Entering the chasm at Kali's lead, they all scanned the jaws of the structure on their travels to its depths. Water dripped from the stones above and sunk in Kali's thinner pelt, making his whiskers twitch to the cold touch. The cavern walls were contorted with strange markings and scratches, an occasional old column like those back at Kali's camps also embedded in them. Bats hung from the high ceilings, surprisingly undisturbed by the shuffling of the groups' paws as they padded along. Spiders clung to the webs from stone pillar to another and other strange bugs flit around the traps, either falling into them or just barely missing them. It was a sight Kali had seen plenty in his lifetime, but Hollybristle and Ferretpaw were entranced by it all, their now slowed paces keeping them a good distance from Kali and Zahra.

Kali preferred the distance, constantly peering over his shoulder at the two of them. The sight of them gasping like exhilarated kits at the chasm made them appear less threatening, but Kali still remained on edge. He didn't trust the Prince and his fledgling, even though they made the strange decisions to not only rescue them but also to not attack them. Kali wasn't going to let his guard down no matter how tempting the possible peace was between him and the other heir, close to Zahra's side in a protective manner as he led the way.

"Are you sure you're still okay with me doing this? We can turn around and go back home. I can speak to the ancestors another time," Zahra mumbled to Kali worriedly.

Kali shook his head. "No, this is okay. These two fish-brains are just stuck pests. If they dare to lay a claw on me, I can hold them off." He blinked back at them with a light huff under his breath. "The Prince looks big and tough, but he's also been stumbling around like a hollow-headed bear cub. There's not much of a threat I see out of them."

He was only half-lying. Hollybristle was stumbling around like a hollow-headed bear cub; giggling at anything Ferretpaw said, batting at crickets, and nearly stumbling over his own paws. Kali couldn't bring himself to understand why the Prince wasn't more tense in their situation, but then again he was the one in an advantage. On the other paw, Kali was petrified. Hollybristle was Thicketcrown's son, and the heir knew all too well of Thicketcrown's capabilities in battle. His father told him stories of skirmishes when Thicketcrown was still Thicketfang, the tom able to fight and win against two to three fine warriors all on his own if left the chance. Hollybristle had the strength and the durability to take on Kali all on his own, and the idea of him losing and suffering the loss of Zahra as well was terrifying.

"What are we going to do after this?" Zahra questioned in a whisper.

Kali shrugged in uncertainty. "I don't know. I'll see what this Prince wants while you're asleep and we'll decide what to do when you wake," Kali explained. His eyes narrowed. "And if I ever tell you to run, you run, and you don't dare look back."

The Prince was at least sure he could hold Hollybristle off long enough for Zahra to gain significant distance. The little fledgling with him, Ferretpaw, appeared wounded from some sort of scuffle before and obviously still a hint bothered by it. Kali doubted Ferretpaw could catch Zahra so long as she got a head-start.

Zahra parted her jaws to speak again but then Kali paused, beckoning his tail to halt the group. Ahead lay the bottom of the chasm, stones pillars and old columns surrounding a little pool of water. There was a hole in the top of the cavern that shed a beacon of moonlight into the pool, the water rippling and gleaming in the light. The area was open and spacey, and nothing about it even when it lay it almost complete darkness was eerie outside of the old bones that lay around the columns close to the pools.

"Bones?" Zahra pointed out in question, glancing to Kali.

"Sometimes fledglings on their trials will bring the bones of their last meal as a fledgling to keep here as a trademark to their trial," Kali informed, flicking his tail to then lead the group closer to the pool.

"The guardians have apprentice trials too?" Ferretpaw asked aloud.

Kali flashed the apprentice an annoyed look only to then coldly ignore her. He could hear the scoff from the feline but chose to ignore it, guiding Zahra closer to the pool.

"You two stay back for a moment," Kali demanded, swallowing a growl to line his order. Hollybristle and Ferretpaw listened instantly though, paws frozen to the earth where they stood. "Let me prep Zahra for her rest."

He nodded to the Vótano fledgling and led her to the far side of the pool, opposite of where they had left Hollybristle and Ferretpaw. The she-cat stayed close to him as they stood on the bank of the pool, the gleaming water reflecting in their staring gazes. Kali laid his tail over Zahra's shoulder, the molly looking up to him.

"Do you see that spot to your left?" He murmured. Zahra looked and he followed her gaze to what appeared to be a pile of rubble, but there was an obvious slip through it to what appeared to be a tunnel. "It's an old tunnel. I've used it before when I was younger and smaller. If I ever tell you to run while we are here, you escape through that tunnel. You are still small enough to escape through it, and I doubt the Prince's fledgling will be able to keep up."

"Kali... I don't want to leave you," Zahra muttered back, the two locking gazes in a shared worry of their situation.

Kali pressed his muzzle in between her ears, shutting his eyes for a moment as he comforted Zahra. "You're not leaving me, you're surviving. AsterClan's doesn't like to have an unaccounted for survivor, you know. They'll lose their minds and you'll go down in history as their most hated enemy," Kali snickered softly, pulling away and nudging her.

Zahra was unamused though, turning away from the heir. "That doesn't make me feel better."

The tom sighed. "Just rest, Zahra. Enjoy your visit to old kin and tell Orchid that I miss her too."

His words earned a barely visible smile from Zahra at the mention of the old Vótano and the idea of seeing her again. She nodded to Kali and curled up at the bank of the pool, resting her head on one paw and stretching out the other to dip it in the cold, moonlit water as she rested. She shut her eyes and Kali beamed softly at her before he turned and made his way back to Hollybristle and Ferretpaw.

"Make yourself at home. Her conversations with our ancestors will be brisk to her, but her rest will be throughout the night," Kali informed, glancing the two of them up and down. "Plus, we have plenty of talking to do of our own."

Hollybristle dipped his head respectfully to Kali while Ferretpaw shot him a pointed look. She huffed and lay, resting her head on her paws with her tail lashing rhythmically behind her. Hollybristle sat beside her, tail curled neatly around his paws as he lowered his muzzle to drag his tongue over a few ruffled airs on his chest. Kali stared at the placid behavior from the Prince and slowly sat a few paces off the side.

"So... Why did you rescue us?" Kali asked to break the silence.

Hollybristle lifted his head from his grooming, ears twitching in Kali's direction. "It would be cold of me to just watch you be shredded to pieces by wolves, wouldn't it?"

Kali scoffed. "I wouldn't but it past an AsterClanner to do so, or at least kill me after they've prided themselves in a rescue. So why didn't you do either, Prince."

The call of Hollybristle's role was delivered in a lower hiss of air from the tom. He had every right to be puzzled by the Prince himself rescuing and refusing to kill Kali and Zahra, even when his own fledgling appeared desperate to. Ferretpaw had turned her head away from them but her ears were still swiveled in their direction to take in every word. There was a reason behind her wounds and her pleas to fight Kali and Zahra, but there was also a reason behind Hollybristle's pacifism. It was perplexing to Kali.

The Prince sighed as if the recall of his role was a burden to be brought up. He glanced away from Kali and towards Ferretpaw, a distant yet distressed look stained onto his face. "I am not a killer - never have been, never will be. My father sent Ferretpaw and I to kill you after she failed her assessment as redemption... for both of us. I went easy on her during her trial and now we're both here. It's all my fault, really, but I still can't bring myself to harm cats who I don't know. In my eyes, you and Zahra have done no harm to AsterClan. My Clan does all of the harm. You guardians are just trying to protect yourselves."

"I met you once," Kali started, Hollybristle's attention directed in a snap back to him. "It was a skirmish on the border during one of my first training sessions. I remember you and a few of your warriors attacking my mentor and I, but luckily we had cats close just in case. We all escaped just a little scathed. You were the first to launch yourself into battle though. You were adamant to fight us, and you left me with a nasty bite to my shoulder as well. You were born and raised with the desire to kill... Why should I believe you've changed?"

Hollybristle frowned, his paws shuffling uncomfortably beneath him. "I may have been born and raised to kill, but I grew to realize the evil within my Clan... and my father. I've watched cats be killed that were innocent and harmless. I've had to make apprentices bleed till they've proven themselves-" his gaze wandered to Ferretpaw for a moment, who twitched at the mention of the event-"and I've made friends who are scared to live and love because of the laws of where we live. Our lifestyle is nothing but torture, and I am no longer blind to that."

Kali narrowed his eyes at Hollybristle. There was sincerity laced in every word from the Prince, with him almost choking on his words through a twinge of sorrow. He was still hesitant to trust him though, glancing past him and to Ferretpaw.

"You, young one, do you trust your Prince?"

Ferretpaw took a moment to turn to the toms, a gloomy shadow sitting over her face as she addressed them. "I trust him... with my life," she answered back softly.

There was a solemn dressage to her words and Kali's expression dropped. They were two cats forced to fight in order for her to prove herself, but now they seemed terrified with the idea of even mildly harming one another. They shared a look of compassion, one two close friends or even kin would share in solidarity with one another. Even with Hollybristle's refusal to their terms that led them to Kali, Ferretpaw was obliged to follow him and trust him even if it unsettled her. Something about her answer and the new crafted bond between the two made Kali's chest feel lighter.

"So then, Hollybristle," Kali started tenderly, now politely drawing back his tendency to call him mainly by his blood-tainted role. "If you don't kill me and go back to your Clan, what does that mean for you and your friend?"

"She would be killed," Hollybristle retorted. His quick, confident response made Kali feel uneasy and Ferretpaw's look was foggy beside him. "And whether I would be killed or just demoted I'm not sure, but I wouldn't put either past Thicketcrown. Power means the world to him... And we are weak and powerless to him if we fail this mission."

Kali sighed empathically. "So you need to kill me in order to go back home... to your family and friends."

"We're not going back home."

Ferretpaw and Kali were both taken aback by the Prince's words. The apprentice was quick to her paws, ready to challenge Hollybristle.

"But... My brother and my dad! I can't just leave Weaselclaw and Thrushleap like that!" Ferretpaw stammered, fur bristled at the recall of her kin.

"We're not leaving them, Ferretpaw! If we can work with the guardians and gather rebels from AsterClan, we can overtake them and save our kin from Thicketcrown and his laws," Hollybristle snapped back at the she-cat sternly, though his voice immediately softened when she flinched back from him. "We can... end the war."

Kali tilted his head and slit his eyes at the tom. "Are you suggesting I bring you back to our home?"

"Yes," Hollybristle answered curtly to both Ferretpaw and Kali's shock.

"My father would have you killed on sight," Kali growled lowly in dismay at Hollybristle's suggestion. "No guardian could bring themselves to trust you nor your apprentice. You-"

"There is a spy amongst your home."

Kali felt his heart drop to the deepest chasm of his chest at Hollybristle's words. Now feeling a little more trust in the Prince, his accusation of a spy felt real and terribly troubling. Kali wanted to argue it, plea that the guardians were loyal and would never betray their friends and kin, but a spy hiding in their ranks made sense the more he thought about it. Outside of knowing guardian tradition, how else would Hollybristle and Ferretpaw know that he and Zahra were traveling to the ruins? Many events started to piece together in his head, his eyes round with horror.

"You can't trust any cat even of your home, Kali," Hollybristle warned, a serious shadow contorting his face. "And waiting for my father's reign to be over with isn't going to be enough to win this war. We are each other's best bets at ending this war and protecting the future of our homes."

Kali's claws unsheathing, scathing the surface of the cool stone floors. "Who is the spy?" His voice was low and cold, disbelief tugging harshly at every word.

Ferretpaw shrugged and answered for Hollybristle. "We don't know. Thicketcrown tells no cat of his sources."

Kali wanted to think that maybe then the leader was boldly lying on a guardian's name, but he knew all too well at this point that it was the undeniable truth. His paws shifted uncomfortably back and forth and suddenly Hollybristle and Ferretpaw were no longer an enemy. He felt hesitant to let his guard down, but Hollybristle's words felt genuine and honest. Perhaps they could work together to end the war... but how? Thicketcrown would realize Hollybristle was gone and would go through thick and thin to find him, with a spy able to alert him if the tom stepped even a paw in the guardians camp. They were seemingly trapped with a spy and a blood-thirsty Thicketcrown around.

"Okay then, how do you propose I get you into camp without a spy ratting you out?"

Ferretpaw and Kali both looked to Hollybristle with guidance, but the Prince looked just as unsure as them. He glanced between the two of them then over to Zahra. When his gaze was back on Kali, he asked the daunting question.

"First I need to know... Are you willing to at least try to trust me? This won't go anywhere otherwise."

Kali could feel blood roaring in his ears with every beat of his heart. His eyes met Hollybristle's and it was as if the tom was reaching a paw to him, asking if he had permission to take his life or not. Kali gulped and in that moment, his life rested uneasily in the Prince's paws - his to manipulate if he pleased.

"Yes. I trust you."