Chapter Ten
FLYING SLUG REEF
Over the following weeks the weather warmed as predicted and snow-storms became less frequent. At Flying Slug Reef, Huldar waited as Nachiel squelched across barren ground toward him. Thickets of emergent strap trees surrounded them as if the space they’d prepared for the miners’ camp had been cut with a stamp from wild green dough.
“Four hundred and twenty-seven slugs accounted for,” Nachiel said. “Slimy little darlings are much easier to handle before they grow wings! I’ve delivered them to the next canyon over, as you suggested, but there’s overcrowding … and some there can already fly.”
“They’ll form flocks soon. I know they’re territorial, but hopefully the difference in developmental stages will avert too much aggression. They’re vital to the ecosyste
