I've found someone to bring here, an armed search party.

What did you take which got them all to follow you?

A piece of paper. Faithful said.

That's helpful, I mean what's on it?

A whole heap of lines.

Representing what?

The castle.

Oh, I see. Well, good job, we're ready for them to come.

They're coming in now.

Even though Britta knew she couldn't hear over the river, she strained her ears.

"Faithful has led in castle guards." She whispered to Diana, who she knew warned Mable immediately.

Yes, people are coming in. Mable told both of them at once. There are lots of them, and they're fighting.

Are they evenly matched?

Yes. Wait, no. Micah and some others just came in. Mable paused. And now they've made the ground angry.

How does that even work? Britta asked. If Mable answered, Britta was too distracted to hear.

All around her, the ground was trembling.

"Earthquake." Diana shouted.

Britta pushed her sister into the cave as the ledge began to crumble at the edges. She moved to follow her back in, but saw a dark shape fall past her. She stopped, for just a second, in case it was Mable, but Diana called her to tell her she knew Mable was fine. She went to get to safety, but the shaking ground loosened the edge, and her foot slipped. For a moment, her scared eyes met Diana's, and her sister reached out for her. Then Britta was falling.

She had enough time to make another wild grasp and the ledge, before she was in thin air. She was too shocked to scream, and noticed dimly that the rumbling of the shaking ground had stopped. Only seconds later, she was plunged into the cold water and jerked back to awareness.

Every part of her body stung from the impact, and the air was knocked from her chest. Following the bubbles upwards, she surfaced and managed a brief gulp of air before being sucked back under. She noticed a dark shape, slowly floating downwards. Not wanting to lose sight of it, she swum down and pulled it back up. She knew it was a person, and between her, struggling to keep them both afloat and breathing, she realized it was Micah.

In a less dire situation, she would have been somewhere between terrified and disgusted. Terrified of the endless river, and disgusted that she was keeping Micah afloat. When she was a boy in the training camp, she had liked him. Now she was not going to allow herself to like someone who'd never spoken a word of truth. Despite her dislike for him, she couldn't bring herself to just let him drown. Trying to think rationally, she managed to pull off her boots. Struggling with the tie around her waist, she pulled that off too, knowing that everything was weighting her down. She took off her shirt but left the binding on, thinking the bandages might be useful. Micah would notice she was a girl now, but currently? She couldn't care less.

Britta, are you okay? Came Diana's voice.

Oh yes, everything's going swimmingly. She said sarcastically.

Ha. Ha. Did you see who it was that fell.

Micah.

Have you got him?

Unfortunately.

Ok, well have you removed your boots and things?

Yep.

Ok, ok. What about Micah?

You're being creepy Di.

I think the cold waters getting to you. Diana muttered, but they both knew it was just the way Britta dealt with things, and Britta was trying to keep Diana from freaking out.

Britta pulled off and dropped Micahs boots, and thought she felt a small weight difference.

How are things up there? She panted, trying to distract herself.

They have Mable, she says they won't come back for me until she's safe.

Typical.

It's fine, the ledge hasn't crumbled too much, just the edge where you were standing.

Good, so you'll be ok?

Sure.

For a while there was silence, and Britta felt herself tiring. She was strong, but not that strong, and it had surely been a few hours. She lost it for a moment, and felt herself sink. She pulled herself back up only when Diana yelled at her.

Wake up!

Sorry.

You need to lose more weight.

Well I thought I'd done enough exercise during the year, but when you put it like that-

Seriously Britta, if it comes down to you and Micah, leave him.

I know.

How much longer can you keep going for? You have to keep swimming.

I can do it Diana. Said Britta, tired.

She got colder and colder, until her teeth were chattering, and she was sure her lips her blue. With her fingers numb, she almost lost a hold of Micah more than once, but was determined, and kept going. But air stopped coming to her frozen throat, and even though Diana was desperately trying to keep her awake, she was sinking.

Then, she felt warmth spread to every corner of her body, and, her mind waking up, she knew Diana was somehow giving her energy.

Thank you. She said, whispering it aloud at the same time.

She was slipping back into that same frozen state, when she was woken again by Diana.

Britta, I think you have to leave Micah, you need to get out. I'm not sure why you've held on so long but- She was saying. Britta had stopped listening, and was squinting forwards.

I think I see light! She exclaimed.

She swum faster, following the river until she defiantly saw an opening. Suddenly, everything seemed to go slower, and the last stretch was the most exhausting thing Britta had ever endured. Finally, the river widened out and Britta swum to the bank, collapsing on the edge of it, resting for a moments before pulling Micah out too.

I'm outside now. Britta said, shivering. She felt another spark of warmth go through her. Thanks Di.

Find yourself somewhere to warm up.

Britta had no intention of doing anything else. She sat in the sun until her shivering slowed and she was able to think clearly. Walking over to Micah, she examined him. The wound in his arm she had given him was still there. He was breathing, but only shallow, and he was still cold. Britta noticed a hole in his shirt and found a nasty wound in his chest. The water had swollen his skin and stopped the bleeding, but now it was beginning to open again, and she could only hope it hadn't done anything to his insides.

Why did she even care about that? She asked herself.

But she finished checking him over any way. A rock had struck him on the way down, but had only left a bruise on his shoulder. She pressed on it but Micah didn't even stir. His chest had started to bleed again, and Britta looked for something to bandage it with.

She was only wearing the binding around her chest, and trousers, He had a shirt on, but Britta quickly realised that it would probably be needed later. She stripped off the binding and cut as much off as she dared before re-winding it, though it didn't go back as tightly as it had before. She shrugged – if there was any doubt she was a girl before....

Carefully she pressed it over his chest and secured it, then went to get wood for a fire. She had one started, and was trying to erect some sort of tripod to cook things over, when Micahs breathing stopped altogether. As much as Britta hated to admit, she needed him to find their way back. She knew he would have more of a chance at it than she would have.

She was contemplating what to do when Diana spoke again.

Britta! I managed to heal my ankle!

Okay....

With The Voice, or the Aurea, whichever one. The warmth thing I didn't with you gave me the idea.

How did you do it? She asked.

Magic.

Di!

I just put my hands around my ankle and imagined all the muscles and bones going back into place and red fire flashed around my finger tips and it was healed. It gave me a headache though.

I'm going to try heal Micah, he's the only one that knows the way back. Britta said in a rush.

You can do it. Diana said, sounding sure.

Britta nodded determinedly and kneeled beside Micah.

She knew he was so cold his mind was shutting down and his lips were blue. He had lost a lot of blood and he may have been hurt on the inside because of the knife wound. She places her hands on his forehead and imaged everything warming up, all the damage being repaired.

A small jolt of energy shot through her, and she thought she heard him take in a gasp of air. But when she checked, he was still completely still. She needed more.

Britta had always felt the Aurea there, inside her, but she had never tried to pinpoint its presence. She felt in deep inside her, a golden glow. Pulling it up, she felt a tugging inside her, and like a flood, all the energy raced through her. She looked at her hands, still on his head, and saw they glowed with power. She imagined everything inside him healing and bit her lip; she was beginning to burn. Everything inside her was suddenly so hot, she almost screamed in agony, wondering what she was doing to herself.

Forcing herself to focus, she began to feed power into him. At first, gently and slowly, but as everything became too much, she released everything at one, and saw gold threads spread across his body like a tidal wave.

Exhausted, she collapsed on the ground, but instead of her hands touching the same leaf litter she had been kneeling on the moment before, she felt soft grass, and heard a voice.

You have healed his physical being, but now you must recover his spirit. It was not a voice. It was The Voice. Something ancient and powerful, so old it didn't need sound to communicate.

Britta looked around. She was in a green meadow, buzzing with wildlife. Somehow, she was dressed in her clothes from back at training camp. Instantly a feeling of warmth flooded through her. It was disconcerting, but it took her a moment to realise why she was here.

She looked around, and found Micah near the forest edging the meadow. Britta edged up behind him and held on to his shoulder, instantly someone materialised inform of them, and Britta let go of him in fright. The figure disappeared again, but Micah was talking to the place where it had been, ignoring her. Cautiously, Britta touched his shoulder again, and saw that the figure was a girl, invisible when she let go of him.

"Who is she?" Britta asked. The girl was around twelve, dressed in a woven fabric dress and her long black hair plaited at the base of her neck. Her skin was a slightly darker tone than Britta's and she wondered why Micah was so pale.

"My sister." Said Micah, not tearing his eyes away from her.

"You should come stay-" She was saying. "Mother would like to have you here, just follow me across the stream."
Britta realised there were two streams at either side of the clearing, but Micahs sister led him to the one furthest away. Britta couldn't see what was across either of them. She realised they were like decisions

"I have to retrieve his spirit, and that girl led him to stay. The other side must be leave." She realised, and then went to chase after him.

She was stopped by a woman, with exotic coloured skin and green eyes. Somehow, Britta knew at once who she was.

"Mother?" She asked.

"Yes darling, I'm so pleased to finally see you." She said, with a smile.

She touched the scar at the corner of her eye, and looked her over.

"You look just like me, you were always my favourite as a child."

"Really?" Asked Britta, following her as she walked away. Her mother looked so young. So much younger than the Emperor, and perfect too.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a flash of black, but her mother held her hand on one side of Britta's head to stop her investigation.

"How is Dian?" She asked.

"It's Diana." Britta corrected her puzzled. How could her mother make such a mistake?

Her doubt, sent uneasiness through her. She turned to look at her mother, and for a heart stopping second, she thought she saw something else where her mothers face should be. She began to back away, but the thing that looked like her mother grabbed on to her.

"Come and stay sweetie." She said, pulling her one way.

Britta was tempted again, by her honey sweet voice, but she still felt uneasy. Then she realised it was because she couldn't feel the Aurea inside her. She was completely cut off from Diana, and she got the horrible feeling, that she was completely alone.

She pulled away from her mother altogether and searched for Micah. He was close to stepping over the river, but hesitating. Britta ran over to him and pulled him back.

"She's not who you think she is, we have to go to the other river." She said in a rush.

Micah glanced back longingly, but sighed, "You're right." He said, and followed her to the border. She led him like he was a child over the meadow.

"What will keep us from getting back?" Britta asked, choosing not to gloat over the fact the he had admitted she was right.

"Something." He said, touching the water.

Britta slowly stepped across. For a moment, she could see the meadow from where she came, but then a thick fog enveloped it all, and she could only see ahead of her. A forest.

Slowly, she followed Micah through it, the trees pressing closely together on all sides. She felt claustrophobic, and wanted a way out. Without thinking, she held on to Micah. A cottage materialised in front of them, and inside she could hear someone screaming.

Micah shivered. "The Fears will keep us back." He said quietly.

***

I may or may not have been re-reading Divergent whilst writing the next chapter...