Ragin sat, staring into the fire burning a few feet away. The orange flames danced, creating unique and entrancing patterns, drawing the thief deep into an almost trancelike state of mind. Thoughts continued to swirl through his head, keeping him completely blind to his surroundings. What had happened only a couple of hours ago continued the nag him. His capture at the hands of the riders, his inability to hide from them, but most of all it was what had happened to Akaysha that bothered him.

He was sitting against his dragon's flank. The riders hadn't tied either of them up, but had instead made them swear numerous oaths in the ancient language to make sure they stayed with them until they reached New Doru Araeba, as well as preventing the two of them from doing any harm should they want to.

Akaysha seemed to be asleep, but Ragin knew that his dragon was well awake. After being told what had happened after she was released from Arya's spell, the dragoness had seemed quite withdrawn. She had always had a sense of wonder about her magic, but now Ragin sensed a deep fear. It didn't help that all she remembered of the episode was being overwhelmed in power. Anything else that had happened was a complete blank to her.

Ragin looked up as footsteps approached. It was Arya. The dark haired elf had a stoic expression on her face, and the thief found it hard to read what she was thinking. The other riders had barely spoken a word to him since his capture, but he knew it was only a matter of time before they started asking questions. Questions he didn't want to answer.

To his surprise however, instead of lording over him while the questions were asked, Arya sat cross-legged in front of him, making it so that he was forced to look right across at her. He felt Akaysha's eye on the elf, accompanied by a small amount of unease and nervousness.

"What is your name, rider?" asked Arya simply.

For a moment Ragin debated whether or not to answer truthfully. But he also knew that even if he answered falsely now, they would eventually find out the truth. He was infamous enough that a number of people would know his face.

"Ragin," he replied.

There was a grunt of surprise from somewhere over the fire.

"Ragin?" it was the human, a man named Eon, "Are you that thief that has been at large for the past four or five years?"

"The one and only," Ragin smirked slightly.

"Good fighter for a thief," muttered the Kull, whose name was Zayphoz.

After the battle everyone who had been badly injured by either Akaysha or Ragin had been healed back up by either Arya or the dwarf, Brokk. It seemed Freya had yet to learn even the basics behind magic, and had only just started with lifting pebbles. Why they had brought her along on this mission was beyond him. Maybe they had misjudged the power both Akaysha and him had wielded.

"And well versed in magic for a dragon rider of less than six months with no training," Arya stated.

"If you think I'm going to tell you where I learnt all that I have you're mistaken," Ragin grunted.

"I believe where you learnt everything is already quite obvious," said Eon, "You were taught by The Black Hand."

The thief managed to hide his surprised at the correct statement, keeping his face passively blank so that he gave nothing away, "What makes you think that?"

"I recognised one of the words you use in our duel. Fe'esh? Was it not? One of the one hundred enchanted words from a long forgotten language that, until the Black Hand appeared, hadn't been used in millennia. I'm assuming you used one of those words against Zayphoz as well."

Ragin found himself surprised at the man's knowledge. Obviously he had been one of the riders that had taken a part in taking down the Black Hand, and had managed to get his hands on numerous tomes and books of knowledge that the assassins had collected over the years. He mentally kicked himself for being so careless as to give away who he was by a simple spell.

"So? I was once part of the Black Hand, yes, but everyone else is dead now, thanks to you all. It's not like the organisation posses any more of a threat."

"I seriously doubt all of them are dead," replied Eon, "As big as it was, we couldn't have gotten everybody."

"And what are you going to do about it? Kill me as well?" accused Ragin.

He felt Akaysha stir behind him at those words, a small growl rumbling from her throat.

"No," Arya got up from where she was sitting, "We shall not kill you, if for your dragon's sake more than your own, but knowing who you are makes it very unlikely we will be letting you go."

"You weren't going to do that anyway," Ragin shrugged and leant back against his dragon's warm flank.

"You were the one that stole the dragon egg as well, weren't you," this time it was Freya that spoke, a measured anger in her tone, saying that she was struggling to hold it in.

"Is it considered stealing if the egg hatches for you?" Ragin replied.

"Yes, well, you could have cast a spell on it or something and made it hatch for you," the red headed girl accused.

"I would do no such thing!" Ragin replied, "If anything, the dragon egg hatching was the last thing I wanted to happen."

"So why did you steal it then?!"

"Freya, calm yourself," Arya stepped in before Ragin could retort, "I'm sure all answers will be revealed in time."

The girl 'hmphed' and turned away, crossing her arms. Her orange dragon glared angrily at me, before laying his head down on the ground with a snort. Arya let out a small sigh before turning back to Ragin again. This time she walked around until she was standing in front of Akaysha's snout. The dark dragoness raised her head, looking directly into the unflinching gaze of the elf.

"What is your name dautr abr dwerva?" Arya asked the dragoness.

'Daughter Of Night,' Ragin translated the title for Akaysha.

'Akaysha,' replied his dragon, once again using Ragin to say the words.

"That is a beautiful name. Would you answer my question Akaysha?"

'Depends on the question.'

"Do you know how you are able to use magic so easily?"

The dragoness hesitated and glanced at Ragin, almost as though wondering if he knew the answer to the question as well, even if she knew he didn't. He shrugged, shaking his head.

"That is something I have wondered for a long time," replied Ragin for her, "But with all the research I've done I haven't been able to find a single reference to it happening before. It thought you might know something."

Arya shook her head, "As far as I know it has never happened before. Was there anything unusual that happened around the time she hatched?"

Ragin frowned, thinking back to that moment, then something occurred to him. Akaysha had been taken away from him during the first couple of hours after she had hatched. Unfortunately she could not remember much about those first few hours, but anything could have happened to her in that time. He glanced at her.

'There's nothing you remember during that time? Nothing at all?'

'No, well, I remember feeling really lonely. Then you came around and I wasn't alone anymore. But other than that... it's hard. I was only just out of the egg,' she responded sadly.

Ragin decided to reveal, at least in part, what happened around Akaysha's hatching, "She was taken away from me by a powerful man for a couple of hours while I was immobilized by the effect that happens when I first touched her. He could have done something during that time."

"What was this man's name?" asked Arya.

"They just called him Mr. Foeswarn. All I know about him as that since the Black Hand was destroyed he has become something of a figurehead to the underground. He's a powerful mage, and he has access to some strange weapons."

"Underground?" Eon asked.

"It's what we call everyone who lives on the streets, or makes their living from the streets. Thieves, assassins, beggars, sell-swords, cutthroats, runaways and so on."

"We might need to have a chat to this 'Mr. Foeswarn' then," said Brokk, the dwarf speaking for the first time.

"You could, but its your own head. And don't drag me into it. He'll kill me on sight," Ragin said.

"We won't be going to this Mr. Foeswarn until we know a little bit more about him," Arya said, "First we need to head back to New Doru Araeba. Then we can talk about this new threat."

Ragin sighed softly when he heard that, sinking back into Akaysha's side. It seemed as though they would not be able to escape easily, especially when they actually arrived at the dragon rider city. Once there he would be forced to take more oaths to keep him there. It meant that he would have to think of a way to word his oath so that he could find a loophole that allowed him to get out. Fortunately he had practice at this kind of manipulation.

Arya walked back to her dragon and sat down in front of him, laying against one of his forepaws. She seemed to be having a silent conversation with him. A small silence swept over the camp. Ragin saw Freya constantly look in his direction, a dark anger in his eyes. The Urgal was honing a stone dagger, or short sword really, the rasping echoing over the campsite. Eon was simply staring into space, seeming to be in some kind of trance, likely talking to his dragon as well, and Brokk was beginning to fall asleep against his dragon's flank.

"I have a question," said Freya suddenly, "When Akaysha hatched, why did you not come straight to the dragon riders?"

"I thought that would be rather obvious," grunted Ragin, "I'm a previous member of the Black Hand, and I stole a dragon egg. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be put in an undesirable situation when we reach New Doru Araeba."

"Yes but... surely it would be safer with us then hiding out by yourself from this Foeswarn fellow."

He chuckled at that, "Then you don't know anything about me. The only reason you found us was because I didn't realise Akaysha's magic was a beacon for people who knew how to find it. And honestly, now that I'm with you Foeswarn will so much more easily be able to find me."

"But it will be harder for him to get to you."

"I've met the man. Somehow I doubt that the dragon riders will be able to stop him from getting to me even if I had five of you guarding me all day all night."

"I think you underestimate us."

"I think you underestimate Foeswarn."

Freya grunted, obviously not agreeing with him, "Alright then, I've got another question. Why did you try to fight us? There was no way you were going to win against five riders and their dragons."

To Ragin's surprise it was Zayphoz that answered the question. The large Kull laughed, his lumbering voice rumbling across the campsite as he shook his head.

"Honour girl. Honour and pride. A true warrior never backs down, even if there is no chance at victory."

"But we weren't threatening his life or anything," she replied.

"This is true, but for a man who has spent his whole life fighting and running, he would not be able to give himself up so easily," Zayphoz was looking at Ragin the whole time he was speaking.

For some reason beyond Ragin's understanding, he had earned the urgal's respect. He guessed it was part of their culture to acknowledge the greatest warriors and fighters, and he had come under that. Holding his own against five riders and their dragons was no small feat, even if Akaysha had done most of the work for him.

"Now, enough talk," the urgal said, "We have early morning tomorrow. We must get rest before then."

Ragin nodded his head in agreement and turned away from them. He felt Akaysha's wing cover him, blocking off most of the light from the campfire. The dragoness rumbled a wordless goodnight to him as she closed her eyes. He followed soon after, letting himself drift into a fitful sleep. 

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Hey guys! New chapter here. Vote if you enjoyed and comment what you thought. Hope everyone had a good Chrissy and new year. Sorry this is a bit short, but hopefully its good anyway. Next chapter will be out soon. See ya!