For those of you who have read the Silverwing books, this is my own little '4th book' to the series. for those of you who whaven't read the books...get them! they're awesome books! lol

The Soul Taker loves her Kenneth Oppel :p

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‘Thoughts’

-Shade-
Death has been good to me all these years; I’ve been able to become as one with this earth. I’ve become everything I’ve ever wanted to in this forest; the trees my loved ones roost in, the wind through their fur, I’ve even whispered my love to them…Marina, I know she heard me, several times as my spirit roosted with her and Griffin each night.

I watched them grow old, I saw I my son mate with Luna and had children of his own. I saw Marina die…I was grateful she went peacefully and my heart soared when she arrived at my side. It was good to know that Frieda had found her and that she made it to the tree unharmed…I had my mate back, and, together, we watched my son raise his children. I was so proud of him, and yet, I was also saddened…he had grown into a fine young bat and became a wonderful father without me…I only wish I could have been there for him in more than just spirit.

I’m not saying I regret giving my life for him, oh no, I’m glad he could live on to show this world what he was made of…but I wish I could have been a bigger part of his life…I was scarcely older than a newborn! I should have lived longer!

After what I’m sure has been a hundred years, I feel regret and anger start to rise within me, but I can feel something else as well…curiosity. I’ve become so many things in this past century, but, there has been one thing I don’t recall ever trying: becoming one with an impregnated female. I’ve become one with Marina’s spirit many a time, but, after I died, she stayed loyal to my memory and never mated again…how I love her so much.

The thought has so often crossed my mind if it would be possible for me to be reborn. That, maybe, by becoming one with a female who was carrying a child within her, my soul would be accepted into the body of the unborn pup and I would be born again into the Silverwing Colony. Of course, after Griffin had joined us in death, my curiosity had subsided somewhat…but it never truly left me.

Finally, during the female’s migration, I had my chance…

Normally, Marina, Griffin, and I would branch off with our separate gender’s migration route, but after I told them what I had wanted to do, they had actually wondered the exact same thing. If it were possible, we were going to truly make it back into the land of the living…and we were going to do it together.

Before they started their flight back to Tree Haven, the three of us each picked a female. Our selection was totally random, but I felt like I had chose mine for a reason. My chosen female, I had found that Serena was her name, seemed different from the other mothers-to-be. While the others were talking excitedly about what they had decided to name their child, Serena shied away from them and she always seemed so sick with worry. What had happened to her that she wasn’t excited about the child? Had her mate died? That seemed to be the only reason that I could think of that would make an expectant mother so upset.

While watching her one morning, as she was trying to sleep, I saw she was shaking, sobbing so hard that I could barely make out the muffled prayer she was saying. ‘please, Nocturna.’ she had said, ‘please let this child live…I beg of you…let it live…’ She was pleading to a Goddess who could do nothing about it, I felt that I could though…I could do something for her! I just needed to know more…

That night, she did not hunt, she went straight to the elders, hoping they had good news for her and her unborn pup. There was no such news for her…they had scoffed at her, telling her she was weak, that it was her fault that the child wouldn’t live. If she had been strong enough to carry her child, she would have not have been blown off course, she would not have hit the tree so hard and the child within her would still be alive and growing.

My heart sank, or I had felt something much like it, as I heard them talk, it seems as though the kindness Frieda had once shown to all had been long since forgotten. It had never crossed my mind that mothers could be unfit to carry children, I never knew they could die before they were born…I knew they could die shortly afterwards, but before, I couldn’t seem to wrap my mind around it…if I had heard such news when Griffin was to be born…I don’t even wish to think about it…

The time had come, it was nearly time for the females to reach Tree Haven. The three of us wished each other luck and designated the topmost brand of the nursery roost to be our rendezvous point should nothing happen. Then, we took the plunge. It felt so weird, I was sure it was quite the same as actually having a living creature inside of me, but having the lifeless body of one within me felt just as weird…to give birth to a lifeless body…even when I was one with her, I couldn’t imagine the pain and sorrow she was feeling.

I controlled my movements as best I could; I was finally able to leave her body and enter the womb. I stayed in the body of the pup for a moment, but I felt nothing, I was still me, and it was still nothing more than a dead body…I had failed, my thoughts and hopes of being reborn flitted away like my first Tiger Moth. I couldn’t obtain my dream, no matter how hard I tried. As I left the body of both the pup and the female, I felt this weird tugging sensation…it didn’t hurt, as I could no longer feel pain, but it felt very odd nonetheless. I flew effortlessly to the branch we had agreed to meet on and I was greeted by Marina and Griffin; neither of them had any luck with a live body either.

I will always be happy with the fact that I am still with the mate and son I love. I’m grateful that it didn’t work for us all, I only now realized that we could have possibly been separated if we had been given new lives and now I thank Nocturna, wherever she is, that I still have them both. Still…I can’t help but wonder…what was the weird sensation I felt as I left her body? Until a month or so after the pups are born, there won’t be much for us to see. We’ll check in on them before the first migration…possibly.

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‘Rebirth’

-Noxx-

Through the moonless night, I felt something following me. It’s wing beats were soft, I was afraid it was a disgruntled owl…but I couldn’t think of anything I did wrong, I was only hunting! Could it have possibly mistaken me for someone, or something, else? I turned my head quickly and sprayed out sound…my echoes had hit something large, but the only picture my mind’s eye showed me was the dark glint of tarnished silver band.

I beat my little wings faster, but they did not carry me far…why did I have to be so small! Something hot blew at my backside, and I knew it was too late…whatever this thing was…it was going to have me in no time. I screamed out in pain as I felt it’s claws sink into my shoulders and it started to quickly descend…and I was it’s prey…It slammed me hard against the ground, I felt it hot breath against my face, I could smell the hunger and bloodlust the creature had…I was going to die and I didn’t even know what had me.

As if to answer my curiosity, the moon appeared from it’s vacant place in the sky and lit the night as if it were day. I opened my eyes and squeaked weakly in shock, my attacker was another bat! It’s nose was long and pointed at the tip, it’s eyes burned with a powerful mixture of vengeance, hatred, and hunger. He, this bat, was easily nearly three times my size, there was no way I could possibly escape his grasp.

His lips curled in a cruel smile as he began to lower his head towards mine, and I closed my eyes, waiting for those horribly sharp fangs to pierce my neck and end my life…when the pain of having my flesh ripped from my body did not come, I slowly opened my eyes. He was still staring at me, most likely waiting for me to gaze at his face.

He chuckled deeply as I began to struggle beneath him again, blasting more hot, putrid breath into my face. He lowered his mouth closer to my ears and began to speak. His voice was low and raspy, as if he hadn’t had anything to drink in a very long time, but I could still hear those ghastly words clearly, ‘I will eat your beating heart…’

“Momma!” the little bat squeaked softly in panic as he awoke from his nightmare.

He clung so tightly to his mother that she winced in pain, but she ignored the pain and gently stroked her whimpering pup, “It’s alright, sweetie, I’m here…” she sighed, her tired face showed she was worried about her young son, “was it the Cannibal dream again?”

The child sniffed lightly and nodded, tears matting his fur, “yes…he spoke to me this time…he said he’d eat my beating heart..” he buried his face into his mother’s soft fur and began sobbing loudly, “I could feel his hot breath in my face! He was really there, mom…he was really going to eat me…”

His mother, Serena, sighed heavily; ever since he was born, he was plagued by nightmares, ‘visions’ as he called them, about things he was to young to even know about. She made a soft cooing noise, trying to calm her troubled newborn, “He’s not real, sweetie, those bats live very far away and they can’t hurt you here…you’re safe…” she nuzzled the back of his head lovingly, “I won’t let anything bad happen to you…”

A soft yawn escaped her mouth, he had woken her up so many times crying about his dreams, that she was losing more and more sleep each night. She knew that, if this kept up, she wouldn’t be strong enough to make the winter migration…she needed to be strong for her son incase he needed to cling to her…she knew his small wings would not be able to carry him all the way…even if he did resemble him.

“Sweetie, you should really get back to sleep, we’ve got a big night coming up, I’m going to teach you how to hunt.” she mentioned her plans to teach him how to hunt like a ‘grown-up bat’ in hopes of taking his mind of his dreams so they could both get a decent amount of sleep for once, “won’t that be fun?”

The little bat sniffled and nodded, “yes…it will be fun…but, momma, I don’t think I’ll be able to get back to sleep…I know I’ll see him again.” his spirits lifted with the thought of his first hunt, but he was too afraid of his dreams to even close his eyes.

She sighed and tilted her head slightly to look at the platform below their roost, the elders had left herbs near their roost for the two; it was quite a powerful sleep aid. Serena raised her wing and hooked a leaf on her thumb claw, then she bit off a small amount off the tip and began chewing, mulching up the leaf so it would be easy for him to swallow.

As it was becoming a nightly, sometimes twice a night, routine, he immediately opened his mouth and let her drizzle the leaves juice down his throat. He began to feel it’s effects immediately and yawned loudly, “…thank you…momma…” his grip on her fur relaxed as he closed his eyes and sleep quickly claimed him.

She wrapped her wings tightly around him so he wouldn’t fall as he slowly began to let go, “you’re welcome, Noxx…” she yawned as she had swallowed some of the juice herself, “…sleep tight…” with that she fell asleep; mother and son roosting in a rare, peaceful sleep.
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i'm not the greatest writer, i know, but i do hope you enjoy this ^___^
if you'd like to critique me, please be gentle...i've got self confidence around my ankles at the moment