Averiwing’s Legacy/Chapter 1

 Averi blinked through her hazy world of pain. Blurry shapes, faint outlines danced around her. The cat prodded her side again. Averi rolled over, gazing at the cat. It was a very dark, almost black gray tom with striking yellow eyes and blue tints. What struck her were the appendages growing on his shoulders. They were feathered, long and broad - wait, wings?

"Is that...a pair of wings on your shoulders?" she gasped as a fresh wave of pain rippled through her.

The cat let out a small mrrow of amusement. "No time for questions," he mewed. "Heronwing, hoist the cat on my back. We'll fly back to camp."

Fly? Averi wondered if she was hearing properly, or the pain was messing up her hearing as well. The cat, supposedly named Heronwing, picked up Averi by her scruff and dropped her onto the dark gray tom's back. Averi's muzzle brushed the appendages on the tom's back, and she sneezed as a feather tickled her nose. So it was true! It wasn't a myth after all. FeatherClan cats had wings and could fly. Averi heaved a deep sigh before slipping into unconsciousness.

Averi soon found herself laying in a moss and bracken nest in a large, dark cave illuminated by the sunshine shining in through the lichen screen covering the entrance. A steady dripping sound sounded from behind Averi. The sharp, pungent smell of several different herbs stashed in different crevices and holes in the wall made Averi dizzy. A glossy furred, blueish gray she-cat stood over her, her pelt smelling strongly of herbs. She looked at Averi with wide, concerned blue eyes. Averi tried to move, but hissed in pain. She stared down at her wounds. They were all coated in thick pads of cobweb, the bleeding staunched by the sticky, white material. Underneath the cobweb wads, was what felt to be herb poultice. Averi gave it a good sniff. It smelt of goldenrod and marigold.

"Don't move for now, take a rest. I'll bring you some fresh-kill." The cat, who Averi assumed was the medicine cat, warned. The cat ducked out of the den and came back soon after with a plump mouse swinging from her jaws. The scent of it made Averi's mouth water, and when the cat dropped the fresh-kill from her jaws at Averi's paws, Averi wolfed down the meal, letting the forest flavors sing on her tongue. She had never tasted such a delicious mouse.

"I'll go gathering herbs. Stay here." The cat meowed after watching Averi eat, and slunk out of the den. Averi shrugged, wanting nothing to do than to sleep, but raised voices trailed from outside into the medicine cat den. Averi pricked her ears, straining to hear what the cats were saying outside.

"She's an outsider! Stormstar, you're making the wrong decision!" An angry tomcat voice was raised.

A voice that Averi recognized as Stormstar's voice replied, "FeatherClan does not let outsiders in easily," he meowed. Averi stiffened with alarm, but relaxed as he continued. "We will put her through many trials. I have faith that she will succeed."

The tomcat snorted. "Then what about her final trial, the Sky Tree? With wounds like that, it'll take a moon for her to even climb a small tree!"

Stormstar's voice was irritated as he replied, "She will be fine. She held her own against a ShadowClan patrol!"

More voices erupted into protests upon hearing Stormstar's words. One cried, "What if she leads ShadowClan here!" Another cried, "My kits aren't safe!" Caterwauls were raised, and Averi flattened her ears, stung that FeatherClan did not trust her at all, and she was making Stormstar be challenged by his own Clanmates.

"Enough!" Stormstar's voice snapped, now pushed to the limit. "She will stay, whether you like it or not! I will be her mentor!"

Averi's heart plummeted. ''Stormstar as my mentor? What if I don't pass the trials? ''

What would I do then?