The Orc in charge was a smart one. He had divided his troops, instructing the larger unit to go round the two creatures and go after their real target. He had seen Kasakh escaping.

"You three," he snatched the leather strap of the nearest orc's armor and pushed him roughly toward the two gatekeepers. He looked behind him at another two warriors including them in his command. "Finish them off and follow us."

"The rest of you, follow me. We need to secure the girl."

"Kill off the small one and the two puppies but take her alive."

Constantine and Lazarus watch in disbelief as only the three orcs started up the rise towards them. The rest of the grey warriors followed their Captain as he started to the left to go around.

"This is not good, we have to delay them. Val needs more time to escape ..." Lazarus trailed off as he noticed the almost comical expression on the Red Warlock's face. Constantine was scowling. His face had turned to an ugly shade of purple, his lips were pursed into a thin line, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"What's wrong? Constantine?" Lazarus asked anxiously. "Constantine?"

Constantine, the great Red Warlock was utterly and thoroughly furious.

"I. Will. Not. Be. IGNORED!"

"I will not! I will NOT!" Constantine grounded out between clenched teeth. "Freaking orcs! Do they not know who I am? Huh? Don't they? I tell you, they do not!! I am the great Constantine! I am the greatest warlock in all the realms. Do they not see that I am a great threat?!" He ignored the three advancing warriors and ported to the larger force, a force worthy of his mighty battle skills. "Xico!!" he summoned his familiar.

Red lightning crackled out from his hands as he initiated the attack. Electricity crawled over grey bodies as they went down in a shout, making the others turn to focus on the new threat.

"Hey, wait! What about these guys?" Lazarus called after the rampaging Warlock. The three were going to do their job even if it was only one being now. "Right, guess I'll deal with you on my own then."

The Assassin aimed and fired, the crossbow rebounding again and again in his hands. He maintained a firm grip as he reloaded as quickly as he shot. Three for each orc ... just to be sure. One didn't seem enough to kill the hulking beings. They seemed bigger, tougher and meaner here compared to those in Season One. New and improved orcs version 2.0 Lazarus thought randomly.

He could hear Constantine cursing vehemently behind him as he fought but did not dare turn around. The orcs he had shot were still moving forward, only one had 'died' bursting into a fiery ball. One had fallen onto the ground and was struggling to get up. The last one had actually pulled out the arrows from his body, thick black icky ichor leaking from his wounds. They were tough.

Lazarus, Health 32 per cent

Lazarus tilted his head, aimed and let out another three successive shots. One stilled the struggling orc, making him fall back before dying. The other one froze in his tracks as the Assassin's two arrows thudded into him, finally killing him. The gatekeeper did not wait until the warrior's hot pixels faded. Once certain that the last orc posed no more danger, he turned to check on the wayward warlock.

Constantine, Health 89 per cent.

The Red Warlock was still having a blast. Spell after spell formed in his hands which he threw at the offending enemy, his mouth never stopping for breath. Xico was also helping his Chosen. The deadly falcon dive-bombed again and again aiming at any exposed grey flesh he could find. The predatory bird stripped thick hide with his sharp beak and clawed flesh with deadly talons. He pecked at black beady eyes and flapped his powerful wings buffeting the enemy.

"Get the flying beast!! Kill it!"

"Yes Sir!"

At once, several orcs targeted Xico. The falcon which was not even considered important a moment ago was suddenly a target. The familiar unaware that the focus had shifted to him, dived bombed again, claws extended to maim a wounded orc. It was too late to abort the attack when Xico noticed the surrounding orcs with readied weapons. Spears, battle axes and spiked clubs smashed him out of the air as his acceleration and momentum brought the familiar within range. Blood splattered in the air together with bits of meat, bone and feathers.

"Chosen!!" Xico shrieked in pain as he died. The majestic falcon exploded into hot blinding pixels in mid-air. On the ground, orcs who had attacked the familiar staggered back a few paces at the powerful blast.

"Noo-ooo!! Xico!!" Constantine cried in anguish. "Zeeee-kooo!!"

Several orcs rushed Constantine in that instant. He disappeared under a pileup of grey flesh. The gatekeeper did not move fast enough, he had been distracted by the brutal death of his beloved Familiar.

Constantine, Health 73 per cent, Energy 55 per cent.

No time to lose, Lazarus aimed his crossbow and let loose. Stout arrows whizzed in the air and embedded themselves into thick grey hides. Constantine needed help, he had used up a lot of Energy for his spells. The Assassin shot not to kill but to get the enemies' attention. No point killing those atop the warlock, their combusting bodies would cook Constantine alive, maybe even killing him. He had to get them off the warlock.

Lazarus had seen Xico die. His heart had wrenched at the falcon's savagely violent death but he had to focus now. Saving Constantine was top priority. The Assassin wondered how long it would take Xico to re-spawn and come back. The cooling down period might be different here. He hoped the falcon came back soon.

"Oh-uh," Lazarus gulped as five ugly orcs turned in unison to him. His attention grabbing tactics had worked better than expected. They growled in annoyance, showing sharp uneven yellow teeth. A warrior pulled out an arrow from his shoulder, tossing it to one side negligently. The wound didn't seem to bother him all that much, but it made him angry. Another two cracked their knuckles loudly, grinning horrifyingly before starting towards him. The last two hefted their weapons glaring balefully at the Assassin.

Behind them, Constantine emerged battered and bruised. The Red Warlock managed to give Lazarus a nod of thanks before drawing breath for another spell. There were still more than enough for him to deal with minus the five Lazarus lured away. A second later, bright angry red electricity crawled all over the orcs in his vicinity.

Lazarus looked at his useless crossbow as he backed away nervously. He was too close to make good use of the weapon. Quickly, he exchanged the crossbow for a double edged sword. It was time for close combat. A glance in Constantine's direction confirmed that the warlock was in no condition to help him. He too was busy lashing out at the enemy who had dared kill his beloved familiar. More warriors had closed in on Constantine. Revenge soon turned to survival.

"Game on." Lazarus sucked in a breath, tightening his grip on his sword. "Here we go," the gatekeeper muttered as he prepared for an intense fight.

The orcs closed in on Lazarus. Speed. The Assassin seemed to blur as cuts appeared on grey bodies. Black ichor flowed freely. The grey warriors had not encountered nor fought a creature like this before but they tried their best. They were the elite Imperial warriors after all and had trained for all types of combat and situations. This land was vicious and brutal. All kinds of creatures lived here. The orcs adjusted their fighting strategy. They were fast and smart too, all they had to do was hit him as he sped around them like the devil. One way was to anticipate his path and block him, preferably with a club or sharp sword. He should kill himself as he ran into their weapons. They counted on the enemy's momentum to work against him.

Several minutes later, only two orcs had died but the gatekeeper was breathing heavily and dragging one leg. Burns on the Assassin's body marked where large sparks of his dying foes had touched him. Those left were not unmarked either, ichor stained their skin and leather coverings. The remaining three sneered at the Assassin. They were surprised that he was still alive. His momentum had not killed him as expected after all. The small one had managed to avoid most of their deadly blocking tactics, surviving by adjusting his path and angling his body whilst maintaining his attacks even at top speed, but that was only temporary. Only his agility and accuracy had saved him. That would end now, it was time to finish him off. The injured creature was dead meat.

Just then, the Captain shouted. "Don't kill them. I need them alive." He kicked a kneeling orc brutally away from him. The unfortunate warrior had gone after Kasakh with two others as ordered whilst the main force had been unexpectedly detained. He had returned alone. The puny one and two wolves had somehow killed his comrades. They had escaped with Sharak's spawn. He had returned defeated to report to his Captain.

"They will know where the Banished One's spawn is heading."

The warriors registered disappointed expressions before grunting affirmation. A signal passed between the warriors. Suddenly, all attacked Lazarus together coming from all sides. The two nearest the Assassin rushed in feinting attacks. Lazarus reacted, ducking to one side whilst deflecting the wicked battle axe with his sword. Too late, the third swiped him with a stout staff making him overbalance to dodge the deadly move. His wounded leg was hampering his movements. Lazarus didn't see the huge solid club coming down from his blind side. The heavy weapon hit his head and the gatekeeper collapsed senseless to the ground.

Lazarus, Health 23 per cent.

Constantine was in no better shape. Having displayed his magical abilities, the orcs were wary of him. The Captain had given new instructions. He was experienced with fighting against spell casters. Mallarg had made sure of that. First of all, they had to neutralise his magic and he knew of one sure way to do that. He ordered his warriors to keep Constantine distracted, taking turns to attack him so that he would not have time to cast new spells. Instead he had to rely on physical combat. The warlock was no weakling and managed to cut down two orcs with his broadsword.

Under the direction of the Captain, orc chains were brought and used to lasso the spell caster. Three had successfully ensnared the gatekeeper. The warriors that got him, pulled at the chains. One tightened around the captive's neck effectively strangling him. The other two tightened around his waist, hampering his movements as the orcs pulled and jerked the strong chains in opposing directions.

The warlock struggled, trying to escape the bonds but to no avail. Why were his spells not working? He had muttered several already, one to melt the iron and another, a burst of energy which would stun those within a 10-feet radius of him. The Captain laughed at his confused face.

"Give up spell caster. Our chains have special properties of their own. Your magic will not work when you are bound by it."

Constantine stopped struggling, catching his breath. Blood dripped from a shoulder where an axe had sliced him. He looked around. Where was Lazarus? Was he dead? Did he re-spawn? He had something important to tell his friend.

Constantine, Health 56 per cent, Energy 33 per cent.

"Looking for your friend?" The Captain sneered at the defeated gatekeeper. He signalled and his soldiers parted to show a crumpled form on the ground. He went over to Lazarus and gave a vicious kick. A low groan sounded.

"Laz!!"

"He is not dead ... yet." The orc looked speculatively at Constantine, "I will give him a swift death if you cooperate. Tell me where the girl is going."

The Red Warlock gritted his teeth, "What girl?"

"Ahh, very good. You want to do this the hard way." Abruptly he yelled." Bring them to camp for questioning. Let's go."

What was left of the patrol grinned. They loved to interrogate prisoners, it was fun and involved a lot of blood and torture. If they were lucky, the prisoners would not give in too soon. It would prolong their entertainment.

Without ceremony, one hauled Lazarus over his shoulder. The one holding the chain at Constantine's neck tugged at the warlock, pulling him along roughly. The other two walked alongside holding their respective chains. The spell caster was not going anywhere.

Constantine glanced worriedly at Lazarus. Xico had re-spawned and had given him some very distressing news. He had to tell the Assassin that they could not die here. If they did, they would re-spawn in their own realm not here. Whoever died would have to redo the orb trials all over again just to come back.

No, Constantine corrected himself, he and Valentine could die here. Lazarus could not until he had completed the impossible Quest for the non-existent cure.