I do not own the Inheritance Cycle or any of the characters except Garzhog, the Ra'zac, the shades, and the Kull Rider.

Newest Riders

The table exploded suddenly and the shock wave from impact sent Eragon and Arya flying. They both landed on their feet and looked around. The impact had been that of a familiar Ra'zac. It had its sword out and was grinning evilly at Eragon while pointing at Arya.

"I don't think so," Eragon said stepping in front of Arya.

A moment later, a huge black dragon landed behind them and picked Arya up in its mouth. It took off again but not before Eragon grabbed onto its foot. As it rose, Eragon slashed its neck and it dropped Arya. Arya grabbed onto Eragon's leg and the dragon began to fall. It wasn't dead but the wound was bleeding badly. It would still survive, however, Saphira and Firnen seemed to have a couple of things to say about that. The two dragons roared and slammed to the ground.

Just as they did, a very unsettling distorted and scratchy voice said, "Eitha."

The Ra'zac raised its hand and a gedwey ignasia shone on its palm. Saphira and Firnen were sent flying and the sword suddenly made sense to Eragon.

"Ra'zac can become Riders?" Eragon asked.

"I guess so," Arya said. "You want the dragon or should I take it."

"I have a better idea," Eragon said.

He ran forward and drew his sword then attacked the Ra'zac. The Ra'zac easily outpaced him somehow and kept him from hitting it even once. Then a huge golden dragon landed on top of the Ra'zac's dragon and crushed it. An urgal landed behind the Ra'zac and a sword made out of bone sprouted from its chest.

"Fucking Ra'zac," the urgal grunted before throwing the corpse away and picking up its sword.

"Thanks," Eragon said surprised. "How was it a rider?"

The urgal shrugged then knelt and held the sword up for Eragon.

"It's yours," Eragon said. "You killed him you get the weapon."

The urgal stiffened slightly but otherwise stayed rooted to the spot.

"It's part of their culture," Arya said walking over. "He's supposed to give his master a gift worthy of anything his master might teach him. He also is supposed to mark himself for each kill."

"Mark himself how?" Eragon asked.

"A scar," Arya said.

Eragon took the sword and the urgal held his arm out then cut a horizontal line on his forearm with a dagger. Eragon noticed that there were very few lines. Eragon ignored this and the urgal stood. He was a good foot taller than Eragon and his horns were about a foot long. He was built like a wall of muscle and could probably lift Firnen if Firnen would hold still long enough.

"Thank you," Eragon said. "Now, I think it's about time we did something about the Ra'zac, don't you Arya?"

"Definitely," Arya said.

He suddenly thought he heard thunder and looked up but instead saw hundreds of dragons flying over head.

"Of shit!" Eragon said.

He held his hands up and shouted the first shielding spell that popped into his head and before Arya could ask why, exactly seventy spheres of magic exploded on the invisible shield Eragon had created. When the dragons had passed, Eragon let the shield disappear and nearly collapsed.

"No magic!" Arya said. "You're not strong enough."

"Come on," Eragon said. "We have to go see who the new Riders are and we need to stop them."

"How?" Arya asked. "Firnen and Saphira are out cold."

Eragon jabbed a finger at the gold dragon.

"Climb on," the urgal said.

Arya and Eragon both climbed on and the dragon took off. When it was high enough, Eragon saw that most of the dragons were chasing a relatively small group of seventy. The small group had Riders from hundreds of different species, all of which were not very happy with Eragon.

"Crap!" Eragon said. "How are these things becoming Riders?"

The dragons with Riders pulled a pinhead turn and headed straight for Arya, Eragon, and the urgal.

"This might work," Eragon said drawing his sword.

Arya did the same knowing what he had planned. When the Riders got close enough, Eragon leapt onto a dragon's head and ran along its body removing its Rider's head before he could react. Then he leapt to the next dragon and did the same thing. Arya was doing the same thing but on her fourth try, the Rider blocked her swing then slashed her thigh as she leapt away. Eragon also got blocked but he corrected by removing the Rider's hand then leapt to catch Arya. He succeeded but then he and she plummeted toward the ground. Just before they landed, Eragon used a spell to slow their descent. The impact still injured him but Arya was fine and the impact wasn't fatal to him. The urgal landed beside them a moment later and the Riders continued and disappeared.

"Are you okay?" the urgal asked.

"Yes," Eragon said.

He healed Arya and helped her stand once she woke up.

"Where'd they go?" Arya asked.

"They got away," Eragon said. "Don't worry. We'll go after them soon."

Arya nodded then looked around.

"Where are we?" Arya asked.

"We fell somewhere in Du Weldenvarden," Eragon said.

"No," Arya said. "We're north of Alagaesia."

They all began to head back south and Eragon decided to learn more about his new student.

"So," Eragon said. "What's your name and what's the name of your dragon?"

"Garzhog," the urgal said. "And my dragon is named Belgabad."

"Okay," Eragon said. "Where'd you get the egg?"

"I found it on a hunting trip," Garzhog said. "It was sitting in a crater."

"That sounds slightly familiar," Eragon said remembering the crater Saphira's egg had made. "Okay. Now I think we should pick up the pace."

Arya was about to ask why when a shadow passed by on the edge of her view.

"Excellent idea," Arya said.

They all sped up and Garzhog flew ahead on Belgabad. Once he was far enough away that his dragon wouldn't be a problem, a human male stepped out from behind a tree in their path. Eragon and Arya both recognized the creature and turned to walk away but a second stepped out behind them. Both shades had Rider swords. One was red and the other was stark white.

"You killed our brother," one shade said looking at Eragon.

"And you killed our father," the other said looking at Arya.

"Which do you want?" Eragon asked.

"I'll take the one behind us," Arya said.

"Okay," Eragon said.

Eragon wheeled around and slashed at the one that was blocking their progress back toward Alagaesia and Arya attacked the other. Both shades moved in blurs and fought back. Eragon's grabbed both of Eragon's arms then jumped and kicked him in the chest so hard that both of Eragon's shoulders shot out of place and very nearly came off. Arya kicked the shade away from Eragon and Eragon managed to put his right arm back into place just in time to stab his shade in the heart. Arya went back to fighting her own and after a couple more minutes she finished him off.

"That was depressingly bad on my part," Eragon said failing to put his other shoulder back in place.

"Yours was stronger," Arya said before snapping Eragon's arm back into its joint.

She healed both of his shoulders then they continued.

"How far do you think is left?" Eragon asked.

"Probably only a short distance, why?" Arya asked.

"Company," Eragon said.

Arya glanced back and saw an army of Ra'zac following.

"You have got to be kidding," Arya said.

They both sprinted forward and the Ra'zac matched their pace. After a few minutes, Eragon and Arya reached a village and all of the elves in the village grabbed weapons and met the Ra'zac. The fight was fairly short and when it was done there were no Ra'zac still breathing but it did prove to be a lot more difficult than Eragon had expected.

A dragon landed in front of them and the Rider, a Kull, said, "Eragon and Arya come with me or I will kill everyone here."

"You wouldn't dare," Eragon said.

"Try me," the Kull said.

Eragon groaned then said, "Okay, let's go meet the new Riders."

THE END

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