Every now and then, there would be a meeting between all the Queens of Pyrrhia. These meetings were famous and extremely secretive. No one except for the Queens and their most trusted guards even knew the location of the meetings, but it was still considered the most heavily guarded events in all of Pyrrhia. There was one rule with the meetings. No one was allowed to speak of what was discussed. Some of the crueler queens in Pyrrhia history had even killed their guards after the meetings. It was that serious. And now it was time for a meeting.

Glory stood uncertainly outside the rainforest hut. She would be gone for a few days for the meeting, and seeing as she was supposed to bring her most trusted guards, Deathbringer was coming too. They were both hesitant. This would be the first time they'd ever left their dragonets for so long. What if something happened?

Glory was taking four guards with her and leaving her next most trusted guard to watch Joy and Rainkeeper. That meant she was leaving her children in the hands of Jambu.

That was enough to make anyone nervous.

But she had too. Glory sighed. They had to get going, which meant she had to say goodbye and actually leave. Despite her son's protests, Glory pulled Rainkeeper into a hug. 

"Be good." She ordered. "Look after your sister for me." 

"I will." Rainkeeper promised as Glory kissed the top of his head. Joy laughed as Deathbringer picked her up and spun her around as he hugged her. 

"You behave for Jambu, alright?" he questioned. Joy smiled at him. 

"I will Daddy. I pomis!" she said sweetly. Deathbringer grinned at her ruefully and set her down. How could he possibly be expected to leave his little girl? Even for a few days, it was going to be a lifetime. He smiled to himself. Years ago, he never would've believed that he was going to be this attached to his dragonets- or that he'd have any dragonets, for that matter. But he was, and he did, and as he hugged Rainkeeper goodbye, he was really going to miss these hilarious dragonets for the next few days. Besides Glory, they were the light in his life. After saying their goodbyes, Glory, Deathbringer and the other guards were off.

By the next day, they had reached the location. It was a hidden mountain in the Sky Kingdom, oblivious to the Skywings. Inside, each queen was allowed one guard. The rest had to wait outside. So the other guards waited outside the door in the outer chamber of the cave as Deathbringer and Glory went in and shut the door behind them. It was enchanted to be soundproof, but that didn't stop the extra guards from pressing their ears against the door, straining to hear. 

Glory walked gracefully into the room and took her seat. At one end of the table, Queen Glacier sat regally. She was normally the dragon who ran the meetings. To Glacier's left was Queen Coral, with Queen Ruby next to her. Next to Glory was Queen Thorn. A few minutes after Glory's arrival, Queen Moorhen took her place at the opposite end of the table. The six guards allowed in the room spaced themselves around the room, pressed against the walls. They were to remain silent and un-moving at all times. 

A guard that interrupted the meeting was a guard that died. No matter their position. Out of the corner of her eye, Glory could spot Deathbringer watching her. Rather than stand behind her, he'd chosen to stand on the opposite side of the room. This way he could watch her back in case anyone entered the room. While the meeting were meant to be serious, sometimes the topic would switch and the six queens of Pyrrhia would just end up having a normal conversation. But those were difficult. All the rulers of Pyrrhia in one room had quite a bit of tension. Coral and Moorhen would often glare at each other and even Glacier and Glory would occasionally send each other dirty looks. Glory was Queen of the Nightwings after all. 

At one point, Coral and Moorhen began arguing. This brought a question to Ruby and Glory's minds, but Ruby asked first. 

"I don't mean to interrupt your debate," Ruby began. "But I was wondering if you could clarify something. We all know that certain tribes don't exactly get along, but with most, like the Nightwings and the Icewings for instance, it's very clear why. But I don't understand why the Mudwings and the Seawings dislike each other." Glory nodded. 

"I'm sure it's probably something obvious that Ruby and I are just unaware of, but I too would like to know the reasoning behind it." she agreed. 

"I always thought it was obvious why they dislike each other." Thorn admitted. "It's because of Tempest, right?" Was it Glory's imagination, or did Deathbringer stiffen at the name? Was it just her, or did he seem slightly nervous? The other queens nodded. 

"Tempest was probably before their time though," Glacier realized. 

"Who's Tempest?" Ruby asked. And the story began.

"Tempest," Glacier began. "Was a commander for the Seawing army, back when The Mudwings were allied with Blister. Dragons said that Blister had found a military ally as smart as she was. And it was true. They could've won the war in a matter of weeks with the two of them put together." 

"What happened?" Glory questioned, now watching Deathbringer as he grew more and more stone-like. 

"She was killed." Glacier explained. 

"Blister was having a meeting with Tempest and General Swamp from the Mudwings. They were discussing a new strategy, but when Tempest came out of the tent a spear was thrown and it hit her straight in the heart. She died right there." Moorhen offered. 

"It was an amazing throw from what I heard." Glacier admitted. Glory frowned. Now, why did Deathbringer look momentarily proud when Glacier said that? What was he hiding? 

"But the thing that changed the assassination, was that she was killed with a Mudwing spear." Coral explained. "Blister had the entire island searched as the other dignitaries argued. Swamp claimed that no Mudwing could've killed her, while my third in command at the time, Piranha insisted that the evidence was right in front of them. Nobody was found that wasn't supposed to be there and Blister had two Mudwings killed for the murder since there was no one else to blame." 

"Two innocent Mudwings." Moorhen argued. "We never found out who really killed her." 

"Wait, they did find someone." Glacier remembered. "There was that Nightwing." Now this was an interesting reaction for Glory to watch. At the mention of the Nightwing, Deathbringer winced and shut his eyes, stiffening like a statue. He clearly wanted to be anywhere else right now. 

"What Nightwing?" Ruby pressed on. 

"When they searched the island a couple of Sandwings found a female Nightwing laying unconscious on the island. Half-dead, never to wake up again. It was inconvenient, so Blister told them to kill her and they moved on." Coral offered. 

"Really not that important." Moorhen agreed. 

Deathbringer wanted to scream. He wanted to choke Moorhen for that comment and a part of him wanted to cry at the uncovered memory of Quickstrike. She wasn't just some random dragon. Not to him. But to speak meant death, so he kept quiet. 

A/N: Now, to make you wait for part 2. For those of you that have read Winglets: Assassin, you know where this is going. And for those of you that haven't, all will be revealed in the next part, but for now, the Nightwing, Quickstrike, is Deathbringer's mother.