Maya, who was closing her eyes tightly in nervousness, even heard a sound, her heart started beating "pat pat pat pat." She swallowed her saliva in fear.
After a while, the noise stopped. She slowly opened her eyes. All over the forest was so silent. A soft, cool breeze caressed her tender body.
Far away, there was a small light shining in the foggy place.
Maya slowly sat up from the floor, sighing that the noise had stopped. Her lotus-petal-like eyes saw the light.
"What light is that?" she thought while she got up, furrowing her brows. There was a curious, mixed look of fear in her eyes.
She slowly walked towards the place where the light came from.
Her breathing quickened, her core shivering from the cold air that brushed her body.
She walked slowly with each step. The light moved away inch by inch as she walked. Maya walked behind the light, unaware of what was happening around her.
As she went inside the dark forest of Trikuta Mountain, the workload increased, and at one point, thinking that she could not go any further, she would go back to where the others were.
When she was preparing to go back, a strong wind like a hurricane hit her, and she felt attacked.
Everything in front of her began to blur in her eyes. She began to stumble, out of breath, and her chest began to ache. Maya staggered with every step and fell to the ground with a "thop" as she could not take another step. Darkness surrounded her eyes.
Then, a woman wearing a long green skirt came in front of her. Unable to see her, Maya's eyes were blurred.
After the girl called out, "Maya...", Maya fainted.
...
Asanka, who had been watching them through the window of the prince through the eyes of a squirrel, today again went to Gimhathitha town disguised as a common man.
He looked like an ordinary bangle seller. The scars on his back and chest in many places made his figure very scary. He looked as if he had been without food for days, with narrowed eyes and a parched stomach.
He walked over Gimhathitha city barefoot on a dusty dirt road in the city.
"Bracelet, bracelet, beautiful bracelet, buy this bracelet to the girl who likes you, she will be delighted and agree to marry you, bracelet, bracelet," he said while selling the bracelet. Even as he sold the bangle, his eyes roamed the side of the road looking for someone.
"Merchant! Will my girlfriend really agree to marry me if I buy this bangle?" a voice asked.
Asanka turned his head both ways to know who had just spoken to him. No one caught his eye.
"What's strange, the sound is coming but no one is seen. Maybe it's a conspiracy by the Nagas to find out my true identity."
His forehead began to swell, and he swallowed nervously, thinking that if the Nagas discovered his identity, all his plans would be wasted.
He flicked his ears and tried to sense if anyone was coming to attack him in the direction of the voice.
He heard the voice again in his ears.
"Old man!, is what you said true? Will my girlfriend agree to marry me if I buy this bracelet?"
He slowly lowered his head as he felt the voice coming from in front of him.
A figure not quite three feet tall was glaring at him as if squinting its eyes.
Staring at his face, Asanka brought his face closer to child and rolled his eyes up and down.
"What are you looking at? Tell me if I gift this bracelet to my girlfriend, will she agree to marry me?"
Asanka looked him up and down again.
"Boy, do you know the meaning of the word 'love'?" he asked in shock.
The boy gritted his teeth, pursed his mouth, and frowned.
"I know its meaning better than you!" he said.
Hearing his answer, Asanka was shocked.
"He is ready to sing love songs at an age when he should be singing children's songs. All the time is cruel!" he said slowly.
Hearing what he said, the boy's eyes turned red.
"I have a girlfriend at this age, but I'm jealous that you don't have a girlfriend even at this age," he said and ran from there as fast as his feet hit the ground.
A man walked towards where Asanka was standing with her arms crossed in front of him, smiling and looking back, shaking his head as he ran, "charak charak."
He slowly turned his head in the direction of the laughter and saw who was laughing towards him.
His expression changed the moment he saw him coming towards him.
A respectful smile shone in his eyes, and the corners of his lips twitched upwards.
"Come, Nandhimitra, I am waiting for you," said Asanka.
"What are you waiting for me? It doesn't look like that! You were holding a fight with a little boy."
"Who, is he a boy? No way! A dwarf in the form of a boy! At his age, he is wrong to say the word 'love,' in which he asks me if his girlfriend will consent to marriage! How dare he! Time has passed," he sighed.
Nandhimitra said, "You are just jealous of him because you don't have a girlfriend, right!!"
He laughed, noting how Asanka's expression changed with his eyes.
"Okay, okay, I can't win by talking to you! Well, I'll come straight to the point.
Is everything going well at the palace? Did Dev finish the job properly?
" he asked in a low voice, going round and round with each line, checking with his eyes to see if anyone was paying attention to what he was saying.
"Yes, everything is going well. Now all that's left is to capture the Agni Astra. I'll take care of that," he said, moving just the corner of his right lip and smiling. A thousand mysteries were hidden in his smile.
"Do you know something? Nandhimitra."
"Tell me what, Commander Asanka."
"Maya is now in the middle of the Trikuta mountain."
"Well, the place is nothing new to Maya."
"But there is Rusalka."
"Where is Rusalka..." asked Nandhimitra, his eyes widening in shock.