Mountain Mission

by Kristin Earhart

  “This clue deals with misconceptions,” Eliza said as they all made their way through the thick mist, one careful step at a time.

  “So?” Sage replied.

  “So, I think it’s about misleading names. The clue writers love that theme, right?”

  “Got it,” Sage immediately responded. “Like how they bring up the common name at the end?”

  “And then they say that the family has its own name,” Mari chimed in. “They’re making a big deal about how the animal is distinct, so it has its own scientific family name.”

  “Exactly,” said Eliza. “Most animals only have their own species name. This one doesn’t share a family name with any other animals. It probably doesn’t have any close relatives … at least no living ones.”

  “I think I’ve got it,” Mari announced. “Pippi Longstocking is known for her red hair, but we all know it isn’t really red. It’s not like stop sign red, right?”

  “Yes,” Eliza and Sage agreed. The boys just listened as they marched ahead.

  “And we know this animal isn’t a bear or a cat,” Mari continued.

  “Of course!” Eliza exclaimed. “The red panda! Not really red, not really a panda. But it has a ringed tail and mask.”

  “Not a real mask,” Dev pointed out. “Just super cool markings.”

  “Well, yeah, but it matches the clue,” Eliza continued. “And this is its habitat.”

  “Go ahead and type it in, Dev,” said Sage, but her tone lacked its typical authority.

  Russell wondered if the fog was getting to them, clouding their brains. Or maybe they were still dwelling on Jace’s warning.

  “We got it!” Dev called out, his voice the only clear thing for miles. “The ancam also says that we got the points for my expert, death-defying shot of the bees. We’ll get thirty more if we find ourselves a not-really red panda.”

  “In this fog?” Eliza answered.

  “They’re secretive as it is,” added Mari.

  “I’m just letting you know,” Dev defended himself.

  “Well, make sure you let us know when there’s a new clue,” Sage cut in. She glanced back at Jace, and the guide nodded.

  “Will do,” promised Dev.

  The fog wouldn’t let up. It only seemed to knit itself thicker as they climbed a steep path. Russell stumbled, his heavy pack shifted forward and forced him to the ground. Gravel pressed into his palms as he rested on all fours and tried to catch his breath. Jace pulled him back up by tugging on his bag’s shoulder straps. “Geez. What do you have in that thing?”

  “Stuff,” Russell answered as he wiped the dirt and dust from his hands. He couldn’t remember all the things he’d offered to carry. Now he was regretting his generosity. He grabbed his gloves from an outside pocket of the pack. Without the sun, the day wasn’t nearly as warm as yesterday.

  Russell and Jace hurried to catch up, listening for clues as to how much ground the others had covered. The team’s voices and footsteps echoed back at them, and Russell wondered just how close the mountain walls were on either side. He hadn’t heard any signs of the wolves, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other predators on the prowl. The pass seemed narrow, and Russell thought about how easy it’d be for them to get trapped.

  “We got the next clue,” Dev said after they’d rejoined the group. “Here it is.”

  Short gray wool that shields from cold.

  Short rubbery hooves to not lose hold.

  Dark stripe along the side.

  On bare cliffs, nowhere to hide.

  Fleet of foot on mountain face—

  A fight for life is a race of grace.

  “Well, we should all know what that is,” Eliza said at once.

  Russell groaned.

  “Tell us,” Sage prompted.

  “It could be any number of cliff-dwelling animals,” Mari answered, “but there’s a common species called the blue sheep that has a stripe along its side, on both males and females. The short hair is also a clue since many animals have much longer hair to stay warm.”

  “Exactly,” Eliza said.

  Russell missed the days when they all worked together to figure out the clue. He suspected Mari might have always known the answers, but she at least had allowed them to feel like they were helping. Now that Eliza was here, the two came up with the answers quickly.

  “But you said it was the blue sheep?” Dev confirmed. “Are we sure that’s right, if the clue says the wool is gray?”

  “It’s not really blue, silly,” Eliza insisted. “It just sometimes looks that way in the sun. It’s also more of a goat than a sheep. But you can feel free to send in the answer. Okay, Sage?” Eliza paused. Sage looked for confirmation from Mari and then responded with a brisk nod.

  With that, Dev began to type.

  At that moment, the fog shifted, and Russell felt a drop fall from the sky.

  “Rain! This is good,” Eliza said. But everyone else grumbled, even Mari. “We can kind of see now, and I’m sure we’ll get a shot of a blue sheep, because they aren’t endangered and they graze in groups. Easy to spot!”

  The cold was so penetrating that Russell didn’t feel it on his skin, but in his bones. It hadn’t been as bad the first day they were hiking, but he’d felt increasingly cold as they climbed higher.

  “I see lots of rain and rocks, but no animals,” Eliza said after a while. “You don’t think they’ve already headed farther up into the mountains now that it’s spring?”

  “That’s crazy,” Dev responded. “It’s still cold. Why would animals go higher up into the mountains where it’s beyond freezing?”

  “It’s just what they do. They’ve adapted to frigid temperatures,” Mari said. “But it seems too early for that. I’ll bet they’re still around.”

  Dev announced that there was another ancam message, telling them to get to the nearest rest stop for the evening. He studied the ancam map. “The path splits up ahead. We want to go right to find the village.”

  “But the sun hasn’t set yet. It’s still afternoon,” Eliza replied. “We could search for red pandas or blue sheep for a little longer. We need more points.”

  “Wait, there’s more,” Dev said, stalling as he read. “This could be a game changer.” He paused again.

  “Well?” Sage prompted, striding over.

  “It’s a point tally of what we have, and what’s still available.”

  “Finally,” Sage replied with a sigh. The whole team crowded around Dev. He held the ancam out so they could all see the screen, but the type was very small. It was set up like a chart.

  “It looks like algebra,” Russell grumbled. “Super Extra Advanced Algebra.”

  “See,” Eliza said. “The photos are worth more than the clues, and we’ve only gotten one. We should take the long route and try to get more.”

  “No, you shouldn’t,” Jace said, moving away from the group. “You received a direct order. The organizers told you to head to the nearest shelter. That’s what you should do.” He glanced upward, scanning the cliffs.

  Eliza responded by zipping her coat and forcing her hands in her pockets, her movements sharp and quick.

  “If you aren’t worried about your safety, maybe you should be worried about getting a penalty,” Jace suggested. “From Bull Gordon himself.”

  Even Eliza flinched. No one wanted to go up against Bull Gordon, the director of the race. He had wrestled grizzlies, and was as tough as they came.

  Sage put her hand on Eliza’s shoulder as they all started walking. “It’s not just a race,” she said under her breath. “We have to be safe.”

  When they reached the fork in the path, Jace stepped over to the left and blocked the uphill track.

  “Okay, I get it,” Eliza said. As they turned down the gravel road that led to the village, Russell was certain he saw a pair of horns poking over the ridge, but he didn’t say a thing.

  CREATURE FEATURE

  RED PANDA

  SCIENTIFIC NAME: Ailuru
s fulgens

  TYPE: mammal

  RANGE: regions of the Himalayan Mountains from Nepal to Central China

  FOOD: leaves, flowers, and buds

  Also known as the lesser panda and the red bear-cat, the red panda is not a panda, a bear, or a cat. However, it is about the size of a house cat, if that cat had an extremely long, bushy ringed tail.

  With its peculiar markings and preference for eating plants, the red panda has long been of interest to scientists. Over the years, they have unsuccessfully tried to link the red panda’s scientific family to the raccoon and other mammals that share some of its features. Now, the red panda has its own distinct scientific family, and it is the only member.

  The red panda is a tree-dweller. It uses its exceptionally long tail for balance. It also wraps its tail around itself for warmth in the frigid chill of the mountains. Its red coat helps it blend in with red moss so it can avoid predators. The black under its chin and along its belly blends into the dark bark of the trees where it roosts.

  “Ugh, why do I feel worse now than when we went to sleep?” Sage wondered out loud the next morning as she pulled herself out of her sleeping bag, one leg at a time, trying not to kick any teammates in the process. “I’m so achy.”

  “Yeah? You want to carry my pack today?” Russell asked. His back felt like he’d lugged a brick wall across the Himalayas, and then had to sleep on it.

  “It could be because we slept on the ground, with only a thin tent between us and permafrost,” Dev suggested.

  “It isn’t permafrost if it actually thaws at some point,” Eliza corrected Dev.

  “Well it doesn’t feel like it will defrost anytime soon,” Dev retorted, his glare as frosty as the air.

  “It’s not my fault that we had to set up and sleep in a tent in the pouring rain,” Eliza huffed, stuffing her sleeping bag in its sack. “And it wasn’t my fault that there wasn’t any room at the official shelter, either.”

  “No one said it was your fault,” Mari assured Eliza. “We’re just not morning people.”

  “You weren’t any better last night.”

  The whole team turned and stared at Jace. When the guide looked up, he gulped. “Did I say that out loud? Sorry. I’m not a morning person, either.” He turned back toward his bag and concentrated on stuffing his tiny travel pillow inside.

  Russell knew what Jace was getting at. They all did. The rest stop in the village had been full. Another team had beaten them there. The cottage had looked warm, and good smells had carried into the cold air when the door opened. It hadn’t been easy watching that door close again.

  Even though there were other buildings in the small village, Jace wouldn’t let them sneak in and take shelter there, even as the light drizzle turned into a pelting rain. He had said it was trespassing and against race rules. So they had to pitch a tent, and eat nut bars and jerky for dinner. No one had been happy about it.

  “We should try to get ourselves together,” the guide said. “We need to finish this race today, or we might have to spend another frigid night in a tent without much to eat.”

  That got the group moving. They weren’t anywhere close to the finish line yet. Plus, they had to pack everything, even the soggy fleeces that Sage and Eliza discovered in the corner of the tent.

  “I was going to wear that,” Sage complained.

  “Well it’s a good thing I packed extra layers,” Mari said, digging through her bag for her backup. “You can borrow this.”

  “I don’t suppose anyone can loan me something,” Eliza said as she wrung the rainwater from her hoodie. Dev tossed her a replacement.

  “Time?” Sage bellowed from where she was tugging a tent pole from the frozen mud.

  Dev checked the ancam. “Two minutes!” he called out. Everyone tried to strip down the campsite as quickly as they could.

  Sage’s eyes narrowed. “We can eat as we go, folks, but don’t let it slow you down.” Now that the mist was gone, so was her lax leadership.

  “And don’t let it keep you from looking for the animals on our list. That’s how we’ll get extra points,” Eliza reminded the team.

  Before going to sleep the night before, they had examined the map by flashlight. The only bonus of not getting to sleep in the warm shelter was that they had hiked a while before finding a decent place to pitch their tent. Now they were farther along the route. Plus, Russell and Dev had discovered a new pass on the map, one that cut between two of the highest mountains. It was practically a shortcut.

  The sun burst over a far mountaintop, and the sliver of light told Russell it was a good day for a hike.

  “It’s go time,” Dev announced. “And we have a clue.”

  “Read it as we head out,” Sage said, giving her hiking socks a final tug.

  And they were off.

  What could be more cute

  Than a monkey’s big, long snoot?

  A peacock’s colorful tail?

  A tungara frog’s deep wail?

  A great large clownfish?

  Maybe massive antlers are your wish?

  But for this animal to complete,

  The male must smell smoky sweet—

  A scent even humans adore.

  They’ve worn it five thousand years, maybe more.

  “I know this one!” Russell was surprised by his own enthusiasm. He recognized the traits listed in the clue as ways animals attract their mates: fancy feathers; large racks of antlers; low, throaty calls. Almost all the things listed were features of the male of a species, including the answer to the clue. “It’s the musk deer, and it’s hugely endangered because people hunt it for the male’s musk, which goes into perfume.”

  “So it’s the male deer that makes the scent?” Sage questioned.

  “Yeah,” Russell responded, adjusting his gear.

  “Sage, you got a problem with a dude smelling nice?” Dev glanced over at Russell with a toothy grin. The boys had taken the lead and had a good pace going. The path ran alongside the edge of a mountain. It seemed like it was carved out of the cliff itself, a steep rock wall rising on one side and an abrupt drop on the other. Russell was relieved that the mist was gone, even if it meant he could see just how big a plunge it was off the edge of the path.

  “He’s right,” Eliza said. “About the answer. It’s the musk deer. That’s the good news. The bad is that they are extremely threatened. The chances of getting a photo are pretty much zilch.”

  “That’s why it’s worth fifty points,” Dev said, looking up from the ancam.

  “Well, no harm in trying,” Eliza said.

  “But don’t forget that we also get extra points if we’re one of the first three teams to the finish line,” Sage pointed out. “There are only four teams left, so unless we’re dead last we’ll get something. We’ve made good time. Plus, the guys found this shortcut, so something would have to go very wrong for us to come in last.”

  “Um, what do you mean by very wrong?” Russell asked, coming to an immediate stop. He glanced back at the rest of the team.

  “Like, would a giant rockslide completely blocking our shortcut, so we have to backtrack all the way through the village, count as very wrong?” Dev questioned. “Because that’s exactly what we’re looking at.”

  “No!” yelled Sage as she took in the full magnitude of what Dev had said. A huge pile of rubble covered the path.

  Russell looked up to the mountain on one side, and down to the sheer drop on the other. “There’s no way,” Mari said. “If we tried to climb over it, we’d just slide into a dark, dusty oblivion.”

  “That’s just wrong,” said Eliza.

  “Very wrong,” Russell agreed.

  CREATURE FEATURE

  HIMALAYAN MUSK DEER

  SCIENTIFIC NAME: Moschus leucogaster

  TYPE: mammal

  RANGE: small pockets of the Himalayan Mountains from Nepal to China

  FOOD: leaves, grasses, mosses, shoots, and twigs

  Musk deer do not have ant
lers like most deer, but they do have extra-long canine teeth that grow so long they look like fangs. These tusks can measure close to four inches (10 cm) on males. During mating season, the males battle, using the tusks in their confrontation. Females have tusks, too, although theirs are shorter.

  Musk deer are small in comparison to many deer. Their hind legs are longer and more muscular than their front, giving them a bouncy gait. They can manage high leaps, which allows them to escape many predators.

  Only males have the musk sac that gives the deer its name. During mating season, the smell of musk lures the normally solitary females out of hiding. Unfortunately, the musk is appealing to humans as well, who hunt the deer for the waxy, smelly substance. Humans use musk in traditional medicines and fragrances. The musk is a rare substance and is therefore worth a lot of money. Gram for gram, musk is worth up to three times the cost of gold.

  “Maybe it was your buddy Dallas and Team Nine who snagged the shelter last night.” Dev made the comment as Team Ten passed through the small village, backtracking to the path that led over the ridge.

  Russell didn’t bother with a reply. For one, he thought Dev understood that Dallas didn’t exactly qualify as a “buddy” anymore. Russell wasn’t entirely sure what his current relationship with Dallas was—not after he’d discovered that Dallas had put a tracking device on his backpack in the Amazon. Things tend to get messy when you realize your friends are cheating off of you.

  “Hey, look!” Mari chirped. “Bar-headed geese! Those birds are amazing.” Russell glanced over to where the head of a lake was visible in a valley, heavy mist floating over the water. If he squinted through his binoculars, Russell could make out a small flock of what looked like perfectly normal geese, except they all had distinct black marks on their white heads. “What they put themselves through to migrate over the Himalayas is incredible,” Mari continued. “They hug the peaks, so they rise and fall in altitude. Truly amazing.”