When Ryeth's wing cracked against that icicle and he spiraled to the floor, I lost patience waiting for the Ancients to wake. I shifted to human, yelping against the cold air on my tender, unprotected skin, the ice burning my feet, and slapped the face of the sleeping centaur in front of me. I didn't expect it to work. I just needed to do something.

His eyes flashed open with a green glow and I fell backward onto my ass, not even noticing the cold in my shock. The centaur raised his hands in a defensive stance and whipped around, finally focusing on me. He reared, raising his hooves, but I yelled, "Ryeth is in danger!"

His hooves fell to the ground abruptly. "The others?"

"Still asleep," I said.

The centaur closed his eyes and drew his hands together in front of his body and then threw them out to his sides. A ray of green light sliced through the air, and then he marched out of the cell. Vault. Whatever it was. Shivering involuntarily now, I shifted back to wolf and followed tentatively after. The rest of the pack were emerging from the Council vaults they'd been watching over, and the five Ancients we awoke, took a moment to survey the scene.

Ryeth was screaming. Blue blood was flying everywhere. Sinsaya arched above him, his fangs exposed as he reared back for a final strike.

A bolt of blue energy struck his chest, throwing him off of Ryeth. Green vines cracked through ice and slithered around the dragon, binding him.

I wanted to rush to Ryeth, but he was thrashing in pain, and it would not be safe. His screams echoed in my head.

A blue skinned woman with glowing white hair did not have the same fear I had. The moment she touched Ryeth's skin, he calmed. I could feel the numb relief spread through him. She approached his neck, which was spurting blood into the air, and laid her hands on the wound, not caring about the steam hissing between their bodies at her touch. The pain slowly disappeared completely, and Ryeth relaxed. When she finally backed away, he stood without hesitation or any sign of injury.

Heliyah has healed me, he said. I rushed to him, and we both shifted into human form. I wrapped my arms around him, so thankful he was alive. No one should have to go through thinking their loved one is going to die, and I had just been through it twice.

The centaur approached us.

"Well met, Ryeth. There is much to be explained, but I suspect much of it will lay at your brother's feet."

"Perhaps not as much as you might think, Kartuf," Ryeth said. As long as he was touching me, I didn’t feel the cold. That was useful.

He greeted the others, one by one, ignoring his brother's spitting struggles. Ryeth introduced each Ancient by name to the pack while sharing more information with me privately. Heliyah is a naiad. Kartuf, a centaur. Wipsil, a wind elemental. Bodan, a leviathan. T'kos, unicorn.

Kartuf seemed to take the lead. "Thank you for assisting our brethren, spirit children. I would like to thank you properly, but we have a more pressing issue to attend to first."

The Council circled Ryeth's brother, and the unicorn approached his bound body and speared Sinsaya's leg with her horn. His horn? Did unicorns have a gender?

Sinsaya shrunk suddenly, and the vines rustled, falling away to reveal him in human form, cursing and grasping at the wound on his leg.

"Ryeth," Kartuf said, his voice somehow even more serious than before. "I accuse your brother of attacking a Council member, as witnessed with my own two eyes."

"Witnessed," agreed Heliyah, and the others echoed her.

"For that he must be judged. Are there any considerations we must weigh first?"

Ryeth's emotions were… strange to me. He didn't feel angry. He didn't feel vengeful. He felt... sad. Full of regret. He had given his brother every chance, but still he had chosen an evil path. "Sinsaya stands accused of conspiracy against the Council, intent to commit murder, intent to commit genocide. He fathered many children, seeking a dragon heir, and abandoned each partner and child when they failed to provide what he was looking for. He murdered five humans, and caused one of his children to try to kidnap many children under the guidance of the pack who assisted us today."

I shifted and stepped forward to Ryeth's side. "Witnessed," I said boldly, and the pack echoed me. Ryeth reached out for my hand, and suddenly, I wasn't cold anymore. His heat warmed me from tip to toe.

Kartuf nodded. "Who would speak a judgement against this man?"

The Ancients were silent, waiting for something.

For me, Ryeth said. He took a deep breath. "Death."

"Death," Bodan grumbled, and the others each confirmed the sentence, ending with Kartuf.

"Death." Kartuf looked to Ryeth.

Sinsaya had stopped cursing. He stopped struggling. He simply glared at his brother.

"It is your duty, but another can shoulder the burden if this path is too much for you."

Ryeth shook his head. He dropped my hand, and the cold returned, though I resisted the urge to shift.

Ryeth approached his brother, one finger shifting into a long, sharp claw. He stood silently in front of Sinsaya. If they spoke, Ryeth hid it from me. After a moment, Ryeth whispered, "I'm sorry, brother." He raised his hand, and brought it down in one fell strike.

It was done.