"Excellent, Dhumraksh, your predictions were on point. According to my informants, the princess and her companion were seen crossing Hubli. My men encountered the two in Humpi, alas they ran away. But your predictions were correct nonetheless", exclaimed Vibhishan.

  Impressed by Dhumraksh's intelligence, Vibhishan summoned Dhumraksh in his office. Dhumraksh reached there a couple of hours later, as fast as he could from Mysore.

  "I am glad I could be of assistance, your majesty. I sent some of my own people on their trail, but your reassurance boosted my confidence", said Dhumraksh.

  "I will send my troops to Vijaynagar right away", declared Vibhishan as he ringed the bell to summon an attendant.

  "Well, if your majesty allows, I would like to go on this quest myself", requested Dhumraksh as he saw an attendant entering the office.

  "Why? do you think I am not capable of capturing a girl myself?", frowned Vibhishan.

  "No majesty, please do not take ill of my request. It's just ..... we can say I have a few scores to settle", explained Dhumraksh.

  "Well, fine by me, I will inform the police commissioner of Vijaynagar, he will assist you to settle your scores", mocked Vibhishan.

  Both laughed wholeheartedly.

  After the incident at the cottage, Yakshini decided to take a detour on a lesser known path to cut the pursuit. This detour cost a few more added hours of travel to the destination - The city of Vijaynagar.

  After escaping from Humpi, Yakshini and Devsena rode through the jungle for a few hours to reach this lesser known path by early morning. After travelling a few kilometers down the road, Devsena requested a halt. They stopped alongside a field. Their horses started grazing on the lush grass. Yakshini and Devsena sat under a tree, watching their horses grazing at distance.

  "Princess, are you hungry?", asked Yakshini.

  "I'll eat you if we don't find anything to eat soon", humored Devsena, looking at the grazing horses.

  "Huh, I was looking out for fruits or berries along the way, there were none sadly. I will look into the forest", said Yakshini as she stood up, grabbing her bow.

  Devsena suddenly grabbed her arm.

  "No need for that, Look at you!! Sit with me, I haven't seen you taking any rest since we met. Lay down here if you want. I will look after the horses", insisted Devsena.

  Yakshini was surprised by this unexpected affection from the princess. She sat at her old spot.

  "Here, take this, its not much but it will keep you running until we find our next stop", said Devsena as she gave Yakshini a handful of candies she picked up from cottage.

  "Thank you, princess", said Yakshini. As their hands touched, Yakshini felt a faint energy flowing through her. She looked at princess who was staring at her with kind eyes.

  Yakshini was used to many kind of gazes, but kindness was foreign to her. She blushed a little harder.

  "We must get going", said Yakshini at last.

  They mounted their horses, which were feeling more energized after their breakfast, and continued down the path. The couple soon reached a small settlement of no more than dozen huts, a settlement of local farmers.

  "We have to sell these horses", said Yakshini, eyeing one of the better looking huts.

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  "Why?? they served us well along the journey. And what about us?", complained Devsena.

  "First of all, I left the bag of coins at the cottage so we don't have money, like ANY money. Secondly, I think five to six kilometers is fair enough walking distance", answered Yakshini sternly.

  Devsena frowned and climbed down her horse. She patted her horse as a sign of farewell.

  Devsena stood at distance and watched Yakshini trying to convince the farmer to buy the horses. It was best for them if the residents didn't notice the princess and the commerce never interested her anyway.

  After a long bargaining session, Devsena saw that farmer went inside his hut and bought a pouch which he then handed to Yakshini.

  "You sold TWO horses for a single pouch?", growled Devsena as Yakshini reached her.

  "They were old wild horses, I bought them for three bronze coins. This pouch has a gold coin and two silvers along with a dozen bronze coins", smirked Yakshini.

  Yakshini turned back and waved at the farmer standing in his door. The farmer waved back.

  "Let's leave before he finds out", whispered Yakshini, still grinning and waving at the farmer.

  The afternoon sun was glaring mightily as the two walked the path leading to their destination. The dense trees along both sides of the road shielded the travelers from the sun. There was no noticeable traffic on the road other than occasional passing of a cart.

  "How long are we going to walk??", whined Devsena as she drank the last drop of water from the bottle.

  "We will reach the gates of Vijaynagar by evening", said Yakshini who was leading them. She was carrying only the arsenal as Devsena offered to carry the bag. Yakshini gladly handed her the bag, containing nothing more than two bottles of water and pouch of coins along with the map. A decision which she regretted dearly as she saw Devsena emptying their last bottle of water.

  Yakshini could feel the exhaustion catching up to her. The fights, the sleepless nights and what not, coming back to her demanding their toll.

  'No, not now. Not when we are this close', resisted Yakshini.

  Devsena observed Yakshini missing a step or two every now and then.

  "Hey, are you all right?", Devsena asked.

  "Yes, princess, I am fi...", murmured Yakshini.

  Then Yakshini collapsed under the glaring sun.

  Devsena screamed and knelt beside Yakshini. She grabbed Yakshini's shoulder and gave them proper jerk a couple of times.

  "Go....", whispered Yakshini and then she closed her eyes.

  "HELP, SOMEBODY", Devsena screamed, eyes filled with panic and tears. She jerked Yakshini's shoulders again, hoping that she is just asleep.

  Yakshini didn't move a muscle, her head dropped backwards.

  "NOOOO, HEELLLPPP, SOMEBODY....", Devsena wailed, hugging her savior tight.

  She emptied the bag on the floor, nothing helpful was there to be found. No food, no water.

  Devsena cursed herself for emptying the water bottles.

  'She saved me, defended me with all her might. I must save her this time, I owe her that much', fumed Devsena.

  Determined to do her best, she sat beside Yakshini and placed Yakshini's head on her lap. She clasped Yakshini's hand with her palms and closed her eyes.

  Then she concentrated with her eyes closed, just like her mother taught her.

  Initially it was all dark, then Devsena started to look within herself. She could feel a source of energy within herself but couldn't find it in the darkness. A few more moments passed.

  Then she saw an orb floating in air. It was glowing in greenish light, its rays spreading in all directions. She found it, her life source.

  She concentrated little more and the orb flickered. The waves emitting from the orb gathered around her, soon she was surrounded by the greenish-white waves.

  She concentrated more and the waves started changing their shapes at her will. She never made it this far before. Working on plants never required this much of concentration.

  Then she moved her palm forward and the waves concentrated on that. Soon, all the waves emitted by the orb found their way to Devsena's palms as if it was their only destination. Her palm glowed in greenish light.

  It worked, she finally learned to control her life source.

  Amazed by the feat, she kept watching the waves emitted by the orb getting vanished in her palm. She looked at the orb, which was still there, floating.

  But it was losing its glow with every passing moment.

  Oh no, she can't spend all of her life energy, she will die if she did that.

  'I must break the connection, but how?', feared Devsena, her mother didn't teach her to break the connection as she was never able to establish it this strongly before.

  Yakshini sat upright, struggling to catch her breath, eyes wide open. Her mouth was running dry but she didn't feel tired at all. The sun was on his way to settle on the horizon.

  'Where am I?', Yakshini thought.

  'Where is the princess', Yakshini panicked.

  Then she saw Devsena, lying beside her under the tree. She was looking pale, breathing with her mouth. Her eyes sank deep, black circles formed around them. She was looking more like a ghost than a human. But she was ... smiling.

  "Heh, it really worked", Devsena murmured as she closed her eyes.

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

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  New chapters every Friday.