As the dawn was breaking out on the horizon, Vibhishan, police chief of Asur Kingdom, was exercising in his manor's garden, facing the rising sun. A servant was standing obediently at a distance, holding a towel and a glass full of orange juice.

  The messenger entered the garden in a hurry, panting heavily.

  "Great Lord, I have an urgent message", said the messenger.

  Neither Vibhishan nor his servant acknowledged the messenger.

  "It is from the prison of Mysore", urged the messenger.

  A raspy "Hmm" came from Vibhishan.

  "The princess escaped... a stranger helped her. We don't know who that stranger was, but she didn't wear anything to suggest she was sent by Swarglok", informed messenger.

  Vibhishan stopped his exercise and took the towel from his servant. He approached the messenger, wiping the sweat from his forehead. His chiseled muscles were glowing with sweat and oil in early sunlight.

  The messenger gave him the letter from jailor. Vibhishan read it with tense eyes.

  "Hmm, does my brother know about this?", asked Vibhishan to the messenger.

  Vibhishan was the younger brother of Lord Ravan, king of Asur kingdom. Ravan preferred his relatives and close ones in positions of power.

  "No, my lord, jailor told me to update you first", answered messenger.

  "Good", said Vibhishan and waved his hand to dismiss the messenger.

  "We must make sure that my brother doesn't get this news until we have some lead", said Vibhishan to himself.

  He walked towards his manor, sipping on the orange juice and ordered his servant to arrange a meeting of the police board members in the next two hours to discuss the course of action.

  The villagers of Hubli were no strangers to travelers as the road to the city of Vijaynagar, the financial capital of Asur kingdom, went through their village. The villagers adapted to this opportunity by opening inns, repair shops and cottages along the main road.

  Yakshini and Devsena stopped by one of the inns, having breakfast.

  "Don't make yourself full, you will have a difficult time riding the horse otherwise", suggested Yakshini as Devsena ordered her second dish.

  "I will be fine", said Devsena, struggling to keep the food in her mouth. A few crumbs fell on the table.

  'And I thought I was mannerless', thought Yakshini.

  If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  "Dhumraksh said he owed you a favor, how do you know him?", questioned Devsena while munching on her fruit salad.

  "Yeah, it's an old story", answered Yakshini nervously.

  Devsena continued to stare at her.

  "Fine", frowned Yakshini after a few moments. A smile traced Devsena's lips.

  "Many years ago, Dhumraksh used to look after the illegal side of Pashupati's arms business. He contacted my employers for assisting him to ship the arms, meant for a rebel group, into the kingdom of Kishkindha. I got assigned to help Dhumraksh in his quest. The rebels were too poor to pay the price so the leader of the rebel group later helped Dhumraksh to complete his ambitions", said Yakshini, trying not to expose too much.

  "Yeah I know Lord Pashupati, his research in modern weaponry is quite remarkable. Swarglok also used to use his weapons until he died in an accident a few years back", said Devsena.

  Then a sudden realization hit her.

  "Do you mean Dhumraksh killed Lord Pashupati?", shouted Devsena. Her eyes widened in shock.

  Alerted, Yakshini looked around her, making sure that nobody was eavesdropping. The inn was not very crowded anyway.

  Then she looked at Devsena and nodded.

  "Sorry", whispered Devsena as she realized her mistake.

  'She is smarter than I thought', a thought crossed Yakshini's mind.

  Devsena raised her hand to order her third plate.

  "That's enough, I will pack the food for the journey. We have a lot of ground to cover today", said Yakshini with a stern voice.

  Devsena lowered her arm reluctantly. Yakshini saw an offended look in her eyes.

  Yakshini paid the bill, ignoring the princess's repeated pleas to buy a candy bar.

  The couple mounted their horses and started riding on the main road. As they crossed the border, Yakshini increased her horse's speed, Devsena was catching up with her, galloping through the jungle.

  "I entrusted you with ONE responsibility, Dhumraksh, and you failed", snapped Vibhishan as Dhumraksh entered his office.

  A few hours after the messenger left the prison with the formal news of escape, Dhumraksh galloped towards the police chief's mansion to handle the situation himself. He reached the mansion just in time and saw the messenger leaving the garden. Then he saw Lord Vibhishan striding towards his mansion with urgency. He ran towards Vibhishan but the guards stopped him in his tracks. After requesting an audience with Vibhishan, Dhumraksh waited in the garden, planning his next moves.

  "I am really sorry for the inconvenience I caused to the majesty. I didn't come here empty handed though. In our search, we discovered a hidden tunnel which opened on the northern bank of the river. The footprints confirmed that the tunnel was used to escape", explained Dhumraksh.

  "So what? Do you expect me to search through the entire northern half of the kingdom?", frowned Vibhishan.

  "Of course not, your majesty. That course of action would be ... inefficient", said Dhumraksh.

  He picked up a pencil lying on the work desk and made his way towards the map of Asur kingdom hanging on the wall.

  He circled three places on the map.

  "Now, as per my knowledge, the fastest path to get out of the kingdom goes through these places. I am certain that we can find our target in one of these places", explained Dhumraksh.

  "Are you sure?", asked Vibhishan with doubtful eyes.

  "Yes, of course. I once worked with the culprit. Yakshini is her name. She is too cautious to take longer route back, we can concentrate on this route primarily", answered Dhumraksh.

  "Fine then, I can arrange a few search parties. If I don't get any result in three days, YOU will answer to the king", frowned Vibhishan.

  "I appreciate the opportunity, your majesty, you will not be disappointed this time", said Dhumraksh.

  He bowed to Vibhishan and left the office.

  Vibhishan observed the map hanging on the wall, he noted the highlighted places. The first of them was Hubli.

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

  Please leave a comment or rating, it helps a lot.

  New chapters every Friday.