Free Way of the Wolf by Bear Grylls Page B

contorted in agony. His arms were clenched to his sides and already his body shook in huge, muscle-wrenching shivers.
    ‘
Co-o-old!
’ he groaned.
    ‘’S OK . . . you’re safe now . . . come on . . .’ Beck clutched his friend and held him up as they stumbled away from the ice.
    ‘
Cold!
’
    ‘Yeah, I know. Come on, we’ll get you warm . . .’
    Beck bit his lip, and looked around the snowy waste. Get him warm? How?
    But he had to do it, because if he didn’t, then in just a few minutes Tikaani would be dead.

CHAPTER 21
    ‘Tikaani, strip!’
    Tikaani’s whole body vibrated with shivers and his face was contorted with pain, but his eyes went round with surprise.
    ‘Do it!’ Beck snapped.
    ‘Gee . . .’ Tikaani muttered, fumbling with numb, shaking fingers at his buttons. ‘D-d-didn’t know it . . . w-was that . . . k-kind of holiday . . .’
    ‘
All
your clothes,’ Beck said when Tikaani was down to his shorts.
    Tikaani reluctantly obeyed. ‘OK,’ he said. His goose-pimpled flesh was rough as sandpaper. ‘Now w-w-what?’
    But Beck had already started rubbing him dry with a T-shirt from his pack. He pushed the T-shirt into Tikaani’s hands. ‘Do it yourself,’ he instructed. ‘You have to keep moving and get yourself as dry as you can. Then we’ll get you warm.’
    Warm!
he thought again. The ghost of hypothermia was hanging over both of them, ready to pounce; ready to freeze them, turn their blood into ice, make them one with the snowy wastes. To survive, the body slowly shut itself down, focusing more and more effort on keeping the vital organs warm and alive. Finding an external source of warmth was the only treatment.
    Beck snatched up his rucksack – there would be nothing dry in Tikaani’s – and began to rummage through it. A trickle of sweat ran down his forehead and immediately he forced himself to slow down. This was the most important thing he had ever done – he had never had a friend so close to dying before – and he
had to slow down
. If he started sweating, then that damp sweat would eventually freeze – and then the hypothermia would pounce and they would be dead together.
    OK, good. There were dry clothes in here that Tikaani could wear. His boots were still soaking wet – there was nothing to be done about that – but Tikaani would be dry again. That all-important layer of warm air would form next to his skin. His body would keep its heat.
    For the time being, anyway. But he was still deeply chilled.
    ‘OK,’ Beck said. He scraped snow off a rock and left the clothes piled on top of it. ‘Put these on.’
    And now came the biggest challenge. He stood up straight and looked around, hands on his hips. He had to make a fire. By themselves, clothes wouldn’t do the trick for someone who had just been immersed in freezing water. Tikaani needed an extra source of heat. He needed a fire.
    A fire? Up here?
    Beck’s gaze roamed over the snow and ice. The nearest trees were a couple of hours’ walk away, downhill. What was he going to do? Burn rocks?
    His mind went, reluctantly, to the contents of his rucksack. OK. The rest of their clothes would burn. The makeshift ropes they had fashioned back at the plane would burn. But they wouldn’t burn for long enough, and anyway, he
so
didn’t want to do that . . .
    ‘Hey, Tikaani. Are the mountains snow-covered all year at this height?’
    Tikaani scowled up at him as he pulled on the trousers. ‘Yes. No. Well, the tops are but the lower bits are clear in the summer. Why?’
    Beck was pleased to see that the violent shaking had already died down. A little. His friend’s body still shivered.
    ‘Because if this area is clear during the summer, there might be . . .’
    He looked around again. If any plants grew up here at all, under the snow, they would be in sheltered places. He crouched down beside a boulder and burrowed into the snow with his hands.

CHAPTER 22
    Yes!
Beck’s fingers closed around something hard and round. He