The Sacred Vault_ A Novel - Andy McDermott [116]
Nina and Kit followed him, sharing a smile.
The ascent began relatively easily, but before long parts of the slope became steep enough for them to need to use telescopic aluminium climbing poles and even their hands to scrabble up it. The grass hidden beneath the snow gave way to nothing but earth and rock.
They kept climbing, Eddie scouting out the best route. Even with his experience, they had to double back a few times when the way ahead became too steep to ascend without climbing gear, something he wanted to avoid for as long as possible. But there was a route to the foot of the ridge, however convoluted and draining.
Rest breaks became more frequent the higher they got. ‘God, this is killing me,’ Nina gasped as she flopped down on a boulder. She pulled off one glove and rubbed her temple.
Eddie was with her in a moment. ‘Got a headache?’
‘A bit. It’s not serious,’ she assured him. ‘I just need to get my breath back.’
‘You took some altitude sickness medicine this morning, right?’
‘Yeah, I did. Really, I’m okay. What about you, Kit?’
The policeman was taking deep, slow breaths. ‘I’m fine. I think. This is the most exhausting case I have ever been on.’
‘Art theft doesn’t usually take you up the Himalayas, I suppose,’ said Eddie, surveying the area. The landscape below was hidden by mist, but he could see clouds visibly rising, strong winds pushing them up the mountainside. He looked higher. The patches of cloud had grown thicker and darker, and the air was noticeably more hazy than when they had left Kedarnath. ‘Girilal was right. I think we’re going to get snowed on.’
Nina regarded the clouds unhappily. ‘Nice Christmas cardy snow, or horrific flesh-stripping blizzardy snow?’
‘Three guesses. How’s your head?’
‘Better. A bit.’
‘Give it another minute, then.’ He patted her shoulder.
As she waited for her headache to subside, Nina’s attention went to the ground around them. Even under the snow, it had a distinctly stepped appearance, as if long terraces had been dug into the slope. ‘Have you noticed this? It almost looks like it was once cultivated.’
‘Up here?’ Eddie said sceptically. ‘There isn’t even grass this high up.’
‘There have been warmer periods in the past - there used to be vegetation in the Antarctic, remember. Maybe the priests at Kedarnath in Talonor’s time grew things up here. Or maybe there were people who lived closer to the Vault of Shiva - they’d need to get their food from somewhere.’
He shook his head. ‘Could just be a fluke of layers of rock or something.’
‘Yeah, I know. And if it were used for cultivation, it would have been a long time ago - there’s a lot of erosion. It’s still an interesting possibility, though.’
‘Depends on your idea of interesting.’
‘Quiet, you.’
Once Nina’s headache faded, they set off again. The ridge loomed over them, a colossal wall of stone. From this distance, the ‘notch’ was revealed as a deep pass in its own right. Eddie checked it with binoculars. ‘There’s a way up to it. Pretty steep, and there’ll be a lot of zigzagging, but I think we can do it without having to rope up.’
‘Can we reach it before it starts snowing?’ Kit asked.
He looked at the sky. The clouds had thickened still further. ‘Probably not. It might not be too bad, though. Not much wind at the moment.’
‘Let’s hope it stays that way,’ said Nina.
They picked their way up the steepening route to the pass. About half a mile short, they stopped to eat. It was now past midday; only five hours before sunset. Rested and nourished, the trio pressed on until they reached the bottom of the path.
The sun was lost behind cloud, the temperature falling. Nina realised the clouds themselves were closing in. Kedarnath’s peaks were already obscured, and the upper parts of the ridge disappeared into the leaden grey. As she watched, a lone snowflake drifted past. It seemed to be a fluke . . .