Shifter (Hobbit/Eragon)

Chapter Nine

I hiss as I shake my hand, the reflex movement for when I get burnt. "It burnt me!" Kili frowns and places his hand flat on the stone again, "How? It's freezing!" I shake my head in disbelief. "It can't be, it burnt me! Maybe you're hand isn't taking pain or something." Kili pinches his hand and nods, "My hand's working just fine." I stare at the stone, trying to piece together the puzzle in my mind. Then it strikes me like a bull to a rock. "It's not a stone, it's an egg! Kili, it's a dragon egg." Kili's eyes go wide and he stares at me, "We must destroy it!" He pulls out his sword and looks at the egg, I wave my arms in front of him. "No! We can't destroy it. This could be one of the last dragons in the lands, you live under the false impression that dragons are all bad and they live for gold because of Smaug." Kili lowers his sword, "Of course they're bad, all they want to do is kill and claim gold." I shake my head at his arrogance. "You know nothing of the world, Dwarf." I turn my attention back to the egg, "Dragons are loyal and careful creatures, they used to be guards of these lands." Kili puts his sword away, "So how come there's a dragon living in my home?" I sigh and shake my head, "I don't know, dragons sometimes can go bad, if their rider has bad intentions." Kili's eyes widen, "Rider?! Men ride those things?" I frown at his comment, "And women. The dragon riders used to be wonderful, I remember going to parades when I was a child and the riders flying over our heads. It really was a wonderful time." I drift off at the memory of the huge beasts but snap out of it when Kili speaks up again. "What happened to them?"
"They died. Most of them were only human so they died off quicker then they could find dragons. There was also a war but I don't really know much about that." There's a moment of silence as we both watch the egg, until Kili gets a silly idea. "Why don't we hatch this egg and ride it! We could then get rid of Smaug easily!" Kili quickly wraps his hands around the egg and picks it up. "Don't be ridiculous!" I gently take the egg from him and place it back on the altar. "You can't just take a dragon. For one they're too rare to waste on fools like you, and two, there's no way to hatch a dragon egg. They hatch themselves." Kili crosses his arms, "Can't we just throw it in a fire, or sit on it?" I roll my eyes and turn away from his stupidity. "The dragon has to choose its rider before hatching, so you'll certainly never see it." I stare at my hand and the mark the egg has left on it, brushing my fingers lightly over the strange symbol. Kili clicks his fingers, "I've got it! We take the egg, and sell it. I bet someone would pay a pretty price for something as rare as this." I sigh and roll my eyes once again. Ugh, Dwarves.