Excerpt 

Soon, they found themselves walking along a vertical wall. The left side of the path was shear rock, extending straight up for several hundred feet. As the path narrowed, the right side became the opposite. They were now on a ten foot wide ledge with a cliff dropping down far enough that it was difficult to tell where the bottom was.

“This is getting a little eerie,” Heather murmured.

“We should be alright as long as this path doesn’t dwindle to nothing,” Tom replied.

“Are you kidding?” Kristi voiced her opinion rather loudly. “We need to go back. This isn’t safe.”

“Keep your voice down,” Tom demanded in a forceful but subdued tone.

“Don’t tell me what to do! We need to go back, I tell you.”

“Kristi,” said Sam, “Keep your voice down. If we get too loud, we might cause an avalanche.”

“All the more reason to turn back,” she said, walking over to the edge of the trail to look down.

“Please don’t get so close to the cliff, Kristi,” Heather requested. “You’re making me nervous.”

“I’m just looking for another way.” She looked over the side. “I can’t see any path, but I can’t see next to the wall, either. I still think we need to try another route.”

“Please, Kristi,” Heather pleaded.

“Now that’s a strange looking bird,” Kristi said, looking straight down.

Sam joined her and checked out what she was referring to. The wings were more like the wings of a bat than of a bird. It had a long tail that tapered to the end, where it appeared to end in a ball. The head was scaled as it got closer to their position.

“Oh my God!” he exclaimed. “It has seen us.”

“What has?” asked Tom.

“The dragon! Quick. Hide.” Sam ran for cover against the sheer wall.

Kristi watched him run. “There’s no such thing as dragons.”

Just as she finished that statement, it cleared the wall, coming into view of the group. Tom immediately placed his Spontoon at the ready. The dragon saw his movement and landed near him. Its tail swung wildly, striking Kristi and knocking her off the wall.

“No!” Heather cried.

Sam’s face turned to horror, as he watched Kristi disappear over the cliff. He brought the Trident around, pointing it sharply at the monster. Two ice spears shot out from the shorter tines, striking the dragon in its shoulder. The creature lifted off, wrenching in pain. Letting out a blood-curdling roar, it flew right at Sam. He pointed the Trident at it once again. A much larger spear launched from the center tine catching the dragon in the neck. It flipped backward in mid air and dropped over the cliff.

Tom ran to the edge in time to see it vanish from sight. He scanned the area below the last known position of Kristi. He could see nothing. The wall was too steep to view the bottom directly below them, but the rest of the landscape was quite visible. She must have fallen to her death, he thought. He turned and looked at Sam, saying nothing. He just shook his head.

Slowly, Sam walked over to the cliff. He was visibly shaking. “What am I gonna do? I didn’t listen to her. We should have gone back. Now, I’ve lost her. There’s nothing left for me, here.”

Tom was shocked at Sam’s revelation. A small part of his surprise was Sam wanting to give up so easily. A much larger portion of his amazement was that Sam did not see that he was free of that ball and chain.

“Come on, Sam,” he said. “We need you if we’re going to make it to the summit.”

“What’s the point?”

Heather found her inner strength. “We have to make it to the top if we expect to get home.”

“Home to what?”

“Your kids, Sam. They will need you more than ever.”

His eyes grew wide as he looked to the ground. It appeared he had forgotten what their goal was. “You’re right, Heather. How could I have lost sight of my children?”

“Perfectly understandable, Sam,” said Tom. “I think we better leave, now, in case that thing was only stunned.”

Without saying another word, the three grabbed their meager belongings and continued in haste.