Charlie couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. He didn't hesitate.

His reaction was pure animal, the need to protect driving him more then logic ever would.

He lunged.

The rope around his neck barely deterred him as it snapped almost cleanly and trailed in his wake. He moved like a snake, starved by winter and maddened from hunger who had spotted his first opportunity at a meal.

By the time Charlie had landed, every set of eyes was on him as was every weapon.

With their attentions too focused on him that no one thought to see what the wolf had spotted. Too fearful for what Charlie could potentially do to them to think about the bigger picture.

Even Evie had turned to look at him in panic and she ducked out of his path, wrong direction.

Not noticing the danger, all Charlie cared about was the one posed to his sister.

Passing them with a speed which lightning would have envied. His paws found the edge of the stream and he leaped.

In his wake, Evie yelled as though certain he had leapt for her with every intention of killing her. She lifted one hand to cover her face and the other reached for the knife strapped to the belt of her dress and she raised that too.

Crossing the stream without taking notice of her, he cleared it like it was little more than a paw-print wide and landed hard. He tore threw the grass, biting and tearing as he went without care for who the man hiding might have been.

He had threatened Evie, and he wasn't going to let that go lying down.

A loud cry was cut off abruptly, and it was over almost as quick. Charlie all but tore the stranger in half as he drove his fangs through his throat and bit down. Blood spattering over his muzzle and filling his mouth with the metallic taste of blood.

For a moment, he didn't let go. Keeping his grip as though he feared that the stranger would still be alive. Very few things could have survived what Charlie had done to the man, but his anger didn't let him see that.

A hand on his shoulder made him jump and he leapt up, baring his fangs he would have lunged had he not realised to whom the hand belonged to. The very person he had done all of this to save.

She looked disgusted, but she seemed to understand in spite of it.

"He's dead, Charlie." She said firmly, but not without kindness. As one might have done a child.

Only then did he let the body drop.

Without looking back, Charlie jumped back across the stream. With noticeably less elegance then he had the first time but he landed carefully and he walked past the still gawping crowd. He didn't look back, he had a point to make.

Slipping past the gathered men and women, his tail held high in the hair behind him as he went. He found his way to the snapped rope left around the trunk of the tree, and sat down in front of it. Expectantly.

Alone amongst the roots of the tree, no one spoke for a moment. The look of astonishment identical on almost all of their faces, all except for his family and Evie. Their faces carried an expression he wasn't sure how to pinpoint.

They were all astonished by the display of control he had shown.

He was among them on that note. Not that he was ever going to tell them that.

Now the adrenaline was beginning to drain from his veins, Charlie realised how bad he was hurting. Whilst the stranger hadn't managed to land a bullet in him, he had landed a few more punches then he had realised and Charlie was now taking the tall.

Regardless, Charlie sat with his head high and his eyes narrowed.

He may not have carried the title of Prince in years, but he could play the role as well as anyone.

For years he'd pretended to be sane for the sake of his father's reputation. It had never worked.

No one was stupid enough to believe that the dropping bodies were unrelated after a while.

Every set of eyes was now on Charlie, and they all regarded him with a strange mixture of terror and surprise of the events they had witnessed. Part of Charlie wanted to cower beneath their eyes, he had never been one to enjoy attention, considering his nature.

But now he forced himself to stand tall beneath their gazes.

He had eyes for only one man, and his gaze stayed glued to the King.

The need to hold the gaze was like nothing he had ever known other then the need to kill. It was an animalistic need to prove something, though what he was trying to prove he wasn't entirely certain.

Silence fell between them, and it was as though in that minute they were the only people on earth. They stared each other down, Charlie barely dared to breathe as he waited for a reaction, anything.

The King blinked.

Charlie looked away.

Robert stepped forward.

Glancing up at his elder brother as he approached, Charlie hesitated. Watching his sibling in caution trying to make eye contact with him, but failing.

In his hands he carried a fresh piece of rope, and he tied it around the neck of the wolf. Notably less tight then it had been before, but the message the gesture carried was clear for anyone to see.

This had changed nothing.

It would have been idiotic for him to think that it would have been, a lifetime of destruction had broken what little chance he would ever have of making this better. At least not in a single act or minute.

For all sakes and purposes, Charlie was a prisoner to these people. He didn't care, his friend was safe. And he intended to keep it that way.

"We need to get going," the King's voice caught Charlie by surprise. "We don't know how many friends that man had with him, nor who he was. We could very well be sitting ducks here." The King spoke calmly in spite of the grim subject of his words.

Nodding split across the army, though still no one spoke. Apparently the surprise had stolen their ability to speak, but not their ability to follow orders. They parted and set about preparing to leave.

A tug around the neck sent Charlie following his brother in an equal silence. His tail batting from side to side as he walked, keeping his head high in spite of it all. He pretended to not notice the gazes which followed him as he went.

It was going to take a lot of work to make these people trust him again.

Part of him doubted if he ever would, were things to go downhill once again. As it inevitably always did. Charlie twitched his tail tip in frustration, it felt as though the weight of the world was beginning to set itself on his shoulders.

A weight he wasn't entirely certain he'd be able to carry.

Not that he had a choice, the way things were planning out.

Robert remounted his horse and looked to the King who was doing the same. Charlie sat obediently at the feet of his older prince's steed. His ears twitched back and forth as he listened to everything he could. Trying to catch any sounds of more enemies hiding in the shadows, for the time being he couldn't find anything.

His paws itching to get out of this dangerous place, though he didn't know if the place they were headed next was even more so.

"Let's go," The King said after a moment and the army set off once again.

Trotting to keep up with the others, Charlie followed his brother silently. The ache, whilst beginning to fade was now leaving him stiff. He moved cautiously, each step sending a shockwave down his spine from the impact he let out a short groan.

"You ok?"

The older prince's words took Charlie aback, whilst the concern didn't follow his words. The fact that he'd thought to ask gave the young wolf at least some hope. Even if it was just a very small amount.

Charlie hesitated, uncertain of how to respond. Honesty would get him nowhere, they needed to get going and arrive as soon as possible. But his brother would be able to smell any lie from a mile away.

"I'm ok," there was a mixture of honesty and sugar coating to his tone.

"Good," Robert said firmly. The silence falling between them once again as they went.

But just as Robert and Charlie reached the edge of the clearing, the older brother pulled his mare to a stop and spun her around.

Yanked by the neck around in a circle, Charlie stumbled to catch his step. Looking up at his brother expectantly, scared that he had seen something that was a cause for concern. But Robert didn't return the look.

His gaze was glued to the other side of the clearing, the tension running through his jaw was visible and his frown turned his face stony. Robert concentrated hard on something Charlie couldn't see.

Squinting, he strained to see what might have caught his brother's attention. The young wolf was on edge for any enemy which might slip from the shadows and kill them all. Prepared to fight till the end if that's what it took.

But he could see nothing.

One wrong move and it could mean the end of them all, but Charlie couldn't see what it was.

"What's wrong?" His words were quiet, fearful that something might hear them were he be too loud. Charlie could feel the red beginning to sharpen at the edges of his vision, and he didn't make any moves to stop it.

It could be their only chance at survival were something to actually go wrong right then.

At last Robert sat up and spun his mare back around, urging her into a run and giving Charlie little choice other then to follow or be dragged in his wake. Apparently the older prince had decided that there was nothing there.

As the pair of brothers made their way back to the main army, there was a small movement in the bushes that they had failed to notice earlier.

They were being followed.