Usual stuff, don't own the characters, names, story, or anything. Those belong to Kenneth Oppel.

Chapter Seven

The first thing she felt was coldness beneath her, and she slowly opened her eyes, wincing. It wasn't brightness, it was her head hurting. And she couldn't see her claws in front of her face; an inky darkness was all around her, making her feel like she was blinded. So, she used her echo vision.

She cast out echoes in the inky darkness and gasped, her vision fading for a moment. Most of the bats were healthy looking, scared, and beaten up a bit, but the rest of the Silverwings were half-starved and looked to be near death. There were Brightwings, Silverwings, and even Graywings like her. One bat in particular, a Silverwing, stood out. His ribs were poking painfully through his skin and he was holding one of his wings funny. Then she realized what had caught her attention: a silver band, barely standing out in the darkness. She crawled across the broken stone floor to him, accidently treading on bats as she went, causing them to hiss at her to watch it. The Silverwing stared lifelessly at her, yet there was still some sympathy in his hollow eyes. "How long have you been here?"

"A few weeks, and they haven't fed us...any of us."

"That's terrible, what do they want?" She sent echoes over his arm, the one with the silver band fastened to it. "Did the humans give you that?" The Silverwing nodded slowly. "Why did they take us here?" She received a confused look from him, and he shook his head.

"The humans didn't bring us here...the Vampyrum did."

"Vampyrum...Marina was talking about them! She said she and Shade got captured by them once!" She'd just been working things out for herself out loud, but for some reason this drew the other bat's attention. "You said Shade...is he a Silverwing?" Lura nodded, perplexed. "Yeah, I think he's about my age, Ariel told me that...""Ariel," the Silverwing breathed, "she's my mate. And Shade is my son. Was he with you before this? Did the...Vampyrum get him?" The Graywing moved her head from side to side. "No, but the humans caught him and put some metal stuff on him, Marina told me. Actually, they did it to me, too." She noticed he was sniffing, tears falling over his muzzle, tracing through his fur. "That means he's still in the jungle somewhere," he said miserably, and Lura saw he looked so helpless and broken, torn. "Well...when Marina, Shade's friend, told me about him she said he was still in a flying machine."

"It's just a matter of time before the Vampyrum get him." The Silverwing muttered to himself, and the Graywing wondered if he'd even listened to that last part. Then she remembered something, and as much as it tore at her to say it, she did, "How do you know he didn't die in the explosions?" The Silverwing male jerked his head off to one side and Lura glanced over: a younger Silverwing was huddled off by himself, and she detected light sobs coming from him. "Who's that?" She asked, not remembering his form before.

"That's Chinook, Shade's friend. They were both dropped off here together, and escaped the explosions. Then they must've come to the jungle, and Chinook was captured some time after that. He thought I looked like Shade, except I was older."

Suddenly the circular stone slab was thrust aside once more, and a Vampyrum Spectrum thrust his frightening, ugly face in the room, letting the pale twilight sun stream in, temporarily blinding Lura and the other bats. Her eyes getting used to the blinding light, Lura, with difficulty, didn't pull her gaze away from the Vampyrum. She cowered under his murderous gaze, and screeched in shocked when he suddenly flew into the chamber and pinned the older Silverwing down to the floor, his ebony teeth bared, saliva dripping from them. She stood frozen for a moment, then thought of Shade who, if this bat was killed by the Vampyrum, would never see his father again. Shunting the thought that she was a speck of dust to this bat, she launched herself on him and sank her teeth into the back of his neck. He grunted in surprise and let the Silverwing up, and he quickly scuttled a short distance away. Rearing, and twisting, the Vampyrum threw Lura off and lumbered over to her as she hit the wall and lay stunned. He leaned in close and revealed his fangs, right next to her head, and exhaled a deep breath. It left her gagging, retching for breath and quivering in shock. She let her head fall back in relief when the Vampyrum exited the room, pushing the slab shut again, flinging the room into darkness. She was blinded again, but felt wings rustling, coming closer to her.

"Are you alright?!" A voice snapped, yanking her upright. "You could have been killed!" She shook her head, and staggered back a few paces, staring towards the voices, her throat aching too much to use echoes. "Why did you do that? I'm an old bat that doesn't have much time left anyway! If you died, you'd miss your whole life!" He shrieked, flaring his wings, forgetting about the injured one. Lura stepped right up to him and snarled, "I have no mother and father. I know how it feels to lose your parents, to be abandoned with no one else in the world." She paused, letting her words hover in the dark chamber. "Did you really want to die before you could see Shade?" The Silverwing had no reply, so she snapped, "Thought not." She turned away and let her sobs echo through the chamber. More wings rustling and she felt two pairs wrap around her: Chinook, and the older Silverwing.

"What?" She asked bitterly, choking on her sobs.

"My name is Cassiel. What's yours?"

Through sniffles she managed to reply.

"It's Lura."