"I don't think so."
    This time the two visitors did look at each other.
    "Mysterious deaths?" Hari prompted.
    "Lately the lower castes have been killing each other. It is of no matter," Utam waved a hand.
    "They have been killing each other?" Ashram inquired.
    "Although it is true that most of those killed have been untouchables or sudras, there have been a series of mysterious murders in the last few weeks," the rajah admitted. "Bodies ravaged as if by a giant beast, worse than any tiger could do. Some people just disappear. And the worst part is that my beloved younger son, Dingiri—" here that son's elder brother interrupted to spit contemptuously—"has joined the rajah of Urim, saying that it is only right that we marry Kalinda off to him and resist the powers of the maharajah."
    Ashram frowned. "So if Kalinda marries the rajah of Urim, then the armies of the maharajah will make their displeasure known."
    "That's what the ambassadors say."
    "And if you were to marry Kalinda off to the maharajah, the armies of Urim would make their displeasure known."
    That, too, was true.
    "Hm."
    "Something has been done wrong. There must be some great evil, that's why the bolt disappeared, that's why all of this is happening. If we can get the bolt back, everything will be fine," the rajah stated.
    "I agree. If this town had its protection again, the situations would naturally resolve themselves."
    Lord Maraham spoke up. "I believe that Lord Utam is being a little too... dynamic. We can beat the rajah of Urim, but we must be very careful, we must wage defensive warfare. If we present him with a fait accompli, he will calm down, and I'm sure that with the help of the maharajah we can defeat him. But it will take a couple weeks for the maharajah's troops to get here. Therefore, my plan is that we go to a defensive procedure, set up fortifications on our side of the river, and in the meantime, hide the princess, so that any raiding forces will not find her. In which case it is imperative to say yes to the request of the ambassadors so they immediately go back and start the process. I don't know why we've delayed this long."
    "I'm not sure I trust the maharajah to come to our aid," Utam replied. "Srivasti is quite a ways away from here. Can we even be sure that an army would last? And why is he doing this, anyway? I think he's trying to expand his influence in the valley." That seemed likely. "I don't want to be a slave of anyone! If we sit and wait for them to form up their forces and come at us with their elephants and men, of course we'll be defeated, but if we strike first, with surprise, we can overwhelm them."
    "Do you wish to go to war with either of them?" Ashram inquired.
    "Yes," Utam replied straightforwardly, but then he was kshatriya.
    The rajah didn't look happy, however. "Mard is such a good boy. I've always loved him, and I would rather that it turned out this way, but I don't see that I have a choice now. I have to admit, Utam, I am leaning toward lord Maraham's plan; it seems to make a little more sense."
    Ashram leaned over and whispered to the paladin, "Where do you want to go on this? I think the best thing we can do is try and figure out who stole the bolt."
    "Or caused it to leave."
    "Hm."
    "Have you considered trying to turn them against each other rather than having each of them against you?" Hari asked the rajah.
    "Well, we're kind of assuming that they are against each other, hence the wisdom of waiting for their forces. It's a question of, can the maharajah's forces get here in time."
    "But regardless that would still leave Amirdata as the battleground?" Ashram questioned.
    "Yes. And more importantly, if the maharajah's forces won, they would still be here afterward."
    "Which is not something you want."
    "It's getting down to, do we have a choice? If a powerful third party of some kind were to help us in the field, perhaps we would not need the maharajah's forces," he hinted heavily.
    "If I were being particularly cunning and vicious about this," Hari mused, "one could almost think that this were being set up to leave two relatively destroyed kingdoms for a larger force to move into."
    No one seemed inclined to argue against that likelihood.
    Ashram frowned. "If your defense against Urim is the presence of the maharajah's forces, why could your defense against the maharajah not be the presence of Urim's forces, as well as your forces?"
    "There's a possibility, but we would probably be overwhelmed even then. We are too small, and the maharajahstan is really big," Akshe shook his head. "Although, again, unless we were somehow backed up...."
     "These are dark times indeed," the hermit stated. "Perhaps such powerful outsiders will arrive, in time." He certainly didn't want to commit to this venture just yet.
    Outside, Hasin rolled his eyes. And noted that he was not the only climber in the vicinity of the palace; a number of men were scaling the other tower.
    He grinned to himself and stepped through the window, bowing low to the assemblage. "Begging your pardon, my lords, but I believe the princess is being kidnapped as you discuss the matter."
    "You!" Ashram exclaimed. And then gave a sigh of resignation.
    "I'll be stepping back out to see if I can delay them."
    "He is a thief, but trustworthy," the hermit told the council, which had erupted into a chaos of startlement at his abrupt appearance.
    "You wound me to the core," Hasin told him, and climbed back out the window.
    The Monkey Paladin simply leaped down to the roof and ran across it, toward the other tower, where five men on two ropes were busily ascending. Ashram leaned out the window as the first of the men entered the tower. There were no screams, at any rate. He cast a Faerie Fire, outlining the interlopers in a faint glow. The guards were shouting and blowing horns as they converged on the invaders.
    Darts whistled through the night, striking the paladin and Hasin. The man who had gotten into the tower looked down.
    "We are found! Flee!"
    He climbed out and all five of them began a rapid descent. No sign of the princess. Hari hoped they hadn't killed her. Two of them landed on the roof and drew swords while the other three broke for the roof's edge, no doubt intending to conceal themselves in the forest.
    Hasin, who preferred to avoid close combat, at least when his only weapon was a knife, backed away from the swordsmen. Hari had no such reservations, but he did his best to avoid killing them as he laid about his with his holy mace. The other man advanced on Hasin.
    The plump thief kept retreating. "Whoa. Mistook you gentlemen for someone else."
    "Don't try to interfere!"
    "Wouldn't dream of it."
    The man sprinted off after his companions.
    Ashram made his best guess at where the three fleeing men would enter the woods and cast an entangle spell, hoping to snare one of them. Hari swung the mace again; his target was trying to get away now. Arrows filled the air as the guards fired at the fleeing interlopers, two of whom were headed in a direction that would bring them to the gate in the village. Hari ran after the one he had wounded and wrestled him to the ground, then hauled him back over to where the warriors had finally gotten down the roof. Ashram joined them, moving at a dignified pace befitting his age.
    "Sanjay!" Utam exclaimed upon seeing the captive's face.
    "Lord Utam," the captive acknowledged grudgingly.
    "Acquaintance of yours?" Hari inquired.
    "Where is Prince Dingiri?"
    "Prince Dingiri got away. You managed to see us just before we were to liberate the princess."
    "What are you doing here?" Ashram asked Hasin, very quietly.
    "Visiting. I could ask the same of you."
    "We are on a pilgrimage."
    "Liberate!" Utam was livid. "You were going to kidnap her. We will not become the pawns of the maharajah!"
    "Hm. Oh, right, that holy thing," Hasin nodded sagely.
    Ashram sighed. "You follow your dharma with such glee..."
    "It is my understanding that this pleases the gods."
    "It is only right that the rajah of Urim marry the princess," Sanjay shot back.
    Utam grunted in disgust. "Hari, our thanks for capturing this traitor. We'll take him from here. Guards, throw him in the dungeon."
    "Freedom for Amirdata!" he shouted as they dragged him off.
    "Well, not for you," Hasin noted, watching.
    "Do you often decide that you are going to travel by hanging around outside windows?" Ashram asked.
    "Yes."
    "Your timing is as always impeccable. You remember our friend, don't you?" he added Hari to the conversation.
    "Yes," the paladin allowed.
    Ashram ended his Faerie Fire spell.
    "Could have left that on, maybe the tigers would have found them."
    "No...."
    "They were rather uncivilized people," Hasin noted.
    Hari plucked a dart from his shoulder.
    "Here, have a berry," Ashram offered him a blessed fruit. The paladin gave him a tolerantly amused look and healed himself. "I couldn't help but notice that they recently announced that an important holy relic had vanished with absolutely no one having any idea how it could have disappeared. Would you happen to know anything—"
    "I have heard this also."
    "Of course you did, you were outside the room. You wouldn't happen to know what happened to this item, would you?"
    "Alas, sir, I do not."
    "If someone were to show you the place where it happened, could you please explain to us...?"
    "I'd be delighted, since I haven't been able to get in there."
    "Excuse me, good hermit," Lord Utam interrupted. "Could I be introduced to the person who was hanging around the private council?"
    "Oh, this is Hasin."
    "My lord." He bowed deeply.
    "And Hasin's caste?"
    "He follows the dharma of the sudra caste with great... vigilance."
    Utam spat. "Pah. What are you doing here? Guards, throw the thief in the dungeon!"
    Hasin sighed. Not this again.
    "He is... an acquaintance of ours, great lord," Ashram hastened to intervene.
    "What?!"
    "We have crossed paths with him on several occasions. It is my belief that he could prove quite useful in the attempts to determine exactly what is going on."
    Hasin smiled broadly.
    "Very well," Utam snapped after some thought. "I will leave him in your responsibility."
    "I have held that august position in the past," Ashram told him.
    "Out of politeness, I will not ask why you were lurking outside. But if we find you are a spy, we will have you killed." He ignored Hasin thereafter.
    "It's always better when you're responsible for him," Hari noted to Ashram.
    "I remember the first time that you were responsible for him. That did not go well for any of us."
    Hasin contrived to look deeply insulted.
    
    

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