He cradled her head as she collapsed. “Kally, look at me. You will be fine. You have to force yourself to breathe. Sometimes when you sleep at an altitude, the brain gets fooled by the low atmospheric pressure and stops signaling the body to breathe.”
He looked at a helpless Gerua, who was holding Kally’s ankles, her panic growing. “She had Cheyne-Stokes breathing, and now she has apnea,” KK informed a bewildered Gerua.
Looking back at Kally, he held her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. “Please force your lungs to breathe.”
“For God’s sake, KK, stop talking and give her some oxygen!” hissed Gerua.
“Gerua,” said KK calmly, “oxygen won’t help her if she doesn’t inhale. Trust me, she will be fine. Besides, there is sufficient oxygen for her to breathe. She is not climbing or exerting. You, Tony, and I are taking in the same air.” He looked at Kally, shaking her gently. “Breathe, Kally, force yourself to breathe,” he repeated persuasively.
Finally, Kally heard KK and forced a deep breath inside. Gerua could see her chest expand as she attempted to breathe deeply. Air flowed into Kally’s lungs.
“Slowly, not too deeply,” said KK. “You have to get your rhythm back slowly and breathe naturally. Don’t let your mind play tricks on you.”
Kally sat outside the tent, surrounded by the three of them, gradually catching her breath. It took her a few minutes to resume breathing normally.
KK spoke with some authority. “The mountain plays tricks on your mind, and the changing weather does not help. You have to watch others and ask them for help before you get confused. If you feel uncomfortable or sick, look at others and ask them if they’re feeling the same as you are. If they are not and you don’t have a fever, or a wound, you need to get a grip on yourself. And if one of us demonstrates symptoms others don’t have, we have to calmly evaluate what is going on and help the person who is struggling. Heading up, we have to watch out for hypothermia and be very careful about our clothing. Also, this snowfall means soft snow, and now we have to watch for crevices and avalanche. Every step is going to be difficult, and we are going to move slowly, but we will get there.” Kally put her hand on KK’s hands and thanked him for helping her.
When Gerua lay down, she wondered if she had been wrong about KK. Her dream that night would suggest otherwise. Once again she saw the huge horse-like creature take Kally away. KK, who controlled the creature, stood there laughing and told her and Tony to follow him if they wanted to be saved. She asked KK about Kally, but he continued laughing like some demon and eventually disappeared, leaving Tony and Gerua to their fate, lost in the mountain range. Gerua woke up confused. She sat up again wondering why she was having these nightmares. Was she paranoid or was it the mountain playing tricks on her mind? Why was the horse appearing in her dreams repeatedly? Seeing Kally sleeping peacefully beside her calmed her down again.
The following day during the climb, each step was agony and the thin freezing air did not help. The snow was soft, and with each step, they sank up to their calves. It was a great effort to pull their legs out of the snow and take the next step. Even though they were tethered together with a rope around the waist, carabiners attached to their harness, there was no guarantee that one of them would not stumble and fall, taking the others with them. With great anguish, they continued to push forward. Within a few hours, Gerua, Kally, and Tony were exhausted, but KK urged them on. The struggle disoriented them, and after a short while, fatigue began to overcome their will.
Gerua cursed herself for not asking the right questions before agreeing to the trip. Her intuition had told her that something was wrong, but she had been too occupied with Tony to pay heed to her instincts. In this barren wilderness, with the glistening glaciers and the snow-covered peaks, all they could do was follow KK, who kept pushing them forward.
KK knew that he had them where he wanted. He had defeated their will as he had predicted. He knew his master would be pleased.
CHAPTER 8
BETRAYAL
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter, patter... It sounded as if a few small rocks were hitting the mountain face. Suddenly, they heard the earth-shattering sound of the mountain above them cracking. Huge pieces of rock broke off at multiple places and tumbled downward, smashing on the mountain face below. An avalanche of rocks hurtled towards them causing the mountain to shake, the terrifying roar deafening. “Get to the mountain face under the ledge!” KK shouted as loud as he could, scrambling to hug the sheer mountain under the ledge above. Still tethered together, Kally felt a tug and was about to follow KK when she saw that Gerua wasn’t moving. Gerua was looking up towards the hurtling rocks apparently frozen in fear.
“Gerua, move!” Kally screamed urgently, her voice dying in the deafening sound of rocks falling above. To her relief, she saw Tony reach for Gerua and pull her toward the mountain face, just in time. Just as all of them reached the underside of the ledge, huge rocks thundered past them, some shattering just below, small pieces flying everywhere. They pressed themselves into the mountain face as hard as they could, hoping the ledge would hold, helplessly waiting for the torrential rockslide to subside. Miraculously, the ledge above held, and the mountain protected them from the rockslide.
Eventually, the horrid noise of falling rocks subsided and finally stopped. KK, who had momentarily untethered himself, gingerly moved out in the open, looking up. “Anybody injured?” he asked casually as if nothing had happened. Still shaken from the earth-shattering experience, all the others could do was shake their heads. Upon KK’s insistence, after KK had re-tethered himself ahead of Kally, they started moving up the mountain again. Soon, they reached a point where the ledge on the mountain headed in the opposite direction and upward.
KK had told them that there was a cave above the ledge, and they had to get to the cave to meet his Guru. Lead by KK, they commenced ascending gingerly on to the ledge, inching upward warily, tethered together. One slip could bring them all down. KK inserted pitons with carabiners into the rock face crevices and snapped the rope into the carabiner before moving forward. Removing and repositioning the rope he repeated this process as he moved.
Behind him, Kally did not follow his example and Gerua only followed Tony’s instruction. Tony had knotted Gerua’s body harness carabiner to the rope tethering them together with a Prusik knot. Tony being the last in line made it a point to ensure that the rope tethering them together passed through one or more carabiner dangling from pitons inserted into the rock face by KK before letting Gerua move forward.
But KK had not knotted Kally’s rope to her harness carabiner. The rope tethering Kally was just passing loosely through the waist carabiner attached to Kally’s body harness. As they climbed, clouds appeared again, making it difficult to see where they were going. The clouds that surrounded them were so dense that they could not see the person in front. After a while, KK moved forward, and Gerua felt the tug on the rope tethered to her carabiner. Gerua moved forward, and following his procedure to ensure that the pitons in the rock face secured them, Tony followed. Moving forward, Gerua unexpectedly bumped into Kally, who was rooted to a spot on the ledge with a horrified look on her face, trying to clutch the mountain as she clawed on the rock face.
“Kally!” said Gerua. “Move, will you?”
“Did you see it?” Kally said hoarsely, pinning her back to the mountain, her gloved nails raking the stone. She looked in the direction KK should have been, and then downward below the ledge.
“See what, Kally? Are you tripping again?”
“Yeah, see what? I can’t see anything,” asked Tony, reaching them. Tony searched for a piton in the rock face near Gerua, found one and snapped the rope between him and Gerua into the carabiner attached to the piton. He could not see KK, and he stepped back believing that it would not be safe to crowd the ledge in one place. “KK, you there?” called Tony. “Stop moving. Kally seems to be in some sort of trouble.” Tony received no answer.
“He is the dev
il. KK is the devil!” whispered Kally, her eyes filled with fear. “There is someone... something else with him! We have to get out of here!” Kally was visibly petrified.
Gerua grabbed Kally’s wrist with her right hand. “What is it? I don’t see anything.”
“Yeah, he is gone, the devil... We are all going to die! I don’t want to die!” Kally was looking at the rope in front of her, which was dangling downward limply below the ledge through her carabiner without being tied to the carabiner. Gerua saw it too as she tightened her grip on Kally’s wrist.
“You are not going to die, neither are we. We will find a way out of this...” Gerua said firmly. However, the look in Kally’s eyes told her something was seriously wrong and Kally’s terror was real.
“Kally, look at me. We are going to make it through this. Just don’t trip.” Gerua tightened her grip even more. “Tony, help!” Gerua hissed, searching for Tony. “Kally is in trouble!”
Gerua felt a tug on the rope on Kally’s side. She turned to look toward Kally. Gerua could feel that the rope was being tugged from below. Kally began to tumble forward toward the edge of the narrow ledge falling, her untied harness carabiner sliding through the rope. A moment later, Gerua found herself holding onto a dangling Kally by her wrist. She cursed herself for not holding Kally’s hand with both arms.
“Nooo! Kallyyy! I won’t let you go! Just hold on…” implored Gerua, holding on to Kally’s wrist, trying to heave her back on the ledge. “Tony, help! Kally has fallen! I am barely holding her by her wrist!” she pleaded. She saw the terror on Kally’s face below and tried to pull Kally up with all her might. She felt a chill creep up her spine, and her heart began to fill with dread.
Earlier, Tony had stepped back so that Gerua’s rope would tighten, helped by the piton wedged in the mountain face. He had found another piton embedded in the rock face and put the rope in the carabiner attached to the piton in front of him, a few feet behind Gerua. He did not know that Kally had not been knotted to her harness carabiner. He assumed that if Kally slipped, the two pitons and KK in front would be able to hold on to her. If KK had unhitched for some reason as he had done earlier and she were tied properly with a Prusik friction hitch or knot, the rope would hold. He heard Gerua’s plea for help and felt the tug on his rope as he slid forward until he was almost pinned to the piton in front of him.
“Gerua, you’re pulling me! I can’t move! I can’t unlatch! I’m stuck!” Tony almost howled.
Gerua felt her harness yank her backward. Her back muscles tightened in the attempt to heave her best friend upward. If she could get her other hand on Kally’s hand, she could pull her up. “Tony! Help me pull Kally up!” She tried to hold Kally’s palm with her free hand but couldn’t get a grip. To support Kally’s weight, Gerua was forced to use her left hand as a lever on her own thigh. “Kally, try to get a foothold in a crack or a protruding rock! Please, Kally, try to climb up! Reach up with the other hand and grab my wrist! Try to clamber up! Don’t give up! Please!”
Kally heard Gerua’s plea and a tinge of hope filled her eyes. Summoning all her strength, Kally reached for Gerua with her other hand. Gerua heard scrabbling noises as Kally scraped the mountain with her snow-shoes. She felt Kally getting a foothold, her weight easing as her other hand reached for Gerua’s wrist. Gerua felt a trace of relief as Kally’s hand wrapped around her right wrist. “Tony, help us!” she hissed again.
Tony was stuck in a predicament. He understood that Kally had slipped, but he couldn’t understand why KK could not pull her up or how Kally could fall. He was trapped and couldn’t move, tethered to the piton with the rope taut, his body instinctively pulling away from Gerua. If he managed somehow to unhook the rope from the piton next to him, and both Kally and Gerua fell, their weight, along with the snapping of his weight forward, would rip all of them from the piton to which Gerua was tethered ahead of him. Then, if KK was still tethered, he would be left holding on to the three of them dangling down the ledge. It was possible that the piton next to Gerua might hold, but it was unlikely. He had to hold on, remain calm, and talk them through the crisis. “Kally, get rid of your gear!”
“She can’t! I’m holding her wrist! She is holding on to me with both hands! Tony! Come here and help me pull her up! Help me save Kally! Tony... get over here! Please...” Gerua suddenly felt Kally become heavier. Gerua leaned forward further moving her left hand a little lower on her thigh just above her knee for leverage. With all her might, Gerua pulled trying to haul Kally up but the weight was too much. She saw the tears on Kally’s cheeks as Kally’s amber eyes looked deeply into Gerua’s green eyes, pleading. “He’s pulling me down. I-I can feel him climbing on my legs. The devil has me, Gerua. Don’t let me go... I don’t want to die...” Kally begged.
Gerua stared helplessly at Kally. Something was pulling Kally downward, and she was getting heavier. Then she saw KK clambering onto Kally’s harness and grabbing her gear pack, looking like a demon, grinning ear to ear, trying to pull her downward.
“She is ours and she will always be ours. And so will you,” he growled, sneering. Gerua opened her eyes wide and shook her head. Was the mountain air playing a trick on her? Was she imagining things? No, it was KK and the weight was real. Dread filled her heart when she realized that Kally was going to fall. She saw KK pull on Kally’s arm that was holding Gerua’s wrist, and Kally was forced to release her grip on Gerua. Releasing the hand off her knee, Gerua tried to grab Kally’s hand but KK had pulled it down. With no leverage to support her back, Gerua’s back muscle caved under the weight. She felt her back would break, but she held on to Kally who was now starting to slip from her grasp. It dawned on Gerua that her dreams and apprehensions had been premonitions, and she cursed herself for not paying attention to her instincts. She put all her strength in commanding her free hand to also clasp around Kally’s wrist and, with all her might, tried to pull the weight up.
She was just not strong enough and the weight was just too much. “KK, help Gerua pull Kally up! KK...?” Gerua heard Tony say. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered why Tony didn’t know what was happening and why he wasn’t with her helping them. She felt perplexed and helpless. Gerua’s horror was nothing compared with the dismay and terror Kally felt when her hand slipped from Gerua’s grasp, and she began to fall below, her carabiner going through the end of the rope.
“Geruaaaaaaaa!”
“Kally, nooooo!” cried Gerua. She saw Kally’s terrified face, her wet amber eyes wide with terror, about to disappear in the clouds below. She saw that KK was not holding Kally anymore, instead he was hanging from a fissure on the mountain and was trying to reach for Gerua. She could still see Kally falling alone, straight into what looked like a gigantic horse’s mouth reaching up through the clouds for Kally. Instinctively, her back muscles contracted, and her torso straightened, and she snapped back as if to avoid the huge mouth of Keshi, the demon horse. Somewhere at the back of her mind, it dawned on Gerua that it was Keshi she had been seeing in her nightmares. She had read stories about the horse as a teenager. She saw KK leap onto Keshi’s neck, holding on to his mane, laughing demonically as Keshi disappeared in the clouds below.
Gerua’s knees buckled and her back gave in and she folded forward, her hands dangling in front of her knees. “Kally... nooo ... don’t go... Kally...” she sobbed, dangling from the rope attached to the piton like a ragged doll, her tears falling on the ledge where Kally had stood moments ago. A moment later, Tony released the rope and Gerua fell onto the ledge.
CHAPTER 9
CAVERN
Tony felt the rope between him and Gerua ease and heard her sobbing on the ledge ahead. He realized Kally had fallen. Pulling back, he snapped his rope off the piton that had trapped him and edged toward Gerua, keeping the rope slightly taut, shuffling forward as fast as he could. He found Gerua in tears, her body splayed forward over her folded knees, right hand dangling over precariously over the ledge where Kally had fallen. She stared blankly a
t the end of the rope that Kally had fallen through. It was obvious that the rope had been cut. Tony couldn’t see KK anywhere.
Tony kneeled beside Gerua. He lifted her limp body turning her around and hugging her. Gerua stopped sobbing, limply staring beyond Tony. She stirred slowly, breaking Tony’s embrace, her heart filled with guilt and anguish. “He took her down. KK made her fall. I saw it.” Tony could hear her pain in her voice. “You didn’t help, and we let her down. KK will pay for what he did.” She looked through Tony toward the ledge over which they had climbed.
Tony still didn’t know what had happened, but he knew that it was pointless to explain to Gerua how helpless he had been, trapped away from Gerua on the ledge, unable to move. “I am so… sorry. I wanted to…”
“We have to go down and find her. Now!” Gerua interrupted Tony, abruptly standing up. She quickly untethered herself by removing her harness and with renewed energy Tony couldn’t believe she possessed, Gerua headed downward. Passing Tony by balancing herself precariously on the ledge, she seemed oblivious to the fact that she might fall. She moved down at an astonishing speed, and Tony tried to catch up but was left behind. Stunned, he trailed behind her. Gerua was in a hurry, and she didn’t seem to care what route she took to get down or whether she had a safety line. When she reached the bottom of the ledge, Gerua rushed to the spot where she thought Kally would have been taken down.
Gerua frantically scrambled over the rocks and snow, searching for any sign of Kally or KK. She looked for their tracks and even those of the demon horse, Keshi. Maybe he had not swallowed Kally, maybe I was delusional, she thought. She was drawing on reserves of energy unknown even to her. Tony tried to follow her, but Gerua moved so fast that he was constantly left behind. Gerua kept looking, and when she could find no trace of Kally or those that took her, shock and exhaustion set in. Kally was gone. Gerua fell on her hands and knees again. “Kally...! Kally...!” she howled. “Where are you? Don’t leave me... please, Kally... come back.”
Dwandv:: The Battle for the Gate Page 6