Adventures in Moonlit Valley: Book One--The Protector of the Realm

A Love in the Midst of War

I just want to thank you guys for the reads and votes. I know I don't have much but I hope that changes:) Thank you all. Please comment below on what you think of my story. The song featured in this chapter is "The Call" by Regina Specktor

It was just a month before the rebels were going to declare war on the evil king and his army, and Harold and Star were as ready as anyone to take back the land that was stolen from them. Late at night after everyone was done training and were off to sleep, Harold was sitting at the edge of the island, lying on his back and letting his feet hang off the ledge. He was lying there with his eyes closed, dreaming of his parents and what they said to him. He hears footsteps coming from behind him and opens his eyes to see it was Star. She lays down beside him and looks at him.

"Why are you out here so late at night?" She asked.

"It's my thinking spot." He replied. "What about you?"

"Same." She said looking up at the stars.

There was an unspoken love bewteen the two kids, and the thought that they're about to fight in a war and the thought they might not come back made it harder for them to confess it to each other. Harold looks at her, the way her eyes stare intensely into the dark night watching the stars, the way her chest rises and falls while she breathes heavy and when she turned to face him...the sparkle in her eyes.

"What?" She asked as her face turned red.

"I know this is shit timing, you know, with us going to war and all next month...but...I, uh...I...love you."

Her eyes tear up and she begins to cry. Looking up at the stars she reponds.

"You know, back in Dublin I had everything I could've wanted and things were much simpler. I had money, friends, a school crush, popularity, but now, now here I am in a magical world with people telling me I have to save it. I never asked for any of this." She looks at him with tears flooding down her face. "I was a bitch Harold," She said sniffling. "I was popular girl who treated all of the unpopular kids like you like shit. Now I'm lying next to a boy who looks at me as if nothing else around him exists...and I don't deserve it."

She covers her face in her hands and sobs. Harold lays back and looks at the stars.

"I told you all of this before, but back in my town and my school I was the target for the popular kids. I was the punching bag for anyone who was having a bad day, but since arriving at Moobnlit Valley, with the people telling me they love me, and they can't wait for me to save their home makes me feel like the king of the world. I was a kid who looked forward for the future, a kid who looked back at his past and thought "yeah my life it shit." I never stopped to take a look around and smell the roses, and after arriving here and hearing what you confessed to me really changed my point of view. I don't care about what you were like before coming to Moonlit Valley. I don't. And I will keep loving you even if you deserve it or not." Star'sobs were reduced to sniffles and they watched the stars in the brilliant night sky in silence.

"Prove it." She said not looking at him.

Harold smiled. "Do you know the constellations?" He asked.

"Yeah." She whsipered.

"Then look over at Orion's Belt." He said pointing to the constellation.

"I see it."

"You see how those three little dots seem so close?"

"Yes," She coughed. "Yes I do."

"They seem so close, but in reality those three little dots can be ten times the size of our son and are thousands and thousands of years away from each other, and to travel to each star would require you to travel into a vast unknown which holds all the natural wonders of the universe and to understand it all would and always will be impossible." He sighs a heavy sigh. "And that is my love for you. A vast unknown that unfolds all the pain and sorrow of my life just so it can be swept away by the memory of you." He smiles. "And to understand it is impossible...and that's what makes it so much fun."

She looks at him with wonder in her eyes. She then gets up and cuddles next to Harold.

"Sing me a song." She whispers.

Harold thinks for a moment and smiles. "It started out as a feeling, which then grew into a hope, which then turned into a quiet thought, which then turned into a quiet word, and then that word grew louder and louder, 'til it was a battle cry, I'll come back when you call me, No need to say goodbye."

Harold then looks down to see that she was asleep on his lap. He didn't want to wake he so he just layed back and looked up at the stars.