The five drake riders climbed the skies through the night. Each time they passed through the damp clouds, the riders shook off a film of moisture from their cloaks and gloves. Rolling thunder permeated across the horizon as flashes of lightning lit up the heavens.

Elucard took in a series of deep breaths; the jump laid heavily on his mind. He always fancied himself quite the daredevil, but up to now, wingsuit flying through the air was the most daring spectacle he had performed. Now he would be dropping from the air and deploying his wingsuit moments before he splattered on the ground. Mave’s antics and hobbies were becoming increasingly more and more dangerous to the elf.

The drakes hovered just above the clouds and twenty-seven thousand feet above the city—least to say they were very high up. Mave stuffed her midnight blue cavalier hat in her shoulder bag and rose onto her saddle with the agility and reflexes of a cat. She motioned for Elucard to follow suit.

“No turning back now, Elucard. It’s useless to ask if you are prepared to jump, but I’ll ask anyway,” said Mave. She assisted Elucard to steady himself on Maisy’s back.

Elucard nodded and rotated his arms and pounded his fist into his palm to psych himself up.

“Ready!" Elucard snarled.

“Alright, then,” said Mave. She pulled out her reflective banner. It glinted faintly enough for Corso, Quinn, and Bruce to see it with each flash of lightning. Mave waved the banner in the air and, one by one, each harekin leaped from their respective drakes and into the void of the night.

Mave stowed away her signal banner and kicked Elucard off the dragon before jumping herself.

Elucard twisted and twirled, recovering his control in mid-air. He tucked his arms into his body and tightened his form until he propelled through the sky like a ballista missile.

The assassin’s cloak flapped and flailed through the wind as Elucard continued to fall. His speed climbed and climbed, closer to his death. He punched through black rain clouds as lightning and thunder stirred all around him. He could smell the burning air with each lightning flash.

The distinct odor of Elisa’s chemicals brewing together brought him back, distracting him for a moment.

A crack of lightning and rumbling thunder raised his hair in fear for his life. If the fall wasn’t enough to worry about, being flash fried mid flight through this storm cloud was. All he could do was narrow his eyes and pray to Alanna that his time walking beside her was not tonight.

Within the haze of clouds, Elucard found himself blinded, but as he breached the other end of the miasma he entered a downfall of pouring rain. His clothes were soaked through and the icy wind pierced his chest and froze his fingers until they were tingling with numbness. Faster he fell as the ground closed in.

10,000 feet…

9000 feet…

8000 feet…

His impact drove death closer and closer to him, but he couldn’t open his wings yet—not just yet. He needed to wait.

7000 feet…

6000 feet…

5000 feet…

His heart pounded so hard that he felt like it would loosen and jump out of his throat.

4000 feet…

3000 feet…

2000 feet…

He looked on either side of him to grasp his bearings, pleased to see the harekins had made it through the storm in one piece.

Elucard watched intently as he fell closer and closer towards the roofs and streets of Ghostoc Port. Mave drove past him, as well as Quinn, the other more experienced suicide divers. Elucard paid close attention to their shadowy forms.

As they broke past the level of buildings, Mave and Quinn opened their arms and caught a gust of wind to safely land on the cobblestones below. Elucard gulped down his fear and, like his companions, spread open his arms and deployed his wingsuit. The webbed wings captured a gale of rushing air and lifted Elucard slightly up as he glided onto the streets below. He rolled forward, slid out his ninjato, and then dashed into an alleyway to join the rest of the devil jumper rabbits.

Mave hugged a grimy wall and snuck a glance at the battlements above the gate. Three white robed mages patrolled the walkway. Periodically one would drink from his wineskin, while the other two conversed and chuckled. They were distracted; now was the perfect time to strike!

Elucard crouched low and gestured for the harekins to follow. He would normally speak in silent whispers to his Watchers or Black Rabbits, as it was the language of the clandestine, but the harekins were not raised or trained by an assassin clan. Hand signals and steady movements would have to do.

Elucard stalked quietly to a group of fish barrels, making sure to hide away from the dim circle of light from a nearby street lantern. Two guards chatted and laughed just on the other side of the barrels. Despite the ever-looming presence of the war and siege, they were not dressed in heavy armor, but a light leather chestpiece and vambraces. Short swords hung at their sides and they leaned on their spears. One took a bite out of a juicy apple and wiped his lips as he continued an old wives tale.

Elucard clenched his sword and motioned for the harekins to stay low to the ground. He listened to the story through the pattering sounds of the rain pounding on the road. In close intervals, boomed thunder too loud for the guards to hear each other. The pattering of raindrops and the crashing thunder gave Elucard the perfect noise silencer for one opportunity to make his move.

With the next rumbling of thunder ringing through the city, Elucard leaped over the barrels and with the swift movements of an assassin trained since childhood, impaled the first guard and decapitated the second. The harekins quickly followed Elucard’s cue to drag the bodies into the next alley over, hiding them within a heap of rubbish and rotten vegetables. The rain washed away the rest of the evidence of Elucard’s deeds.

Now within reach of the gate winch, only a handful of soldiers stood in between the devil jumpers and their goal.

“If we attack the guards, the mages will be alerted. If we attack the mages, the guards will notice,” whispered Mave to Elucard.

Elucard gestured for Corso to move up to him. “Corso, you are the marksman of our squad, how many mages can you take down if we distracted those Estinian soldiers?”

Corso patted his custom crossbow, designed for faster reloading without sacrificing the power and lethality of a compound bow. The rabbit grunted as he pulled back the string to its proper tension.

“I can take out up to five targets with relative precision within a minute, given the cover, of course,” No-Hops whispered back.

Elucard nodded in understanding. “Two to spare, I like those odds.”

Corso shouldered his crossbow and scampered up the rain gutter of the closest building. Elucard waited for the archer to find the perfect position where he had a clear view of the three mages, but still hidden enough to not be seen. Corso signaled to the elf when he was ready.

Elucard glanced at Mave and she nodded back. Together the remaining four darted towards the guards, blades out and ruthlessly engaged.

Elucard slid across the slick, wet ground aiming low and lopping off his opponent’s leg. The guard screamed and tumbled over the elf as Elucard raised his shoulder to throw him. Elucard quickly made his way to the winch.

Putting his sword away, he grasped two of the crank handles. Elucard caught a glimpse of the battlements and let out a sigh of relief to see Corso was true to his word. The mages dropped like flies, crying as they stumbled over the walls with well placed bolts to their chests. Elucard looked behind him to find Mave and the rest kept the other guards away from the winch.

Elucard groaned under the strain of the stiff wheel. He dug his feet into the ground and struggled to push down the cranking handles. Little by little the winch whined and rotated, as the chain slowly pulled the giant, iron clad gate up.

“I need help!” Elucard shouted over the loud rain. His clothes were heavy and soaked through. “Bruce Brawnwood, lend me your strength!”

The bulky rabbit smashed two of the guards’ skulls together and dusted off his hands. He shrugged his shoulders and popped his neck. “One side, elf!”

Elucard moved away, rubbing his blistered palms. Bruce grabbed two of the cranking handles and grunted. The winch squealed as the chains pulled up the gates faster than Elucard’s efforts. Outside the walls echoed the war cries of the Cypress Alliance, but another sound cried through the night as well. A fearsome roar followed by the frightful drums of the New Estinian dragon flight.

“We have to help them!” Mave commanded over the pouring rain.

Elucard frantically watched as the dragon flight passed over their heads and collided with the bulk of the Cypress SMO. The elf glanced at Bruce and then to the slow raising gate.

“Finish off those guards and help Bruce!” Elucard cried. “Our mission is a bust if we leave without raising those gates!”

With the last guard slain, Mave, Quinn, and Elucard took hold of a cranking handle and together with Bruce’s might, they finished raising the gate.

Corso sprinted to meet up with the rest and each harekin pulled out their sky-serpent flutes and blew into them with all of their might.

Screeching through the city swooped in the four drakes, Maisy, Basil, Argyle, and Nigel. Each landed onto the walls patiently waiting for their riders to mount them.

Mave yanked on her dragon’s reins just as Elucard grasped his saddle strap. Maisy beat her wings, taking off from the wall and immediately a black and red scaled drake slammed her into the ground. The sudden impact drove Maisy across the mud, bowling over a crowd of soldiers.

Mave anxiously kicked her spurs several times as Maisy dazedly recovered.

“Come on, Maisy, get up!” pleaded Mave. Her pleas were met with relief as Maisy pushed off the ground.

The red and black drake hovered just above the rabbit and elf. Mave looked up and snarled. She was about to face Baron Wallenstein once again!