A Life Unwanted

Chapter 1

Leaf-fall had arrived, and the cats of RiverClan were happy. They were all well-fed and relaxed, and after the battle where they had defeated WindClan, the other Clans had been cowed by their ferocity in fighting. None of them were expecting to be attacked. None of them, that is, except Springsong.

Springsong was a young tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat, and had been pessimistic since the day she was born. The young warrior had always been predicting that dreadful things would happen, but never before had any one of her prophecies come true. Until now, life had been mainly peaceful.

"It's WindClan! They want revenge!" she wailed, throwing her tail straight up in the air and waving it about drastically, looking quite silly. "They are coming in three... two... one..."

"ATTACK!!!"

The whole Clan looked at Springsong and sighed. She had often been known to use her apprentice, Iciclepaw, to imitate an attacking patrol or a badger invading the camp. The yell came as no surprise to them. But it sounded different from Iciclepaw's normal yell, they realised. RiverClan stirred from their positions splayed out on the grass. That voice had definitely sounded like Gorgestar, leader of WindClan. But surely not. Surely their ears were just playing tricks on them, hoping that Springsong would have finally got something right.

A rumble. It sounded like thunder. A screech, like that of an owl. And then... Paws thrumming on the ground, almost all of WindClan appeared over the edge of the water. The surprised RiverClan let out yowls of astonishment, jumping backwards and knocking each other other; they were not prepared.

The Clan jumped into action immediately, leaping on top of their opponents, or struggling to get out from underneath a WindClan warrior. But the other Clan had the advantage, and soon RiverClan was on the defensive side, and finding it hard to battle the onslaught of warriors.

Soon, only one cat remained in full health: Springsong. She was fighting ferociously, clawing and tackling her enemies, making sure she didn't hurt the apprentices too badly. The other RiverClan cats were also still keeping going, but their paws were drooping and they were gradually becoming clumsy and worn out. It seemed that if Springsong didn't do something, RiverClan would be defeated easily.

The thought spurring her on, Springsong started to spin and twist, calling battle cries and blindly battling the remaining WindClan cats. Seeing how well the warrior was doing lifted the rest of her Clan's spirits, and gave them the energy to keep going. Now things were the opposite of how they had begun: RiverClan was winning, and WindClan was retreating.

"Back! Go BACK!" Gorgestar yelled, and WindClan turned and fled away down the river. A few RiverClan warriors turned to chase them off, but they soon started panting, and thought better of it, leaving the energetic apprentices to do it by themselves.

Once all the WindClan cats were out of sight, the entirety of RiverClan collapsed right where they were. "Springsong, how did you know that was going to happen?" Darknessfall, a large black tom, questioned. "Did you guess, or what?" He was cornering the slim she-cat, who backed away as he leered closer.

All at once, his dark shape fell away, and Springsong was met by a much friendlier face; it was Risingstar, leader of RiverClan. The grey-tabby tom smiled at her. "I don't understand how you knew either, but thank you for warning us. I don't know what we would have done without a hint of expectation." He glanced sharply back at Darknessfall. "Although I must admit, not every cat accepted what you had said." He backed away, and Springsong recovered herself quickly.

As she glanced around at the other RiverClan cats, a shiver ran down her spine. Most of them were staring at her uncertainly, and those who weren't looked suspicious, like Darknessfall. Only Risingstar and the medicine cat, Luckheart, seemed to think she wasn't either weird or dangerous, or both. She trotted over to Luckheart, who had a crowd of cats around him already, to get her injuries treated.

"Hi," Luckheart meowed cheerfully. "Where do you hurt?"

"I have a deep scratch down my side and I was bitten on my ear," Springsong replied. "Apart from that, only minor injuries. Nothing too bad." She winced as she spoke. That was a lie - the cut along her side was swollen and crusted with blood. It had been reopened from the previous WindClan battle.