The rider smirked atop the dragons back. With a tug, his silent dragon pulled upwards. With a grunt it dove forward. Either the dragon hated its master or it just chose not to talk. The connection between their minds seemed strained, neither talked. The rider, brunette short cut hair, clung to his head with sweat. This find decided his fate; for his family, his friends, his village. His dragon skimmed close to the pitch black water, its dark scales reflecting back at it. The rider, Crash, as his father had so doubtfully nicknamed him when all he did was be more clumsy, than do good, was so close to being throw over, his face was sparyed with mist from the water.

"Watch were youre going Dash!" He snarled. His forest green eyes wondered, looking down at his dragon who had not responded. He ran his hands over the dash like scars, each looking like small rectangles. They ran all along its body. All over its scales. Its just a birthmark...a very large birthmark, he said inside of his head, trying to deny it. Infact, the scars rall across the dragons whole entire body, like it had been punished for doing some sort of deed. His hard darted away from the sharp skin like he had been struck.

How much farther? He tried using the connection. He didnt get an answer, instead got a picture of his destination; not at all the answer to his question. He rolled his eyes and kept silent for the rest of the trip.

When his dragon pulled down swiftly, he knew he was close. He peered over the side of the wide belly and saw what he had passed an few minutes ago, tree tops. He remembered his specific instructions from Galbatorix; retreive the egg. None other than the black egg. 'It was just a normal egg' is what someone who didnt know better would say. Thats what the special dragon it came from wanted people to thing. It had nothing special to it, just pitch black. The dangerous part was that, you only had once chance to prove yourself to the dragon inhabited in the egg. Unlike other eggs, where if the dragon didnt agree or like it, you could put it down and be on your merry little way. But this egg, ohhh this egg, you get one chance, to touch the egg, if it didnt like you, you were burned from the inside out. There was many myths revolved around this. Some people said that you were eaten alive by mysterious bettles or youre body was taken over my the eggs evil soul. But was the prize worth dying for?

Was the prize worth dying for? Crash asked himself. The dragon let itself down, legs thudding against the soft silent night. It paused for just a second but started up once again. Crash jumped back suddenly when his dragon, with one swift move, bit through the thick trunk of a tree infront of him. He had to step back a few steps otherwise he would have been crushed. He stared up at Dash who towered over him a good 2 feet. He didnt even bother lecturing him, he kenw it would do no good. Instead, he just past by, with a glare and searched, cursing his bad eyes.

He heard a twig snap and his head shot up. With a quick mutter of 'leaurellitoille', he stepped back into the darkness. He let out a sigh as a strong sheet of water flowed infront of him and his dragons faces, giving whoever the person was, an illusion of some sort of running water. He glanced to the side and caught his Dash shaking his leg in disgust, sparying him with a mist of water.

What did you want me to do? He spat, not expecting an answer. Dash snorted, billowing a gust of black air.

Crash peered silently as a man, a vaggabound he suspected, looking around. He looking like he was wearing some kind of burlap sack, must be itchy, he snickered. The mans beady eyes darted to where Crash as standing and he immediately stopped, holding his breath. When he looked away, Crash surveyed him. His shirt sleves cut off, his pants were way to short, and the way his eyes shot around, he was nervous. Maybe, been traveling for awhile now. He confirmed. He eyed the dagger in his hand. He held it with question, as if when someone were to threaten him, he wouldnt use it.

He watched with passion as the man knelt down and got on all fours. He searched the grass with his bare hands. Each time he brought them up, they got dirtier and dirtier. Finally the man shot up and did a little jig. With a 'yip' he dove back down and it had seemed like he had found what they were looking for. He knelt down. Just when Crashs eyes had bulged, the mans voice became strained, like he was struggling to breath. His hands were around something that Crash couldnt see but at once they shot up to his throat. Crash gasped, but quickly covered his mouth. His face showed pure confusion when the man didnt turn around this time to look. He removed his hand slowly. He muttered the words to remove the spell.

"Sir?" He stepped forward. Dash nibbled at his shoulder but he shrugged him off. "Hello...sir?" He raised an eyebrow. He came came close enough that he could spell his harsh and rank smell. He wrinkled his nose and tapped the mans shoulder. The man turned and Crash fell back onto the ground and scrambled away, screaming like a little girl. The image flashed in his mind over and over again. The mans face seemed like his jaw weighted more than his entire face and was weighted down and stretched out. His face was locked into a screamed positon and his tongue hung out. His once, not as dirty face was scorched black. With a final raspy inhale, he fell to the side; dead. Finally Crash caught a glimpse of what the man was holding. the egg! He gasped. Suddenly he felt sick and scampered farther away, like being so close cursed him.

"SCREW THIS!" He had meant to say that inside his head, but somehow he ended up screaming it out instead. "This is sooo not worth dying for. I mean, its just a stupid egg." He spat. His dragon growled deep in its stomache but he ignored it. "Im not ready to die Dash...Im not." He was shaking and talking to himself like a mental ill person. Without furthur ado, he jumped on the back of his dragon and soared away, leaving the black egg nestled deep in the dark grass. The mans face haunting him the whole ride home.

. & .

I woke up to complete darkness. Like pitch black. Oh that was right, you had to open your eyes when you wanted to see. I felt something tugging on my locks, and I looked up and screamed, getting a face full of fur. I turned over on my stomache and back up. I exhaled, feeling stupid. it was just a little bunny! It hopped away silently, guess it thought my hair was some kind of plant then. Shayy reached a hand up and touched the large messy pile of hair atop her hair. I even would have mistakened this for some kind of plant! She tisked. Only when she scratched her eye, did she realize that she wasnt in fact on her soft flannel bed or in her enclosed room. She could almost have poked her own eye out, her hand was shaking so much if she hadnt moved it quickly. Her insides felt like they were caving in. She took a look around, surprising herself that she hadnt screamed yet. She was totally surrounded by coniferious trees. But not just normal trees that you would see when you would take a walk down the street, tress that had 5 to 6 leaves and were different colours. She didnt feel like she was anywhere near her home. Her hand traveled uncontrollably to her mouth as she stumbled around like a lost goat. She didnt even take a second this time, her mouth opened wide and before she could stop herself, let out the loudest scream she could put out.

It had been awhile since she was deserted in that small area. She had been walking around, exploring. Every few minutes, she marked a tree to show the way she had come from. She had no idea where she was, but she was smart enough not to get lost. her feet were getting sore, from rubbing against those stupid shoes she had bought. They were actually a good deal, they were black velvet, and all around they had this sort of weaving thing going on. It had a dark teal ribbon and a black ribbon, at the tips of her shoes they tied into a bow. She wanted to take them off but was afraid that she was going to get some kind of disease, so she delt with the pain. Fashion had its price.

After a fair good amount of wandering around, she felt her stomache grumble. She glared down at it like it was a living person and scowled. She looked around to see the same thing she had passed a few minutes ago; trees. Nothing edible on them, not even the slightest sign of fruits. No animals either, not like she was going to kill them anyways; like shed have the guts.

An hour had passed and she found no sign of life. But then things seemed like they had gotten better for her. She had spotted a stump, and actually cried out with happiness. Finally, it wasnt a chair like at home, but it was a suitable sitting area. She stared at it and like a prissy little student, brushed her hand against it; like that would do any good. Satisfied, she held her hands in the air and sat down, snuggling her behind into the hard surface. She brought her right leg over her leg and smiled up to the sky. This only lasted for about a few seconds before she fell to the ground, pounding her fists into the ground; the sound vibrating loudly in her ear seeing as she had her ear pressed to the ground. She sobbed louddly.

"Now, now, little girls shoudnt be acting that way." She ceased at the deep voice. She stopped, staring wide eyed. She whipped her head up and slowly raised up. Her breath caught when she saw a boy about her age. He was sortof good looking, but why would she care, she was about to be bombarded with a whole lot of questions. If anyone where to ask her what she thought of him, she would probably have said, just off the top of hear head, "Hes one of those types who thinks hes hot and everyone else is not."

She felt him eye her up and down and she cringed a sort of disgrete way, trying to cover up.

"What are you doing here?" He licked his lips, his green eyes almost peircing through hers.

"I could ask the same question to you." She shot back, feeling like patting herself on the back but she didnt feel like it because that would be silly.

He nodded accepting this as an answer.

"Okay, forget the questions." His eyes kept looking down the ground at her feet. She followed his gaze, but she couldnt see anything. "I beleive you have something of mine." He lowered his head as if looking over wire rimmed glasses.

"I dont know what your-" She followed his gaze once more and saw something peeking out from beneath the stump.Why hadnt she seen it before? She bend down hesitantly, bending with her knees so as to not give this new boy a nice view of her rear. She stared confused at this round circular stone. "What is it?"

"Nevermind you, just pass it here." He stood rooted on the spot with his hand outstretched. She eyed him up and down; He didnt move. She stared at the stone and back.

"Why dont you come over here and get it?" She tested.

"No stupid girl, bring it here. I am the rightful owner of that egg." He gave a hiss like noise, like he had spilt something important. Her eyes grew wide. All she could think about was how hungry she was.

"Yummy, this could last me for about a week."

"A week? Oh- ha ha ha," She started looking him up and down when he started walking towards her, slow and with purpose. He came close to her, hands in the back pockets of his pants. Now that he was close, she could see that he didnt dress like the boys from back home. He looked like he was wearing leather chaps of some sort and black gloves. Before she knew it, he was leaning in towards her, so close she could smell what seemed like cologne. It was musky and smelled like spices. She closed her eyes breathing in. He came close forcing her into leaning against the stump backwards, bending her arm. She snaked her other arm down and picked up the black egg, hugging it close to her. He gasped, peering at the egg resulting in her pulling it close to her. Suddenly she didnt want to smell his cologne anymore.

His eye seemed to twitch. He looked her up and down once more. She moved the egg, trying to block as much of her as she could.

He whistled, she thought at her but realized otherwise when she felt the ground shake.

"Meet my dragon- Dash." He waved a hand, presenting the black best like it was a prize. This took a breath away. She physically had to put a hand to her throat, messaging as her breath caught in her throat. The dragon gave a horendous roar, rearing its head.

"You know what would look good on you?" Suddenly the attention was brought back to her. She glanced hesitantly from the dragon to the boy. She didnt even bother to answer because he did for her.

"Me." He winked. She gave a outraged look, and without thinking, brought her fist to meet his face.

"Pig." As soon as she did it, she knew she shouldnt have. The dragon reared its head again and shot forward, driving its teeth into the stump of wood, Shayy had to duck otherwise she would have been dead meat. She felt the splinters dig into her skin. The dragon pulled up, but didnt shift, it seemed to be stuck. She took this as an oportunity and pushed the boy off of him. She crawled away at first but then stood up straight. She felt a hand hook against one of the belt holes in her pants. She looked back to see Crash. With one swift hand movement, she hooked her hand into a claw like motion and brought it across his face. She could feel the skin she had took with swip and suddenly felt disgusted, but ran none the less. She pumped her arms, not caring if her feet hurt. When she felt she was a safe distance away, she stopped shortly, just to pull of her shoes, but then started running once again, not planning to stop again.

Well, heres the chapter. Personally, this is my favourite. I put alot of effort into this one. So tell me if you like it. Once again I want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who had either review/added me to their favourite author.story list & everything else. It means so much to me. Thannk you & keep on doing whatchu do. :)

& Shayy ;