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    Opening The Moonlight Gate
    Opening The Moonlight Gate
    Opening The Moonlight Gate
    Ebook70 pages1 hour

    Opening The Moonlight Gate

    By Mhairi Simpson

    ()

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    About this ebook

    No one remembers how long ago the Moonlight Gates closed, but every citizen knows what is needed to open them again - three human children. Boris has guarded two children in the city of FurFang for many years but despairs of finding a third, the one thing he needs to restore energy and life to his world.

    Jake was only taking a walk in Hotham Park. He never intended to travel to another world. But he did.

    The third key has arrived.

    The first city to open its gate will control the moonlight.

    Let the battle begin.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSkyTint
    Release dateDec 19, 2014
    ISBN9781910658017
    Opening The Moonlight Gate

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      Book preview

      Opening The Moonlight Gate - Mhairi Simpson

      Opening The Moonlight Gate

      by

      Mhairi Simpson

      Copyright 2014 Mhairi Simpson

      Smashwords Edition

      www.skytintbooks.co.uk

      Opening The Moonlight Gate © Mhairi Simpson 2014

      Boris used by permission of Hotham Park Miniature Railway, Hotham Park, Bognor Regis.

      Cover art by Mhairi Simpson.

      Author’s Note: This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this story are fictional and any resemblance to any real incidents or people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

      All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

      ISBN-13: 978-1-910658-01-7

      ISBN-10: 1910658-01-7

      SkyTint Books

      www.skytintbooks.co.uk

      mhairi@skytintbooks.co.uk

      For you, because you believe

      OPENING THE MOONLIGHT GATE

      Jake nodded to the bullies on the corner as he entered the park. They nodded back, then dropped their eyes and turned away. Funny how one hard push in the right place at the right time could do that.

      The problem was, while it was nice not to have trouble, that one push meant Jake had no friends, which meant nothing to do on Saturday afternoon. He didn’t like the bullies anyway, but the nice kids were scared of him, because the bullies were scared of him. Which was also fine because he knew he’d end up having to protect them, and who wanted to be sorting out other people’s problems all the time? But it didn’t leave many people to be friends with. There were plenty of people at home, of course. Too many. His parents barely seemed to notice if he was there or not. He kicked a pebble into the grass and turned off the road. Last year’s dead leaves rustled around his feet as he crossed the railway tracks and through a line of bushes.

      The bird song faded, along with the rustle of small animals scampering away. But the sun was suddenly a lot brighter and there was a light breeze.

      He looked around. The bushes had gone. So had the grass and trees of the park. Now he stood on yellowish rock which dropped away just a few feet in front of him. Far, far below stretched out a golden plain, dotted with the odd tree or clump of rocks, and in the distance, too hazy to make out any details, was a city, dark on the horizon. Something clinked against his foot as he stepped forward to see the city more clearly. When he looked down, something gleamed at his feet, and out of habit he stopped and picked it up, sliding it into his pocket.

      A high clear cry made him look up. It wasn’t a human cry. Not something you’d want to run towards, either. It sounded like a predator, something with very sharp claws and farseeing eyes.

      And wings.

      In the distance, but rapidly getting bigger as it came closer, was a dark shape, slicing down through the clear sky. Jake looked around, wondering if he should find somewhere to hide, but the mountain he stood on was bare of caves, or even folds in the rock. Nowhere to even crouch. He was stuck out there in the open, unless he wanted to jump off the cliff…

      He inched forward, then lay down and scuffled forward on his belly. Easing his face over the edge of the drop, he immediately wished he hadn’t. He swallowed. It was a long way down. So far, in fact, that he couldn’t make out the individual leaves on the trees so far below. He was only assuming they were trees because they were green, and the rest of the plain was a deep rolling gold.

      Another cry. He looked up and scrabbled backwards, away from the edge of the cliff, barely able to breathe as he stared at the… thing coming towards him. It looked like a hawk, with a curving, horribly sharp beak and wide, blunt wings. But it was a lot bigger than any bird he’d ever heard of, with a body longer than his and a wingspan as wide as a house. It shot towards him, then pulled up, passing so close overhead that he saw the pale soft feathers of its chest and the wind of its passing ruffled his hair. He pushed himself to his feet and watched. It was already curving back around. It snapped its wings out to land on a large rock, blocking out the sun before folding them and regarding him calmly through golden eyes.

      Now that it was up close, Jake realised with a shock that it wasn’t real. At least, its eyes weren’t. They cycled in and out like the lens on a camera, with a very faint whirr sound. He frowned. Its feathers looked real enough, but then he squinted and realised normal feathers would never reflect the light that way.

      It was a robot.

      He backed up a step. He’d read about killer robots. You couldn’t reason with them. They probably wouldn’t back down if you pushed them, either.

      What are you?

      Jake blinked. He hadn’t expected the bird

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