Despite the gratitude Parasu felt towards the maiden, he was averse to letting her join their entourage. She was kind to assist them in the time of their need, but her eyes had the purple color of deception. She had a white mount for herself, and although she was robed like a country-dweller, she rode like a trained warrior. Prince Bali, in his moment of chivalry, offered to escort the maiden to wherever she needed to go, and she was more than happy to accept.
"I am making a pilgrimage to all the Sun Temples in the realm," she claimed as they all sat by the campfire and began their night meal.
Parasu lifted an eyebrow. "That will mean…." he began, and the maiden, Aksha, nodded.
"I am from the Aditya clan. It is our duty," she said.
"As the offsprings of the Sun god, Suryadev."
The girl nodded once again.
"Once we are of age, we must pay visitation to the ten Sun temples all across the realms. My clan lives in the South. Our group started the journey a month ago. Last week, I got separated from my traveling party during a storm, and ever since, I have been searching for them."
Parasu knew the Aditya clan. They lived in the Sun region of the south, Surya Mandala. It was true that they must pay visitation to the Sun Temples as part of initiation into their society, but the Adityas would never let one of their own wander off. Yet, if the maiden was an Aditya, it made her a goddess, and she did have the semblance of one.
The girl was tall and dainty, skin bright as milk and face round as the full moon. The aura around her was strong, too, despite her old, gray garbs and unkempt dark hair held under her loose veil. She sat with her back straight and legs folded respectfully under her, the way the divine rest on their seats.
Parasu took a gulp of the soma drink and wiped off the drops sticking to his beard. "Where did you lose them?" he asked, knowing well none of her words might matter.
"At the southern border of the Suvarna region," she replied confidently, her long, thin fingers clasped around the glass of water. "I am sure they would continue to make their way to the next Sun Temple we planned to pay respects to."
"And that would be?" Prince Bali asked. He was sitting across from Parasu and the maiden, on the other side of the fire. His men sat around him, trading whispers and private banters, in between the swallows of the drinks, and his guard, Lord Bhringi, sat a little away, by a smooth rock, slurping on the bowl of honey he brought for himself.
The girl frowned her brows for a moment at Bali's question and replied, "Somewhere in the east. My sisters said it is ten days eastward journey from Amravati. I am afraid I do not know the exact place."
"Have no fear," Bali promised her, holding out his left hand reassuringly. "We just left the capital, and we, too, are heading east. If you accompany us, we pledge to escort you to your destination."
The girl bowed her head slightly. "You have my thanks."
After a few cups of soma, the night had come alive around Parasu. Moonlight flooded the clearing and drew a silvery halo over the trees surrounding them. The men filled the air with their boisterous laughs and loud talks of what they accomplished in the day's journey. The party was very close to the border of the forbidden forest, and once they found their way into the main road, they planned to travel to the next city where the Horsemen lived.
"I cannot wait to ride through Ashwinapur's streets," Narsingh professed, "I look forward to meeting an old friend, settle old scores." He, then, finished his entire glass of Soma in one swallow and took a long, loud burp. The noise startled a resting parcel of crows in the tree above, and they took to their wings.
"I imagine their pride must have grown ten folds since they won the Galactic tournament last year," Naga Rathi reminded everyone wistfully, sitting beside Bali. "Arrogant as they were, they must be far more unbearable to speak with now."
Tantric Vyom chuckled. "God forbid if they come at you with their prideful words, you will have your poisoned tongue to thwart them."
Naga Rathi was speechless for a moment. Bali and others burst into a roaring laughter at the innocent jab. The serpent man gathered his wits. "I am surprised to see you are not concerned. Last I heard, the Horsemen were not keen on Tantrics."
"Good. We, Tantrics, are not keen on anyone," Vyom shot back, and the men cackled with another fit of giggles. Naga Rathi's thin mouth tightened, but he kept his words to himself.
The food was not awful. With only a few ingredients left, they had managed to rustle up a fowl soup with onions, tomatoes, and dried ginger, sprinkled with warm spices and a hot porridge of rice and lentils. The Soma was cool and sweet. But the maiden, Aksha, had hardly touched her plate and watched idly as the men happily gorged on their dinners.
The girl caught Sage Parasu's eyes. "How did your travel bring you here?"
The sage glanced around at the rest of the men. "We are on this mission by a royal decree. We carry an object that we must deliver to its true owner," Parasu lied. He had little choice. They already had visits by unwelcome adversaries; the fewer tongues wagged, the better. To Parasu's dismay, the girl looked skeptical at his response.
"And then we were attacked by masked assailants," Parasu continued, "we ran into the forest to flee them and came across the serpent tribe."
The girl, Aksha, slowly nodded. "Then what you carry must be truly valuable."
"How did you learn about the afflicted?" Sage Parasu changed the subject. He had emptied his plate and now waited for the rest of the men to finish theirs.
"Like many other clans, we too have lost our own to them. Since then, we prayed to the Sun god, and in return, he revealed to us the way to vanquish them," Aksha stated. It was a convincing account, if not for her nonchalant tone and the emotionless stare.
Bali stirred from his deep thought, face filled with concern and a hint of anguish. "You must have noted then that the attacks of these marauders have been on the rise in last several years. They would have wiped out the entire serpent tribe if not for us."
"A darkness they carry," Bhringi, the bee demon, spoke up from where he was sitting by the rock, his honey bowl held with both claws. "This darkness is summoned whenever the call of the sin is strong particularly."
Sage Parasu agreed, bobbing his head. "In the Cycle of Time, with every age, the sin grows until it reaches the very brim of the cup."
"And then there is an apocalypse," Sachi said with a quiver in his voice. Parasu had not even remembered that his pupil was dining beside him until that moment. The boy had been quiet but smiling privately at times since he had returned from his excursion.
"The end of the old cycle and the beginning of the new one, the supreme truth," Aksha noted with a curious excitement in her tone. For a moment, her eyes sparkled more than the dying flame of the campfire.
Parasu felt the eyes of the men on him, but he decided to remain quiet about his vision. "We are still eons away from the dissolution of the universe, but I hope when that day comes, at least some of you remember us." In truth, he hoped that he found the damned book and ended this meaningless cycle of death and destruction once and for all.
"Is there not a book that can stop it from ever happening?" The girl asked glibly, looking square at Parasu.
Vyom chuckled. "I assure you, my lady, there are books for every possibility. Yet, destiny and doom act at their own whims."
"Yet, there have been men who have made their own destinies with their own hands," Bali declared with a resolute voice. His eyes were staring unblinkingly at the fire, a distant look on his face.
"If there is indeed a book to avert the destruction, must we not seek it?" The girl argued. Parasu almost wanted to loudly agree with her but stopped at the last moment.
"Not all things must see daylight, I say," Bhringi remarked in his nasal voice.
Aksha lowered her head to the bee demon. "I apologize for my impertinence, Lord Bhringi. You are the oldest one of all of us here. How fortunate I am to speak to someone who has lived through all four Yugas."
Bhringi's thin mouth twisted into a rueful grin. "Alone I live, there is little fortune in that."
"You have your wisdom with you, Lord Bhringi," Parasu reminded the ancient bee demon, "not many of us can say the same."
"I am not wise. None of us are. The true Wise One sleeps," was all Bhringi said.