“These appeared like normal nuts yesterday. I remember everyone had been eating them,” said Chandra. “Do you think this may be the reason they have vanished?”
Veer shook his head, rolling the nuts in his hand. “We may never know for sure, Princess.”
“Can you ask Vihari and see if maybe he can help us find them?”
The prince shook his head. “I already tried, Princess. I can’t connect to Vihari.”
“What! Why?”
“There seems to be some kind of barrier between my kite and me. And I haven’t sensed any animals nearby either. Don’t you hear the quietness of the forest?”
“You’re right,” she said, turning in a circle.
“There’s something else far more concerning,” he said.
Veer held up his left hand, his face grim. “I seem to have lost my ring.”
He knew she didn’t understand why that was more concerning. Trepidation crept into Chandra’s face. “What’s happening?”
“It looks like the place we’ve been searching for found us first. I’d bet my life that we are in the Dandakaranya. The actual magical part of it. Let’s go, Princess. No point in staying here.”
Thick creepers and leaves crunched underfoot as they made their laborious, slow way into the magical forest. Veer had his machete out, clearing a path though the vegetation. It was a dense tropical forest and there wasn’t a dried leaf in sight.
Sturdy branches with foot-wide leaves formed giant umbrellas against the skies. The air was filled with the voices of hundreds of birds. A thousand varieties of plants he had never seen before, vied with their neighbors for a glimpse of the sun, their many dark, colorful flowers heavy with scent and pollen.
Insects buzzed, unseen, while the distant roar of a tiger led to a family of robins taking flight in indignation. Furtive noises in the underbrush and a distant splash of an animal diving into a pond proclaimed life was well and thriving in the forests.
But no animal came into view, even though they had been walking for hours.
The lotus key showed the next key piece location to be a tree on a small island in a pond. The surrounding body of water had shone a crystalline blue with many lotus flowers floating serenely on the surface.
So far, they had come across many streams, falls, and small ponds, but nothing that looked like that enchanting lake.
“How long have we been walking?” asked Chandra.
“Want to take a rest, Princess?”
She shook her head. “No, I am good if you are. I can still walk.”
“Then why are you limping and rubbing your feet every couple of steps? Admit it, your feet hurt.”
Her chin rose. “I said I can walk.”
Veer sighed. “We might as well take a rest. I don’t know if walking is doing us any good. My compass doesn’t work, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we were walking around in giant circles.”
They sat at the base of an immense fig tree. Veer leaned his machete on the trunk and tipped his head back.
“I hope our friends are doing all right. Do you think they’re still in the regular part of Dandakaranya?” asked Chandra, busying herself with gathering dry twigs to start a fire.
Veer had the same thought, but he was too fatigued to do more than nod.
She started the fire and added some water into a pail to let it boil.
“Why did you send your guard, Girish, away?” he asked, watching her move about.
“He is needed more elsewhere,” she said, busying herself, not meeting his eyes.
“For what?” he asked.
