Ionracas has a minion!

Integrity the Ice Mice

Ionracas rushed out into the chilly, snowy night, his breath billowing out in great gusting clouds in the cold. He was fleeing something, he was aware of that much. It was like a bad dream, trying to get away from something and not quite remembering what. The city lights glowed behind him, blues and oranges and yellows against the purple sky. He stopped suddenly to look back, something he could almost grasp telling him it would be okay, that he had gone far enough and fast enough. He was safe.

Safe was a strange word for Ionracas's current position. He was now miles from civilization, having fled into the distant woods that encircled the city at a distance like a forbidding, living moat. Most people feared the woods, and refused to go anywhere near them unless they were nestled in a well-guarded coach and armed to the teeth. Ionracas had never feared the woods. He'd been born there, on a night not unlike this one. He was a thief, like his mother before him. And thieves had long ago made these woods their home.

Ionracas huddled against a tree, in a sheltered nook on the south side away from the wind. The trees were so thick in this part of the woods that the snow hadn't yet touched the earth beneath them. Ionracas was grateful for the respite as he sat down and caught his breath. A cry came softly from a bundle in his arms and he suddenly remembered the events that had led him to this moment.

He'd been scoping out a house to burgle when he saw them. Two beautiful mice, their fur a bright shade of blue that matched the ice that formed on the streets of the city in winter. It was illegal to buy and sell them because they were endangered and didn't do well in captivity, but their beauty always made them a hot item on the black market. Ionracas couldn't let these two fall into the hands of shady breeders or worse. He broke into the house, causing more mess and noise than he usually would if he had more time, and stole the mice from the house. Their home was the same as Ionracas, out here in the woods. Rescuing them had been a risk, but watching them look at him with trusting and thankful eyes, he knew it was worth it.

Credits
Story by: Faber
Profile by: Ringo