Chapter 2
Deal
"That would be kind of hard, seeing as I don't think we've ever met!" Dawn ground back to him through grit teeth. If she hadn't known any better, she'd have sworn she was in the talons of an owl or eagle.
Dawn had never been in a situation like this before. For a moment she actually feared she was going to die. Maybe the rumors that she had heard when she was still a newborn were true, that all bats outside her colony were psychopaths.
The closest she had ever gotten to seeing any other bats from outside her colony before was glimpsing a greenwing colony that had gotten lost the previous year, and had to ask the silverwing elders for directions. It wasn't like she had gotten to speak to any of them.
But now she was kind of glad she hadn't.
Abruptly there was a nearby screech, like that of an owl.
This distracted the stranger long enough for Dawn to wriggle free and fly out of the tree.
He flew after her.
Dawn immediately tried to lose him in the forest. Bringing her wings in close, she dove and used gravity to gain speed.
She then followed a technique she had used when she had still been a newborn playing hide-and-seek with the other youngsters in her colony. Dawn banked, then latching one wing onto a branch, she used her momentum to swing herself up against the trunk of a tree, pressing herself down and stilling to blend in with the bark.
It worked.
Well...it did initially, at least.
The stranger flew past her with ferocious speed, and was gone. But no sooner had she sighed a breath of relief than she heard approaching wing-beats once more. Realizing she was at risk of being caught out in the open, as the hiding technique she was using only worked one in one direction, she began to claw her way up the tree.
When she noticed that she could no longer hear any wing-beats, and fearing her own scrambling was might be heard, she froze to listen.
Silence greeted her.
This didn't reassure her much, but neither did being exposed on a tree trunk where she could easily be spotted by owls and enemies alike; so she continued moving up the tree trunk as quickly and as quietly as she could.
Heaving herself up onto the branch, she found it was already occupied.
Dawn gasped and stumbled back, nearly falling off the branch in the process.
The stranger towered over her, she had never seen anything like him before. Powerful set jaws and fangs more reminiscent of a beast rather than a bat, she would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't scared.
But Dawn had had enough. She was tired, cold and lost, and she was not about to be intimidated by some oversized psychopath who apparently had nothing better to do than terrorise her, even after she had helped him.
"Listen buddy, I don't know what your game is!" she told him. "But I swear, if you don't stop it, I will make such a racket that every owl within this forest will come crashing down on us!"
The big bat did nothing for a few seconds, looking at her strangely, then he began to laugh. Dawn scrambled further along the branch away from him, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"I must apologize, I had no intention of scaring you," he replied, recomposing himself. Like the rest of him, his voice was nothing like she had ever encountered before, with an exotic accent and a strangely soothing tone, but Dawn could sense there was something predatory about him. "I mistook you for an enemy."
What was that even supposed to mean?! – by this point Dawn had already concluded that the stranger had to be insane.
"Now, where are my manners? I am Goth," he bowed his head to her. "And you?"
"Charmed," she replied sarcastically, ignoring the request for her name. "Now if you don't mind, I've really got to leave."
"I did not mean to frighten you," he said again. "I would never intentionally harm a beautiful señorita like yourself. I was confused, you understand, yes?"
She didn't trust him for a moment. He was trying to charm her, his tone completely different from how it had been when he had pinned her. And it might have worked, if it had been the way he had first introduced himself. Dawn also got the impression that he would have been quite handsome, if he hadn't looked like he had recently flown through a forest fire.
"Yeah, well, just make sure it doesn't happen again," she told him, eyeing the skyline for an escape route. "And we'll forget about it." And hopefully never meet again, she thought.
"Of course, señorita," he folded his wings. "But perhaps you would not mind if I asked for directions?"
"Directions? Directions to where?" she asked, already readying herself to fly away. "Are you lost? Sorry, can't help. I'm not familiar with this region either, I'm just passing through."
"As you may have already guessed, I am not from around here," he raised one wing so that she could see a bronze metal band around his forearm that was thick as her neck. "When the humans banded me, they took me North, far away from my home. And now in the midst of winter, I must find a way back. You are traveling south, si?"
"Err..." Dawn looked over him, noting the fresh gash on his shoulder again. "So did the humans do that to you too?"
"What?" he sounded almost affronted, then he his shook his head and asked again. "May I travel with you? Just as far as your colony. It is too cold for me to be out here, you would not have to do much."
Normally she might have considered such a request, probably felt sympathy too. But this crazy guy had just crushed her into a tree and nearly broken her neck, and Dawn was feeling less than charitable towards him.
"No," she told him simply. "I don't think so."
And with that she leapt from the branch, and flew away.
Of course he followed, she didn't expect any less, and to be honest it alarmed her, but she wasn't going to let him know that.
"But señorita, why so cold? All I want is to return to my colony, is that so much?" he called after her.
"Excuse me, but you attacked me! I'm not helping you," she replied back over her shoulder, she jolted when she saw how close he was.
"I mistook you for another," he replied, and it horrified her how easily he kept up with her, his wing-beats slow and lazy while she frantically made to keep ahead of him. "An enemy. With the owls so near, my mind was elsewhere."
She didn't reply to him, focusing on beating her wings faster in a poor attempt to outfly him. Despite his tattered wings, Goth easily kept up, actually going as far as to block her way several times.
Each time she would swerve and fly off in a different direction, but each time he would be there, waiting.
"Stop that!" she eventually growled. "Let me go! Find someone else to lead you."
"What will you do if you if you are found by an owl?" he flew level with her. "A little northern bat like you all on their own, without your colony? Not very safe, no?"
"Are you threatening me?" she squawked as he blocked her way for the fifth time.
"No. I am offering you a deal," he told her smoothly. "Let me travel with you, and return I will protect you. I've fought my share of these mangy birds."
"Is that why you're so beat up?" Dawn replied dryly.
"Admittedly I have been down on my luck recently," he replied a little irritably. "But owls have been the least of it. I hit a human power line."
That made sense in a way, but the gash on his shoulder was clearly not caused by that, Dawn knew that he had been in a fight recently.
"Why were they chasing you?" she asked.
"Because I kill owls," he grinned with such fierce relish that she almost believed him...it was just that it didn't make any sense. Bats couldn't kill owls.
"Oh, good for you," she answered sceptically, and it was obviously not the answer Goth had wanted because he immediately fell silent and fell back.
"You cannot get rid of me so easily," he told her a few moments later. "You are still traveling southwards, all I need to do is follow you."
There was something dangerous about his voice now, but Dawn was too weary to think much of it. She was by now too tired to argue.
"Fine, travel with me, it's not like I can stop you anyway," she told him reluctantly. "Just keep an eye out for owls and quit blocking my path."
"Of course, señorita, I wouldn't have it any other way."
...
They flew in silence for some time. Dawn was battling unease.
Just where was her colony? Was Shade still alive? Did they think she was dead too now – it wasn't like she had exactly explained what her plan had been when she had set out to anyone – she had thought she would only be gone a few hours.
Everything would be so much easier if she could just find Hibernaculum.
"So how far have you got to go to reach your colony?" she asked eventually, despite her unease it was admittedly nice not to be flying alone anymore.
"Very far away, in the south," he replied. "It will be a long journey, but one that will be worth it."
Dawn couldn't help but smile.
"Tell me about it, there is no place I'd rather see right now than my winter roost," she replied. "And then to sleep for a long time, until all this icy cold is gone."
"You know, I was not alone when I first found myself in this wilderness," he told her casually, he glanced behind them to check the skyline. "I had a companion with me...you wouldn't have happened to see any bats like myself around?"
"I suppose you want to go looking for him?" she asked wearily. Agreeing to let him travel with her was one thing, she wasn't interested in going on a search-and-rescue mission when she needed one herself.
"Actually, no," he replied and grinned viciously again. "We were not close, and technically, he abandoned me to my fate when the owls attacked."
"You were attacked by owls too?" Dawn thought this over for a moment, the owls had attacked her colony unprovoked after all. "What is the owls' Nocturna damned problem anyway? You know, they had guards posted all over the last city my colony had to fly over. Have you heard if something is going on?"
"Ah, well, I did hear word that a there was a young silverwing that looked at the sun. Perhaps they owls seek revenge, hmm?"
"Oh, that's common knowledge now..." Dawn replied embarrassed – immediately deciding that she would not share the fact that the law-breaker had been one from her own colony, let alone her own brother. "Didn't the owls already exact revenge? I heard something about they burnt down a silverwing summer roost."
"Maybe they thought it was not enough," Goth suggested.
This sounded only too likely. Dawn sighed, and decided to drop the subject. A bigger problem right now was their destination.
"I think we should find somewhere to land," she announced. "I need to think."
Goth must have picked up on the uncertainty in her voice because he immediately reeled around to fly beside her again.
"Think about what, exactly?"
"Ermm, directions?" she grinned uncomfortably. "We're off course and I need to check where we are."
"Do you know where we are going?"
"Yeah, my colony's winter roost," she knew that much, she was just uncertain exactly where it was. "Hibernaculum."
"Hibernaculum?! But that was..." Goth trailed off and suddenly glared at her, then his expression changed and inexplicably he smiled again. "But you still know the direction south, si? If we just continue flying, we'll fly right out of this wretched cold."
"That's a nice idea in theory," she also thought it sounded downright stupid. "But where are we supposed to hibernate?"
"We wouldn't need to. Where I am from, it is warm all year round, no need to sleep the coldest part of the year out," and he smiled charmingly. "Perhaps if we cannot find your colony now, then we can find mine."
"I don't know, your colony sounds awfully far away," Dawn replied uncomfortably.
"Then how about we make another deal. If you help me fly south this winter, you can stay with my colony until the worst of the cold is over."
"That's a big decision to make on the spot," she managed to reply instead of outright telling him no.
"This cold calls for hasty decisions, señorita," he told her. "If you do not accept our new deal, then it is likely that neither of us will survive. If we do not find your colony soon, we will both soon freeze."
...
I've got to be going crazy, Dawn thought to herself as she continued to fly further south, now without any idea of exactly where she was headed, this is suicide! Though perhaps the big bat had a point, it was also very dangerous to stay, what with the risk of starvation and the cold.
"The wind is picking up," Goth called out from somewhere above her, the weather nearly tore away the sound of his voice. "I say we roost!"
"No, I might still be able to catch up with my colony!" she called back over the howling gale. "If you want to stay behind, that is fine with me!"
A particularly bad gust of wind knocked her back so that she collided with Goth.
"You are speaking nonsense," he spoke irritably, the cold apparently having sapped away his earlier charm. "Look at you! With your tiny wingspan, you can barely even fly in this weather!"
"Are you trying to imply that I'm weak?" she shouted back. "I'm flying just fine."
No sooner had she said this than the wind howled again, and she was blown out of the sky and through the treetops.
Reacting out of instinct, Dawn was only able to just avoid tearing her wings in the branches by angling her wings so that she landed 'oh-so-gracefully' into a pile of snow that had built up in the cranny between two large branches.
And it was beyond freezing.
"Urgh!" she cried out, pushing herself out of the snow, so cold that it felt as if her wings had turned to ice.
Dawn heard laughter.
She had just managed to crawl out of the snow when the branch above her dipped and Goth swung around into view.
"You know, you are very amusing," he told her conversationally. "But perhaps it would be best if you saved your jokes for another time."
"Well, where are we supposed to roost?!" she exclaimed in frustration, now too cold to really care.
"I have already spotted a place," he continued on irritatingly. "If you had listened to me before instead of flying into a snow drift, I would have explained, follow me."
Goth took off into the air, knocking further snow off the tree. Dawn frowned as she was nearly buried beneath again, shivering, before she too opened her wings and took off after him.
Dawn quickly found that even high up in trees, there was still a very real possibility of her being blown away, but she was determined not to let herself seem weak and she wordlessly followed after Goth, grumbling and cursing under her breath.
They came to a clearing in the forest. Here there was a number of human structures dotted about the place, old and crumbling, they obviously hadn't been inhabited for some time. Goth still had the lead, flying ahead of her, occasionally looking back to make sure that she hadn't been blown away again. Childishly, Dawn immediately decided to spite him.
She stopped following him, and flew off if a different direction, picking a building of her own liking.
It was a small barn with cracks in its walls. She quickly found her way inside and flew up to the rafters. Dawn's detour hadn't gone unnoticed, Goth was delayed only moments in following her.
Goth roosted on the rafter opposite hers.
"A little cooperation wouldn't go amiss, señorita," he said once he had finished shaking the snow out of his fur.
"The sarcasm could," but Dawn realized she no longer felt as irritable towards the other bat, and was glad for the company after a week of flying by herself. "So what's the plan exactly? We just keep flying south, and eventually you'll find your way back?"
"That's the idea," he told her. "I will know my own way once I stars grow more familiar."
"And it's warmer there? Than here I mean."
"Much warmer," he told her, and something dangerous flashed behind his eyes, though she might have imagined it. "You have nothing to worry about."
"Well, if you say so..."
She could only hope he was telling the truth, her life depended on it.