The Odd Squad

[Sofija]

“At ease,” Lieutenant Fines said to the two soldiers standing in front of his desk. He was getting tired of this. These two women, Jesianna and Rolinda, have caused nothing but problems since they were assigned to him. This latest snafu from them was just the latest in a series that served to get under his skin. “I think you know why I called you here.”

“Yes, sir,” the two said in unison as they stood facing the hot-tempered commander. Despite their hard work and success in the field, he never seemed pleased with them, though they were well liked by the other soldiers stationed with them at the Western Guard Outpost.

“What in the hell possessed you to attack those Imps!” He yelled, pounding the table in emphasis. “You knew we had a treaty with them. Now, who knows when they might attack Olvia.”

“Well you see sir, they were about to kill this poor, defenseless bunny rabbit and …” Jesianna, the dark-skinned junior of the two with her satin-black hair worn with a side tail started to say before Lieutenant Fines interrupted her. Trained in sword and shield, she was always acting without thinking, doing what she felt was right and just even before she joined. A lover of all things cute and cuddly who hated seeing bandits, thieves, imps, and all manner of what she termed as meanies, harassing the innocent, even if it was just a cute, fluffy rabbit.

“A bunny rabbit?! You broke a treaty because of a bunny rabbit?” Fines’ face was red as he yelled and pounded on the table again. He cursed to himself wondering what he did in life to get stuck with such bumbling idiots.

“Sir, let me explain,” Rolinda, the taller of the two with fair skin and short striking red hair, said trying to diffuse the situation. A woman of honor and discipline, who while seemingly the polar opposite of her partner, Jesianna, held the younger in very high esteem despite her often brash actions.

“What is there to explain? You disobeyed a direct order, broke a treaty, and now the other Imp tribes as well as the bandit camps won’t trust us endangering the entire area.”

“Sir,” Rolinda continued, “While Jesianna’s actions were, a bit, short-sighted and reactionary and we apologize.” She said as she gave her friend and fellow soldier an affirming nod who returned it. “We did discover that they had planned a raid on Olvia using the treaty as cover thus saving the town and dealing a major blow to their numbers so they will not be a danger anymore.”

“I don’t care if you saved the Lord Chamberlain. You disobeyed a direct order.” Fines emphasized his point with another desk pounding. “You are now on permanent guard duty. You are not, I repeat, not to leave your post until relieved at oh seven hundred. Understood?”

“But sir,” Jesianna objected. “That’s not for another 16 hours.”

“I said, understood?” His face was now even redder as he leaned forward staring down Jesianna with daggers in his eyes.

“Sir, yes sir.” The two soldiers replied back as they snapped back to attention knowing that they were not going to win this battle.

“Dismissed,” Fines barked. The sight of them leaving did nothing to lower his blood pressure as he continued to curse himself wondering how he was ever going to explain this to Commander Cliff. And with the powerful sorceress Ioimaros, fresh off the front lines along Valencia in camp, he knew his chances of impressing her and leaving this camp were south of zero all because of those two.