~ as only a member of the trinty would know, they had many "friends" scattered about the kingdom...magical friends that were instructed to inform the castle when any trace or hint of anything out of the ordinary started to occur, and the sudden change in the beliefs of the townspeople qualified. The cleric quickly moved to his inner chamber and did what he thought best...emergency communications......and to whom he thought best ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ within the Sanctuary, Gabrielle was quietly sitting in front of the fire, reading, when an overwhelming sense came over her....something wasn't right....trying to isolate it was difficult. She knew the emotion was coming from somewhere in their kingdom, but she couldn't tell where.....something was very wrong...somewhere.....

She quickly alerted the other two through their link...but that's all they could do for now...until they talked to Jaeden ~

~ as soon as the meeting broke between Elisa, Brenna, Jaeden and herself, Gabrielle quickly moved from Jaeden's quarters to her own. Ser Loras' foot steps were echoing behind her as he called to her, trying to find out what was wrong. She reached her room before he could catch up with her and locked the door. As he pounded on the door, she changed into her traveling clothes and grabbed her cloak. She walked over to the side of the room and ran her hand along a smooth wood case. She didn't use it very often, only for practice maybe...but she needed it now. Lifting her blade from it's resting place, she once again admired it's deadly beauty. Sliding it into it's scabbard, she went about gathering a few other things and prepared to leave.

Elisa had recoginized the pattern of manipulation at once as Zchadazar's or something similar. Start small and work your way up. If it wasn't Zchad...it was someone whose mind worked the same way as his. Gabrielle was going to find out.... ~

~ While Ser was still pounding on her door, Gabrielle vanished in a white flash of light. She knew she was going to pay for this later but she really didn't care. Something was going on and she needed to move...fast....

As she reappeared in the priest's home, she found his dead body and a trail that was unmistakable. She now knew that their suspicions were correct. This was Zchad's work. She looked outside and noticed a definate change in the atmosphere, and severe lack of people. Never a good sign......Gabrielle reached inside herself and contacted her other priests through her mind...reaching out to them....several reported similar things happening in their cities. Gabrielle cursed to herself and moved along to the next town to arrange for the safety of her priests. As she moved from town to town, she infected the people with the same "virus" that her unknown advesary has employed, only this time, it reversed the effects...bringing the people out of their altered states. This was only a reactive response and she knew she had to get ahead of them. She spent hour after hour tracking their trail, which obviously they wern't trying to hide too well. She also knew one thing that her enemy did not about the magical state of the residents of Norworld.

After some time, she came upon a town that seemed to be relativly normal. The priests reported no unusal activity and no strangers about, which was a good sign.

There, she waited.......~

~ a slender figure comes up behind the assasin and places her sword at his throat ~

nice try....I'm not stupid....but I am curious....whom are you working for??

~look over at the striken Gabrielle, whom disapears in a bright flash of light ~

And don't bother with any other tricks....I'm protected beyond anything you could do to me....

I cannot...

...was all the assassin could get out before the most alien looking of the trinkets he had been given performed IT'S job.

Exploding in a dark burst, the assassin was turned into so much red mist and more than half the buildings in town were leveled. Screams of the wounded and dying already filling the air.

Gabrielle's defenses sheltered her from the blast...and absorbed the impact of striking a wall at high velocity.

She was stunned briefly... and the fact that she was clued her in to the black dart's true purpose.

It wasnt aimed at her, per se. It's target was her magic. Her clone...of her magic.... Connected to her by magic...and thus the dart hit it's target.

It was almost imperceptable, but her magic was weakening....draining....ever so very slowly.

Time was truly of the essence now...

~ Gabrielle watched as most of the town was pointlessly destroyed. She felt her magic start to slowly drain from her body. They might be able to take the magic within her, but they couldn't take away the ultimate power. She grabbed for the pouch on her hip and took out two necklaces...Elisa's and Brenna's....the matching necklaces to her own...

She was done playing games....

She invoked the oldest of powers...ancient in origin.....deadly. She asked the spirits to guide her and see justice done....They gave her the information she needed to know....and with that, she left in a burst of light...and appeared once again standing before the three brothers...her eyes a deadly shade of red and her sword drawn...pulsing with magic.

You have my attention now...That wasn't such a wise thing.

They had seemed to be waiting for her. Upon a hilltop with noone in sight. Somehow they knew. Yet one of them frowned.

She is alone. There should be three.

Gabrielle noticed the day swiftly grow dark. A second brother looked at the first as he spoke.

They were always tempermental. Prone to act before thinking. A bad quality for leadership. I swhy they must go.

The darkness, a shadow perhaps, must have passed, for it swiftly became bright again. The third looked her in the eyes with his own cobalt blue ones.

Perhaps she hates that same quality in her sisters. Realises they are unfit to rule. That she is the cooler head and is unapreciated. We can help her. She is the most capable to rule.

And Gabrielle agreed. Her sisters never did appreciate her enough. She WAS the cooler head. A better leader. With these three, she could make things better. Rule things right. She...
...realised what dangerous power these three carried in their voices alone, to even briefly have her believing what they wanted her to believe.

The day became swiftly shadowed and dark again.

She resists. Said the first brother. And prepare. For she carries....THREE...necklaces in her hand...

~ Gabrielle noted their abilities in the back of her mind, but she wasn't concerned with that right now. The sky was bothering her...the changing of the lights....she needed to ascertain what they were attempting to do before she could proceed. ~

I'm done playing games with you three....now either tell me what you are doing here, besides casuing trouble and killing people, or be gone before I have no choice but to kill you myself...and be assured, I do have that power. Your acts guarenteed me that.

~ Her sword began to pulse with a rythmic white light.....growing and growing until they envelop her and the surrounding areas ~

All three brothers glared at her with naked hatred. At that moment, the sky swiftly grew bright again.

We want an end to the Trinity's opresive rule. The people have a right to choose rulers that takes their needs seriously. You think this is a game we are playing. And so you prove to us and the people your frivolous lack of a right to rule.

As she heard these words she knew for certain they believed them. And worse yet. Some Dark Power had given them power to persue their beliefs.

The sky once again grew dark.

You are here to stop us, frivolous sister. Then stop us. We will not strike the blow to kill you. That is for the people to do. Said the second.

It grew light again...

Unless the people ask us to do the job for them. Said the third with a cold smile.

~ Gabrielle smiled as her eyes flashed red one more time ~

Remember that you asked for this....Justice will be done.

~ closing her eyes and reaching deep inside of herself, she begins the chant ~

Ancient spirits, hear my cry
piercing swiftly through the sky
Creatures of pain have landed here
within the realm we hold so dear
The time has come for them to pay
The earth of Norworld, now have your say!

~ when her eyes opened, they would noticed that they were now pure white instead of red, and the three necklaces in her hand were pulsing white light....the earth startedto tremble around them....huge fissures opening up in the earth itself ~

Your "master" forgets that there are things about this place that even he doesn't know....deeply guarded secrets that are kept from all....

Norworld is alive and you will now pay for what you have done...It's knows what you've done to it's people.

~ and with her final words, a massive etheral being eminates from underground and stands in front of the three. It says nothing, but raises it's hand and levels it at the brothers and fires a bright stream of light at them ~

The Dark Trinity widened their eyes in surprise at what they saw. This was definetly not what was expected. AS the spirit of the land raised it's hand and bathed them in righteous power, one brother jumped in front of the second and the third stepped behind him.

Bitch! Yelled the first as his form was blasted and began to be carried away by the light. His body temporarily shielding that of his brothers, who began chanting some dark litany.
It took 10 seconds before the first's body gave away completely, and Gabrielle saw a shadow jump from the first's to the second brother at the last moment.

The day became dark yet again.

The second brother screamed as the light struck him, but the third continued his chant....or was it a summons?

The second glared at Gabrielle in hatred as his body was was blasted away. But this time it took almost twenty seconds. Gabrielle knew they must have had no small amount of power to even last past a few.

And just as the second brother's form breathed it's last, the third brother ended his chant with the name of a dark and fell being out of Norworld's very ancient myth. Scholars could never agree if it was a demon or some forgotten dark god. And an even darker shadow jumped from the fading form of the second to the third.

Fal Izzah!

And the last brother, Malvus, smiled at Gabrielle as the light hit him...and a Darkness reached from far away and plucked him from Norworld...

And it was done, and the day turned bright again.

And a voice like snow driven across a glacier by a blizzard whispered in her ear.

Welcome to a new day....

And Gabrielle whirled around, but noone was there...except a chill in the air.

She then realised what what the changes of light to darkness to light was.

Day and night.

The brothers had been accelerating time during their confrontation. It was five days later. Five days for the rebel army to grow and move and cause trouble.

She could see, even this far away, the columns of smoke of more than one town, and possibly a large city burning.

Hopefully the regular army has stopped them by now, but damage had been done, nonetheless.

The spirit of the land looked down at her, waiting, sorrow and pain in it's eyes...

~ Gabrielle realized what had happened while she battled the beings. She allowed the spirit to return to it's dormant state after promising that she would make things right in the end. She then moved quickly and transported herself to the castle...caught up with Prudence and filled her in on what happened. Prudence then promised to talk to her Lady Mother and request a regiment of Knights to be dispatched at once to Norworld to help clean up and put out all the fires. She also knew that as soon as she unleased the spirit of Norworld, any magic being cast over her people was neutralized...another secret that had been handed down over the generations. That meant that her people were safe for now....but not from the pain already caused. The Knights would help with that. She needed to return to the Sanctuary at once and confirm with Elisa, Brenna and Jaeden. ~