Oak

Next Day Morning, the team of six started their journey after receiving blessings from the King and Yashoda. It takes a day to reach Maya village since the village is surrounded by the Kumbi Forest.

Kumbi forest is the only big forest in lotus kingdom with huge trees, wide varieties of herbs, extensive wildlife and waterfalls. Overall the forest is full of life and beauty. Due to this forest the villages nearby receive adequate amounts of rainfall every year. To keep the travellers safe from any danger while passing through the forest, the king made a way in the forest to reach the village.

By the time the team reached Kumbi forest, the sun was setting in the horizon by spreading the orange light throughout the forest. The team decided to take rest in the forest that night and to start their journey early in the morning. They also want to notice if there are any suspicious activities happening in this forest.

All the team members except Ashmitha were so asleep in the midnight despite the sounds of the wild. Ashmita tried but the problem didn't let her sleep. So she thought of walking around and looked for any possibilities of those strange creatures' footsteps.

When she left the place where the rest 5 members were sleeping was filled with a green smoke. Instantly Veda woke up but before she could react, she lost her consciousness and like that all the five fell into deep slumber.

When Ashmita came back she noticed everyone sleeping very peacefully in an unnatural way. She tried to wake them up but no one responded and she became alerted. She then noticed their bag of food stolen and saw some weird footprints. She started following them holding her sword tight.

She has gone a long way from the team and slowly the light of the campfire has disappeared. But that dark forest is lit with moonlight now. This is enough for Ashmita as she has a very keen eyesight that she can see almost everything clearly even in dark. She walked for a while along and suddenly the footprints disappeared. She searched the entire place but to her disappointment she couldn't find any traces.

When she turned around to leave she started hearing some feeble sounds from the back. She slowly turned back and listened carefully. Those were actually moans and she followed them until she reached a bush. When she keenly observed she figured that it's actually a cave. The cave is covered by the creepers completely. It is also surrounded by bushes which makes it difficult to find that it's a cave at once. She slowly removed the creepers and entered the cave.

She carefully observed her surroundings to find any traps. But the cave is clean. It is like someone is regularly cleaning it and maintaining it neat. Ashmita's suspicions are getting stronger with every step she takes and finally the voice of someone gets louder. It seemed like someone was suffering from a lot of pain. She reached a small entrance but before she looked into it she heard a conversation.

"The leader's health is deteriorating day by day. The food we are feeding and medicine we are giving is not at all helpful for him" someone said. 'It seems like a doctor' Ashmita thought.

"Then what should we do now?" again heard another voice.

"I think we need to take help from some medical genius," the first one said.

"This means we need to take help from humans?" someone else asked. It seems like there are so many creatures present in the cave and they all are speaking normal human language which is very shocking to ashmita. She thought of some animals or something but she didn't expect that the creatures are somehow related to humans. Now her curiosity to see them has increased.

"Yes," the doctor said.

"But do you think they will help us? They are the most selfish creatures on the earth" someone said.

"But not all are like that," the doctor corrected.

"I think there is only one solution" Someone suggested.

"What is that?" the doctor asked.

"We can kidnap a famous doctor in this village and with our powers we can make him treat our leader" the second voice suggested.

"No!! It is harmful for that person and for us also.The villagers are so alert now. If we make any such mistake, they can turn this forest in and out to find that missing person and if they find us they may kill us." Doctor suggested.

After sometime, "It is best to ask help from the king himself." the doctor suggested.

"Are you out of your mind? Our leader is in this situation because we trusted a king before. Do you even remember how much we have suffered? Tell me you didn't forget it already?" Someone shouted.

"I know. But there are only two options for us, either take risk approaching the king or to let our leader die here..", the doctor said in a low voice.

After hearing their conversation Ashmita felt that she should help them. They didn't harm any of the people but if they don't receive help in time, they may turn cruel which is not good. So she decided to help them.

"I will help your leader!" Ashmita said without coming in front of them.

Everyone startled and after sometime they took their small knives and stood around their leader.

"Who are you?", Someone shouted.

"Don't worry I didn't see your faces but trust me I mean no harm to you", Ashmita said.

"No Need!! We don't need your help. Just get off of here or else you will die", the same one shouted.

"Doctor.. I want to talk with you. I understand the situation and trust me I can make sure that your leader along with all of you will be safe." Ashmita said.

"How can we trust you?" Doctor asked.

"I am the princess of this kingdom and to prove my identity here, see this!" Ashmita said before hanging the pendant near the entrance.

The leader who was lying on the bed looked at the pendant and said, "Let her help me!" and everyone looked at their leader in astonishment.

"But.." someone tried to say something then the leader said, "Just let her do it and Trust me!" He said before losing his consciousness.

"Okay, we trust you please help our leader..." the doctor said.

"Okay and everyone please come out along with your leader so that I can take you to a safer place" Ashmita said, "And I am not able to enter this room because this is very small.." she added.

Ashmita stood 5 feet away from the entrance to create some room for them to come out and slowly one of the creatures came out and she stood there like a statue after seeing them.

"You are El..Elf...Elf...!!!???" She asked with puzzlement.

The first one who steps out of the room is the doctor elf. He is wearing spects and white shirt and pants. Seeing her, he was astonished. He had never seen this kind of a beauty in his lifetime.

Both Ashmita and doctor elf stood there looking at each other and after sometime everyone started to come out and everyone just stood there seeing Ashmita's beauty.

Seeing this, Ashmita awkwardly cleared her throat and asked, "What are you staring at? Is there something on my face?"

Everyone came to their senses and coughed lightly. The doctor is the first one to reply, "Nothing, it really seemed like there's something on your face, took time to realize that it's your beauty". Winked.

"Ehmm? Aren't you an Elf?" She smiled. "Hi everyone.. Nice to meet you all.. I am ASHMITA" she introduced herself.

She waited for their reply and a while later, all at once shouted, "Nice to meet you..! We are the Oak Team and he is our leader, Oak'' introduced themselves to Ashmita.

She saw that some of the elves carried a bed and in the bed an old elf was lying. He is looking very pale and it seems like he's suffering from a serious injury.

"Oak.." Ashmita murmured.