The Branchalite Legionnaires

Chapter 1: A New Mission

Alsip covered in snow was somehow even more alluring than when the flower boxes were filled with the blooms of Spring. The wattle and daub buildings with their white topped exteriors looked most inviting. Michelle traversed Main Street with the elegance and poise of a dancer, deftly avoiding the milling throng as she made her way ostensibly to the Tipsy Mermaid. A man ahead drew her attention: he was tall, dressed like a sailor, and lurched drunkenly on his way towards her. She steadied her steps, mentally counting them to a spot where they would intersect and glanced over her shoulder to note where the three Nerakan Squires were watching the crowd. The timing of the brush pass was going to have to be exquisite, or the squires would have to be distracted.

Michelle side-stepped, drawing herself just slightly into the wagon path, and was able to take advantage of a bump with another civilian, inadvertently causing her to drop a pouch. Bending over at the waist to retrieve it gave the Squires ample view of Michelle's posterior, etched in relief against the skirt on her green dress. Michelle's body obscured the view from the squires and made it easy for the drunken sailor to reach down and assist her retrieval of the pouch virtually unobserved. His note had made it into the pouch. The squires, with their tabards depicting a lily growing out of a skull, were none the wiser after their lecherous interlude. Michelle straightened up, smoothed out her dress, and headed on her way, with barely a nod in thanks for the sailor's assistance.

She took a little over ten minutes to devise and complete a route that brought her to her destination and verified that she had not acquired any shadows in the process. She lingered outside long enough to look at the lurid sign that she had painted for the owner, and wonder for the umpteenth time if that had been wise. With a faint smile and a shake of her head, she slipped into the interior of the tavern, listening to the sound of her sister singing to the clientele this lunchtime, accompanied by deft fingers on her mandolin. A quick scan of the interior picked out the man she was seeking, and she made her way through the few customers to sit next to him. He was very tall and broad at the shoulder, with muscular limbs, and bore with him the faint aroma of soot. He had short brown hair, green eyes and an olive skinned complexion. He turned to regard her with a somber expression as she settled next to him.

"It's new year's day,"Michelle said with a half-smile. "Time just oozes past when you're distracted, doesn't it?"

The big man nodded and eased his gaze back to the red-haired minstrel, moving between those few individuals in the place at lunch time. "My business here is complete," he said in a much lower tone to Michelle. "If you give it to me, I'll take it back to the wagons. Get Fandy to work on it, while I work on that sword for the gnome in Pensdale."

"Sure. I can duet with Sarah then. We'll try and make some coin before heading out." Michelle slipped the pouch onto the man's belt, deft and discreet.

"Don't take any unnecessary risks Michelle – for some reason the Nerakans are on high alert."

"You know me, Steven: my middle name is safety!" Michelle gave the man a surreptitious wink as he stepped away heading for the door. She took a moment to look around the tavern more carefully. The Tipsy Mermaid wasn't the largest of Taverns, but neither was it small. Half a dozen tables facilitated diners and a bar for those who sought only drink. Sarah was a full figured woman, tall like Michelle, with green eyes, and was attired in a yellow dress with green stripes. She sang to a few patrons at the bar. Michelle and Sarah were fraternal twins, and Michelle always felt more comfortable working with her. However, in Alsip they went without weapons or armor and it left Michelle a little on edge. Sarah always seemed to handle it with a cheery nonchalance.

"My turn?" Michelle's question came as Sarah finished up one of the more popular songs in the town: a sea shanty relating a tale about a bored and lonely merchant's wife. It always went well with the sailors in town, and this time was no exception.