Drift listened carefully to the crunch of the frost beneath their boots. There was a lot you could tell about ice by the way it sounded under strain. Fortunately for them, but unfortunately for the Akashi, this batch was thick and could support their weights easily.

They hiked for about an hour before Drift decided it was a good place for them to stop. He felt exhausted after climbing the cloudbergs. The frozen slopes were particularly dense and solid and getting the ice picks to take hold hadn’t been an easy task.

He hauled the last section of rope up to the top of the plateau, bringing the small body of Cove with it. Cove gasped as he was finally able to scramble onto solid ground.

“You alright?” Drift asked, bending down to push some of the other boy’s silver hair back under his hat from where it had come loose and was sticking against his forehead with the damp.

“Hard – to breathe,” Cove panted, clutching at his chest.

“Yeah,” Drift nodded, helping Cove to sit up straight. “That’s the ice in the air. It’ll sting at your lungs and constrict your airways.”

“Hate it,” Cove grumbled, causing Drift to smile. Cove tended to hate most things.

“You’ll get used to it,” Drift nodded.

“You say that about everything,” Cove huffed, pushing Drift away, but not too roughly. Drift thought back to how he had made Cove cry in the kitchen hours earlier. His chest felt tight and constricted as if his coat was growing smaller.

“Cove,” Drift began, steeling himself when he noticed Robbo was sat close by and listening to their conversation.

“What?” Cove looked up at him, his eyes big and blue with questioning.

“You need to keep up,” Drift snapped, hating himself. “You can’t slow the party down or we won’t make it to a camp before nightfall.”

“You’re such an ass,” Cove spat out, kicking Drift away and standing up to stalk off towards Elgar and the others.

“Nicely done,” Robbo nodded at Drift, “you’ve really got a way with kids you know?”

“Shut up,” Drift muttered, drawing a flask out of his pack and taking a swig of chilled coffee. The concoction tasted vile but Gordon had promised it would help keep him awake.

“We need to start moving again soon,” Drift announced to a complaining chorus of groans. “We should find somewhere to sleep before we lose the light.”

“Why can’t we sleep here?” Elgar asked, looking around.

“It’s far too exposed,” Hanzo replied nodding at Drift for confirmation.

“One strong wind and we’d be sent flying off the edge,” Drift elaborated. “We need somewhere that’s stable but lower ground, ideally with some shelter.”

“Come on lads,” Fletch sighed, standing up and reaching over to help Cove to his feet. The younger boy was swaying slighting and still panting from the exertion. “You heard the boss.”

They began their descent down the far side of the ice pillar using a system of pulleys and metal clips. Drift stationed himself near the top, bearing the weight for both Caden and Cove. Caden was a thin, wiry boy with skin the colour of burnt sugar and hair dyed a washed out lavender.

“You sure you got us?” Caden called back up as they began to shimmy down, unclipping the latches that were holding them in place.

Drift grunted back in the affirmative, he had picked the strongest of them to hold the weights of the others. Hanzo was nearby, lowering the rope holding Marcus and Elgar whilst Fletch was bearing the brunt of Robbo, who was taller than the others.

“Hey Cove,” Caden shouted, “you able to see the ground yet?”

Tethered on the same line, Cove was a few metres below Caden and was dipping below the frost mist level.

“No!” Cove yelled back. “I can’t see anything through the blizzard and I think my rope’s stuck!”

Drift frowned at the slack in his hands, the other two boys should have plenty of rope to descend at least another foot.

“Hey Drift,” Caden, looked up to catch his attention, “the kid’s stuck, his section of rope’s snagged on a crevice.”

“Tell him to try and pull it free,” Drift shouted. The snow storm was picking up and Drift could no longer see Cove at all.

“What’s wrong?” Hanzo asked, his grip slipping slightly as Marcus and Elgar let out shouts of surprise.

“Cove’s stuck,” Drift shouted, feeling anxious. They needed to get the hell off this cliff face before the blizzard made it impossible.

“Jesus, Robbo could you try to lose some weight?” Fletch yelled, tipping his head back with the strain and gritting his teeth.

“Well I might shit myself in a moment if that helps?” Robbo bit back frustratedly, his fingers fumbling with the metal clip.

“Cove!”

Drift’s heart lurched as he heard Caden let out a panicked shout, the line suddenly felt horribly lighter.

“What’s happened?” Drift started to scramble forwards, reeling the slack from the rope in so Caden didn’t drop.

“The rope’s torn on the ice where it was caught!” Caden swore before looking back up at Drift.

“Where is Cove?” Drift asked, his heart was beating erratically as visions of Cove crumpled and lifeless at the bottom of the cliff flashed across his brain.

“He’s here!” Caden cried out, he’s grabbing onto the cliff. “Drift I don’t know if I can get to him.”

“I’m coming,” Drift snapped, glancing up to Hanzo who nodded in understanding before taking the rope attached to Caden and clipping it to his own.

“Sure you can support three of them?” Drift asked, looking seriously at Hanzo.

The other boy nodded, “Go.”

Drift started to free climb down the cliff, the ice slicing through his gloves, no wonder it had made short work of the fraying rope. He passed by Caden who gave him a look of concern,

“I should have gone first,” Caden said, “I’m sorry.”

“No,” Drift replied hoarsely, the frost stinging his throat. “It made sense the lightest one was at the bottom so you could help support.”

Drift carried on clambering down until he finally spotted Cove’s hunched and shivering form plastered against the ice.

“Cove!” Drift yelled, “Cove look at me”

Cove’s eyes were shut tightly as he shook his head.

“Cove – trust me, I’m right here, just look at me okay?” Drift swore as his left hand slipped and his whole body dropped a length.

“Drift!” Cove shouted as Drift managed to steady himself, ramming an ice pick into the solidified cloud. Cove’s face was completely white, his eyes huge and panicked.

“I can’t hold on,” Cove gasped, his shoulders were shaking violently.

“You can,” Drift stated firmly, “I’m coming okay?”

“I can’t –“ Cove cried, his fingers clenching as he pushed his cheek against the ice sheet.

“Cove you fucking brat you better not let go,” Drift snarled, swinging his legs across to try and find the quickest route to the younger boy. “Don’t be so weak,” Drift added, making sure Cove was looking right at him.

“Don’t –“ Cove gulped, “don’t call me that!”

Drift felt a pang of relief as Cove’s face hardened and he bit his lip hard enough to draw blood as he drew himself back up. Cove squared his shoulders and fixed his grip on the ice with a determined expression.

“Good, good okay Cove now look at me, can you reach my hand?” Drift shouted clinging to the pick with his left hand whilst reaching out his right arm and straining towards Cove.

“I-“ Cove’s look of panic was back, if he reached for Drift’s help he would lose his footing completely.

“I won’t let you fall Cove I promise,” Drift urged.

“Be easier for you if I did,” Cove sniffed miserably.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Drift sighed, levering himself fractionally closer.

“I can’t jump that far,” Cove murmured. His voice was quiet but Drift still heard it over the rising winds.

“Okay,” Drift shouted, “Cove listen to me, I’m going to attach my line to this pick and I’ll jump towards you at the same time okay?”

Cove looked at Drift for a moment before giving a tight nod. Drift fixed his line, praying that the pick would hold the two of them before he made eye contact with Cove and began to count down from three.

When he hit zero both Cove and Drift launched themselves through the air, hands outstretched.

Drift’s fingers hit Cove’s first, starting to interlace.

They were going to make it.

Drift could hear panicked shouts coming from the other boys above but it was okay, he knew he was going to catch Cove.

The creature was twice the size of Drift as it came out of nowhere and slammed into the cliff, enveloping Cove mid flight.

Cove’s scream was high and piercing as huge, hairy arms wrapped around his body and jerked him out of Drift’s desperate grasp.

“Cove!” Drift yelled as his line went taut and yanked him back without the other boy. Drift watched in horror as the creature disappeared through the blizzard, taking Cove with him.

“DRIFT!” Fletch shouted, catching up with Drift’s descent and scrambling against the ice. “There’s a fucking yeti!”