The Mountain Road (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781505984323)

Yao, Fey, and Shem are travelling from their home in River Haven to the neighboring town of Glorydale. Unfortunately the only way to get there in on a toll road, or so they think until Fey's father tells them of another way. Yao and Shem decide to take the old Mountain Road and it changes them forever.

Length: 96 pages (about 10,000 words)

These engaging stories are kept intentionally short so that they may be read in a few hours. Each book in this series examines a traditional family value in a fictional setting so that it is fun to read, instructive, and entertaining.

Excerpt:

The water was icy cold, and the road bed was a full two feet above the surface of the marsh. The stream must have been fed by glacial waters further up the mountain. The rock, while dry, did not mask the temperature of the water that ran beneath it. Yao admired the marsh grasses and the brilliant colors that they displayed, but quickly made his mind up to leave as his feet began to freeze on the icy surface of the stone roadway.

He had just picked up his pack to move on when he was startled by the braying of a wild animal off the side of the trail. Yao walked cautiously forward, and when he had come around a bend in the trail, found a small goat trapped in a large thicket of thorny bushes. He could see the dry places that the buck had used to get at some of the sweet marsh grasses. He must have gotten tangled in the thorns before he could retreat back to the safety of the plateau.

Yao carefully laid down his pack on the stone roadway, and made his way out to the frightened goat. As he got closer the goat began to panic and bray more loudly. He spoke gently to it as he got closer, and soon found himself face to face with the goat. Gently Yao began to stroke the goat along his spine, and once the buck had calmed down he began untangling the long pointy briers from its fur. It proved to be quite the task, as the mountain goat's fur was thick and ready for the upcoming winter. Somehow he managed to untangle the thorns, and the goat was soon hopping from stone to dry patch, back up to the stone roadway.

Yao began his own careful way back to the road. When he reached the roadway, he realized that the goat had not run off, but was waiting for him. At first he thought this rather pleasant, but once he had climbed up onto the road and picked up his pack his mind quickly changed. There on the path leading out of the bog sat a large mountain lion.