A light fog blanketed over the long narrow streets of Illirea. The last rays of sunshine were disappearing into what was to become a long and dark night. Cobblestone pathways lined straight streets surrounded in multistorey buildings built from roughly hewn bricks. Dim flaming torches danced in a soft evening breeze, lighting the way. Windows were closed shut to protect from the chilling bight of the cold. Few people walked the streets, and most of them were on their way to a nice warm bed and dinner.

It had been a long day for the people of Illirea. Mostly because, for the first time in five years, the dragon eggs had finally come. It had been a festival all day, with every person between ten and twenty five trying their chance at becoming a rider. Stalls had been set up all through the city, selling food, valuables and other miscellaneous items. Many hearts had been broken, especially for the younger ones that dreamt of joining the magnificent creatures in the sky every day, but alas, only one egg had chosen a rider, leaving the last to travel through to the next and final city in its rotation.

The egg bearers were leaving the city with the dying light. There were six of them, all on horses besides the massive urgal Kull thudding in front of the procession. There was a dwarf riding rather awkwardly on his brown mare. His long brown beard fell into his lap and what most would consider an ugly face grunted uncomfortably with every jolt of the horse. Behind them was an elf, beautiful and elegant, with almost glowing blond hair and sharp features, eyes alert and fierce. There was a human as well, a man with broad shoulders and a proud smile. The most prominent member of the group was a massive wolf, a Shrrg, bigger than any of the horses, dressed in a vicious looking set of chainmail armour.

The last member though, was probably the most important. It was a girl, maybe around eighteen or nineteen, with long red/blond hair and a nervous but slightly excited expression. But cradled in her lap was a large gemlike stone, oval in shape, and bright orange in colour. It was entrancing, with mesmerising swirls and patterns created below the surface. A dragon egg. One of the most precious and sought-after items in the known lands. She held it like it was the most important thing on earth. Which, to her, it soon would be.

They paraded silently down the quiet streets of Illirea. A couple of people watched them go by, waving to them. The girl, the man and the dwarf waved back, while the other three simply ignored them, continuing along their way. They had somewhere they needed to be, and it was going to take a long time to get there. They couldn't allow for any distractions.

There was a small carriage in the middle of the group, with a chest adorned on top of it. It may seem strange to have a carriage for just one chest, but there were spaces that had obviously carried more. To the untrained eye, it would look to be quite ordinary, but there were many enchantments curled and twisted around it. Spells to keep it locked tight unless used with a certain word, or spells to harm anyone that touched it, or to protect from even the most harmful spells. There was no way to open it up without knowing how.

Watching them, unseen by any, was a shadowy figure atop a pitched roof, using the pointed shape as cover from the eyes of the highly alert elf and Urgal. The figure wore a long dark grey, almost black, cloak with a hood that pulled over the eyes. A bow of the same colour was in the right hand with a quiver of arrows on the back. If you looked closely enough, you would see the outline of a roughly shaven beard on the figure's face, and deeply intense eyes that didn't miss a single movement in or around the convoy below.

You would also see the man's eyes widen slightly as he studied the party. He focused on the girl for a couple of moments, seeming surprised, before blinking and returning to his real target. The chest, out in the open for all to see. It confused the man as to why they had it so open, but then again, the number of spells they had woven around the chest and carriage probably had them thinking that it was completely safe. If anything, it was to bait out people who wanted to steal dragon eggs, and capture them. Too bad for them.

As the convoy crossed where the figure was situated, he moved to the top of the roof and slowly stood up, to not immediately startle them. In one fluid movement, he reached and pulled an arrow from the quiver and drew it back in the bow. Instead of the normal iron or steel tip, the pointed end was pure black, looking almost like obsidian.

The man aimed it down toward the chest. The first shot was the most important. He needed to time it perfectly, and he needed to hit his target perfectly. The whole plan would fall apart if he didn't. So he waited, one second, two seconds, before releasing his hold on the arrow. The twang of a bow echoed through the silent streets, instantly alerting the guardians of the chest.

The black arrow flew exactly where it had been aimed, reaching the target in less than a second. It cut through the enchantments around the chest, shattering them like they were glass. Then the arrow struck its target, perfectly piecing the lock on the chest with such force that it caused the entire box to be thrown from its place on the carriage, the lid flying wide open.

A black dragon egg emerged from inside, flying out of the chest, the shell catching in the light. The elf was the first to react, throwing out her hand with her mouth open, preparing to cast a spell and catch the egg, but a second arrow was already on its way. It struck the elf's wrist, easily piecing through wards, skin, and then bone. Blood sprayed from the wound, and words from the magical language about to be spoken changed into a terrifying scream of agony. The third arrow found the wolf, skewering its foot and then continuing into the cobblestone below. The animal froze, before howling in pain, stopping still in its tracks. The howl combined with the scream instantly spooked the horses, and they went completely wild, braying out in fear as the pranced around, nearly throwing their riders'.

The man on the roof smiled slightly, before turning and leaping down one side of the roof, sliding easily down the slope and off the edge, where he fell, a nine metre drop... landing right on top of a bale of hay. He had placed it there earlier in the day, just for this occasion. Just as everything else was going just as he had planned. The human guard of the eggs had leapt of his horse, running down a nearby alley around the building he had seen the figure disappear behind. The elf would have gotten off her horse, probably just realising the arrow had been poisoned. The Urgal would have followed the man, or gone after the egg, but would be too slow for both. The Shrrg would have recovered from the pain and likely would have yanked the arrow out of its own foot. It would probably reach out its mind for its foe, aiming to mentally disable him. The girl... she would have been thrown from her horse and been injured, knocked unconscious, or even killed in the fall. It was cobblestone after all. And the black egg... it would roll down a small alleyway parallel to where it had been let loose, where it would find a small hole with the metal lid pried open by a stick barely strong enough to hold it there. The egg would then run into the stick, breaking it, and fall down the hole, with the lid slamming shut behind it.

As for the egg thief... he rolled out from the hay bale and instead of standing up to run, he slid himself forward toward another hole. This one was larger, large enough to allow a humanoid to fit through. He slid in legs first, grabbing the lid as he did and brining to across, slamming it shut just as the human guard turned the corner. It made a resounding bang as it did, alerting the guard to what had just happened.

The thief grabbed onto a hand hold, stopping himself before he fell any further. He reached up to the lid above and a sudden surge of magical energy surged through him. He didn't speak any words, even in his mind, and let the magic out onto the metallic lid. It glowed red as it heated up very quickly, the metal melding into the cobblestone around it. A muffled curse sounded from above as the guard reached down and touched the lid in an attempt to lift it up. It would hold them for a minute or two, but by then the thief planned to be long gone.

He carefully climbed down the wall he was hanging from, and dropped into a large tunnel made from carved grey stone. Running through the centre of the tunnel was a river of mucky green water. A sewer. The thief wrinkled his nose as a rotten smell of human and animal waste hit him. These underground catacombs were great places for hiding and making your way around the city without being seen, but they were awful places to stay for long periods of time.

Trying not to gag the thief scanned the water and smiled as a black shape bobbed along with the flow. Kneeling down he reached into the gunk and scooped out the dragon egg with one hand, ignoring the squishy feeling of whatever occupied the water. He stood, smiling as he looked at the oval object.

Now that it was up close, he realised it wasn't exactly black, more a deep dark blue with stars sprinkled around the surface. Something inside seemed to react to his touch, moving almost as if to touch his hand. His smile quickly turned to a frown. Something wasn't quite right. He had touched dragon eggs before, when he was younger, and usually the shell had been cool. But this one was warm, like there was a fire burning inside.

Shrugging to himself he revealed a brown fleece bag from underneath his cloak and placed the egg inside, before tying it to his belt. He then swept the hood from his head, revealing the face beneath. He was a surprisingly young man, no more than twenty, with brown hair and eyes and a chiselled jawline. His rough beard covered his chin with sideburns on his cheeks. His hair was slightly longer than normal and had to be brushed back from his eyes. And, if you looked close enough, his ears were slightly pointed, like an elf, and there was an odd grace in the way he held himself that wasn't entirely human.

There was a bang from roof of the tunnel, where the lid was situated, reminding the thief of his mission. He turned and ran. The ground was slippery and wet. One wrong step, especially at the speed he was running, and he would end up falling and injuring himself quite badly. But he wasn't worried. He had run these tunnels a hundred times, and probably would a hundred times more. He knew every nook and cranny, every pathway, every corner.

He turned right, then left, then left again, then right, just in case they caught his movement and tried to predict where he was going. He smiled again to himself when he felt a sudden weight on his hand. They had realised they were never going to follow him through his domain, and were now trying to mentally find him, and at least track him that way. But he had countermeasures against that.

There was a ring on the middle finger of his right hand. It was made from silver and had a blue sapphire in the middle. A useful place to store energy if needed. But that wasn't the most stunning part of its creation. Around the ring was a simple enchantment, one that not only defended his mind, but made it completely invisible. Not even the most skilled magicians would be able to detect it, unless they broke the enchantment, which in itself was very hard to do. He would know, he was the one that had woven it. It also detected when people tried to find his mind, growing a little heavier in warning, which was what had happened now. But it also prevented him from using his mental tricks as well.

He continued running through the sewer for a little while longer, slowly making his way toward his destination. Once he nearly accidently ran into the search party looking for him, sheerly by luck, but quickly recounted his steps and went a different way. After about ten minutes he slowed to a walk, taking the opportunity to catch his breath and think for a moment. He was safe, for now, but still had a couple more steps to go before he could say he had succeeded. First and foremost, making it out of the city unseen.

He turned one last corner. There, ahead, was his destination. The river of sewage flowed outwards from an opening up ahead, before running into the nearby Ramr River. There were seven such openings around the city, and he had chosen the one on nearly the opposite side. Not the furthest one, because that was the one they would expect, nor the closest because that would again be obvious. It was a gamble from the other five but he chose the one that he thought would be safest.

They had dragons after all, waiting outside the city for their riders, and would easily be able to track him should they figure out exactly where he went. He carefully walked out of from the inside of the tunnel, making sure no one was waiting for him on the outside. It seemed safe. He quickly dashed out, making his way into a nearby tree line and using his cloak to merge into the shadows.

In the sky above he heard the beat of a dragon's wing, and his heart skipped a beat. Had they seen him? He waited a couple of moments as the dragon moved overhead, but didn't fly down toward him. Sighing in relief he continued his way, keeping his ring hand near the egg so that the enchantment also worked for it. He wasn't quite sure if they would be able to detect the hatchling dragon with their mental abilities, and he wasn't ready to take a chance.

After walking for some time he stopped by a fallen down log. Dropping to one knee he pulled out several garments, green and brown in colour, and quickly switched them out for his dark clothes. When he was done he unstrung his bow, and slipped it into a sheet covering, that he quickly tired up. He hid a dagger in his sleeve, before throwing the rest of his clothes into the bag with the dragon egg, making it bulkier and less obvious.

From there he made his way towards a small fishermen's hut along the river, where a number of grizzly old men and one or two younger individuals were setting up their boats for the nights fishing. It was a great time of night to do so after all, just as the sun set in the horizon. He gave them a wave and a smile. They waved back.

"How r' you doin' Cayden," said one of the men.

"Just dandy John," the thief 'Cayden' replied with a jolly edge, "Looking forward to the late night fishin'."

"Good on ya'. Didn't think you would show up," John said gruffly, "There's ya' boat. I assume ya' know how to use one."

"Of course," grinned the thief, using one hand to push the small rowboat into the water and leaping in, "I'll be fine."

As he did he slipped the ring off his finger and dropped it into the sack hold the dragon egg and the rest of his belongings. It would help keep the dragon egg hidden, but if a search party did come around toward them, it would be a lot easier to explain a shielded mind than a completely invisible one.

Sighing to himself the thief picked up the oar and began to row his boat into the night. He had no intention of going fishing, and still had a long way to go before reaching his destination. Over a week's travel. For now though, he could relax a little. He would wait for a good moment to get away from the fishermen, probably using a mental manipulation technique, as none of them knew how to guard their minds, but until then, he would enjoy the company.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey guys! New book for ya all! The Rogue Rider. Decided to post it early considering I have already written the first four chapters. That being said, I'll probably only be posting one chapter a week... for now anyway. I'll see later when I get back home. Anyway, give me your thoughts on what you think will happen on this book, and what you want to happen as well. It may give me a few ideas.

Next chapter will be out Friday next week, if everything goes well, but until then... See ya!

Pennator^^