Work Text:
There weren't supposed to be Venatori out on this route—yet, like cockroaches, they always seemed to pop up in the worst places.
The errand had been simple. Naja took Lucanis with her to one of the more northward wasteland settlements, with plans of restocking a few replacement gun parts they couldn't get in the Crossroads on a regular basis. It was a task she normally took one of the girls with her for, but everyone else was wrapped up in something else this week, and she couldn't put it off any longer. He'd been glad to accompany her when she asked, which sent a wave of relief rolling through her.
Naja was especially glad now that she hadn't broken her own rule, and gone alone.
Lucanis spotted the little group of Venatori first, squatting roadside in what looked like an attempt to catch unknowing travelers before they could make it to the next town. The two of them had dismounted a ways off, leaving her horse and Lucanis' mule tucked safely out of sight. In the slowly waning daylight, the shadows left them plenty of cover as they slipped through the craggy rocks and scrub that spanned the distance between.
"Seph would have loved this," she murmured, tucked close beside him under a rocky outcropping. Her gaze briefly turned up towards the horizon, tumultuous black clouds looming just ahead. "Looks like rain, though."
He let out a soft snort of laughter, eyes fixated on the group ahead. "I agree. She would."
They could count four in total. The camp was set up at the mouth of a narrow slot canyon that stretched back farther than Naja could make out from where they were hiding. It wasn't ideal—they could be walking into an ambush—but there was no way the two of them were going to just leave well enough alone, and allow the Venatori to prey on someone less equipped to handle them.
"If they scatter, see if you can flank from the top of the gorge." Naja nodded upwards, where flatter ground rimmed the edge of the small canyon. "I'll follow them down."
In the distance, a low rumble of thunder broke the quiet of dusk. It felt like an omen.
When the first gunshot rang out, the cultists did exactly that—with a shout of alarm, they fled directly into the shadowed path of the canyon. Lucanis picked off one from behind as they broke cover to go after them, and Naja managed to nail another in the back of the thigh with her rifle.
She slung the weapon around her back, and yanked a knife from where it'd been sheathed along her thigh. When Lucanis went up the face of the rocky wall, she broke forward in pursuit. The blade sunk into the base of the Venatori's skull with a crunch—then she was messily yanking it free, and sprinting after the two that had fled on foot.
The rapidly disappearing daylight did not help matters at all. Up ahead, she could hear the singing of bullets traded back and forth as Lucanis tried to pick them off from above. The slot canyon was far more narrow in places than she'd anticipated at first glance, sometimes just wide enough for her to slip through without needing to turn her body.
Another deep rumble of thunder shook her down to her marrow, and then the rain began to fall.
A string of curses in Lucanis' familiar Antivan sounded from somewhere above her. He fired again, and the dull thump of something hitting the ground could just be heard around the bend ahead.
One left.
What had started as a few errant drops quickly turned into a deluge. It pooled quickly along the bottom of the canyon, the earth too dry to absorb it with any sort of urgency.
"Lucanis!" Another crack of thunder sounded off, nearly drowning her voice out.
There was an answering shout up ahead that she couldn't make out over the rain pouring down. Water rushed down the walls of the canyon in increasing volume. Still she pursued, rounding the bend that had been ahead of her and colliding with the fourth cultist trying to take refuge from Lucanis' line of sight. The two of them went to the ground with a splash—the water was already halfway up to Naja's knees, and rising quickly.
"Not a clear shot!"
The Venatori nailed her in the jaw with their fist, and fired off a shot from the gun in their other hand that whizzed past her ear, ringing terribly in the narrow confines of the canyon walls. Naja cursed, already feeling a bruise welling, and grappled for the weapon before she could earn a bullet in her gut for her efforts.
"Naja!" Lucanis' panicked voice came from above her again.
"I just need—" The opening came, and Naja let go of the hand holding the pistol to drive her knife straight through the cultist's windpipe. Blood flowed out from the open wound with the rushing water as the body jerked, then went utterly still.
"You need to get out—"
"I know, Lucanis, fuck!"
The rain was still coming down.
Naja looked up only long enough to see his position above her, his eyes wide in fear—and then she ran.
The water level was rising rapidly as everything from the flats drained down to the lowest point here in the gorge. In what felt like seconds, she couldn't keep the same momentum forward as water reached halfway up her thighs. She was in danger of losing her footing any moment, the rush of current picking up as more volume filled the canyon.
Her eyes scanned upwards, looking at the narrow, craggy walls. In the dim of sundown, she couldn't tell how far in she'd gone after the Venatori—and she was running out of time. The rainfall hadn't slowed, and the water pouring down the sides hadn't, either.
"Coming up!" Naja jammed her knife back into its sheath and grabbed a craggy handhold above her head, hauling with her full strength until she managed to get her body further out of the water. The roar of the current was almost deafening in its volume at this point, and if Lucanis said anything in response it was lost beneath it.
The rock face was slippery, and the sandy material made it difficult to grip with any sort of actual confidence. As she fought against the water pouring down on her, her muscles burned in protest at the strain to keep her where she was. Every inch she gained, the level rose to meet her. At this point she would be lucky to get out of here alive—
A hand—gloved and steady—grabbed her forearm from above. Naja's eyes shot up to meet Lucanis', his brow furrowed in intense concentration. Her fingers wrapped around his in return, bracing her weight against his hold.
"I have you," he grit out, pulling her up as she kicked her boots against the wall for purchase, "Just—"
From beneath the water, something seized her roughly by the leg—the sudden weight nearly jerking her out of Lucanis' hold. Naja cursed loudly, just barely able to make out the deep red of Venatori garb beneath the rush of current. Probably the one he'd shot that she hadn't had eyes on.
She felt his arm tremble under the additional strain, felt him losing his grip—
A single gunshot rang out, and the cultist that had been still clinging to life went limp. Lucanis threw his pistol to the side and reached down with his other hand. She grabbed hold of him, finally getting the leverage to get up and out of the water.
With a great heave and splash, Naja clambered over the edge of the canyon, and onto the flat ground above it. She lay there on her belly, gasping for breath for a long moment. The rain had eased up, although it still rushed from higher ground to fill the low point of the gorge below them.
Beside her, Lucanis lay flat on his back, panting from exertion. Neither said anything for a long while.
In the distance, the softened rumble of thunder signaled the storm moving along.
Naja slowly began to pull herself upright. She sat there for what felt like a long while, eyes cast out across the scrubland as the adrenaline slowly bled out of her body. There wasn't much that scared her these days, but the raw power of mother nature was one of the few things that could stir it.
"Are you alright?" Lucanis' voice roused her from her thoughts, and she slowly dropped her gaze down to his. He still lay on his back, one leg pulled up at the knee. The two of them were soaked through completely, drenched from head to toe and looking like a sad couple of rats.
"Yeah," she answered after a moment. "Thinking about how my saddle is going to need to be oiled when we get home."
That earned a soft chuckle from him. A half-smile crossed his features.
Naja regarded him quietly. In the time since they'd picked Lucanis up from those train tracks, he'd come to settle comfortably among their group. He'd stayed anyway. He pulled his own weight, cooked dinner that was leagues better than what the rest of them could do, and his Wicked Grace game was improving.
Slowly, she eased forward down onto her elbows, and propped herself beside him. When he flicked his gaze to her, eyes half-lidded, Naja caught the momentary glance to her lips. Lucanis was subtle, but not completely unreadable. He'd done well, always respectful not just of her—but of the rest of her girls, too.
So she gave in—at long last—and leaned down to press her mouth to his in a soft, steady kiss. He was very nearly pliant, a wounded little noise catching in the back of his throat. The wet leather of his gloved fingers curled behind her neck, and she shivered at the sensation against her skin.
Lucanis yielded to the swipe of her tongue against his, and Naja sighed into his mouth. She was content just to be grounded by the slow-kindling warmth of affection, and the weight of his body beside her. There was nothing urgent between them here, no great and fiery need to be quenched—just the soft surrender of two people giving in to the inevitability of it all.
"I'm a lot harder to win over than the other gals," she murmured, breaking away to press a kiss to his cheek. "But I think you're doing just fine."
The hand he'd pressed to her neck dropped to her waist, steadying her. "Well, I'm honored then, querida." A soft little smirk lifted the corner of his mouth.
"Don't go that far, cowboy." Naja laughed, kissed him soundly again, and then started to pull herself back up to her feet. She was pretty sure her boots were full of water. "Wouldn't want you to regret those words later on."
Just over the ridge from them, Spite's obnoxiously bray carried as if swept along the wind itself. Lucanis let his head fall back with a dramatic thunk, then ran his hand down his face. When he looked up at her, she reached a gloved hand down to help pull him to his feet.
The two of them trudged down along the narrow canyon until they reached the edge where Lucanis had scrambled upwards at the start of the chase. Water still ran out of the mouth of it, although the level had already dropped substantially. Naja made a mental note that Ep would be lecturing them both on the dangers of flash flooding in the desert if she got wind of this little fuckup.
Spite was standing in the middle of the now deserted Venatori camp, drenched from rain but looking altogether more pleased with himself than a mule had any right to be. Naja narrowed her eyes when she realized her own horse was standing just behind, munching at scrubby grass.
"Your mule is going to teach my horse to jailbreak," she said, bumping Lucanis with an elbow. "I know Brynnor calls him 'just a baby' but I'm inclined to believe it's possessed."
"I keep telling you all that." Lucanis fended off Spite as he came over, ears pricked up forward with that look that usually meant he was about to bite his rider. "Maker-forsaken thing."
They left the camp as it was—neither of them found anything of use after combing through. Damp, tired, and thoroughly ready for a drink and a dry bed, the two of them set back off down the road following the railway. The next town wasn't far now. Come morning, they'd collect their supplies, and then head back south towards the Crossroads again. Back home.
When she asked her horse to pick up his speed, she heard Lucanis move to keep pace with her.