"And a great storm shall rift the land in twain. Darkness and light locked forever in a great war, never to quell the other. From the Dark shall rise Evil so vile and monstrous as to smother and hide the Light. From the Light shall form the Triad Crown, whose righteousness and strength shall drown the Dark. In the cycle of rebirth, so shall these rise and fall as with the tides, until the Triad Crown may defeat Evil, and so end the reign of Darkness."

Screams tore the night apart. Cries of pain and shouts of anguish and battle filled the streets of the city. Everywhere, signs of war and destruction could be seen, and the dead and dying littered the roadways. The castle at the edge of the city of stone blazed with a dancing fire of evil. All had been lost tonight. In the darkness of back alleyways, two shadowed figures moved. It was evident by their silent and cautious actions that they were hiding, trying to escape the ruined city with their lives. The two moving shadows paused, pulling deeper into the dark as a small troupe of five armed and evil-looking Warriors stormed by. One of the figures, a woman by her smaller and more slender frame, carried in her arms a small bundle held tightly and protectively to her chest. She peered out from beneath the hood of her cloak, turning to look at her companion with wide eyes.

The bundle in her arms shifted, and a low mewling cry could be heard, though over-powered by all the shouts around the city. The woman's companion turned around sharply at the sound and made a quick and earnest gesture with his right hand, a sign the woman knew meant, "Silence." The woman nodded and frantically turned her attention to the crying bundle, brushing back a fold of cloth that covered it to reveal a tiny babe, whose face was screwed up in torment as it cried. The woman rocked the child back and forth, holding it close as she slowly shut her eyes and sent the child a gently lullaby of peace. No words or sounds were heard, but in a moment, the child was silent once more. The woman sighed softly and lifted her head to gaze silently at the man.

~We need to get out of here Marnel, and soon. She needs to eat and rest, as do I. The exhaustion will overcome us before the Warriors do.~

The man, Marnel, nodded once and made another gesture with his hand. The woman inclined her head again, then settled back into the shadows, seeming to melt away in the darkness. He watched her closely, then satisfied she would be safe for the time being, he slipped off, skulking and hiding among the dark forgotten passages of the city. He could not believe the death and destruction, the utter chaos and over-powering stench of evil that filled the once magnificent city. Marnel ducked into another alleyway and held his breath as another group of three Warriors passed him, a mutilated, half-dead body dragged along between two of them. The man turned his head and shut his eyes. It did not matter how many battles and wars he had survived, death and bloodshed would always wrack his heart and soul. He opened his eyes and continued on cautiously, searching for the path he and Loriah must take for escape. Their lives did not matter, but the babe, the girl-child, SHE mattered, she had to survive.

As Marnel continued his search, the woman, Loriah, remained hidden in the dark shadows of an alley, comforting the small baby in her arms as best she could. When it became apparent the child's needs could be overlooked no longer, the woman opened the specially designed tunic she wore, allowing the hungry babe access to her breast while still keeping her hidden. The familiar act seemed to calm the woman, and her mind drifted over the events of the last few days...

~ ¤ ~

"Jorel, please! Not now, not before the children!" The slender flower of a woman pleaded with the large bear of a man that prowled the room. The man paused to look at his lady-wife and sighed.

"You're right, my dove," he said simply as he pulled her close to him. "I fight for you, m'lady Aarynne, for you and our children." His voice grew tender as he held her. Loriah watched her king and queen with a loving smile. At her breast fed a tiny baby girl, to her left, another woman nursed a content baby boy, and to her right, yet another woman tried in quiet frustration to get the stubborn baby boy in her arms to finish feeding. She smiled again. Triplets. In a time when the number of offspring was slowly diminishing, triplets! It was rare for any family to have the gift of a triple birth, but in the Royal Family, it had not occurred in a hundred years. And yet, a dark cloud settled over what should have been a joyous time in the young king and queen's life.

War ravaged the land and tore it in two, evil verses good, a war as old as time itself. The battle between Light and Dark never seemed to ebb, and now, Evil pressed right at the gates of Righteousness. Loriah frowned as she recalled the seige her beloved home had fallen under. King Jorel was doing everything in his power to keep the darkness at bay, and still it was not enough. She lifted her head and looked back to the couple when the great man spoke again.

"Sherrin...Loriah...Jenay...I want you three to take the children and my lady-wife below. Marnel, Jesno, Abain and a small company of soldiers shall go with you."

The three women began to nod their heads when the queen spoke up.

"No Jorel, I will not go below. You need me, by your side. You know that. The children need to leave, yes, but my place is at your side, forever and always." Her voice was soft and low, and as she spoke, she reached for his hand, their fingers intertwining. They gazed in silence into each others eyes for a long moment before the king spoke once more.

"Again, you are right Aarynne. I thought only to sheild you from this, but I need you. I need your strength and wisdom, your love and courage by my side, always." He hugged the small woman fiercely to him, the slender woman who fooled everyone. She may be tiny, and she may seem powerless, but she was his strength, his other half. While he was the fighter, she was the magician, and together, they were complete. She returned his sign of love just as fiercely as she spoke once more.

"I vowed on our wedding day to remain by your side until death, m'Lord Jorel, and it is here I stay."

"Let us pray, my darling, that it does not come to that." He smiled at her, and then he and his queen kissed and bid their children a fond and loving farewell before leaving to see to the hounds of war that howled at the gates. It was the last time the three nurses and their charges would ever see them...

~ ¤ ~

Loriah looked down at the baby that now slept silently in her arms. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she remembered that last sign of love she saw exchanged between her king and queen. After that moment, everything had happened in a rush, the screams, the shouts, the sounds of fighting, Warriors and soldiers battling everywhere. It was no longer safe below, and the three woman fled the castle with their precious babes. Sherrin and Jesno with quiet Farlin, Jenay and Abain with stubborn Kerst, and she and Marnel with gentle Amarisa. The woman sighed softly and brushed at her tears. This was no time to show weakness. The three would be reunited when Time so deemed it, until then, the babies must get out alive and safe.

Loriah's head shot up when she sensed someone approaching, only to let out a relieved sigh upon seeing Marnel. He made a series of gestures with his hands and the woman nodded, gathering her cloak tighter about her as she rose to follow him. He led her through a series of back alleys and bloodied, abandoned homes until they reached their destination. Marnel crouched near the base of the huge exterior stone wall that surrounded the city, a fortification thought to keep even the strongest of fighters at bay, only to fall when Evil pressed in its hardest. There, a small section of stone could be pushed aside to reveal a dark and damp looking hole with a staircase heading down. He ushered Loriah in and followed, sealing the hole and the way to their homes behind them. There was no turning back now, even if they wanted to.

Together, the pair slowly descended in the near pitch black for what seemed an eternity. Finally, the faintest of lights could be seen below them, and both Loriah and Marnel let out a breath neither had realized they'd been holding. It seemed the old tales still held true. They hurried as fast as they dared on the steep staircase to reach the base. Once there, in the dim light provided by the torches that burned without burning, a rickety rowing boat could be seen floating at the end of a short stone pier in a filthy underground moat. The man and woman climbed in and began the next leg of what was going to be a great journey.

After the moments of silence that had passed between the two over the last few days, her voice sounded hoarse and trembling, but Loriah needed to speak. "Do you think they are alive Marnel?"

The man looked up from his rowing to answer her, "The children? Of course, you'd know immediately if that were not so."

"I know that, I mean...King Jorel and Queen Aarynne...do you think they are alive?" The man's stoney silence was all the answer she needed. Tears sprang to her eyes once more as she gazed down at the tiny baby girl in her arms.

"I am glad we got the girl-child this time," she said quietly before looking up at her age-old companion once more. "Oh Marnel, this has to be it this time! After three centuries, this has to be it!"

The man paused in his rowing and looked at the woman he had known for over three hundred years. He too, harbored the hope she did, he too, was anguished at the probable loss of his king and queen. He knew Loriah in and out, just as she knew him. They had shared thoughts, shared hopes and dreams, shared sadness and loss...it was his desire that this be the final rebirth, but he could not say for sure. He merely offered his companion the simple stoic reply that had gotten them through the past centuries, "I hope so as well, but you know the prophecy, and until it is finished, we shall continue through each cycle of rebirth."

The woman sighed and nodded, she knew he was right. As one of the six chosen Guardians, she knew the prophecies by heart, knew what was to come. The two settled once more into silence, and all that could be heard was the sounds of the oars of the boat slapping gently against the water with each steady stroke of Marnel's. What would be the end this time?