by Zoe Chant
"Oh God. It's been ten years, and I still want to go back in time and punch that guy."
Eric was a good listener. Cora liked watching his expressive face as she talked, the way laughter and disbelief and outrage chased each other across his features. She hadn't told this story in ages, but it was all coming back to her as she talked, and by the end they were both in stitches.
"…and at that point Tashi decided she'd had enough of his nonsense, so she went and slung him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and carried him all the way back to camp," Cora finished, and Eric braced himself on his thighs, shaking with laughter.
Cora wrapped her arms around him. Eric leaned against her, a heavy, boneless weight, his laughter vibrating through her chest. She captured his smiling mouth with hers, kissed the laughter from his lips until he stilled, his arms around her.
Finally Eric pulled back, only just enough so he could see her face, one hand still cupping the back of her neck. He'd stopped laughing. There was something serious and intent in his expression, something she couldn't let herself look at too closely; it made her heart thump harder inside her chest.
"We should get going," Cora said, forcing herself to look away from him with an enormous effort.
***
They reached Camp Two by noon.
A few people were working to repair the tents that had gotten damaged in the storm, but there was a group of people huddled in the center of the camp, and even from a distance Cora could recognize their body language. She'd been part of groups like this before: the inevitable discussion that sprang up whenever anything went wrong on the mountain, the argument between the people who wanted to mount a rescue mission now, and the people who wanted to wait.
Cora had never been a wait-and-see person, herself; when someone got lost in the mountains, unless they were exceptionally well-equipped, their time started to run out quickly. And in the Himalayas, even the best equipment wouldn't stand up to the brutal exposure for long.
Beside her, Eric picked up the pace. "Let's go see what happened. Looks like someone might need help."
So he'd picked up on the same things she had. And his first impulse was to go and help. Cora looked over at him, swamped with a wave of feeling that stuck like a lump in her throat. God, she barely knew him. How could she already like him this damn much?
As they came closer Cora realized that she knew some of the people in that huddled group. Tashi was easy to recognize by her bright green jacket, and that was Tenzing beside her.
A man at the back of the group looked up and noticed her and Eric approaching, and then the entire group came hurrying towards them.
Cora realized, belatedly, that some of that concern might have been for her and Eric. They'd gone missing overnight, in one of the most brutal snowstorms the Rai Parvat had seen in a while. They'd spent the night so comfortably and safely, she'd barely wasted a thought on how much worse things could have been if they hadn't gotten so lucky in their choice of camp sites.
Tashi was the first to reach them. She yanked Cora into a tight hug. "Cora! You're all right!"
"I'm fine! We're fine." Cora leaned her forehead against Tashi's for a moment. "I'm sorry if I worried you."
"Scared the hell out of me, more like." Tashi smacked her arm—not that she felt it as more than a tap, through the heavy layers of her cold weather gear—and then gave her one more hard squeeze. "You're usually so good at planning ahead. I'm not used to you not coming back when you said you will."
"We spent the night in a cave. It was safer than trying to get down through that storm."
"We?" Tasha repeated, raising one eyebrow.
"Me and, uh. Eric," Cora said. She could feel herself starting to blush, as if somehow Tashi would know just what they'd spent the night doing in their cave. And then of course that blush gave her away, or maybe it was just the fact that Tashi knew her entirely too well by now.
"Really." Tashi gave her a mischievous grin.
"Shh!" Cora hissed, uncomfortably aware of the group of curious climbers surrounding them.
"All right, all right." Tashi's face sobered. "You didn't pass anyone else on the way down?"
"No. Who's missing?"
"Carpenter and his two tourists."
Cora winced. Beside her, Eric let out a quiet curse. "Figures. Let's hope that idiot hasn't gotten himself into more trouble than he can handle."
"We were just discussing whether we should go up and look for them," Tashi said. "They went up a few hours before the two of you, so they should've been hitting Camp Three just about when the storm started. With any luck they've had the good sense to camp out overnight, in which case they should be coming back down some time in the next few hours. But I don't have a great feeling about this whole situation."
"You think we should head up, try and find them?" Eric asked.
"Is noon already. It get dark before you even get to Camp Three," Tenzing said. "They not back by tonight, we go up tomorrow at first light."
"He's not wrong," Tashi said, sounding reluctant. "If we go up now, we'd probably end up where that avalanche came down last night just when it's getting dark. Might be pretty difficult to find a safe place to camp. That's a big risk to take when we don't even know for sure they're in trouble."
Eric sighed. "They're right. I don't like to wait, but—"
"All right." Cora cast an unhappy glance towards the top of the mountain. "If we haven't heard from them by tonight, we'll meet at Basecamp tomorrow, six am sharp."
Eric tapped Tenzing on the shoulder as the rest of the group began to disperse. "How's Josh doing?"
Tenzing shrugged contemplatively. "Doctor says he's fine, is definitely stomach flu, nothing serious. Josh say, leave him alone to die."
Eric snorted. "That sounds like him. I'll have to check on him, make sure he doesn't need anything, but he'll probably just want to be left alone. He's a bear when he's sick. Cora—" he reached out, caught one of her hands in his. "Did you have any plans for the rest of the day?"
Yesterday, she'd been thinking about hiking out to the next larger village, where she could check her email, get started on organizing her next expedition. Yesterday seemed suddenly very far away. Her email would keep.
"No plans," she said, tangling her fingers with his with a smile. "What would you like to do?"
***
Cora and Eric hiked down to Kalyanpur together. Eric checked in on Josh, who looked a bit green around the nose but otherwise fine, and, as Eric had predicted, only wanted to be left alone to recover in peace.
They spent the afternoon on a long, leisurely hike, following one of the paths that led around the base of the mountain. Cora showed Eric to a hidden cave she'd found by accident years ago. Blue ice covered the walls and dripped from the ceiling in delicate columns. Sunlight glittered off the ice, reflecting in shimmering, colorful rainbows.
Cora watched as Eric's eyes went wide with wonder. A sudden wave of joy gripped her heart. She reached for him, kissing him with abandon. Eric wrapped his hands around her thighs and lifted her up against him. Cora wrapped her legs around his hips, clinging tightly. They kissed and kissed, their bodies straining towards each other.
Finally Eric broke away with a gasp, breathing hard. "Let's get back to the inn," he said, his eyes wild.
Cora nodded wordlessly. She could feel her pulse pounding between her legs. She couldn't wait to get him back to a bed.
***
They spent hours making love that night, tangled up together in Cora's narrow bed in the inn. It was… Cora didn't quite have the words for it. She'd had sex before, but she'd never had sex like this. Every touch made her burn. Every brush of Eric's skin against hers seemed to set off sparks inside her body. When he slid inside her, it felt as if they'd become a single being, as if they were connected on a level much deeper than flesh and bone.
Even when she was finally exhausted, she didn't want to let go of him. She curled up against Eric, her head pillowed on his chest. E
very cell in her body seemed to sing with satisfaction. A bone-deep sense of well-being washed over her.
Eric ran his hands down her back, petting her in long, slow strokes that made her want to purr with satisfaction like a happy cat. Every time their eyes caught, they'd start smiling. Cora felt young, light, untethered, as if she could spread her arms and float away.
"We should get some sleep," she said finally, reluctantly. "It's gonna be an early morning tomorrow."
Carpenter hadn't returned. Cora had tried to push the thought away as best she could, while there was nothing she could do, but now it crept back in, chasing the quiet lassitude away.
"We'll find them," Eric said, spreading his hands warm and reassuring over her shoulder blades. "With any luck, they just got held up, and they'll be on their way down by the time we get there."
"Mm. I hope you're right." But Cora slept uneasily that night. She could feel Eric shifting beside her, restless, and knew he shared her worries.
Chapter Five
Cora woke up before her alarm even sounded. She reorganized her bag in silence, adding everything she thought she might need on a rescue mission. Eric slipped out of bed while she worked. He came over to give her a quick, silent hug good morning before he went to deal with his own bag.
Cora looked at the box of condoms on the bedside table. She tucked one back into its usual spot on her wallet. For all she knew, Carpenter had shown up overnight, no recue needed; maybe Eric and her would take another hike together, instead…
But even as she had the thought, she was pretty sure it was wishful thinking.
They met up with the others at Basecamp when the sun was just creeping over the horizon. Eric and Cora, Tashi and Tenzing, a few other people she didn't know. All of them looked pale and worried in the grey light of early dawn.
"We'll go up together, then split up once we hit Camp Three—" Tashi started, laying out the plan. Cora looked up at a flash of movement in the periphery in her vision. She squinted against the glare of the rising sun. Two figures were coming down the trail towards them at a staggering, unsteady pace, one leaning heavily on the other.
"That's Carpenter!" Eric said, following her glance. "Dammit, why's there only two of them?"
He was already moving, the two of them hurrying up the trail side by side, the rest of the group hard at their heels. The two men looked near collapse. They'd need help getting the rest of the way down.
The steadier of the two climbers wore a yellow jacket she recognized even from a distance as belonging to Carpenter. The other one was all in black. Cora's hands clenched into fists by her side. Andrew's parka had been red.
Carpenter hadn't brought him back.
Carpenter started waving, arms crossing above his head, as soon as he saw them: Help!
Beside him, the other man sagged heavily to his knees.
Now that she was closer, Cora recognized him: Everhart, Carpenter's condescending client.
Cora quickened her steps, Eric speeding up beside her. Everhart collapsed forwards in slow motion, his gloved hands sinking into the snow. His chest heaved like a bellows.
"Don't let him fall—Carpenter! Keep him up!" Eric bellowed, his deep voice carrying across the snow. Carpenter, who'd slumped in obvious exhaustion, jerked up just in time to grab Everhart by the shoulders and stop him from falling face-first into the snow.
Eric was flat-out running now, Cora just a step behind him when they reached the exhausted pair. Eric pulled Everhart up, forcing him to kneel upright.
"Please… tired," Everhart muttered, struggling for breath between the words.
"I know. But you gotta stay upright. If you lie down, it'll only get harder to breathe." Eric's voice was gentle but firm. He eased Everhart back against his own chest, taking his weight.
Everhart coughed, a horrible wet sound. Cora winced. She'd heard that kind of cough before.
"How much Dex have you given him?" she asked Carpenter.
Carpenter blinked at her. He looked totally exhausted, his eyes sunken and red-rimmed. He was weaving on his feet. "…What?"
"Dex. Dexamethasone. Medicine. How much did he have? Did you give him tablets or an injection?"
"Didn't give him anything," Carpenter said.
"What?" Cora unbuckled her pack, yanking out her little case of emergency medication, the syringe of Dexamethasone she always kept pre-filled and ready. "This is altitude sickness, you must have recognized—Why didn't you—" She broke off, lost for words, and simply shook her head.
Carpenter gave a grating, humorless laugh. "There wasn't any left."
There wasn't—
Andrew. Of course. Neither of Carpenters clients had been properly acclimatized, but Andrew even less so than Everhart. He would've gotten sick first.
"What happened?" Cora asked.
Eric had pulled Everhart's pants down over the side of one hip, exposing a patch of muscle; Cora handed him the syringe.
The rest of the group had finally caught up to them, all of them talking at once, the same questions Cora had been asking herself: What happened? Are you okay?
"Someone get me oxygen and a blanket," Eric ordered, his calm voice cutting through the din of voices.
Tashi spread a mat out on the ground, taking over the weight of Everhart's limp, half-conscious form to free up Eric's hands. Tenzing pulled an oxygen bottle from his pack.
Eric placed the oxygen mask over Everhart's face and secured it with sure, experienced motions.
Someone else had pushed a cup of tea into Carpenter's hand, but he was just standing there, holding it, his face blank.
Cora nudged his shoulder. "Drink," she said firmly, and then guided his hand until he obeyed.
Carpenter started swallowing greedily the second the warm tea met his lips, as if he'd only then realized what he was holding.
"What happened?" she repeated.
"There was a storm," Carpenter said, which was the one thing she already knew about what had gone wrong. Cora gritted her teeth.
They managed to drag the story out of Carpenter bit by excruciating bit, and with every detail he revealed, Cora felt her hands clench tighter.
Carpenter had managed to get Everhart and Andrew up the first part of the mountain without incident. They'd reached Camp Three just as the first storm clouds started drifting across the sky. Carpenter had gotten overconfident; instead of making camp to wait out the coming storm, he'd decided to push on, gambling on being able to reach Camp Four before the full force of it hit.
But the storm had come faster and harder than he'd expected. Stumbling half-blind through the gusts of wind and snow, Carpenter had finally realized he'd made a mistake. They'd waited out the storm huddled together in the snow, then tried to turn around as soon as the weather cleared. That's when the avalanche had gone off just a few hundred feet below them, the same one Cora and Eric had heard from their cave last night. It had buried the trail down to Camp Three in piles of snow and debris, cutting off the retreat.
And that's when Andrew, inexperienced and badly acclimatized, had started showing signs of altitude sickness.
"I gave him the tablets, the Dexamethasone, I tried, I did, but he couldn't keep anything down." Carpenter hugged the mug of tea to his chest, gloved hands clenching.
"He just got more and more confused. No idea where he was, what he was doing. Kept trying to lie down in the snow. I didn't know what to do. Finally we just dug a hole in the snow and laid down, tried to keep him warm. I don't even know how we made it through the night."
Carpenter's voice cracked. "He wouldn't wake up the next morning, wouldn't get up. There wasn't anything we could do."
"So you left him behind." Eric's voice was as hard and cold as tempered glass.
Carpenter flinched. "What do you think I should've done? We couldn't go down the way we came, after the avalanche. It's snowdrifts up past your neck all the way down to Camp Three. We had to cross over to the East Face of the mountain and climb down the cliff wall. I had my ha
nds full even just getting Charles down, and at least he was moving on his own!"
He gestured to Everhart, whose labored breathing had finally started to ease a little after the oxygen and the injection. "Only reason we managed to make it down at all was some other expedition had left a bunch of rope and gear behind, otherwise we'd all three be stuck up that mountain."
There were quite a few things he could've done differently, Cora thought. To start with, he never should have taken anyone up the mountain without making sure they'd had the time they needed to acclimatize. Yeah, maybe once Andrew had passed out there'd been no choice but to leave him behind, but it never should've gotten to that point in the first place.
But there wasn't any point twisting the knife by saying that out loud. From the look on Carpenter's face he realized perfectly well how badly he'd messed up.
"Was he alive when you left him?" Eric asked, in a hard, unflinching voice.
"He was breathing," Carpenter said. "We did what we could for him—wrapped him up in all our sleeping bags, made sure he was out of the wind—you know that big cairn of stones, the one with the prayer flags? We put him at the bottom, put up some snow walls around him. We would've brought him if we could, we would have—"
He put his face in his hands, swallowing a sob.
Everhart made a pained sound and tried to curl in on himself in Tashi's hold. Belatedly, Cora realized they shouldn't have had this conversation in front of him. That was his nephew they were talking about.
His nephew, who he never should've dragged up the mountain in the first place.
But if Carpenter was telling the truth, Andrew might still be alive.
She caught Eric's eyes. She knew what he was going to say, and nodded along as he did.
"We're going to go up and get him."
"You can't!" Carpenter face was distorted, almost a snarl. "Weren't you listening? There's no way down the South Face, not until the new snow from the avalanche has properly frozen over. And you can't take an unconscious body down the East Face. It's a goddamn cliff wall! You can't. Maybe you could carry him down as far as the Balcony, but it's difficult technical climbing below that. There's no way."