She did as she was told and the ground was instantly visible in spite of the distance and darkness.
She watched as a sea of seething purple, furry movement entered her line of sight. Luna gasped as the creatures overtook her whole view of the ground.
“Those are what the locals call piranha-pigs,” Noxx said. “They awaken at night and come out of their caves and burrows to clean the forest floor.”
Luna watched in wonder as the horde of fist-sized, purple creatures moved in a furry wave across the floor of the forest, leaving nothing behind but dark soil.
All the leaves, mushrooms, ferns, and other materials disappeared in their wake.
“They’re omnivorous,” Noxx said, answering her unspoken question. “If we had been down there, we would have been cleaned as well. Never, ever stay out after dark.”
No wonder he had been in such a hurry. Being late getting home on Clotho was a lot more severe than missing curfew back home.
“W-what about the moose?” Luna asked, looking up from the instrument and offering it back to him.
“No,” he said. “Keep watching.”
She lifted it to her eye again, though there was nothing to see now but the dark soil.
“The moose can climb the rocky cliff face for a few minutes,” Noxx said. “But during this next phase, he has to hold perfectly still.”
“Next phase?” she echoed.
But she could already see something happening below.
The soil was rumbling, erupting.
Something reached out of the ground, unfurling like a night-blooming flower.
An arm. No, a clawed paw.
She watched in horror as the pale, hairless thing pulled itself out of the ground and stretched up on its two back legs, shaking off the loose soil.
It was muscular and weirdly smooth, as if it would be slimy to the touch. And it was faceless, with a curved line across the center of its head that looked like a seam.
She looked on as the seam burst open to reveal two rows of razor-sharp teeth.
With the mouth open, it looked as if it were smiling.
A forked tongue emerged from between those dangerous teeth to taste the air. Then the muscular body contracted and leapt like a cat into the night.
She tried to follow its movement, but it was too fast.
Instead, she spotted more pale appendages pushing out of the soil in its wake.
“How many of them are there?” she asked, trying not to let her terror come through in her tone.
“Those are the under cats,” Noxx said. “There are enough of them to eat all the piranha-pigs except the gravid ones that stayed in their caves. Obviously, they’re carnivorous. They’re blind, but they have incredible hearing. And the tongue allows them to smell.”
“That’s why this moon hasn’t been over-colonized,” Luna realized out loud.
“Correct,” Noxx told her.
“That’s why you were in such a hurry tonight,” she said.
“Right again.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
“Would you have wanted to know?”
He had a point. She might have fallen off the tree in her own rush to get up here.
“We cut it close,” she said.
“We didn’t have a choice this time. But we will never cut it close again,” he said. “Do you understand?”
She nodded.
Her heart ached as she thought about living out here in all this danger by herself with little Sol.
Stupidly, part of her wished Noxx would stay. She found herself forgiving him for being so bossy, and loving the way he was always saying we even though he wouldn’t be around for long.
Though there was maybe one good thing about this dangerous darkness…
“I guess you can’t go back out again tonight,” she said.
“We’ll have to sleep without a fire,” he agreed. “The whelp will be fine, he has his heated cradle.”
“Should I wake him to feed him?” she asked.
“Never wake the whelp when it is sleeping,” he said. “Besides, he ate a huge meal before he met you. He needs his rest, and we need ours. Day will come again in less than six hours.”
His eyes seemed to burn right into her soul, igniting something that had been dormant for too long.
“I’ll just freshen up then,” she said, tearing herself away from that steely gaze. “We’d better get some rest.”
6
Luna
Luna looked at herself in the bathroom mirror.
She hadn’t been able to resist taking a real water shower. Now she was looking tired and wet, but possibly cleaner than she had ever been in her whole life.
Back on Terra-4 they took chemical showers, when they took showers at all.
I can’t believe this is my life now.
Unfortunately, the low-cut lavender gown was the only nice piece of clothing she owned.
It was a shame to have to go back out there in front of the blue warrior wearing a plain cotton sleeping shift, but it was that or everyday working clothes.
She took a deep breath and headed back into the common room.
The air had become almost frigid.
Noxx was standing by the bookshelves in the living area, an old-fashioned hardback in his hands.
She smiled at the idea of the fierce warrior being stuck in a book.
“I think I’ll bring the baby over closer to the bed,” she said, heading his way.
He looked up from the book, his dark eyes so serious, but didn’t reply.
She bent over the cradle.
Baby Sol was sleeping so hard. His lower lip was still pouty and his little hands were squeezed into chubby fists.
“What are you dreaming about?” Luna whispered.
“Food,” Noxx replied. “Always food. He lives to eat.”
Luna smiled.
“Go on, get your sleep,” Noxx said gruffly.
“What about you?” she asked.
“I’ll stand watch a little longer,” he said.
Stand watch?
Was there some other danger in the cold night - one he hadn’t told her about?
Or perhaps he just didn’t want to curl up on the floor near her - either because he was disgusted by her, or more interestingly, because he wasn’t.
“Thank you,” she told him sincerely. “For everything. We would never have made it here without you.”
He chuckled and turned back to his book. “Sleep soundly, woman.”
She took the cradle and padded back to the sleeping area.
Though she had worried about sleeping on the floor, she discovered that the surface under the cushions was not hard wood, but some sort of soft, pliant material.
She placed the cradle at the edge of the floor and pulled a fur over herself.
After a long day, it felt good to stretch out.
But the cold wind outside found its way into the tree house and icy fingers of freezing air slid through her wet hair.
Before long, she began to shiver.
Luna pulled another fur onto herself, but it felt like the cold had sunk all the way into her bones. Her teeth began chattering in spite of herself.
She closed her eyes and willed herself to think warm thoughts, but her home world hadn’t exactly been a tropical paradise, so her frozen mind was coming up short.
A few minutes later, she heard soft footsteps, followed by the clink of armor.