The Castle Under The Moon

Chapter Thirty

By the time that the last man made it back to the castle it had been twelve hours since Gabriel had told them to go.

When Valda and Luna make it to the training grounds the next day there was only five men standing with Gabriel.

"You five met the time frame that was needed to pass." Gabriel makes sure to look every man in the eyes before continuing.

"The next challenge takes someone with brains and patience."

"Oh boy." Valda chuckles, not thinking that this was going to end well.

Gabriel turns and glares at her, causing Luna to end up giggling as well, unable to be serious with the look that was on the older man's face.

"Each of you will get two men, a map and instructions. You will go on a mission to save Luna and Valda."

Both Luna and Valda instantly stop their giggling and turn to look at Gabriel with wide eyes while all the men look at the two of them.

"What?!" Valda screeches, while Luna's mouth is slightly open.

With a sigh Gabriel turns his entire body towards a shocked Luna and an angry Valda, a smug look taking over his face.

"Valda, dear, this is something that needs to be tested so that we all know that they are capable to handle a situation like this if it ever arises. You both will be very safe and have no need to worry."

Valda puts both of her hands on her hips and begins to glare at the tall man that was standing in front of her.

"Why do Luna and I have to do it?" Valda squints and pops her left hip out.

"Because I said so." Gabriel said in a duh tone while he rolls his eyes.

Valda uses her pointer finger to poke into Gabriel's chest after every word that she says.

"Find some other people to send off, I want no part of it!"

Gabriel looks over to Luna, his eyes begging her to help him, as he rubs his chest where Valda had been using her long, pointed fingernails to add effect to her words.

"Valda," Luna sighs, waiting until Valda turned to face her before continuing. "We don't have anything better to do." She shrugs, hoping that Gabriel was pleased with what she had said.

"Fine!" Valda huffs, throwing her hands in the air before crossing them over her chest, an unhappy look in her face.

Luna smiles and glances over at Shadow, who had a small smile on his face, causing her heart to swell, happy that he was enjoying himself.

"Alright, Asher and Barrett are already... there." Gabriel stops himself before saying anything to telling around the men, knowing that Valda was very capable of finding the odd pair.

While Luna nods and waves, Valda just grumbles and holds onto the shorter woman's right arm before whispering a sentence in Latin while Luna closes her eyes.

"We're here." Valda huffs, not happy about their current situation.

"Luna!" Asher shouts as he stands from his seat on the porch, happy to see his best friend.

"How sweet." Valda glares at Asher once he was standing in front of them.

"I love you too, Valda." Asher chuckles, Valda's nasty mood not affecting the man.

"So, what's the plan?" Luna asks as the trio began making their way towards the cabin where Barrett stood in the doorway, watching them with a small smile on his face.

"The two of us are the ones that have taken you and we have to fight the guys whenever they choose to attack." Asher nods as he speaks.

"I suggested that we leave the world to make it harder but Gabriel didn't like the idea." Barrett rolls his eyes as he takes a seat on the couch while Asher snorts when he hears the word 'harder'.

"Weapons? And when is this all going down?" Valda mumbles, wanting to know the answer but not really wanting to join in on the conversation as she shoves a piece of roll into her mouth.

"Each team is given twenty-four hours." Asher sighs as he falls back onto the couch, squishing himself between Luna and Barrett, and slightly enjoying it.

"We are going to be out here for five days?!" Valda screeches, the other half of her roll that was in her hand jumped, landing on the floor in front of her while she choked on the other half that was still in her mouth.

"No!" Asher laughs, really enjoying the angry look on Valda's now red face.

"They have from the time that you came here to the same time tomorrow, picking a time within that twenty-four hour time frame." Barrett answers for her, glaring over at Asher afterwards while Luna smacks his upper arm, scolding him.

Valda sighs and her body relaxes as she leans back against the table, grabbing a new roll from the table and tearing it in half.

"That's much better." She grumbles, shoving one half of the roll into her mouth.

"So they could be here any time now?" Luna asks, looking over at Barrett, ignoring Asher as he pouted beside her.

"Maybe-" Barrett starts talking but gets cut off as Asher stands abruptly, pulling Luna up with him.

"Yep! And that's why we need you two to come into this room so we can get ready, we wouldn't want to be caught off guard." Asher smiles, opening the door and ushering Luna in while Valda gives him a suspicious look as she struts by him and into the room.

"You expect us to put those one?" Valda turns to look at Asher, pointing at the ropes that were laying on the bed, just as he shut the door, blocking them from leaving.

"Duh." Asher grumbles as he points to the bed.

Luna is the first to move to the bed, Asher having to push Valda as she resists, knowing that she wasn't as strong as the lion behind her.

"I will not wear those." Valda states as Asher pushes her onto the bed after grabbing one of the ropes. When Valda tries to stand Asher plops on top of her, affectively stopping her from moving as he wrapped the rope around her left hand and tied it to the bed.

After tying both of the woman's arms to the bed Asher stands and wipes his hands on his pants, a large grin on his face, proud of the finished products.

"If you need anything, just yell." Asher tells them as he opens the bedroom door, his smile growing when Valda turns her head to the left.

"Okay." Luna sighs, regret filling her as soon as her best friend closed the door.

"I can't believe that you agreed to this." Valda whispers, turning her head forwards.

"Stop complaining, Valda, this could get exciting." Luna mumbles, trying to make herself believe her words as well.

Valda just rolls her eyes and lets out a huff, ready for this day to be over so that she could take a long, warm bath and ignore everyone for a week, maybe two.