It wasn’t long before they could hear something coming through the wood. It was big, whatever it was. As much as the sound of its footfalls, they could hear the chorus of snapping branches and rustling leaves that marked its passage through the wood. Lucky moved so he stood in front of Girl with his hackles up and a low growl rumbling in his chest. Girl stepped back, one hand on Lucky’s back.

“I wish I still had my gun. I’m never going anywhere without it ever again.” She said.

“Good idea. You could go down to the storm cellar with the others.”

She snorted. “Not a chance.”

He wanted to argue more, but they were out of time. It burst from the forest, antlers glittering with wet. Its eyes rolled in its head, wide and filled with fear. It took two galloping strides before it leapt, clearing the fence easily. It landed one cloven hoof at a time, stride never faltering. Something dark rushed out of the wood behind, slamming against the stone fence with a hissing growl. The elk skidded to a halt, eyes still rolling. Whatever was on the other side of the fence was clawing at the thick stone to no avail.

“Geeze. That thing is huge.” Girl said.

“And scared out of its mind.”

“Maybe I can help it.”

“I’m not letting you anywhere near that thing.”

“Those antlers are as wide as Dad is tall.”

“And sharp.”

It turned to look at them, lowering those antlers menacingly.

Lucky puffed up his chest and growled. “Don’t wave those things at me.” He grumbled.

“Lucky!” Girl scolded gently. “Don’t scare him any more than he’s already scared.”

It tossed its head and stamped its foot. There was a roar from the other side of the fence and the elk whirled toward it. Girl put a firm hand on Lucky’s back and stepped around him, going between him and the Elk. She took a deep breath and a wave of calming energy washed out from her, moving out with the rain slowing as it rolled. It washed over the elk and it stood still, body trembling. It washed against the fence and the growling on the other side stopped.

Both of Girls hands went up, palms facing the elk as she walked toward it, talking softly. Her words were mostly nonsense, it was more about tone than about what she was saying. Lucky wanted to follow, keep close to Girl, but he was certain it wouldn’t help.

It was watching her with the one mud colored eye that was facing them. “Who?” It’s voice was deep, but sounded with a bell-like resonance.

“I’m Isobel,” Girl answered. “And that’s Lucky. You?”

“Wickett.”

“Wickett.” She stopped walking about four feet away from the elk. “Welcome to Gran’s Farm. Safe here.”

“Nowhere safe.” The elk answered, turning its head to face Girl, rear end swinging about until it was fully facing her. “Nowhere. Not since Voices.”

Lucky tensed, prepared to jump into the fray if the hugely antlered elk made a wrong move toward Girl. It seemed satisfied to stand there, antlers lowered like a spiked wall between him and Girl. She kept her hands up, palms exposed to the Elk.

“Voices changed all.” She said, still trying to keep her voice gentle and soothing.

The elk was obviously still frightened, the fur along its back was twitching with every drop of rain that landed on his hide. “Voices bad?”

Girl lifted one shoulder in half a shrug, the gesture slow and smooth. Her whole body was controlled, everything she had was focused on the elk. “Not exactly. I think.”

The elk snorted. “Nothing simple.”

“It never is.” She said with a smile. “Stay here? Safe. Safer here, anyway.” Girl tried again, this time stretching one hand forward so it could scent her. It’s black nose quivered as it took her scent.

“Lots of sharp-fanged hunters here. Not safe.”

“The dogs? They won’t hurt.”

“No hurt.” Lucky added, stepping forward just a little bit. “Good dog.”

The elk blew out a breath, lowering its head and stretching forward to get a good scent of Lucky. “Sharp-fanged hunter. Smell death.”

Girl’s eyes were wide when she looked down at Lucky. “Death?”

“Breath. Death. Is Killer. Not safe.” The elk said, sliding one step back away from the big multicolored dog.

“Not killer.” Girl said, stretching her hand out again. The elk sniffed her hand again. “He defends.”

“Defender still kills.” Wickett protested. “He’s death.”

“Not yours, never yours.” Girl said, firmly. Wickett stretched his head forward a little further and dropped his nose into her palm, scenting deeply.

“What killed?”

“Enemies. Maybe like what chased you.” Girl said.

The elk tilted his head, ears flicking backward. “My enemies?” His bell-like voice finally had tones in it other than fear. He sounded thoughtful now.

“Yours, ours. Defender.”

The antlered head turned again until he could catch the scent of Lucky again. “Defender.” Again he sounded thoughtful. “Maybe. Maybe safe.”

“You can stay.” Girl offered again.

“You’ll be safe.” Lucky tried to reassure the elk.

Wickett’s ears twitched back and forth as he considered. His dark eyes looked toward the corner of the fence he had jumped. They could all hear the scramble of claws trying to climb it. “For now. Until it’s gone. I stay.”

“What was it?” Lucky asked.

“Don’t know. Never seen like it before. Smaller than defender. Thin. Fast. Death smell.”

“We’ll have to check it out.” Lucky said. He glanced up at the sky, “After the storm.”

“Wickett, come along?” Girl said as she turned toward the barn. “Shelter, you’ll be safer.”

“Storm’s not terrible.” The big elk answered, but he followed behind Girl like a puppy anyway.

Lucky trotted over to Girl’s other side, letting the human stand between him and the elk. He stayed a little distant, but close enough to protect Girl if she needed it. The big elk moved slowly, his head up and his ears flicking back and forth, searching for sounds and threats.

“We should probably let everyone know the lightning has passed.” Lucky said. He stopped on the threshold of the barn and watched as the elk strolled forward with Girl. It was probably best not to be inside the barn with the twitchy elk.

“You could do that while I get him settled.” Girl said.

Lucky snorted. “Not a chance. Do you see how sharp those antlers are? It’s dangerous. Probably just as dangerous as I am, really.”

“He’s just a really big deer.” She protested.

“Deer can kill with their antlers too and his are huge.”

“He’s not going to hurt me, Lucky.” She said firmly.

“We don’t know that.” Lucky huffed, “I’m not leaving you alone with him.”

Girl sighed, running her fingers through her hair. Almost like she wanted to rip her hair out. “Fine. Can you call one of the other dogs over?”

“I’m definitely not telepathic, Girl. How do you expect me to call them?”

“Can’t you howl or something?” She flicked on the switch at the bottom of the stairs to the loft and the dim stormlight brightened.

“I’m not sure they’d hear me shouting down in the cellar.” Lucky scooched into the barn until he wasn’t getting wet any more.

“When you say it like that, it sounds dumb.”

Lucky’s mouth opened in a panting laugh. “I didn’t say that.” She turned her attention back to the elk. “You’re okay here. Safe.”

Wickett snorted out a breath. “Safer.” The elk conceded. “Thank you.”

“Welcome. You need help, you call. We’ll keep watch.” Girl said.

The elk bent one foreleg and lowered his head in a bow. “Thank you.”

Girl reached out toward him, clearly wanting to pet the elk. He backed away and she dropped her hand. The elk wasn’t ready. “Alright, Luckers, let’s go see how the others are doing. Wickett will be okay here for the night and we’ll get everyone resuming patrols as soon as we get to the cellar. We can’t leave ourselves unprotected.” He glanced over at the corner of the dooryard that the elk had jumped over. Whatever had been out there was dangerous, he could still feel the heavy weight of it in his stomach. “Whatever was chasing the elk is a powerful enemy. I don’t want it coming up on us unexpectedly.”

A chill raced down Girl’s back and she shivered as she clutched her arms across her chest. “We don’t need any more enemies.”

“We didn’t need the first one.” Lucky countered, laughing.

“We have a lot of decisions to make shortly. About what our plans are and what we’re going to do to achieve them.”

“I feel like all I do lately is talk and fight.”

“And eat, you do a lot of that.” Girl said.

“I’m a dog, what do you expect?”

They both were laughing by the time they walked into the front door of the house.