To your drake

You are a Rider, and what is a Rider without his drake? Even though you don't understand what the king intends, it is clear that his people at least have absolute faith in him and if there is some way that this man with his huge white drake can light the night skies you intend to be ready.

The moment comes even before you get to where Swift is tethered. With the suddenness of a dawn on a clear mountain top, in a matter of seconds the darkness of the night is brushed away and you can see clearly in an unnatural bluish light. Looking back over your shoulder you see a ball of glowing blue-white light rising into the sky. It is almost like looking into the sun and because of its intensity you cannot determine the source, but you have no doubt that this is what the Rider-King meant when he called himself the light-bringer. In a scene almost the reverse of what you saw from the Citadel where black winged shapes launched downward into the darkness of the night, from the drake towers of Kalion wing after wing of Riders are ascending into the cone of light cast down by the rapidly rising great white drake and its Rider.

Swiftwing screams in frustration as he sees so many drakes rising into the air, and you cut his lead with your belt-knife unwilling to take the time to untie it from the post. Under normal circumstances you would wait for a chance to climb one of the half-dozen drake-towers overlooking the river, but you can see lines of drakes at each of these towers and refuse to wait in turn when each passing minute might make the difference.

The evening breeze rising from the river below feels just strong enough and you guide Swiftwing to the sloping meadow overlooking the rippling waters below. As if he can read your mind Swiftwing lifts on to haunches and beats at the air with his wings. You would never attempt this if you had Relia with you or even if Swiftwing wasn't at his peak but rocking forward you urge the beast on and after three awkward steps and a short hop you feel the drake gather himself to leap into the uprising breeze. Three mighty beats of his wings later and you have never been prouder of your mount. As you slowly climb upwards towards the city now gleaming in this holy light, a dozen or so other impatient Riders attempt to duplicate Swift's triumph and roughly half succeed to get airborn, the others either pulling up or crashing into the muddy river below.

Allowing Swiftwing to follow his instincts and climb into the sky you pull out your bow and as you've done a hundred times before knocked one arrow on the taught string, put the second between your teeth and tucked three more between your thigh and the saddle. If you need to fire more than five arrows without a break than you have a bigger problem on your hands than you want to think about. Above Athenapolis in this new light you can see clouds of black-winged beasts swirling upwards like moths trying to to reach a lantern, there are so many of them that you're not sure how the drakes swarming from the Kalion towers can ever match them. And that is not all, for among the swarm of bat-creatures you see three other figures riding on the backs of winged monsters that look a little like drakes, but larger and with four legs instead of two. As you watch from below, you see a burst of fire erupt upwards from the mouth of one of these horrific beasts. King Kalion is well above the cone of fire, but a half-dozen or so of the smaller minions burst into flames and spiral down screeching in agony as they plummet to their firery deaths.

Luckily, it looks like the Riders of Kalion will have help. The response from the United Armies camp is nowhere near as fast or well organized as the Riders of Kalion had been, but you see drakes starting to rise from the various towers of the other city-state armies too. To be fair, how could any of them anticipated that the blackness of night would be turned away by this divine light? Most of the Kalion wings are still striving to gain altitude, but you see some of the highest groupings already turning towards the swirling shapes pursuing their king. As much as you want to join them, you are more worried by what you can now see in the great city below you.

There is as much chaos on the streets as in the air above. Dog-faced monsters striding about on their hind legs are chasing men, women and children down the streets, while giant lizard-like climbers swarm up the walls. The beasts smash at windows high above the streets crawling into the rooms through the small openings. Worst of all might be the serpentine beasts slithering from the riverbanks and up the grassy lawns of the as of yet unplundered estates of the richest parts of the city. You realize with a start that these houses are just a javelin's flight from where you've left Lady Relia and your new household.