"Kydobi, your mother requests your presence immediately."

The prince had been considering a lot of things as of late. His future was ripped from security into the shadowy depths of uncertainty. He had once been promised the crown, the land, and the name. But he had been stripped of it all. It hurt.

Oh it hurt so badly.

The man who raised him. The man who he had believed was his father- who was his father, had disowned him. For what? Because half the blood in Kydobi's veins was not from him? He had no one. Not even allowed to stay in the temple anymore. He was nothing but a bastard. An accident.

His mother didn't even defend him. It's for the best Kydobi, she said. She had slept with another male... For the "best". So when she requested his presence he was angered. Sure she was late term, no doubt she had given birth. Why did she want to taunt him? Show him the children who would have all the things he had lost?

"Where is she?", he asked the servant.

"By the river."

Oh she most certainly had given birth. Kydobi sighed and got up, looking at the rosette female, "You can leave." She dipped her head and bounded away. Quickly he headed down to the river. It must be important for she never called him anymore.

***

Upon arrival he would see her, laying there with two lumps suckling. Just two. It was always two. When she saw him her eyes widened.

"My son, quick there is little time.", he had been on a bitter streak but seeing his mother so fearful struck a pang in his heart, "Kaziko... We... I have... He has a son, and a daughter. But now he has an heir. A true heir." Kydobi winced, it was hard to be reminded he was not worth royalty. That he wasn't a "true" heir, the word reminded him of it.

"Make like your brother. Flee. I fear the worst."

Kydobi snorted, now Kaziko disowned him but kill him? He surely would not. The young feline leaned down and sniffed the children, "What are their names mother?" He wouldn't bother with her warning, she had just given birth she was delirious.

"Did you not hear me? Kaziko will not want a threat for his son. For his children."

He turned his head sharply and snapped, "He would never, he loved me and Kyrzoba at one point. He named us,as he will name those two. Tell me, how could he simply just stop? How could he hate us so quickly?"

She was taken aback, her sons were always the most polite and respectful but fear was overcoming her. Fear for her baby, "Kydobi I would never tell you to run unless I knew in my heart something ill would happen."

"But why would he hurt me!"

Her guard stepped forward, much larger than the youth who had yet to develop fully. She signaled for the brute to stand down. But that hurt, he had a feeling if he was still considered Kazkio's son that guard would never have stepped forward.

In a hush quiet tone Adisa said, "Because you are a reminder of his greatest flaw. His deepest insecurity. His infertility. The same flaw that caused his wife to seek seed from another male. His lack of potency haunts him."

Now that irritated him, "No one told you to sleep with another man for his sake."

"It was for the best. I never thought Jazeera would come back. I didn't even know his name until he came asking for you two."

Kydobi snorted, "I'm not going to run. I like to think I know the man who raised me."

But she just stared in disbelief, "That isn't even... Nevermind. Sleep well and take caution my son. He'll announce them tomorrow morning no doubt"


***
It was sunrise and the stone temple was in a cleared section of the rather dense jungle. It was only here that one could witness the rosy sunrise. Still crisp and yet to become humid the day was refreshing so far.

Servants and messengers had managed to spread word of the meeting. There he was, the King. Standing in all his glory a top of the stair way as the sun rose behind him. Rather grand. Kydobi walked up the stair case to stand next to his father where the Princes belonged but Kaziko growled. Oh right, he took a step back and sat among the commoners.

"As you all know," he paused to give Kydobi a glance, "Queen Adisa has given birth. To two beautiful healthy children, no still borns or mutations. Only the strongest carry the Adebisi surname. And it is my highest pleasure to announce to you the birth of my one and only son. Jabari, he will inherit the crown and my lands."

Kydobi stood up, he would not show jealousy or sorrow. He may no longer have the title of Crown Prince but he still had the manners and skills of one. Eyes met his mother, infants suckling away. See nothing would happen, he said in his eyes. But her own looked as if she was mourning.


"For this reason, I cannot let any threats live near me and my children," he turned to Kydobi a steely looked in his yellow hues, "It is for the best the I sentence Kydobi and his brother Kyrzoba to death. Should Kyrzoba be found of course."

The shadowy youth stood in shock with the rest of the crowd. The jungle had never been so quiet.

"Mama!", guards headed towards him and she turned her head to not meet her child's eyes. It hurt her. This killed her. But she was in no shape to run. To flee. Or to protect anyone. It was for the best that she stayed in her place.

"Mama!" Kydobi cried as the crowd parted to allow the husky males towards the boy. Kydobi snarled, ears pinned to his ears. Something broke, he couldn't believe it. Where was the justice? How could he be punished for something out of his control?

But he knew he would certainly die. Those males were larger, they had the number advantage, and they would move to kill. So he turned and fled. In hot pursuit. Quickly he scrambled up the trees, thankful for his training. Masterful in his gripping paws he scaled the tall building like nothing. It was there that he jumped from branch to branch. His paws unnaturally sticking to any surface he wished.

It seemed he ran for hours. For days. For years. For centuries, before he broke out of the jungle. Carefully he climbed down the last tree and ran some more. His body was going to collapse. And it did. He laid in the field, breathing heavily. His lungs were screaming for air. His heart was hurting. His chest was going to burst. But he did not die. At least his body didn't but the life he knew was gone.

As he laid in the field, tears trickled down the boys face. Leaving plastered fur as their only trail. Among the tall grass laid a lone sobbing figure. Kydobi didn't know what he was going to do now. All was lost. The sun was still high in the sky but more than ever he wished this day was over. He couldn't stay here forever, they would come. So he got up, his legs felt like jelly and each step wobbled but he kept going. And kept going.

Where was his brother? Where did Kyrzoba go? He wished he could have left with him. But the boy never gave his brother the chance, he was gone in the night. Then a sudden fear overcame him. What if Kyrzoba never left? What if he died. Now that didn't seem so far fetched. Sighing the boy continue onward.

Images of his mother not even meeting his gaze pierced him. Images of Kaziko commanding his death replayed. Over and over and over.

***

The sun was low and so was he. He had no energy to hunt. So he would sleep, above in a tree. And then tomorrow he would continue walking without a purpose and without a destination. For the first time he would sleep without rest and he would never ever fully drift into unconsciousness again.


Because it was for the best that he never make himself vulnerable again