33

Don't shake his hand. "You'll get us all killed if you behave like that!"

Zhu closes his eyes for a few seconds and exhales hard through his nose. "Perhaps you are right. Consider me chastened, Dr. Spillane. I will—I will try to be more delicate from now on. But time is wasting, and our mission is pressing. Onward!"

And then he is off, powering ahead once more into the wind, fading from view after just a few paces. Stevo looks down from his yak and shoots you a meaningful look, and then the pair of you are following in Zhu's wake.

Some Time Later

The Cloven Neck starts to narrow dramatically as you push forward through the blizzard, and you spend your third night on the mountain in an unforgettable spot. The rock walls above you narrow until they are almost touching; only a narrow slit between the two peaks opens up to the sky. The valley almost becomes a tunnel here. You pitch your tents under the left-hand overhang, sheltered from the falling snow.

You slip into the usual evening routine. You and Zhu pitch the tents while the guides tend to the yaks and prepare your gruel. Stevo is so drained and weak that he is no help whatsoever; you prop him up in a sleeping bag inside your tent and then sit in silence with Zhu, waiting for your dinner.

Sangpo eventually comes into your tent, two steaming bowls in his hands. Without a word, and avoiding Zhu's eyes, he sets the bowls down in front of the two of you as you sit cross-legged on the ground.