Dark shapes leaping from the heights

A flicker of movement catches your attention, and you see a shadow clearly outlined against the white of the Citadel before it disappears into the darkening skies. At first you wonder if it could have been a cloak or even robes thrown from the walls high above the city, but as you watch you see two more black shapes leap from the tower above the city and catch the updraft of warm air rising from the city below. The shapes are much too small to be drakes, and yet far larger than any bird you've ever seen. Swiftwing pulls against the harness as you guide him back towards the Citadel but he trusts you enough to keep flying even as the last rays of the setting sun are blocked by the Western mountains.

This time you get a better look at the figures jumping from the Citadel walls. Man-shaped torsos but with batwings and claws for legs, whatever these beings are, they do not belong in the skies above Athenapolis. You turn Swift once again, this time back to the United Armies camp outside the Northern walls when out of the darkness you are struck by a blow to the back of your shoulders. You are able to pull away just in time to keep the row of pointed teeth from ripping into the side of your neck, instead you can feel the powerful jaws chewing on the thick leather of your shoulder pads.

"What the FUCK!" This is not like any combat you've ever trained for but thankfully instead of trying again for your throat the bat-man behind you continues to tear away at what is thankfully the thickest part of your flying leathers. The long-bladed knife at your belt is used primarily to cut away nets and ropes used by Riders hoping to capture your drake alive, but it is sharp and small enough that you can use it to jab at the large black eyes of the creature on your back. First one eye and then the next is punctured before with a screech of anger your attacker finally is pulled from your back.

Just in time too, because two more of the nightmares are diving at you from high on your right. This time neither of the beasts reaches you, but one of them crashes into Swiftwing's right wing and tears a gash in the thin membrane before it is cast off. Deciding to trade altitude for velocity you dive lower into the old city towards the United Armies camp when you see a flight of a dozen or so of the creatures angling in roughly the same direction from your left. Ahead of you is the river Elaina and just on the other side is the Kalion camp. The white-haired king of the Northerners is said to be a Rider himself, and his drakes are almost as numerous as the now depleted wings of the United Armies.