Silverwing by Kenneth. 1967- Oppel

Author:Kenneth. 1967- Oppel [Oppel, Kenneth. 1967-]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bats, Growth
Publisher: New York, NY : Aladdin Paperbacks
Published: 1999-05-23T07:00:00+00:00

184 Kenneth Oppel

scabby wing against the rough insides of the tree. The finch's innards steamed.

"My eating habits still disgust you, I see/' Goth said.

"You eat bats. It's unnatural."

"More unnatural than wanting to become Human?"

Throbb laughed harshly as he chewed.

Goth snorted in disgust. "Those banded bats in the mountains, they made a religion of worshipping Humans instead of Zotz."

Zotz. The name, for some reason, sent a chill through Shade.

"You've never heard of him, have you?"

"No." And he didn't want to hear.

"Cama Zotz is the bat god. He created us, and everything around us, even this frozen wasteland you call home."

"No." Shade shook his head. "Nocturna created us and—"

"Why d'you even bother listening to him?" said Marina angrily. "He's a liar."

"Am I? Tell me then. Why would a bat god want his creatures to become something else? Zotz wants us to be powerful as we are. He doesn't want us to become Human."

"I don't even know if I believe that anyway," Shade said. "Maybe that's not what Nocturna means for us."

Goth smiled, and it was the kind of smile a mother gives a very young child.

"Nocturna doesn't exist."

Shade felt as if he'd been hit in the stomach.

"Or if she does exist, she's next to powerless. Look at her creatures. Cowering from everything in the sky and on the ground. Zotz is all powerful. Look at me!" He flared his mighty wings, bared his teeth, hunched his muscular shoulders. "This is what power is. I fear no creature. I eat them. Rat, owl, bat. Not even the Humans can hurt me."

SlLVERWING 185

Shade felt faint, but he couldn't tear his gaze away from Goth.

"You eat insects. They're living creatures, they just happen to be smaller than you. And weaker. But that doesn't stop you, does it? The real reason you don't eat like us is simple. You can't You're too small. Meat is where the power is. When I eat another bat, I take in the strength of that bat, I take that bat's power and make it my own. And I grow. You've been starving yourselves on insects up here in the north. It's you who's unnatural. Not me."

Shade's head swirled with doubts. He'd heard so many stories now, from Frieda, from Zephyr, from Scirocco, and now from Goth. How was he supposed to know what was right and wrong? He was a runt, puny and powerless. But all bats were puny compared to these giants. How could they ever hope to beat the owls, beat the rats, win back the sun. He was powerless to even help his own colony, to keep Silver wings safe from Goth and Throbb.

"Maybe you're right," he said to Goth wearily.

Marina looked at him, startled. "Shade—"

"No, really, Marina, what if they're right, and this is how it is. There're bats and owls and rats and Humans, and the strongest wins, and it's as simple as that. The only thing is power."

"To you, maybe," said Marina disdainfully. "I should've known. All this curiosity of yours about the bands, and beating the owls, and getting back into the sun—all you care about is being big and important.

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