Heatherstar's destiny by Chocolatemeerkat (read dune TXT) 📖

was frightened, but even more terrified of being caught. Heather noticed she was trembling with fear, so she comforted her. "Just stay with me and they won't get you." Rose nodded, but she wasn't certain that Heather was telling the truth. Quietly, they padded through the nest, keeping an eye out for Twolegs.
They eventually got to the front door, which also had a catflap. Rose went out first, then Heather. Rose was still a bit frightened. "I-I want to go back." She mewed quietly. Heather sighed and flicked her tail in direction of Barley's garden. "There's a gate into my friend's garden there. Just go in there, and dig a hole into my garden via the fence." Rose nodded and rushed towards the nest. Heather was slightly annoyed by her friends cowardness, but that didn't matter. Silent as a mouse, she padded through the street of Twoleg nests. There were many kittypets around, along with rogues and loners. Heather turned her head and saw 3 kittypets.
They were so weird. One was a she-cat, a siamese with green eyes. Heather knew she was called Sasha, because her housefolk knew Heather's housefolk. The other two were toms, a long-haired black and a long-haired black and grey with a white front paw. Heather guessed they hadn't been here long, but the tallest one was staring at her, his yellow eyes sparkling. He approached her slowly, with Sasha and the other tom watching him. Heather growled a warning, but the cat just circled her, flicking his tail in her face. He then put his muzzle beside her ear, his breath hot on her ear. "I'm Harry. What about you?" He muttered.
"Heather. Now get lost." Heather hissed. Harry stared at her, and then pressed his black fur against her pretty white and silvery-grey pelt. Sasha hissed at him. "Leave her be, rat-face!" Harry said nothing, and licked Heather's neck. He then padded back, and Sasha rushed towards her. "Hi Heather! Remember me?"
"Of course I do, you silly mouse-brain." Heather purred in amuesment. Sasha laughed, but then gave a hard glare at Harry. "I'm really sorry about Harry, he always does that." She explained. She then flicked her tail at the other black and grey tom. "That's Billy, my nextdoor neighbour. He and his housefolk just moved in." Heather flicked her tail in greeting at Billy, and he nodded. Sasha sighed. "He doesn't talk much."
"I see that." Heather replied. Her friend nodded, and stared. "So, what brings you up and around here?"
"Exploring. I still want to be a forest cat." Heather mewed. "You've not seen any... diffrent cats, have you? Like the loners and the rogues." Sasha shook her head. "Sorry, but there was some cats up by the abandoned Twoleg nest... I think they're family, because there's two adults and three kits. And there were a couple of strange, fierce looking cats, close to the forest."
"Thanks Sasha. I'm going to find them, but I'll come back and visit again in the day. Ok?" Heather asked. Sasha nodded. "You're welcome here anytime. Good luck with the dream!"
"Have a good day!" Heather called over her shoulder, rushing away. She knew where the abandoned Twoleg nest was, luckily, so she made a few quick turned and ended up looking at a small, almost ancient nest. The windows were smashed, the doors had big holes in them and it looked like it was going to fall apart any minute. Shivering, Heather jumped through one of the holes in the door and explored.
Suprisingly, inside the den was neat and impeccable. There was clean carpets, several blankets and pillows sprawled over the place and a small pile of flowers on the ground. Heather sniffed them. They were fresh and very pretty. She decided to pick one up and slip it behind her ear.
Suddenly, there was a large bang coming from upstairs. Being curious, Heather padded quietly up the stairs. She poked her head around the corner and saw two little kits, batting a large berry around.
*They look so thin.* Heather thought to herself. *Where are their parents?* One of the kits then whacked the berry and it hit the other one in the face. "Haha! Got you, Tiny!" The little kit, who Heather guessed was Tiny, had red juice all over his face. He looked at his sibling. "That wasn't niceeee!" He wailed. "Mamaaaa!" The other kit rolled her eyes and sighed. Heather decided to use her time now to hide in a room quickly without the kits seeing her, so she ran across and into a small blue room. It was completely empty, apart from a large wooden wardrobe in the corner. Heather knew this would be a great hiding spot, so she gently propped the door open and crawled in, waiting.
Just as Heather got into her hiding spot, a white and grey she-cat appeared. She didn't look happy. "Goodness me Tiny, what on earth have you done to your face?" She asked the little black and white kit.
"Twist splatted a berry on meee!!" Tiny wailed. "On purposeee!" The she-cat glared at the she-kit, who had been silent. "Is this true, Twist?" She asked. Twist looked up at her mother. "It wasn't my fault! Tiny's such a lousy catcher!" She protested.
"So that is your excuse for splatting berries in your brother's face?" The she-cat growled, narrowing her eyes. "It's a poor excuse for hurting him, Tiny is only little. You are ment to be setting a good example." Twist stuck her nose in the air. "Tiny is only a ickle crybaby who hasn't got a brain and can't catch a dead mouse if he tried." She said in a babyish voice. "But never mind poor Twist and Poppy, they can look after themselves despite they are the same age as stupid Tiny." The she-cat cuffed the little golden tabby kit around the head and stalked off into the same room that Heather was hiding in. Loudly, the she-cat yowled something, but Heather didn't catch it because her voice was muffled.
A large tom then appeared at the door, his eyes gleaming in the dim light of the room. He then slowly approached the she-cat quietly, and sat down beside her. The she-cat purred in delight and rubbed her head against the tom's shoulder. "Hi, Thistle."
"Hi Ivy." The tom purred. "How are our kits?" Heather pricked her ears up in intrest. *So these are the parents of those kits!* She thought to herself. *I've seen Ivy and Thistle, the parents. And Tiny and Twist. But what about the third kit Sasha mentioned?*
Just as she thought about the final kit, Heather heard a small snuffle behind her. She looked down and then saw a little tuff of redish-brown fur. Heather sniffed it, but then jumped back when a pair of amber eyes flashed open. It yawned, but then it's eyes looked at Heather in horror. "Mama!"
A few seconds later, Ivy and Thistle opened the wardobe door. Whilist Ivy scooped up the little tuff of fur, her mate stood at the entrance, hissing. "What are you doing here? This is our territory!"
"I-I got lost." Heather lied, her voice trembling. Thistle had stopped growling, but he still looked suspicious. "Where are you from? Who are you? Why are you here?"
"Well, I'm Heather. I'm a kittypet from a Twoleg nest and I live with my housefolk. I'm here because I got lost." Heather replied cooly. Ivy had let the kit go, but it's siblings came in. "Cool!" They said in chorus. Thistle nudged them over to Ivy, who wrapped her tail around them protectivly. She then turned to Heather. "I'm Ivy. The tom is my mate, Thistle, and these are our three kits. They are called Tiny, Twist and Poppy." She explained. Heather nodded, and dipped her head in respect. "I am sorry to invade. I will return to my housefolk, if you want."
"No, no, no! We didn't mean to chase you away!" Ivy gasped, her eyes clouded with shock. "Please, you are welcome to stay with us for a bit. Maybe we could swap stories whilist eating prey. I don't suppose you're any good at hunting, are you?" Heather shook her head sadly. "Afraid not." Thistle licked his paws, and then looked at Ivy. "I'll catch us something, you stay here with the kits." He said, licking her gently on the head before padding away.
"Seems you have a nice mate." Heather said to Ivy. "How did you meet?" Ivy blushed slightly. "Thanks. Our meeting is a long story, so I will shorten it down slightly." She gave a little cough and continued speaking. "I used to live in the forest, with a small group of loners. We lived in a nice place, close to the river. Prey was plentiful, and we didn't have many fights over territory. But then our peace was shattered when a band of rough rogues came to our forest. They stole our prey and drove us out of our territory and into a small patch of land. I led a small patrol to try and settle our diffrences, but the rogues refused. There was one tom there who was very harsh, but very handsome. I never found out his name until a large battle several moons later. Some mouse-brained she-cat badly wounded my shoulder, and the same tom had seen this. He dragged me off, saying he would finsh me off, as I was weak."
At this point, the kits started wailing. They were obviously scared, as their eyes flashed a look of pure fear. Ivy hushed them, and turned her head back to Heather. "The tom led me by the river, but instead of killing me, he was looking for prey. He then explained his name was Thistle, and he wasn't going to hurt me. I didn't believe him at first, because he had that fierce, ambitous look that his rogue friends had. But I told him my name, and then he started to go all soft. I could tell he was in love with me, but his rogue friends saw us, wow wasn't he in trouble! They slit his ear, and left a bad scar on his flank. Thistle would not stand for this, so one night he found me alone, and told me that he was going to run away. But there was a small catch. He wanted me to go with him. I accepted however, and we ran away."
"And then..." Heather interupted.
"We found this place, and made it our home. Thistle was still ambitous at the time, but he changed his attitude and we became mates. Then a couple of moons later, we end up with a family. And that is how we met." Ivy took a deep breath and licked her kits. "Come on you lot, I think it's time you got some sleep."
"Awww man, can we stay for a bit longer?" Tiny begged.
"We've been good! Well, most of the time." Twist protested.
"Can't we go for a nap later?" Poppy suggested. Heather laughed at the little kits thought of reasons why they didn't deserve to go for an nap. They didn't win though. Heather turned back to Ivy. "I've always wanted to live as a wild cat." She said. "I guess your old life was fun."
"Not all the time." Ivy mummered. "But that doesn't matter. As Thistle says, we must put the past behind us." Heather nodded, but then heard a loud bang coming from outside. The two she-cats crept down the stairs and crouched down, growling. "Come out, cowards!"
Just as they were about to pounce, a small band of cats crawled through the gap in the door. They had blood around their muzzles and they looked very thin, but strong. One of them stepped forward, a small white she-cat with silver around her muzzle and hazel eyes.