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Giulia was lying on a stone ledge five steps away from the drop and weeping. Ivan did not try to comfort or calm his companion—he was sitting next to her with his hands propped on the rough mossy ground and thinking that that was probably going to be their end. There was an encroaching precipice up ahead and off to one side. On the other side, a rocky slope rose steeply all the way to the clouds. In the saddle behind them there were the Germans. They had found themselves in a perfect, most carefully laid trap. How on Earth did they manage to get so badly stuck? For Giulia, who had unexpectedly begun to hope for an escape, the discovery was particularly shocking and painful, and Ivan was not talking to her now—he had nothing to say.
Chilly damp air was rising from the abyss. Their heat
