the truth once and for all. But when I arrived at the power station, Goth was gone. No piece of fur or bones lying around. It's like ... he completely disappeared.''

My bat friends and I looked at each other uneasily. We knew the truth and decided it would be best to tell Orestes about it as well.

''It might be hard to believe,'' I started, ''but Goth is alive.''

Orestes gasped. ''What? But how is this possible?''

''We don't know,'' Shade replied, ''We were just as shocked as you are when we met him and his cousin again.''

''And they are still after us and Shade's colony.''

''But I guess we have lost them for a while.''

As if to make sure, Shade looked around, trying to see or hear anything suspicious around us.

''In this case, we really need to find Hibernaculum and make sure the Silverwings are safe,'' Orestes said.

I nodded, thinking the same and shuddered, imagining what would happen if Goth and Throbb found them first. ''We can't let the same happen to them what happened to the rest of the banded bats.''

Shade nodded with a frown. ''You are right Vanessa. I will not let my colony suffer the same fate they had to endure.''

''Who are the banded bats?'' Orestes asked.

''They are a colony of various kinds of bats who got banished by their former colonies 'cause of their bands,'' I explained to him. ''They used to live in a hut in the mountains, but thanks to Goth and Throbb they had to abandon their home.''

''Unfortunately, not all of them made it out safely in time,'' Marina continued, ''At least a dozen were left behind. Vanessa and I barely escaped while the others got all killed and eaten.''

Orestes was shocked, hearing about this. ''B-but what about the rest? The ones who made it out. Where did they go?''

''We told them to search for Ursa the white black bear. She will help them find a safe place for the winter.''

''That won't be easy I'm afraid.''

''Why?'' I asked.

Orestes let out another deep sigh and then told us how Ursa tried to speak with his dad about me and all northern bats being innocent why giant bats were the real ones to blame. Like expected Brutus refused to listen and instead banished her and all forest critters who stood by her side to the eastern valley.''

''Those wolves,'' Shade growled, ''I knew they would bring us more trouble.''

''As if Brutus would have believed Ursa even without speaking to them first,'' I replied.

''True.''

''Now, come guys. I think we should hurry and find a place to roost. It's almost dawn.''

I looked to the east and saw that Marina was right. The sky was lightening up already. In only a few minutes would the dawn chorus begin.

''But where should we go?'' Shade asked. ''There any hollow trees close by?''

''I found an old owls' nest just a few wingbeats away from here,'' Orestes said, ''Don't worry it's abandoned for quite some time. Also, I doubt anyone would suspect you guys to be hiding right there.''

Even though the idea of sleeping in an owls' nest was uncomfortable for all of us, we decided to follow Orestes anyway because there was no time to look for something else. Therefore, I climbed onto the young owls back after he was so kind to let me use him as my ride and flew with him over our roost with Shade and Marina flying beside us.

Meanwhile, still at the airport, Bathsheba led the Silverwings into the empty garage of an airplane. Believing it to be an excellent place for them to roost for the night before continuing their trip to Hibernaculum. As soon as almost everybody was inside, Bathsheba flew into the building as well with a self-satisfied grin on her face and without waiting for Frieda, Ariel, and Mercury to catch up. The scout huffed at his leader's behavior but kept silent while politely letting the two females fly in before him. Little did they all know what danger they were all in. In fact, it didn't even take a minute after they all settled in when suddenly lights clicked on, startling the bats. Filled with panic, many of them flew away from their roost fluttered around, trying to get out.

''Go back to your roost!'' Bathsheba yelled but nobody seemed to listen to her.

Frieda wasn't feeling well about this as she noticed an enormous metal-air shaft opening in the back with a screech. ''I sense danger, Bathsheba! We must leave!''

''No,'' Bathsheba disagreed, glaring at Frieda. ''I'm the leader, and I say-'' At that moment, a huge fan began to turn loudly behind the open shafts.
''Evacuate immediately!'' Bathsheba screamed, her eyes widened in terror before dropping from her own roosting spot herself.

To make matters worse, the garage door started to close, threatening to trap them all inside. Luckily, most of them made it outside before it shut altogether, but the rest was still inside. Including Bathsheba who wildly scanned the place for another exit until her yellow eyes noticed an opening up on the arched roof. Right on time, it seemed because suddenly there was a strong pull that tried to suck her and the rest of the bats back into the shaft. She gasped from the unexpected situation and flapped her wings as hard as she could towards the exit.

Mercury was already on the other side of the opening and helped the females and pups to get out of the garage. He was just about to pull Ariel into the open when a sudden scream for help made them both look back. To their horror, one of the youngest pups in the colony got sucked in by the wind and was now clinging to a black metal contraption for dear life. The poor little thing was crying in fear and kept shouting for help. The wind was too strong for it to fly against it themselves.

Watching what happened, Frieda hesitated not a second and let herself being sucked backward by the wind until she was right next to the pup. She grunted as she caught the metal pole to stop herself from being blown into the ventilator. Though she lost her grip for a second but caught hold of another piece of metal. She looked back at the spinning fan, imagining just how she could be ripped to shreds in seconds if she got herself caught in it. Gritting her teeth, she pulled herself back towards the pup, ''I'll cut the wind,'' she said and stood up with great difficulty, holding her wings out as she held herself in place by her feet. ''Go, now!''

The little pup wasted no time getting away from there, although it accidentally opened a metal plate with its foot. Frieda groaned as she began to drag herself forward, the wind now too strong for her to fly on her own. Mercury reached down to grab the pup before the wind sucked it back again and pulled it to safety.

Frieda continued to crawl across the metal when the metal plate closed down around her banded wrist, snagging her in place.
Noticing her elder's predicament, Ariel swept back inside followed by Mercury. With a grunt, they landed next to Frieda and tried to pull her free, but the metal plate refused to move even an inch.

''Bathsheba!'' Ariel yelled up to the exit, ''Help us!''

''It's no use!'' the elder shouted back down after telling the pup to fly to its mother. ''Save yourselves! Leave her.'' And with a last disgusted look towards Frieda, she flew off.

''No!'' Ariel cried out. ''Bathsheba!''

Not wanting to believe that she just abandoned them all, Ariel and the other two held on for their lives as the wind just became stronger.

''Bathsheba's right! You must save yourselves!'' Frieda exclaimed loudly, because of the surrounding noises.

''What? No, Frieda, we won't leave you here.''

''You must,'' the elder insisted, ''otherwise, the colony will lose three more members.''

At her words, Mercury straightened up with a determined expression on his face and held on to the nearby pole. With visible effort, he kicked off the metal plate from Frieda's wrist. Immediately the elder was pulled back by the suction, but Ariel managed to catch her just in time. Together with Mercury, they pulled Frieda to the pole and then climbed up to the ceiling and from there through the opening in the roof. One by one, they crawled out of the building and took a short rest to calm down their nerves before flying off to catch up with their colony.

It didn't take them long to find the other Silverwings. In fact, merely meters away from the airport Mercury spotted Chinook roosting by a tree.

''You made it!'' he happily exclaimed as they flew over to him.

''Where are the others?'' Ariel asked.

''Inside.'' He nodded towards a knothole, from they could hear Bathsheba giving a rather delighted eulogy towards the colony.

''And so, Silverwings, we say farewell to Frieda and the others,'' she proclaimed. ''Their deaths were... uh... unavoidable.''

''And greatly exaggerated.''

The old she-bat gasped at the voice and turned around to see Frieda, Ariel, Mercury, and Chinook fly down into the hollow tree. All safe and sound. The colony erupted into happiness and relief, seeing they are all still alive. Frieda landed right before Bathsheba with her wings crossed before her chest and a stern look on her face.

Bathsheba couldn't believe her eyes. ''Frieda!'' she exclaimed with false happiness ''you made it.''

''Evidently, Bathsheba,'' Frieda said with a smile that promptly changed into a glare.

''My decision was made in the… interest of this colony,'' the chief elder tried to defend herself. But Frieda was far from believing those words. All she knew was that Bathsheba willfully left her and Ariel and Mercury to their dead. She had always known about her hate and jealousy against her... but that she would go so far and endanger her life and that of others... It truly shocked her. Frieda made a mental note to herself, not to forget this at all.

The next night, we went on our way to Hibernaculum. Unfortunately, Shade seemed to be lost after a while and led us to an open clearing surrounded by mines and mining carts loaded with rocks. There we landed on one cart and took a short rest.

''Ugh, this place isn't on the map,'' Shade complained. ''I told you we should have taken a left at the lake!''

Marina rolled her eyes, ''I said left. You said right.''

''Oh no, no, no,'' Shade disagreed. ''We got to the lake, and I said: Let's go left!'

''Shade! I was the one who said left!''

''Hey, hey, hey that's not...''

''Guys, would you please stop it! It won't help any of us if you two keep arguing over such nonsense,'' I said and stared at them both with my arms crossed, having no interest in watching their childish quarrel.

''Alright! Fine!'' Shade turned to me. ''Then you tell us, who is right.''

''What?'' Was he for real? ''Why should I get involved?''

''So that I can prove to Marina that I am the one who's right and she will stop trying to enforce her stubbornness.''

Marina was furious. ''Well, that is...''

''I don't know who is right,'' I replied, throwing my arms up in frustration. ''And honestly, I don't care Shade. Let's just find a way to get back on our route.''

The young Silverwing turned over to Orestes. ''What about you? Do you know who is right?''

''Please keep me out of this,'' he responded, holding his wings up in defense.

''How about we forget this whole thing and check the sound map? That should get us back on track,'' I said, trying to change the topic. Shade nodded in agreement and closed his eyes to concentrate.

Unknown to us all, Goth and Throbb were hiding in a tree at the edge of the forest, spying down on us.

''Goth,'' the smaller bat whispered, ''aren't the owls and bats supposed to be enemies?''

''Perhaps this is why almighty Zotz has brought us here,'' Goth replied, hanging upside down, ''To teach these weaklings the natural order of things.''

Throbb shuddered in hunger, hardly able to keep himself under control. ''I say we order them for lunch!'' he loudly snatched up the twig in his hands, causing Goth to painfully grab him by his mane.

''¡Idiota! You want them to hear us?'' he growled. The smaller bat shook his head.

''Eh, no, no, of course not. But why can't we just...''

Goth tightened his grip with a snarl. ''For the last time: If we eat them now, we'll be hungry by dawn! If we let Shade lead us to Hibernaculum, our bellies will be full all winter! If not- we die!''

Throbb gulped at this thought and gave a hopeful smile, ''Then...can we eat the owl?'' The look in his cousin's eyes was enough for him to instantly go back on his words. ''Ok, then not.''

With his eyes still shut, Shade concentrated hard on his sound map while we others waited for him to come out of his trance. Then finally he opened his eyes.

''There was a river,'' he told us, ''but it just ends. I can't see past it.''

''Don't worry,'' Marina said soothingly, ''we'll figure it out.''

''It looks like you're getting better at that,'' Orestes added, sounding quite impressed by his abilities.

Marina smirked, ''He's getting pretty good at echo projection too!'' She looked over to Shade, ''Show him!''

Curiously, Orestes looked over to Shade who thought for a moment and then closed his eyes again. Softly hummed to himself. At first, nothing happened but then, to my surprise, I saw an image of Goth floating above us all. A little glitchy though, but still clear enough for me to see. For Marina, the projection must have looked even more intense because I saw her jumping back with a gasp.

Orestes however, seemed rather confused as looked around, trying to figure out what Shade is doing. ''I don't see anything guys.''

I blinked. ''Huh, but I thought owls are able to see echo projections just like bats.''

Orestes shrugged. ''Maybe I'm an exception.''

''Or Shade's echo projection skills are still not good enough,'' Marina guessed with a shrug.

Shade, who made his echo projection of Goth disappear, turned around and glared at her in protest. ''Hey, what's that supposed to mean?''

''Just saying Shade.''

''Or maybe,'' I quickly interfered to prevent another argue, ''The sound frequency is just too high for other animals except bats to hear.''

''Then how come you can hear and see echo projections?''

I shrugged. ''Beats me!''

Throbb was dumbfounded. What in Zotz's name was happening down there?

''Goth...'' he reached up and shook the sleeping prince awake. ''Goth! What are you doing down there?''

''Ay-yai-yai…'' Goth hissed beneath his breath, angered that he was being disturbed. ''I am trying to rest.''

''But...but...but...'' Throbb pointed down, trying to get Goth attention to what's going on with Shade and the others, but the larger bat ignored his attempts and instead turned back around. Ending the conversation by trying to go back to sleep.

Throbb kept silent for a moment and merely watched his cousin's double flouting around the mine cart where Vanessa, the owl, and the two bats stood on until he suddenly disappeared.

Now completely confused Throbb shook Goth awake again. This time, the bigger bat looked more than pissed off for being interrupted in his slumber.

''It was you. You were floating and then you just ... disappeared!'' Throbb gasped and grasped his cheeks, eyes widened. ''It was magic!''

Goth heard enough. With a furious snarl, he dropped off from his branch and forcefully grasped Throbbs mane with his claws, causing him to yell out in pain.

''I say the cold has frozen your brain!'' he growled and then ... RIP! Goth tore off a huge chunk of Throbb's mane, causing him to fall out of the tree screaming.

Fortunately, he thought about opening his wings before he crash-landed on the ground, using them as a parachute. Throbb sighed in relief and looked up to see eight eyes, staring at him in shock. He gave a sheepish chuckle, knowing that his cover was blown.

''Throbb?'' Me and my friends looked shocked at the sight of the Vampyrum before us. Where did he come from? Did he follow us? And more important ... ''Where is Goth?'' Throbb bared his teeth, with a growl, looking ready to attack. From above came another growl and Goth swung down from a tree, charging straight at us. ''Nevermind!''

Immediately, Shade grabbed my hands with his feet and dashed towards the entrance of the mines, followed by Marina and Orestes.

I dared not to look back as we rushed the mine caverns with Goth and Throbb on our heels. Suddenly the way before us split into two and without thinking, we split up. Me and Shade going right, Marina and Orestes going left. Goth followed us while Throbb went after Marina and Orestes.

''HURRY, SHADE!'' I cried out, then turned around hearing a snarl and gasped, noticing Goth so close behind us. ''Just like back at the power station,'' I thought and just in time lift my legs before Goth could sink his teeth into them. Shade flew as fast as he could, but no matter how many turns we took, Goth was still behind us.

We barely crashed into Marina and Orestes as we reached another intersection and kept on flying and flying. Then Shade flew up into a wooden elevator shaft, thinking this could be our way out.

Again I urged him to hurry. Hearing Goth's sinister laugh only inches away from us. Then suddenly I thought I heard something rumble above us. ''Eh, Shade what's ...'' Not listening to me, Shade let out a sound wave to check what's going on. Almost instantly I heard something big falling down in our direction. With a scream, Shade made a turn and rushed back the way we came from.

''OUT OF THE WAY!'' I yelled as we passed Goth, who looked confused seeing us coming back. Shade dived as fast as he could, causing my hood to fall from my head and my hair to flutter wildly in the airstream. Behind us, I could hear Goth panting heavily, as he tried to escape the falling elevator as well.

Shortly before it crashed onto the floor, Shade and I made it out safely and watched the elevator shatter into pieces. He landed us on the ground and we turned around wondering what happened to Goth. At first, I saw only dust swirling around and thought we lost him for good. But as the smoke began to clear, a few wooden planks began to shake and the Vampyrum burst out from underneath. He glared at us with pure hate and screamed with rage. Immediately, Shade grabbed my hands again and fled into another tunnel.

''Faster! FASTER!'' I urged, but it was clear to see how exhausted Shade was. His wingbeats were getting weaker, and he was breathing heavier than before.

I was just about to tell Shade he should drop me on the ground, assuming we might have a better chance if I run and hide behind some rocks while he keeps on flying without me clinging on him when suddenly I felt something grabbing me by my cloak. With a yelp, I got yanked out of Shade's grip and got engulfed in a huge wing.

I tried to fight my way out by kicking and pushing against it, but Goth simply pulled me closer to his chest. With a laugh, he reopened his wing and held me by the back of my cloak while I grasped the front, trying not to choke and struggled and kicked with all my strength.

''A little feisty aren't we, señorita?" He grinned down on me and I frowned, ready to kick him in the face. Then Shade swooped down and bit into Goth's ear, making him let go of me while screaming in pain.

With a grunt, I landed hard on my bottom and then looked up to see now Shade being in the cannibals grasp.

''You are really getting onto my nerves ¡enano!'' He growled while holding Shade by the collar.

The little Silverwing tried his best to get free, but Goths grip was just too strong.

''Let him go!'' I shouted and jumped at his arm, wanting to help my friend out. Goth just huffed at my attempt and brushed my off without effort, causing me to fall back down and right on my injured arm. I gasped in pain as the wound hit the hard stones on the ground. That was really not a nice feeling.

''Vanessa!'' I heard Shade calling my name, but before I could answer, I felt rumbling around us. Seconds later, the whole place shook like an earthquake with rocks and stones tumbling down on us. Instinctively I made myself as small as possible and pulled my hood deep over my head. Thanks to the turbulences, Shade managed to brake free from Goth and rushed over to wrap his wings protectively around me while everything around us collapsed.

AN: And finally after rereading and editing my previews chapters, I managed to figure out how the story will continue. ^^