On their way to the White Rose the mage kept trying to run. When Shield grabbed him by the collar for the fifth time, she had enough of him. ‘If you try to run one more time, I’ll break your nose. Understood?’ Ikaros nodded. ‘I understand but please, I’m in danger.’ She looked at him and at the small blue rat cradled in his arms. ‘Danger?’ He looked around him, then whispered: ‘Yes. There are dangerous people looking for me. They want me to.. Oh, never mind.’ She didn’t really want to hear his backstory so the rest of their walk to Rusk’s place was done in silence. Shield kept wondering whether Cantra had already performed the job she’d assigned her. I probably shouldn’t have paid her upfront. A scream caused her to abandon her thoughts. The origin of the sound was an old beggar, who was being assailed by a man and a woman. The man had monstrous tusks jutting from his mouth and the woman’s skin was made of big red scales. As soon as Ikaros saw them, he panicked. ‘No, no! You’ve got to get me out of here!’ Shield didn’t know what to say. They reminded her of Thorn. ‘Are those mutants?’ Ikaros’ face had gone pale. ‘Yes, yes they are. Made by the people who are after me. I knew it! Please!’ Shield continued her path to the White Rose. This changes nothing. Just got to deliver the mage and then I’ll be in my way.

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As soon as Ikaros was taken somewhere by a servant of Rusk, Shield decided to check on Cantra. She went to the roof where they met a couple of hours before but the thief was nowhere to be seen. Shield looked around for a while but it didn’t take too long before she got distracted: something was happening near the ship. A small group of people went on deck. She spotted the two mutants she’d seen earlier in a crowd of even more of them. All dragged a bunch of normal people in between them. It was quite obvious they didn’t want to be there. One woman tried to make a run for it but she was soon taken down by a tentacle coming out of a man’s chest. The mutants. Damn, that mage was right! It’s all connected.She had to talk to Ikaros. But where was Cantra?