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Professor patched Shaw up as best he could under the circumstances. The gash was deep and had done bone damage that couldn’t be dealt with here on the ice with basic field supplies.
“If we’re lucky they’ll have something on the submarine,” Professor suggested, packing away the limited first aid kit they were carrying. He’d dressed the wound and given Shaw a morphine shot to dull the pain. He couldn’t do any more than that.
“Then the sooner we get there the better,” Maddock said. “We aren’t going to find help anywhere else.”
“What are we doing about Seb?” Shaw whispered.
“He comes with us,” Maddock said. “The ice is too thick for us to break through to the ground and bury him without proper tools. Even if we built a snow bank and a stone cairn to cover him, we can’t risk the Russians stumbling across his body. So we’re taking him home.”
Professor considered the implications of trying to get a corpse across the mountains. Maddock knew what was going through his mind. The order had just made the trek exponentially more difficult. But that didn’t matter. No man was getting left behind. It wasn’t happening.
“I’ll strap him to the sledge,” Bones said. “It’ll mean redistributing supplies with everyone carrying more than before.”
“Give Leopov and the Russian a pack if you need to. Shaw won’t be taking one up the hill.”
“I am here you know,” Nate reminded them in a weak voice. “And I’m not going to let someone else carry my share. Don’t worry about me. While I’m breathing, I’ll be good.”
They were on the move within the hour.
Maddock led the way with Leopov and the Russian behind him. Professor took first shift pulling the sledge. Nate Shaw had wanted to do it, but Maddock told him to wait his turn. They’d make it somehow. But they’d only make it if they did it together. It was as simple as that.
The lower slopes were frustratingly slow going despite the fact that there were narrow tracks through the ice. They began to crumble underfoot as the team made its way through the gullies and ravines and across the ridges of ice. Each obstacle became a feat of endurance and endeavor. Rocks and boulders rose through the ice, until the ground turned brown and started to show the first sign of spring.
“The mountains have their own microclimate,” Professor said as they got the sled moving again. He was breathing hard after righting it once more.
“Not that you would notice.” Bones looked around as if the very landscape affronted him. “Once it gets this cold it’s basically just cold. Anything else is just fancy words to say even colder.”
Professor was about to offer a riposte when he lost his footing. Shale slid beneath his boots. He reached out to prevent his fall, but the weight of the body on the sledge dragged him back down the incline a dozen steps before anyone could react to arrest his backward fall. Bones moved faster still, putting himself behind the sledge and what would have been a long way down for Professor.
“Take five,” said Maddock. It wasn’t worth pushing on. Fatigue was creeping in. Mistakes were happening. It came down to less haste, more speed. He needed them all with him. He took the respite to check in with Leopov and find out if she’d managed to find out anything about their Russian friend.
The wild man hadn’t been happy to join them on the trek through the mountains. Maddock didn’t know if it was fear or just the knowledge they were going back the way he’d come. After all, that meant he knew exactly what they were heading toward.
“What’s he got to say for himself?”
The Russian didn’t even look up when Maddock approached. Someone had given him another mug of coffee. Caffeine seemed to be his drug of choice. All well and good if it kept him placated.
“Not a lot,” Leopov said. “I thought I’d got him talking for a moment, but the gunshot spooked him. He clammed up after that.”
Maddock glanced at the corpse that had been wrapped inside one of the bivouacs before being secured onto the sledge. “Couldn’t be helped. Professor’s worried the animals will still be able to smell the blood.” It was a reasonable fear, even if the temperature was still below freezing. The light was already dying on them. They needed to make the most of it before they were forced to stop. He sat for a few minutes, catching his breath, before the urge to keep moving overcame his fatigue. “Let’s kick on while we can.” His voice echoed back at him from the mountainside, making his call to the others louder than he had intended it to be.
“You notice that?” asked Professor.
“What?”
“The silence. Apart from your voice there was nothing. Not even a roosting bird startled by the noise. Nothing. That’s not natural. The world just isn’t that quiet, even out here.”
Maddock hadn’t noticed.
He had been too caught up in thinking about what they should do next; how far they could make it before it was too dark to continue on safely. The ledge they were on was narrow, the crevasse it skirted deep. What had just happened to Professor was an abject reminder of what would happen if the sled went over the side. And what would happen to the man harnessed to it.
“We keep moving. If there’s something out there then it’s going to follow.”
“What if it’s herding us?” Willis asked.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, let’s keep things simple. Keep your eyes peeled, but don’t fire a shot unless you have to. You heard Lewis’ shot. That thing was heard miles away. I don’t want us to make any more noise than we absolutely have to. The Russians aren’t dumb. Spetsnaz are the best of the best they’ve got to offer. It could even be them on our trail, so let’s make them work for it.”
The others nodded.
They walked on into the night, gaining another couple of klicks before they had to concede defeat. The mountains were far more inhospitable than the ice had been. But, at least on this higher ground there were trees and kindling to make a fire. The wood was cold and damp, and drawing a blaze out of it was hard, but eventually Bones had a guttering fire that hissed and sparked. They were sheltered enough not to risk the flames being seen from a distance and the smoke rose into the darkness of the night sky unseen.
“We’re never going to beat the Russians at this pace.” Maddock knew they were all thinking it. They sat around the fire enjoying the heat radiating from it. Even the crazy Russian seemed to have finally calmed down, no more cries about Romanov’s Bane. He stared into the flickering light, lost in thoughts he seemed unable to express. Maddock was happy to enjoy the silence.
“We could bury Lewis here,” Professor suggested. “At least temporarily. Pick him up on the way back.”
“The ground’s solid, Prof. It’s not happening.” Bones didn’t take his eyes from the fire.
“There’s no need to dig. We just build a cairn.”
Maddock knew that Professor was right. It made sense. They were going to be too slow dragging the sled along and taking the extra burden on their backs. It would be better to abandon it here and bury Lewis as best they could, protecting his body from scavengers until they could come back for him.
“All right, let’s gather some rocks. Shaw, you sit this one out. Don’t argue. That’s an order.”
Shaw nodded, relief evident on his face.
The rest fanned out, gathering large stones with which to protect their fallen comrade’s body. It wasn’t long before Maddock made a grisly discovery.
“Hey Bones,” he called to Bonebrake, who stood nearby. “Take a look at this.” The big man lumbered over to Maddock’s side, stopping short when he saw what held Maddock’s attention.
“What the hell? It can’t be.”
“I know,” Maddock agreed, “yet here it is, and I think we can both agree it’s fresh.”
They knelt alongside the shredded carcass of a young mammoth. This one was young, though not a baby. It had stood four feet at the shoulder. The area all around showed the signs of its death struggle—mammoth prints, gouts of frozen blood and flesh... and the prints of big cats. Those were unexpected.
“I guess some small mammoth population survived on the island,” Maddock said.
“No way,” Bones said. “Word would have gotten out, or researchers would have found them.” He took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. “I suppose anything’s possible, but I’ll bet you these are a relatively recent addition to the island.”
“You mean someone rediscovered an existing population somewhere else? What, like Siberia?”
“Maybe. But science has been theorizing ways to bring back the mammoth for as long as I can remember. If someone found a well-preserved mammoth...” He lapsed into silence as the two of them stared at the carcass.
“I don’t suppose it matters,” Maddock finally said. “We’ve got the Russians to deal with and maybe these big cats as well. This is a mystery that can keep until later. For now, let’s bury our friend.”