Dawn came grey and cold.
Gabriel was already awake. Had been all night. He checked their gear methodically while Tess ate a cold breakfast of preserved meat and hard bread.
The climbing equipment from Tormund was well-made. Rope rated for mountain work, pitons that would hold in ice, a hammer that felt balanced in the hand. Everything they'd need.
Assuming they survived long enough to use it.
"Stay close," Gabriel said as they approached the mountain face. "If you fall, I won't be able to catch you from below."
Tess tightened the straps on her pack. "Then I won't fall."
The first section was manageable. The rock face angled at forty-five degrees, rough enough for handholds, stable enough that fear didn't enter into it yet.
That changed after the first hour.
The angle steepened. Handholds became scarcer. The rock was slick with ice that formed in the shadows where sunlight never reached.
