This chapter is called ‘Fate’s Gift’. Wait a minute. How’d Eragon get a gift from fate? I’ve been friends with her way longer than him. I even took over chicken soup when she had the flu and I’ve never gotten a present. We’re going to have words, Fate. Maybe I’ll bring your brother, Probability into this.
Rag decides to examine the stone just like Merlock did. He hits it with a couple of hammers and then a chisel. Satisfied that science has done all it can, Eragon chucks the stone into the refuse pile. Rag went on to die alone and afraid after becoming the lonely hermit that flings nightsoil at passerby. He was found one spring by a passing traveler who discovered Eragon’s desiccated corpse sitting in the kitchen, clutching at a carving knife and cutting at his wrist.
Or he somehow decides that a magician must have transported the stone to where he was and obviously they could get it back if they wanted. So where did Eragon learn all about magicians? Was it at the public school that they don’t have in the valley or does uncle know a bit too much about them? Maybe ol’ mister Garrow has a magic fetish and he used to peep on a school. ‘Oh yes, that’s the way daddy likes it. Enchant those seven league boots. Oh, what’s that? Do you need to make a potion of Glimmering? You’ll need some essence of pearl for that, and I’ve got plenty to spare.’
Then there’s that question again. The whole ‘was I meant to have it?’ which comes up again. I don’t know about you, but if I was walking along and found some valuable looking stone, I’d have to assume it was as good as mine. Who cares if it was meant for you. You got it, it’s yours. If it’s not meant for you, someone will just take it away. That’s how I got ahold of that Ferrari in the garage. Some idiot left it in their driveway, therefore they didn’t want it.
Rag gives up his cursory examination and goes to bed. He is suddenly awoken by a squeaking. You know, he’s lived in a rural hut for fifteen years now. You’d think the sound of rats doing things in the walls wouldn’t wake him up that often. And it’s coming from the egg. Not concerned enough to check it out, he goes back to sleep.
I love how proactive and curious this guy is. Is there an odd noise or set of noise coming from somewhere? Look at it funny and then go to sleep. If it were really important, it would glint every couple of seconds like in a survival horror game. That or a tutorial mode would flash a giant arrow at it and explain why Eragon needs to pick these up throughout the game.
And he gets woken up, again, by the egg. Déjà vu means they changed something in the Matrix, Rag. Start running. Well now it’s squeaking and rocking. I don’t think you’re old enough to know what’s going on inside, Eragon. Maybe when you’re a little older.
Being the enlightened moron that Eragon is, he grabs a knife and wanders over towards it. The egg begins to crack and he stares dumbly down at it. Let me shoot you a warning Eragon. You couldn’t hurt the egg but whatever’s inside can break it apart. Likely it could snap your bones in two with little more effort than breathing on you. You might want to flee the room and get some help.
As though the farm boy hasn’t ever seen a chick hatch, he watches in awe as this egg does the same. He hasn’t even realized it is an egg. He’s still working under the assumption that it’s a stone of sorts and that there might be candy inside. Fizzy candy that’s dying to escape and leap into his mouth. By the time he does get that information through his thick skull, the king will be dead and peace will return to the land.
The critter inside crawls out and then steps into the moonlight so we can end this chapter on a shocker. It’s a dragon! Wait a moment Chris. It just hatched, how is it recognizably a dragon? I don’t know of many creatures that look like their grownup form right when they get out of the egg. Baby chicks, for example, don’t even look like their baby form when they come out. And how in the heck does Eragon know what a dragon hatchling look like anyways? Oh wait, it must have been those Encyclopedia Plotannicas that Garrow bought a couple of years ago. That was a sound investment that’s really paying off.
Vivisector's Writ 
actually that’s what Rag always guesses when something hatches, swearing that one day he’d be right.
Ok, I am going to take a stab at this and guess that this will end like St. Elsewhere. Except, there will be an idiot man-child staring at a pile of his own feces he has smeared across the wall, softly laughing at himself going, “Dragons…heehee.” And the nurses will whisper to themselves, “I don’t know what he sees in it, but damned if he doesn’t entertain himself.”
Or we’ll get a Sopranos ending where Eragon will meet the king and then we’ll fade to black.