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MXOLISI
*
I should have left immediately after Qophelo's crowning but things happened and I am still here. I should have been in New Zealand by now but then again I had things to handle, like my uncle. When we grew up we knew that Uncle Bheki didn't like out father very much. We knew that he had some sort of grudge over him but it wasn't until we were older we got to know that the hate is because he wants the throne. I don't understand how he expected to be King when he was not the first born. He knows that according to tradition, the first born is the one to be king unless the first born child doesn't want to be King or it's a girl.
I don't even understand why my uncle is fighting for the throne. I mean he is well taken care of. He has shares in one of dad's companies and he has his own company and a very beautiful house. The man is set for life. His family will never struggle for generations. It beats me that he still wants to be King and the deal he made with Edwaleni Kingdom, that deal was going to financially drain the Kingdom. Qophelo has been doing great with Kingdom. He has always been leader, even when we were little, he was always the leader. Me and him we were inseparable and we still are. Even at our young age, he was always the leader. When dad started grooming for the throne and me as his advisor and personal guard, everything just fell into place we knew and understood our roles hence there was never any animosity between us. Apparently our grandfather did the same with his sons but it was not easy because out uncle was always power hungry and greedy from a young age. Nothing was ever enough for him hence our father is now dead.
After watching the footage on the USB that mom gave us, I was so angry. I blamed myself for this wondering how I missed it. It made realize how messed the King's Guard is. I do complete back ground check on every employee, in fact my company does since my security company is responsible for the security of the palace and everyone in it but now I can see there is crack in my system, in my employees to be specific and that needs to fixed fast.
"Are you ready." He's been very quiet. He morphed after watching and ran into the forest which I was grateful for because the last we need is Iyana seeing him in his lion form before she is ready. We don't want to scare the poor girl, to be honest my brother is a huge Black Lion.
Qophelo: I'm ready. "I open the door to the room where we are keeping our uncle. We find him sitting on the edge of the bed, head bowed, hand on his lap. He looks like someone who has given up on life. I hope he has because he is never going to see the sun again, the if my brother doesn't bite his head off, literally.
Bheki: What are you doing here?
Qophelo: Why?
Bheki: What? Why what?
Qophelo: Don't annoy me by acting stupid as if you don't know what I am talking about. There's the file in front of you. Why?
Bheki: He took everything from me.
"That doesn't make sense. He was the first born child and you knew that traditionally he would be King. Make me understand what exactly is it that he took from you because from where I am standing you have everything that was meant to be yours."
Bheki: Except for your mother. "I quickly look at my brother and I find him looking at me, shock evident on both us.
Qophelo: What are talking about?
Bheki: Your mother was mine first, well she was supposed to be mine. I saw her first, spoke to her first. The two of you and your sister should have been my children. I loved your mother from the first day I saw her and spoke to her. She was so calm, so beautiful especially when the sun kissed her face. She has the most beautiful smile. I tried courting her and she told turned me down and told me she is a chosen for another prince. I told her, I didn't care, that I would not give up until she was mine. She never really entertained my advances towards her but I always made my intentions clear to her until I heard the seer telling my father about her, how she is the one for Zweli. I was shattered, even though she never entertained my advances, she was never rude to me, she had a way of rejecting and not make it hurt so much, still that didn't stop me from loving her. I still love hence I wanted to marry her after your father's death. The marriage proposal was not only about the throne, it was more for me having her in my life the I always wanted. To love her up close and love her right instead of loving her from a distance.
Qophelo: And you thought killing our father would bring you closer to her? How stupid can you be?
Bheki: I thought she would at least give us a chance.
"For someone who has been around her and has seen how much she loved her husband, my mother is not the type person to share a man with another woman and she doesn't look at you like that. You will always be her husband's brother, uncle to her kids nothing more. Even we practiced Ungeno, she would have fought tooth and nail not to marry you. She would have never wanted to spend the rest of her life with someone she did not love. As someone who claims to love her and has been around her for a long time, you would have noticed. I knew you desperate for the throne but I never thought you would kill your own brother for it, kill his sons as well."
Bheki: I didn't kill him. You don't have proof that I did.
"You must really think we are stupid. After all the information we threw at you, you still think we cannot prove we cannot prove that you killed him." I say matter of fact. I can also feel myself getting angry. I can feel my eyes changing, my fangs are getting longer, my hands and my are itchy and feeling hot. I'm trying to control myself and it's proving to be difficult. I can also sense my brother's anger .
Bheki: You can't change, you can't.
My brothered couldn't control his anger. He couldn't control his anger which led him to to fully transform into his majestic lion form. As I angry as I am, I quickly open the door and stupid Bheki runs out fast transforming and I follow suit with my brother on my heals. Bheki doesn't get far, Qophelo has him pinned to the ground and he has claws digging in his chest. I quickly run to him shove him away before he kills his uncle. In as much as he is angry, he would never be able to live with killing his own uncle. Bheki gets up and charges at him. Since I love my life and my lion enjoys the life we both live we decide to sit this one out. We tried to save him, so if wants to commit suicide, he can do it on his own. We'll just sit like the cat that we are and enjoy the show. He tries to claw my Qophelo's face but he is quick to dodge his paw and Qophelo returns a heavy slap on his face. He tries to just on his throat but he is met with another slap that lands him a few meters aways from Qophelo. He gets up panting, his brown fur stained with blood from his chest and a few scratches on his face. He is going to regret this tomorrow morning. I hear foot steps behind me, I can sense my mother and Sthembiso and he is in his lion form. Uncle charges at Qophelo again and this Qophelo catches him mid air biting into his front leg. That should make him give but he doesn't.
Upon seeing me just sitting there, Sthembiso decides to join me and mom stands next to see. Seeing that Bheki is determined to get himself killed my mother, God bless her kind heart, decides to save the poor man and calls him name. Immediately he turns to the sound of her voice and slowly changes back to human form and collapses to the ground buck naked. The guards that were close by watching the show as well, quickly rush to him, covering him up and rushing him to the hospital. Unlike Bheki, no one dares to get close to Qophelo when he is in his lion form. You'll just be sentencing yourself to death. I would say the guards were smart to remember that they still have families that need them. Mom walks over to her son, grabbing a fleece blanket that she has in her hand but he shakes his head, warning not to get close. She knows and she obeys watching the King battle with his anger.
Out of nowhere we see Iyana walking towards him, mom tries to stop her but she is stubborn, she doesn't listen. She takes the blanket from my mother and walks towards him. He stands there all majestic, shaking his head trying to stop but she get closer anyway. As soon as she stands in front of him, she puts the blanket down and raises her hand to touch his face. He steps back but she steps closer. How is she not scared of this huge cat in front her. They stand there looking at each and I see my brother lower his face to. She brings up her other hand and holds his face in her hands, she brings him closer and places her forehead. He closes his eyes and allows his anger to simmer down. I swear no one has ever been able to do that. To calm him like that. They stand like for a minute and he lowers himself, he gently pushes her with his her directing her to get on his back. She does exactly that, not forget to the blanket. She almost becomes invisible because of big Maine. I walk up to them.
"are you ok brother?"
Qophelo: I'll be fine.
I nod and he walks towards his side of the palace and heads towards the forest. My mom is still in disbelief. This moment seals everything about the two. She is the one. I feel my mother's hand brushing my Maine and tugging at me. We walk towards the palace with Sthembiso on the other side of her. Look at this woman walking like she owns the world with two lions, one on each side. Lucky woman. Oh, these two should just get on and stop hiding. I see her brushing him.
*
IYANA
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I never thought he could be this big. I didn't think I would see him in this form so soon. I could sense him. I could sense that he was not ok but what could have happened. I tried to use my powers to see what could have happened what could have caused all this but nothing concrete came, just fragments, pieces that I couldn't put together so I stopped trying and focused on him, on trying to help and found myself outside where he was. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and strangely enough I was not scared. All I knew and felt is that I needed to calm him down before he ripped this palace apart.
We are now sitting in front of a small pond in the forest, not far from the palace. He hasn't changed back to being human but he is calm now. His is on my lap and I'm busy brushing the sides of his face and he keeps purring softly. Gosh he is so big and I feel so small. I keep wondering what could have happened.
He moves and positions himself the way he did earlier and I get on. He walks back to the palace but time he takes a different route and leads to a cabin that is at the back. I never saw this before but then again I haven't explored the entire palace ground. This cabin is not small and the door is big, he can fit through it. He presses on the pad on the floor just on the side of the door frame, the door slides open and he walks through. Ok that was amazing. There is a big fluffy carpet placed in the middle of the room. He goes straight to and lowers himself I get off and sit right next to me and I watch him take a deep breath and he releases it and slowly he changes back to his human form. I quickly grab the blanket and cover him. He pulls me to him holding me tight. We sit like that and suddenly if feel him shaking and my shoulder getting wet. I hold him tighter and just let him be.
Qophelo: He killed my father. My Uncle killed my father, killed his own brother.
He keeps saying it between soft sobs. Eventually he falls asleep. I gently lay him on the floor and quickly grab a cushion on the couch to support his head. I turn on the fire place to get the cabin warm as the weather suddenly changed and it's now raining. I just sit there and watch him sleep.