Chapter 2

All doors and windows were secure and she knew that no one could get in easily but since the last two days had been a bit strange, she decided it would be better to double check.

She tossed back her covers and snapped her fingers at Sergeant. He jumped down and padded to the door ahead of her. There, he stopped and stretched his nose, sniffing the air. Her father had trained him well and tonight she was grateful. After a moment’s hesitation, he moved into the hallway. She followed, walking softly and listening for any foreign sound.

The moon was high in the sky and the light filtered through the slatted shutters, lighting the interior of the living area. It was an open space with the dining table in the center of the kitchen area. She couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary but there were places in deep shadow where the moonlight didn’t reach. Sergeant stood at her side and she could hear soft rumblings in his chest. He was a large dog and his head reached nearly to her waist. Her father had raised the breed and trained them as guard and attack dogs.

Sergeant was the last dog he had trained before his death. Her brothers had taken over the remaining dogs and the business of breeding and training. They had left Sergeant with her because of their concern for her living alone. He was a good companion and the best guard dog her father had ever trained. During his training, her father has commented that he had never seen a dog who seemed to know instinctively what he was expected to do.

Samantha pulled her robe tightly around her and started to step into the kitchen. Sergeant moved his body in front of her and stopped, preventing her from moving forward. No matter how hard she tried, she knew that he would not let her pass. Someone was either in the house or outside.

For the first time since her parents death, she wished there was someone else in the house. Perhaps it was because she was disturbed when she found no one knew anything about a new arrival. Because despite everything that pointed to the contrary, she knew with absolute certainty that someone had come last night. It had happened too many times for her to begin to doubt it now.

She slid down the wall and knelt in the hallway to wait. The floor was cool and she could feel the breeze as it flowed in the shutters and through house. No one could get inside without a lot of difficulty and certainly not without a lot of noise. And they would have to get past the dog.

A shadow passed across the kitchen shutters and Sergeant moved quickly and with the uncanny silence her father had been awed by, to the counter. He rose up and put his paws against the cabinet and stretched his nose toward the window. The rumbling in his chest became a low growl. At this point she didn’t know if she should go back to her room and lock herself in or stay here, with the dog as her protector. There was no way he would allow anyone to get close to her and he would kill if she were attacked in anyway. She would have no control of him once an attack started. With that in mind her decision was to stay put.

The sound of some heavy object falling outside startled her. It came from the area near the living area wall on the opposite side of the room from where she crouched. She tried to picture in her mind where things were located in the yard in reference to the location of the noise. There was nothing but the woodpile and the chopping block. Two weeks ago, her brother had cut enough wood to last several months. She had an image of him putting the log on the block, splitting it with the axe, and tossing the split pieces in the pile to be stacked later.

She had a brief moment of fear wondering if the axe had been left there but she remembered he had wiped it down, oiled the blade and stored it in the storage room in the barn. There was always a padlock on that room because the tools were expensive.

Sergeant dropped his front paws to the floor and dashed across the room to the window looking out into the side yard. The growl was loud and intimidating now. Once again she saw a shadow pass across the windows. It was moving fast. She got up and raced to the kitchen window and looked out. Someone was running away toward the woods. She couldn’t make out who it was but they were tall and had on light colored trousers. In moments, the woods swallowed them up.