Ok, so I figure that the beginning of the climax is as good a place as any to change this story's rating to T. There's a little more grit in this chapter than there was before, even with the wolves, and some more adult subject matter. So if you don't want to read something that could be disturbing, you should not read on. However, this is the beginning of a final duel with the big villain. If it wasn't disturbing I'd be ashamed of myself as a writer.

Still, oh yee of weak constitution or too young an age, yee have here been warned.

Emile growled low in his throat, his hackles rose, and he sunk onto all fours instinctively. There, standing not five feet from him, was the witch who had cursed him, his family, the royals and the world at large. And there was Rhonwen, the first person beside his parents who had ever treated him with kindness by her own choice, only a foot from the witch and completely defenseless. His eyes widened as he realized that she couldn't move; she was frozen in fear and staring at the witch. Slowly, instinctively, he started to prowl forward towards Aega, his other friends and all strategy forgotten in favor of the scene before him. The logical part of his mind screamed No! Stop and think of some kind of plan or try to talk the witch down! She can see you coming! But that voice of reason had grown smaller, and now he found himself governed by the thudding of his heartbeat as adrenaline sped it and the defensive instincts screaming Mine, stay away! Mine! Stay away!

Before he even knew where he was, he had stepped sidelong in front of Rhonwen, who had moved a few steps back and was looking between him and her brother on the floor with growing alarm and fear. But her fear only heightened his aggression, and now he could truly say that he was the Beast, body and mind. Beasts protect their own, and he felt his back arch and his fur stand out, inflating his already massive size twofold in appearance. He adjusted his footing to face the witch head on, and his already snarling face creased even more angrily, a loud, low pitched growl reverberating through the chamber in the form of the only word he could remember at that moment.

"BACK!" he roared, and he could feel everyone jump around him.

Their nervousness, instead of warning him down out of rage as it usually did, pushed him to go further. The witch had not moved, and that was deeply unsatisfactory. And the growl that escaped his chest both terrified and thrilled him when all she did in response to his threat was smile, her dead eyes meeting his. Fueled by his rage and the tension of fear he could feel in the air around him, he took a bold step forward, his forepaw slamming down with echoing effect right in front of the witch's left foot, his claws scratching her shoe. He pushed his face closer to hers, growling intensely before barking out that last word again.

"BACK!" he bellowed, rearing onto his hind feet as he did so as to tower over her even more.

"I'll die now," the witch said calmly and quietly in response, looking him in the eye with a cold dead green stare.

Frustrated and infuriated, Emile felt his forepaw come up before he was aware of its purpose in doing so, and it was only after it began sinking quickly that he realized and accepted wholeheartedly that he was going to hit the witch. And it was then, during that moment of cold realization when reason was audible for the briefest of seconds, that he heard a voice that would haunt him the rest of his days.

"No, don't!" the voice screamed, pleading and terrified, "EMILE STOP!"

Rhonwen couldn't breathe for the minutes after she run into Aega. Her brother was on the floor bleeding, the witch who'd put him there was standing right before her, and all she could do was stare. She felt keenly ashamed that she was so paralyzed, so lost to the fear that had taken her that she could not move, but no matter how many times she tried her body wouldn't budge. Her instincts had taken over and her body had reacted to the most severe conglomerations of fear she'd ever known. She was powerless, frozen like a dear when it first hears a twig snap.

Then her body moved, but still not by her own will. Something more terrifying had come into view than the witch, which she hadn't believed possible until she saw it. A huge, angry, monstrous beast prowled in front of her, its size defying logic and its low, throaty growl clearly audible. And her legs scrambled back three steps, even as her mind recognized that this was no beast.

This was Emile. This was Emile as she'd never seen him before, huge and angry and threatening. This was what the beastly form truly was, and never had she seen anything more terrifying. But this was still Emile. This was the gentle man she loved, and the bold man who was now between her and the greatest danger either of them had ever known. She looked at the back of his head fearfully, seeing his ears flicked back aggressively, and then remembered her brother lying injured behind the witch and looked to him. He had moved, slightly. It looked like he was trying to pull himself away. She watched him in his weak scrabbling for a moment, and then her eyes flicked back to Emile.

His body had tightened and his fur sat on end wherever it was free. His back had arched and the long, mane like stripe of dark, almost black fur running down his spine spiked out like a fin on the back of a fish, his spindled tail held strait and high. She felt more than heard the fearful sound that erupted from him then, the word "back" echoing through the hallways to sound more like the cry of some fearsome animal than a human word. Her traitorous body jumped and began to tremble, but strangely enough her mind came alive again in this next level of fear.

She looked back to her brother again, who looked like he'd used all his strength to flee in vain and collapsed, a terrified expression clouding his face. When he met her eyes, the two knew immediately, as they always did, what the other was thinking. He was afraid for Emilia. She was afraid for Emile. Her eyes snapped back to Emile when she heard a loud, terrible clap before her.

She discovered that it was made by his paw slamming onto the marble floor in front on the witch's feet, and was currently rising, no swelling up, onto his hind feet menacingly, his fangs an inch from the witch's face and his eyes glaring with an inhuman rage into her dead stare. Rhonwen gaped as he bellowed again, louder this time, directly into the Aega's face. Her knees quivered and her stomach dropped at that sound, but the witch did not even flinch from the basest survival instinct. She just stared, cold and unaffected, and spoke in a quiet, almost pleased tone.

"I'll die now," she said, not even trying to move, just standing as still as a statue.

It was then that Rhonwen realized what was happening. She tasted bile in the back of her throat as she saw Emile's paw rise, his clawed digits spread and angled to cause the most damage. She knew what he was going to do, even before she realized it, as before his paw had reached its full height she was already running forward toward him, shoving survival instinct out the proverbial window. She couldn't let him do this!

But she saw it coming down before she could reach him and his growl rang in her ears as her voice tore its way from her throat.

"No, don't!" she croaked, her voice preparing to let loose the next phrase with all her desperation, "EMILE STOP!"

Emile felt the contact of the witch's face on his pam the next instant, and suddenly the world had other shades beside red again. His logic snapped back into place as he watched Aega fall, almost as if she was in slow motion. She fit the marble floor with a resounding thud, blood dripping down the left side her face from the three long claw marks he'd left. He stared in horror as she moved, groaning, trying to push herself back up, the collapsed back onto the ground. Then something touched him from behind.

Snarling in fear and surprise, he snapped around with his right hand/claws up to see Rhonwen standing behind him. Her large eyes were huge and round with fear, tears spilling from them freely, and he stared at her for a minute, equally horrified. Then he slowly, painfully, turned his gaze to his claws. They were still suspended there in the air, like they were frozen in time. He stared in shock as blood, human blood, dripped from the end on his claw on his right forefinger. Then something touched him again and he twitched back fearfully, though this time he saw what it was.

Rhonwen had stepped forward, reached out her tiny little hands, and taken that bloody, cursed claw into them, holding it tight. He twitched back and her grip tightened, not allowing him to pull his hand free. Then slowly, carefully, she pulled him forward again and touched his hand to her face, looking him in the eyes the entire time.

"Emile," she said softly, a pleading tone in the whisper that sent a shiver through him, "It's me. Emile, it's me. It's ok."

The thudding of his heart started to slow, and his eyes never left hers as he felt his fur lying back down slowly. She seemed so calm, despite the shaking of her hands on his finger. Her eyes were stability, sanity, and they seeped into his until they reflected the same. Finally, he was himself again. Both the raging and the fearful animals gone.

And with this dawning humanity returned, he suddenly remembered his actions when he had lost himself. His eyes brimmed with tears as he saw himself strike the witch down, and he looked to Rhonwen for stability again, his hand now the one shaking with fear.

"What have I done?"

Rhonwen held fast to Emile's finger, even when he twitched away and she could feel his claw dig into her palm. She held on because she would not lose him to this creature, this beast. She would get him back, pull him back from that door to insanity before it was too late, or she'd die trying. She could hear the others scrambling around behind her, someone coming up behind her and some others running in the direction of her brother, but she kept her eyes on Emile. If she let go of those eyes now, she was sure that she'd lose him. Gradually, the animal fear that had taken control on his face lessened, and she found herself face to face with the man she knew. He was distraught, confused, but this was Emile. The horror in his voice sickened her as he glanced around, then looked back to her with tears in his eyes and spoke.

"What have I done?" he asked, his voice quivering.

She didn't know how to answer, so she stroked his finger, trying to comfort him however she could. Luckily, one of the others answered for her in the unmistakable tones of Ahmed. She'd never thought she could be happy to hear that voice, but today seemed to be the day for never to happen.

"You did nothing more than that bitch deserved," Ahmed said coldly, coming up behind Rhonwen rather hesitantly, though he tried to hide it with a confident stance.

Emile looked over to Ahmed bleakly, and Rhonwen was sure it was safe now to look away. She glanced behind Emile where the witch had fallen, and tensed when she realized what she saw. Aega was not dead!

Emile felt Rhonwen tense and swirled, placing himself between her and whatever danger there was where she was looking. Then his eyes widened in shock as he saw what she did. Aega was not dead. She was alive, she was moving, she was…she was sitting up. His ears flicked back and he struggled to contain himself even as his heartbeat rose. He would not be an animal. He was a man. And he would act like a man.

He heard Ahmed draw his sword over his left shoulder and shout something of a warning to the others, but all he could pay attention to was Aega as she lurched back up into a sitting position and rocked her head up to meet his eyes. He heard Rhonwen gasp behind him, and he would have done the same if the gasp and the gag reflex had not canceled each other out. Aega's face was torn from the temple down to the chin with three deep, almost vertical gashes, the central cut exposing the white of teeth where it had pierced through her cheek. Emile felt the bile rise to his throat as he looked from the cut to the woman's chilling eyes.

They were unchanged. Her eyes had no pleading, no suffering, nothing but cold, stony emerald. She breathed deeply once and Emile jolted back, putting his right arm out behind him to protect Rhonwen. But Aega did not attack. She just sat there, staring at them all, sitting gracefully on her knees with a patient expression, as if she was waiting for something. After a moment, when nobody had moved, she blinked once and spoke, the blood dripping from her cheek as it moved.

"I will die now," she stated, that same quiet, unaffected voice that she'd spoken with before he struck her.

Emile didn't know what to think or say to that. He simply stood where he was, staring. The rest did the same, or at least he thought they did, because he heard no movement. But apparently he was wrong, because just as he was beginning to think that they would remain locked in this freakish, statuesque silence forever, a small voice over his right shoulder proved him wrong.

"No, you won't," it said, and Emile recognized Rhonwen's voice with both horror and awe.

"No, you won't," Rhonwen said, her voice soft and small, but hard, "We won't kill you."

There was a great moment of silence then. She had guessed before Emile hit her that this was what was happening, and now Aega confirmed it herself. Aega was not trying to lure them here to kill them at all. Rhonwen didn't understand why, but that didn't matter. They were not going to be used for something so…so terrible. She would not allow it.

"We. Will. Not. Kill. You," she said, this time louder and with more confidence, "We are not tools. We will not be used, not by Circe and not by you. Go now."

With that, she turned her back on the witch, walking swiftly but deliberately towards her brother, who the others had crowded around and were trying to help. She knelt beside him, not paying any attention to the witch behind her in her confidence that all those around her were, and unwrapped her hair swiftly. Rufus looked up at her with brown eyes clouded over with a bad head injury. His face was questioning and pained, but he no longer had the strength even to lift his head. Rhonwen wrapped her hair around his head and stroked his cheek gently while she sang the song in a soft tone. As her hair glowed, she saw the life come back to his eyes and felt his hand, strong and firm, grasp her upper arm.

"Rhoni?" he asked, his face now concerned but his voice still weak, "Are you insane? What are you doing?"

Rhonwen smiled and kissed his forehead, her happiness at his recovery almost untouched by the tension vibrating almost audibly through the air as every eye but hers was trained on the witch, watching for her next move. Her brother was alive and well. Now she could face this without weakness.

Slowly, she grasped the back of Rufus' hand and pulled it from her arm. She smiled once more at him, taking in the sight of his healed head, then she stood slowly and turned back to Aega, trying not to show the dread she felt on her face.

Emile was terrified. He was terrified by the witch, sitting unnaturally still as her eyes alone followed Rhonwen's movements. Terrified that she would spring up at any moment and start throwing spells around like hunting knives. Terrified that he wouldn't be fast enough to save any of his friends from hurt. But most of all, Emile was terrified by the courage that Rhonwen had just verbally thrown out onto the witch's lap.

Emile knew that Rhonwen was strong, smart, and wanted the best for everyone, but he had never seen the determination in her eyes that he saw when she made that statement.

"We. Will. Not. Kill. You."

Now she was kneeling, her back to Aega, and healing her brother. All he could do was gape at the witch and Rhonwen in turn. Aega's face did not change. Her eyes were the only tell that what Rhonwen had said hit true at all, but her eyes were all that was needed. There was a desperation, a longing in those eyes that couldn't de described, but also something else, something horrible. The deepest despair that Emile had ever seen was laid bare when those few, small words came from that one, small girl. Suddenly, he realized what was going on and his eyes widened. What had he done?!

Rhonwen stood and turned back around, and Emile flicked an ear toward her, not trusting the witch to stay still now that Rhonwen faced her once more. But Aega stayed unnaturally motionless, just staring into Rhonwen's eyes with her dead, passionless stare. Then she made everyone in the room shudder by speaking, softly and with a deliberate voice.

"What must I do?" she asked, her face finally changing to look searching, "What must I do, that my crimes would be worthy of death?"

There it is. More to come soon, with spring break I have a little more free time. Let me know what you think all, the conclusion is close at hand!