Chapter Text
Wisp had tucked herself into a dark corner of the cave, trying to stay out of her mentor’s way. She wasn’t going to mess anything up. As long as she stayed calm, and didn’t say anything stupid or embarrass herself, it would go perfectly fine. Ruthless clearly wasn’t concerned, so she didn’t have to be either. They would go see the queen, answer any questions she had, and then Wisp would get approved to officially start training. She would also get a new name. As long as it was better than ‘Wisp’, she didn’t really care who she would be.
“Alright, are you ready?” Ruthless turned to her, waiting for an answer. Wisp nodded, not trusting herself to not say something childish. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she shrank into her wings a little more. “You’re allowed to be nervous. It’s going to be fine, just stay calm and pay attention, okay?” He didn’t wait this time, and she had to launch herself forwards to catch up. They walked through the tunnels quietly for a while, until Wisp had to ask the question she’d been trying to ignore.
“What if she doesn’t like me?” Wisp asked, which made Ruthless pause. He looked down at her, confused. She avoided meeting his gaze, instead looking down at the dark stone beneath her talons. She was panicking, which wasn’t good.
“Why would that matter? Remember, you EARNED this, and there’s no reason for anyone to doubt your potential.” His insistence made it feel weird to Wisp, but she ignored it. He was right, she had the ability to be a great assassin. Obviously it would take time, that’s what training was for. He wouldn’t have offered if he didn’t think she could do it, and she wasn’t going to disappoint him. Ruthless started walking again, and Wisp followed. She used the time to try and learn how to feel her surroundings.
It was much easier said than done, and the only thing she had figured out by the time they got to the council chamber was that Ruthless thought it was funny when she tripped over her own talons. The two of them stopped outside the room, and Wisp took the opportunity to swipe the rock dust from her scales. It was Ruthless who hesitated this time, glancing down at her again.
“This is your last chance. Are you ready?” He asked. Wisp closed her eyes. Ruthless thought she had the ability to be an assassin. If she didn’t take that option… of course she couldn’t imagine herself doing anything else. She was making the right choice. Wisp opened her eyes again.
“Yes.” She didn’t need to say anything else. Ruthless went first, Wisp close behind him. The chamber was a lot bigger than she had expected, or maybe it was due to all of the dragons in the room turning to look at her. She didn’t let it bother her, she was supposed to be here. Queen Battlewinner’s throne was in the center of the room, at the other end of the spit. The floor was lower around the sides of the room, but she couldn’t tell what was at the bottom of the dip. Probably just more rock, but it would still hurt to fall. Wisp’s attention was brought back to the queen when she spoke.
“So, this is the dragonet you mentioned.” It felt like the queen was trying to stare into Wisp’s soul. She held still, refusing to react in case this was some sort of test. Battlewinner shrugged, looking unimpressed. “Dragonet, how old are you?”
“Almost three, your majesty.” Wisp said, hoping she wasn’t about to be told to wait a few years.
“Hm. Ruthless, you’re sure about this?” Battlewinner asked. Wisp couldn’t read her expression at all, so maybe she did trust his judgment.
“Entirely.” Wisp wished she could be as confident about herself as Ruthless was.
“I see.” Battlewinner was quiet for longer than Wisp could stand. “Ruthless, what is your apprentice’s name?”
Ruthless met Wisp’s eyes, and smiled. “From this point forward, it’s Quickstrike.”
Quickstrike. A name she was going to earn. It already felt better than Wisp, and she hadn’t even used it yet. She was Quickstrike, a NightWing assassin. One day, she would get the chance to prove it.
CHAPTER 1
“Sorry, but you can't go in. The queen said not to let anyone interrupt her meeting,” The guard said, her tail flicking slightly. Quickstrike could tell that the guard was bored, but that wasn’t useful information. She'd have to use something else.
“A meeting with my mentor.” She pointed out. “I should be-”
“Ah, you must be Quickstrike, then.” The guard cut her off. “You were mentioned by name, so I definitely can't let you pass.” So Ruthless was a few steps ahead of her. She should have expected that. Fortunately, there were other tunnels that opened into the council chamber. Quickstrike turned to leave, almost running directly into someone else.
Quickstrike automatically dodged to the side. The other dragonet moved backwards, flaring her wings to catch herself. She was younger than Quickstrike, but not by much. Quickstrike didn't recognize her, which was strange. Every other dragonet in the tribe lived in the same dorm, so at least knew each other's names.
“Sorry, I didn't know anyone was there,” Quickstrike said, trying to figure out if she had ever seen this dragon before. She was fairly certain that she hadn’t. She was a dull black, and the teardrop scales that ran down her sides were darker than usual.
“No, that's my fault, I wasn't paying attention.” She didn't stand out very much, which didn't help at all. Quickstrike was still stuck on the fact that she didn't live with the rest of them, though. It wasn't like there wasn't enough room, and it would have been great to have someone else her age to talk to. Wisdom didn't count, because they were a total jerk.
“I don't think I know you. I'm Quickstrike.” If she couldn't guess this dragon's identity, it was probably best to just ask. No point in making her life more difficult, after all. The other dragon ducked her head, maybe from embarrassment.
“Greatness. My mom doesn't really let me be around other dragonets.” That was absolutely a name Quickstrike had heard before. Battlewinner's daughter. The next queen. Quickstrike had expected her to be a bit more… anything, really. Greatness seemed like a normal dragonet, not a royal.
“You're the princess?” Quickstrike hadn't intended to sound so surprised. Greatness blinked, taking some time to respond.
“I am. And you're one of the assassin apprentices, aren't you?” Greatness shifted her wings, apparently less nervous. Quickstrike nodded.
“Yeah. My mentor's Ruthless." That part was probably obvious, though. He was the only assassin in the meeting, and if she wasn't waiting for him, she had no reason to be standing in the hallway like an idiot.
"Why?" Greatness sounded genuinely curious.
"What do you mean?" Quickstrike asked, confused.
"Why did you decide to be an assassin?" She had to think about that one for a while. It wasn't really something she'd put much thought into before.
"I guess I want to be useful. Ruthless thought I had potential, and I trust him," Quickstrike explained. They talked for what felt like a long time, until Ruthless left the council chamber. Quickstrike jumped to her feet, startling Greatness.
“Oh, are you leaving? Maybe we'll run into each other again soon.” Greatness waved, and then disappeared through the entrance. Quickstrike smiled, and waved back, unfortunately too late for Greatness to notice.
“Oh, you've met the princess. Friends?” Ruthless asked. Quickstrike shrugged, following him towards the exits.
“I have no idea. Maybe? Or maybe she'll immediately forget my name,” Quickstrike admitted. “She's nice, though.”
Greatness didn't forget who Quickstrike was. They spent time together during most of the meetings between Battlewinner and Ruthless, and talked about anything they could think of. Quickstrike took the chance to complain about the other dragonets, and luckily, Greatness thought it was funny. She was happy to listen to the princess's opinions on the queen's advisors, and she had a lot of them. After maybe five or six meetings, Quickstrike was getting a little bored of just sitting around.
“Have you ever seen the outer caves? They're kind of cool,” She said, although Greatness looked a bit confused.
“I haven't really left the fortress much…” Greatness said, flicking her tail. Quickstrike made a face.
“We're fixing that, come on.” Quickstrike decided. She headed for the tunnel heading to the outside, closest to her favorite part of the NightWing island. Greatness was close behind her, sounding a bit hesitant.
“Wait, is this really a good idea?” Greatness asked, catching up with Quickstrike. She shrugged and grinned at her friend.
“Probably not. But we'll be fine,” Quickstrike said. She had rarely gotten in trouble before, and she didn't plan on letting that change. As long as they got back before the meeting between Ruthless and Battlewinner ended, they would have nothing to worry about.
They made it outside without any issues, and lifted off. The weather was surprisingly nice, Quickstrike could almost see the sky through the dark clouds that hung over the volcano.
“Do you think they'll ever go away completely?” Greatness asked. Her scales were more blue than Quickstrike had first thought. “The clouds, I mean.” She didn't know how to answer. One day, if they were lucky, maybe their island would be nicer. The volcano hadn't erupted in anyone's memory, hopefully it wouldn't ever erupt again.
“They can't stick around forever. We'll get the sky back one day, even if it's not in our lifetime,” She said, shaking her head. There hadn't been anything to suggest the volcano would erupt again, especially not soon. Quickstrike nudged Greatness with her wing, and turned towards the farthest cluster of caves. They could hear voices as they got closer, but it took Quickstrike longer than she'd like to recognize them.
"Oh, hey. You weren't sent to come find us, were you?" Stonemover noticed them first, and poked Mastermind, who almost fell over when he spun around to see what was happening. "Don't panic, it's just Quickstrike." Greatness mumbled something that Quickstrike didn't catch. Mastermind recovered his balance and his glasses, and nodded to them.
"What are you guys even doing out here?" Quickstrike asked, glancing around the cave. It didn't look like Mastermind had been running one of his many experiments, which she found unusual. He and Stonemover exchanged a look, and they both looked nervous, although Mastermind seemed scared as well.
"We really shouldn't-" Mastermind's protests were cut off by Stonemover.
"I trust them." Stonemover turned to Quickstrike and Greatness, and went quiet for a second. "You have to promise not to tell ANYONE. I don't… want to be the reason we get dragged into the war." Now Quickstrike was getting concerned. Obviously she knew about the war on the continent, but how Stonemover could cause the NightWings to get involved was a complete mystery. Judging by Greatness's expression, she couldn't guess either.
"I can keep a secret," Quickstrike said. "That's basically my whole job, isn't it?" Stonemover laughed a bit, although Mastermind didn't seem any more convinced. He didn't try to stop Stonemover from telling them what was going on, though.
"I have animus magic. Only the four of us know, and I don't want this to get out to anyone else." Stonemover dropped his voice, even though nobody was around to hear them. "I used it accidentally a few days ago, and Mastermind suggested we confirm it, so we came out here." Quickstrike stepped backwards, stunned.
"That explains why you've been so jumpy recently," Quickstrike said. "What are you going to do now that you know?"
"Be a lot more careful with what I say, I guess. I don't want anything to happen, I never want to use it again," Stonemover said. "I'm a big fan of having a soul, and some of the stories…" Greatness nodded. Quickstrike felt relieved, and she knew Stonemover wasn't the type of dragon to harm anyone. If any of the NightWing dragonets had to be an animus, he was definitely the safest option. She wasn't worried about keeping this a secret for her whole life, if she had to.
"Thank you for trusting us with this," Quickstrike said. "I won't let it get out."