Sully added, “You must remember, Dr. Gould, we have not personally seen these creatures. For all we know these are just stories, but it is possible, by the incident across the years, that they are really here… and as you say, maybe they are worse than we think.”
“That is going to help me sleep a wee bit better,” Sam jested.
“Speaking of sleep,” Purdue announced, “from the sound of things we have a heavy day ahead tomorrow, my friends.” He looked at Sam and Nina specifically, knowing they were as eager to pry into the lost city mythos branched from the writings in the Heike letter. The threesome dared not admit that they were not there for the sake of conservation or to help look for Lewis Harding. They would keep secret that they all thought that Lewis Harding was dead already, if only to use the time for their own pursuit.
Normally such a mission would appear disrespectful, but if the Lost City of New Zealand’s South Island held a threat to the world, a threat so immense that the Order of the Black Sun covered it up, it was worth uncovering.
30 Nekenhalle Receives Her Guests
Just before dawn, the entire house was shaken by a shattering clap of thunder. Several yelps of panic reverberated throughout the Cockran farmhouse, followed by a light going on in the living room, where some of the men were sleeping.
“Jesus! Did you hear that?” Sam wailed, sitting up on the couch while wiping his eyes like a scared schoolboy. “Is that a thunderstorm?”
Sally came wandering into the living room, causing yet another fright to her guests.
“Oh, I’m sorry, boys,” she apologized sweetly. “I have a tendency to walk in the dark. Sorry I scared you. But yes, dear Sam, I saw the flash like rapid daylight outside our bedroom window just before the shot.”
Nina and Louisa came stumbling into the room, clutching at one another in fear.
“That was insane!” Nina shrieked. “Do you have many storms like that here, Sally?”
The lady of the house shook her head. “Not really, darling. Never like this. To tell you the truth, Nigel and me are as surprised as you are.” Her face pulsed in blue strobe light that cut through the window just before another ungodly whip of thunder. By reflex, everyone cowered, and in its wake came the rattle of the windows.
“My God, this is going to cause more catastrophe,” Nigel moaned as he came from the same dark corridor his wife had emerged from. The old, moody man pulled a shirt over his skinny torso and headed for the kitchen, where Sally had put the kettle on.
“What is the time, mate?” Cecil asked Sam.
Sam’s cock-eyed attempt at reading his watch took a while, before he replied, “It’s just past 5am.”
“That’s right, mate!” old Cockran shouted from the kitchen. “Time to rise and get your asses in gear for that long day!”
Slowly, everyone started to fold up their blankets. Some went to the two available bathrooms while others elected to hit the kitchen for Sally’s strong black strength first. Outside, the weather was more like Scotland than the southern islands, apart from the wind. There was not much of a gale, but the light rain permeated through the roots and soil. Above the entire Arnold Valley and Lake Brunner region, the clouds sagged in dark grey cotton wool tassels, an unusual turn of climate.
“This weather is going to make our search extra difficult,” Cecil remarked as he sipped some coffee. Gary stood next to his chubby brother, having a slice of toast from Sally’s first batch. “Last time a little bit of this rain chased of handfuls of supposed men,” Gary complained. “Let’s hope it doesn’t happen with this group.”
“I cannot speak for everyone,” Purdue reassured him, “but between Dr. Gould, Mr. Cleave, and I, you have solid companions up at Nekenhalle today.”
“Thank you, Mr. Purdue,” Gary said. “Will the cops be coming?”
Herman and Sully stood by the backdoor, opening it a scratch to survey the intensity of the weather. Sully looked at Gary. “I don’t know about the rest of the party, but I know Anaru will show up. That boy has been curious and passionate about that farm since he was a little brat.”
As he spoke, two headlights blossomed over the kitchen window glass. It was the police vehicle of Sgt. Mick Anaru, stopping under the protection of the dense tree line where the elders had come through the night before.
“Are you coming with us, Nigel?” Cecil asked. “After all, it is your livestock suffering from whatever is up there.”
“I’m coming with you, boy,” Cockran affirmed through a mouthful of porridge. “I’ll leave my truck here, because I don’t need it to get stuck in the wet muck at Nekenhalle.”
“Fair enough,” Cecil agreed, lifting his coffee mug. “I can take Herman, Sully, my brother… and Sam.”
Nina scoffed next to Sam, hiding her face as she chuckled by herself. Sam exhaled long and heavily. Purdue called to take Louisa and Nina with him in Sgt. Anaru’s 4x4. Inside the next hour, poor Sally was left alone in a house full of dishes and flickering lights pummeled by the iffy electrical boxes through the valley. In her hands, she wrung a dishcloth as she evaluated the damage. With a shrug she said, “Not bad for a group of foreigners. At least they folded their bloody blankets and put the toilet seat down.”
When Sgt. Anaru’s truck and Cecil’s SUV pulled up at the Nekenhalle gates, the grey morning did not have to influence the melancholy foreboding the black winding dirt road presented. Purdue made small talk while the think streaks of lightning elicited gasps among the occupants of the car. “So, Sergeant, has Constable Ballin taken the day off?”
“I gave her the day off, yes,” Sgt. Anaru answered.
During the brief moment of gear changes before entering the gates, Nina peered through the wet, diamond-riddled windows at the meandering pathway up to the ugly hill.
“Look at it,” she said plainly. “Even the road looks like a Black Mamba.”
“Thank you, Nina,” Purdue cringed, making her and Louisa smile. Purdue smiled and looked in the same direction as Nina, wondering how poor Sam was doing with his admirer in the car behind them. At once, he saw what Sgt. Anaru hoped he would not. “What are those?”
The police officer ignored the question, hoping the Scottish tourist would let it slide as something insignificant. However, David Purdue was not the type of explorer who just dismissed arcane symbols on a mysterious patch of land. “Nina, look,” Purdue said, pointing into the trees. “Do you see that? Anything you have seen before?”
Nina’s dark eyes grew wide as her fascination peaked. Fortunately, the vehicle moved slowly to navigate the deeper dents and potholes in the road, allowing her to use her phone to zoom in on the strange markers.
“Clever girl,” Purdue said. “I did not think of that.”
“Of course you didn’t,” she replied, narrowing her gaze to get a good aim while the sergeant’s driving became a bit more reckless to impair Nina’s photographic flair. Louisa leaned over to see what the others were talking about. She looked less surprised than Nina, remarking, “That one is Maori in nature, but it has some Aboriginal symbols on the other side. Go figure.”
Sgt. Anaru scowled at the Australian through his rear view mirror, but he said nothing. Nina took a series of pictures as they passed the different slender markers among the trees. Purdue could see the officer’s dissatisfaction.
“What is the matter, Sergeant? Are we not allowed to take pictures?” he pried.
“You know that is ridiculous,” the short response came from the sergeant. “Of course you can take pictures. I just don’t like it when people pry too much in native affairs.”