The land of Atkasia now consists of the nation of Kunhaeris to the west, which is surrounded by woods and canyons and with one narrow passageway towards Atkasia's interior, the nation of Avrimoire to the east, which is set in a grassy plain with mountains to either side. A newer, less powerful nation called Parskos is located in the southwestern region; it has managed to reamin neutral in its neighbors' disputes. The Alhanric church lies to the south, and the Elves, who have been somewhat reclusive since the Wars of the Tamed, live to the north.
For the last few months, Avrimoire and Kunhaeris have been in a minor dispute over possesion of territory; Syld, a small yet important manufacturing city northeast of Parskos, which was previously independent and traded feely with anyone with exports to their liking, recently signed a treaty with Kunhaeris, mostly out of fear, restricting trade with Avrimoire. The king of Kunhaeris, Blazus XIII, exaggerating the agreement established by the treaty, sent troops to forcefully occupy Syld. In retaliation to this, Kiltanri VI, king of Avrimoire, sent a squadron of his knights, the Corsavrin, to liberate Syld, for many trade guilds in Avrimoire depended on this city.
The first group of knights were wiped out, overwhelmed by numerous Kunhaeran footsoldiers. Upon receiving word of this, king Kiltanri was furious, but in his anger he did not act in haste. Instead he marched an army toward Syld and had them deployed at a distance. The Kunhaerans were unaware of this, and after sending several scouts, the Corsavrin knights and rest of Kiltanri's army moved inward into seige position. The battle began there; the Corsavrin slew nearly all of the Kunhaeran footsoldiers that attempted to leave Syld's protective wall and attack head on. Archers from the city bombarded the army of Avrimoire with arrows. Both armies were weakened, but the seige continued. After several days of continuous seige, a weakness was found in Syld's wall of defense. Though the Corsavrin could not completely level the wall, many knights were able to find their way over it. These knights opened the wall's gates and the beseiging army pillaged their way through.
Suddenly, from the sky above came a monstrous clap of thunder. Then a swarm of flying beasts dived at the entering army; many are known to have died, yet one soldier managed to flee the scene after being chased by a hippogriff and fighting for his life. He killed the hippogriff (which could not have been full grown, he later said) with his bill and headed to Avrimoire to report. He managed to reach the king, and he told him all that had happened during the battle to this point. The king summarized that the flying creatures must be Tamed, and therefore there must have been Tamers present. The fact that his plan of ambush may not have been successful disturbed him; he had to know what had become of his army.
He decided to send a search party...