Cantra spent the remainder of her day scouting the harbor. The woman with the shield had not only given her a job, she’d given her a way to learn more about the ship, an opportunity to find out where Peacock was kept. The thief made mental notes of all the routines and changes of the guards. Then she stole some bottles of rum from a nearby inn, borrowed a tinder box from her uncle’s palace and went to work. She doused some cloth with the rum and put in it in the bottleneck. Right as the members of the Broken Wing started to arrive to replace the guards, Cantra threw a volley of bottles towards the ship. Some missed but others hit and created small fiery explosions on the deck. Chaos ensued as the gang members tried to stop the fire. Perfect. Now let’s hope I can find Peacock before everything turns to ash. When the woman with the shield had asked her to stir things up around the ship, this might not have been what she meant. Still, Cantra liked her idea a lot. While she climbed from her rooftop and sprinted towards the ship, the smell of fire made her hyped. Yes, it made thievery more dangerous and yes, it kinda risked Peacock’s life, but hey, Cantra just wanted to have some fun! She used her dexterous street-skills to climb on deck using the ship’s anchor. No one noticed her in the haze of the smoke and the heat of the fire. She didn’t see the woman anywhere. Only the gang members and some off-duty guards, stumbling around and shouting at each other. In the corner of her eye, she saw some of them leaving the ship, no doubt to search for the culprit. Cantra grinned as she entered the ship’s cabins searching for her friend.
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She found empty sleeping quarters, a captain’s office filled with books and charts about anatomy and a storage room filled with salted food and herbs. The ship was a three-master, a giant wooden labyrinth, so it would be impossible to find Peacock on her first try but her distraction provided her with enough time to do an initial scan of the big ship. She tore a page from one of the books in the office, a detailed illustration of a woman with boar’s tusks. Gotta have some proof to get paid, don’t I? Then she found a big steel door. Locked. The thief tried to use her knife to manipulate the lock somehow but time didn’t allow it. She didn’t hear any more shouts from the deck, which meant they had probably managed to douse all the fires. Time to get back to the docks. Next time, stupid door, next time I’ll get to you. She turned away from the door and dropped her knife. In front of her stood the big woman with the axe. She looked at Cantra with some curiosity in her eyes. ‘A new recruit? Interesting!’