The land of Sanitatum is said to be filled with magic, but it is also plagued by a contagious curse that threatens humanity's survival. It is the purpose of the heir to the throne, Simba Adofo, to inherit his father's crown and find a way to vanquis...
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Back in the carriage, Hari sat with the baby as Simba walked alongside the horse with reigns in hand. The mother the boys had silently taken hostage sat on the horses back, made to look like an average citizen leaving the city with her family. Simba coached her on what to say to the guards if asked directly. They couldn't afford her to step out of line.
She would explain if asked that Hari and Simba, under different names of course, were her children for many years and returning home to her husband in the next city over. Hari was instructed to kill the child if anything went wrong, but Simba knew he would do the complete opposite if he heard a commotion. But that wasn't his primary anxiety. He hoped that with the extra disguise of a believable family, there would be no commotion slipping past guards only equipped to deal with a generic description.
Simba had explained to Hari before they set off that the bulky guarding at the gates was not typical city procedure, but Considering the panic his father caused, it was now a new roadblock. Upon one look of the soldiers at the gate, Simba identified them as "dispensables", explaining that they were insignificant in the court so his father most likely only passed on a vague description to be on the lookout for; the soldiers who had never seen his face would look out for suspicious activity and people who met the description. The only visual record of Simba was a family portrait that once hung in his old castle before the invasion, but that was left in haste during the war.
Due to this missing portrait, the only way to convey his likeness was through the faulty spoken word or an inaccurate hand drawn illustration from memory. Only when the description was met would they detain an individual and inform higher inner circle members that have laid eyes on his face- or one of the few that now exist after Simba's display at the campsite. He had explained to Hari before they reached the market that with a lack of inner circle members, his father wouldn't likely send such valuable kingdom faculty to perform menial tasks. It was a system that had never broke, and with the scarcity of his court, Simba suspected it wouldn't anytime soon. With the city in upheaval, Hari and Simba could use the woman to veil themselves as worthless travelers.
In the carriage, the baby started to make whines of distress under Hari's solo care, Hari shushed the child with a wiggling finger. but she continued to sound like a horn. Surely a distressed child was not an indicator of a close family if inspected further- it would only raise suspicion. Darwin hopped over to the brim of the basket, peering in on the child while whispering a quiet song that made the child reach for his blue wings, smiling and giggling once again. Hari huffed a puff of relief. Maybe it was a hidden blessing the curse wouldn't allow him to have a kid after all; he didn't seem skilled at caring or protecting others.
Simba had dismissed the driver so the woman could sit on the back of the horse as she was guided to the gates. Simba had drawn down his hood from his head to look less suspicious, letting his face be visible from all angles, No one knew who he was, and he was dealing with run-of-the-mill soldiers after all. They wouldn't know a citizen from a royal even if they were to look them in the face- which he was about to.
