Bat girls

Chapter 3

We were flying. Actually flying. I had expected to be afraid, but I wasn't. The wind caressed my face as we quietly soared through the darkening twilight. I felt like this was the first time I had ever been able to breathe.

I had no clue for how long we were flying. I even dozed off at one point. When I looked up again the crescent moon had travelled to the other side of the sky, and the terrain beneath us had become wilder. We were now flying through mountains. The trees taller than I had ever seen. And where I could see the ground it was rocky and grey.

"Don't scream" was Aïda's only warning right before we dropped down, straight towards the side of a mountain. I was sure we were going to crash into it, and had every intention to start screaming when Aïda angled her body and we soared into an nearly invisible opening. Everything was dark, and I had absolutely no clue how she knew where to go but she navigated the cave tunnels flawlessly, sometimes nearly missing a wall of hard rock.

My eyes had gotten used to the dark, and when we flew out of the tunnel the night sky was almost blinding. I wondered why Aïda hadn't just flown around the mountain or over it when I saw it. We were still inside the mountain. It was hollow somehow. Different from a cave, I could still see the sky, and there where trees and grass on the ground. The sides of the mountain guarded the area like town walls.

"Impressive isn't it?" Aïda said when seeing the stunned look on my face. "we found it by accident. The mountain is to high to fly over, and the peak is always covered in clouds. Even if any Illyrian would come to this part of the land we would still be invisible."

Aïda lowered towards the trees, getting ready to land, and it wasn't until we almost skimmed the top of the trees that I saw it. People lived here. There were buildings between the trees. I wasn't sure if I should call them tents or houses. They seem to have been build from whatever material available. Canvas, wood, stone, clay. Some even had a chimney, while others weren't more than a tiny shelter against the wind and rain.

We landed in a clearing near the rocky wall of the hollowed out mountain. Aïda whistled twice as soon as her feet touched the ground. A short whistle was the response from somewhere in between the trees. "This way the ones on guard duty will know it's me." She said while gently putting me on my feet. My entire body was sore from being in the same position for so long and I felt unsteady on my feet, but Aïda offered me an arm to lean on.

We walked towards the wall of rock, or Aïda walked and I stumbled along, clinging to her. Only once we got closer to the wall I noticed the cave entrances. They seemed to be everywhere, in all shapes and sizes.

She led me to what looked like a tiny opening compared to some of the other gaping cavemouths, but as soon as we turned the corner I realized this was the biggest cave I had ever seen. My house could've fitted five times in it. The small opening did a good job of concealing everything inside. The warmth from the fires, the smells of food, the sound of trickling water, and a female humming a quiet song.

"You're up early." Aïda said to the female, who hadn't even looked up from the fruit she was peeling. "You know me, I'd rather cook than sleep." She finished hollowing out some type of citrus fruit I hadn't seen before, and looked at us. Her face didn't betray that she was surprised to see me, but her thoughts did. They where so loud. She might as well been screaming to me. Skinny. So skinny. She's still a child. Aïda didn't bother introducing me and left me standing while she walked to the nearest pot simmering on a fire, lifted the lid and smelled with a look of approval. She almost put in a finger when the female spoke again. "By the mother Aïda, where are your manners!? You know better than to try to steal my food, and you haven't even introduced our guest."

She waved me over to the table where she was working. "Sit." She said, gesturing to a chair. "Do you want something to drink or eat?" before I could even think about the question she was already moving. She was almost done filling a bowl with something from a steaming cauldron, when she spun around and flung the large spoon she was holding straight at the back of Aïda's head. It missed barely and Aïda whirled, still chewing on something.

"Next time you steal my food, I won't miss." She said with an authority that had Aïda swallowing whatever sarcastic remark she had been thinking off. "You know what?" Aïda said while rubbing the food that had splattered from the spoon on to her head away. "I'm going to get some sleep. It will be sunrise soon and I plan to train with everyone else." She walked by where I was sitting and quietly asked me "If you want to I can stay, or you can come with me and we'll find you somewhere to sleep." I shook my head. It wasn't that I wasn't tired, but I just didn't want to go to sleep yet. Aïda didn't wait for an explanation and left, and the female took the seat across from me.

"I'm Lina. The resident cook and spear thrower. The last one I mostly practice when people do not listen to the rules in my kitchen. The rules are simple, do not steal and don't waste my food." She gave a pointed look at the untouched bowl in front of me, and I quickly started eating. "We call it slob. It's somewhere in between a soup and a stew, and it's impossible to eat neatly. But it takes care of all the scraps left over and it's nutritious. Now tell me your story."

I swallowed a hot scoop of slob, that was surprisingly tasty, and tried to find somewhere to start. "My name is Zenna. And I'm fourteen." My own thoughts where interrupted by the screaming thoughts of Lina. It wasn't as much of a thought, but more a sob actually. Fourteen. It echoed in her mind. "I'm from Woodbound." I blurted, trying to banish Lina's pity and sadness. "That's one of those tiny camps near the edge of the forest, right?" she asked and I simply nodded, quickly taking a bite in the hopes Lina would keep talking. I never liked talking, especially not about myself.

"You'll find that things are different here. We call our camp Skyward. Not just because we're so high up, but also because for a lot of us it is the only place where we're allowed to fly." She fluttered her wings a bit, that were tucked in so neatly behind her I hadn't even noticed them. "My daughter and I came here five years ago. The three of us fled when the wing clipping started again. Unfortunately my husband didn't make it." This time the sadness wasn't just in her loud thoughts, but also in her expression. "I still remember when Dran found us. He is one of the few males jere. My husband had already frozen to death, and I was certain I would be next. I begged him to save my daughter. He dryly asked if it would be okay with me if he saved us both. And he brought us here."

"What is it like?" I asked in between bites of slob. "Hard. We need to survive, train, and stay hidden at the same time. But we have a dry place to sleep and food in our bellies, some females that flee the camps end up way worse."

Lina got up and started filling a bucket at a tiny stream of water coming down along the wall of the cave. "We have a hot spring more towards the middle of this mountain. After training a group will go for a hot bath and to do some laundry. You can also bathe at a nearby waterfall but it's very cold. Or I could warm up some water for you and get you a towel." Even though a hot bath sounded great, I couldn't imagine bathing in front of others. Especially not strangers. "I'll take the bucket." I said, and Lina emptied the bucket in a kettle on the stove. "I will find you some clothes later. First you will need to meet with our camp-leader."

The blood drained from my face. My father is a camp-lord and I have met some of the others when they where visiting. Each and everyone of them had been harsh and cruel. "Who is the camp leader?" I asked shyly, while Lina was busy warming up some water. "I am." A voice smooth as night said behind me. I turned around and looked right in to the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen, eyes so deep blue they seemed violet.