The Rogue Rider (An Inheritance Fanfiction)

Chapter 30: Egg Thief

Boisterous laughter echoed through the food hall as everyone enjoyed their meal. It was the night after the Dagshelgr Invocation, and while the song was finished the festivities continued. Classes had been cancelled for the next couple of days, allowing everyone to recover from the magic and the drink.

Ragin stood at the entrance of the hall, watching with a stoic gaze. Everyone seemed to be there, or at least everyone in the mountain. He spotted his friends sitting at their usual table, laughing and talking. Freya sat at the end, and occasionally glanced around the room as if searching for someone. She hadn't seen him standing there. The rogue rider gritted his teeth angrily, before shaking his head with a sigh and turning away, walking into one of the long corridors. As he did he slipped on the ring he had taken from the assassin the previous night, guarding his mind, and cast a spell that bent the light around him to make himself nearly invisible.

He had planned this moment carefully, knowing that if anyone saw him they would get suspicious. Akaysha was still rather busy, and he didn't think she would notice if his mind suddenly disappeared, or if she did she would just think that he was trying to get some space from her own thoughts. Besides, he wanted to do this before she got back. He had avoided most people throughout the day, having scouted the mountain for the prize he was after. It had taken him a long time, but in the end he had found the room, though it was more through eavesdropping, so he hadn't actually been inside the egg chamber himself.

In the end he had two choices to steal a dragon egg. The first was find a wild dragon that was guarding her own. The second was to steal one of the rider's eggs. In the end, he felt he was much more likely to succeed without another's knowledge if he stole an egg from the hatchery where all the dragon rider eggs were kept. It would still be difficult, as he had no idea what defences they would have. But it would be preferable to trying to sneak past a protective mother dragon.

As he walked a sliver of doubt worked its way into his mind, a doubt that bore with it massive guilt and fear, but he quickly squashed it down. He had sworn an oath. He couldn't get around that. Even if he did Akaysha's life would be in danger. It was better to put his entire focus on his mission, then let regrets spread through his mind now. All he needed to do was take a dragon egg and hide it somewhere outside, a place where one of Tharin's people could find it.

He closed his eyes and forced himself to take a deep breath as that man managed to contain a thought in his head. He hated the situation he had been forced into. Hated the hole that he had willingly dug... but in the end he had a mission to do. A mission he would fail if he continued to dwell on the reasons behind it. So, like he had done for most of his life, he forced them aside, adopting the cold calculation persona of Ragin the thief and assassin.

He sped down the hallway, stepping lightly and carefully as he passed by invisible to the people around him. The hatchery was down a long corridor near where the blacksmith was. He had scouted out the area before and, with the exception of some enchantments, it was not guarded. Again, the riders seemed rather lax with their protection of their eggs. Magic could only achieve so much.

He slipped down the corridor, walking swiftly down the ever increasing slant of the ground below. The egg chamber was located quite a way underground, mainly to keep the eggs warm. The biggest problem with this was the fact that if Ragin was found out, it would be quite difficult to make his way back up the corridor and escape. It meant he would have to work quickly.

The door to the egg chamber was a rather simple design made from heavy ironwood planks reinforced by magic. It was locked, but it wouldn't be anything the rider would struggle with. A quick word in the ancient language was all it took for him to open the door. With a grunt he pulled it open to reveal the room that lay beyond.