The Destiny of Amalah (33 page)

‘I will climb and see,’ Kenaz said, as he moved closer to the mountain wall and began to climb. It did not take him long to climb up to the cave and hoist himself inside and once there, he positioned himself so that his belly was on the floor and he looked down to the others. ‘It’s nowhere near big enough for the six of us,’ he shouted down.

‘What now?’ Ellora asked. ‘Nightfall is here and the caves are getting smaller every level we ascend.’

‘Sleep in separate caves,’ Kenaz suggested.

‘Then five of you will freeze to death,’ Rakan responded.

‘We make the cave bigger,’ Rufus said simply and the others stared at him with puzzled faces, waiting for him to elaborate. ‘Well, I’ll make it bigger,’ Rufus finished.

He looked at the mountain and pictured the cave and Kenaz in his mind and then closed his eyes; he felt the power in his body begin to rise and course through him:

‘Cave above encased in snow,
bring an end to our woe.
With all my power and my might,
I wish for you to grown in height.
With all my strength I do demand
That you now six fold expand.
Dilato! Dilato! Dilato!

Rufus felt a surge of power rush through him and suddenly exit his body and then he opened his eyes. He was surprised to see that nothing had happened to the cave and he was slightly embarrassed as Kenaz and the other four were still staring at him expectantly.

‘I though it would work,’ he said clearly disappointed and more than a little self-conscious.

‘Never mind,’ Rakan said sympathetically to his friend.

‘Maybe you should try again,’ Waldon said encouragingly.

‘I would but I feel rather weak and drained,’ Rufus said weakly.

‘What did…?’ Ellora began but she was interrupted by a booming and thunderous noise. The five of them stopped dead in their tracks as they listened to the noise grow louder and more menacing.

‘What the…’ Kenaz began.

‘Avalanche!’ Rakan shouted, the fear and shock in his voice coming through.

Kenaz had had the good sense to not stand idle whilst they had been chatting and he had unpacked the ropes he had intended to throw down to the others while Rufus had been preparing his spell.

‘No it is not,’ Ellora said. ‘Look,’ she said to Rakan and the others as she pointed upwards and saw that the snow was undisturbed. The others looked on with relief.

‘What is it then?’ Waldon asked perturbed by a large creaking noise.

‘The cave,’ Kenaz shouted. ‘It’s getting bigger.’ He looked around as the cave he was in creaked and stretched at both sides and further back into itself. ‘I cannot believe it,’ he shouted and then grinned at his friends. The others stepped back and craned their necks upwards as they looked up to watch the cave extend.

‘You did it!’ Kalon exclaimed as he patted Rufus on the back and smiled.

‘Yes I did,’ Rufus said proudly, extremely happy that the spell had worked.

The cave took a few minutes to move to its new size and when it came to a halt the five looked at each other and smiled.

‘We will conquer Qomolangma,’ Rakan said confidently.

‘Yes we will,’ Kalon said agreeing with his brother.

Kenaz had just taken out the rope and had just secured it to the cave, when they all heard a powerful and disturbing rumbling sound. Rakan looked up and was stunned at what he saw, but he wasted no time and shouted avalanche once again. Kenaz also acted quickly and threw the rope back down to the five who were still below him.

‘Ellora get it,’ Rakan ordered, as he pointed to the rope.

She immediately did as she was told and began to climb as quickly as she possibly could. Kalon had not needed any instruction and he was already scaling the mountain to get to the cave: he climbed the mountain quicker than Kenaz had and when he reached inside, Kenaz was trying to pull Ellora up into the cave, Kalon grabbed her and almost threw her into the cave and when he saw that she was safely in, he and Kenaz threw the rope back down to the others.

Waldon had begun to climb the mountain as well, taking the same path as Kalon had, while Rakan took hold of the rope. As the two young men attempted to scramble to the cave; the rumblings grew louder until they were deafening, and as the snow from and around the cave and mountain began to fall; Rufus, Rakan and Waldon now feared for their lives.

Their hearts raced and their bodies trembled and panic was setting in as their whole lives passed before them for a split second, Waldon wondered what his life would have been like, for he surely thought he was going to die on the mountain. Rakan thought of Kalon and his father Garrick but felt that if he died now at least he had truly lived and Rufus just prayed that it wasn’t going to end at all for him or his friends.

‘Dear God – please not now,’ he begged.

Rakan grabbed the rope and Kalon and Kenaz hauled him up extremely quickly and Ellora grabbed hold of him as he let go of the rope and pulled him into the cave. The two boys dropped the rope down to Rufus and as they did. Rakan joined in with Kalon and Kenaz to help pull up Rufus. Waldon was almost near the top now and the three boys and Ellora watched him out of the corner of their eyes as he made his way towards them.

Rufus stepped forward and went to take hold of the rope but as he stepped forward, his left foot slid right through the snow and into a narrow crevice in the mountain floor; it was large enough to put his foot in but too small to take his foot back out. He stopped abruptly as he realised his foot would not move; he now had hold of the rope and he kept hold of it as he was trying to free his foot at the same time, but the others had begun to pull, so he shouted for them to stop.

‘Stop! My foot is stuck!’ he shouted up.

Rufus tried everything to free himself but it was to no avail, his heart was beating louder and faster but he could not hear it because of the deafening rumbling sound of the impending avalanche. Waldon looked down at Rufus and saw his friend frantically struggling, he looked up to the cave where his friends were and down to the ledge where Rufus was and in a split second decision he began to descend to where Rufus was as quickly as he could.

‘Waldon no!’ Kenaz shouted.

‘I have to,’ Waldon said.

Kenaz prepared to climb down the rope and help Rufus and Waldon. ‘No!’ Waldon shouted. ‘Stay where you are! When I reach the ledge throw me the pick axe.’

The four of them watched as Waldon descended and Rufus stood on the ledge, still frantically trying to free himself. They were all scared stiff and they all wanted to panic, because they did not want to lose either friend, and the thought of doing so filled them with dread as they stood at the edge of the ledge feeling frantic and utterly useless. They observed Waldon as he reached Rufus and then shouted up to Kenaz.

‘Now!’ he shouted.

Kenaz leaned over and dangled the pick axe over the edge of the cave, when he was sure Waldon would be able to catch it he dropped it, but he hadn’t taken into account the wind factor and when the axe dropped, it seemed to fall outwards and beyond Waldon’s reach. Waldon stretched out desperately to catch it, knowing it was Rufus’ only chance of breaking free.

He barely caught the pickaxe by the handle edge and lost his balance as he struggled to maintain his grip; he teetered precariously on the edge of the mountain ledge with the axe in hand while the others in the cave, who had been watching, drew in a deep breath and gasped. Ellora let out a scream before she put one hand to her mouth and held onto Kalon with the other. They all watched as Waldon struggled with his feet and his body, as he fought for his balance and his life – and somehow, after the longest seconds in the world had gone by – he regained his balance with the axe in hand.

‘Only by the grace of the Gods!’ Kenaz said, with relief and shaking his head as he and the others let out their long bated breath.

‘Waldon, you could have reached the cave by now,’ cried Rufus. He was upset at the thought that his friend was going to die with him – because of him.

‘We are all going to Qomolangma!
All of us
!’ he shouted.

Waldon tugged at Rufus’ foot but it was stuck and his mind raced as he cleared away the snow. He could see Rufus’ foot stuck in the crevice with some weed, which was – to his surprise – still alive in this freezing weather. He took hold of the axe and swung it hard, down onto the floor just at the top of the crevice, but nothing happened and the two boys looked in shock at the unchanged floor.

Waldon let out a huge roar of anger and frustration at the crevice that was trapping his friend. Waldon let his anger and frustration consume him and he then swung the pickaxe down with great fury and strength, time after time, after time and as he continued to bring the axe crashing down; the stone and ice eventually turned to rubble and Rufus was able to pull his foot free.

They looked up to signal to the others that they were ready to come up to the cave but all they saw was a mass of snow hurtling towards them. Rufus had one thought that left his mind and when it did, he grabbed Waldon by both arms and dragged him to the wall of the mountain.

‘Trust me,’ he said to Waldon intensely as he closed his eyes.

The snow fell onto the two boys like a heavy river fall but there was no way to swim through it and nowhere to swim to. The two of them felt the ice-cold snow brutally descend and cover them and soon, it was pouring over their heads and then it quickly buried them.

Waldon could only hold his breath for a few more seconds and he knew, that when he let go, it was the beginning of the end for him. He held on for as long as he could and then let go. Immediately after his body and mind began the inevitable struggle for air and ultimately – life – as it does when it is threatened. Eventually he gave into the panic as he felt his lungs heave and burn, his mind raced for an answer but none came, but in the very next moment, he was being pulled into the cave where: Ellora, Rakan, Kalon and Kenaz were.

Waldon was still struggling for breath and trying to work out what had happened to him and for a moment, he thought he and the others had died and that panicked him even more.

‘Relax and breathe,’ Kenaz said to him. ‘Waldon you are safe,’ he said reassuring his friend. Kenaz continued: ‘We got you and Rufus out,’ he said softly, still trying to reassure his friend.

‘How?’ Waldon croaked.

‘Rufus and Ellora.’

‘I thought we were dead,’ he said through laboured breath.

‘You did cut it very fine my friend,’ Rakan said.

‘Too fine,’ Waldon replied, as he lay back on the floor to catch his breath and take in what had happened as Kalon and Kenaz watched over.

Rakan and Ellora sat by Rufus as he too recovered from being buried in the snow and they held onto him as he caught his breath. He was considerably weakened by now, more so than Waldon, and the two of them watched over him with great concern. Kalon and Kenaz helped Waldon to his feet and escorted him to the fire in the corner of the cave that was now burning bright and warming the cave through, while Ellora and Rakan did the same with Rufus. The six of them sat around the fire contemplating what had just taken place and how close they had come to losing their lives.

‘Our lives hang by a thread,’ Rufus said reflectively.

‘Yes they do!’ Rakan said in agreement.

‘How did you save us?’ Waldon asked.

‘Rufus somehow sent his thoughts to me,’ Ellora said. ‘I saw what he was going to do, what he had in mind and I could hear his mind say “Be ready.” I saw him lift both of you through the snow.’

‘She told us to stand at the edge of the cave, to wait until it was backed up with snow and thrust our hands into it. Right up to our shoulders and grab the first thing that we could get hold of,’ Kalon said.

‘She told us we would know what to grab,’ Kenaz added.

‘Sure enough, we did,’ Rakan said.

‘How Rufus?’ Waldon asked.

‘I don’t know, it was just an idea, the only one I had. I knew I had a connection with Ellora ever since we unfroze Kenaz and I just hoped it was strong enough, and I hoped that I was strong enough to levitate the both of us.’

‘Thank the gods that you were,’ Waldon said. ‘You saved us both’

‘You saved me,’ Rufus said humbly. ‘I owe you my life, I owe you everything,’ he said feeling very emotional.

‘That was the bravest thing I ever saw Waldon,’ Kalon said.

‘Yes it was,’ Kenaz added.

Waldon simply smiled shyly and nodded his head and looked at his friends. ‘I would have done the same for you all,’ he said.

The six friends barely slept that night after the life-threatening incident with the avalanche and the ledge but when the night became completely dark, one by one, they all fell into a deep sleep, although some were more troubled than others.

When morning came the six faced another day on the mountains and in the cold. The journey to the top of Qomolangma was still a harsh and perilous one, even in their time. They trekked for hours and picked and hacked through the snow and ice and once again, they became cold right through to the bone. The higher they climbed the thinner the air became and the six found themselves struggling and gasping for breath the farther upward they went.