Slowly, Smokepaw blinked open his eyes, this wasn't the apprentices' den. Where was Talonpaw? and where were the soft, spongy pine needles that always lined his nest. All he could feel was hard rock beneath him and wind whistling through his fur.

Then, slowly, memories started to trickle, then pour into his mind: his nest was destroyed along with the rest of his camp; the journey begun with all four clans; the hunger and thirst and cold; then the memory of the fall came to him, and he groaned.

Was he in Starclan? or perhaps, even worse, somewhere else? He forced his eyes to open wider: he was on the edge of a small precipice, his paws splayed out, but not at odd angles.

Well, he was pretty sure he wasn't dead, but that would be useless if he couldn't move. How could he have fallen all that way without a broken bone?

He tried to move and then groaned again.

I sure wish Littlecloud were here. He thought.

The small medicine cat would have been able to tell Smokepaw what was wrong with him. But since he was not, Smokepaw would have to figure that out by himself.

He began moving one paw at a time and found that none of his limbs had actually broken.

Then why does it hurt so much? He asked himself, How is it possible that I can't have gotten killed from that fall...

Wait, he had asked that question before... To Littlecloud himself actually: Smokepaw and Talonpaw had been brand-new apprentices then and Talonpaw had dared Smokepaw to climb one of the few large trees in the territory.

Smokepaw had known that it wouldn't be a good idea, but he couldn't let Talonpaw think that he was scared, especially because he wasn't. As Smokepaw climbed from branch to branch; he had noticed that even though he was still a small cat, his little weight was making the pine branches sway ominously. Finally, he had climbed one branch too far and with a snap had been plunged straight to the ground. When he next opened his eyes, Smokepaw had been face to face with Littlecloud who told him that he would be alright.

At the time, however, Smokepaw had had a hard time believing Littlecloud. When he moved, his body ached in the same way that it did now, and he had asked Littlecloud what was the matter. Littlecloud had said that it was stiffness in the limbs for taking in so much of an impact. He had assured Smokepaw that he would be up and running around again soon. Smokepaw remembered that Littlecloud had said that he hadn't gotten any sprained or broken limbs because he was such a young cat at the time.

Even though this relieved him slightly, Smokepaw frowned as well. The fall from the cliff must have been a greater fall then from that tree. He craned his neck upwards with difficulty and pain: he couldn't even see the spot from which he had fallen. There was only mist swirling above.

Still, as Smokepaw moved his legs a little more, it was clear to him that he had not undergone any really serious damage. Smokepaw shook his head. It wasn't his right to question why it had happened; what he needed to worry about was what he was going to do about it.

Now that he knew that he would be alright soon, once the initial stiffness disappeared, the young apprentice turned his thoughts back to the actual fall.

How long had he actually been out?

Were his clan-mates looking for him?

Smokepaw knew the answer to that last question. There was no way that his clan could have known that he had survived that fall. He himself hadn't thought that he would. Plus, there was no way that any cat would stop and risk its life looking for the body of a dead cat. So Smokepaw's clan must have moved on without him.

Fear gripped Smokepaw as he thought of being completely alone on the side of the mountain, but he quickly shook it away. He knew that he had to find his clan, and he couldn't do that if he started playing the lost and frightened kit. He had had a great mentor, Oakfur, who had taught him everything from hunting to fighting other cats and even foxes and badgers. He could survive on this, he knew. He had even convinced Tawnypelt, the cat who had been through the mountains before, to teach him some hunting moves that he could use in the mountains.

Something suddenly drew Smokepaw's attention away from his own thoughts: wing beats, big ones, and a huge shadow that passed over him.

Smokepaw lifted his head weakly and terror flooded him when he saw a huge bird descending upon him. He had heard Tawnypelt tell the other cats about huge birds that could eat cats if they weren't careful. He had to get to safety.

Smokepaw ignored the pain as he swung his head quickly around to scan the area. There! there was a cleft in the rock so low over the precipice that Smokepaw had to struggle to wriggle himself under it.

He got there just in time, the next thing he knew was there were scrabbling sounds just in front of him and he saw a pare of lethal talons scraping the place he had just been laying a moment before. Then there was an angry screech which pierced Smokepaw's ears and then more wing beats. The eagle took a couple more passes at Smokepaw's hiding place, talons reaching in. Smokepaw took a quick jab at bird's leg, feeling his claw scrap again bony flesh. There was another screech and then the sound of fading wing beats as the creature gave up.

Smokepaw waited a few moments more, trying catch his breath when he suddenly heard more scrabbling, but on a smaller scale. The next moment, a tiny grey ball of fur shot toward the back of Smokepaw's hiding place.

Instinctively, Smokepaw whipped out his paw and just caught the mouse by the end of its tail. The terrified creature jerked its head around and sank its little teeth into Smokepaw's paw. Smokepaw ground his teeth against the agony, but held on, fury building up against the tiny creature who dared hurt him.

"You'll pay for that!" he growled hoarsely.

Smokepaw bent forward and bit the mouse in the neck, snapping it. As he relaxed, Smokepaw realised that he had just caught some food. He hastily licked that small wound in his own paw and then ate up his catch.

Afterwards he felt much more comfortable, the mouse was warm in his belly. He thought about trying to sleep for a little bit, but he also thought he ought to figure out a way to at least get back to the place where he had fallen. The mere idea of climbing up the jagged mountain side made him almost feel like despairing. Instead, however, Smokepaw gritted his teeth, determined to do whatever it took to get back to his clan. He knew that they would need him, and he knew that giving up would be just like being a deserter or even a traitor to his clan. He would climb up that cliff even if it was the last thing he would do!

But I can't do that if I'm too weak to get up, he thought, exhaustion clouding his mind and his eyes drooping from shock and sudden movement, I'll just rest for a while and then figure things out.

It wasn't long before his eyes closed and Smokepaw was asleep.