By way of answer, Beck popped one of them into his mouth. ‘Mm-mm! Reindeer moss.’
‘Moss grows in reindeer?’ Very reluctantly, Tikaani picked one of the lumps out of Beck’s hand and held it up to study.
‘No, that’s just what it’s called,’ Beck said around his mouthful. He swallowed. ‘It’s really lichen. Remember I said the lichen on the rocks had to be processed? This is how it happens. Inside deer. They half digest it and then we can eat the rest.’
Tikaani still just looked at the lump in his hand. He prodded it with a finger. It squished and liquid oozed out when he squeezed it.
‘Hey,’ Beck said, more seriously. ‘We really need to do this. We don’t know when we’re going to be eating again and I really doubt we’ll get out of this pass before sunset. This kind of thing kept your ancestors alive more times than you’ll ever know.’
‘They didn’t have cheeseburgers,’ Tikaani said darkly.
‘Neither do we, right now.’
‘Right now . . . no,’ Tikaani agreed. He held up the lump of moss. ‘Oh God. I’m about to put it in my mouth. I am about to put a bit of reindeer poop in my mouth. I’m—’
‘It won’t have turned to poop yet. That happens further on.’
‘Gee, thanks, that makes it so much better.’ Tikaani closed his eyes and clamped his hand over his mouth so that the moss had to go in. Very slowly he started to chew, eyes still tight shut.
‘Mrph,’ he mumbled indistinctly. ‘’Kay. Tastes like . . .’ He gulped a bit down. ‘Y’know . . . I’m trying so hard not to think what it tastes like.’
‘Like fresh green salad,’ Beck suggested.
Tikaani’s eyes opened, surprised and thoughtful. ‘Well . . . yeah.’ He swallowed again. ‘Could do with some mayo but . . . yeah. Salad. Got any more?’
Beck smiled and passed him another piece.
They finished off the reindeer moss and washed it down with the last of their water. Then Beck showed Tikaani how to scoop fresh, powdered snow into their empty bottles.
‘Now,’ he said, ‘tuck the bottle inside your clothes – though not right next to your skin – and your body heat warms it up. Give it half an hour and you’ve got a fresh supply of nice clean water again.’
‘Can’t we just eat the snow?’ Tikaani asked as they heaved their rucksacks back on and set off once along the pass again.
Beck shook his head. ‘Uh-uh. Snow isn’t just frozen, it’s way below freezing. It’s like giving yourself frostbite in the mouth. Do it too much and you get sores, ulcers . . . so you don’t do it. Besides, snow in your stomach will reduce your body temperature, and that means your body has to waste energy trying to warm itself up again. Not what we’re trying to achieve.’
‘Hmm . . .’ Tikaani said thoughtfully; after that he was unusually quiet. Beck quite enjoyed walking silently. There were sharp, soaring peaks on either side. Ancient rock, millions of years old. A pure, unblemished snowfield. Crisp, fresh air unbreathed by any other set of lungs. All that the crowded, technological twenty-first century had to show for itself was two boys, dwarfed by the wilderness around them. The grandeur of nature was all the conversation Beck needed.
‘I don’t know much, do I?’ Tikaani said suddenly.
Beck looked at him, surprised. ‘Hey, you know enough!’
‘Well, yeah, I know enough to cross the road, if I remember to press the “walk” button. I don’t know enough to look after myself out here. I’d have eaten snow, except that I wouldn’t – I’d have starved to death ages ago ’cos I wouldn’t know which berries to eat. And eating stuff out of a reindeer’s stomach? No way! But . . . I’m Anak. We knew all this once. It was second nature. But no one ever taught me . . .’
He fell silent again but Beck sensed he hadn’t finished. A moment later, he added: ‘Or maybe they tried and I just wasn’t listening.’
Beck shrugged. ‘You were listening. You knew about bears and snowshoes and frostbite and . . . you know. You just need practice.’
‘I suppose.’ Tikaani laughed suddenly, his dark mood lifting. ‘I wonder who was the first guy to eat reindeer moss? Who first looked at a dead deer and thought, Mm-mm, never mind the meat, I bet what’s in its stomach is really tasty?’
Beck laughed with him. ‘Maybe it was the same guy who was stuck in the middle of Africa and thought, Dang, I’ve run out of wood, what can I burn for a fire? I know – elephant dung!’
Tikaani hooted. ‘Elephant . . . dung?’
‘Yup. And it smells worse than you could possibly imagine.’
‘No,’ Tikaani said earnestly, ‘it probably doesn’t.’
The wind was picking up behind them. It was a freezing blast that would have been very unpleasant to walk into, but it was at their backs, blowing them on their way. Beck thought of the old Celtic blessing: ‘May the road rise up to greet you, may the wind be always at your back.’ This road was indeed rising up to greet them – they were still heading slightly uphill – and he reckoned that having the wind at your back was the nicest thing you could wish anyone.
‘Could you get the map out, Tikaani?’ he asked. He felt Tikaani tug at his rucksack and a moment later the map was passed to him. He unfolded it to show the pass and peered at it. He had to hold it quite close to see. If he was reading it right, then they should at least be out of the pass by sunset. There was still daylight left.
At least, there should be. He checked his watch. Yes, still some hours until sunset. But it was quite hard to even read the map in the gloom. As if something was blocking out the sun . . .
A reluctant instinct made him look across at the clouds. The fierce wind cut into his face and his heart sank. He knew immediately that they weren’t going to get out of the pass that day. In fact, if he didn’t do something right now, they weren’t going to get out of the pass at all.
The storm had got here much faster than he had expected. It had been creeping up on them as they talked and laughed. The clouds were dark and swollen with a million tons of snow. The land below them was obliterated by snow and shadow. Standing on top of the mountain, Beck was at the same height as the storm. He wasn’t looking up, he was looking straight at it. It was like staring into the eyes of a wild animal.
A wild animal that was charging at them, ready to wipe out anything in its path.