Chapter Text
Hurley couldn't remember a time when there was no Sloane in her life. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, looking back on it now, as she raced against her for what could be the very last time.
It had been a job at first. Stop the thief known as the Raven from robbing the house of the advisor to the governor. Get in, disarm, disable, get out. That was all she needed to do.
She didn't count on the Raven being so damn alluring.
Hurley flipped over the flung form of one of her officers. "You can't resist forever Raven!"
The Raven, eyes glittering brightly beneath the mask that earned her her moniker, laughed. It's like bells chiming, light and airy. There was no malice there; not even in the crooked grin that peeked beneath her mask's beak. "What? Who says I'm going to continue to resist?"
"Don't you— wha —?!" Hurley stammered. It wasn't her first rodeo—far from it, she was a seasoned officer and lieutenant to Captain Captain Bane—but she had never encountered anyone like the Raven. She was self-assured and somehow still jovial. She also didn't seem to be hurting anyone that attacked her; just repelling them away and disabling them. A 'gentleman thief' if you will. Practically unheard of in the rough-and-tumble alleys of Goldcliff, where force speaks more than words.
"Speechless?" The Raven winked and Hurley could feel the shame streaking her cheeks, then she whipped her hand outward and cried a spell word. A large gust of wind lashed out, stirring the dust around her into a small storm and obscuring her exit.
As the dust settled, a flurry of black feathers fluttered down to rest in her wild hair and Hurley felt something stir in her. Something akin to desire and just adjacent of envy. Something dangerous. Something that would undo her.
Something that would remake her.
She didn't allow this failure to stop her. She pursued the Raven with a voracious appetite, whether or not Bane told her to. He admonished her at first; she wasn’t supposed to be focusing on the Raven. She had other work to do. She was needed elsewhere. Then he relented, putting her on the Raven case until she was dealt with properly.
"That way," he had said, "no one can say I'm being lax with you."
"Thank you Captain," Hurley ducked low, lower still as her Captain had a moderate height advantage. "I promise I'll bring her down."
"Hey, Hurley?" She met his eyes; he looked grim, his mouth a solemn line. "Don't let this consume you. We still need you here."
Goldcliff needs you , his eyes said.
I need this , her own replied.
She stalked the Raven in the streets, gathering information in plainclothes and moving unseen, using her monk skills to avoid getting caught by some of the local gangs hoping to recruit her. She learned more about Goldcliff than the Raven then; about the poverty and the corruption. About the rich and the poor—and the huge gap between them. About the races. About the gangs.
Then she found the Raven, after all the learning and looking.
"You're hard to catch," Hurley said.
"I try to avoid trouble when I can," the Raven replied. She was rifling through a chest inside one of the manors. The magical alarm outside blared but the attack dogs were sleeping soundly. No one else was around. It was the perfect time for a confrontation. Hurley was taking advantage of that.
"Robbing people isn't avoiding trouble," she shot back.
"The rich aren't people. They're monsters." It was matter-of-fact. To the Raven, this explanation made more sense than anything else in the world.
"They have feelings! They have needs! You can't just take everything they have!"
"They have their manors and their trust funds. Me taking what they have here is petty thievery. Just a bucket from the ocean of wealth." She didn't care and she didn't bother to stop. Hurley hadn't attacked either. It was unusual. She had always been an attack first and talk later kind of person. Get in, disarm, disable, get out. Her mantra. Her modus operandi.
Why had the Raven changed all this?
"It's grand larceny!"
"No one was hurt."
"What do you even use this for?"
The Raven turned to face her, eyes glittering beneath her mask. Her mouth was pitched downward as she paused her thieving. "Don't you know already?"
Did she ? Did she know why the Raven stole from the rich and no one else?
Why the Raven took only from their houses and not their purses?
Why the Raven drove in the races on the outskirts of town?
Why she was talking to her now instead of just fleeing like before?
Because—
Hurley had turned away then, unable to continue to make eye contact. The way the Raven's eyes bored into her own made her stomach turn. She felt...guilty. Why would she feel guilty? What had she done?!
What had she not done?
Without another word, the Raven wrapped up her loot and jumped out of the second story window, her cloak flapping behind her like wings. Hurley didn't see her activate the spell woven into the feathers that adorned the outside of it. Hurley didn't see her land softly on the ground. Hurley didn't see her look back at the window she had escaped from, back at her. Hurley didn't see her dart down the street and into the night. Hurley didn't see her smile softly as she went.
Hurley took the full brunt of the homeowners wrath when they came back from their soirée and found their home in a state of disarray. It was unbecoming of the lieutenant of the Goldcliff militia to let a criminal go! How dare she wait there and not pursue the Raven?! How dare she allow her to make off with their hard-earned belongings? How dare she continue to say nothing? They would speak to her superior, they swore, and would have her lashed for her insubordination.
They would have her punished for failing to protect their home.
They would have her whipped for letting the Raven go.
Captain Bane, of course, did not allow this.
(He did, however, put her on probation. "You need to let it go," he warned. His face was less stern than it was worried, lines creasing the corner of his eyes that looked deeper than when she first started chasing the Raven. "You need to let her go and get back to work. Goldcliff needs you."
I need you , his eyes pleaded.
Hers, however, were steely as she lied. "I understand. I'll make sure to return to my duties, sir.”
She pursued the Raven still, just...more discreetly this time. She followed her around town and observed. What had she missed? What had she refused to see?
She saw the Raven, in plainclothes, no mask or anything, play with neighborhood children, laughing heartily as she gently tossed the hoop for one of them. She saw the Raven, in plainclothes, buy fresh bread from backstreet markets and give it to beggars a few alleys away. She saw the Raven, in plainclothes, skirt up buildings and just watch the sun set over the cliff that gave Goldcliff it's name.
She saw the Raven as a person and was more confused than ever.
They were standing on the flat roof of one the buildings in the Goldcliff projects, the Raven's back to the sun while Hurley had the full force of it searing her eyes. She didn't let on that her eyes were watering; refusing to allow the Raven any sort of satisfaction in catching her with her proverbial pants down, so to speak. It was one of the Raven's favorite places to spend the afternoon and Hurley had set up an ambush but—
The Raven had caught her, a soft smile on her lips and a golden apple in her hands. She brandished the apple at Hurley and winked. "Hungry? All that snooping must tire you right out."
She blinked at the offered fruit and turned her gaze upward to the Raven. Artemis she was so damn human now that the mask was off and she wasn't committing crimes (at the moment). The Raven's hooked nose crinkled as she smiled, bunching up at the crook in her bridge where it had been broken and reset and Hurley felt sick to her stomach. She hated that she was fucking humanizing a perp. She hated that it was so damn easy with her.
Fuck .
"No thanks," she rebuffed the offer of food. "I don't eat stolen goods."
"Bought," the Raven supplied, nudging her with the apple.
"With stolen money."
"With my winnings. Not stolen," she smirked and fuck her eyes became small slits of amber as her cheekbones lifted, dark, long lashes brushing her skin.
"Still illegal," Hurley retorted. A technicality but Artemis-dammit if she wasn't going to be as stubborn as fucking possible here.
"Fine. Call me a lazy tailor." She bit into the apple and, shit, she had a small overbite and her canines were a little bit longer than the rest of her teeth. She pursed her thin lips as she chewed and raised her eyebrows as Hurley glowered in silence. "Suit yourself," she supplied, finishing her metaphor.
"Do you stalk every thief you meet?" She had moved slightly while Hurley was caught up in thought, strafing so that the light cast by the sun dragged her silhouette to the building just left of her. Hurley adjusted her stance and her eyes thanked her, the light from the harsh Faerûn sun no longer blinding her.
"No."
"You had so much to say that night. What happened?"
Her stomach lurched.
You. This town. How broken everything is. How I perpetuate a system that allows for children to starve while elders grow fat.
Artemis she was going to vomit.
I let this happen and I don't stop any of it. You try so hard and you're a 'villain'. Fuck. Fuck! I'm so damn useless, aren't I? In the face of the world I'm just a fucking coward. I can't even say a word in response. You're not even accusing me and I'm silent as death.
Thoughts flooded her head and words caught in her throat.
I want to change it but I can't. I'm powerless to stop the problem at its source, even though I'm at its source.
Her mouth opened and then closed shut.
I'm just a piece of a problem. I don't try hard enough. I'm a failure.
The Raven looked at her quizzically.
A cog in a machine. Just a fucking piece of the puzzle. One more stepping stone for the rich and corrupt.
She couldn't breathe. Fuck, she couldn't breathe!
A simulacrum born from a mold cast far before my time. A product of my generation and the one before me and the one before them. Of years of oppression and censorship. A branded toy for the elite.
"I—" the word clipped, harsh against her teeth and sticky inside her mouth. A lie? An excuse? What could she say? What would she say? Artemis, she was drowning in her thoughts.
"Hey, just breathe, okay? Look at me. I'm here. Just breathe in and out."
The Raven's voice sank, a stone in the mire of her fear. The ripples it caused lapped at the shores of her self. She breathed in time with her instructions.
In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In.
Out .
"I'm here. You're here. It's going to be fine. I'm here." She hadn't realized that the Raven was holding her now, running slender fingers through her bushy mane, making soothing noises as she sat on the warm brick roof.
" I —"
"I'm here. Just breathe."
She hadn't realized how much she had bottled up. Her fears, her apprehension, her suspicion, her fury, all corked into a keg of cider that was shaken and then left to sit in heat, fermenting and fizzing until the internal pressure caused the keg to burst.
But there, in the deluge of her breakdown the Raven crouched, apple long forgotten, soothing her.
Having soothed her.
The Raven.
And her.
"I can't ," Hurley croaked as she pushed the Raven away.
"Why not? What's wrong with someone helping another person in need?"
"You're not—"
"No mask. No one knows. Here I'm just me and you're just you. I'm not the Raven, just—"
"But I'm - I'm the militia's—"
"But you're scared and alone. What kind of person would I be if I didn't—"
"A criminal."
"Already there," the Raven laughed. It wasn't the bells and wind that charmed Hurley when they first met, mirth and amusement, but sorrow; a low thrum that burned and bit at Hurley's conscience.
"I didn't—"
"It doesn't matter." She let go of her and stood up, drawing to her full height. The rolling curves of her body were blacked out by the sun's bright light. She looked almost disappointed.
"But it obviously does," she insisted. She had to—the Raven had—
"Apparently not."
"I'm—"
"Don't apologize. Just... don't ." The Raven turned away from her and walked towards the edge, preparing to abscond.
Hurley bit her tongue, flooding her mouth with copper and drawing her focus to the here and now. "My name is Hurley!"
She glanced back over her shoulder, eyes slanted still but more in a downwards fashion. "Congratulations Hurley ." Then she leapt and was gone.
Fuck.
I fucked up
She took a break from chasing the Raven for a while, going back to her proper duties as Goldcliff's lieutenant. She solved problems and stopped thieves like she did before...her. And for a while, she was distracted enough to not be bothered by the crushing weight in her chest.
Then there were whispers.
"I heard that the races have been less dangerous lately!"
"Really?"
"Yeah! Apparently one of the best has been trying not to kill people!"
Hurley's ears perked. It was unusual for anyone who was a part of the races to even consider sparing their opponent s. It was kill or be killed out there, where the smallest mistake could cost you your life, and you could go tumbling under the treads of the cart behind you and thy was that.
"Which one was it? The Hammerheads?"
"Oh Apollo, no ! They couldn't care if you lived or died. No, I think it was...some bird ?"
"Oh ! The Raven, right? Doesn't she race alone?"
"Only recently, after losing the Magpie to the Crickets. She's been doing well for a solo racer but I think with her decision to not kill and the increase in teams I don't think she'll survive for much longer."
Her stomach turned. Solo racers never really managed to survive past three or so races, depending on the stakes. If her intel was right—and she trusted Balrick as much as one could trust a mole—this next race was in the thousands as far as the first place prize. Possibly the tens of thousands but Balrick was a bit hammered when he got that info so it’s validity was in the air.
She won't make it.
Artemis, she was weak.
Hurley didn't know where the Raven's garage was but she knew people who knew where her garage was and...persuading them was an easy matter.
(Just a simple word here and a threat there and the people buckled to her 'request' easily enough.)
She stepped into the Raven's garage with all the confidence she could muster, holding her head high and keeping a stiff upper lip. She wasn't stupid, far from it; when she went in, she went incognito. Her bushy hair was pulled into a manageable bun, in civvies that no one ever saw her wear, and a large ram-skull mask pulled low over her face, obscuring the mess of freckles and crooked underbite that would give her away in an instant. She wasn’t Hurley, she was the Ram, and she had a proposition for the Raven.
“Hello?” She leaned forward, craning so that she could see farther inside the ramshackle building that served for the Raven’s battlewagon garage. “Are you there?”
“Who’re you looking for?” Hurley jumped, a rare feat that only one person could get her to do. The Raven cocked her head as she leaned against the doorframe of her garage.
"That is—"
"This is private property," the Raven pressed.
"I have a proposition for you," Hurley tried.
"Private ," she enunciated, " property ."
"You're alone in the races," she pushed, "and I want to help."
"Who even are you?" Hurley froze. The Raven was a thief. She was cunning and observant and fast. If she even considered her a thread, Hurley would be waking up with one hell of a headache and a sore pride.
She gave a thin-lipped smile, invisible beneath the lip of her ram-skull mask, and exhaled. "The Ram."
The Raven frowned, "You expect me to trust you and let you race with me on a whim but you won't tell me your name? How do I know you won’t stab me in the back?"
"Well the - the races are, y'know, incognito , right? And I don't know you from Jack so, like, why should I trust you with my identity either? You're name can't be the Raven ," oh Artemis, she was blathering on now, why couldn't she stop?! "So for partnership purposes, at least until we get to know each other better, I'm the Ram and you're the Raven and that's that!"
The silence that followed felt like a roaring storm that lasted for a century. Hurley could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks. She was certain she was going to get caught. The Raven couldn't possibly not see through this weak disguise!
Finally, a reprieve in the wake of a torrent of anxiety, the Raven nodded. "Fair 'nuff. Seems a good business prospect for sure. How ever —" Hurley caught the sigh as it half-escaped her mouth, "—you'll have to prove yourself." A chill ran down her spine as the Raven tilted her head in a very bird-like manner.
"O-oh ?" Voice, don't betray me, she prayed.
"Y'see, there's this one little piece I need for the wagon for this upcoming race. Just a tiny detail: a spoiler to reduce drag. I'm sure, as you've seen my races," she was pacing around Hurley now, a predator tasting the air around her prey, "that my rule is: go fast, don't kill. That usually works well enough but in the last race I was in, the Hamsters tore the front right off my vehicle after throwing me backwards. And that spoiler I had, that was one of the best at reducing drag." Hurley could see where this was going and she didn't like it one bit.
"Couldn't you make a new one?"
"Oh heavens no! That spoiler was made by a tinsmith from my home and it was enchanted to boot! The likelihood of me getting my hands on another one of her works, enchanted or otherwise, is very slim. She's dead ," the Raven supplied, "the tinsmith, that is. The enchanter is alive and well and that , my dear Ram, is where you come in!"
"A-ah ...m-my sincerest regrets for your loss..." This was heading very south very quickly.
The Raven laughed, again the chime of bells and wind, and waved her hand dismissively. "I didn't know her personally so it's not that big of a deal. I'm sure her surviving family member thanks you though. But back to the matter at hand," shit , "I need you to... acquire a new spoiler from my dear enchanter friend ."
"The— uh —the word friend seems to carry an awful lot of irony, Raven." Diffuse the situation. Abort! Abort!
"It's a one-sided sort of thing." She smiled and Hurley's heart beat faster—something she wasn't sure it was capable of at the time. "If you can acquire a spoiler of these dimensions," the Raven slid a small scrap of paper with a few numbers scribbled on it, "then you can consider yourself as good as hired! If not ," she shrugged nonchalantly, "then I'll have to miss this race and catch the next one. A pity but," she sighed dramatically, "I'll live."
"Wh-where does this enchanter live, or-or work?" No. Bad Hurley! Stop this right now!
"Upper Goldcliff. They operate discreetly out of their home but it's pretty obvious if you know the signs. There should be a mark on their door that looks like this ," the Raven scrawled a mark that Hurley recognized as thieves cant for 'magic wares'. "Just understand that you're going to have to be subtle . They don't deal with just anyone and are very shy when it comes to... racers . It's very hush-hush, their trade." The Raven winked and Hurley knew that was not-so-subtle-hinting at illegal activities.
"Will, ah, will I be paying through trade or gold or— ?"
"They owe me one. Just procure the spoiler and you and I will be square as the Goldcliff militia." Hurley bristled but force out a weak chuckle.
"Ha ha ha...good one." She shifted and pocketed the paper with the dimensions for the spoiler on it. "I'll...ah...I'll be on my way to get that then."
"Oh! And don't let the militia catch you! Wearing a mask like that in the open paints a big ol' target on your back. Just some advice," the Raven supplied.
"Thank you."
"No problem! " She waggled her fingers at Hurley and grinned. "Happy hunting!"
Hurley kept her head down and sighed heavily as she walked away from the Raven's garage. What was she getting into?
Hurley slammed the large piece of enchanted metal down on the Raven's workbench with an exhausted gasp. "There," she panted, "is your damn spoiler."
"Did you have any trouble procuring it?" So many euphemisms for stealing! Why do people even need all those words?!
"Well the elementals and abyssals were a surprise; and you could have told me about the complex system of traps they had in place, but otherwise ?" She sneered, " peachy ."
The Raven howled with laughter, her mask rattling against the bridge of her nose. Hurley felt irritated and understandably so! The Raven had sent her, head-first and blind, into a magical trap labyrinth in search of a wagon part! But...the way she seemed to let go as she laughed, relaxing and letting all her guard down, made Hurley smile as well.
"Honestly, I thought you'd flake on me! I'm actually kinda surprised that you went through with it."
Hurley stiffened, mentally checking to make sure her mask was in place. "Why's that?"
"I mean, who would expect the militia's lieutenant would rob an illegal enchanter?" Hurley froze. "Oh, c'mon ! You didn't think that I wouldn't hear about you pressing for my garage location, did you? And do you seriously think that a mask and a cute updo would keep me from recognizing you? You stand out, Ram , and it's obvious to those who can see it."
"But—"
"But you know what?! You haven't turned me in yet and you put on such a good show that I think I'll keep my promise. Welcome to the races, partner ." She held out her hand to Hurley and grinned widely.
Hurley took a long look at the Raven. Beneath the feather and bone mask, her eyes were sparkling and the smile she was wearing was as sincere as she had ever been. Despite making her jump through all those awful hoops, she meant no malice by it. But was she someone Hurley could trust?
Was Hurley someone the Raven could trust?
She clasped hands with the Raven and shifted the mask from her face, no longer having to hide behind it. "Partners then. I'm Hurley, by the way."
"Yeah, I remember." Her words bit into Hurley's conscience.
"Yeah ...," she drawled, waiting for an answer to the unspoken nicety.
"Sloane. And don't go telling people that or I'll have to report you to the militia." The Raven—no, Sloane —winked beneath her own mask and giggled. "So, Hurley, do you know how to drive a wagon?"
"Not... well ."
"Do you know how to fight without injuring someone?"
"Well, yeah !" Sloane laughed.
"Then consider yourself the defender of our wagon!" She pulled her mask up and wiped some sweat from her brow. "Now help me attach this thing. I'm gonna teach you how to fix a battlewagon."
And she complied.