A/N: Hello Readers, bet you missed me. I am back, took a small break for the other parts of my life, and I seemed to write myself into a corner story-wise, how I did that I don't know. Anyway, here is a new story, since my others are suffering from writer's block at the moment, sort of breaking new ground, I guess.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Inheritance Cycle, which belongs to Mr. Christopher Paolini, really enjoyed reading the books. Nor do I own Predators, which belongs to whoever created the Predator.

So, please read, review, and enjoy this bit of background to set us up.

Hunting a Rider

By: Immortal Drake

Alagaësia, a land that once knew peace and harmony, plunged into war under a tyrant king who betrayed his own order. Under the iron fist of that same leader, King Galbatorix, the noble Riders were hunted into alleged extinction, the same Riders who protected the land for centuries beforehand, betrayed by the tyrant and his corrupted followers. For a hundred years Galbatorix ruled Alagaësia, not bothering to remove himself from his capital city of Urû'Baen even when the nation of Surda declared its independence.

Some time after Galbatorix' rise to the throne, a resistance movement, started by the former Rider Brom, called the Varden separated from the Empire and rebelled against the King. After retreating into the Beor Mountains with the dwarves, the Varden were losing hope. It wasn't until one of the three remaining dragon eggs in the King's possession was stolen and then recovered by Brom that hope was kindled again.

When this sapphire colored egg did not hatch for any of those in the Varden or their allies, the Elves, an arrangement was made to ferry the egg back and forth. The ones to do this were the Princess of the Elves, Arya, and her companions Glenwing and Faolin.

During one of these trips, the shade Durza attacked and nearly took the egg, Arya's quick thinking saved it and sent it into the Spine, a range of mountains near the town of Carvahall. It was there that the egg was found by Eragon, after which the egg hatched for him.

Naming the dragon Saphira, Eragon raised her as she grew, keeping her a secret from the people of his village and the King. After the murder of Eragon's uncle, Garrow, at the hands of the Ra'zac, Eragon planned to leave for revenge. It was then he met Brom, who was masquerading as the village storyteller.

Under Brom's guidance, Eragon learned the ways of the Riders of old, including magic.

During their travels together, they saw many examples of the King's tyranny, including an entire village slaughtered by monstrous creatures known as Urgals.

One night, after nearly being captured in the city of Dras-Leona, the Ra'zac caught up to them, and after brief skirmish involving the young man Murtagh, Brom was killed by the Ra'zac.

After Brom's death, Eragon and Murtagh went farther north, following Eragon's dreams of a captured woman.

After Eragon's own capture, Murtagh worked to break him out of prison in Gil'ead, the same city Eragon's dreams told him to find the woman in his dreams.

After recovering the woman, who was in fact Arya, the group was confronted by Durza. After a desperate fight, they were able to flee on Saphira.

It was then Eragon and Murtagh fled with all possible speed to the Varden in the Beor Mountains to get treatment for a poisoned Arya. Many troubles befell them on the way, ranging from bandits to a horde of Urgals chasing them to the doorstep of the Varden.

After being accepted by the Varden, Eragon, Murtagh, and Saphira had to help the rebels prepare for their fight against the Urgals that had followed them, led by Durza himself.

Fighting Durza in one-on-one combat, Eragon managed to defeat the Shade by stabbing him through the heart, ending his threat forever. Unfortunately, Eragon suffered a severe injury in the process, leaving him scarred.

One of the things destroyed in the Fall of the Riders was a legend brought from the Elves' homeland across the sea. A story of warriors from the stars that came to challenge the greatest fighters among them, warriors that arrived every two hundred years. When the Riders were formed, the warriors would challenge them as well, along with other races of Alagaësia. Several hundred years before the Fall, these warriors disappeared, no longer coming at the expected times. Over time, this knowledge was forgotten; even the Elves stopped believing in them by the time of Eragon's birth.

After all; such things could only be superstition.

Akkarn walked through the dim corridor of the ship. He was a Yautja, better known to Humans as Predators. He stood at 7' 4" with cream colored skin with a slight orange tinge. He wore a diamond-patterned body suit with a color similar to his skin, with metal gauntlets, shin guards wrapped with fur pelts of a previous hunt, and pauldrons of a gunmetal grey color. His eyes were an orange amber color, with a piercing, knowing glint that spoke of experience. Upon his forehead was burned the symbol of his clan, a stylized circle of blades, the mark of a Blooded Hunter. A medium length head of dreadlocks swayed even with his collarbone.

He was searching for his brother, Ziirik, and sister, Szehra; they had a task to complete for the Elder.

Akkarn walked into the training room, and found his siblings sparring, as per the usual. Their masks were set to the side.

Szehra was a towering 7' 10" Yautja with black eyes, and dreadlocks that nearly reached to the small of her back. A discolored scar ran over her left eye from her brow, her eye was unharmed. Dark blue stripes could be seen running across the back of her neck like a tiger's. She complimented the usual body suit with two gauntlets, shin guards, a single metal pauldron on her right shoulder, the front of a Serpent skull served as the left pauldron, jaw, fangs, and all, as well as a light breastplate and greaves. A scale-patterned armored skirt was attached to her belt, slit up the sides and tapering to a V-like point. She was the middle sibling of the three.

Ziirik, Ziir for short, only stood at 7' 0" with neon yellow eyes and a short head of dreadlocks that barely reached to his collarbone. He wore a smaller pair of gauntlets, no pauldrons, with knee guards and elbow guards in addition to the body suit. All armor pieces had a swept look to them, as if they were flowing as the young Hunter moved. He was the youngest of the three.

Akkarn waited for the two to finish their bout, arms crossed over his chest. Szehra was using her signature weapon, a glaive that was nearly long as she was tall, with a short barbed blade on each end. Ziir was using his two wrist blades; which were short and hooked slightly.

Szehra blocked an overhead strike from Ziir, sparks flying from the weapons as they clashed with great force. The shorter Yautja leapt backward before lunging again at his taller sibling. Szehra blocked the strike easily with the haft of her weapon. The middle sibling shoved the younger back, sending Ziir off of his feet. Ziir rolled and came up again, reaching his sister with greater speed than his size seemed to allow. Szehra parried with the blade of her glaive.

With Ziir off-balance, Szehra quickly swept his legs out from under him, sending him to the floor with a small thud. Before Ziir knew it, the blade of his sister's weapon was at his throat, marking the end of the bout.

Helping her younger sibling up, Szehra greeted Akkarn with a small nod as she picked up her mask. It was a similar grey to the rest of the metal pieces of her armor, which was the same as Akkarn's, and marked with small decorations such as a couple fangs from a Serpent. A scar on the mask reflected the one on her face. Ziir's mask reflected the nature of his style, a swept style that had a slightly spiky look. After his siblings placed their masks on their faces, he gave them the news.

"Brother, Sister, the Elder has a task for us," he said, "You remember our allies lost access to their hunting grounds many years ago?" His siblings nodded.

"They have allowed our clan to conduct Hunts there, and we have been chosen to scout it out," Akkarn said, "We are to prepare for departure immediately, a ship will pick us up from the planet when we send the signal."

A couple hours later, Akkarn and his siblings met in the docking bay of the clan's mothership. All three of the Hunters were equipped with their full arsenals. Akkarn had his twin pairs of wrist blades, a combi-stick, a plasma caster on his left shoulder, and a pair of swords on his hips. A fur half-cape was around his neck, part of the inheritance from the siblings' father, as were the swords.

Szehra had her glaive across her back, the weapon folded for ease of storage, a plasma caster on her right shoulder, the blades in her gauntlets, as well as a trio of throwing knives on her hip, a gift from their mother for completing their Blooding.

Ziirik, ever the tracker of the group, was equipped with a net gun on his hip, a pair of smart discs on the other; both of his shoulders possessed a plasma caster, and a pair of combi-sticks was on his back.

"You do not waste time, good," a deep voice rumbled, and the siblings turned to see the Elder of their clan standing nearby. All three Hunters turned and pressed their right arms to their chests and giving a slight bow.

"Thank you Honored One," Szehra answered as the salute was finished, the Elder acknowledging with a nod.

Appraising Akkarn's swords and cloak, the Elder addressed the Hunter, "I see you carry your inheritance, your Father was one of the greatest Elites our clan has ever had, a shame he fell so far." Akkarn's mood dropped, and he could sense those of his siblings doing the same. They had lost their father nearly ten years ago, when he had mistakenly killed a pregnant ooman woman while hunting for errant Serpents. In his shame he activated the self-destruct on his gauntlet, eliminating the Serpents and himself in one fell swoop.

"Your actions here could give our clan valuable hunting grounds," the Elder announced, "If you fail, do not expect to be welcome back here," he finished with the threat evident in his voice. They just might erase the stain of their father's dishonor with success, failure, would result in banishment to the planet.

"We will not fail you Elder," Szehra said flatly, determination laced her voice.

With a nod from the Elder, the three siblings boarded the smaller craft that held the pods they would then take down to the surface of the planet. With the hum of engines, the craft lifted from the bay and shot into the darkness of space.

Galbatorix was not happy, not in the least. Not only had his most recent right-hand man, the Shade Durza, failed to destroy the Varden with an army of Urgals, but the Shade had been dispersed himself. The only silver lining to the situation was Durza himself didn't have to suffer the King's wrath, which the tyrant chose to take out on several of his staff instead.

Brooding in his dark thoughts, Galbatorix was suddenly disturbed by a rumble from Shruikan, the dragon he had stolen. 'What is it,' he demanded in his thoughts.

'Something is disturbing to the senses,' came the massive black dragon's reply, the King's view suddenly shifted, to many miles above the Empire. There were three objects falling in close proximity to each other. They could no doubt be what caused Shruikan's unease. In his mind's eye, Galbatorix quickly determined they would land in the heart of the Empire. As they fell ever closer, faster than a falcon in a stoop, the King came to a realization; there were some sort of beings in those objects, their life energy shining brightly from inside. They could only mean one thing, the warriors from the stars the old books at Ilirea. He could not have to deal with those things while dealing with the upstart Rider at the same time. Galbatorix quickly took hold of the magic reserves he had built up over the years, drawing from stolen Eldunarí.

'We shall see how well they fare now,' Galbatorix thought as he released the magic. The three objects were suddenly wrenched from their paths and flung in three different directions. One was now headed out towards the Hadarac Desert, towards the Beor Mountains. Another was flung to the North, into Du Weldenvarden¸ the forest of the Elves. Finally, the last would be landing in the Spine, actually very near the small town of Carvahall. All the better really, his troops could reach into the mountain range easily so close to a village. No doubt they could find some "willing volunteers" to guide them into the mountains there.

Chuckling to himself, Galbatorix said, "Let the Hunt, begin."

A/N: So, that was interesting to write. Originally, it was going to be three male Yautja, but I thought I'd try a female, since in canon they are supposed to be bigger and stronger apparently.

Pronunciation Guide-

Akkarn: A-CARN (Pretty much like saying "A Car" with the "N" sound at the end)

Szehra: S-Z-AIR-AH (Pronounced similarly to "Sarah" they are supposed to rhyme, slight "Z" in combination with "S" with slight roll of the "R")

Ziirik: Z-EER-ICK (It pretty much looks how it sounds)

Ooman: sounds like it looks (Yautja slang for Human)

Well, I'll see you next time in Chapter 1 of Hunting a Rider.