Chapter 6

Trapped

This had been a terribly mistake.

Curiosity had cursed him once again!

Some part of his mind had been warning him that something was faintly familiar about the building, but Goth had ignored it in the favor of a possible feast. His pursuit of the greenwings, less than an hour before, had been cut short by the arrival of a scouting group of owls before he had managed to sideline any of the colony.

He was still hungry.

"W-what is this place?" Dawn beside him asked uncertainly, letting go of him as she looked around. "What just happened? How is it summer again?"

Indeed the trees here were draped in the dark leaves of midsummer, and there was no sign of frost or snow. But nor were there any clouds, rain or even the smallest breath of wind. The air still and stagnant as a pond.

Then there was the fact that they were enclosed on all sides by rock and glass.

"This place..." Goth paused as he looked around, taking in the differences. "It's not real."

"It's got to be real! Look at this tree, look at those bats," exclaimed the little silverwing looking around excitedly, though her little nose was scrunched in confusion. "How is this place real? Did we die?"

So blissfully ignorant.

This artificial forest was by no means identical to his old prison, it was far larger and the ceiling was transparent. But it was a prison, just like before.

"No, we must get out," Goth said quickly, and tried to pull the trapdoor back open.

But it wouldn't budge.

"Even if you got back in there, how would you get back up?" Dawn asked him indifferently, clearly unconcerned. "Let's have a look around before we do anything hasty, this place is warm! Why not just stay here till evening? If you want to leave so badly there is probably another way out if a whole colony is living here."

"You do not understand the seriousness of this situation, senorita," he turned to glare down at her – to her credit she didn't cower this time, she merely looked confused. "This is not that different to the prison in which I was kept, I should have recognized it!"

"This place looks nice to me," she shrugged, giving him a puzzled look.

He was about to retaliate, tell her exactly why this was not a nice place when several bats swooped low overhead, curious at the new arrivals.

"Wow, look at his wingspan!" one exclaimed upon seeing Goth.

There were several murmurs of agreement as more bats flew over to see him for themselves. The small group attracted the curiosity of yet more bats and pretty soon there was a whole crowd gathered around them, landing in the trees while some remained airborne.

Goth wasn't quite sure how to react at first, he had never been so close to so many little bats at once that weren't fleeing to escape him. It was really quite baffling, the sight seemed so unusual. They obviously never seen one of his kind before. Beside him, Dawn took a step back, pressing her back against him, seemingly alarmed by the sudden growing crowd of bats gathering around them.

"Hello," he greeted those closest to his branch. "I am Goth, a weary traveler."

"I am…From…!" many chorused back in return, naming themselves and their colonies. Like little flittering birds, all mindless and alike as they shuffled around.

"Could any of you be kind enough to tell us what exactly this place is?" he asked the crowd.

Of course they all tried to all answer at once, chattering over each other and making it hard for him to understand what any of them were saying. Then one finally shouted above the rest:

"The elder Sanctus knows better than any of us! Why don't we ask him?"

Immediately there was a chorus of agreement, and Goth found himself pressured to fly with them. He didn't mind, it would give him a chance to get a look around and find out what he could about this new prison.

"Well senorita, it looks as if we must do the politest thing, and fly with these bats. And perhaps get a better look around this place," he told Dawn, readying his wings to fly. But she frowned and looked at the assembled bats again.

"I think I'm going to stay here," she said to him quietly.

"Dawn?"

The little bat kept shuffling her wings, now looking away from the assembled bats, obviously quite distressed.

"I'm tired, just come back for me when you're done talking," she mumbled. "It's not like I'll go anywhere."

It didn't take much thought to figure out why she didn't want to move, the silverwing was ashamed that she couldn't fly, and didn't want anyone else to know about it. Goth wouldn't pressure her, it would be easier for him to scope out this new artificial forest in closer detail if he was on his own anyway.

Finding a way out was now his top priority, if this place was anything like the last then escaping would not be easy. Dawn already trusted him, and she would still be here when he returned.

"As you wish," he bowed his head to her, taking one of her hands in his to reassure her. "I will not be gone long."

It was strange how just one small action, a small simple gesture on Goth's part, had her stomach doing back flips. For a moment her brain seemed to stop working and it took a few seconds for Dawn to even realize that Goth had already left.

She could still feel a ghost of pressure upon her hand, warm and strong. This burst of emotion had caught her off guard, and she hastily tried to shake it off. It meant nothing, she told herself, you just weren't expecting it.

Anyway, she was on her own again for now.

Dawn frowned and looked around uneasily. Perhaps opting to stay behind hadn't been such a good idea. Having only recently really spoken with anyone outside her colony - most of whom she had known by sight if not by name – the idea of introducing herself and making conversation was intimidating. She could see herself making an introduction, but then what? What was she supposed to speak about? Goth made it look so easy, she wished she had just as half as much charisma.

A few other bats flew past her in time, but they spared her little more than a glance. At first she thought they were ignoring her, but she soon realised that there were so many different bats, from so many different colonies here that most probably didn't even realise she was new.

There were many types of bats here, many were of kinds she had never seen before. None, however, looked like Goth. But this didn't particularly surprise her, these were all northern bats, it would only make sense that Goth was one of kind here.

"Hello there," said a chipper voice. "You alright?"

Dawn looked up and saw a bat only a bit bigger than herself watching her from the branch above. His fur was grey-green, she guessed that he was a greywing but she wasn't certain – she was called a silverwing, but she wasn't exactly silver...more like a bluey grey.

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for a friend of mine," she replied. Dawn couldn't help but notice a few passing bats turned to look at the greywing as they flew past, she could have sworn one of them sneered at him before they flew beyond sight in the trees again.

"Name's Robin," the greywing said, flying down so that he perched on a branch opposite hers. If he had noticed the passing bats, he didn't appear to care.

"I'm Dawn," she introduced herself. "What is this place?"

"Oh, you're new?" he asked, though he didn't exactly sound surprised. "I thought something might be up when I spotted you perched up here on your own all evening. Where's the rest of your colony?"

"I got separated from my colony about a week ago, before I arrived here," she answered. "I'm not traveling alone though."

"Oh, did the rest of your group fly off to go stare at that new arrival then? I think there was a lot of ditching all the way around when that big bat arrived. Pretty much everyone wanted to get a look at him. Never seen a bat quite like him," Robin himself didn't sound all that interested. "It's not like much happens around here."

"I'm traveling with that big bat," she told him somewhat proudly. "His name is Goth."

"Oh," Robin replied. "Well why didn't you follow him?"

"It seemed easier to stay here," she lied. "He's gonna be back in a bit anyway, he's just taking a look around this place."

"There's not much to see, it's just trees and gravel," he replied boredly. "I've been here for several months now, so I should know. My colony's male summer roost wasn't far from here, most of us got trapped in here about the same time."

"Trapped?" she questioned, Goth's words echoing in her mind, he had called this place a prison. But she didn't want it to be true.

"Yeah, there isn't a way out of here," Robin continued casually. "No one in my colony wanted to get out at first either, myself included, until it came time to migrate to meet with the rest of our colony for the winter. Only to find that it was impossible to leave."

"You couldn't get back to your colony, that's awful!" Dawn exclaimed, perhaps a little over-sympathetically, but she couldn't help it – she related to the problem all too well. "Where are the others in your colony now, are they seeking a way out?"

"No, they're gone," Robin said simply.

"They got out?" she asked puzzledly.

"No, I don't think so. Bats vanish here all the time. It's the only reason why this place isn't completely overcrowded," Robin stated blandly, he sounded surprisingly indifferent. "I'm the last one left. I have my ways of avoiding vanishing though. Here's a handy tip: don't roost where everyone else roosts. Those in the big groups often disappear together."

"Okay, okay," Dawn was now beginning to wonder if this bat was a bit crazy. "So you're saying that bats are trapped in here, and then they just vanish? How do you know they didn't just all escape?"

"Because they only vanish during the day, when everyone is asleep," Robin said matter-of-factually. "That and they don't tell anyone they're leaving, and no one knows where they have gone."

"Well that's ominous," Dawn replied, trying to not to take the conversation too seriously. Looking around now at the near perfect replica of a forest in summer, she found it nearly impossible to believe that there was anything sinister about the place. "I wouldn't mind staying around for a bit though, just for the food and the warmth. It's not nice outside right now, believe me."

"Believe you? Believe me, this place has some terrible secret behind it," Robin told her insistently. "I don't quite yet know what it is, but I know it's bad!"

"I think I'm going to reserve my judgement for a little while longer," she regarded him curiously. "I need to see these things for myself."

"Don't believe me? Then look up there," he pointed at one wall, where high up a band of black shiny rock covered a small section of the false forest wall. "What do you see?"

"Nothing, it's just more glass, like the ceiling," she replied. But it wasn't quite the same as that of the ceiling because neither her eyes or echoes could see through the black glassy material. Dawn had no idea what lay on the other side.

"There are things moving behind it," Robin continued, narrowing his eyes at the invisible enemy. "If you move close enough you can sometimes hear them."

"Hear what exactly?"

"Humans of course. Who else could build a place as complex as this?" Robin grinned, rolling his eyes.

"But why would humans want to trap us?" Dawn asked. She knew Goth had been held captive before but he hadn't told her why or what had happened where he was kept. Dawn would be sure to ask him as soon as he returned.

"I don't know. Maybe to eat us. You know how squirrels store nuts in trees?" Robin said rather gleefully. "Well, I think this place might be something similar. I can't think of any other reason, so there probably isn't one."

Dawn was horrified at the prospect.

"Well if that's true then we need to get out as soon as possible," she said worriedly. "My companion, he was trapped by humans before. He might know how to get out."

"And he escaped?" all the joking cheerful chattiness from before was suddenly gone from Robin's voice.

"Well, yes, he did." That much was obvious, else they wouldn't be there now.

"I need to speak to him," Robin exclaimed loudly, startling her. "Do you know how he got out last time?"

"No, you see I wasn't there at the time," she explained. "We were traveling south when we got lured in. Honestly the weather is dreadful outside, I wouldn't mind staying here, just for a little while."

"I don't think you have much choice about that," Robin gestured at the artificial forest. "I've looked this place over again and again, there is no way out."

It was nearly morning now, the sky was beginning to wash away to the pale color of day overhead.

The elder named Sanctus was not wise bat in any shape or form, Goth had concluded. Soft bodied, slow with captivity and oh-so-convinced of his own logic, the elder was feeble in every sense of the word. This place was paradise, the elder had told him – and the gathered little bats around him had happily chorused too – but Goth knew better.

The little bats here were blind to the fact that they were trapped, they didn't want to leave. He would have to be careful how he treaded here, he had no fear of such small bats but the prospect of being mobbed wasn't ideal either. Yet another hiccup in his journey back, he felt his temper threatening to get the better of him again but he managed to keep it in check.

He had escaped from a place like this before, he could do it again.

Goth made sure to fly low and close to the ground so that the humans would be less likely to spot him. He could not see them through the blackened glass and it irritated him, but he knew that they were there and he did not want them to see him.

Now his attention was turned back to Dawn. He had her on his side now, though he still couldn't be certain that the little weaselly thing wouldn't try to get out of the journey again. She wasn't quite as sneaky as Shade had been, but perhaps this was because she still trusted him – and he wanted to keep it this way.

Angling his wings, he put on a burst of speed and caught one of the many lazily flying moths there, and then began to make his way back to where Dawn had been. She wouldn't have been able to move far in his absence, he had been aware of this, and it was likely she would probably be on the defensive when he returned, frightened by her new surroundings and her own weakness. He could use this though, make a big show of caring for her well being and no doubt he would gain her gratitude and trust.

Dawn wasn't alone when he returned. There was another little bat talking to her.

Goth felt a spark of irritation, he hoped Dawn wasn't foolish enough to be indoctrinated so easily, but then again it wouldn't surprise him. He would just have to work harder if this was the case.

"Goth!" she exclaimed happily when she spotted him, then she frowned. "What happened? Why did you take so long?"

"The locals were showing me around. Here," he handed her the moth. "I thought you might be hungry."

"Umm, thank you," she was surprised. Abashed, she took the offering and hurriedly gestured to the greywing. "So, erm, Goth this is-"

"I'm Robin! Pleased to meet you," said the greywing, practically shoving Dawn to one side in his haste to introduce himself. "Dawn has been telling me all about you. She said you've escaped from a place like this before? Do you think you could do it again?"

"I would think so," he began to reply, surprised by the hyper demeanor of the greywing.

"You see I've been trying for months to get out of here, but I've never found a way," the greywing babbled. "So I thought that if you had gotten out before, then you can tell me how."

Goth tried to reply again, but the greywing didn't pause to let him speak.

"Of course, if you weren't trapped here then perhaps the situation was different, maybe it was easier to get out or the humans didn't seal up the place properly," Robin continued. "You see I've tried everything. Where they let the moths in, the gap is too small to squeeze through! It's impossible to dig out because there is no earth to dig! And you can't fly out because there is not a single hole in the roofing."

"I broke out-" Goth began to say.

"But how did you get out before?" the greywing interrupted and spoke over him without even listening. "Do you know why they trap us? You look kinda roughed up, especially your ears, did the humans try to eat you the last time you were trapped?"

Goth narrowed his eyes.

He had had enough of moronic flying snacks for the day! Being trapped again was one thing, but being trapped with annoyances likes this was a whole new level. Especially one that would dare to insult him! But he could not simply threaten or kill the pest, not while Dawn with him. Nor could he simply ask the greywing to leave...but he could act, and that gave him an idea.

"Enough!" he growled, abruptly taking Dawn under one wing; the little silverwing squeaking in surprise. "For how long have you pestered her?"

"Huh, what?" the greywing was taken aback at the unexpected outburst.

"You come near her again, and I'll tear off your wings!" Goth snarled. "You think because you saw her alone that you can try courting her in my absence?!"

Dawn had tensed below his wing, but his focus remained on the irritating pest in front of him. Much to his satisfaction, the irritating greywing looked suitably terrified.

"Wow, I wasn't bothering your mate, I swear," he had backed up a few along the branch. "I just want to escape from here." And then with a whimper, he leapt from the branch and flew away.

Goth glared after the retreating greywing for a few moments more until he was certain the irritating little pest was gone.

Then, unable to stop himself, he began to laugh.

Dawn twisted under his wing, trying to get out. He loosened his hold on her, still chuckling to himself.

"That wasn't funny," said Dawn, pushing on his arm so that she could look up at him. "Now you've traumatized him and he thinks you're my overprotective mate. Damn it, Goth! He's never going to want to speak to us again!"

"He is gone, is he not?" Goth was still finding it hard not to laugh. "That was my intention."

"You know, he might have been able to help us escape," she replied, hastily looking away when Goth met her gaze. "He seemed like a nice guy, just very talkative. I think being stuck here may have messed with his mind."

"He insulted me," And if this had been under normal circumstances, the greywing would now be dead. Not even back in his old home were there many vampyrum who would have dared insult him, let alone a pipsqueak snack!

"He told me he had lost his colony, and that the humans are keeping us here to so as to eat us," Dawn replied. "And then he kept going on and on about enclosed spaces, and not being able to wake up. I don't think he's quite right in the head."

"First of all that makes him no less annoying, senorita," Goth pointed out. "Secondly, why would the humans keep us in here to eat?"

"Why else would they want us here?" Dawn questioned. "Robin suggested that they might be keeping us in here like a larder, and I can't think of any other reason that would make any sense."

"Let me tell you about my capture, senorita," Goth explained. "Do you think that the humans took me many thousands of wingbeats north, just to eat me? My enclosure was very different from this one, much smaller, and the only other bat there was my brother-in-law. Throbb and I were trapped for seven nights, but not once did they try to eat us."

"What did they do then?"

"They watched us," Goth said venomously. "They want to steal the secret of our night vision."

"How?" Dawn leaned forward. "How would they do that?"

"I do not know," Goth's posture deflated. "But it makes more sense that this place being a giant larder."

"Robin said that bats go missing here all the time, but he doesn't think they're escaping," Dawn told him. "I think the larder theory still makes sense. I mean, why would they need so many of us if they just wanted our night vision?"

"I do not understand how humans think anymore than you do, senorita, they are an odd and dangerous species," Goth then added as an afterthought. "But I have heard that they will eat pretty much anything, so the food theory could be true as well."

Dawn shrunk and looked around hastily.

"I don't want to be eaten...or trapped," she said nervously. "We need to find somewhere safe to roost, where they won't find us. Robin said to stay away from the main colony roosting area as they are the ones that go missing most often."

So bats went missing here? This was news. For the duration of his last stay Goth nor Throbb had been removed even once from their enclosure after they had been banded. Could this place serve a different purpose than the last?

"If there is anything I can do, tell me, ok?" she continued. "I felt useless just hanging up here all night."

"Well then, I will tell you what I am looking for," he told her. "If you spot or hear of any weakness in this building's walls, if you feel even the slightest sliver of a breeze from the outside, tell me and I will investigate. That is how I got out before."

The following evening, Goth once again flew off to further explore the building in hopes of finding a way out.

Meanwhile Dawn had tried introducing herself to some the locals that had flown close enough for her to talk to them. She had learnt a few new names, but for the most part, no one had said much to her. Things would have been easier if she could fly as – unsurprisingly – it turned out that being confined to the same branch all night was rather anti-social.

So Dawn found herself alone again.

Robin hadn't made another appearance, and she suspected that Goth might have scared him off permanently. To be honest it kind of annoyed her. She wouldn't have minded getting to know a few of the locals, especially one that shared her interest of escaping from captivity. Robin has seemed nice, just a bit of a chatterbox was all.

Goth also was getting to know the locals, as she later spotted him from a distance, talking to a brightwing.

The brightwing was pretty, she noted, with delicate shell-shaped ears, gentle green eyes and soft bell-like laugh. Dawn was surprised at the sudden desire she had to shove said brightwing into a hive of angry bees.

She had no idea where this irrational jealously had suddenly come from, and she didn't want to believe it was jealousy. But every time she looked over and saw that Goth was still speaking to the beauty, she found herself frowning.

It was all Goth's fault somehow. It was his fault, the big stupid flirt!

Dawn shook her head vigorously and wished she could fly elsewhere. She trusted herself to be able to glide down from the branch she was on, but what would the point of that be? She doubted she would be able to get back up again.

So she stayed where she was.

...

It was already morning when Goth finally returned to roost.

The first rays of sunlight were streaming in through the roof, the light making his fur shimmer like gold. Dawn was surprised to note that he was soaked through with water, it clung to his fur and flew free from the tips of his wings. Wait, what? Had he fallen into the stream or something? she thought. If she hadn't been half asleep she might have been tempted to playfully poke fun at him, or at least inquire why it looked like he had gone swimming.

He landed nearby, yet another moth in one claw.

"Dawn, I've brought you a little gift," he told her.

"Thanks, Goth," she said to him, taking the offered moth. He had brought back moths several times that day as he knew she couldn't go hunting for herself at the moment, the gesture was definitely appreciated but it also left her feeling flustered.

"You're welcome, senorita," he practically purred.

Dawn was tempted to swat at him out of irritation, if only because of her own embarrassment, but she decided against this. She only protested mildly when he chose to roost next to her – damp and cold as he was from his apparent dip in the stream.

The artificial forest was near silent now, everyone having settled down for the day.

So it wasn't until that evening that anyone would notice a lone brightwing had gone missing.

A/N: Updates are going to remain sporadic like this until the summer holidays. Uni is much tougher than I thought it would be, the work load is crazy O_O! So many essays, soooo mannnnny eessssssaaaaaaayyyyyss! AHH!

Response to reviews (I've been meaning to do this for a while)

Carslisle Fan 22: Aww, thank you :D

Guest1# Sorry the update took so long, thank you for your review :)

Guest2# Throbb will be making an appearance in the next chapter, or if not he will definitely be appearing in the one after that.

RandomCitizen: You're on the right track. Goth's presence there is not going to go unnoticed for long.