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sankttealeaf · 7 months

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blessed are the merciful (for they shall obtain mercy)

it's here, cowboys! my fic for @grishaversebigbang 2023!

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@gimmedafood

Summary: The law is hot on the coattails of the Dregs, an infamous gang cruising through the countryside of Kerch. With each heist and robbery lining their pockets with more than enough money, Kaz Brekker has his eyes set on one place in particular - The Exchange. Taking down the hub of trade would cement his gang’s place in the city and history, as well as causing a lot of chaos to the merchants that trade there. But Kaz has underestimated how much manpower he will need for this feat - so he calls upon other outlaws in society to help him pull it off.

Or: A western/cowboy AU featuring the Crows as various outlaws, all teaming up to tear down the new world that is forming around them (and to make a lot of money in the process).

READ ON AO3!

chapters will be out pretty regularly over there!

CHAPTER ONE: LAYING LOW IN PLAIN SIGHT

It amused Kaz at how out in the open they were.

When hiding from the law one usually would lay low, stuffed away in the darkest corner of the earth, but Kaz found that approach boring - it simply wasn’t his style. The Dregs were situated a short walk from Ketterdam, up on an overlook that gave him a perfect view of the road leading in and out of the city. Plumes of smoke rose up into the sky and the gentle chatter of the other gang members carried on the wind and Kaz was honestly surprised at how they had yet to be caught by the law. If Inej were here, she would tell him not to tempt fate. Fate was a fool’s wish - he believed in himself and his crew, not some higher force driving him through each heist and scheme.

Which brought him back to his original train of thought. Scattered across a large table in the middle of his tent were various maps and writings on guard rotations. Marked in the centre was his next target: the Exchange. He had been eyeing up the place ever since he was a boy, wondering what it would be like to claim the place as his own and pocket a portion of the money that gets passed around there; and now he was planning on fulfilling that dream. The plan was vague in his mind, a mess of ideas and what he would need to pull it off. One thought kept occurring - he needed more hands. The Dregs had their own talents and he had utilised all of them at some point in the long history of this gang, yet he couldn’t trust anyone but himself to get others involved in this. Jesper and Inej were to be included, there was no doubt about that. He wanted a few others…

A clash of pots falling and a cacophony of yells in jest made him audibly sigh. Could they not even get through dinner without something going wrong? Kaz held his head in his hands, eyes darting over the map and forcing out the rising sounds of complaints coming from those cooking. The streets were riddled with guards, they would need to be exterminated somehow. What he really needed was a full list of the guards rotations, that way he can make use of any periods of time where roads weren’t being watched. Inej could probably get that information for him, but if she was caught… No. He couldn’t risk losing Inej before the plan had even started. Jesper would make too much noise and if things started looking sour Kaz knew he would gladly shoot now and ask questions later. Connections. Insider knowledge. That’s what he needed. No one in the Dregs had any useful knowledge about the Exchange or even the Merchant Council unless he started asking someone to dig around. Digging around was too risky.

This wasn’t a routine train or carriage heist for goods and money. This was the Exchange. Masks on and guns out wouldn't cut it. Everything needed to be planned right down to the last second or else the law would be hot on their tails, again. He had survived this long without being caught for his long list of crimes, and he wasn’t about to swing for them now.

“Who let Muzzen cook tonight?” Jesper was heard before Kaz could see him. Voices overlapped one another, some in complaint and some in defence of Muzzen’s cooking but ultimately they fell on deaf ears as Kaz saw Jesper approach his tent, a grin on his face. “Picture this - I’m sitting in a bar, two shots of whiskey down and I overhear some loud-mouthed guy rambling on about how much money he’s made this past week. He’s blowing it all on booze and drinks are on him.” He took a seat opposite Kaz, kicking his feet up on the table and narrowly missing anything important. He rummaged through his jacket pocket for a moment and dumped a handful of cash on top of Kaz’s notes. “So I robbed him of it all.”

Kaz counted at least twenty kruge, and gave Jesper a nod. “And is that for your own personal bank or are you finally contributing to camp?”

Jesper feigned shock. “Hey, I got that lead last week! The one about the boat-”

“Which turned out to be two hours late. Pim spent the night in a cell and I recall you injured your ankle so badly you couldn’t walk for a few days.” Kaz had no malice in his voice as he spoke, there had been worse heists that took place, everyone knew that. The boat plan was a simple misunderstanding, but it was amusing to push Jesper’s buttons about it.

Jesper kicked his feet off the table and began counting out his share of the money he had rightfully earned, pushing the rest to Kaz with an overly dramatic pout. “I didn't know the boat was going to be late. You can’t blame me for that.”

“Resources were put to waste and the horses got tired riding away from the law. I’m not blaming you, just reminding you of what happened,” Kaz replied with a shrug, taking the bills from the table and checking to see how much was left. Fifteen kruge. That would go towards food supplies - he recalled Anika mentioning how they were running low on good quality food and people were starting to complain. He'd send her down into the city tomorrow to restock.

“It sounds like you’re blaming me. Where’s Inej? She’ll have my back.” He looked past Kaz to see if she was lurking in the shadows. She wasn’t, Kaz would’ve felt her presence already.

“Inej is out following a lead she found. She should be back soon.” Not that Kaz was waiting for her or keeping track of the time. Inej was her own person, part of his gang. He knew she could handle herself if she happened to be out later than anticipated.

“Speaking of leads…” Jesper leaned closer to him to keep prying ears out. “I may have something.”

“Oh?”

“Something good.” There was a glimmer in his eye as he spoke, a sparkle Kaz had learned to mean that this was information Jesper was not supposed to know.

Kaz raised an eyebrow. “You said the boat was good.”

He frowned in response, arms folded over his chest. "Maybe I won't tell you about this, then."

Kaz knew that was a lie. In all his years of knowing Jesper he knew how much the other enjoyed telling him about leads he'd picked up or gossip he had heard. As much as Kaz pretended to be disinterested in the rumours and scandals of those he didn't know, the way Jesper crafted the stories was intriguing. He shrugged. "I'll find out eventually. I always do."

"Fine. I'll tell you." He took out a small scrap of paper that had been marked with a hastily drawn out map. "Heard that there's some precious cargo passin' by the main highway leading to Belendt tomorrow."

"By train?" Kaz took the map from Jesper, adding it to his larger collection of notes on the table to see if it lined up with anything he had collected before. It didn't. No one else had heard of anything travelling down to Belendt, which meant this lead was either a trap or it was top secret.

"By stagecoach. Which is weird considering if it's important, going by train is safer." Jesper leaned back in the chair. "Said it would be passing through there around midday. Heavily guarded, too."

"Something's not right about that," Kaz replied, setting the note down. "Why transport something by stagecoach if it needs to be guarded by many people? Why waste the manpower when you can get there quicker by train? And why Belendt? Did you hear who was involved?"

Jesper shook his head. "Just that it was important to keep it on the down low. Didn't do too good of a job if I heard it, though."

Kaz was drawn into this mysterious cargo, there was no doubt about it. Whatever was being transported was important to somebody and that meant it had value. They could use another big payout, especially after how high the morale got after the last heist.

"Best stock up on ammo," Kaz said, sticking a pin into the map. The road wasn't too far of a journey out from camp - he was certain he, Jesper and Inej could travel out there by midday, see what it was all about and come back richer. Jesper grinned at the confirmation that they were going to explore this lead, giving him a mock salute as he stood up.

A choir of cawing sung overhead as Kaz felt another presence approach the tent. He knew of the rumours that his Wraith had the crows working for her and the timing of the crows only fuelled the tales, but they were just stories. Everyone with a criminal past had some scary story that followed him - Dirtyhands lingered behind him in dark alleys and everyone knew that. Kaz kept his gaze down at the map as he caught her walking in from the corner of his eye.

"Five times he stopped outside the Kaelish Prince. You were right, Kaz - something's up." Inej appeared behind Jesper, causing him to flinch and curse loudly.

"Where did you come from?" he asked, a hand over his chest in shock.

She stood next to him, shrugging in response. "Outside. Where else?" Inej took a moment to look over the maps and notes, pointing out where the Kaelish Prince was located in Ketterdam. “I followed him along the main street and he kept stopping off there at every half bell.”

“Who are you following?” Jesper asked, leaning over Inej’s shoulder to get a better look at what she was doing. Kaz gave him a look, and considered keeping this lead to him and Inej. He knew that if the plan went well he would need to bring Jesper on board, perhaps it was easier to let him in now. Jesper waited patiently for any follow up, and Kaz gave a small sigh.

“I want to know who’s in the pocket of Pekka Rollins,” he began, leaning against the table and pointing out a few places. “I want to know who’s loyal to him and who’s being threatened by him.”

“And you’re doing this for fun, or…?” Jesper rested his hands on his gun belt, giving Inej a look. Kaz knew that his vengeance towards Rollins had been kept secret from them for the longest time, so it made sense for Jesper to question why he was suddenly going after him.

“I’m doing it because Rollins needs to be brought down a few pegs.” A half truth, Kaz had no intention of telling them his entire life story right now. There wasn’t time and he heard Muzzen call that dinner was ready. He began to tidy up the table, hiding away any important notes and plans to keep any prying eyes from seeing what they were up to.

“We have a few other plans in the works, Jesper heard of something travelling down to Belendt tomorrow,” Kaz explained, and Jesper took this time to catch Inej up to speed on the lead he found.

“I want to go back to the city to see if any of my other connections have anything,” Inej said once Jesper had finished hyping himself up. “They may have heard something pass through the cracks.”

“Good. Anything you can find out will be useful. I want to know how many guards are protecting this, and what it is they are transporting. Something about it doesn’t make sense,” Kaz replied, following the road from Ketterdam to Belendt and making note of where they could stake out the road. He had yet to dismiss them both, Jesper and Inej stood across from him and waited for the closure of the conversation. With the lead on Rollins and the strange cargo that was passing by tomorrow it only felt right for Kaz to let them in on his next plan. It was still in the early stages, he had yet to scout out the areas and get intel on guard rotations and what is stored there, but now felt like the best time.

“My next plan is to take down the Exchange.” He had no need to coat it in flowery language, it was easier to keep it simple and tell it how it is.

"You want to hit the Exchange?" Jesper and Inej spoke at the same time, eyes widening at Kaz's reveal of the plan he had been brewing over for the past few days. It was unexpected, the both of them hoping that the target would be smaller, maybe another train or perhaps a boat. But the centre hub of all trade in Ketterdam?

"It's a death sentence, Kaz. Surely you know that?" Inej tried to scan Kaz's face for a hint of emotion, but there was nothing. Just the face she had grown used to, the one that told her he was not backing away from this plan.

"We’ll have several distractions taking place at the same time to drive the law out from there." Kaz pointed to several marked locations on the map all in close range to the target area, but far enough away that it would take someone a good few minutes to walk between them. "With enough chaos, we can get in and out before the law even notices."

"You're relying on chaos?" Inej questioned, eyes darting over the marked locations and mentally walking the rooftops of the streets. It worked, in theory.

"I'm relying on getting more hands involved. The three of us aren't enough.” Kaz looked past them both at the rest of the Dregs. They were lacking in a few areas, he had known that for a while. "Keep an eye out."

It was a risky plan, but everything he had been building was leading to this. All the narrow escapes, all the hiding out in awful places for months away from the law, all the bad food the camp made - it would all be worth it.

He made a promise to his family that he would see to it that Rollins would crumble, and Saints be damned, he was going to bury him alive.

#gvbb23 #gvbbfic23 #gang 15 #six of crows #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #nina zenik #matthias helvar #western au #soc #six of crows fic #grishaverse #grishaverse fic

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