Fireflight

Chapter Fourteen

Three months had passed and the battle lines had ground to a halt. To the north of the Goetia Principality at the border of an allied state trenches had been dug and a no man's land had been created between the two entrenched armies. The same could be said in the east past the city of Huros in the Silver Legion where the attacking forces had dug out defensive trenches in the case of a counter attack. With the war settling in to a surprisingly quick stalemate and the threat of assassination increasing, Stolas and Stella had sent Octavia and Loona far away to the Beurnanenland. 

The family's ties to the Silver Legion and their allies had payed off, and now Octavia was for the time being safe from any harm. At the moment the owl demoness sat reclined in an outdoor chair under a spanning canopy of silk. Beside her sat Loona, eyes focused on the phone in her hand.  

Octavia's eyes wandered, taking in the scenery around her. Having never been to this far away land, she took in the sprawling view before her. She was sitting on a large, high balcony built into a cliff. Below her and stretching far to the horizon, the mid-morning sun cast a healthy yellow glow over the green and yellow grass that covered the gently rolling landscape. Tall acacia trees and clusters of smaller trees and bushes formed isolated clusters of vegetation, often around shallow blue pools of water. Just a mile from the cliff top palace, a large river wound its way through the flat landscape with thinly wooded forests growing here and there along the banks. These patches of woodland often clustered around large, smooth rock formations that had been weathered over millions of years. 

"How do you think they're doing?" She asked the hellhound beside her. 

"Huh?" Loona asked looking up from her phone. 

"How do you think they're doing?" Octavia asked again. 

"I'm sure they're fine," Loona began. "After all your parents are powerful and everyone in I.M.P is highly trained. They can take care of themselves, even Moxxie." 

Octavia smiled. "I think Moxxie is better than you give him credit for." 

"Oh he is." Loona nodded. "He's just kind of a pushover is all. Well that and a know it all." 

A moment of silence drifted between the two of them until Octavia spoke up again. 

"What about that new guy? What's his name?" she asked. 

"Brenden? Yeah he's pretty cool. Real good shot." Loona answered. "Kind of a weird guy though." 

"How so?" the princess asked tilting her head. 

"He's usually pretty quiet, and he never really makes eye contact with you when you're talking." Loona explained. "There's nothing wrong with him, he's just kind of a different guy." 

Octavia nodded and sat back in her chair. "Neat." she said simply. Then after a second she asked. "How are things between you and your dad?" 

Loona sighed. "Fine actually, we got that little fight last week settled. I just wish he wouldn't baby me!" 

Her friend nodded sympathetically. "Part of me wishes my parents were overly protective and bothersome. I don't get a lot of time with them." 

"Sometimes I wish my dad was too busy running a kingdom to have time for me." Loona said. "You wanna switch?" she asked jokingly. 

The two girls shared a laugh and then sat in companionate silence. Loona picked up her phone and went back to whatever she had been doing while Octavia closed her eyes and basked in the warm morning sun. It was good to be away from everything. 

                                                                                                [] 

Far to the northwest, over mountains, fields and forests, the other members of I.M.P and the prince and princess of the Goetia line sat waiting in the great estate with the fires of war much closer. Stella had spent most of her time in her chambers, keeping in contact with her side of the family and her friends. To her immense relief no one dear to her had been harmed yet, though some of them had had to flee to safer places. Stolas had spent most of his time with his advisors and chief military guards, planning for the defense of his land and people, and helping the war effort some ways away. That left the members of I.M.P to wait for orders. So far they had not been called upon, but the wait was beginning to make them all a little stir crazy. 

As the mid morning sun that shone over Loona and Octavia so far away began to rise higher into noon, the four remaining members of the free lancers were gathered up and brought before Prince Stolas. The four imps now stood amongst the owl prince and half a dozen of his closest advisors. 

"Thank you for coming."  Stolas said to them. "I require your services." 

"Finally! All this waiting has got me going crazy." Blitzo groaned. 

"What do you need us to do sir?" Millie asked the prince. 

"My spies have reported that a team of commandos from Lord Henri's army have infiltrated the battle lines and are somewhere in my lands. We believe them to be here in this village." Stolas began, pointing to a spot on the large map on the table before him. 

The four imps peered at the map on their tippy toes. The table was meant for creatures bigger than themselves, and their eyes barely came above table level. 

"We can't really see." Blitzo said. 

"Oh, yes!" Stolas said realizing. Then turning to his advisors he asked, "Would you mind giving up your seats so that they can get a good look at the map?" 

Without protest four of the advisors stood so that the imps could climb up onto their seats. Now standing on the chairs, the four of them could see the map well. 

"Someone record the name of that town." Blitzo ordered. 

"I've got it." Brenden confirmed. 

"Do you have any other information on these commandos?" Moxxie asked. 

Stolas nodded. "We don't know exactly what their mission is, but after you deal with them you can search for any documentation they might have. What we do know though is they number at six. They were seen crossing a gap in our defenses two days ago." 

"So why weren't we sent out then?" Blitzo asked. 

"We lost track of them." One of the advisors, a black feathered parrot demon spoke. "They resurfaced early this morning after a plain clothes spy stationed near the village spotted them taking up residence in an old unused barn some distance out of town." 

"It's a good thing you've got such a good web of spies." Brenden said. 

"Indeed it is. We've been preparing for something like this for decades now." Stolas explained. 

"When do we head out?" Blitzo asked. 

"Anytime you're ready."  the prince answered. 

"Moxxie, Millie, Brenden... go get your gear. We're going hunting." Blitzo said with a grin.