Rain Glade (11 page)

Jacob’s red leather uniform had a large,
bloodstained gash in the chest. Rain crossed his arms over it and
straightened his legs. She wiped droplets of water from his face,
but they were quickly replaced by her tears. It took even longer to
cover him with dirt than it had to dig the hole.

When the last shovelful of dirt landed, Rain
knelt by Jacob’s grave. She cried throughout the night. Rain wanted
to stop, but couldn’t.

***

At some point in the morning, she looked up
to the sky and pleaded with the Gods, “Please bring him back.
Please bring my Jacob back.” Her tears fell even harder as she
waited for an answer that never came.

She couldn’t bear her wretched life without
the one she loved. Grief overwhelmed Rain, and she let it consume
her. She became the tears that were its symbol, her essence fading
as they flowed.

Fairies fluttered from the trees and sadly
wove the tears into the raindrops falling from above.

***

Four days after Rain left to find news from
Seyten, Verna stood by the pool and looked at the clear sky. It was
a beautiful day, but she was worried about her friend. Verna had
gone to the village that morning to see if there was any news, only
to discover that Lord Greffen had come back with three soldiers
dead, one of whom went missing. That soldier’s name was Jacob.

Her heart grew heavier with each step she
took along the creek. By the time she reached the tunnel and made
her way through, she feared the worst.

The sun no longer shone on the glade. Looking
up, Verna could only see clouds forever releasing their droplets of
water. She felt the magic in every drop and in the very air itself,
twice as strong as before.

And then she heard it. Barely audible crying
filled the glade. Each and every drop of water falling from the sky
carried it.

Lying in between two large roots of a tree
was a fresh grave. Verna went over and stood next to it. After a
moment, she turned away and stood in the middle of the glade. She
twirled in a circle with her head to the sky.

Verna held out a hand and kissed the moisture
that fell upon it. “I love you so
very
much, Rain.” With
tears in her own eyes, she left the glade.

###

About the
Author

John H. Carroll was the youngest of seven
children and was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1970 where he was kept
in a dresser drawer with the clean socks. Luckily, he wasn’t kept
with the dirty socks or else he might have grown up to become
slightly warped.

As a child, John spent most of his time
wandering through the Mojave Desert in an attempt to avoid people.
He would stare at the sky, imagining what it would be like to
explore different worlds. One of his favorite memories is watching
his dad build the fuselage of Evel Kneivel’s skycycle in their
garage. One of his least favorite moments was watching that
skycycle fall into the Snake River. (Not his dad’s fault and he has
documentation to prove it, so nyah)

As a teenager, John spent most of his time
driving wherever he could in an attempt to avoid people. He would
stare at the road, imagining what it would be like to explore
different worlds. He was the captain of the chess team, lettered in
golf and band while in high school, and wasn’t beaten up anywhere
near as much as one might imagine.

As an adult, John spends most of his time
staring at a computer screen in an attempt to avoid people. He
stares at the monitor for hours, imagining what it would be like to
explore different worlds. He has been married to his wonderful wife
for sixteen years and they have three obnoxio . . . wonderful
children who always behave . . . when they’re asleep.

Emo bunny minions surround John at most
times. He is their imaginary friend and they look to him for
guidance. At one point, they took over the world. No one noticed
because they left everything exactly as it was. They gave the world
back after a week because it was depressing.

The Willden Trilogy is his first endeavor
into the field of writing. Other series and standalone works will
be forthcoming. In addition, John has written a number of short
stories that can be found at most eBook sites. He writes in the
evenings and weekends whenever possible. Regrettably, the family
mentioned in a previous paragraph desires food and shelter,
requiring the author to possess a full time job until his writing
makes him rich.

You can follow his blog where he discusses
writing, emo bunnies, family and various other topics of
insanity.

http://www.ryallon.blogspot.com/

Follow him on twitter if you like insane
ramblings and random comments.

http://twitter.com/kookoo88

Find him on Facebook where he discusses
current projects and writing in general:
http://www.facebook.com/John.H.Carroll.Author

His Goodreads Page:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4479427.John_H_Carroll

New!
The Emo Bunny
that Should - Illustrated Edition:
With beautiful illustrations
by Arlene Rose. You can get it at the store where you found this
one.

Emo the Bunny was a sad bunny. He
preferred gloomy days, walks over a cliff and misery of any sort.
One day he saw something very unusual. Normally he'd take a nap and
try to forget about it, but for some reason he took an interest.
Then things happened. Emo the Bunny hated it when things happened.
Caution: This story is not for normal children.

“
A Collection of Stories for Demented
Children”
You can get it at the store where you found this
one.

Five short stories combined into one,
written for demented children and adults too. Text versions of
these stories can be found for free individually. I am charging for
the compilation in the hopes of earning a living from my writing in
order to support my own demented children. Some content may be
disturbing for younger, or sane, children.

My full-length novels are set in the world
of Ryallon. They are high fantasy with rogues, knights, dragons and
flower children. You can get them at the store where you found this
one.

Willden Trilogy
(Written first)

Ryallon

Anilyia

Kethril

Dralin Trilogy
(Set in time before
the Willden trilogy)

Dralin

Ebudae

Pelya

Stand-alone Novella

Rain Glade

Coming soon:

The Crazed Trilogy
(Set in time after
the Willden Trilogy)

The Morhain Trilogy
(Set in time
after the Willden Trilogy)