Warriors: Salmonstar's Fate

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

                “Tell me a story!” Salmonkit shouted.

                Sandfur gently wrapped her tail around Salmonkit and her sister, Foxkit, pulling them closer to her. The young kit breathed in her mother’s warm scent and waited for her to respond. “You could ask the elders tomorrow when you’re exploring camp,” Sandfur purred. “They know lots more stories than me!”

                “Why can’t we explore camp now? The elders…” Salmonkit started to complain.

                “Are sleeping, like just about every other cat,” Sandfur finished her sentence. “It’s nighttime, you can’t go outside right now. Besides, it would be dark.”   

                “We don’t care,” she muttered through a yawn.

                Foxkit looked up. “Go to sleep,” Salmonkit’s sister grumbled.

                “I will,” Salmonkit promised. “After Sandfur tells me a story.”

                Her mother sighed. “Fine,” the light brown she-cat gave in. “Your older brother from my first group of kits, Ripplecloud, was born a drypaw…”

                “What’s that?” Salmonkit asked.

                “I was about to explain. A drypaw is a warrior who is afraid of water or has a strong dislike of swimming,” Sandfur replied.

                “Isn’t swimming scary?” Salmonkit wondered aloud. “Aren’t the waves strong and can’t you drown?”

                Sandfur nodded. “But it’s fun and it’s a unique skill no other Clan possesses. That’s why RiverClan is special,” she answered. “But Ripplecloud is scared of water. He absolutely hates swimming. He’s won’t even reach a paw in to catch fish because he’s afraid that he’ll fall in. So when he hunts, he catches land prey that only ThunderClan, ShadowClan, or WindClan would be interested in eating.”

                “So we get rid of it?” Salmonkit didn’t understand why they would waste prey.

                “No, Ripplecloud will eat it. He never really enjoyed the taste of fish anyways,” Sandfur told her. “Anyhow, most of the time, he’s put on border patrols. But once Troutfin became deputy, she would rarely let him go with the border patrols. The hunting patrols were always annoyed having to listen to his complaining and he would never catch anything. So one day, Silverpaw pushed him in the river.”

                This is the good part of the story! “Did he drown?” Salmonkit asked.

                Sandfur shook her head. “Owlfeather had to jump in and pull him out,” she continued the story. “My kits, it’s very important to learn how to swim. That’s why I want the first place you explore tomorrow to be Beginner’s Pool.”

                “What’s that? Is it part of the stream?” Salmonkit meowed.

                “You’ll see,” Sandfur responded. “Now let your sister sleep and get some rest. Tomorrow is a big day.”

                Salmonkit lowered her head and fell asleep.

***

                Salmonkit went out of the bramble thicket where the nursery was located first, with Foxkit following closely behind.

                The camp was on a piece of land that was surrounded by a strange blue surface that seemed to fit Sandfur’s description of water. There were other bramble thickets and thorn bushes that Salmonkit assumed were where the most of the other dens were. A large stone wall near the nursery with a small gap in it stood out to her. The opening seemed just wide enough for a full-sized warrior to squeeze through. “What’s that?” she asked her mother, pointing to it.

                “The warriors den,” Sandfur purred. “You’ll be there soon.”

                “Where’s the apprentices den?” Salmonkit wondered.

                Sandfur nodded to a thorn bush on the opposite end of camp. “Now let me show you the Beginner’s Pool,” her mother meowed.

                “Yes!” Foxkit and Salmonkit shouted in unison.

                They followed Sandfur to the center of camp, near a pile of fish and a small amount of land animals. A hole about the width of the smaller stream surrounding the island they were on was filled with water. Salmonkit couldn’t help but feel fear and dread rising up in her stomach. “Salmonkit will go first!” Foxkit announced.

                “No, I won’t! Why don’t you go...” her protests were cut off when Foxkit gave her a massive shove and Salmonkit tumbled into the water with a splash.

                Salmonkit was shocked by the icy coldness. She could feel the freezing liquid soaking into her fur. She made the mistake of inhaling a mouthful of water and quickly closed her mouth, holding her breath. Her lungs were about to burst and Salmonkit desperately thrashed about as her paws touched the sandy ground at the bottom of the Beginner’s Pool.

                Save me, StarClan, please! I’m drowning…