The Smoke Jumper by Nicholas Evans

her pack off and sat down on a rock and started to take off her boots and put on her climbing shoes and the two men did the same. Ed took out the little penlike syringe he always carried and gave himself a shot of insulin and they sat and ate some of the ham and cheese sandwiches that Julia had made before they set out. They stowed all but what they would need for the climb behind some rocks then put on their harnesses and roped up.
    Connor led and Julia climbed behind him, and looking down at her on the very first pitch, he could see that she knew what she was doing. She had a good upright posture and moved with a nimble confidence, keeping her hands and arms at shoulder level.
    By late morning the sun was hot and they stopped on a ledge above a narrow chimney they had climbed and shed their sweaters and drank from their water bottles and rested awhile.
    ‘Listen,’ Julia said. ‘Listen to the silence. Isn’t it amazing?’
    She had tied her hair in a high ponytail and was wearing shorts and a yellow sleeveless top that showed her back and shoulders and didn’t quite conceal the cream straps of her bra. Her skin was tanned and flawless but for a small birthmark, like a dab of chocolate, just below the nape of her neck. She was smoothing sunscreen onto her upper arms and shoulders and talking to Ed while she did so about a tricky part of the chimney and Connor did his best not to look at her and at the curve of her breasts and instead turned to stare out over the forest that spread giddily below.
    They climbed for another hour, up a second broader chimney then worked their way slowly around a massive overhang on a shelf so narrow that only the tips of their toes found purchase. After that the mountain was more friendly for a while but although it was more of a hike than a climb they stayed roped. They crossed a spine of rock to another part of the mountain with ravens swirling around them and below them, croaking in disdain. Then on they went and on and up through a field of fallen boulders strangely sculpted by the wind and rain so that they looked like a colony of sleeping dinosaurs.
    The final part of the climb was the hardest and once Julia lost her grip and slipped. She gave a little cry and there was a clatter of sliding rocks, and Connor, belaying her, braced himself and called out ‘below’ to warn Ed and the rope jerked tight and held and he looked down to see her swinging for a moment in midair and Ed’s anxious face below. She had slipped only a few feet and she quickly found her footing and the three of them kept still and silent until the last echo of the displaced rocks faded far below them.
    ‘Sorry, guys,’ she said.
    ‘Are you okay?’ Ed asked.
    ‘Yeah, I’m fine.’
    She looked up at Connor but said nothing. She rested awhile to gather herself and then she climbed the rest of the pitch as if it were nothing. As she neared the top, Connor reached down and took hold of her wrist and she held his and he hauled her up onto the ledge. She tied off and stood there beside him, belaying Ed as he climbed toward them. She was breathing hard and her skin glistened with sweat. Connor watched her and she sensed it and smiled at him and he smiled back. When he had about twenty feet more to climb, Ed took a short rest and while they waited for him Connor squatted down on his haunches and looked out over the forest. He felt her hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her. The sun was flaring behind her and he had to squint to see her face.
    ‘Thanks for helping me down there,’ she said.
    ‘You helped yourself. You climb real well.’
    ‘Thanks.’
    ‘You’re welcome.’
    They reached the summit an hour later. There was a small pinnacle and below it a platform of undulating rock some twenty feet across and decorated with patches of gray-green and amber-colored lichen. The platform fell away sheer on three sides and some who had climbed here before had carved their initials on the side of the pinnacle