Heart Of A Fighter (Book 3): Home Is Calling

Chapter 10: Halfway There

The morning air gently caressed Goslingpaw's face as she watched the great sun rising from over the horizon, the golden ball of fire shining it's glorious rays upon the ocean and land.

She had been nudged awake an hour prior, and as of now she was seated in one of the empty trucks that another metal beast, or a train, as Xiera called it, was hauling, enjoying the scenery.

Today was the day that BlazeClan left the serene Road Walker town of Sunnyville, and Goslingpaw would've never thought she'd be this reluctant to leave.

Sure, it was a settlement that housed mostly RoadWalkers, of all creatures, and the massive metal beasts ran around on a daily basis which provided a risk to a cat's life, she still found beauty in the clean little town.

As the great mechanical monster soon screeched to a halt, the tall RoadWalker that operated it carefully exited the beast and began the process of gently extracting each cat from the empty trucks.

The BlazeClan cats had grown a little more used to the RoadWalkers, but they still had their guards up when they were around the two-legged creatures, not fully trusting them yet.

Goslingpaw arched her wings back and quickly launched her small build into the air, where she hovered for a while until her foster parents were lifted out the trucks and placed on the hard, grey floor of the place Xiera called the docks.

As soon as every cat was lifted out the trucks and placed on the rails, the RoadWalker returned to the mechanical beast and set off down the rails, rumbling down the line as steam exited its funnel.

After a quick headcount, Azurestar flicked his tail as the two Northern Kingdom cats landed beside him, standing tall and regal.

"Russet Rush and I are ready to leave," Splash Sprint meowed briefly as his amber-hazel eyes gazed at the silver leader's own blue ones. "What about you?"

"BlazeClan is ready; I assume every cat gathered here is able to make the journey to Stormfast Isles with you," he replied, but before any cat could do anything further, Lichenfrost stepped up.

"Not all of them," she meowed, eyes shadowed with uncertainty. "I'm staying here."

There was a stunned silence from every cat gathered around the docks. "What?" Thornslash blurted out in shock.

"I've lost Cougarstar and Beetlescar, and I never really knew who was the she-cat who even gave birth to me. I feel out of place in BlazeClan, and after the sins my kin have committed I feel as if I shouldn't burden this clan with my presence."

"Lichenfrost," Aldertrail murmured as she stepped forward. "That's not true. BlazeClan needs you." "BlazeClan has plenty of strong warriors. I know you all will be safe without me," she responded.

"But this is such a different place," protested Beechwhisker. "Once we go to the Stormfast Isles, we can all start over, try out a new life once again."

"No," she sighed, eyes dulled and tired. "I have had my fill of clan life; I know I will struggle to adapt to a new one." She flicked her head upwards and sighed.

"All my life all I was taught was to sit back and let others do the work. You all saw how I struggled to help with the hunting when we were trapped in the mountains."

With a pang, Goslingpaw remembered how miserable the former heir had looked when she came back shivering from hunting expeditions in the icy mountains.

It didn't matter that she was trained; she never bothered honing her skills so it had caused her to ultimately suffer in the end.

"I feel as though I won't be able to contribute anything useful to BlazeClan or the Stormfast Isles. My skills cannot compare to the Claws and the Nettles," she meowed.