A Rain of Fire.

"Drink Lord Konoiki! I thought you dragon-riding pretty boys are supposed to be able to hold your liquor." Prince Rauthorn screamed, his face red from all the alcohol he had been drinking.

"Wait a moment my Dwarf lord, let me catch my breath," Konoiki struggled to breathe.

"Ah ah ah, who would think a descendant of the great Mikhato the cruel would be beaten by a dwarf."

"What are you talking about, Prince Rauthorn? You dwarves are nothing but crazy shagging, fighting, and drinking machines!"

The whole room burst into a chorus of drunken laughter. Prince Rauthorn suddenly stood up, anger in his eyes.

"What in hel did you call my people, you white-haired whoreson?"

The two stared at each other for a moment and the whole room went silent.

They both moved closer to each other by putting their hands on the table and leaning in, their faces nearly touching, then the anger in their faces slowly disappeared and turned into big grins.

"You know what, Lord Konoiki? You are fucking right! We Dwarves are shagging, fighting, and drinking machines!"

The grins expanded and turned into loud roaring laughter. Konoiki joined him and the rest of the pub joined in.

"Free drinks for all of you crazy bastards, drink and I Prince Rauthorn of Stonehaven will pay!"

"Thank you my friend Konoiki for making my pilgrimage a memorable one. Of all the lands I have been to, Snowfalls is the one I will never forget," he raised his mug in the air.

He was about to say something when the sound of an explosion interrupted him.

"What in name of the gods was that?" Konoiki screamed, blocking his ears with his hands. The surge caused by the explosion made the walls of the tavern shake violently. A man rushed into the tavern and he was breathing heavily.

"The University is under attack!" he screamed.

"Attacked by whom?"

"Well, I don't know my lord. My cousin works there as a cleaner and he..."

The man fell to the ground revealing a giant ax stuck in his back.

"Orcs!" Konoiki screamed as he unsheathed his long sword.

Three large orcs walked into the room and one of them retrieved the ax from the dead man's back.

"Kill them all, he ordered.

The orcs started hacking everybody in the room into pieces.

"I will take the big one," Rauthorn dropped the beer mug he was holding to the floor, reached under the table, brought out his Warhammer, and grinned at it.

The leader of the orcs charged at him. He swung his ax at him with all his strength but Rauthorn staggered aback and the orc missed him.

Rauthorn lifted his hammer and went for the orc's thigh, the hammer shattered the Orc's limb, flesh, and bones mixed with green blood. The Orc cried out in pain as he fell to the ground.

"Skull crusher got you good, eh?" Rauthorn joked as he moved closer to the downed enemy and dealt the final blow to the Orc's head. The hammer crushed the Orc's giant head, turning it to a pulp of bones, blood, and green flesh.

Konoiki waited for the second Orc to swing at him, he made a quick movement to the left and the Orc missed him. This disoriented the Orc and in a slash, Konoiki cut him into two halves.

"I forgot how dangerous you Snowlandians are with your swords," Rauthorn said.

The third Orc was kept busy by the pub owner and her assistant who soon got knocked down. The Orc was about to finish them off when Konoiki charged at him. He tackled the Orc and they both fell out the window.

They landed on the ground outside and Konoiki was still struggling to regain his strength, he grabbed his longsword which had slipped off his hand when they fell and supported himself by dipping its edge into the ground.

Two more Orcs emerged from nowhere as people were running to safety.

"What the hell is going on? How are they able to get into the inner parts of the city so soon?" Konoiki whispered to himself as he unsheathed his second and smaller sword.

The Orcs surrounded and charged at him. In a single swift movement, Konoiki slashed off the head of his first assailant and stabbed his smaller sword through the heart of the second but the third Orc caught him with the base of his ax. The blow to the head made Kinoiki fall to his knees. And he was feeling dizzy

The Orc walked up to him and raised his ax with two hands about to deal the final blow.

There was a sound of a sword cutting through flesh and the arms of the Orc fell off. The Orc was so confused that it stared at his severed arms as green blood gushed out of them, then in another slash, his head fell to the ground too.

Konoiki looked up confused. He forced out the name. " Karui?"

Karui grabbed him by his arm and pulled him to his feet. He stared at him for a moment and shook his head in disappointment.

"You are drunk, Konoiki, and it nearly cost you your life."

"I had it under control, oh dear mighty Karui."

"No, you did not!"

"Hello, brother. How have you been, since I last saw you? You can save the judgment for later."

Karui wanted to reply to him before he was suddenly interrupted when the pub's door broke open and an Orc flew out of the building and landed on the ground. The Orc made a final effort to stand but his effort was made futile when Rauthorn ran out of the pub and landed him with a final blow to the head.

"A dwarf?" Karui said.

"Yes, a Dwarf. Prince Rauthorn of Stonehaven and my beautiful hammer is.."

"Enough of this rubbish! The city is under attack. We need to get to the white halls," Karui interrupted.

"This one is no fun eh, Lord Konoiki?" Rauthorn opened a flask and started drinking out of it.

Karui stared at him in disbelief and finally ignored him.

"I was headed to the white halls when I saw the explosion here and decided to check it out.

"I sent Ikari to survey the city and there have been three explosions. One at the University, one here, and one at the city gates.

Orcs emerged out of these three places and they're being engaged by the army, except here. Nobody thought an enemy could get this far into the city, it had never happened before, not even during the great war."

"It must be a kind of portal," Konoiki mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Karui asked.

"They have a mage or mages. The explosions created portals and that's how the Orcs got here so quickly"

"That makes sense," Rauthorn said.

"Of course, you think it does," Karui replied to him.

"Do you have a problem with me, Lord Karui?" the dwarf asked.

"No, I do not, Lord Dwarf."

"My name is Rauthorn. Prince Rauthorn of Stonehaven," the Dwarf stared at him angrily.

"I'll try to remember next time, Lord Dwarf."

They were interrupted by a group of charging Orcs. Karui unsheathed his long sword and Konoiki also pulled his from the ground. The dwarf grabbed his hammer tightly and screamed. "Time to crush some skulls!"

The platoon of Orcs charged at their position and they were ready to do battle.

"Stand your ground, men. Don't contend strength with them, they're stronger and bigger but you are more skilled. Aim for their weak points and take them out" Karui screamed.

"You are all business and no fun, just like your brother said," Prince Rauthorn laughed.

Just before the two sides clashed, they heard a roar. The roar of dragons.

"Take cover!" Karui screamed.

And the dragons rained fire from the sky.