Note: After this update, we should remain Deepali free for a while until I feel her return necessary for the story and the way I want it to proceed... I love Deepali's character and find it to be very intriguing.. I love playing around with her character as I find her character to have many shades. As I mentioned earlier, she is more of a grey character here.. In one of the earlier updates I wanted to show a good side to her, and found that you guys were changing your mind about her... and then the sudden glint of her previous persona left you with a bad taste in the mouth... I wanted to show that a person is not necessarily only evil.. but could be somewhere in between...
Infact I love all my characters as each of them add some spice to the story... and without each of them my story would lose its zing factor..
Chapter 43
"Akash, get everyone ready," Rishab called as he and Harpreet prepared to take Deepali to the pickup point. They had to backtrack nearly thirty minutes down the mountain to reach the area set up as a rescue point. Rishab nodded when Akash waved and motioned for them to go on."Alright, get on the litter," Harpreet ordered Deepali, "so we can get moving.""I really think if I just take it easy I'll be fine," Deepali said, not wanting to look like a wimp. Harpreet shook her head. "We don't have time for that." Deepali glanced between the two guides before finally allowing them to help her into the litter. "Just for the record, this isn't dignified at all."Rishab just rolled his eyes, but stayed quiet as he glanced around the camp. "Make sure you're ready to leave when we get back," he told Akash.Akash shook his head at them. "Dude, let me remind you that this is not the first time I have been left in charge... go, and I'll take care of everything." He glanced at their group. "Jeez, you would think I was new here! Need to remind them who pays the salaries out here."Rishab and Harpreet both packed a snowball and threw them at the third guide as he turned away. One hit him in the head and the other hit him in the ass. They high fived each other before they picked up the litter, balancing Deepali's weight between them.Akash snorted. "You guys are a riot," he hollered after them. "I'm gonna fire your asses when we get back home!""As if he could live without us", Harpreet shook her head. "Damn Deepali, you are heavier than you look."Rishab wondered why he hadn't just sent Akash in his place so he wouldn't have to deal with Deepali any longer than necessary."Um, guys, not to make things any more difficult than they already are, but, um... I'm assuming we have to go back down the same way we came up, right?""Yeah," Rishab answered. That or we just throw ya down the mountain."Uh-huh... and how exactly do we make it down the part where we roped up?" She wasn't trying to be deliberately obtuse, but she wasn't gonna make it down in this thing!"We'll put you in a harness," Harpreet replied simply. "I see." She grimaced. "Not exactly the way that I had anticipated goin' back down the mountain."Yeah, your own fault, idiot, Rishab thought. Okay now that was unnecessarily mean.Harpreet grinned. "Not as much fun this way, but you'll get to catch a ride with the flight crew... if you're real lucky they might take you and Sikander here up so you can see the summit.""The summit," Deepali and Sikander echoed. Deepali looked back at Sikander, "God, this all sucks.""Ah, you'll be good as new in no time," Harpreet assured her. "You can always take another shot at the mountain next time you've got a vacation." She silently stole a glance at Sikander, who was unusually quiet today.Rishab shifted the litter and glanced up at the sky. It was gonna be a beautiful day for climbing and the best thing was they would be making camp early... and Deepali was going away!Deepali nodded at Harpreet. "You know, I didn't even have time to thank you, you know, for saving my life and looking after me. Thanks for that."Harpreet grinned. "Hey, you paid for the full package; that includes daring life saving heroics by your guides."Deepali chuckled. "Still, I didn't mean to put you in that situation.""I'd hope not... that would've been pretty stupid." Harpreet nodded at Rishab. "We keep a betting pool open down at the lodge every time this guy comes around about when this guy's next rescue will be... your swan dive will mean we've gotta start a new pool.""Who gets the money this time?" "Who called this climb, Rishab?""Man, I don't know about your ridiculous bets."Harpreet rolled her eyes. "All I know is it wasn't me or Akash." "Poor you," Rishab said unsympathetically, but smirked at Harpreet."You put in a last minute bet before we left, didn't you?" Harpreet asked through slitted eyes. "I don't bet on my own ass," Rishab denied and placed the litter down carefully when they reached the point where they had to put Deepali in the harness and rope down."Uh-huh," Harpreet said slowly. "I'll bet you did." She took care of hooking Deepali into the harness while Rishab broke the litter down and stored the lightweight frame in his pack to transport it."I'll go down first," Rishab said and walked closer to the ledge to start the climb down. Harpreet watched as her partner began to rope down, anchoring the ice screws and descending to solid ground. As soon as he had placed the last anchor he motioned for Harpreet to hook Deepali in and send her down."Okay," Rishab called when Deepali was down with him safely and he had unhooked her from the harness. "Boy, that's a lot easier when the wind isn't blowing so hard," Deepali commented. "True. The glacier they will be climbing tomorrow won't be as easy," Harpreet said when she and Sikander joined them."Guess we must be getting pretty close to the pickup point, huh?" Deepali asked when Harpreet dropped down beside her and unhooked the rope from her harness. "Only a few hundred yards or so, yeah," Harpreet nodded."Gotta admit, part of me will be glad to sleep in a real bed tonight," she admitted. "Not really into all this out here, huh?" Harpreet gestured at the landscape around them."Nah, I mean, it's cool and all, but," she cast a forlorn look towards Rishab, "I think I'll just stick to indoor sports from now on."Rishab glanced up when he heard the helicopter coming in closer. "Your cab's almost here.""I'm sure the ride won't be as smooth as the private jet, but I guess it'll do." She grinned. Rishab shuffled on his feet when the evac team was nearby. "Protect your eyes, you two." Sikander and Deepali turned their heads away and covered their eyes.Rishab waited until the helicopter had landed and turned off the rotors before he turned around and walked towards it. The door opened and Kapoor and Shaan stepped out, smiling at him. "Hey, Kundra, heard you're the hero of the day again.""And you're looking awful pleased about that... make some money off of that, did you?" She shrugged and raised a fist in the air. "I won the pot, baby!" He snorted. "You guys really need to come up with better entertainment, Kapoor.""I like it." She glanced at Harpreet as she approached them. "Hey, Kapoor," she greeted her with a hug. "Hey! So," she glanced behind Rishab, "that's her?" "Wow, Kapoor... you picked out the person on the litter..." Rishab grinned at her look of annoyance. "Can't get anything by you, can we?" She slapped the back of his head. "Go get her and bring her over here, smartass.""Ow," he grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head. "What's your old man think of you going around hitting people?" He grinned as he walked backwards. "Or is that how you got him to date you?", indicating Shaan. Hmmm... Looks like they worked it out and are back together again. Man, I have lost track of the number of times they break up and make up again. She always did have a thing for guys who could take care of themselves in the air and on land."Alright," Rishab told as he helped Deepali up. "Time for you to go back to base camp." Kapoor watched them as they helped Deepali into the helicopter and Shaan, the pilot, got her and Sikander secured into the seats, while Harpreet strapped herself to one of the available seats. As soon as Shaan gave her a thumbs-up and closed the door she nodded. "Alright, Rishab, it's time for us to go; don't break anymore of your climbers this week."Rishab snorted and started to walk backwards. He nodded to the woman when she closed the door and he turned around to shield his eyes when they started the engine again.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Akash grinned as Rishab joined finally joined them. "This will go a lot faster now that it's just us." "Yeah," Rishab followed him easily. "Wanna bet the mood's gonna be a lot lighter now?" "I really hope so. I mean, they're all cool, but the fights were really starting to get on my nerves.""That girl really seemed to take some kinda weird pleasure outta pushing everyones buttons and starting arguments.""Yeah. But we gotta a good group now, don't we?", Rishab said looking at the remaining climbers. "They're a good group. Lotta energy and I think the rest of the climb's gonna go pretty well." "Yeah," Rishab didn't sound too convinced. He knew there was still that one girl in the group that made it hard for him to think straight. As they neared the group, Rishab yelled out "Guys, you ready to move?"
"All packed up and ready to go, man," Adam yelled back.
"Great, I will take the lead with Madhu and Abby and Adam can take the middle position today and let's get moving."
Edited by luvera - 11 years ago
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