The air was still as glass, and it seemed to Marsha that it was just as fragile.  she dipped her feet in the cool stream she had taken a rest by.  The air was stale and sticky.  Marsha had been walking all day under the angry sun and needed a break.  She rested her sword beside her leg and shrugged off her tunic, revealing a body sculped by years of mercenary fighting as well as daggers that were hidden in a complex system of braces and ties.

She was a spy for the most part, but often as not, she was hired for her skills alone.  She knew how to use her sword so well she didn't have to watch, but even unarmed she knew 50 ways to kill a man, many of them painful and slow.  

She dunked her tunic into the stream and wrung it out, letting the icy water trickle over her hands in brusts of coolness.  She slipped it on after it stopped dripping, but it was cold enough to raise goosebumps on her skin as she slithered into it.  After she had gotten comfortable, she pulled her bag towards her.  It was a simple leather bag, and reletively small, but it held all her most dear and necesary supplies, including food, a canteen of water and her medicine kit.  She pulled out a dried apple, a piece of day old bread and her canteen.  she was munching contentedly when she heard a sudden noise behind her.  She whirled around, drawing two daggers in one fluid movement.  She was a hunted woman, with a large price on her head, and she couldn't take any chances.  What she saw was about as non-threataning as anything she could have conjured up in her mind.

"Hey!  Cut that out Luke!"  Marsha saw two kids,about the same age but no older than 15 stumble out of the bushes.  "We'll get caught!"  That was the girl, talking to a boy who Marsha assumed was named Luke.

"Come ON, Taya!"  the boy shouted.  "Who will find us?  Pa is in the city working and Ma doesn't care what we do as long as we don't cause the townfolk any trouble.  We'll never be caught out on a village road like this one."

"Oh, really?"  Marsha stepped out of the shrubs and heard the two children scream.

"A bandit!" cried the girl.  "Run, Luke, RUN!!"  The children disapeared down the road, screaming and shouting.

"That wasn't the best thing you could have done to stay undercover, dear."  The voice made Marsha turn and smile.

"I'm glad you've found me, Lucifer."  The man she was talking to was tall and raven haired, with glittering Sapphire eyes.  He was Marsha's fellow spy and lover.  Lucifer was an expert in poisons and hand to hand combat.  he carried no open weapon, but was as dangerous as any man with a sword, if not more so.  He was lithe and willowy and was very sensitive, a total contrast to Marsha in every way exept one:  They were both ruthless and efficiant killers when it was required of them.

"I was worried that you wouldn't find me after Medlow,"  Marsha said, brushing his cheek with the back of her hand.  "That was one of the worse missions."  Lucifer kissed her slowly, the kiss of longtime lovers.

"I knew I'd find you.  I've been tracking you for all my life.  I know the trails you leave."  Marsha smiled.

"Let's get going," Marsha said, gathering her stuff and taking his hand.  "I'd like to get away from here before those kids get back with help."

"Good thinking"

The two of them set off down the road, Marsha with her sword across her back and Lucifer shoulder to shoulder with her, just like it had been for the last 5 years.

To Be Continued?