The Castle Under The Moon

Chapter Two

Luna whimpers when she feels pressure on her left leg and instantly sits up and sees Rosemary standing in front of her with her right foot on top of Luna's left.

"Wake up, gimp." She laughs, a sneer on her face.

Rosemary's mouth opens again but before she is able to say anything the breakfast bell rings, stopping her.

Before she leaves, Rosemary looks Luna right in the eyes and applies more pressure so that Luna's twisted foot was put in a painful position.

Luna cries out and reaches for her foot and Rosemary dashes away and down the stairs.

"Twat." Luna says as she massages her aching foot with a grimace on her face.

When she stands she uses the wall to help her and then starts to slowly add weight to her left foot, getting it used to her leaning on it.

After doing that for minute or so she slowly starts to make her way to the doorway of the small bedroom and silently cheers for herself when she gets there without an accident.

Closing her eyes, Luna takes a deep breath and then starts to make her way down the steep stairs, focusing her hardest so that she wouldn't fall.

Limping into the kitchen, she searches for her best friend, who was also her only friend, besides Bertha.

"Luna!" Asher shouts, causing her to look towards the tall boy that was standing on his chair and waving his arms around like he was trying to catch something that was flying around him.

Asher is the newest addition to the orphanage, he was brought in by a couple of hunters who found him in the middle of the woods.

In Luna's opinion, and most of the girls in the orphanage, if not all, thought he was the most beautiful person that anyone has ever seen.

Asher has shoulder length, dirty blonde hair and bright green eyes. His skin was golden, like he had worked out in the sun all of his life and he was the tallest and the strongest of all the boys that lived in the orphanage, even the older ones.

He was also one of the kindest people that Luna had ever met. He always saved her a seat at breakfast and dinner, and he even got her food and drinks as well.

For some unknown reason he just gravitated towards Luna and she definitely did not complain because she was happy to finally have a friend.

"I grabbed some candy from Bertha's secret stash." Asher whispers in Luna's ear as he pushes her seat in.

"You should be happy that no one caught you." Luna rolls her eyes.

"I'll never get caught." He states cockily, with bread crumbs tumbling from his moving lips.

"Talking with your mouth full is disrespectful." Bertha, the woman that took care of all of the children, tells him as she smacks him in the back of the head, causing Luna to giggle.

"Sorry." Asher says, rubbing the back of his head.

"Go on outside and play, it's a nice day." Bertha tells the two as she starts washing the dishes.

They were the only two that were still sitting in the house, everyone else has already finished their food and were outside.

"Yes ma'am." Both children say while Asher pulls Luna's chair out.

Before she stands, Luna sticks the last piece of her bread into her mouth and takes Asher's stretched hand with a smile on her face.

Bertha smiles as the two make their way out of the kitchen door and onto the porch.

Before Asher came Luna was always inside with Bertha, helping when she was able to. Bertha was happy that the young girl was finally getting outside and enjoying herself.

Bertha also knew that any day now the two of them will possibly be getting a home together, that fact alone made Bertha one of the happiest women in the town at this moment.

Bertha enjoys what she does and is happy that she can help young children in the very same house she was raised in by her headmistress, who had helped her when she was a young girl in need of a home.

As Bertha hums, Asher and Luna sit on a patch of shaded grass and lay down so that they could see the clouds that littered the sky.

"Here." Asher says as he lifts his arms up a little so that he can hand Luna the cinnamon candy he had stolen.

Cinnamon candy was Luna's absolute favorite thing in the world. She loved the taste and the smell helped her relax if she was anxious, which she almost always was.

The first time that she explained this to Asher he had laughed, causing her to hit his arm with all of her might.

Instead of him getting angry he told her that they were going to get along great, and they did.

"Do you remember your family?" He asks her, turning his head so that he can see hers.

"No. Do you?" She asks back, turning so that she could see him.

"Yes." He tells her but instead of continuing he looks back up at the sky with a small smile on his lips.

Luna fills with peace as she turns her head back towards the sky and sticks another piece of cinnamon candy into her mouth.

They both lay there for a little while just watching the clouds as they slowly, almost lazily, move across the sky.

"I wonder what the clouds feel like." Luna whispers, sticking both of her hands into the air, towards the clouds and closing her eyes.

Asher does the same and they both imagine what it would feel like to lay on a cloud.

Luna giggles, thinking about how soft it would be to touch.

"They are actually very nice to touch." A smooth, deep voice says, causing Luna and Asher to immediately drop their arms and open their eyes.

Their eyes widen when they see a man with dark skin standing above them.

"Why are you upside down?" Asher asks just as Luna asks, "how do you know?"

The man chuckles as he walks around the children and holds his hands out towards them.

"I have touched one, and I was standing behind you." He answers as both the kids look at one another and then back at his large hands.

Deciding she could use the help up Luna grabs his left hand and Asher soon follows her lead, letting the giant man pull them up.

When Luna was standing she took in the strangers appearance.

His skin is a deep ebony making his amber eyes pop. His black hair was short and close to his head but looked so soft that Luna has to stop herself from reaching out to touch it even though she wasn't close to it at all, him being extremely tall. The man's smile was wide and lit up his entire face. A short beard framed his jaw, the hair looking as soft as the hair that was on his head. His very muscular build paired with his height made him seem like a giant to the two kids.  His boots were black as well as his trousers , his button down shirt was white and the top three buttons we're undone, showing his smooth, hairless chest.

"My name's Gheorgie." He tells the children, bowing.

"Asher." Asher tells him, sticking his hand out in front of him so that they could shake hands.

"I'm Luna." Luna whispers, with an awestruck look on her face.

"Nice to meet you." Gheorgie says, and laughs a little when he notices the young girls stare.

"You're even more beautiful than Asher." Luna tells him as if that is the most amazing thing.

"Thank you! I am actually here to see a woman named Bertha, do you think you can help me?" He asks them, enjoying the compliment.

Luna nods and grabs Gheorgies hand, leading him back into the house with Asher grumbling as he walks behind them.

"You're even more beautiful than Asher." He mocks in a high pitched voice, slightly jealous of the attention the older man was getting from his best friend.