Prologue
"Argh!"
Sandystream yowled in pain as spasms wracked her body. She had dragged herself away from camp when the pains started.
She was a medicine cat after all; she wasn't allowed a mate or kits. But… Acornpelt had helped her survive. Without him, she might have been dead. She looked around at the cats surrounding her as she writhed on the sand of the lake, gazing on with interest.
They didn't even bother to help her. Damn StarClan cats.
She yowled once more as a stronger spasm ripped through her body. A medicine cat from ThunderClan, Leafpool, came up to her.
"Sandystream," Leafpool said, her voice distorted as it came through the rift between worlds. "Stay calm."
But it was hard to stay calm when lights flashed in her vision, as blood spilled everywhere. Finally, a single kit slipped out. Sandystream brought it over to her and started licking its fur, warming it up.
But she felt faint and there was far too much blood surrounding her for this to be a normal kitting. Her vision began to dim and she stopped moving.
I've watched StarClan for my entire life… now it is finally time to join them.
"I'm sorry Riverkit," Sandystream mewed faintly before her life faded away.
When she opened her eyes again, she was standing beside her dead body, Riverkit mewling beside it.
"Riverkit! I'm so sorry!"
If her kit didn't get milk soon, it would die. But then Lightflame padded up and saw the kit… and her dead mentor. She dropped the herbs in her mouth and ran over to the kit, licking her fur to get her warm.
"Lightflame! Lightflame!" Sandystream yelled trying to get her apprentice to hear her.
"She can't hear you, Sandystream," Leafpool mewed.
Sandystream ignored the ancient cat and yowled, "Her name is Riverkit!"