Few words were exchanged between Ragin and Akaysha that night. The rider kept his mind mostly closed of from his dragon as a thousand thoughts swirled through his conscience, all difficult and impractical. He was unused to these feelings. This guilt, this frustration. Logan didn't understand anything, didn't know the pain he had gone through, what he had suffered to get to where he was today. The anger, the hate, the immorality that had shaped the beginning of his life was something he couldn't just let someone else see, no matter how close he was to that someone. Especially when he was so close.

He glanced from his bed to Akaysha. Her dark form seemed to be resting peacefully in her nest, sleeping soundly, though he could tell she was still awake at a closer inspection. Her body was more tense than usual and her wings seemed to be curled far more tightly against her body. Just like him, she was restless, and also just like him, her mind was closed to almost everything except a sliver of the bond that they shared. Despite being in the same room, he had never felt so far from her.

In Akaysha's mind, her turmoil was different. She knew that what Logan had said was right. It was the first time she had considered such a prospect. The bond she shared with her rider was the best thing in her life, but there were times where she felt so far from the man she shared her mind with. Times when he seemed like he would rather be without her. The thought hurt far more than it should. She had personally seen and felt the high esteem in which he held her, compared to others any way. But those times where he his thoughts slipped and he dreamed of life before the riders, those were the days he longed for again. Part of her wondered if he would have been better off if she had just not hatched for him at all. It was something they should talk about. Something they needed to talk about, but whenever she went to do so she found she couldn't, afraid of the answer that lay behind her question.

So instead the two lay silently. Ragin didn't bother to head to the food hall for dinner. They fell into a restless sleep, not fully in the dream world, but not fully awake either. Morning came, and the two were up earlier this time. Akaysha flew her rider down to the ground, where they arrived before the other trainees, much to the surprise of the teachers that were already there.

Logan nodded his head in greeting to the young rider, to which Ragin responded in kind, expertly hiding the tiredness he felt from a bad night of sleep. Akaysha wasn't so responsive as she flashed her teeth in a large yawn before greeting her masters.

'Ragin, I plan on taking Akaysha for the entire day today,' Sashi said, 'You and Logan will be meeting in the hall instead of where we had originally decided to meet.'

Ragin nodded his head in understanding. He gave Akaysha a pat on the leg for goodbye and the two dragons were once again flying high in the sky, leaving him with the others down below. He turned with a short sigh back to the teachers as he stood, waiting for the other four new riders to get there. Another ten minutes later and all of them were back down at the training fields, sparring once again. As before, Ragin found himself easily on top, defeating them with the ease of a practiced master. He used the fighting to get the turmoil of thoughts out of his head and onto the field, showing no mercy to the people he was up against.

This time they didn't spar as long, and instead went into some general magic practice. While the other riders had just started with this aspect of being a dragon rider, Ragin found each activity incredibly easy, and it wasn't long before he was bored. Sparring was fun. There was something so enticing about the clash of blades. But this, this was incredibly demeaning to his skill. They knew that he was better than most riders at magic, but he had to go through this as well. Logan had left a while ago on some other activity he was forced to do, and the other two teachers that seemed to normally hold these sessions didn't seem like they were going to change anything anytime soon. Hanzi seemed disinterested as well. As an elf, he already had known a bit about magic before becoming a rider.

After another couple of hours of simple and meaningless spellcasting, Ragin headed to the food hall where he knew Logan was waiting. After grabbing a small lunch he headed over to where the golden rider was situated. Part of him wondered if he could skip out on this lesson, but the oath he had sworn prevented him from doing so.

"You know," said Logan, "You don't have to meet up with me for another hour."

"I've got nothing better to do," shrugged the rider, "Not anything I'm allowed to do anyway."

"Very well. We'll do this early then. Come with me."

Logan turned and walked away from the food hall and down one of the corridors leading further inside the mountain. Ragin followed curiously. He had expected they would be going outside for their personal training, not further in. He wasn't complaining, as he hadn't really had a chance to explore the tunnels inside the mountain. It was something he probably should take the opportunity to do.

This corridor wasn't any different to the one that lead up to his room. It was probably a little bigger, rising a good fifty feet upwards, and wide enough to fit twenty men walking abreast. The roof rounded at the top, and the walls were rather plain, made from the stone of the mountain itself. There were many doors leading to other areas of the mountain along the walls, with runes from all the main Alageasian languages: dwarven, elven, human and urgal. Each of the writings seemed to be directions, pointing to specialised rooms, such as the library, or the higher ranked rider's rooms.

"Where are we going?" asked Ragin eventually, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"We are meeting with Matilda," said Logan without turning, "The rider's current blacksmith."

Ragin frowned, touching the sword still strapped to his hip, "I'm getting a rider's blade?"

"Of course. The others already have theirs, why not you?"

"I mean... I'm not going to complain, but I wouldn't really consider that wise..." the black rider said a little hesitantly.

This turn of events once again confused him. Sure, his oaths prevented him from doing any harm or escaping, but they didn't mean he was loyal. The only one he had any loyalty to was Akaysha. That they would trust him with one of the most well made weapons in the world was something he had never expected, especially considering he had only been there three days.

"The others have their swords, it would be strange for you not to have yours," Logan replied as if the decision was the simplest one in the world.

Ragin kept silent, not trusting himself to speak. He could think of a number of reasons why it was a bad idea to allow him one of the blades, but if they had already decided to give him one than he wouldn't exactly say no. Shrugging his shoulders he smiled slightly, wondering what it would be like to hold a rider's blade. He had occasionally held some of the trainee rider blades, but that was more just picking them off the ground to give them back to the defeated opponent. It scarcely counted.

"A warning before we enter..." Logan said as they came to a stop outside the two large double doors of the blacksmith, "Matilda has a tendency to come off as a bit... eccentric. Don't let that throw you. The only blacksmith I've known with her equal was the elf Rhunon, her teacher."

Ragin frowned, before nodding his head. With a short sigh the golden rider turned and shoved open the large double doors and walked inside. The heat coming from the room was intense. It was like walking into a furnace. Tables covered in tools stretched the length of the room, with steam hissing and sizzling through a large opening leading to the outside, not different to the one Ragin had in his own room. The forge was set up at the left hand wall, a large stone block that was the source of the uncomfortable heat. There was an opening at one side of the block where the fire was located, pumping shimmering waves of heat into the open air.

Standing next to the furnace was a women with the most frazzled curly red hair Ragin had ever seen. She had her back to the them and didn't see them come in. Next to the forge was a dragon, a large red beast that seemed to have been sleeping before the two humans walked in. Now however he had one eye open, regarding the newcomers with suspicion. It was obvious he alerted his rider, as the frazzled red haired women turned away from her forge to meet them.

"Aah! Logan! I was told you would be commin' by today," she said rather extatically.

"Matilda," the elder rider acknowledged, "I see you are as busy as always."

The women had a lean figure, covered up by the long sleeved shaggy garments she wore. Ash seemed to cover every part of her, from her shoes to her the top of her head, and it seemed as though her eyebrows had been almost completely burned off. The only thing more startling than the ash was the amount of freckles on her face and her clear blue eyes that seemed to have a curiosity to match a child's gaze.

She sauntered over to them, piecing Ragin with her eyes. He stared back impassively.

"I would guess you are the egg thief I've been hearing so much about," she said, placing her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow.

"You'd be correct," Ragin responded.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "And what possessed you to do such a thing?"

When he didn't reply she barked a laugh, before giving him a friendly hit to his shoulder, "Lucky for ya' she hatched, 'ey? I bet that was quite a shock."

"... it was," Ragin said after a moment, surprised at her sudden change of tone.

Matilda turned back to her forge with a shrug of her shoulders, "As long as ya' don't attempt to do it again, I'm willing to forgive and forget. Her egg hadn't hatched for decades. We were beginning to get a little worried."

Ragin frowned slightly at that, before shrugging it off. Matilda grabbed a long pair of tongs from a nearby bench and reached into the furnace, drawing out a piece of curved metal that looked a little like a horseshoe. She dunked it in a bucket of water, steam billowing out into the room, before placing the tongs to one side and turning back to them.

"So, I take it you came to get this one a sword," she gestured toward Ragin.

"Yes," Logan said.

"Hmm," her eyes glazed over for a moment, as though she was considering some deep thought, "Can I have a look at your current blade young rider?"

Ragin drew his sword and passed it hilt first to her. She gripped the handle, studying the blade with a practiced gaze. She twirled it through the air a couple of times, testing the balance and stability of the weapon. Her hand was loose around the hilt, and it was quite obvious she had used many different swords in her lifetime. She twirled it around a couple more times before handing it back to Ragin.

"You enchant this yourself?" she asked him.

The younger rider nodded his head, "Yes. How can you tell?"

"The magic isn't weaved into the blade like it would be had it been enchanted at its forging," she said, "Still, I'm impressed. This sword would hold up to most other weapons in the world. The shape is rare though. Usually swords aren't this narrow, especially at the base. I take you prefer a more evasive style, striking quickly and pulling back before they have a chance to react."

"Most of the time."

"Interesting, and how does the sword feel in your hand? Uncomfortable? Bearable? Is it perfect?"

Ragin frowned thoughtfully as he considered the question, "It's got a good balance and reach. I wouldn't say entirely perfect though. It's not the best sword I've ever held."

Matilda nodded, matching his frown with her own. Suddenly she whipped her hand forward and cast a spell, blowing one of the tables to one side and creating a bit more room in the centre. She drew her own sword, a strange weapon that was the same colour as her dragon. The blade was shorter than average, and instead of moving straight to a point, it widened out as it got further away from the hilt before coming to a nearly rounded end.

"Guard the edge of you blade," she said, casting a spell over her own, "This'll tell me how you truly fight."

Ragin let a smile slip passed his mouth. He was down for a bit of a fight. He did as he was told. Logan stepped back, watching them silently. The two riders faced off against one another, not immediately striking as they judged the other with careful scrutiny. Matilda was the first to move, leaping forward with a wide forehand strike. Ragin opted to dodge backwards rather than block. Her sword was heavier than his, and the rounded end meant that it would have a lot more force from a wide strike like that than a normal blade.

Not wasting a moment, as soon as he was safe from the strike, he took a step forward stabbing toward her shoulder. Most other opponents would be off-balanced by such a open attack, but it seemed Matilda wasn't like most opponents. She had recovered quicker than him and had already predicted his next move, stepping back and out of range of the strike. Ragin quickly made some distance, studying her with slight surprise. A fierce grin swept across her lips as she leapt forward suddenly with a yell and an over head strike.

This time Ragin stepped forward to block, angling his blade so he could catch hers and deflect it to the side, much like he had done with Hanzi the day before. Their swords met, and he grinned inwardly, moving further forward to strike the women with his elbow, letting her sword slide down his own. However, the moment he focused on the attack the weight of Matilda's sword against his own seemed to... shift. She ducked under his elbow and pushed forward, knocking him backwards and onto his backside.

Ragin grunted with surprise, dropping his sword as he was flung backwards. Taking a moment to recover he looked up at Matilda in surprise, not expecting the outcome he had just experienced. She grinned at him triumphantly, and it was then he noticed that her sword was no longer in her right hand, but in her left.

"You think too much," she said, extending her hand.

He grabbed it and she hauled him to his feet, "How did you do that?"

"I switched hands mid swing. You had angled your blade to block a right handed strike from above. So, during the strike I used the momentum of our swords clashing to switch hands, turning the weight to a left-backhanded strike, in which you were in no position to defend against," she said, "And I saw the elbow coming from miles away."

Ragin grunted in response. He had underestimated her, but he had never seen that technique before. Switching from right to left for sure, but during an attack? It seemed impossible. Matilda laughed when she saw his confused expression.

"I've been learning swordsmanship for almost a hundred and thirty-five years. Trust me when I say you learn a lot over that time."

He nodded his head, "I can see."

"Now, moving on, I think I have the perfect blade for you," she said, "Follow me."

She lead the two riders to her dragon, who huffed in annoyance as he got up and moved out of their way, revealing a door on the other side. She pulled it open and walked inside. This side of the door was far cooler than the other side, with small lamps dotted along the wall almost randomly. Filling the room were racks upon racks of weapons, ranging from swords to bows and everything in between. Matilda ignore all of them and made her way right to the back.

There Ragin found another rack, not seeming too different to all the others, but it was quickly obvious that the weapons its held were far more important. They were riders' blades. There was probably about thirty of them, all encompassed by an embroidered sheath matching the colours of the dead rider's dragon.

Matilda walked to the rack and pulled off a sword, "This was forged by Master Rhunon almost five centuries ago. If you would prefer I make a blade, I can do that, but if I can I like to give my old master's work to someone who can use it. Here."

She passed the sword to him with its sheath, and Ragin gently grabbed it from her, knowing the importance of the blade. Slowly he gripped the hilt and pulled it from the sheath. It made a healthy metallic shing as it left its covering. The handle seemed to fit his hand perfectly as he looked upon the blade. It was the same colour as Akaysha, dark blue and purple with stars sparkling over it. He gave it a small swing, marvelling at the perfect balance it held. It was a little wider and longer than his other sword, but he liked that. It was slightly heavier as well, but again that scarcely mattered. It would just serve better to go against some of the heavier weapons he came across. Along the blade was a single glyph in the ancient language, one he recognised instantly.

"Wyrda," he murmured under his breath. The sword's name was fate.

"I thought you would like it," Matilda grinned.

"It's perfect," Ragin responded, turning to her and sheathing Wyrda in its sheath.

She nodded, "Make sure you take good care of the blade. With this you are well and truly a dragon rider. Make sure you prove to us that you deserve to have it."

He nodded his head silently, turning to look at the sheath again, "Thank you."

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Hey guys! I'm so, so, so, so sorry this took so long to get out. I've been incredibly busy these past couple of months. Now I've found time to write though, and more chapters should be out soon. Vote if you enjoyed and comment what you thought! I'm glad to be writing again. See Ya!

Pennator^^