Disclaimer: obviously wof doesn't belong to me.

Claimer: Agular belongs to me.
This is the beginning to a story I will never write. I wrote this down because I felt like it, but have no interest in following it to the end. This will be a sort of one shot, except there will be a second chapter. I will post that in a few days.

Hot desert sun beat down on the sands of the scorpion den. It was early in the morning, but there was no wind, and the street felt as though it were burning. Fierceteeth and Strongwings skirted the edges of the street, trying to stay out of sight and in the shadows. They were moving fast, with Fierceteeth in the lead, checking a small piece of paper often. The shops were farther apart, and the edge of the city slowly turned into a wasteland. Still, they kept walking until there was nothing but a few stone buildings. Fierceteeth stopped again to study the instructions as Strongwings looked nervously at the sky.

"Fierceteeth, is this a good idea? Won't there be soldiers looking for us?"

She shook her head, taking a left down a narrow dirt street.

"No, they wouldn't bother. Well maybe they would, but this place is full of outlaws, so they would have a hard time finding us."

Strongwings looked back up the street.

"I'm not very smart, but this is the first place I would look. Besides, we're the only nightwings here, we stick out like a broken wing. What are we even doing here? We should be running as far from thorn as we can."

Fierceteeth turned to face him.

"Listen, I know what I'm doing." She said. She waved the paper under his nose, "you see this? This is the answer to our problems, this will make our trouble worth our while."

"What will?" Asked Strongwings, "you ain't told me what we're doing."

Fierceteeth started walking again, checking over the buildings, all stone grey and desert pale.

"We're looking for an assassin. His name is Agular, and he owns some kind of shop on this street. He should be right around here somewhere."

Strongwings looked uneasy.

"An assassin? What for? Wouldn't he turn us over to thorn for some reward money?"

"Not if we pay him." Said Fierceteeth.

Strongwings looked at her sideways.

"Pay him? With what? We don't have anything."

"I can make him an offer." Said Fierceteeth, "but I was told by that guard who broke us out that he was very flexible and forgiving on debts. He doesn't need the money, per say, but he needs the targets."

Strongwings blinked.

"What? What kind of assassin takes on a job without any pay?"

They came to the end of the street, where a large grey store stood.

"Hopefully this one." Said Fierceteeth.

The store was tall, wide, and had a big sign out front that said:

AGULARS ARMORY

And below that, a faded sign added like an afterthought, reading:

AND ANTIQUES!

Strongwings looked down at Fierceteeth. She looked back and said,

"Alright, we'll be quick. I do the talking, then we split for the mountains, okay?"

He nodded.

When she opened the wooden door, Fierceteeth had to stop and let her eyes adjust to the darker interior. When they did, she took in her surroundings.

She stood in the most heavily armed room she had ever seen. Weapons of all kinds dangled from the ceiling, leaned in the corners, hung on the walls and piled up on the floor. There was a counter at the far end of the packed room, and on the wall behind it was an open doorway. As Strongwings came through the entrance, the door tripped a bell, which sounded a low tone.

"I'll be right with you in a minute!" Called somebody from the back room.

Strongwings and Fierceteeth couldn't help but to look through the weaponry. There were spears, knives, throwing stars, slings and bows, crossbows and baskets of arrows and bolts. There were short swords and broadswords, although these weapons were more for looks than fighting, because dragons can't wield such long heavy blades easily.

"Where does he get all this stuff?" Murmured Strongwings, looking over a collection of wickedly spiked steel knuckles, arranged by size.

"I don't know,". Said Fierceteeth, admiring a rack of well polished blowguns, "but I get the feeling that he knows how to use these things."

" Oh yes, that I do." Said a sandwing appearing from the back room, "I have become skilled with every weapon in this room, in fact I built quite a lot of them myself."

He was a very pale sandy color, with jet black eyes and a pleasant smile. He was wiping what appeared to be grease off his talons with a filthy rag, and he wore a dark canvas apron loosely around his shoulders.

"Are you the sandwing named agular?" Asked Fierceteeth.

The sandwing nodded.

"M'names on the sign out front, what can I do for ya? I've got a deal running on those blowguns, if your interested."

Fierceteeth shook her head.

"I'm afraid I can't buy anything at the moment. But I was told that you happened to do some… assassin stuff?"

Agular set aside the rag.

"Ah, yes, that I do. Bit of a side job I do, might even call it a hobby, although weapon building is my real passion."

Fierceteeth nodded.

"Well if you can assassinate as well as you can build these blowguns, I would like to hire you."

Agular motioned to her and Strongwings.

"Come 'round back. I talk about business like this in the shop."

Agulars shop was almost as impressive as the store. It was more neatly arranged, with almost every kind of tool imaginable. Bright oil lamps lit the entire room, brightening the tool benches and storage shelves. Agular went over to a bench with a vise built into it, and began filing on a price of metal. Beside him was a furnace and an anvil, red hot and well used.

"Wow," Said Strongwings, "what is all this?"

Fierceteeth kicked him, and he stopped talking.

"This?" Said Agular, "this is where I build weapons, store hazardous materials, and perform my experiments. Feel free to sit on those carpets over there, but don't touch the shelf beside them, it's full of poison."

They sat down. "Now," said Agular, putting down the file and grabbing a hand drill, "who do you want me to kill?"

Fierceteeth took a deep breath, and said,

"Have you heard of the dragonets of Destiny?"

Agular stopped drilling for a second, but didn't react. After a few seconds, he resumed, and said,

"Aye, I have. I don't think anyone hasn't."

Fierceteeth spoke slowly.

"I need you to kill them. I don't care how, or when, but I need them gone."

Agular finished drilling, and began to drive a pin through the piece.

"That's a pretty big job." He said, "the war only ended how long ago? Maybe a year and a half? Those are some high profile targets. Do you have any info on them?"

Fierceteeth nodded.

"They all live in the rainforest, but make trips to visit their native tribes, except the rainwing and the NightWings."

"Right, because they live there." Said Agular. He put down the hammer and picked up a long, hollow tube, perfectly straight and threaded on one end. He began threading it into the other metal piece. "Now how do you expect me to assassinate all of them?"

"Well, you don't have to kill the NightWing." Said Fierceteeth, "he's my brother, and while I hate him, I don't want to see him dead. At least, not until I can try talking to him. The ones I need gone the most are the rainwing, her bodyguard, and the seawing. Could you handle that?"

Agular tightened the piece, then snugged it with a wrench. He moved to a small rectangular piece with a spring.

"Hmm, bringing down the number would help. I suppose I could take out the seawing first, when she is separate from them, then take out the others."

He fit the piece into the metal frame, and reached for another piece with a small curved handle off the side. "What would you be paying me for this?" He asked.

Fierceteeth was a little nervous about this question.

"So, I don't have a lot of money at the moment, but I was told that you are very flexible with payment."

"I am, but my services aren't free. I'll need something before I start this job, especially this job. A down payment if you will."

"I don't have much at the moment, not on me at least, but what I do have is a little of the nightwing treasure. Two very large rubies, one is uncut."

Agular raised an eyebrow.

"Ruby's huh? Hidden somewhere safe I hope. You have proof of these rubies?"

"I was hoping you would trust me for now." Said Fierceteeth, " and it would be foolish of me to lie about such things, considering what you are trained to do."

Agular nodded. He turned back to the workbench and took a carved piece of wood, and began fitting it to the medal.

"I suppose you got a point. So long as you can assure me of the payment, I could take care of those three. But I would need more before this is over. That rainwing is a Queen for crying out loud, and the seawing is an heir. Normally I would say no to this job, because of the amount of dragons who will be hunting me down afterwards, you see what I'm sayin?"

"But will you do it?" Asked fierceteeth.

Agular stepped back from the bench, and sighed. He stroked his chin, looking unsure.

"I don't know. You're asking for an awful lot, and that's an extremely dangerous job. But then again, you are offering to pay for it. Those rubies would be a handsome profit, that's for sure."

He stood there, thinking. Fierceteeth and Strongwings waited anxiously for his response.

Finally, Agular said,

"I'm gonna have to do some serious thinking on this. I'll have to get ahold of you tomorrow, if you can wait that long."

"But we have to get going," Said fierceteeth, "we, uh, have some arrangements to keep."

Strongwings nodded. Agular chuckled.

"Oh little nightwing, you can't fool me. You two are on the run, Queen Thorns soldiers are combing the desert for you as we speak. The scorpion den is a dangerous place for you to hide."

Fierceteeth felt panic build in her chest.

"Are you going to turn us in?!" She asked.

Agular shook his head.

"No, that's not worth my time. I don't care about escaped nightwings. Besides, Thorn would probably never give me a reward. Back when she ran the scorpion den, we weren't necessarily friends. We had a mutual agreement that if she didn't mess with me, I didn't mess with her. And I have no interest in winning her favor."

Fierceteeth let out a sigh of relief.

"Well then," She said, "you see why we need an answer soon."

Agular nodded. He began to walk to the door of the workshop, gesturing For them to follow.

"Here's what I'll do,". He said, "I'll think it over. This evening, around sundown, I'll hang a black cloth on the signpost at the end of this street. If you see that, it means I'll take the job. But if there is no cloth, then you should move on. I suggest that you find somewhere to hide for the rest of the day. You're not going to get very far in the desert during the daytime heat."

They were back in the store, walking through the piles of weapons. Agular went to the door, and held it open for them.

Fatespeaker felt a little put out that he hadn't taken the job outright. But she had to hope for the best.

"I'll see you later." She said.

"Unless you don't." Said Agular. "But either way, be careful out there."

She and Strongwings were standing outside the store now. Agular closed the door behind them and went back to his shop.

Fierceteeth growled in frustration and stamped her foot.

"Urg, why can't he just go kill them?" She grumbled.

"Maybe he will," said Strongwings, "we'll just have to see tonight."

"I don't want to know tonight, I want to know today, right now."

Strongwings shrugged.

"Well, this is as good as we'll get. We should go and hide, like he said."

Fierceteeth sighed, and turned to follow him up the street.

"I guess you're right. But that doesn't mean I like this situation any better."

"I know." Said strongwings, "Now let's go, I think I saw an abandoned building this way."

Please review and tell me what you thought. If you liked it, say so, if you hated it, say so. I don't know when I'll put up the next chapter, but I already wrote it so I can put it up any time. The next chapter involves an oc owned by a guest reviewer who wanted me to put it in my other story. I will wait until they have read this, and have given me the thumbs up to post their character.