After galloping through the jungles and fields the entire day, Yakshini and Devsena crossed the border of a small township named Humpi. The sun was now setting on the horizon. As the night fell, the township glowed in light of lamps. The streets of the township were well lit by street lamps placed at regular intervals.

  "Hey, I am hungry! Can we eat something first?", asked Devsena as they passed a flashy restaurant.

  Yakshini ignored her request and kept moving forward. Devsena lingered around the restaurant for a few more moments.

  Yakshini and Devsena reached a small cottage. The valet took their horses towards the stable at the end of the small garden. Yakshini observed the surroundings of the cottage and entered the building. Beyond the garden fences, Yakshini could see the jungle.

  "Excuse me?", Yakshini said as she rang the bell on the counter, the receptionist looked up from her novel, irritated.

  "What?", scoffed the receptionist.

  "Do you have a room for two people? preferably on the ground floor?", enquired Yakshini. The receptionist forced a smile as she recognized a potential customer. Devsena was eyeing a jar full of candies on the counter.

  "Yes, madam, of course we have such a room", said the receptionist as she fetched a key from the drawer and started walking down the corridor. The two followed her.

  They stopped in front of the last room. The receptionist opened the door with spare key and lit the lamp on the table. The room was spacious and well kept, two beds were aligned near the window, giving a good view of small garden beyond it.

  'Good room for a quick escape', Yakshini thought.

  They returned to the reception, Yakshini booked that room and paid in advance. Receptionist handed her the spare keys.

  "Can I take those candies?", asked Devsena looking at both Yakshini and receptionist.

  "Why not? they're free", replied receptionist with polite smile. Devsena picked a handful of candies and shoved them in her pocket.

  The couple took a shower, a warm shower after an exhaustive day was bliss. Then they changed into the clothes they bought from a market nearby.

  After the shower, they ordered the dinner, which got served pretty quickly. They completed their dinner without uttering a word, focused more on eating than talking.

  After the dinner, Devsena threw herself on the fluffy bed without a second thought. Yakshini took out the map from her bag and spread it on her bed, studying it carefully. Her bow and quiver were lying on the table along with other accessories.

  "So, are you a new recruit? I never saw you in court before", asked Devsena, lying on her bed.

  "Yes, well, kind of ...", said Yakshini without taking her eyes off the map.

  "It's strange, father will never risk sending a newbie to fetch me"

  "I told you princess, your father didn't send me, your mother did", frowned Yakshini.

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  Devsena was too tired to make sense of it. She soon surrendered herself to the sleep.

  Devsena woke up on her bed in royal palace. Her mother, the queen, was massaging her head.

  "Hello, mother", Devsena said smiling.

  Her mother smiled back and continued massaging her head.

  The massage soon grew into rough shaking.

  Devsena looked at her mother, who was no longer smiling.

  "You are hurting me, mother", complained Devsena.

  "Wake up princess, we must leave", urged the queen in a panicked tone.

  "What?!", asked confused Devsena.

  "We must leave, NOW", shouted Sachi but her voice was no longer hers. It was of ... Yakshini's.

  “This is the last cottage before the forest,” the policeman muttered to his companion as they entered the cottage.

  "This princess business is causing too much trouble, isn't it?, I'm working for twelve hours now", complained his companion.

  They reached the reception and rang the bell. The receptionist looked up from her novel, irritated.

  "What??", the receptionist snarled at both of them.

  "Easy, girl, have you seen her around?", asked the policeman as he pulled out a small portrait of the princess.

  The receptionist observed the portrait and then looked up at the policemen, then observed the portrait again for few more moments.

  "Who is she?", asked the receptionist.

  "She's the princess", whispered one of the policemen.

  The receptionist looked at the policemen, dumbfounded.

  "The princess who ran away??", whispered receptionist, making sure that no one is listening, although no one was there to hear.

  "Yes", one of the policemen whispered back.

  She raised a shaking arm, pointing towards the room at the end of the passageway.

  The policemen cursed under their breath as they drew their sword and started walking towards the room.

  Yakshini was studying the map on her bed, Devsena was sleeping peacefully on the other bed, then she heard a faint creaking sound. She ignored it. The sound came again, little louder.

  Yakshini stood behind the door, lowering the lamp to make the room darker. A few moments later she heard the keys rattling in keyhole and door got unlocked. A policeman entered the room, gripping his sword with both hands. Before he could react, Yakshini gripped him from behind and buried the dagger in his heart, making repetitive blows to puncture his torso with multiple wounds. In moments he dropped dead on the floor, resting his back on door, blocking his companion's entrance.

  The other policeman tried to force his way in but Yakshini blocked the door from opening with all her strength, the body leaning on the door helped her cause. Soon the policeman retreated and ran to alert other guards, the receptionist followed him.

  Devsena opened her eyes and looked at Yakshini who was tying the quiver to her waist.

  Then she gasped as she looked at the door and saw a policeman lying dead in a pool of blood with his back resting on the door.

  "We must leave, NOW", urged Yakshini as she tied last of the pouches to her belt.

  "What?! Why?!", mumbled Devsena.

  Yakshini grabbed Devsena's wrist and pulled her out of the bed.

  Yakshini shoved the map in the bag and threw it to Devsena.

  Devsena looked outside the window, it was near dawn. Yakshini jumped out of window in a swift motion, Devsena followed. They reached the stable to fetch the horses. The couple entered the stable by the back door, the stable was open at the front, the valet was sleeping on his chair. Yakshini and Devsena untied the horses. They started to mount their horses as loud whistles filled the still air of the night.

  Yakshini peeked through the window and saw a small team of police led by the surviving policeman entering the cottage building. The policeman told two of his comrades to stay on the gate, the rest followed him inside. Alerted by the loud whistles of police, residents of the cottage lit the lamps in their room.

  The valet was startled by loud neighs of the horses as he saw two horses galloping out of stable, running towards the gate. The policemen saw two horses running towards them with great pace. One of them took out his whistle from his uniform's pocket, but before he could blow it two arrows buried themselves in his chest, the other policeman preferred to run away.

  The couple rode into the jungle.

  Thank you for reading 'Adventures of Yakshini', I hope you enjoyed your time with the story.

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  New chapters every Friday.