The ice was as hard as stone, and Tris' palms burned as they slid over it as she tried to break her fall. It stopped her from more severe injuries, but her knees still hit the surface hard enough for her to cry out in pain. They would certainly bruise. But there was no time to worry about that now. She had to get out of this situation first.
She turned around quickly and was surprised to find that her attacker was a girl, tall and broad, her dark brown eyes staring at her menacingly, her face vaguely familiar. She didn't know what she could possibly have done to deserve to be looked at like this.
It was good that she had been training so regularly with both Marlene and Christina, as well as on her own, for she managed to get back up on her feet as soon as she was over the first shock. It didn't prove to be easy on the slippery ground, though.
"Who are you?" she gasped out as she stared right into the girl's hatred-filled eyes.
"Doesn't matter who I am. It's more important to ask me what I want," the girl snarled as she stepped threateningly close to her again. She was at least a head taller than her. It would be hard to tackle her down in a fight.
"So, what do you want?" Tris choked out, trying to play for time and think over her options to escape.
"The Water of Truth!"
Of course, another contestant! That's why she looked familiar. Tris wasn't sure about her name, was it Molly? She hadn't talked to her before. Now she instinctively turned sideways in an attempt to protect the bag slung across her body from the attacker.
"Go and get some yourself!"
"Why go through all this trouble when I can just take yours instead?"
Molly reached for the bag with an ugly laugh and pulled, hard, but Tris clung to it desperately. She wouldn't let go, not this easily. Not without a fight. There was too much at stake.
"No!" she shouted and wrapped her hands around Molly's wrists to pull her hands off her bag, but she held on stubbornly. Yet with Tris constantly moving and turning around, she didn't get her hands inside it either. That's why she tried to tackle Tris harder instead, wrapped her arms around her upper torso from the side and tried to make her fall.
Tris knew Molly was bigger and stronger than her, but she herself was more agile. For a moment, she pretended to surrender, and Molly's grip around her loosened a bit. She immediately used the opportunity to trip her up. The slick ice made it easier to do than if they'd stood on solid ground. But Tris hadn't calculated that Molly's arms were still close enough around her to pull her down, too.
Both girls slipped and toppled, and Molly huffed as she fell backwards onto the ice. It must have hurt her a lot more than Tris grazing off her palms' skin when she had first fallen. This time, she landed more or less on Molly herself, knocking the air out of the taller girl's lungs. She used the moment that Molly was gasping in pain and shock to roll off of her. She turned around and, with little hesitation, jumped at the chance to defeat Molly. She quickly slung a leg over her and swung herself up to straddle her. With her left hand she pinned Molly's right arm down against the ice and reached for the knife tied to her belt with her right.
Tris didn't want to hurt Molly with it, but she wanted, needed, to prove that she could if she had to, and this was probably the easiest way to get out of this fight quickly and without injuries. It seemed to be a language that the other girl understood, for she flinched as she saw the blade and stopped struggling as her eyes widened in surprise and fear.
"Please, don't stab me! All I wanted was a bit of the Water, please, don't hurt me."
"I won't stab you, but I won't give away what I rightfully own. You have no right to take it from me. What were you thinking to attack me this cowardly?"
Tris was breathing hard, anger and adrenaline raging through her, as well as a strange satisfaction that came with seeing the other girl's gaze jumping between her and the knife.
"I need to stay in the competition," Molly hissed.
"What makes you think that I don't?"
"Oh, come on, you're from Abnegation. You're supposed to be happy with what you have there. How on earth are you even threatening me? Isn't that against your province's rules?"
"You have the nerve to call me out on fighting against the rules? Really?" Tris couldn't believe how anyone could be this arrogant, and especially in the position she was in. "Too bad for you that we aren't in Abnegation right now and I've learned how to defend myself."
But then her anger subsided as she saw blood emerging from under Molly's head, slowly forming a dark red puddle on the dark blue ice. She hadn't noticed it before, with her focus solely being on how to get the situation under control, but now she pulled back in irritation. Her reflection flashed back at her from the silver blade for a second, and it made the rest of her anger vanish. This wasn't her, threatening someone with a knife, even with the training she'd been doing.
"You're bleeding," she stated matter-of-factly. "I'll get up now, but don't you dare attack me again, or I swear you'll regret it."
She felt only half the confidence she put into her words, but she figured it was worth it if it meant Molly wouldn't try anything again. But it didn't appear as if she'd be up to that anytime soon, for she sat up and carefully touched the back of her head, then stared at the blood on her fingers in surprise. The shock must have numbed the pain of the cut she had sustained upon falling.
Tris tucked the knife away, feeling safe enough, at least for now. She even rummaged in her bag and actually tore off another piece of fabric from her simple blanket that she then tied around Molly's head in her attempt to honor her mother's words. The bulky girl eyed her suspiciously, but didn't object.
"Can you get up?" Tris asked after she was done.
"I think so, yes."
Molly was a little pale, but it could also have been the contrast between her skin and her black clothes. She slowly slid backwards on the ice, not looking away from Tris, as if she expected her helping gesture to result in some kind of trap.
"Thanks," she muttered as she finally reached the shore and stepped onto the frozen grass. Then she turned around and marched off, and Tris stood still for a while and looked after her before she continued her own journey back to Christina's house. Her head was still spinning in the aftermath of the long day and especially the unexpected fight. When had the other girls begun to see her as competition and not just another participant? Was this what it would be like in the next two weeks during the last tasks? She'd have to start being more careful about whom she trusted. Not that it would have helped her today with Molly, since she couldn't remember having interacted with her at all.
Christina stared at her wide-eyed as she opened the door for her.
"What the everlasting winter happened to you?" she gasped.
"Why, what's wrong?"
"Have you been in a fight? You look disheveled and your coat is wet and has a snag."
Tris raised her hands to comb her hair back. She hadn't bothered to redo her bun or check her general appearance after the encounter with Molly.
"Oh, and look at your hands! They're all bruised and grazed."
"I was attacked by a girl who's also in the competition. I think her name is Molly."
"You've been what?"
Christina took care of Tris and sat her onto the bench, then offered her some tea and stew while she asked her about what had happened. Tris felt so warm and comfortable now that she was back safely that she gladly told her friend everything. It was alleviating to have someone she could trust with all this, and she didn't mind the endless stream of questions directed at her for once. It was easier to just answer them than having to make the effort to sum it all up herself without forgetting anything. Also, it touched her how angry Christina was at Molly.
"I know her, she's from Candor as well. She's been mean all her life, she never hid her violent tendencies. She lives in a self-built hut beside the forest with her two brothers, their parents have been gone since literally forever. They have a few animals, a handful of goats and sheep, but it's common knowledge that they mistreat them and don't care for them well. My mother always told me to stay away from them when I was a child, and so did other parents. I can't believe she sunk that low now. What made her think she could get away with a robbery like that? No cheating, right? The queen stated it pretty clearly, and we saw what happened when we tried to put the stone into the bowl together, it didn't work. I don't even want to think about what she could have done to you if we hadn't started training as much as we do."
It wasn't easy to stop Christina's rant at some point to hear how her date with Will had gone, and that said something about how agitated she was. Under other circumstances, she wouldn't miss a chance to talk about him. But Tris insisted that she should tell her about their afternoon, and with every minute that Christina talked about Will she calmed down and a different kind of excitement took over. They wanted to try again, slowly, and it made Christina's whole face light up. Tris was happy for her. It was obvious he meant a lot to her, and apparently she to him. Would it be the same for her and Tobias one day soon?
It wasn't until later that night, when she unpacked her bag to check if everything was still there and intact, especially the bottles and the vial, that she burst out laughing at something else she discovered.
"What is it? Are you going crazy now from exhaustion?" Christina asked dryly. She couldn't entirely hide her curiosity, though.
"It's the box. Another lock has opened."
"What? How so?"
"This is kind of ironic, but it says 'enemy'. Seems like Molly unintentionally helped me with this one."
It was a gray morning that Tobias had woken up to, and his visit to his father didn't make it any less dull. On the contrary, the king lay in his bed as always, but he looked paler than usual, and he was barely conscious even in the moments he was awake. He gazed at the ceiling out of his tired eyes, and only he knew what he was seeing there, before he dozed off again.
Tobias sat beside the bed and waited for him to wake up properly, but he never really did. He reacted neither when he said his name or talked to him nor when he squeezed his hand or shook his shoulder. His apathy was alarming. While he had been weak and unable to leave his bed for a while now, he had rarely been this far away.
Yes, there was no way of denying that the king's health was in poor state. Tobias would have to ask Jeanine about consulting the doctor from Erudite again. The last time he'd been here, he had given Marcus some medicine that had allowed him to get out of bed for a few days, although he had still been too fragile to see about his royal duties. Part of the problem was that it still wasn't clear what caused his symptoms other than his age, and he wasn't that old. The current diagnosis was that he was anemic, but strangely the prescribed medicine couldn't cure him. It only ever got better for a short period of time, and then it usually got worse than before.
Tobias wished Beatrice was here to brighten up his days. Every day seemed twice as long in her absence as he was waiting for her return. He hated that he had no way of knowing if she was safe and how she managed to deal with the task, but most of all he hated that he was tied to the castle, unable to help her while she was out there facing the dangers of this kingdom.
He wanted to tell her about the dove and how it was slowly healing and getting better from day to day. She'd be so happy about it, he was sure. Maybe they could take her outside together to try if she was able to fly again.
He also needed to talk to her about Jeanine and warn her, like Zeke had warned him. He had kept a close eye on her since their conversation, trying to find something obviously suspicious in her behavior. Yet, that was difficult to do, since she stayed by herself most of the time, and he had no idea what she was up to. But the seed of doubt Zeke had planted in him had taken roots in his thoughts.
Marcus elicited a little sigh and turned his head to the side, which interrupted the prince's thoughts. He reached for his fathers shoulder again, but he was still asleep. Tobias decided that it was no use sitting here waiting for him to wake up any time soon. He'd rather go looking for Zeke and ask him for a training session. It had quickly become a habit now for the two of them to exercise together.
As he stood and went out the door, he met Jeanine on her way inside with a plate of food for Marcus.
"He probably won't eat today, he barely even wakes up," he told her.
"Oh, is he that bad today? Well, I'll wait for him to wake up anyway and pour some soup down his throat once he does."
With that, she swept past him and closed the door to the king's chamber. Tobias could only shake his head about her attempt to feed his father. She'd need all day to succeed. At least, that meant he knew where she was and wouldn't interrupt his training.
Walking around the corner, he kicked against an object on the floor that slid over the stones with a tinkling sound. Curiously, he bent down to pick it up and examined it. It was a small vial, made of pale blue glass. It was empty except for a few drops of a transparent substance running down the sides. He carefully brought his nose above the opening, but he couldn't smell anything. What was it and how did it get here?