The Shade knew the devil's thoughts as though they were his own; the fool must not even be trying to conceal his motives. He relayed this knowledge to Ebyn,

"You can slay this thing, no problem. And the girl-she'll get out, as long as you stay focused."

"What about Durzas?"

The two werewolves, now in canine form, looked up curiously at the man as he spoke Durzas' name. But the Barghest charged at the white wolf, and both were distracted by the ensuing battle.

The Shade looked cynically as the two wolves tore at the Hell-dog,

"He will not make it. It is the sacrifice that must be paid for your stalling."

Ebyn's face contorted in rage; suddenly, his cloak fell away, revealing his true form. Strema smiled appreciatively at her lover's bravado. She could not see him now, but the familiar sound of the rushing fabric through the air recalled visions of his former battles. The flesh of the man melded perfectly with that of the chain devil. Knowing her level of magic would be of little help anyways, she used a spell to cast day-light. To her delight, the brightness momentarily stunned the Barghest, and it backed away, whimpering. But Durzas, now bleeding from the bite, crouched in horror at the sight of the man. Ebyn knew he could take no time to explain; instead, he loosed the long metal chains from his arms, and began to expertly swing them at the Barghest. His blows landed perfectly on the beast; it was slain in a few moments. Strema sighed, something akin to a quiet howl in her current form, but her peace of mind quickly vanished at the sight of her brother. He no longer dawned the form of wolf, but instead lay pale and bloody on the ground as a fair-haired man. The Barghest had torn his throat open. He was barely still alive. She joined him in human shape, and rushed to his side. Ebyn, calming after the battle, and thinking he had altered what the Shade had said would happen, was quickly crestfallen at the sight. He didn't bother to recover his cloak as he usually did; his own form was ghastly and horrifying to himself.

Jogging over to where Strema crouched beside her bleeding brother, Ebyn knew the man would die.

"It's not that bad, right? I mean, I look a lot better than he does"

Ebyn smiled; even in his death, this werewolf was good natured. But Strema couldn't laugh with him. She had started to think that maybe things could go back to how they were in her puphood- simple, innocent. But her brother's death would only complicate things.

He turned his blond head to her then, and looked imploringly into her eyes. She couldn't stop the flow of tears as she saw the blue of his eyes over colored with the red of stress and impending death.

"Strema, I need you to tell Vitorie that he is the alpha. It will now be his responsibility to look after the pack, and end the truce with Makara if it becomes necessary. Do you understand?"

She nodded. A sob escaped her then. It rent at Ebyn's heart to see her this way. The Shade watched from the shadows; it hated being incapable of the healthier human emotions, an oddity in its character. Therefore, it was completely consumed in watching them play out. Like a child that saw something it didn't understand, the shade could only stare and wonder.

Knowing the important business of the truce was taken care of, Durzas turned to look at the atrocious man.

"So, you're not really all human, are you?"

Ebyn shook his head. But saw what he was getting at, and replied

"Neither is she."

Durzas nodded in agreement. Perhaps it was because he was dying, and with that came the instinctual sense of peace, but he somehow felt that this man-demon would always protect his sister.

"You take care of her, alright?"

"I will"

"Good; otherwise, I'd have to find a way to haunt you or something. And honestly, I was kinda looking forward to a more relaxing afterlife. You know, plenty of game, nice den, a pretty little-"

He voice cut short; he had passed on.

"Durzas? Oh no. He's gone, isn't he?"

Strema looked up at Ebyn with tear filled eyes. Real sunlight now streamed into the cave, silhouetting her form, but her eyes shown with a veracity of their own.

Ebyn nodded, and took her into his arms. The chains melted into the flesh, a painful exchange to hold her against his real skin. She wept aloud then, letting all the emotion in her fall away.

They spent the rest of the day erecting a monument in memory of Makara and Durzas. Using what was left of his magics strength, he sanctified the place. Doing this left him most weak because of the nature of his existence. The cleric from his former party had taught him a few holy spells-sanctification was one of them. But seeing the appreciation on her face made it all worth it. She took a step back, to fully admire what they had done in honor of the peace that had been obtained, then walked up to him and took his hand. Instead of putting his cloak back on, he simply picked it up, and they walked out of the cave together as the sun sank beneath the tree line.