"Spell Caster!!"

The Overlord grabbed Constantine and pulled him behind the safety of the parapet wall.

"I did not bring you back here to die in the first hour of your arrival!" yelled the Overlord. "And you dare call me crazy, you crazy human."

"Let me go! He challenged me! ME, the greatest Hero in the lands," said the affronted Red Warlock. "I have not finished with that weasel. I will show him, yes?"

Jarrakg spoke up, "With all due respect Ghost Lord, please 'show him' without getting yourself killed. We need you and your powerful magics to help fight the demon spawn."

Constantine calmed down just as fast as he had been riled up by his rival. "True, you do need me. Those demon dogs are something else, yes? They are very big and scary, yes?"

"What do we do, Ghost Lord?"

"How is he there? Wasn't Mallarg captured and held in your dungeon for questioning or something?"

"For high treason, my Lord."

"Then why is he out there with those things?!"

"He, ummm, he escaped, My Lord," Jarrakg mumbled in embarrassment.

"What?!! How did he manage this impossible task? I though he was enemy number one. You had maximum security on him, did you not?"

"Of course we did!"

"That is the mystery, Ghost Lord. He was secured with runic chains nailed to the walls and starved to weaken him even further. His cell was also spellcasted with magical symbols that cancelled his necromancy abilities rendering him powerless, yet ..."

The Gate keeper frowned. Something was off. "Tell me what happened."

"The warriors on duty reported some kind of strong magical disturbance in the cell. All the warriors' hairs stood on end. The Necromancer's image became blurry. He screamed and disappeared."

Constantine frowned trying to digest the information. There was a 'sudden magical force' and Mallarg disappeared? The only way to disappear here was to die, port or in the case of ghost lords, logout. An NPC could die and port but not logout. Mallarg did not die, he was very much alive out there. Did he port? In his powerless state? No, he must have had help, yes? But who? Who was powerful enough to break through all the spells, orc chains and port a huge angry sullen non-cooperating orc?

"Nothing else was out of place, no?"

"No. Only him. The cell he was held in was untouched. The holy Seer had to undo all her spells before we could get in to check the empty prison."

The Red Warlock's furrowed brow cleared as he figured out the mystery. Simtrixx! That was the only explanation. They had created a technical glitch to port Mallarg out of his prison. Simtrixx was cheating! But why? Never mind, the Necromancer was out and he had to deal with him quickly before Simtrixx could pull another stunt like this! Why, he could get killed here and this war could spoil his other mission! He was going to file an official complaint to the website and company!

"It was a glitch. I'm sure of it," said Constantine through gritted teeth.

"What, Ghost Lord? What glitch. I do not understand," said Jarrakg in confusion. It seemed that the Ghost Lord knew something about Mallarg's escape. He had referred to the unfamiliar term with confidence.

"It is not any of your warrior's faults the Necromancer escaped. He had help from ... umm, someone from my world."

"Gakkk!!" the Captain swallowed nervously. The Necromancer was powerful indeed to have such connections!

The Overlord growled. The Heavens were involved which meant the Prophecy was playing out now, during his time where the fabled Ghost Lords were supposed to destroy the land and all that they know. Something was not right, the 'destroyers' were helping him. He would think upon it later, if he lived. Now he had a war to fight. He waved Jarrakg to continue his update on the lava hounds.

"All we have done so far is delay them, Ghost Lord. They have already breached our walls several times but luckily we managed to push them back," said the Warlord's Second-in-Command.

"Red One, the warriorsss grow weary. They cannot go on like thisss forever. Meanwhile the lava houndsss are tirelesss. The demonsss draw their power from elssewhere."

"Let me think," said Constantine.

He was the greatest warlock in Orc Wars, yes? He was used to dealing with supernatural creatures, yes? And these creatures were demon spawned. They were big, ferocious and full of sharp teeth. The hounds were powerfully built; muscles bunched and bulged on their shoulders and thighs when they moved. Streaks of impossible molten lava flesh showed between designed cracks on their smouldering hides giving them a horrifying presence. They had bright wildly flickering orange flames for eyes and wide gaping jaws with elongated canine teeth. Wisps of greyish smoke trailed after them, emitted from flaring nostrils and boiling insides. Everything they touched burned. They left sooty scorch marks on the ground with their clawed paws and withered vegetation in their wake.

The lava hounds were fire and they were fuelled by Energies from their demon realm.

"First of all, we have to fight the creatures of fire with water and ice," he stated. Thalasis nodded at the obvious. Why didn't she think of that? "And we have to use melee weapons. They are too many for us to kill one by one. I wish Laz and Val were here."

"That is what we have been doing," the Overlord said gruffly indicating the boiling cauldrons. Each huge pot killed tens at a time as it was poured over the walls. "We are killing as many as we can, as fast as we can, in any way we can but they keep coming."

"We had no choice but to summon you. Only a Ghost Lord will know how to deal with this sorcery," Jarrakg continued. "We had hoped there were more of you."

Constantine shrugged off Lazarus and Valentine's absence. They had their own problems. "You have breaks, yes? Mallarg needs rest to replenish his magical Energies, I know I would."

"Of course he doesss. Each attack lastsss about two hours. Then they leave until the next attack."

Constantine looked at the chaos around him. "How long until this one ends?"

"Another ten minutes or so, Spell Caster."

"Enough talk. Come up with a plan then!" commanded the Overlord as he jumped up brandishing his huge battle axe and ran to a section of the wall where several hounds had managed to climb over. He had lava hounds to kill. Jarrakg, the Captain and Nark ran after him.

Quickly Constantine checked his Inventory. He should have enough Health and Energy potions for now. Next he checked his array of melee weapons. He smiled, now was his chance to use all the awesome over-powered weapons he had been accumulating. There was never a need for it before.

He would need to keep the jaav ukon alive and buy time when, not if, Lazarus and Valentine showed up to help him. He shook his head vigorously to push away the mental image of the bleeding Assassin convulsing helplessly on the ground. They will survive and come help him! They must! He willed it so! They better not let him down.

Hmmm, in the meantime he might need some backup, yes?

"Xico!"

"Chosen!" came the sullen chirp.

"Xico? What is wrong my beautiful fierce falcon?"

"You only speak when you need me! Did you forget me?"

"Aiyayayayai! Of course not! You are always on my mind but I know you can take care of yourself. You are brave, clever and so, so fierce!"

A mental wave of love hit him making the Red Warlock smile. His familiar had forgiven him for his recent lack of attention.

"Get in touch with the rest, just in case. It is madness here. I will fight against the fire dogs. I will call if I need them."

"O'kay," came the reluctant reply. Constantine smiled knowingly instinctively sensing jealousy behind his familiar's thought.

"It is o'kay. It is not your fault that you will not be able to join them. You are not part of the Valkyries but if you were you would be the fiercest one here, yes?"

An image of the majestic falcon preening came to him as his familiar sent him another wave of love. Then he prepared himself. Five more minutes until the monsters backed off. Maybe he could help reduce the numbers in that time. Every Kill helped. He grinned wickedly; Mallarg would have to use more Energy to call up more hounds in the next round to replace the ones lost now. Carefully, he selected a few choice melee weapons and joined in the fray.

-----

"Ginggar! Vree! Kruk!" squawked the falcon flapping his bright wings. He was perched high on his favourite tree in Constantine's grand courtyard.

"Me!" rumbled the growing bear cub.

"Me! Me! Me!" dooked the two excited ferrets.

"Tell your Chosens to get ready. They may have to fight big scary fire dogs!"

"Eeekk!!" squeaked Kruk. "Big fire dogs?!!"

"It's o'kay. I will protect you!" Vree licked Kruk's nose reassuringly.

"What about us?" Tania growled. "We want to fight too!"

"You can't go. Like me," Xico chirped sadly.

"And me," chimed in Anya. She understood the situation. The snowy white wolf had been keeping in contact with her Chosen but it had been difficult. His sporadic reassuring thoughts to her were almost always coloured by pain now despite his best efforts to mask his suffering.

"But I want to fight and bite someone too. It's not fair!"

"You already fought sister wolf. Now it's our turn!" Ginggar sent excitedly standing on his hind legs. Tania, Anya and Xico had followed their Chosens to the land with glorious monsters but he had been left behind. His own Chosen had not crossed over but he had been only a cub then. Now, he was a big strong bear with sharp claws and teeth.

"Awwww. Then make sure you bite some for me!" said Tania in disappointment. "Bite, bite, Bite!" she growled snapping her jaws and shaking her head ferociously at her imaginary victim.

Anya whined piteously and lay down putting her head in between her paws. She was more concerned with her sick Chosen then joining in a fun fight.

"My Chosen will protect your Chosen," Tania yipped at her sister. "My Chosen will not leave your Chosen's side until he is well again."

-----

Constantine threw a melee weapon and waited gleefully. He laughed boyishly when the innocent little ball exploded on the way down. Sharp little iron spikes shot out at high speed piercing anything in its path. Deadly shrapnel plunged deep into the enemy instantly killing them before it could dissolve in the molten flesh. The little ball pulsed, contracting and blasting out spikes over and over again. Each round fired hundreds of bullets from the sphere. Strings of explosions lighted the outer wall. After discharging ten times, the melee weapon was exhausted. The empty shell exploded taking a few more lives.

"Hahaha! That was awesome!" the Red Warlock crowed. "It was worth every gold coin I paid! It killed many, yes?"

He had wanted to try out that expensive OP (over powered) weapon for a long, long time but it was too dangerous to use in normal fights. He also did not want to use it against other Players but had bought it because of its fantastic description. Now that the opportunity had presented itself, it was perfect. The Spikeball was amazing.

"Well done, Spell Caster! yelled the Overlord. "You cleared this side of the wall of a few mangy dogs. There will be less returning to Mallarg now."

A horn sounded, stopping what was left of the hounds in their tracks. Several lifted their heads to sniff the air before turning to bound back in retreat. This wave was over. The orc defenders stopped their labours to stand at the parapet. They watched the withdrawing hounds until only wisps of smoke and scorched earth were left.

"Now we rest. Think of something Spell Caster while I hear his reports."

The Overlord walked away. The Captain and Nark followed him leaving Jarrakg to direct the warriors on the wall.

"Thalasis, I need your help," Constantine said. "It will be risky but if it works it will be worth the effort.

"What do you have in mind Sspell Casster?"

"I have more melee weapons but we need something drastic. Gods, I wish Laz and Val was here. It will be so much easier if Laz could just go assassinate that Mallarg and Val steal his magical staff, then I could simply annihilate the lava hounds. It would be more heroic and fun that way."

"Is that possible?"

"Haha, unfortunately, no. Not now anyway," Constantine laughed without humour. "I was just fantasising for a moment. Laz and Val are busy. I hope they manage to overcome the odds soon and come help."

"For now, come sit next to me while I concentrate. I will need your strength to gather the clouds from afar."

"Gather cloudsss?"

"Yes. They need time to arrive here, so I better get started, yes?"

Constantine sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes. He muttered a spell sending out feelers for clouds. Ahhh, they were scattered all over the land but if he could gather enough, shape and intensify them to his needs ... Yes, that is what he must do.

Thalasis frowned in confusion but kept her peace. She sat quietly next to the Ghost Lord studying the human. It was amazing to witness one of the legendary beings actually casting spells. It was not much different from her own sorcery, she noted. He also traced symbols in the air, used runes as evident on the intricate symbols on his clothes and used mediums (objects and ingredients) to transmit and intensify spells. She tilted her head trying to catch the alien sounding incantations coming from his lips but could not quite catch the foreign language. Even if she managed that, she would never be able to roll her forked tongue to pronounce some of the complicated words.

Constantine was oblivious to the Seer's scrutiny. He had tuned his magical senses upwards and outwards. He had tracked down some Cirrocumulus and Cirrus clouds but they were very high in the sky and scattered all over the realm. There were none of the heavier clouds he needed. Using Energy, he patiently ushered small fluffy fragments together painstakingly combining them into larger fluffballs. Making them move in a particular direction was another matter. Feelig Thalasis' magical support, the Red Warlock exerted more Energy.

Those moving over bodies of water enlarged as the Gate Keeper encouraged evaporation and condensation. The clouds became bigger, heavier and darker as they travelled in accordance to the Red Warlock's grand plans. The Hero continued his efforts, carefully reaching further and further unleashing his powerful magic at the scattered puffs pulling them together. After some time, he checked on his network, and satisfied at the increasing momentum, he finally cast the crucial intense rapid cooling enchantment on the gathering clouds. That should drop their temperature enough for what he had in mind.

At last he opened his eyes and rubbed themtiredly. He was exhausted.

"You are back, Sspell Casster. I have kept you ssafe from dissturbance while you worked," Thalasis said indicating the passing orcs. They glanced curiously at the strange human sitting on the cold granite floor but did not interfere when the Holy Seer gestured indicating that he was working on a spell and they should keep on moving.

"Thank you," the Red Warlock replied gratefully as he unstopped a vial to replenish his depleted Energies. If he had been interrupted, the spell would have either gone awry or he would have to start over. He thought of the little stubborn clouds. Aiyayayai! Who knew it would take so much effort to persuade the little fluff balls to move? The lazy things just wanted to take things easy and drift along aimlessly all day.

"Did it go well? I ssee nothing different," the Holy Seer said looking up at the clear blue sky.

"It will take time. The process is slow and they need to evolve accordingly. The Spell has been cast; they will be ready when they get here. Now all we can do is wait."

"What next?"

"Tell Jarrakg to muster his warriors to the other walls. I will take care of this section. That will free up some warriors for him."

"Are you certain? You have seen the ferociousss lava houndsss. This wall is their main target becaussse it is the one the Necromancer can ssee from hisss perch."

"I'm sure."

"I will tell Jarrakg but there isss sstill time to change your mind before the next asssault. The grey onesss are well trained and move fasst. They can repossition themsselvesss quickly on command."

"No need," the human smiled confidently and started playing with the empty air in front of him. She shrugged and headed for the Second-in Command. Maybe the scarred warrior would be able to understand the Warlock's logic. He knew more of military strategy than herself. However, she felt a strange sense of alarm mixed with satisfaction when the veteran orc warrior bellowed in confusion.

"What? Clear this section? Is he mad?" Jarrakg exploded. "What is he thinking? The puny human cannot handle the wall alone. That is suicide."

"That isss what I told him."

Ghost Lord or not; Constantine was absolutely insane if he thought he could defend this whole section of the Stronghold alone. Leaving his warriors to continue preparation for the next wave, Jarrakg confronted the crazy human.

"Ghost Lord, the lava hounds ..."

"Aiyayayayai, I'm the great Red Warlock, yes? I am a Ghost Lord am I not? Constantine winked and grinned boyishly. "Do not worry, I know what I am doing. Trust me, yes?"

The Second-in Command grimaced and exchanged glances with the Holy Seer. He should respect this one as commanded by the Overlord. The three Ghost Lords were jauk and under the Overlord's protection. Still, this mad one was going a little too far. Respect was one thing but the security and safety of the Stronghold was another. He would not let the Stronghold fall during his watch. In fact, he would not let the Stronghold fall at all; he had given his sacred warrior's  oath to the Warlord. Besides, Kalthu would skin him alive and make a belt out of his pelt if he did.

"Tell me what you are planning, Spell Caster. I will feel better if I know what your strategy is."

Constantine rearranged his Menu and brought out several Items to his Quick Access screen. He also brought his Health and more importantly, his Energy potions to the front. He would need them shortly. Then he closed his Inventory and faced the excessively worried orc.

"You need as many men as possible for defence, yes?"

"Yes," Jarrakg agreed.

"And if I take over this section, it will help free up some sorely needed warriors the other sides, yes?"

"Umm, yes."

"Also, we have a bit more time, yes?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with this section being unprotected? The Overlord and Warlord will kill me if it falls," Jarrakg blurted in exasperation.

"Ahhh! But you are wrong. The wall will be protected, by me! I will cast a spell on this wall," the Red Warlock said rubbing his hands together. "From here all the way to there, yes?"

"What exactly are you going to do?"

"The lava hounds are fire, yes? So I will cast frost and ice on the walls. That will sizzle their tails and cool them down, yes? Umm, I may need to modify your wall a little."

"What?" the veteran warrior raised his voice in alarm. 

"but I promise to put it back the way it is now and pay for any damages caused by me, yes? But not the damage caused by the demons, no?"

Jarrakg shook his head. The human was not making any sense. Any damage to the wall would of course be caused be the lava hounds. What was he talking about? He'd better get the Overlord to deal with his wild nonsensical ideas.

Constantine just smiled. He was going to do something epic, a level 92 frost spell. It was going to be awesome, fitting for the greatest Red Warlock of all.