Early the next morning, Emberkit awoke to a sharp prodding in his flank, and he mumbled sleepily to himself. Blinking heavily, he yawned, and peered at the darkness around him.

'Too early.' He grumbled, and pulled his paws over his eyes, settling back into his den contentedly.

'Emberkit!' He heard a quiet hiss, 'Get up right now! We have to go, remember?'

Immediately, his tiredness completely forgotten, he leapt up and was out of the shall cave in a few heartbeats. The darkness no longer seemed like an enemy, but rather like an ally, aiding them in their secret mission to gain approval. He turned round to face his brother, knowing that the excited yet slightly wary glint in his eyes was reflected in his own.

'What are we waiting for?' he hissed, glancing up at the sky, 'It'll be light soon.'

His brother shook his head rapidly, clearing his thoughts, and nodded once firmly. 'Yes, you're right.' He mewed, 'We've got to go.'

Emberkit scrambled eagerly down the pile of rocks, letting out a small uncontrollable squeal of excitement. This earned him a stern glance from his brother, an exact replica of their father's, causing Emberkit to snort in amusement.

'Be quiet, Emberkit!' Ravenkit whispered, 'This is really serious.'

'Yeah, yeah, I know.' He replied, winking cheekily, 'Come on then, let's go!'

They both ran to the entrance of the camp, making as little noise as possible, which was still quite a lot. Emberkit was leading the way rather confidently, but seeing as neither of them, had ever left the camp before, Ravenkit realised that his confidence was merely a facade. Perhaps it always was, he wondered, but deciding that more important things were going on he chose to ignore it.

'Where are we going, Emberkit?' He whispered, as fear began to creep over him, removing all previous sense of excitement.

'To the mountains, silly.' Emberkit replied, his voice faltering slightly as he looked at the tall trees and dark shadows surrounding them. In truth, he had no idea. He shivered slightly, hearing a call of an owl echoing from the distance. He gritted his teeth, determined to show no weakness. 'To the mountains.'

Purposefully, he strode forwards, naively believing that if he walked for long enough he'd find what he was looking for. He was so caught up in his almost mechanical strides that when Ravenkit called out his name urgently, he had to process the sound for much longer than should have been necessary before stopping.

'Look, Emberkit.' He exclaimed, gesturing with his tail, 'Mountains.'

'What?' Emberkit responded, sounding surprised despite himself. 'Yes, of course, mountains. Didn't I say I knew where we were going?'

Ravenkit nodded mutely, before glancing up at the jagged precipice far above them. Receiving a encouraging nod from his brother he scrambled awkwardly up the rock face, and was left dangling off a tree root half way up. His claws unsheathed, and digging them into the root, he eventually managed to pull himself up. He peered down at his brother, mewed a few words of encouragement, and turned to face the huge sheets of rock behind him.

Mountains, he thought, so this is what they look like. He'd seen mountains from the camp, of course, but they were always so far away. He'd never even imagined they could be this big! He had to crane his neck as far as it could go before he could even glimpse the top. Suddenly their plan seemed completely undoable.

'Er, Emberkit?' He mewed quietly, 'We might need to rethink our plan slightly.'

'One second, Ravenkit.' His brother shot back, 'I'm not in any danger or anything!'

Ravenkit peered over the edge, saw his brother perched on a small slab of rock balanced precariously on the ledge below him. He immediately felt a surge of guilt, and thrust one of his weedy paws towards his brother.

'It's okay,' He muttered, 'I'm fine. It probably wouldn't be much help anyway.'

Ravenkit drew back his paw as if burnt, yet continued to watch his brother struggle as he made his way up the jagged cliff face. Emberkit sighed, and began to tiptoe along the slab, careful to keep his body weight balanced so as not to cause it, and him, to fall back down to the ground. Eventually, he had to admit to both his brother and himself that he was too... weak? Scared? Worthless?

'I thought you said you didn't need my help.' Ravenkit murmured, trying to keep his facial expression calculatedly blank.

'Come on, don't be like that!' Emberkit scowled, 'You need me up there anyway.'

'Don't you think I'm capable of doing it alone?' Ravenkit hissed.

'No! Well yes, of course you're capable, that's not what I meant. How will you explain to the a Clan that I'm just balancing on this random rock somewhere?' He replied, 'Scratch that, how will you get back to the Clan at all?' He trailed off towards the end, the realisation that he had no idea where they were finally settling in.

Ravenkit blinked twice, and again thrust his paw towards his brother, slightly more forcefully this time. Emberkit padded forwards slowly, trying not to pay any attention to the gradual rocking motion of the rock, and when he was close enough, grabbed his brother's paw and clung on for dear life.

He let go.

He watched him fall.

He began to whimper.

'Ravenkit?'