Ragin refused to move from his bed for hours. Even as a small meal was sent up from the kitchen. He didn't even acknowledge who came through the door. All he could feel was regret. Frustration. Anger. It consumed him, like a wallowing pit of despair that he couldn't escape from no matter how hard he tried. Akaysha's final words echoed through his mind over and over like a song, but instead of a tune it played a nightmare.

He could still feel her, in the back of his mind. He didn't know where she was. He didn't really care, but the emotions that continued to leak from her ever dwindling connection only added to his pit of despair. Tears leaked from his eyes but he didn't register them. All he could know was the darkness inside, and through that darkness a sudden clarity hit him.

There was one way he could make this right. Only one. It would turn everyone against him. But it was the only path left. The only path he could follow that would leave a chance for both Akaysha and him. Even if it didn't it would at least guarantee that his dragon would live. Whatever happened to him he didn't care, his life was already in ruins.

Getting up from his bed he reached underneath and pulled out the bag. He reached inside and pulled out the mirror he had used to contact Tharin. With a quick spell he opened the link allowing him to scry. Foeswarn's face appeared before him, seeming a little surprised to see him.

"Ragin," he said, "I thought you were..."

"Meet me along the bank of the Isenstar lake, where the Ramr river is, in a week's time," the rider interrupted, "I'll have your damned dragon egg."

Before the man had a chance to reply Ragin cancelled the link and shoved the mirror back into the bag. He ruffled through it a little more, and pulled out his ring. The previous one Akaysha had destroyed had been the one he had stolen from the assassin. He placed it on his finger, the background hum of Akaysha's negative emotions disappearing. He let out a sigh of relief, finding a small amount of solace in the comfort of his own mind. A second later the emptiness of the bond he had come to cherish clashed into him, turning his sigh into a grunt. He shook his head, before narrowing his eyes and discarding those emotions.

He moved over to the balcony, casting a spell of invisibility over himself. It was getting late and many people had already retired for the night. Most were camped along the edges of the river, with fires glowing like stars as the night darkened. He noticed a dragon perched on the balcony a number of feet away from his own, and another on the other side. They really did have the place well-guarded. The wind was light though, and the likelihood of the dragons catching his scent was low.

He stepped to the edge of the balcony and without hesitation leapt off. It was a good thirty metres to the bottom, enough to kill or severely injure if not careful. As he fell Ragin reached for his magic and cast a simple spell, allowing him to slow his fall to a point where the landing jarred him slightly, but didn't injure him at all. It was easier to do that than completely stop his fall.

Without a second thought he glided into the night, heading westward along the river. For a good hour he travelled, running lightly to get as far as he could from the dragon city without tiring himself out. When he felt he was far enough he stopped and gently took off his ring, casting his mind out into the night. He could barely feel the pulse of Akaysha's conscious in the background. She was far enough away he couldn't feel her thoughts.

There were a number of dragons living around the area, most of them sleeping. He gently touched each ones thoughts until he found exactly what he was looking for. He began running again, heading in the direction of a younger dragoness that had lain her first egg about a week prior. Any guilt that would usually plague him from attempting what he was going to was long since gone. Any action that allowed him to achieve his goal was now permissible.

He climbed up the side of the mountain, moving quickly and carefully with practiced ease. The cave wasn't incredibly high, and he had an excess of experience in getting into difficult to reach places. His shoulders had barely started aching as he pulled himself over the edge and onto the small ledge before the opening. It was a rather small place, and he could see the milky white dragon sleeping soundly, curled up around a nest that he assumed held the egg. She was maybe a year old, a little bit bigger than Akaysha but not by much.

He watched her for a moment, before beginning to lightly step over the ground toward her. As he did he began to dig his conscious deep into hers, being incredibly careful with where he went. A dragon's conscious was very different than a humans, and if he hadn't have been a dragon rider he would have been worried about loosing himself within the confines of her mind. However, being constantly connected to another inhuman conscious had its perks.

He quickly learnt the dragon's name was Vaela. She was one of the younger ones in the mountains. Her current nest mate was in his own cave currently, but they were good friends and he often made sure to look after her egg when she was out hunting.

By the time Vaela realised someone was inside her head it was far too late. Her eyes shot open and she attempted to lift her head, but Ragin had complete control over her movements. She let out a surprise whining growl, and froze as the human's searing conscious foiled her movements.

"Sleep," whispered Ragin in the ancient language with a release of magic.

Her head fell to the ground, followed by quiet snoring as her body relaxed. Ragin ducked under her wing and retrieved the egg. It was a turquoise green one, similar to Hanzi's dragon. It was smaller than Akaysha's egg, and had the same cool shell that was usual for a dragon egg. He looked at it for a moment, before taking a deep breath. He could feel the mind of the small dragon growing within.

Pushing away the slight doubt that was beginning to grow he set the egg in front of him and began to weave a spell. It had been a long time since he had used such dark magic, and this specific spell he had only used once or twice before and never on a dragon egg, but if he was to escape than this would be the best way. He struggled to remember the exact wording of it, but he knew what it was supposed to do and could compromise.

It was called the binding spell. The purpose of it was to bind two living souls together for a temporary time, similar to a dragon and rider bond, so that each could feel physically and mentally exactly what the other could. It had a number of purposes, but Ragin was using it for a very specific one. If you were bound to a loved one of another, it was very easy to make the other person do whatever you wanted them to, especially considering that if they did anything to you, then they would be hurting the person they cherished the most. The best part about the spell was that it could be cast on anything living, including a growing dragon hatchling inside an egg.

As he finished the spell he let out a short gasp as he felt the connection with the not yet hatched baby. Any emotions it felt seemed as though they were covered in a blanket, but it was surprisingly aware of what was happening around it. It knew something was happening, but wasn't developed enough to figure out what.

Ragin gave himself a couple of minutes to get used to the feeling. It was certainly very different to the connection he had to Akaysha. Once he had he turned his attention to the sleeping white dragon. With a deep breath he entered her mind again, more to make sure she didn't try to reach out to anyone else, and released the sleeping spell he had cast upon her.

She woke nearly instantly, and when she saw Ragin sitting on a rock near the entrance to the cave with her egg in his arms she let out a dangerous hiss, quickly pushing herself to her feet. Ragin could feel the anger flooding her conscious, but remained rather calm.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said in the ancient language, "You wouldn't want to harm your own child would you?"

She didn't fully know what he said, but could understand the threat in the words. She hissed again and attempted to reach out for the other dragons around her, but Ragin stopped her with his own mind, causing her to whine in frustration.

"No you don't," this time speaking the common tongue, a language he knew she could understand, "I've cast a spell on this egg. Any pain you make me feel your hatchling will as well. If you kill me, your child dies as well. If you burn me, your child will be burned as well. Anything you do to me, will happen to your child as well."

'Why are you doing this?' she hissed, speaking for the first time, 'If the others find out... they'll kill you.'

"Well, we better make sure they don't find out then, don't we?" the thief leaned forward, staring the dragon directly in the eye.

She shuffled her wings a little nervously, glancing around the cave as if looking for a way to get out of this predicament. She glanced at the egg again and let out another whine. She was afraid, angry and embarrassed. No dragon wanted to be at the mercy of another, and here she was, right where Ragin wanted her.

'What do you want?' she growled eventually.

The rider smirked slightly, "We are going on a bit of a trip. You are going to carry me all the way back to Alageasia and the lake Isenstar, near Gilead."

'I'm not carrying you anywhere, human,' she snarled, 'I am not like your tamed dragons that you can ride whenever you wish.'

"Hmm, that's strange," Ragin sat back, "I thought a mother dragon would really care about her egg."

As he spoke he drew a sharp dagger from within his cloak, twirling it around. She watched him warily, glancing at the egg again and again. Part of her wanted to just attack the man in front of her, consequences be damned, but she didn't want to test him. She wasn't very knowledgeable of the two-legs' magic. She didn't want to test him.

'You said... you said that anything I do to you would harm the egg. It must work the other way around,' she said a little hesitantly, 'You wouldn't harm the egg.'

"Oh, of course not," he said, "And you are very correct. This spell is a two way streak, but if you thought I would be doing anything to the precious hatchling inside you need not worry."

Her wings sagged in relief as he spoke.

"But," Ragin continued, flipping the dagger around and placing the pointed tip against his own skin, "I am not against doing anything to myself of course."

Vaela froze for a moment, disbelief and shock running through her mind, 'What are you doing?'

"You see, Vaela wasn't it, I have a rather high pain tolerance. Bit of a rough childhood," Ragin began to press the dagger against his skin a little harder, "But I'm not entirely sure of the pain tolerance of a hatchling dragon. I know you more grown up ones can handle quite a lot, but, well, do you really want the first experience of your child to be pain?"

He could feel the flair in the unhatched dragon's conscious as the dagger pricked his own skin. He knew Vaela felt it as well. She hissed, lashing her tail in anger. He knew it was taking all her will not to jump on him at the moment. Him pricking his own skin had confirmed that what he had told her about the spell was true. Anything that happened to him, the hatchling inside felt.

'Don't!' the dragoness cried mentally with a rumble, 'Please.'

"Oh, so you agree to take me to Isenstar lake?"

She snorted angrily, 'I don't even know where that is.'

"I do. I'll lead you there."

'Everyone will wonder where I've gone. They'll come after me.'

"They won't know where or why you've gone. It'll give us a good day's head start at the worst. That's all we need," he said.

'I can't just leave my egg here... I need to get someone to look after it.'

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll be bringing your egg with us. Just a little bit of insurance that you get me where I want to go," Ragin said, patting the turquoise egg shell with his hand.

She bared her teeth at him, 'I'm not bringing the egg! It'll be dangerous!'

"Unfortunately, you don't have a choice in that," he told her nonchalantly, "All you have a choice in is what happens to the hatchling inside."

Her claws rasped against the stones as a flicker of flame escaped her mouth. She wanted to bathe him in flames. Wanted to tear him apart, make him pay for daring to mess with her unhatched child, but there was nothing she could do. Even if she was somehow to access magic it wouldn't help, she had no idea how to control it.

Ragin saw her hesitating, and pressed the dagger against his arm again. There was a bead of blood trickling down his arm already from where he had pieced himself before, but it wasn't something that bothered him. A simple healing spell would fix it up.

'Fine! I'll do whatever you want... just don't hurt my hatchling anymore,' the dragon begged when she saw his action.

He smiled slightly, "There we go. That wasn't so hard now was it."

She growled, but didn't reply.

"Now, I want you to repeat after me. I can't trust just your word unfortunately," he said, "I'm going to have you swear an oath."

'I don't know how to speak that magical language you two-legs use,' she snorted.

"I know. But I can help you with that. Just speak the words that come into your mind," he told her.

Vaela rumbled in response, twisting her tail. Ragin began to lead her through the oath. It was a simple one, one that kept her from harming him, and forced her to do whatever he said, at least until they arrived at the Isenstar lake. It was a little difficult for the dragon, stumbling over a number of the words that she struggled to say as true. They eventually got through the oath however, leaving the dragoness with a drooping head.

Ragin watched her for a moment, pushing away the rising pity he felt inside him. He couldn't afford to let his emotions affect him, not now. With a deep breath he got up, releasing the binding spell he had put on the egg. As useful as it was, having the unhatched dragon's emotions in his mind was distracting.

He hoisted his bag onto his back and walked over to the dragon. She flinched as he touched her side, giving another snarl.

"Lower yourself dragon. It's a bit difficult to get onto your back otherwise," he told her.

She rumbled, before doing as he said. Her oath prevented her from doing any different. He pulled himself onto her back, and began casting a couple of spells to protect himself from her scales, as she wasn't wearing a saddle, and to keep himself on her back. He used some of the energy he had stored in one of the gems to hold the spells in place.

Afterwards he cast a quick spell of invisibility over himself, "Follow the river west until I tell you otherwise. If anyone stops you as you are leaving tell them that you are hungry and grabbing a late night snack, and your nest mate Girron is looking after your egg."

He felt her shiver when he spoke her name, 'How do you know about him?'

"You dragons need to learn to guard your thoughts more while sleeping," he told her, "You've grown complacent."

She growled, but didn't answer. Instead she moved over to the edge of the cave. She gave one last glance back at her home, an uneasy feeling spreading through her. With one last whimper she leapt into the air with a beat of her wings, quickly turning to follow the river as it went West, leading the way back to Alageasia.

Ragin slipped the ring back onto his finger, hiding his mind once again. No, if anyone saw her, they would just assume she was out by herself. He looked West along the river and narrowed his eyes. This was the only option left, there was no other way this could end. To rid Akaysha and himself of the danger that was hunting them, there was only one way, and that was to kill Tharin Foeswarn.

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

Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you Enjoyed. Vote if you did and comment what you thought. Took me a little longer than I wanted to get this one out. Next one will be out as soon as I can get it. See Ya!

Pennator^^