TRIP(II)

Everyone mounted their horses and started their trip. A few guards followed them for security as per the King's order.

"Prince Rishi, we are visiting a nearby village today. There is something special about the place and it will be night when we get back to the castle", Ashmita informed Rishi, the day's plan.

Rishi agreed but asked, "I wonder what kind of a place it is, with such a speciality..?"

Maira's lips curled upwards into a smug smile and said, "Well.. Wait till you see it with your own eyes..!"

Rishi and the others nodded and smiled.

"Why can't we have a race to make this more interesting?" Ashmita asked excitingly.

Before anybody replied, Ashmita gave a signal to Killer and they both fled like an arrow. The rest were shocked and surprised by her sudden act. Without any delay they also started their race with all smiles.

The four just disappeared from the guards' sight within seconds. With dumbfounded expressions on their faces, they all looked at each other. After a while, they started following their leaders and urged their horses to keep up the speed.

In no time, the trio reached Ashmita and they're all riding with big laughs.

"Come on Sister. I know you can do better. Catch me!!" Ashmita cried to Maira with a big laugh.

"Go Killer! Go..!! Wooohoo!" Ashmita is shouting and enjoying the ride like an excited child. Everyone was smiling to Ashmita's antics and especially someone who couldn't take his eyes away from her.

'You.. Feisty..! Does anybody tell you, you are amazing? Because I can do that for you always.. Tell me, how can anybody be this attractive? It's a sin. Sigh.. Rishi, your quota of falling for her today is over already. Now, stop the waterfall', Rishi thought to himself. He looked happy as he never had this kind of fun with anyone before. He liked the idea that this race is not about winning but all about enjoying. Also his Fiesty is letting him enjoy it to the core.

"Come on Veer! let's do it !!" Maira shouted to Veer, looking at Ashmitha who's riding to her left.

Abhi was surprised to see Maira being so happy. Because Maira never went on a race with him before, never had fun riding before and never laughed from her heart like this much before. He felt immensely grateful and happy by seeing the glow in Maira's face and he wanted to protect that happiness forever, no matter what.

Amidst their laughs and exciting race, the four reached the place. Ashmita slowed down Killer and finally everybody came to a halt.

Maira, Abhi and Rishi who were visiting there the first time, looked at Ashmita and followed her eyesight to the scene which left them speechless.

They were in an open place full of greenery and within a few meters distance there is a lake with a wooden walkway.

Ashmita slowly got down from the horse and gestured to everyone so they did the same. All of them slowly started walking towards the walkway.

"Ashmita, what is this place?" Maira asked excitedly but her eyes were glued to the scenery in front of her.

"This is the most spectacular place in this kingdom Sis and I'm sure you are going to love it very much", Ashmita said with a smile.

They walked down the way and almost reached the bridge. Then they started to see lotuses everywhere. To their left and right, it seemed like an endless lake, every inch filled with a wide range of Lotuses. Their eyes were not enough to look at the Lake's beauty and their mouths just widened. Golden dragonflies are flying everywhere and they feel like they are in some kind of a lotus heaven. Ashmitha just kept enjoying looking at the trio's faces that went amazed.

"What is the name of this lake? the village? Also where is the Village??" Rishi asked excitedly.

"The land at the end of this bridge is just a shore to the lake. To reach the village, we would need to travel a bit. The way to the village is also as splendid, I assure you. And yes, this is Lotus Valley and the name of the village is Lotus Village", Ashmita said, clapping her hands excitedly.

"Awesome and indeed! This is a Lotus village!", Rishi exclaimed.

"There is another speciality to this village. It is completely surrounded by the lake. If I had wings, I would go in the sky and see if it looks like how it is in my imagination or not", Ashmita said with a big smile.

"How did you imagine it to be?" Maira asked.

"It looks like someone dipped this land in the middle of the lake. Simply, I imagined this village to be like a piece of bread placed in a plate of honey", Ashmita said and smiled cheekingly.

"Hahahah. Yes yes. Surely. You glutton!" Maira said, pinching Ashmita's cheeks.

Ashmita smiled and nodded her head. "Ok. We will leave our horses here. They can roam around and eat whatever they like and get some fresh air. What do you guys say?" Ashmita suggested.

Maira and Rishi nodded their heads in approval. "Umm.. Where is Abhi?" Maira asked, finding him nowhere around.

Ashmita and Rishi also started looking around. After a while, Rishi spotted Abhi coming from a slope near the lake with Lotus in his hands.

'Ahh.. Rishi! How dumb you are! Why can't you think like Abhi? See.. he is bringing Lotus for Maira and here you are just looking at Ashmita and doing nothing. I should definitely ask bro some tips', Rishi scolded himself.

"Ah..! There's Abhi. He is getting lotus for you sister!!" Ashmita said while cupping her face with her hands.

Abhi gave the lotus he painstakingly got from the lake to Maira and smiled. Maira took the flower and her heart was filled with warmth.

"Thanks Abhi. It is beautiful," Maira said while looking at the lotus. Abhi just smiled.

"For me?" Ashmita asked, extending her hand forward.

Abhi got dumbfounded by a sudden request from Ashmita. He brought Lotus only for Maira and he didn't think of Ashmita. So, he awkwardly scratched his head to come up with an answer.

"Ummm.." before Abhi replied, Maira gave her flower to Ashmita and said, "Here take this."

"HAHAHA! No sis. I am just joking with my brother in law... oops!" Ashmita blurted out and covered her mouth with her hands.

Miara cleared her throat and diverted the topic, "Ok, shall we move towards the village?" Maira said.

"Sure, let's go," Ashmita said. Before going, Ashmita took a scroll out of her horse's back pouch. She wrote something on it and placed it at the foot of the walkway.

The rest three looked at Ashmita with confusion. Then Ashmita smiled and replied, "I just wrote to our guards to take leave and meet us here in the same spot in the evening". They started walking to the Village.

Ashmita doesn't want to bother the guards. She thought it'll cause trouble for them to roam freely in the village.

Rishi, who's eager to know how her handwriting looks like, delayed following them and took the scroll. He opened it but then his eyes opened wide. He just left looking at Ashmita with his mouth also wide open.

On the scroll, there was,

"DON"T FOLLOW US.

OR ELSE,

YOU ARE DEAD!"

-Devil Beauty

'Devil Beauty.. Indeed', Rishi thought to himself and smiled. He kept the scroll down and followed Ashmita.