Cold Territory: The Horror Diaries, #7

By Heather Beck

The Palace of Ice is beautiful and brimming with gems, but Dale’s learning the hard way that once you enter, you can never leave.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Treasure Cove Books
• Release date: Oct 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781519931511

Heather Beck

Heather Beck is a Canadian Author and Screenwriter who began writing professionally at the age of sixteen. Since then she has written eleven well-reviewed books, including the best-selling series, The Horror Diaries, which has sold in six continents. Heather received an Honors Bachelor of Arts degree from university where she specialized in English and studied an array of disciplines. Currently, she is working on the Frostbitten series and has two anthologies slated for publication. As a screenwriter, Heather has multiple television shows and movies in development. Her short films include: Young Eyes, The Rarity, Too Sensible For Love, Circular, and the forthcoming Witch’s Brew. Besides writing, Heather’s greatest passion is the outdoors. She is an award-winning fisherwoman and a regular hiker. Her hobbies include swimming, playing badminton and volunteering with non-profit organizations.

Book preview

Dale Stone smashed his ice axes and spiked boots into the icy mountain as he climbed higher. Resting for a moment, he looked down and estimated he was five hundred feet above the mountain’s base. Dale smiled as the familiar feeling of pride and excitement surged through his body.

Climbing mountains was Dale’s life. For years he had worked as a dentist, but after saving enough money, he quit his job and traveled to a faraway land in hopes of scaling one of the world’s most deadly mountains.

With one hand, Dale took an ice screw from the pouch around his waist and drove it into the mountain. Then he clipped a rope around the ice screw. He did this to protect himself in case he fell but, of course, Dale the great mountain climber would never fall; the rope was just a mere precaution. 

Dale took a deep breath as he continued climbing. He’d just driven his ice axes into the mountain and had started to dig his foot into the ice when he suddenly lost his footing. Dale’s other foot slipped in the aftershock. He swung from the ice axes, trying desperately to hold on. Dale’s arms ached and his fingers trembled, but even scarier was the way the ice axes moved under his weight. 

Hold on, Dale, he motivated himself, seconds before the ice axes slid out of the mountain and fell from his hands.

Dale crashed back and forth as he plummeted down the icy mountain. Suddenly, he was jerked upwards after falling past the second last ice screw he’d pinned into the mountainside. Using the rope to steady himself, Dale retrieved two emergency ice axes from his pouch and began to make his way back up to where he was before the fall.

Dale cursed to himself