Part Thirty Two: The Cold Rush

	A cold wind started to blow through the mountain's domineering peaks as daylight continued to break overhead, catching the lower end of Caleb's long leather trench coat and causing it to wave about like some sort of strange flag to whatever or whoever it was that was behind him. Caleb was growing increasingly uneasy about that subject; the further on he went the more sure he was that something was following him. It was easy enough to dismiss such thoughts back when he was still meandering through the swamp, were everything seemed tantamount to an illusion, but the fact that the feeling had not gone away now, when he was ascending what seemed to be almost impossible obstacles with the full force of the sun looming overhead, was far more worrisome.

	He noticed an outcropping of rock that appeared to loop around one facet of the mountain just on the left periphery of the main pass, something that would allow someone to double back to where they were before while still being relatively obscured from anyone else that was taking the primary path through the mountains. To Caleb it seemed to be heaven sent, or at least, it would have been, if he had still been in any such position to expect such favours from the heavens. Still, regardless of the ledge's true divine nature or not, Caleb remained very much game to give it a try. Walking past the first way onto the outcropping, he took one last nervous glance behind him before sidestepping onto the second, the ground beginning to tremble beneath his feet as he went.

	Suddenly this did not seem like such a good idea anymore. The ledge was not only thin but variable, meaning that he had to keep constantly reevaluating his footing in order to prevent himself from slipping off the ledge and back onto the ground which was now quite a bit more than a stone throw's away. Despite this, Caleb continued to inch his way forward, wrapping his way around the face of the mountainside. It was taking far longer than he had first anticipated it would. Initially he had thought of waiting a while on the outcropping when he was safely out of view; that way he could ensure whatever it was he thought was following him would make its way past back on the main pass long before he reached it again.

	Now that he was here on the edge though, with the ground seeming to loom right in front of his very eyes despite the fact it was still many meters away, he decided that enough time was passing in its own right to make any such a precaution completely unnecessary. As he approached the other end of the outcropping the ground began to complain even more than it had when he had first got on, and Caleb became very much concerned that it was going to give way entirely with him still standing on it. Despite the precariousness of his situation, Caleb still managed to find it within himself to continue on grimly forward, knowing full well that any attempt to flee pell mell would only resulted in falling and death. He in the end did manage to make his way back to the main pass in this soul destroying fashion, all the while wincing whenever he heard yet another crack or creak.

	Then he saw exactly what he had been looking for; fresh in snow, going alongside the tracks that his own boots had made, were the footprints of another. Caleb immediately swivelled his head around in search of the individual in question, but only saw more prints taking off in the direction that he himself had already previously taken. He was deciding on whether or not to follow the prints in order to overtake his pursuer when he heard a sound that made his heart sink. The moaning and the winging of the mountain had not ceased when Caleb had left the ledge, and now he heard the sound of the entire outcropping breaking off and slowly sliding its way down the mountainside. He watched dismally as it eventually made its way all the way down to the ground, kicking up stone and dirt and releasing a shock wave the reverberated all around the mountain range.

	"This looks... extraordinarily bad" Caleb said to no one in particular, just as he saw the avalanche of snow barrelling towards him. There was nowhere he could run to. His only possible options were either to go up or go down, and neither had any chance of taking him to safety. All he could do now was stand straight and look stoic as the massive force hurtled its way towards the space that he was currently occupying. He then thought of the person who had left his or her prints in the snow again. Maybe it was just a coincidence that he or she happened to be following him. Maybe it was just some intrepid mountaineer that had just happened to try his or her hand at the summits at the exact same moment that he himself had done so. Maybe Caleb had just killed them both for nothing.

	"I'd say I'm sorry, but you know it wouldn't be sincere" he commented absently, not really expecting whoever it was to be able to hear him. "Have a nice day." Upon finishing this statement, the mad horde of snow finally moved in and packed its first great wallop. Caleb did now feel sorry for himself at least.

Hamish Paul Wilson
October 12, 2014