Chapter Two: Into the Water- Saltwhisker

The day was absolutely beautiful in Saltwhisker's opinion. The sun was shining on the river like the scales of a fresh fish. The reeds billowed like birdsong in the breeze. It was not too hot and not too cold. It was days like this that were perfect for hunting.

"Stonefall, please take Birdwing and Minnowfoot hunting by the Twoleg Bridge." She meowed to the gray tom. "Flowerfur, please take your apprentice downstream and assess his swimming skills." Saltwhisker nodded to the black-and-white warrior. "I'd like some volunteers to patrol the ThunderClan border!" The deputy meowed.

"Oh! Oh! Us!" Two apprentices tripped over each other to get to Saltwhisker. "Can we, mother?"

"I'm the deputy right now." She hissed softly. The excitement in her son and daughter's eyes made her happy to be a queen.

"Can't we, though?" They tilted their heads. Stormpaw and Runningpaw looked up expectantly.

"Only if both of your mentors take you and if you behave like warriors. You never know when ThunderClan might attack." Saltwhisker warned them, shivering at the memories of the old ThunderClan leader. But she was certain their current leader was much better than Sunstar and maybe even the ancient leaders.

"Okay! We're off." Stormpaw nodded eagerly, barrelling through his sister to find their mentors.

Seeing that most of the cats went out of camp to enjoy the good weather and bring back some good prey, Saltwhisker decided to go stretch her paws and spend some time alone. When Foamstar had named her deputy, she had no idea how hard it would be to fulfill seemingly easy tasks of sending patrols and counting heads. It was no walk in the woods at all. Since her kits had just been apprenticed, she had a hard time not treating them with extra speciality as deputy.

Swimming across the stream out of camp, she padded along the rocky earth looking for a place where she hadn't sent out a hunting patrol. A vole suddenly crawled over her paws making her jump up in surprise.

What a stupid piece of prey! What kind of critter runs over a predator's paws? The phrase, "May prey leap into your paws," caused her to chuckle to herself. She dashed after the vole, skidding along the rocks. The plump and sturdy body disappeared under a stone out of her reach.

Saltwhisker sighed. The funny creature was safe from her claws for now. Feeling no regret for losing a plump piece of prey, she continued wandering along the pebbly land. It was just too beautiful of a day to be feeling down. After some thought, the deputy realized that she had never seen the world so positively before she had her kits.

Suddenly, her happy day spiraled into a dark, black whirlpool. Saltwhisker stood still and perked her ears to listen. Her heart beat in the fur of her ears.'"Help me!" A watery scream yowled, bouncing off the stones and into her ears. "Help!"

The silver dappled tortiseshell dashed towads the river to the source of the scream. Saltwhisker searched the water surface for the cat in distress. Her heart was racing. It could be Runningpaw! Her daughter might be drowning!

She swallowed her bile and splashed into the river. At the deepest place in the river was a surge of bubbles. Whoever was sinking to the murky depths of the rushing water was right there. Saltwhisker pushed herself off the bank and paddled expertly into the water.

Using her RiverClan skills, she dove down into the river just as the bubbles stopped surfacing. With a mouth puffed with air, and eyes open and stinging from the river's current and floating grit, she fought the strong current and powerful white paws.

She felt the squishy sand at the bottom. Strings of freshwater kelp and seaweed and other water plants wrapped around her back paws like sticky binds. The deputy looked around wildly for the cat who had sunk. Her lungs began to burn as the last breath left her.

She pushed off the bottom and swung her paws to go back to the surface for a new breath of air. But the tendrils of slick plants wrapped around her back legs, pulling her down as if she had stones in her belly.

Saltwhisker kicked and struggled to get away. The light of the sky was shining from another world it seemed. She felt like her whole body would burst. She looked back down and gave another kick.

A pair of blue eyes stared up at her from the plants and stones of the riverbottom. She let herself sink as the eyes paralyzed her whole body. Saltwhisker could see the river passing over her and the light from the blue sky and bright sun. She could hear the caw of birds and the yowls of cats. It was so distant.

Fish swam right by her without any thought, mostly because they didn't think. Saltwhisker felt herself blend into the mud of the riverbottom. She saw the unblinking blue glowing eyes.

The sounds of rushing water and birds and cats grew silent as blackness came over her sight. Then a voice as clear as if she weren't in water meowed in her ear, "The givers of life, one of each Clan, shall brighten and lead the way out of darkness and into the stars."

"Hey! She's waking up." A cat meowed.

Saltwhisker was blinded by the light and the cat standing above her was black and blurry. She blinked until she saw the face of the old tom Shinyshell. He was the medicine cat.

A few more cats appeared by her side. Her kits and her own father were wide-eyed and worried. As they came into focus, her face must have flickered with recognition. Runningpaw sighed in relief and groomed her sleek fur rapidly. Stormpaw had a look of relief as well, though he tucked his head into his paws and sat by her side. The senior warrior, Stonefall, gave a gracious nod to the medicine cat.

"Saltwhisker, do you remember what happened?" The gray tom asked her.

"No..." but she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to remember. "Yes! There was a cat drowning in the river! I leapt in and dove down to save her, but I got caught in the water weeds."

Stormpaw looked up. "The only cat drowning was you."

"No, no, no." Saltwhisker shook her head. "I was saving that she-cat."

"No, Mudpool saved you. He heard you yowl and he dove in and dragged you out." Runningpaw meowed with a horrified expression.

"Look, I'm the deputy and your mother. I know what I saw. What I heard." She growled. Then she began coughing up water.

"We'll thank Mudpool for you." Stormpaw sighed and left the reedy den.

Runningpaw gave a long look at her mother before padding after her brother. Stonefall sighed as well. "All three of you take after Runningstorm."

Runningstorm was Stonefall's mate and Saltwhisker's mother. She had named her kits after her. Saltwhisker stood up with the help of the medicine cat.

"Please take it easy." Shinyshell said, leading them out of his store.

Stonefall padded away to the fresh-kill pile leaving Saltwhisker standing alone. "The givers of life... I'm a life-giver." She murmured, staring t her kits who were speaking to a brown warrior named Mudpool.

A/N: Sorry, but the next few chapters are like prologues about how each cat recieves the prophecy.