~~

Trinity

~~

The rest of us started toward the castle at a brisk pace. The doors to the large, fantasy looking façade would usually be guarded by Aunt Glory's soldiers and knights, but there was no one to be seen standing near the doors right now.

"Where are the guards?" Reece asked, echoing my thoughts. "Aren't there supposed to be two to four guards at the castle doors at all times? Where are they?"

"That was just what I was wondering." I told him as I flung a hand toward the doors to open them for us. "Something isn't right here. And I don't like the way this makes me feel."

"Neither do I." Sterling added.

"We should have stayed home." Alloy sounded scared.

"If you would have stayed home, you might have died there. Is that what you would have preferred?" Landon snapped at him. "We will have this settled and you can go home when it's all over. Stop your belly aching."

"I wasn't belly aching." Alloy whined but shut up after that. That was good, I needed to focus.

The moment we were inside the castle, we found out where all the soldiers were. They weren't guarding the outside of the castle, they were guarding the inside. The ones that were awake, that is.

"What is going on here?" I demanded of the guards that were right in front of the door.

"Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders."

Those words sounded like a mantra the way they were repeating them. And the dazed and stupefied look in their eyes told me that they didn't know what was going on.

"Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders."

The soldiers were looking at us but not looking at us at the same time. It was like they couldn't actually see but the magic that was controlling them could see. They didn't need to use their eyes to find us.

"Stand down, all of you. I do not want to have to hurt you." The two dozen soldiers that were advancing on us didn't seem to be paying any attention to what I was saying at all. They just kept chanting their mantra.

"Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders."

"Stop." Reece yelled at them.

"Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders." They still weren't listening to us at all.

"We're going to have to fight them, aren't we?" Landon asked with sadness in his voice. "They aren't doing this because they want to, but we still have to fight them."

"Incapacitate them, don't kill them, don't hurt them. I want you all to keep in mind that they are not our enemies. They are innocent in all of this. I do not want them irrevocably hurt and punished because of someone else's wrong doings."

"Yes, Queen Trinity." Everyone answered me in unison.

"Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders."

The chanting continued as the fighting broke out. They had us outnumbered but that wouldn't be an issue. Almost everyone with us was able to fight with special abilities. In an instant, Trevor, Landon, and Vincent shifted into their animal forms. Reece decided to take on his Lycan form. Nathair became the giant snake that he had inside of him, a twenty foot long blue Malaysian coral snake; he was frightening to look at. Kayda became a fifteen foot long, powerful looking Komodo dragon that was a beautiful glittering green color. Rahim didn't transform, but he did let his magic flare around him just the same as I did.

"Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders." The knights hadn't even stopped their chanting when they saw the transformations in front of them. They were waiting for us to come for them.

"Try not to kill anyone." I reminded them just as I lashed out for the soldier in the lead.

I had flung a whip made of light at the Fae that was closest to me. The whip wrapped around him, and I tugged him toward me, pulling him off of his feet. As soon as the soldier had unbalanced and fallen, I let the whip dissipate and closed him inside of a magic cage. I had practiced these cages years ago, and I never truly thought that they would come in handy at any time, but I was wrong now, wasn't I?

I did my best to pay attention to the others that were fighting around me, but I was also busy fighting as well, so I didn't have that luxury. Right now, I had three soldiers that were coming at me from different angles, so I decided to let a three stooges type moment happen. I jumped into the air and let the wind hold me suspended in the air. The moment that I was out of the way, the three soldiers ran headfirst into each other and collapsed onto the floor. I sent out my whip again and split it into three. I wrapped it around their feet and lifted the three stooge guards from the floor and promptly dropped them into the magic cage along with the other soldier.

When I looked around me, I saw that Nathair was holding two different soldiers wrapped up in his tail. Kayda had one guard clenched gently in her mouth and another under her feet. Rahim had taken my lead and was using whips to hold the soldiers.

"All of you, put your captives into this cage." I called out to them. They would be able to push them in through the bars but they wouldn't be able to escape in the same fashion.

Reece, who had one soldier in each hand, started to follow the command without me needing to tell him. Vincent also took the soldier he was fighting and dragged him over toward the cage. It was slowly growing with each man added to the confines of the cage.

Landon and Trevor were having a little bit of trouble not hurting the soldiers that were going after them. They had a natural defense that also worked as an attack. Every time one of the soldiers reached for them their hands would be speared on the ends of the fur that was covering Landon or Trevor's body. And they were both so much larger than when they initially transformed.

Trevor, who was already almost ten feet tall when he was in his bear form, was now nearly twenty-five feet tall. Landon, whose head was six feet off the ground when on all fours, was now at least fifteen feet off the ground, from head to tail he was at least twenty five feet long as well.

Knowing that I wanted the soldier alive and in the cage, Landon opened his large mouth and caught two of the soldiers in his mouth simultaneously. He didn't bite down, he just kept them still as he walked them over to the cage. Trevor did something similar, only he hooked his three foot long claws through their armor and carried them like shopping bags in his hands.

The fight was almost over, there were only three more that needed to be captured but they showed no sign of backing down.

"Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders. Guard the castle. Stop the intruders."

Their chants continued as Reece, Landon, and Trevor grabbed them easily. There was no fight at all, they just picked them up and put them into the growing magical cage.

"That was easy." I heard Reece's guttural and animalistic words.

"They were being controlled by someone, so they would only fight at the capacity of their controller. That is my guess anyway." I shrugged and looked at the people around me who had transformed. "All of you, shift back. I will provide you with new clothes."

They listened and did as I said immediately. Well, I could say that I finally saw what a lot more men looked like naked. And none of them were a disappointment. Even Kayda was beautiful when she shifted back. Why was it I felt inadequate compared to her right now? Probably just the residual idea that I am still carrying around extra bits from the babies.

Anyway, I pushed the thoughts out of my mind and waved a hand through the air. The next thing that we all knew, the naked individuals were clothed again.

"I think we're going to have to figure out some magical clothes that won't be destroyed when we shift." I smirked at them all. That way no one is ever naked when they shift back."

"If anyone can do that, it would be you." Reece smiled at me as he came back to me. "I don't want to see that look in your eyes when you see naked men again."

"Jealous?" I laughed at him.

"Always.." He growled at me.