The three visitors exchanged a knowing glance.
"He must have lost his way," Parasu scrambled to explain, "Their sight is nothing to boast of." He made a show of taking a good look around the circular passage.
The priest furrowed his brow, uncertain, his bright face quickly darkening.
"Uncle Bhringi," Bali called out a few times, the emptiness above the pit carrying his voice like thunder.
The priest rushed ahead, moving halfway around the passage, Aksha, Bali, and Parasu after him. When he reached the other end, he busily untied a thick rope and began to pull. Immediately, a loud ringing of an enormous bell filled the air, spilling from wall to wall, until people began to stream through the adjacent causeway that led out of the passage. They were all priests, young and old, with their heads shaved and the same printed saffron cloth wrapped around them, their faces displeased and unwelcoming.
"Seize them," the old priest bellowed, pointing at the three, and the young men swiftly surrounded them.
"You are making a terrible mistake," warned Bali, taking a step back, hands held out with his tantric magic already swirling around his fingertips. "Should any harm come to me or my companions, you will pay a steep price."
The hosts paused for a second, looking doubtful, but then one of the young men swung his arm, and an air chain leapt out towards Bali. Quick as a shadow, the agni asura grasped the chain and tugged at it with the full force of his muscular arms. The young man flew face forward to the ground, and the air chain melted into thin air. Without losing a second, Aksha waved her fingers, and the air around him shifted, forming a sword, but halfway through, it crumbled. Alarmed, Bali flicked his own fingers and realized with a start that the Tantra flowing through him had grown feeble. He realized the Sun Temple must be shielded from tantric magic. They had no choice but to run the gauntlet.
Two of the priests lunged at him, but Bali was quicker. He darted back three steps before wheeling around and dashing towards the other exit. Aksha was close at his heels, and Parasu took the other way around. A loud clamor sent Bali stumbling forward. It came from the exit they were heading towards, and within seconds, several priests appeared through the causeway.
"They are here," one of them shouted to the rest of his companions behind him, and all of a sudden, more of the holy men began to pour into the passage.
Bali staggered back and ran into Aksha.
"They have us surrounded," she gasped.
"We can fight our way through them," Bali argued, ready to elbow through the troop of the temple's guardians.
Aksha seized his elbow. "That would be foolish. The magic of this temple has weakened our spiritual powers. We will likely be captured."
Three men charged at them from behind. Aksha sidestepped and shoved at one of them with her right leg. The force of the kick sent the man reeling backward, and she quickly hopped onto the edge of the parapet overlooking the dark well of the pond. She looked across the well, and found Parasu struggling to fight off the priests who had nearly surrounded him.
"Come," she called to Bali, "there is only one route out of here."
Bali took only a second to realize what she was suggesting. He jumped on the edge, balancing himself beside her.
"Are you sure there is not a bigger trap inside?" He sounded unsure, but his hand was already holding Aksha's.
"We would not know unless we jump in," she answered.
Bali glanced across the pit one last time. For a tiny moment, his eyes found Parasu's, captured by the priests, and then he closed them when he heard Aksha's shout.
JUMP!
It felt as if they were falling for eons, the further they plunged, the tighter Bali clutched Aksha's hand.
They went down floating and tumbling for several minutes, and then,
THWACK!
Bali's back hit the hard ground. The darkness at the bottom of the pit melted into the darkness of fainting, and Bali did not know how long he remained that way. It was the gentle caress of the cool breeze on his cheeks that brought him back. He opened his eyes to a clear, bright sky, cloudless and blue, and the whistling of the wind swirling through the grass. He sat up and looked around. It was surely not the bottom of the pond they dived into. He was lying in the middle of a sprawling meadow, tall green grasses all around him mixed with flowering plants, a swaying bunch of green and yellow and pink.
Bali touched the tender spot on his right shoulder and found a swelling that was not there earlier. So, they must have fallen into the well and migrated to somewhere else after all.
"What devilish sorcery is this?" He grumbled, rubbing his shoulder. His eyes wandered around and found Aksha sitting on a high stone, meditating.
Bali clambered to his feet, taking a step back, and then shook his head. It was more the glare of the sun than the jolt of the impact that made him dizzy.
The open meadow spread across the gentle hills was a whole new terrain to him, not something he had encountered in his travels. Bali collected his shawl and swatted away the dust before wrapping it around himself.
"I see several trails," Bali pronounced once he presented himself before Aksha, "we must take one of those and find the nearest town." He looked into the distance, and there were rolling hills everywhere until they vanished into the horizon, except to the east. There, a forest waited beyond the grassland. "Perhaps one that takes us to the east."
Aksha was still, breathing quietly with her eyes closed, facing the sun that was inching its way closer to the western skyline. Bali frowned.
"I said we must get to the nearest town," he repeated, stepping toward Aksha.
Aksha blinked her eyes open. They were dark and bright at the same time, the way a brilliant star would shine behind a thick, black curtain. She spoke like a royal and fought like a skilled warrior, yet all she wore was a dull cloth wrapped around her dazzling figure. The mysterious maiden had puzzled Bali from the very start when she saved his life from the afflicted.
"How do you know that road does not lead to a ghost town?" asked Aksha, gently but firmly. "We must know what this place is before we decide which way to head."
She went back to meditating, her legs folded under her, balanced easily on the stone. It was then Bali remembered Adityas are children of the Sun. The sun's position in the sky would tell them where in the realm they stand.
Bali plopped himself down on the grass by the stone, waiting for Aksha's meditation to be over. Just when he thought he was running out of patience, Aksha spoke.