Short story- A strange invitation-part one

The breeze whipped in now, with a ferocity that changed its definition. Suddenly, a gale, turning the air around their heads in a frenzy of atoms. They ran on, the long grass whipping to and fro in front of them like weed on the ocean floor. The hill was long, but the climb was not steep, they battled forward in the breeze now gale, and squinted ahead, straining tired eyes to see their goal.

Suddenly a bolt of grey from the right, and someone goes down beside her, tumbling back down from whence they came, she sees a blur racing toward her, recognising it as an attack dog, she calmly shoulder tosses it away as it leaps at her. The others brandish their weapons and step on into the wind heartily. There is no time now to stop and deal with these animals.

The moon appears in a split second, illuminating the hillside. The grey walls of the castle with the scratches of hundreds of years, seemed to do a tiny dance under the light of Hine-nui-te-pō, shadows and light flickering across them.

They grew closer to the facility, the dull electric light that surrounded it giving it away through the trees. They entered the denser trees with no sound, the knowledge of Tane's kingdom ingrained in their tender footfalls. The wind hummed overhead, whipping the tops of the trees, but they were completely sheltered now, in the protective coat of the small forest that surrounded the institution.

The air seemed to grow cold, there was some devilry afoot, an unearthly chill stole through the air. The slow rasping of it's voice so low, you could barely hear it, as the air temperature dropped around you. There was a great Tohunga who worked at the facility, and his acquaintance with experimental weapons technology was well known. The area was no doubt equipped with a few weather re-organisation towers. They pressed on, the cold now making their breath mist in front of them.

The castle walls are huge in front of them, there seems no way in. They scuttle around the sides, under the trees, trying not to trigger the surveillance tech positioned all over the walls above them. Their new scrambler suits were obviously doing the trick, as they seem not to have alerted anyone at present.

They knew from reconnaissance that they needed to go over the walls, into the building below, and were equipped for such a need. The grappling hook firing out from the handheld contraption her brother had given her. She hooked the cable to her belt and climbed slowly up the wall, invisible thanks to her suit to any electronic eyes, which were all this facility relied on, on the outside. The others followed, seven of them now, lucky eight having his leg broken by the attack dog.

She reached the top, scrambling onto the tiles of the roof, the crisp Taranaki air whipping about her head again, in its taunting manner. The birdsong below in the trees, wafted across the breeze. She smiled to herself and thought, this is living.

Looking below into the facility brought several new problems placed pertinently before them. Two guards, a computerized machine gun post, and what looked like a small helicopter.

They crouched low below the crest of the roof, hatching a plan for the taking of the area below. The wind breathed its dynamism over them as they put together their plan, its stern insistence making her feel steadier at the fearsome height of these weather beaten walls.

To be continued. (Sometime in the near future.)



.