Chapter 5
Mistake
1 month before...
The jungle air was heavy with the humidity rising off the trees, the sun was setting, just a glimmer of orange upon the horizon beneath a dark red sky, when Goth and Throbb flew forth to inspect the anomaly.
"Sir, a human encampment has established itself just west of here," he had been told by a young scout named Murk. "Should the colony go on the alert?"
This question would normally have gone straight to his father, but the king had not been seen since the early that morning; it was believed he had been delayed in a reconnaissance mission south of the rainforest's edge, and it was unknown when he would return. In a normal situation, in the absence of his father, the message would then most likely have been relayed to the elders, possibly even Voxzaco. But this scout was young and new to his rank, and Goth could tell that he was no yet familiar with the hierarchical system. Not that he minded, in fact, Goth didn't mind at all.
Goth had never seen humans up close before, it was rare for them to venture so deep into the jungle. This simple curiosity would later be his downfall, as he made the fateful decision to go and assess the encampment himself, rather than send the scout back. Phoenix had at first agreed to fly with him, but she had then changed her mind.
"The king is still missing, and I grow concerned," she told him as another vampyrum flew up to join them. "Throbb will travel with you in my place. I feel it is my responsibility to assist in the search efforts."
Goth was not concerned in the least about the king's absence, it would not be the first time the ruling vampyrum had disappeared for more than a day. No, his main focus was on the fact that one of his least favorite bats in the entirety of the kingdom had just alighted on the branch opposite him, and was now smiling confidently up at him as if they were equals. Equals?!
He couldn't help but sneer at Throbb.
Phoenix noticed this.
"Do you have a problem with my choice?" she questioned him waspishly.
"Of course not," Goth lied through gritted teeth. "He is a good choice."
Phoenix's eyes flashed warningly.
Merely saying he did not mind Throbb being around wouldn't change anything though, Phoenix knew that he was lying and Goth didn't care. Throbb was a vampyrum that, up until a couple of weeks ago, had gone completely unnoticed by Goth, simply due to his insignificance. But now Goth couldn't help but notice whenever the other was nearby; Throbb was like a mosquito, always around and ever irritating.
Wordlessly, Phoenix dropped down from the tree and took off back towards the pyramid.
And so, without a choice, Goth and Throbb set off to examine the new change in their homeland. If Goth had been his father, the king, he might have hesitated in visiting such an anomaly, and perhaps sent scouts instead. But Goth was not the king, he lacked the cautious restraint of an elder, and the knowledge of outsiders in his home.
Throbb was descended from a fairly high ranking family but he lacked their prestige, instead he was known for being a slow flyer, clumsy and soft. But he had been born the year previous to Goth, and was a little wiser to the world, being that it just so happened he had seen a human encampment before: a logger's camp.
So when the two of them flew over the encroached site, it was Throbb – not Goth – who knew something was wrong.
"This is different, where are the metal machines? The fallen trees?" he wondered aloud.
Goth snarled in irritation at the other vampyrum's voice, but Throbb was not intimidated. If there was anything that Goth might give him credit for, it was the fact that his brother-in-law was not a coward. But at the same time he found this aggravating; he wanted Throbb to fear him. Though perhaps this was optimistic, Throbb might have been simply too stupid to be respectful.
Circling at the edges of the camp, the scent of terrified animals was thick in the air. This was confusing as the scent did not seem to originate from any one particularly species, but a whole multitude at once. And he could not see them, only now and then would he pick up the sound of a frightened beast or the warbling of a nervous bird.
"Goth, we should go back," Throbb continued. "These could be poachers."
He spoke too late, not a second later the two of them had flown into an invisible web hidden amongst the lowest branches of the trees. The netting got tangled up in their wings, the more he struggled the more entangled Goth became. Cursing, spitting and snarling, Goth was pulled from the human web by hands that were covered in a thick material, so tough that he could not bite through.
They were then thrown into a metallic container with barely enough room to move, and no view to the outside world but a few puncture holes. They were kept like this for hours. The box heated under the sun, they had no access to food or water. But they never gave up on trying to escape.
By the time the box was finally moved, both bats were weak from exhaustion. There was some time between then and when they next saw the outdoors, there was an interval in which the crate was tossed and thrown around as if it was bobbing in a river. They were moving over land.
When the box was finally opened, it was to the sight of two huge grasping hands once more.
They fought back again, but it was futile.
They were shoved into another crate, this one was better ventilated and did not feel like the inside of a hungry beast, but it smelt of a strange sharp scent that had Goth recoiling and gasping for air, as it stang at his nose and made his eyes water. It was a scent he would later come to associate with captivity, something the humans used in and around his prison.
The two vampyrum were transported north.
Present...
When it came time to leave the building again, the low temperature still came as a nasty shock, even though Dawn had known it was still going to be cold outside. It was actually hard to believe that they would eventually fly out of this cold, but Goth didn't seem like the suicidal type so Dawn trusted him. She wondered if he trusted her, probably not after she had tried to ditch him at the city.
"I'm sorry," she said to Goth.
"Hmm?" he looked back at her, confused.
"About how I've been acting," she explained, feeling somewhat ashamed. "We're in exactly the same situation. We're both far from home, lost, and cold. I was acting selfishly, and if the situation had been reversed, well I wouldn't be happy either."
"Señorita, no apology is needed," he grinned. "I only hope that I did not frighten you back at the city. This cold hasn't been easy on my patience."
"It was understandable if you're annoyed. I was being selfish, I just wanted to save myself. I mean, what would you have done if I had left? You might have frozen. I wasn't thinking straight, I was just scared."
"You are not the first northern guide I've traveled with," he admitted.
"What happened to them?" she asked.
"They lied and deceived me," he told her savagely, but then his voice turned silky and soothing once more: "They were not like you of course, but you must understand why I may have reacted badly when you said you wished to stay here."
"Must have been pretty bad," she replied warily, unable to prevent herself from wondering if Goth had done something nasty to them. "What happened exactly? If you don't mind sharing, that is..."
"I do not mind, señorita," he said, sounding actually happy to share the story. "It all began when I and my brother-in-law escaped from the humans. We had not traveled far when we came across two little bats, they were on the run from an owl. We stopped and saved them, and they agreed to travel south with us. But not a day later, they abandoned us."
"They just...vanished?"
"They decided we were cursed," Goth explained. "We were both banded, and they were superstitious. And after an argument over the significance of the bands, the two told us they were going to drink from the stream, that they would return. But I saw them fleeing the valley, they had no intention of returning."
"One of the elders in my colony is banded, she's had a band for years," Dawn mentioned. "She's never suffered any bad luck. I don't think they're a curse."
Truth be told Dawn hadn't even thought about Goth's band since she had first noticed it, she'd assumed there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. It was mysterious, but then again so was everything about Goth.
"They are a shackle by the humans, a sign of imprisonment," Goth agreed. "But they didn't keep me imprisoned for long."
"But that's not the whole story, is it? How did you get separated from Throbb?" she asked curiously.
Goth paused for a while, as if thinking this over. "We were attacked by owls," he said simply.
Dawn was just about to question the lengthy time it took him to respond with such a short answer when she realized there might be another reason for his slow reasoning. The cold was getting to him, Goth was shivering.
"The winter," Goth growled. "I never imagined it was possible for it to get so cold! So cold that water turns to stone!"
"We call it ice," Dawn told him. "Normally we wouldn't see it yet, the weather usually doesn't get this bad for several weeks more, and by then most of us are asleep."
"In the jungle it is the opposite," he laughed. "It gets so warm that water turns to mist."
"That sounds painful," Dawn winced.
"It's not. The forest is not as dry as it is here," he reassured her.
Dawn looked up suddenly as she heard a familiar sound, she almost couldn't believe her ears. There, in the distance, was the chittering of a vast colony of bats.
"Do you hear them?" she asked Goth excitedly.
"Yes," Goth was tilting his head curiously, listening intently. Dawn felt somewhere between anticipatory and nostalgic, but definitely excited at the prospect of seeing a colony again.
Goth landed upon a tree to wait for the approaching colony. Dawn straining her neck as she tried to spot them.
"If they are headed the same way, perhaps we can fly with them?" she suggested. "Stay together, like colony?"
"You little bats like to fly together, don't you?" Goth remarked. "Like a flock of little birds."
"Well yes," Dawn wondered if he had just insulted her or merely made a casual comparison. "It would be kind of dangerous for everyone to migrate individually."
"It's rare for my kind to travel far in large groups," Goth mused. "We don't migrate."
It was a colony of greenwings, Dawn grinned as they finally came into view, a massive colony of many hundreds of individuals. But disappointingly she saw they were flying north-westward; flying with them would not be an option. The bats had by now noticed them, and one flew over to greet them.
Then an odd thing happened, Goth appeared to hesitate, almost as if he wanted to fly away. Dawn noticed the way he suddenly tensed, tilting to one side as if preparing to drop from the tree. But by then the messenger had already reached them.
"It's unusual to see any bats out here so late in the year. You two lost?" the messenger asked them soon as he was close enough not to shout.
"No, amigo, we're traveling south. We know our way," Goth replied smoothly. The messenger seemed to be scrutinizing Goth, Dawn noticed. Then again, it was unlikely the greenwing had ever seen anyone like Goth before.
"We're traveling late, our winter roost is a short distance north of here," the messenger answered. "I would invite you to fly with us, but it seems our paths diverge."
"Do you know anything about why the owls might be acting so aggressive recently?" Dawn spoke up. "We've had several near misses with them already."
"Our summer roost is located in an isolated valley, we hear little from the rest of the world," the messenger replied. "But we have heard word that a bat looked at the sun. I don't think there is a bat, bird or beast in the forests who hasn't heard about it."
"We know this," Goth replied dismissively. "What the señorita wanted to know was if there was anything else? But if that is all, we must take wing once more."
"Well I wish you further luck on your journey, there aren't many owls around here, but there used to be," the messenger said ominously. "Bats have been reported going missing in this area. Don't stay longer than you need to."
The messenger then turned and headed back to catch up with the rest of the colony.
As the colony flew on, Dawn noticed a strange look on Goth's face. Fixated, the large bat watched the departing colony with keen interest. Was he homesick?
"Don't worry, we'll be with your colony soon enough," she tried reassuring him.
"Un momento, senorita," he told her, not looking away from the colony. Then Goth dropped from the branch and took off after the other bats.
Dawn was suddenly filled with a feeling of dread. He wasn't abandoning her out here was he?!
"Hey, where are you going?" she called after him. "Don't leave me here!"
"I will return!" he called back to her.
...
This was only the second time he had left her like this, but Dawn was already sick of it. Not being able to fly was a pain. She tested her injured wing a few times while she waited, but she didn't dare release her grip from the branch, worried that she would simply drop from the sky if she tried.
Goth wasn't gone long though.
He returned in a hurry.
"That took some time," she complained nonetheless. "What were you doing?"
"Hunting," he replied agitatedly, looking around as if worried he had been followed.
"I thought you were going to talk to those greenwings," she answered, confused. She was startled when Goth abruptly covered her with one wing.
"Señorita, quiet," he warned, and she knew that something was wrong. "There were owls not far behind me."
Dawn couldn't see any owls, but now that she listened, she could just about hear them, the rustling of feathers near silent, like falling snow.
She looked up to the stars, to orientate herself and pick out the route they would need to follow once they started flying. But the sky was cloudy and she could only just see the moon. Squinting though, she looked through the trees, and inadvertently spotted the owls gliding near silently in the sky overhead. The birds hadn't noticed them yet, but it was clear they were searching. The owl in the lead of the formation looking one way then the next; disk like face rotating as it sought sound.
"Up there," Dawn whispered nervously to Goth. "They're above us!"
His head snapped up. Dawn decided they needed to stay still and quiet until the owls left, but she was too scared to say this aloud in case the birds looked down. She had heard tales of how owls ate their prey alive, and she didn't want to find out if this was true first hand.
Goth was glaring up at the owls, she thought he planned to out-wait the owls too, but she was wrong.
"Hold on," he said quietly, then dropped from the tree. The glide down was silent, the first awkward stroke of his wings was not. Goth had seemingly not taken into account that he was carrying her, and with the extra weight, flew too close to the ground. They never left the air, but there was an awkward moment in which it seemed they might, the edge of Goth's wings audibly clipping at the snow.
An owl's greatest asset was undoubtedly its ears, and looking back she saw all five of the birds had changed direction and were descending through the trees.
"They've spotted us," she warned Goth.
Goth snarled, and gave up on trying to fly silently. Flapping his wings harder, he picked up speed and flew more rapidly amongst the trees.
"How can they persecute us like this!?" Dawn yelped, seeing the owls spreading out to encircle them. "As if one curious silverwing looking at the sun could ever hurt anyone?!"
"Think of escape, not reason!" Goth shouted back, doing his best to manoeuvre amongst the trees and lose the owls. "I would fight if you were not weighing me down!"
Dawn bit back an angry retort and held on tighter, terrified she might fall off and be left for the owls.
Ahead a strange inclined surface glowed like the surface of a lake, it took only a moment for her to realize that this couldn't possibly be water before Goth was sweeping upwards and over it, but behind them there was a satisfying 'THUNK' as the owls collided one after the other into the hard reflective surface.
On the other side of the structure, Goth immediately dropped from the air and landed upon the shimmering surface. They both flattened themselves against the roof and waited.
Eventually the sound of the owls flying away was heard, and Goth relaxed, getting to his feet again. Dawn didn't immediately move, being half frozen, half terrified, she didn't want to. Goth looked down at her quizzically.
"Do not be upset, Dawn, you hid well," he laughed as he helped her up.
"That was some pretty amazing flying you did just there," Dawn shivered as she swept off the snow still clinging to her fur. "Way to get rid of those owls."
"I have tricked them into flying into water before, but this was just as good," Goth agreed.
"What is this place anyway?" Dawn asked, frowning as her feet skidded against the strange structure they were standing on – it was unnaturally smooth.
Goth looked around briefly. "A human building."
Dawn rolled her eyes, she could see that! But she'd never seen a structure like this before, but that wasn't the strangest thing, Dawn could now hear voices. Many voices, but she couldn't see or smell anyone!
"Do you hear those voices?" she asked cautiously.
"Yes, there must be a colony nearby," Goth remarked, shuffling along the roof in search of the sound.
"Out here in the middle of nowhere?" Dawn questioned. "That doesn't make any sense. Those greenwings said no one lives out here."
"They also said there weren't many owls," Goth considered this. "We should investigate."
"Okay," she agreed uncertainly. But hey, Goth had so far proved to be a good protector. If she stuck close to him, she reckoned she would be safe.
After some searching, they soon found an opening in the side of the building. It was narrow and dark, but it seemed this was the source of the voices.
"I don't like the look of this," Dawn said, instinctively wanting to keep to open air rather than crawl into confined tunnel. "What if they're stuck in there?"
"Do they sound alarmed to you?" he questioned rhetorically; the voices didn't sound distressed at all.
Dawn shrugged, then winced at the pain in her winng, she reminded herself she couldn't fly.
Goth went through first, hurriedly, caution thrown to the wind. Dawn followed after more slowly.
"Can you see anything?" she asked. It was pitch black, and even with echoes she could only see down the tunnel as Goth was blocking the way.
"This must be the wrong way in, they got in someway else-" Goth was cut off as he abruptly dropped out of view.
"Goth, you alright?" she called after him, hurrying forward.
"Señorita, don't!" he warned, but it was already too late.
Dawn suddenly found the ground had dropped away beneath her, and without anything to grip onto, she fell.
Goth had managed to brace himself against the sides of the tunnel to stop himself sliding any further, but when Dawn landed on him she felt him slip.
The surface was too steep and smooth to stop again. Tumbling, they shot out through a flap at the end of the tunnel and into an open space. Dawn managed to hold onto Goth as he managed to open his wings just in time to avoid hitting the ground.
The first thing Dawn then noticed was the warmth, then she saw was trees and moss, and everywhere there were bats.
It was like they had quite literally flown into summer.