Work Text:
Ashton hit the dirt close to Laudna, spitting curses and blood in equal measures. “I think,” they gasped, “we’re running.”
“Shit.” She leaned out of cover just long enough to fling another eldritch blast at their pursuers. “Imogen?”
A few yards away, a telltale flutter of lavender hair signaled the sorceress’s position. “Orym’s got me, just go!”
With Imogen’s voice still echoing in her mind, Laudna nodded at Ashton. They rolled their eyes, but scrambled to their feet to duck behind another tree. “Ready?”
She waited a second longer, until Ashton ducked away from a flurry of crossbow bolts, then charged after him. Keeping low, she scuttled behind the tree and further back into a growth of bushes. “Ready!”
They moved. Laudna rose to a half-crouch, aimed another blast at the main aiming at Ashton. The Bell’s Hells had scattered, and their pursuers were quickly realizing they had to choose who to follow or risk losing the advantage of numbers.
“This fucking sucks,” Ashton grumbled. “Dammit. Ready?”
“Do you want to split up? They can’t chase both of us.”
“Fuck, no.”
“Together, then. Ready.”
They waited for a burst of arcane fire, signaling Fearne’s position about sixty feet to the east, before bolting for the next patch of cover. Ashton’s hand on her back, a subtle reminder to keep moving, Laudna stumbled and skidded her way through tangling vines and leaves until Ashton tugged them both into another patch of bush.
“How are we doing?” she gasped, breathless.
Ashton leaned up, then jerked back down as a crossbow bolt tore through their cover. “Shit. They’re gaining on us.”
“Right.”
Another peek out of cover. Another bolt of eldritch magic. Another crossbow bolt cutting a little too close to her head. “Um, Ashton?”
They huffed. “Yes, Laudna?”
“They have swords.”
“Of-fucking-course they do.”
She pressed her hands to her temples, focusing on her mental link with Imogen. “Oh, Imogen? How are you doing? We’re getting a little pinned down here.”
There was no answer for a few precious seconds. Ashton ushered her further into the bushes in search of better cover, taking a crossbow bolt to the shoulder for their troubles. Laudna had seen the bolt coming and tried to send up a shadow to deflect but couldn’t throw the crossbow wielder’s aim off.
“Sorry. Had one last tail to take care of. Headed your way.”
“Imogen’s coming,” she announced.
“Oh, great,” Ashton grunted. One of their pursuers had caught up to them, and they’d met them with their hammer raised.
“Orym’s coming, too,” Laudna protested. Imogen would be a big help. She was very capable.
“Just do me a favor and get…back!” Ashton swung the hammer, light cascading off the glass in their head. The man dropped senseless to the forest floor, and Ashton whirled around to grab Laudna’s arm. “We’re still running!”
She followed their lead, making for the shadows of the large trees ahead of them, when a sharp pain exploded across her back. Laudna hit the dirt and skidded a few feet as Ashton swore and doubled back behind her. She tried to get up, to crawl for cover, but she’d been left woefully exposed.
She could hear them now, taunting and jeering. Didn’t have to look up to picture the men surrounding Ashton, taking cheap shots at them.
“Still wiggling, eh?” A shadow fell over her, and she looked up to see a bearded man with a long, wicked-looking sword in his hand. “Let’s see what we can do about that.” He twirled the sword in his hand, then plunged it down, through her back and into the ground beneath her.
A familiar cold spread through Laudna’s limbs as darkness clouded her vision. She’d been here before. Waited in this shadow.
no
How easy it would be to just close her eyes, let it be the end. Let someone else struggle. If fate decreed it, she would rise again, as she had before.
No
It was safer in the darkness, wasn’t it? Away from the battle. Away from the struggle.
NO!
Laudna’s eyes snapped open as the sword was wrenched from her back. The man was turning back to the others, laughing. “I stuck mine already, what’s taking you so long?”
“He’s made of fucking rock, Jep, don’t be an ass!”
She rose first to her knees, then her feet. Blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth, her limbs popping and cracking as she took on her Form of Dread.
“All right, don’t get your underdrawers twisted. I’m coming.”
There were three of them, including the one who had stabbed her, surrounding Ashton now. Laudna took a shaky step toward them, then another, strength coursing through her veins as the shadows cloaked her body.
“Careful, ‘e’s tougher than he—what the fuck is that!?”
Jep turned as Laudna lunged. The man didn’t have time to react before she’d clamped both hands on the sides of his face, nails digging in, necromantic magic leeching away his life force.
“That wasn’t nice of you,” she snarled, mouth opening far too wide, body creaking like an oak tree in the wind. Jep had paled, eyes wide. His hands came up to claw at her wrists, but he was weakening too quickly. He toppled back and Laudna went with him. She could practically feel the terror emanating off him as she siphoned away his life, and the sound of retreating footsteps proved that that fear had been equally felt by his companions.
When Jep’s body was lifeless beneath her hands, Launda finally sat back to look at Ashton. They were leaning on their hammer, battered but upright, a broad smile on their face despite the blood.
“What?” she asked.
“I thought you were fucking dead. Again.”
“Oh. Well, you know,” she struggled to her feet, accepting his hand up, as all of the aches and pains caught up with her when her more powerful form began to revert. “I guess…fifth time’s the charm? Sixth?”
“Too damn many,” Ashton shook their head. “Let’s go find letters before you drop dead. Again.”