Atlxntic's Bonfire

1. Assignment

His claws ticked on the stone as he swept down the cramped corridor. Turning right into an office, he tossed three metal cards onto the table, each with a different portrait carved into them, and each with a large slash accompanied by a singular scale of varying colors.

The dragon behind the desk nonchalantly picked up the cards and inspected them. "That didn't take long."

He was silent. A long black cloak concealed his body except for his tail, wings, neck, face, scars cut into his otherwise armored chest.

The other dragon opened a drawer and filed the cards carefully. "One thousand shards of silver." He withdrew a velvet pouch and slid it forwards across the desk, treasure rattling inside. "Anything else?"

"More bounty cards." He said simply, voice deep.

The desk dragon scoffed. "If you insist. But if I was you-"

"You're not."

Silence. Then the clatter of metal cards being sifted through.

Two were slid towards him. The dragon straightened up and pointed to the first one. "He's a political opponent of the customer. A real smooth talker. Wanted dead." He pointed to the second one. "And she's a mixed blood. Extremely dangerous. Wanted preferably alive, but a smaller bounty is offered for dead. She's farther out too, in the artisan district of the Red Cliffs."

He nodded shortly and slid the cards over his claws.

"Six hundred shards for the first one. Silver. And three for the mixed blood."

"Three hundred silver is a waste of my time." He shook his head, tapping the second card.

"Gold."

He blinked, silent curiosity burning in his eyes. "I'll take them." With that, he deposited the cards in his satchel and swept out if the office.

He nodded to a fellow assassin, a grey and green female, who mirrored his greeting.

His mind was on other things as he flew from the building, heading to the outskirts of the city. The mixed blood was far out of his way, but an offer of that caliber was as rare as a Galdur crystal.

He touched down outside of the slumped dwelling and pushed inside. The lanterns inside glowed and the smells of simmering meat wafted to his nose.

"Hurik?" He called as he slid off his cloak, draping it over a stone hook and padding farther inside.

"Kitchen!" Came the reply.

Hurik was a mahogany colored fire dragon, known for his habit of theft when it came to his higher class victims. He had amassed quite a collection of oddities, rare jewelry, paintings, bejeweled buttons off of luxury fabrics, and even journals. Most of these were quickly sold off on the black market and the proceeds blown on a night of drinking and custom weaponry.

He was currently busy with his cooking, but had time to glance up at the night dragon. "Did you stop by HQ today?"

He nodded, tossing the pouch onto the wooden desk-turned-table with a tired sigh. "One thousand silver. And try not to blow it this time." He flicked his tail and smirked.

Hurik shrugged innocently. "Me? No no, my purchases are only necessities, anything else would be irresponsible of me." He chuckled.

"Oh yes. Like the gold plated knife you were swindled into buying? Or the stuffed shark?" The night dragon raised an eyebrow, his voice playful.

"Necessities." Hurik waved a paw. "All good deals. Besides, it's not like we need to worry about decent housing." A grin spread across his face and he tossed a strip of the meat into his mouth.

"This way we can lay low. Speaking of which, you've been to the Red Cliffs?"

"Sure. Long ways from here though, not to mention the city guard there is intense. Why?" Hurik twisted around and handed him some of the meat, still glistening slightly with the rich grease.

"Got a card for there. The artisan district." He took a bite of the meat, licking his lips afterwards.

Hurik laughed. "Another card already, Lupo? Don't you ever go out and celebrate?"

The night dragon shook his head. "You drink enough for the both of us."

Hurik grinned and handed him more meat. After a moment, he opened a desk drawer and withdrew a map. Unrolling in before Lupo, he pointed to the large city of the Red Cliffs.

"It's a five day fly without any stops, but it's best to avoid the outpost here." Hurik's claw crinkled the map as he drew a flight path. "And you'd be flying over the Dry Mountains, so stop at this village at the base to buy supplies, it'll be cold at the top. Then you'll get to the plateau, and the city will be on the edge."

Lupo nodded. "Alright. Sounds like a fun trip." Sarcasm dripping in his tone, but his curiosity showed through his expression.

"What's there anyways?"

"A mixed blood."

Hurik shook his head. "That's a dangerous game they're telling you to play. Even I don't want to get mixed up with no mutants." He flicked his ears.

"Good bounty though."

"Dead?"

"Alive."

The fire dragon cackled. "Have fun dragging a mixed blood all the way back here!"

Lupo rolled his eyes and focused on the map. It would be a long journey, especially with a captive. Nonetheless, the reward was enough for him to upgrade his daggers, maybe even cave in and get custom made ones like Hurik. Even then there would be extra...

"I'll leave in the morning."