Aurora Dawson's Arc

Chapter 1 of 7

Aurora Dawson clung to a cliff face on a world nobody had mapped. Below her, mist hid the ground. She loved this—the raw edge, the not-knowing what waited past the next handhold. She had crossed to this planet to climb what no one had climbed and dive where no one had dived. But right now her fingers were slipping, and she needed a route east to the ocean before nightfall. "You're going to fall," Dominic called from the ledge below. Tall, easy in his own body, he grinned even as he warned her. He always grinned. It made his warnings harder to take seriously. "I'm fine," she said. Then her foot skidded on wet rock. She dropped, caught a root, and swung hard against the stone. Her breath punched out. She hung there, arms burning. Dominic scrambled up and grabbed her wrist. Together they hauled her onto a narrow shelf. She lay flat, heart slamming. "Okay," she admitted. "Not fine." "We need a safer path," he said. "This cliff won't take us to the water. We're guessing, and guessing gets people killed here." He was right. Every step on this world was a new risk. They had no map, no guide, only the goal of reaching the eastern sea. That was when Aurora saw the eyes. A small animal watched them from a crack in the rock. It had a lithe body, webbed paws, and a fox-like face. It tilted its head, unafraid. Then it leapt. Aurora flinched. But the creature spread its webbed limbs and glided, riding the air across a gap she hadn't even seen. It landed on a hidden ledge and looked back at them. "It wants us to follow," she said. "You don't know that." "I know it just showed us a way across." She studied the rock where the animal had stood. A thin path ran along the cliff, gentle and wide, angling down and east. She'd never have found it alone. A second creature crept out beside Dominic and pressed its nose to his hand. He froze, then laughed. "Okay. Hi." They followed the two animals down the hidden path. It was slow but sure. The gliding creatures scampered ahead, waited, then moved again. By late afternoon the cliff opened onto a wide green valley. A tree stood at its center, heavy with red and green leaves and clusters of purple fruit. Aurora pulled one loose and bit. Sweet juice ran down her chin. "They led us to food." Her creature climbed onto her shoulder and settled there. It weighed almost nothing. Dominic looked past the tree. The valley kept going, but a river cut straight across their path, fast and deep. "East is that way," he said. "And that river's in the way." Aurora smiled and scratched her new companion's ears. They had a guide now. They had a friend. But the water ahead ran too wide to climb and too cold to swim.