The Kingdom of Eternal Winter (Divergent Fourtris Fanfiction)

Chapter 17

Dusk had begun to cast its fading light onto the path that led the girls away from Al's hut towards the Dark Forest. They had decided to ignore the missing light and just wanted to try to get their stones, so they could walk away from this place as quickly as ever they could afterwards. They had one match left, they could make a torch and let it light their way once the night had fallen.

They wandered in silence. It wasn't as peaceful and calm as it used to be as each of them dwellt on her thoughts. The change of scenery was subtle at first, but became more and more undeniable. The path turned narrow and overgrown, the trees and bushes thicker beside them. No other sound could be heard but the rustling of leaves and the soft padding of their feet on the frozen mud. The treetops were so thick that there wasn't even snow on the ground.

For the first time since leaving home almost two weeks ago, since joining this whole competition, Beatrice felt fear creeping up on her. It wasn't panic or terror, more like a chill reaching for her bones. She shivered as a part of her finally realized there was no way out of this situation other than to go through. But she couldn't afford to let fear overtake her, she needed to pull herself together for the sake of this task. They'd hurry and go out of this area, back to the part of the province that she knew and appreciated. This didn't feel like a part of Abnegation at all. No wonder it was usually forbidden to come here.

She counted seven hundred and twelve steps until they reached the end of the path. It emerged onto a tiny circular clearing, hardly big enough for the both of them to stand on with their bags. It was surrounded by gray stones on the ground, with a gap between two bigger ones that Al had told them about, leading the way towards the wall. It was impossible to say if anyone had been here before them, since the frozen mud didn't allow any footprints. They wouldn't leave any traces either. Nobody would be able to tell that they'd been here. Another shiver ran down Beatrice's spine at the thought of getting lost between the trees that surrounded them almost as if they themselves were the wall they were looking for.

Breathe, she thought. Retain control. You made it this far, now is not the time to give up.

She didn't dare to speak, so she searched for Christina's gaze and pointed between the two of them questioningly.

Who was going to go first?

She didn't know what was better or worse. It was like choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Christina looked as lost as she did as she shrugged and glanced between the opening between the stones and the trees.

Beatrice decided to act then. There was no point in wasting time. She'd go first.

She took off her bag and set it down by her feet. She felt Christina watch her as she untied it and took out the pickaxe. Had it already been this heavy when Al had first given it to her?

With a last look at Christina, she made sure her friend was okay. She nodded at her encouragingly, or as encouragingly as she could under the circumstances, and so Beatrice turned, took a steadying breath and stepped forwards between the stones.

One. Two. Three.

She counted the steps, and for a moment, her mind went back to the castle and her dance with Tobias.

Four. Five. Six.

But the situation didn't allow any distractions. She had to count up to one hundred steps and focus on walking straight ahead.

When she reached twenty, she found herself suddenly surrounded by trees. If there had been at least some kind of recognizable path, it was gone now. Nothing but trees and more trees, rows and rows of them. How was she supposed to walk straight ahead and not get lost when she had to wriggle her way between them like this?