The Girl Who Loved Mountains

by Layla Lawlor

  In the way of some autumns, the weather held clear and beautiful. Last summer's long journey went faster on the return trip, as going home often is. I figured I could easily make the Red River crossing before the weather got too cold to travel, where there was a good wagon road going south and always a steady stream of merchants and pack trains, even at this time of year.

  But first, there was a small detour I wanted to make, to a particular crossroads just short of Border-Town. I wasn't sure if I'd recognize it, and I ended up trying a few different country lanes before I finally found one that plucked a familiar chord on the strings of my memory. After I'd walked for a while, I found the overhanging rowan tree, with the stream pooling under its feet. There was the little rock where I sat to eat my lunch. The mind plays tricks, though. I had remembered a clear pool, but it was choked with fallen leaves, not just the fresh leaves of this autumn but many seasons' worth.

  I walked up the stream toward Su's farmstead. I glimpsed goats in the distance, but all the ones I saw were feral, their shaggy coats matted and horns grown into spirals.

  In time, I came to the small leaping waterfall I remembered. Su's house had been right here. Should be here. But instead there was a tumbledown stone wall, overgrown with thornbushes and creepers. Perhaps it had once been a house, a very long time ago. Feral goats browsed among the ruins.

  I sat on the wall and had my lunch. The goats crept close; I shared some bits of bread with them. Like the ruins of the old mill with the idols around it, there was nothing sinister in this place by daylight. I would not, however, want to be caught here by the fall of night.

  And I wondered, as I had ever since that night on the mountain, how much I could trust of my memory. Had there ever been an altar, split in two? Had an old mountain-god truly claimed father-rights of me?

  "I suppose I can't regret it," I said aloud. The goats scattered at my voice. "It's all just stories, after all. Perhaps the best stories, the truest stories, are the ones that no one ever hears because they would never be believed."

  I brushed off my skirts and tossed the last of my lunch scraps among the rocks, a final offering to birds and goats and whatever else lived here. The day was growing short, the frosty night coming on. I turned my steps south.

  About the Author

  Layla Lawlor is the author of Kismet (a science fiction webcomic) and the forthcoming Gatekeeper series (urban fantasy), as well as assorted short fiction. She also writes paranormal romance as Lauren Esker, and the Bodyguard Shifters and Bears of Pinerock County series as Zoe Chant. She lives in Alaska, on the highway north of Fairbanks.

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  Coming in July

  ROGUE MYTHS

  Full length urban fantasy

  I didn't believe in magic.

  I was just an ordinary art student ...

  Until I found myself fighting for my life against a creature out of my worst nightmares.

  Armed with a magic sword she doesn't know how to use and partnered with a cynical, truck-driving fairy mentor she doesn't trust, art student turned monster-slayer Kay Darrow had better ace Monster Hunting 101, because there's no do-over for this final exam.

  Releases July 1, 2020

  Get it now!

  Click here to go to Amazon

  I write paranormal and sci-fi romance as Lauren Esker. You can find my books written as Lauren here:

  https://laurenesker.com/

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