I don't own the story, names, or...what was the other thing I usually put...?
Lura: Hackey sacks.
Serasia: Oh right! I don't own hackey sacks.
Lura: Heehee.
Chapter Eight
The three bats, two Silverwings and one Graywing, sat talking to each other for a while, exchanging stories. Until the same Vampyrum flew in, this time accompanied by several more, and together began trapping bats in their claws. One went for Lura and grabbed her, then with his other claw sank his claws into Chinook's shoulders and flew out of the opening. She threw echoes out in a frenzy, and caught Cassiel's form, also being taken through the air by another Vampyrum. "Be grateful, all of you lowly Northern bats," the one who'd attacked Cassiel earlier growled in a sickly pleasured tone, "You will soon be offered up to Zotz, the greatest bat god, and soon the ruler of this world!"
If what that Vampyrum said was hard to believe, Lura thought, staring up at the vulture circling the sacrificial area, then it'll be even harder to believe if I survive this place. Around her, bats were fleeing into the air, the ones that weren't free fighting their captors to have a chance at getting out. "Chinook, Cassiel!"
"Here!" A shout came from nearby, and she whirled, flying over to them. "It's Cassiel's wing," Chinook grunted to her, trying to lift Cassiel up on his back, as if thinking of flying him out, "he can't fly. How can we get him out of here?"
"I don't know," Lura quivered, "I don't kn—" She screamed in terror as a Vampyrum swooped down on them, and she readied herself to be brutally murdered. She'd seen the other bats killed; the Vampyrum with the crooked spine and shedding gray fur had ripped their hearts out while they were still alive. But instead of ripping their hearts out, the Vampyrum swooped up and away from them while another gave chase; Lura frowned. They didn't even get along among the ranks of their own kind? She shrugged and looked back at Cassiel, who was flat on the stone floor, wings spread out. His eyes squinted shut, then he shot them open again. "I'll crawl to the exit and fly out, never mind my wing. You two can help me, I have to get out and see Shade!" Suddenly his head snapped up, and he hissed, baring his teeth. Chinook and Lura leapt away from him, startled, then looked to see what Cassiel was staring at. A form shimmered into view, stepping out of thin air, it seemed. "Who are you?" Cassiel asked warily, "I've met you," he added, closing his jaws. Chinook stepped forward, but Lura held up a wing as Shade began to speak.
"You haven't met me," Shade shook his head.
"I know you," Cassiel persisted weakly, wrinkling his brow in confusion, trying to place Shade's face.
"You don't know me," Shade shook his head again. Cassiel's shoulders sagged with frustration. "Who are you, then?"
"I'm your son," the younger Silverwing said, finally revealing his identity to Cassiel. "Shade?" The old Silverwing gasped, and Shade lurched in shock. "How'd you know?"
"Your mother and I named you before you were born." The two hugged each othe tightly, folding their wings around the other tightly, and Lura thought it was sweet, very sweet and touching, but they had to get out of here. "We have to go now, and I mean now!"
"How? He can't fly!!" Chinook raised a wing and smacked Shade clean across the face. "Pipe down Shade, we'll help you." A grateful grin was morphed into a look of panic and pain as the same massive Vampyrum slammed into Shade, sliding both of them across the floor a good five feet.
"I knew it was you," Lura heard the Vampyrum growl, "and you've stopped me from killing the sun, but I'll still be able to rip your heart out!"
"NO!!" Several voices chorused, one of them Lura's, the others, Chinook and two female voices that the Graywing couldn't identify just yet. Lura and Chinook lighted in unison, snapped their wings to the sides of their bodies, and then dropped straight down, aiming for the Vampyrum. Lura caught a glimpse of silver and bright fur beside her before impact.
WHAM!
The four of them had done a steep dive from the air, hoping the speed would increase their body weight enough to damage the Vampyrum a little bit. Lura, Marina, Ariel, and Chinook flapped clear of the jerking body; it seemed they had stunned him momentarily. Thank Nocturna.
"Shade!" Marina practically wept for joy when she spotted Shade crawling out from under Goth's body, with forming bruises but otherwise unharmed, towards his family and friends. "Let's go Shade!" She yelled at him, pushing him urging him to fly. "But, my father..." A Graywing landed in front of him and pointed a claw towards a Mastiff bat who was lying, wings spread to their full span, on the ground and waiting as Chinook and Ariel pushed Cassiel onto his back. "Now, move!" Caliban snarled, showing Shade his teeth before lifting off. The Silverwing glanced back at Goth's body and scowled, then took flight after everyone else had. Marina, Ariel, Chinook, Caliban and his father, on the mastiff's back, had escaped. Barely a few feet from the ground, he felt something sharp penetrate his tail membrane and yank him, hard, back to the chilled stone ground that was splattered with the blood of bats that had been sacrificed already. Goth's claws released him and Shade leapt back into the air, then darted off, leading the Vampyrum on a wild chase. His heart thudded wildly, but he barely felt it, his fighting and survival instincts kicking in and keeping him inches away from Goth's teeth. On top of that, the Vampyrum seemed in such a frenzy to kill that he was becoming careless, striking with anger, and not planning all his attacks out.
Lura hesitated, hovering just before the exit portal, and turned to see Shade dodging the Vampyrum. Suddenly it lunged at him and his knife-like teeth barely missed the Silverwing's shoulder, removing some of his fur and leaving a small bare spot. "Lura, what are you doing? Get out now!" Marina's teeth met her scruff and yanked her backwards through the air, but Lura jerked free and motioned towards Shade. "Remember what I can do with sound? I can help Shade!" Marina hissed, her lips pulling away from her pearly white teeth. "No! He can handle it on his own! Now come on!" Still Lura hesitated, and flew back in the chamber, then braked just in time to avoid a mid-air collision with that extremely weathered (How could he still fly, She marveled to herself) Vampyrum bat that had been murdering bats for this so-called god, 'Zotz'.
But what could she do? She knew she could only break things with sound, not move them or spin illusions like a tiger moth. Then a dark object gleamed oddly on the Vampyrum's wrist, some version of a band that marked out a bat's cruelty to others? All of the bands of the bats she'd met were silver, and they'd been incredibly kind to her, taken her in when she was just an orphaned Graywing.
Wait! That's what I can use!