Malīnī was a ten day journey from Loyü.
The first six days were peaceful and even uneventful. They did not meet any one in their path, spare a few curious squirrels and some sparrows. A couple of stray dogs kept them company whenever they walked through some nearby tiny village when the forest path became unfit for travel.
As they approached closer to Malīnī, Karki became restless.
The sixth night was a moonless night. Jātved and Tara slept peacefully while Karki was on watch. Akira could not sleep so she kept him company.
After a few minutes, Karki whispered to Akira, "We are being followed."
Akira looked surprised. "I don't see anyone or hear anything strange."
Karki replied, "They are about four kilometers away, and have surrounded us. This has been the case for the last two days. First I thought I was imagining things, but night is when my vision is the clearest. There are six horsemen. Judging by their clothes, they are from the kingdom."
Akira whispered," We have done nothing suspicious, why are they following us?"
Karki whispered back," How do they know exactly where we are? I have a feeling we were sold out."
Akira's eyes widened. "By Jātved?"
Karki asked, in the same low voice,"Don't you think it is suspicious? That a boy gets lost over 200 kms away and just spots us who goes in the same direction?"
Akira nodded. "I don't sense any malice from him though."
Karki nodded. "I feel he is leveraging us for something he wants."
Akira thought for sometime. "I think we should get willingly captured."
Karki looked surprised."What are you saying?"
Akira replied. "Think about it? If we try to hide or run away, whatever they might have heard about us from their informant will appear to be true. But what if we change our tactic? What if we set out to approach them? Then they won't know what hit them, atleast they will be willing to listen to us."
Karki pondered for a minute. "I get it. I like your approach. So how do we go about it?"
Akira replied, "Let's demand an audience with the king. I did have an audience with King Druv, five hundred years ago, I will leverage that against our young king Jara. Some even consider him to be the reincarnation of King Vali himself. From what I heard in my talks with the villagers, he gives people a chance before jumping into consideration, a rare trait for a Vanar, it may have something to do with him having some Jata's blood from his mother's side. His great grand mother was a younger sister to the then King of Shyenapura."
Karki looked at her in awe. "You gathered that much of information in these six days?"
Akira smirked. "No one can beat me in a game of gossip young lad, watch and learn."
The next morning, they went about their usual way. After lunch, Akira commented, " Let's go through the city. We are close to Champa, a twin city of Malīnī, where the Winter palace is."
Jātved looked surprised. "The winter palace would be inhabited now." Moreover, the temple is at Malīnī. We would be losing out on an entire day if we went through the city."
Karki pitched in, "But it would be such a waste, if we didn't see the palace. I have heard the craftsmanship of the Vanar's is second to none! Let us check it out."
Tara was hooked in. " Craftsmanship? I need to check it out."
At three against one, Jātved knew it was wise to give up.
They reached the city at night.
"City people aren't kind like the villagers, you don't find a place to sleep without paying in return," Jātved commented.
Karki and Akira exchanged knowing glances and winked at each other.
"Who said we are going to stay in someone's house?" Akira asked, her eyes twinkling.