Alden Greenleaf's Arc

Chapter 1 of 5

Alden Greenleaf knelt where her mother had been taken, and found nothing. Bootprints ended at the stream. Her mother was gone, dragged off in the night, and every hour widened the gap between them. Alden had sworn to find the men who took her and drag them before justice. But she could not chase what she could not track. Behind her, the tribe watched from the trees. They did not help. They blamed her. Her aunt spoke from the fern shadows, arms folded. "You slept while your mother screamed. And now you want our trackers?" The old woman's voice cut like a splitting branch. "No. You brought this. You end it alone." The others turned their backs. One by one, they climbed to their treehouse and drew up the ropes. Alden stood at the base of the great trunk, shut out from the only home she knew. She swallowed her shame and worked. The stream had washed the trail clean. She waded the shallows, searching the far bank for any mark. Nothing. She circled wider. The forest floor gave her only leaves and stones. Two hours burned away. Then she saw it. A climbing vine hung torn from a low branch, its clusters of red fruit crushed into the mud. Something heavy had shoved through here. The vine bled bright sap where a body had ripped it. Alden crouched. Boot marks pressed the soft ground beyond, deep and dragging. Two men. One load between them. Her mother. She followed the prints east, faster now, arrow nocked. The tracks climbed rocky ground and grew faint on stone. Alden slowed, reading each scuff. The trail led to a cliff face split by a dark opening. Cold air breathed out of it. Passages branched inside, twisting into deeper black. A labyrinth of caves, older than her tribe, mapped by no one. The boot marks went in and did not come out. Alden checked her quiver. Twelve arrows. She had a trail again, and it led underground, into a maze that could swallow her whole. She stepped toward the opening. Something moved in the dark. Low. Fast. A snarl rolled out of the cave mouth, too deep for any rabbit its size. Yellow eyes flared. A creature burst into the light, gray fur bristling, teeth bared, guarding the entrance like a hound. It was no ordinary beast. It hunted by day, and it stood between Alden and the only way to her mother. She raised her bow. The tunnel behind the creature swallowed the sound of dragging feet, moving farther away with every heartbeat. She had found the door. Now something wanted to keep her out.