Winged Hearts

by Invisia

Three moons after the battle of the stars Sixteen cats' lives were changed forever. They grew wings- and nothing was ever the same again. These sixteen cats were exiled, out of fear of the paranoid clans. They grouped together and set off to find a new home. Meanwhile, their clans had sent an Elite Team of cats out to kill them.

4. Chapter Three

12/09/2012

A/N: Hiya, I'm back! Did you miss me? Anyway, this is chapter three of Winged Hearts. So… enjoy the show! And remember, I don't own warriors!

And special thanks to Issamel and Karma826 for their reviews! In answer to your review, Issamel, it does kinda come across like that, I suppose. But teh main bad guy in this story is Blackstar, so... yeah, that's my excuse. It's Blackstar; what he say flipping goes :p

xXx

Chapter Three : Heathertail's POV

Heathertail choked back a sob as she settled under the gorse bush. Thoughts of what she had lost whirled in her mind. Her clan, her family, her honor…

All of it, gone. It was as if she wasn't even her anymore.

She pressed close to Sedgewhisker, burying her face in her clanmates' fur. Sedgewhisker didn't protest, lost in her own thoughts.

Suddenly she sat up. She could hear voices outside. She scented the air.

ThunderClan!

"Everybody, up!" she called. The cats sat up, blinking their eyes.

"What?" Weaselfur grumbled. "I was sleeping!"

"There are ThunderClan cats outside!"

"ThunderClan? What're they doing here?" Owlwhisker asked. Heathertail shrugged and padded from the makeshift den.

"There you are!" came Dustpelt's voice. "You WindClan cats are super hard to find, ya know that?"

"So what?" Heathertail challenged. "Why are you here?"

"We're just like you," Dustpelt mewed, extending his wings, "And eight are better then four, wouldn't you agree?"

"Okay, fine, that makes sense."

"Actually, sixteen are better than eight."

"Oh yeah?"

"Four cats from each clan were exiled today all because of the same reason. We're tracking down all those cats," Dustpelt explained. "So are you in?"

"Yes," Heathertail replied. She ducked back into the den.

"Come on, guys, time to move."

"Where're we going?" Sedgewhisker asked.

"We're teaming up with the ThunderClan cats, and finding the others. Sixteen are better than four, wouldn't you say?"

xXx

Heathertail soared through the sky. She pointed with her tail to a two-leg nest just outside ShadowClan territory. "How about we look there?" she mewed.

"Great!" Cinderheart called, veering down to land.

The cats landed silently on the ground. "Hello?" Heathertail called. "Anyone there?"

"Who is it?" came a reply.

"Heathertail of WindClan."

A dark brown tom appeared from the den. "Heathertail? What're you doing here?"

"We have a proposition for you and your clanmates," she mewed, stretching her wings. "We're the same, and twelve are better than eight. We need to find the RiverClan cats, and get away from here."

"Ok. We're in," Toadfoot confirmed. "But it's late. Let's rest for the night, and look for them in the morning."

"Come on, then," Dustpelt mewed, padding inside. Heathertail followed. As her eyes adjusted, she was surprised to find it empty.

"Where are the others?" she asked, wary of traps. Toadfoot grinned.

"Look up."

Raising her eyes to the roof, she spotted three cats on beams up on the ceiling. "Great idea!" she called, and flew up to join them.

"What are you doing here?" Dawnpelt grumbled.

"We're in an allegiance, or hadn't you noticed?" Heathertail replied witheringly. Ivypool landed next to her on the beam.

"Applefur!" she greeted.

"Hi Ivypool!" Applefur replied. "Thanks for, y'know, saving my life three moons ago."

"Ah, don't worry about it." She yawned. "All we need now is some sleep, and we'll go looking for the RiverClan cats in the morning."

Heathertail jumped onto the beam just above her head, and curled up. Tomorrow, she told herself, Tomorrow everything will look brighter.

She slipped into dream. She was on the moorland, surrounded by her clanmates, Nightcloud, Swallowtail and Sunstrike. She gave a cry of joy as she found herself with them. It was all a bad dream!

"Traitor!" came Swallowtail's cry, and claws raked her face. Heathertail let out a cry.

"Bird-brain!" Nightcloud hissed, as the cats clawed at her wings an pelt. Heathertail gave shrieks of pain.

"Dark Forests' curse!" Sunstrike spat, tugging a wing, and Heathertail gave a cry as her bone snapped.

"No!" she sobbed. "Stop! It's StarClan's gift… Please!"

"Heathertail!" came a hiss. Heathertail opened her eyes to see Sedgewhisker. "Come on. We're going."

Heathertail hopped down and landed on the floor, wings out to steady herself. She headed outside, curling them over her head to shelter from the rain that fell from the sky.

"We need to find the RiverClan cats," Dustpelt was saying. "Toadfoot, Ferretclaw, Cinderheart, Weaselfur, Sedgewhisker, come with me. We'll head along the thunderpath between RiverClan and ShadowClan territory. The rest of you, go with Heathertail and fly as far as the foot of the mountains. We'll meet back here at sunhigh. Good luck."

With that, he took off into the sky, his patrol following. Heathertail motioned with her tail, and began to fly. Her patrol surrounded her and they headed across ShadowClan territory.

"Hey, Ivypool!" Bumblestripe called. "Race you across the lake!"

With that, he took off. "No fair!" Ivypool called after him, and followed. Heathertail rolled her eyes, and sped up, racing after them.

They skimmed the lake, eyes peeled for any clan cats. There weren't any, but they avoided the island just in case.

Once they had crossed the RiverClan border, Heathertail ordered the cats to skim the ground and scout for the cats. At sunhigh, with no luck, they arrived back at the two-leg nest.

"We may as well hunt," Heathertail told them. "There should be some mice in the den, or you could look outside." But that seems pretty hopeless.

By the time she scented Dustpelt's patrol, she had already settled down with a large mouse.

To her surprise, the other patrol had found the RiverClan cats- hungry, cold and wet, but certainly RiverClan. "Hi," she mewed. "Good luck, then?"

"It wasn't easy," Weaselfur told her. "But they came, all the same. Hey, that rhymes!" Heathertail rolled her eyes.

"Oh, you're a genius," she muttered sarcastically.

"So, now we need to figure out where we're going to go," Toadfoot mewed. "Any ideas?"

"No point going beyond WindClan or the mountains," Heathertail said. "Beyond WindClan, there's nothing, and we all know what's beyond the mountains."

"When we found the beavers," Sedgewhisker began, "There was a forest. Probably three days' flight from here. We could go there."

"No way!" Petalfur exclaimed. "I'm not going down there- what if the beavers are still there?"

"Point taken," Toadfoot meowed. "What's beyond RiverClan? Along the Thunderpath, I mean?"

"Well," Willowshine began, "There's two-leg place. But beyond that, there's a place full of fields and streams, and a small forest. It's probably half a moon away."

"Then we'll head there," Dustpelt mewed. "There seems to be something for every clan."

Mallownose nodded. "I'm pretty sure I spotted a swamp," he offered.

"Yes!" Ferretclaw hissed. "Finally!"

"Let's all eat," Heathertail mewed, "And rest. We'll leave in the morning."

xXx

A/N: We get Heathertail's first POV! To be honest, I've gotta love Heathertail; what happens to her throughout the series isn't all that easy, but she's brave and stubborn and courageous. And she's now in an allegiance with Cinderheart… some Lionblaze rivalry, maybe? Anyway, next chapter is from a surprise POV (hint: one of the cats mentioned in this Author's Note) but until then, R&R, and no flames!

~Invisi