A/N: Hello again everyone, I am back with another chapter of Hunting a Rider. As was planned, I have moved on to Du Weldenvarden for this next chapter. This was a little tricky in figuring out where in the book I wanted this to take place in, but I found a place where I can feel comfortable in putting it. Eragon, Saphira, Oromis and Glaedr will appear in this chapter, and I sincerely hope I got their personalities right.

Disclaimer: See Prologue. And without further ado; please read, review, and enjoy.

Ziirik woke from unconsciousness with a start. Looking around, he found himself intact in the pod. He remembered the pods being knocked off-course, then his pod crashed and he hit his head, then nothing.

Deciding that idle pondering would get him nowhere, Ziirik reached for and found the release. Pulling it, he looked out and found himself in a forest, the trees towered over the Yautja, covered in needles and leaves. The foliage was so dense that he couldn't see very far as he nearly leaped from the pod.

Ziirik looked around, this did not seem familiar to him in the least, the chosen landing site had been in a plain, and this was the exact opposite. The trees were so tightly packed even around the small clearing his pod had made, that Ziirik could not see any possible landmarks. He remembered an extremely large forest in the northern part of the chosen continent from the maps, but he hadn't paid attention as the landing site was so far away.

The Yautja Hunter decided to leap to one of the trees. Choosing the nearest one, Ziirik leapt into the lower branches, which were only twice his height from the ground. Quickly finding purchase for his hands among the branches, he leapt from layer to layer, ascending at a pace that oomans would find impossible.

Reaching the top of the tree, Ziirik could only look in astonishment at the sea of trees that greeted his eyes, even hills were not spared the tide of trees that he saw. Watching this view, he felt a wind blow through the treetops, it wasn't very strong, but it was enough to set the thin tops of the trees to swaying.

Leaping back down to the ground, Ziirik pondered on the direction he needed to go, there were no landmarks visible to his sight or any vision modes available to his mask. He needed to meet with his siblings, but he knew not where to look. Their masks had only so much range for communication between them, and Ziirik already knew that he was out of range of both. That was why the pods were supposed to land close to each other.

Ziirik pondered manually detonating the pod so that it would be a signal to his siblings if they were in aural or visual range. Then he remembered stories he had heard in his youth, which in his 107 years was far for an ooman, but not so much for the Yautja. The detonation of the pod would also alert the entities of this planet to his presence. Thinking back, with those warriors much lauded honor, surely they might help him, but then again it had been over 400 years since the previous clan had left.

During this debate, Ziirik paced back and forth, until finally deciding he was going to risk detonating the pod manually with a signal from his mask. Walking some distance away, Ziirik decided he was safe, and sent the signal with a mandible twitch, the pod disintegrating in fire with a blast wave that knocked over a couple nearby saplings while singeing some of the branches of the taller trees.

With this task done, Ziirik activated his cloak and leapt to the branch of a tree a few feet further away from the site, just in case some valuable prey wandered too close.


Eragon rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he flew with his dragon, Saphira, to meet with their teachers, the elf Oromis, and the gold dragon Glaedr. He had no idea why their teachers wanted them to come so quickly, only that the message from Glaedr to Saphira had said that they had to hurry.

It had been a few weeks of travel to reach the elven city if Ellesméra from Farthen Dûr after the battle there, and Murtagh's own capture. From there it was to the Crags of Tel'naeír where their teachers resided.

Upon landing, Eragon hopped off of Saphira, the sapphire colored dragon laying down to wait as he walked into Oromis' hut. The hut itself was simple, grown between the trunks of two trees, as it sat on the edge of the nearby cliff.

Entering the sparsely furnished abode, Eragon quickly bowed while twisting his hand over his sternum, the gesture of respect between the elves as he greeted his master, Oromis. Like all elves Oromis was lithe in physique, with a strength that belied his thin frame, while likely one of the oldest elves alive, the only sign of Oromis' great age was the expression of great compassion and wisdom in his eyes.

"I have come as quickly as I could ebrithil, is something wrong," Eragon asked in the language of the elves, also known as the ancient language and the language of magic.

"Indeed Eragon, something is the matter," Oromis began, his eyes betraying a small hint of worry, "Glaedr and I sensed something strange last night, at first we thought it was nothing, but then the Menoa Tree and the forest itself called out in alarm, something is not right in Du Weldenvarden."

"Do you have any clues as to what is wrong," Eragon asked.

At his teacher's silence, Eragon almost thought that the old elf had no idea, until Glaedr's voice rumbled in his mind.

'While we had dismissed the strange object we sensed the night before as nothing,' Glaedr explained, 'The forest did not, and when the object had crashed in the forest some miles from Ellesméra, there was one word that cried out the most, Yautja.'

'Yautja,' Eragon repeated in his mind, relaying his conversation to Saphira as it took place.

"Master, what does that word mean," he asked.

"In this language, it means Star Hunter, and refers to a race that used to come here every two-hundred years to challenge the greatest warriors Alagaësia had to offer," Oromis explained.

'However,' interjected Glaedr, 'we and many others had thought they disappeared long before the Fall.'

'So if one is here now,' Saphira piped up, 'What does that mean for us, and Alagaësia?'

"It is possible that they do not know the situation here, as there was only one that we had sensed," Oromis stated, "And they might be seeking civilization to challenge what warriors they could find."

'And with Galbatorix in power,' Glaedr said, 'we cannot afford to be distracted with a challenge like this now.'

'Maybe we can convince them to help us,' Saphira suggested.

Oromis nodded his head in thought, "It is possible, but not likely, they had never shown interest in the political dealings of Alagaësia before," he stated.

"But maybe we can convince the one you sensed master," Eragon said hopefully.

A small smile came to Oromis' lips for a moment, "We will not know until we try Eragon, come," he concluded with a motion of his hand as he left the hut. Eragon followed closely behind.

Eragon watched the forest below for any signs of what Oromis had told him about, with both his mind and his eyes, however the trees were not giving up any clues. All he could see was the tide of green trees rolling through as far as he could see.

'This is boring,' Saphira complained, 'I thought Oromis and Glaedr knew where the Yautja was.'

'Be patient,' Eragon chided.

Turning to observe Oromis and Glaedr as they flew beside him and Saphira, Eragon saw the elf sitting calmly and watching the ground from Glaedr's back, not seeming to notice Eragon's and Saphira's impatience.

'Saphira, below you,' Glaedr suddenly called out. Eragon yelped as Saphira rolled to the side suddenly, barely missing a ball of energy the size of his head as it flew past him.

"Eragon, Saphira, land now," Oromis called out. At that, Eragon immediately urged Saphira to land, the blue dragon descending to the trees, Glaedr and Oromis not far behind.

Upon landing, the mysterious attacks stopped, although the two Riders had now lost the advantage of flight.

"Why didn't you tell us they can use magic," Eragon asked Oromis, rather annoyed his teacher had left out that detail.

"I never said they could," Oromis answered, "They are in possession of items that can project energy like a magic user, however they themselves cannot."

Partially mollified with this answer, Eragon asked, "So what now?"

'That blast earlier indicates the Yautja is close,' Glaedr said, the gold dragon's eyes scanning from side to side even as he conversed, 'Search with your minds, you will know the mind of a Yautja when you encounter it.'

'How so, master,' Saphira questioned.

"You will not be able to penetrate the mind of a Yautja if they are focused on a hunt, which is likely what is going on here," Oromis answered, keeping vigilant himself.

Eragon cast his mind out, trying to sift out any possible leads from all of the wildlife around them. All of the minds of the different creatures, from the largest deer to the smallest ant, appeared in Eragon's mind as points of light, each differing in depending on the size of the creature themselves. It was also now that Eragon noticed that all the noises of the forest that should be echoing around them, was completely silent.

'Strange, the forest is so quiet, it is unnatural,' Eragon thought.

At this Saphira snorted in annoyance, 'It could just as easily be Glaedr and myself that has the forest so quiet.'

With a small chuckle, Eragon conceded, 'Indeed, but dragons are usually hunting from the air are they not,' at this Saphira gave another huff, which only increased Eragon's amusement, until she stiffened under him, drawing his attention immediately.

'I sense something,' Saphira thought, 'it is strange, alien even to me, and I am unable to get an impression from it.'

After a quick motion to Oromis to listen, the older Rider and his dragon coming to a halt, Eragon asked Saphira, 'Where?'

'There,' she answered, pointing with her snout towards a tree off to their right, just above her head and nearly even with Glaedr's.

Looking towards it, Eragon's eyes couldn't see anything, and at first he thought about questioning Saphira's judgment, but then he cast his own mind outward. To his surprise there was indeed a mind he could feel there, yet his eyes saw nothing. "Show yourself, we only want to talk," he called out in the ancient language. In the language of the elves, it was nearly impossible to lie, and even if something or someone didn't understand the language itself, the recipient would still be able to understand the intention behind it. He hoped it would work with a Yautja, even though they weren't of Alagaësia.

It was only for a few moments that Eragon hoped it had worked, but then two yellow glowing eyes appeared in the tree, staring balefully at the group. Then a strange object appeared into view, it appeared to have a handle, with a large cylinder attached.

Eragon didn't get a chance to make a full examination, as the object fired what looked like a net with a muffled thoom. The projectile wrapped itself around Saphira's muzzle in a blur, thoroughly entangling itself and startling her into rearing. As Saphira attempted to reach and free her mouth, mentally cursing all the while, the Yautja leapt with glowing eyes, colliding with Eragon and tearing him from the saddle.

As Eragon flew through the air, he couldn't help but be slightly amazed at the strength of the Yautja, until his skull was jarred as the two of them landed and rolled in the grass of the forest floor.

Rolling to his feet, Eragon drew Zar'roc, the red sword he had been given by Brom. As he watched, the Yautja stood and seemed to appear out of thin air, small arcs of energy traveling and revealing the warrior to his sight. The figure was seven feet tall, even, and was wearing a suit that covered his entire body, with metal gauntlets and shin guards, with elbow guards, knee guards, and a mask that covered their face. The entire armor seemed to have a swept look to it, reminiscent of feathers or spikes.

The Yautja had landed some distance away, out of reach of Zar'roc, but that didn't seem to perturb the strange being as far as Eragon could tell. With a swift motion, the Yautja retrieved another strange object from his hip, which looked like a slice from a circle with a handle. In a few seconds, the object expanded into a full circle covered with small tooth-like blades.

With a whip-like motion, the Yautja drew the disc back, and then threw it towards Eragon. Initially Eragon waited for it to bounce off of his wards, but when it didn't he ducked as fast as he could, the disc flew over his head with a rush of air. A sudden muffled yowl behind him made Eragon turn around. It appeared that the disc, while it had missed Eragon, Saphira had been turning around and it cut straight through the membrane of her right wing, a bloody hole marking its passage.

'Eragon, behind you,' Saphira warned him, Eragon quickly turned back around to find the Yautja charging him with twin blades extended from his gauntlets.


Ziirik was utterly focused on the fight this young warrior was giving him. How an ooman had gotten here, Ziir was unsure, but that was irrelevant, the group had wandered too close to the landing site, and the young Yautja couldn't afford them possibly finding a trace of Yautja technology.

It was rather disappointing that he couldn't take the big golden reptile as prey, due to its missing limb and the handicap that came with it. During the fight the beast and its rider had taken to trying to help the blue one. The ooman he was fighting now had tried speaking to him in a strange language, but Ziirik didn't let that distract him from the Hunt.

The ooman's own beast had been distracted easily enough with his net, and the disc had allowed Ziir to close with his wrist blades. Bringing his left blades down, Ziirik was met with the ooman's blade; the red sword glinted in the chips of light cast from the forest canopy. Swinging with his other blades, the ooman dodged backward, disengaging from Ziirik.

The Yautja didn't allow this to pass for long, rushing forward and slashing downward again with his right blades. As he heard the whir of his disc returning, Ziir reached out with his left hand, catching the deadly projectile with ease. Using the momentum, Ziir brought the disc to bear against the ooman, slashing diagonally downward. Again the ooman dodged, but it left him open to Ziirik's wrist blades.

Bringing his arm down, Ziirik slashed at the ooman's leg, the hooked shape of the blades allowing them to grab the ooman and drag him off of his feet. With the lack of armor on the ooman, the Hunter's blades cut into the clothing and flesh, leaving bloody marks.

Even on his back, the ooman continued to fight, not losing his sword in his fall. As Ziirik slashed downwards with both sets of wrist blades, the ooman blocked desperately, even as the Hunter could tell he was tiring.

With an almost contemptuous flick of his wrist, Ziirik hooked the red blade and twisted it from its wielder's grip. Drawing his blades back, Ziirik was ready to end the fight before the ooman cried out in the strange language again and the Yautja was suddenly thrown backward, flying several feet, bouncing off of a tree before landing.

Shaken slightly, Ziirik growled before shaking his head to clear the slight fuzziness, and then withdrew his twin combi-sticks from his back. The two weapons telescoped to their full length in his grasp. As he waited, the ooman regained his feet and retrieved his blade, before turning to face Ziirik again.

With a short roar, Ziirik leapt forward. Swinging the combi-stick in his right hand, the weapon collided with the ooman's with a loud clang. Stabbing forward with the one in his left hand, the ooman sidestepped the weapon only barely.

A loud roar behind him alerted Ziirik to the fact that the ooman's reptile had been freed, the sapphire scaled beast charging forward.

With a short spin, Ziirik stabbed at the reptile with his right combi-stick, while striking at the ooman with the other.

The fight quickly became a whirlwind for the Hunter, continuously spinning, batting the ooman's blade away from him one instant, stabbing at the paws of the reptile the next. Ziirik's combi-sticks became singular metallic cyclones, inflicting small scratches on the paws and sometimes the muzzle of the reptile, while inflicting slightly worse wounds on the arms and legs of the ooman.

After nearly two minutes of this continuous cycle, Ziirik decided to end one of these opponents before he tired himself out. With a nearly blurred motion, Ziirik buried the first two feet of one of his combi-sticks in the right paw of the reptile, earning a pained cry from the creature, then brought his other combi-stick down on the blade of the ooman.


Eragon couldn't believe it, the Yautja had been fighting himself and Saphira from two sides one instant, the next he had stabbed her and brought his strange spear down on Zar'roc, Eragon having to take a two-handed grip on the weapon to avoid getting clouted on the skull.

The sheer strength of the blow had also driven Eragon to one knee, thankfully Zar'roc had withstood the blow. Suddenly pain bloomed in his back, emanating from his scar, 'Oh no, not now,' was all he was able to think before descending into another pain attack.


Ziirik was supremely confused as the ooman suddenly cried out and started writhing on the ground in what was supposedly pain. As far as the Hunter knew, he had not inflicted wounds that brought on this kind of suffering. Retracting his combi-stick, Ziirik cocked his head to the side, then crouched down, taking hold of the ooman and attempting to turn him over, as the ooman seemed to be trying to claw at his own back.

As he did so, Ziirik heard another growl behind him, then what was presumably the other being riding the gold reptile speaking as if chastising. Finally managing to roll the ooman over¸ Ziirik switched the vision modes on his mask, until finally finding a diagnostic mode, usually used to find possible abnormalities of prey. What he found was strange; it seemed that an old piece of scar tissue was causing the entire nervous system to spasm with pain signals, causing the seizure he was witnessing.

It was then Ziirik heard someone clear their throat, then speak, "Greetings Hunter, it has been a long time since your kind has been here," whoever the speaker was, their Yautja was heavily accented, almost like they were trying to make their words flow to a rhythm it was not designed to follow.

Turning around, Ziirik addressed the speaker, "Where are you."

"It is I," the speaker was the rider of the golden reptile, who had dismounted and seemed to have pulled his combi-stick from the blue. They were lithe in build, taller than the ooman but not by much, with ears that tapered to a point that Ziirik could see, and a fair complexion.

Ziirik was slightly taken aback that one of the natives of this planet knew the Yautja tongue, if rather accented. "What is wrong with the ooman," he asked.

"It is an affliction caused by another, right now I would prefer to converse with you before this gets further out of hand," the strange being asked.

"Return my weapon to me, then we will talk," Ziirik demanded.

With a small nod from the stranger, the two walked forward, meeting between the two reptiles and the ooman still writhing on the ground. Without a word, the stranger handed Ziirik his combi-stick, which telescoped back into place before being put into place on the Yautja's back.

Ziirik would admit that his curiosity was raised at this development, while he had heard the stories just like his siblings of the honor of the warriors that rode these beasts; he had never known some of them knew the Yautja language. In addition, he had been told there were more of them, yet all he had seen this day was two.

"So, young one," began the stranger with a small bow of his head, "Why is it you and your fellows come back to our home now, when we have been afflicted with betrayal by our own and now war looms on the horizon?"

"I know not of what you speak, stranger," Ziirik answered, "I have come to determine this place's worthiness as a hunting ground for my clan with my siblings."

This seemed to surprise the stranger, "You mean to say the Yautja we have had contact with in the past is from another clan," he said. Ziirik nodded his head in answer.

Taking a closer look at the stranger, Ziirik noticed that unlike the ooman, the other had brought no weapons in addition to not bringing armor of any discernable kind. It was then he took a look at the stranger's mount, and saw a sword hanging from what seemed to be a strange looking saddle. They had indeed come prepared, but instead chose to confront him without a weapon, Ziirik was slightly amazed at this leap of faith, if he had been a dishonorable Ic'jit, Bad Blood, he would have likely killed the being before him without so much as a twitch of his mandible.

It was then Ziirik noticed the stranger trying to get his attention, "Perhaps we can help you, come back with us and we can help you find your siblings," the strange warrior suggested.

While Ziirik initially doubted this claim, he remembered the warrior before him had chosen to take a leap of faith in not bringing a weapon or armor to confront him, and the stories of these warriors having great honor. He decided to make a similar gesture of faith.

"I accept," he replied simply.

"Excellent," the warrior replied, moving to recover his companion, the ooman having passed out from the pain it seemed. Ziirik moved to the side so as to not hinder this possible ally.

Once he had gained and placed the ooman on the back of the blue reptile, strapping the young man into whatever straps had not been torn in Ziirik's attack, the stranger leapt onto his own mount, using the beast's remaining foreleg as means to do so.

"If you wish, Glaedr will allow you to ride him back to our home," the warrior asked Ziirik. Debating this for a moment, Ziirik decided this was his own leap of faith in a way, he accepted with a nod.

He hoped that this wasn't going to be a mistake.

A/N: Alright, if you have read this far, I hope you enjoyed this particular installment! Also, if you have been keeping track of which Yautja the story is following, then you will know that the eldest, Akkarn, is next in line. And on that note, see you all next time!

And also, a late Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers, and Happy Black Friday if you like!