Sarai

NAFERI TALES, BOOK 1
SARAI
JARLI GREY


Sarai
Copyright © 2019 JarliGrey
Published by Painted HeartsPublishing
Smashwords Edition
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Sarai
Copyright © 2019 Jarli Grey
ISBN 10: 1-946379-57-3
ISBN 13: 978-1-946379-57-3
Publication Date: June 6, 2019
Author: Jarli Grey
Editor: Susan Scott
All cover art and logocopyright © 2019 by Painted Hearts Publishing
Cover Design by E Keith
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: Thisliterary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form orby any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, inwhole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events inthis book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons livingor dead is strictly coincidental.


Chapter One
JAMIETIGHTENED THE FENCE WIRE, tying it offfirmly before dropping the tensioner on the ground and steppingback. He ran a grubby hand over his sweaty brow before glancingupwards and frowning.
Good godabove, what hellacious weather was this? One minute, a perfectsummer’s day; the next, a storm that looked like the inside of awitch’s cauldron, black-green roiling clouds limned with theelectric blue of distant lightening.
Dammit, thelast thing they needed at this point was heavy rainfall — sayonarathe wheat crop drying in the fields.
Still, maybeit wasn’t so bad. He hadn’t heard any thunder so the storm wasstill some distance from the farm he shared with his brothers.Maybe those strange clouds would blow away to the south. He’d checkthe long-range weather forecast when he got home. If necessary,he’d call Matt and Theo so they could get the harvester out andstart hauling the grain in.
Farming. If it wasn’t one thing,it was another.
Anyway, it was past time to gethome. He picked up the tools lying at his feet and loaded them intothe metal box welded onto the back of his truck. Fixing this run offencing had taken all afternoon, but he’d done a good job, even ifhe did say so himself.
He wasreaching for the door handle of his utility when a long, mournfulhowl rolled down from the nearby hills, pouring into the darknesslengthening under the trees, echoing hollowly across the fields.The smile faded from Jamie’s lips. A wolf? That wasn’t possible,not here, there were no wolves here. He stood still for a moment,listening for the howl to sound again, then shook his head. Nah,couldn’t be a wolf, probably a dog, lost perhaps or feral. A lostdog wasn’t a problem; a feral one would have to be trapped beforeit got into his neighbor’s sheep. He’d call Glynn when he got backand suggest they get together to organize things.
The howlsounded again. This time it wasn’t mournful but…predatory, as ifthe wolf — the dog, he corrected himself — had scented something tohunt. He shivered, goose bumps pocking the exposed flesh of hisarms and face. The hair at the back of his neck prickled, but whenhe turned around to spot the cause of his discomfort, he couldn’tsee anything.
Shadows thatminutes before had seemed harmless and beautiful, an etherealblending of then and now, there and here, had turned into pools ofdarkness hiding monsters waiting to pounce.
A loudrustling in the bushes to his left made Jamie jump. He gruntedimpatiently. Geez, it was just a bird, heading off to its nighttimeroost in a frantic whirr of feathers. Not a wolf — just hisoveractive imagination making him antsy about ordinary nighttimesounds.
Still, thefeeling of a day well spent had dissipated and he just wanted toget home. He was ready for a hot shower, a hot meal, some readingand then bed.
Bed. Alone.Unfortunately. He’d been too busy to go clubbing, despite hisbrothers” and Glynn’s many suggestions. No clubbing meant notmeeting anyone, which meant he spent a lot of his time awake alonein his bed reacquainting himself with his palm.
Anotherhowl-roar sounded, this time further away; then another, away tothe right, where the national park met the farm’s southernboundary. More than one dog, it seemed.
Jamie shookhis head. He’d call Glynn as soon as he got in, for sure. Heclimbed into his truck, hand reaching for the keys in the ignition.The engine turned over and he pushed the accelerator as hard as hedared; no sense in rolling the truck just because his imaginationwas playing tricks on him.
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THEFARMHOUSE WAS never locked; people were always coming andgoing, but now, with dusk falling soquickly, the place seemed ominously empty.
Jamie toedhis boots off in the mudroom and went into the kitchen. Where waseveryone? A note pinned to the fridge with a magnet announced thatMatt and Theo had headed to the pub. Jamie grinned…maybe he’dignore his tiredness and join them instead of going to bed, butfirst…time to call Glynn, then a shower. He risked a quick sniff ofhis underarms…god, he stank like a navvy after working outside inthe heat all day.
He liftedthe phone from its cradle and pressed the hot key for Glynn’snumber.
It rang three times then the answeringmachine came on. Jamie waited patiently for the beep beforeobediently leaving his message.
“Hey Glynn,it’s Jamie…listen, mate, I was out in our south field, fixing thefence that washed out, and I heard two or three dogs, they’reprobably ferals so you may need —”
A tremendousthump against the door behind him had him spinning around. “Shit!What the hell …”
He droppedthe phone, not sure whether he should run to bolt the door or headfor the gun cabinet. Thedoor, his startled brain urgedhim, thedoor!
Hisbody, hesitating for a nanosecond,finally obeyed his brain and he raced across the kitchen and intothe mudroom. Whatever was out there was hitting the door so hard