CHALLENGING DESTINY

TROUBLE ON THE WAY

The trio returned to the village. All the way they didn't have any conversation but the atmosphere seemed harmonious none the less.

When the prince entered the village he was met with quick glances of the young women, which he was used to by now. As long as they didn't know his identity he would be met with adoring gazes of the public after all regardless of gender or age no one dislikes good looking creatures but once his identity is known all what is left in their eyes would be fear and resistance.

The prince was lost in his own thoughts so he missed the white snake that slowly crept up his companion's arm. Hidden under her scarf the snake perfectly blended with her white dress so it was no wonder that even the villagers missed it.

The young woman didn't delay any further and proceeded towards the chief's house while the prince quickly followed her ignoring his surrounding admirers.

It was mid-afternoon when they returned to the village and every house was preparing for their afternoon meal. And Gandharinandan was warmly welcomed to join them in the chief's house. If it were some other time he would have politely declined the offer but today in order to stay with his lady luck he shamelessly accepted the offer thinking he can always return the favor anyway.

There was a pin drop silence in the room since all were immersed in their own thoughts. Where a certain prince was busy observing the stunning maiden, the maiden was formulating plans to find her friend while the village chief was in awe of the presence of his two mysterious guest. The lady whom his father in law saved should belong to the upper caste as her mannerisms show that but the aura she exuded shows she is much more than a high born lady who grew up in wealth and not to get started with the stunning young man who has been a frequent visitor of their village. The others had only seen him once or twice and remembered him because of his appearance but he knows the young man is a frequent visitor to their ancestral forest during night.

When he first saw the man going into the forest he wanted to stop him after all the beasts residing insides were no vegetarian but stopped in his track when he saw the man easily dealing with a tiger without killing it, his actions and moves were enough evidence to prove he was a warrior of high caliber and not a hunter and the villagers always had immense respect and admiration towards warriors and it was apparent that with his skills he would have no problem in surviving the forest and also, his intuition told him that his warning won't be needed or heeded. He has been the village chief for the past few years and has developed quite a skill of assessing people and he knows to keep his distance from those whom he can't afford to provoke. The people in the village are kind but they aren't fools to invite trouble on their own and that kept their village safe for years. Hence he decided to ignore the warrior with the unknown yet special identity. In fact when he listened to his wife's rambling regarding a certain savior he had his doubts if it were the same person as not many people have the power to leave the forest unscathed not to mention with an unconscious patient. And his guesses turned out true when he met the warrior at his doorsteps trailing behind the lady and his admiration towards the warrior went up a notch registering his valorous deeds and fabulous skill that he invited him to his home for lunch without as much as asking his name.

How would he to know that the encounters the beasts had with this warrior was enough for them to fear his shadow for their whole lives, not to mention the sixth senses of the animals have always been much more accurate compared to humans so they won't do the mistake of provoking this devil.

Before long they received news of arrival of their relatives and that broke the peaceful atmosphere, the shift in atmosphere was easily noticeable when Aradhya's smile turned forced.