Brihannala

Matsya

"We have reached the outskirts of Matsya" said the eldest among them. "Anna are you sure this place is safe for us? " said the giant looking at his elder brother  who has a calm looking face, he didn't have the strong built or strength as that of his gaint brother, but his eyes spoke of his intelligence. " If your brother has picked it, I am sure he must have thought through everything Vallaba " said the only female in their group looking at the giant.

(*Anna means big brother)

Kanka was the eldest of their pack followed by Vallaba, the giant, then there was Brihi, Granthik, Tantipal and Malini. They were in search of a place to hide and yet stay in plain sight, so what other better place than the capital city of Matsya kingdom.

"But Anna the city is heavily guarded and if they identify us we will be immediately captured and you know what will happen next" said Granthik looking at the giant city wall starting to lit with evening lamps and the watch guards walking along the perimeter of the wall and the two guards stationed at the entrance.

"We first need a safe place to hide our weapons, a weapon is a warrior's identity and each of us have something unique which will immediately reveal who we are." said Tantipal who was a fraternal twin of Granthik, he was the smartest of all but also the most silent, he only spoke when he wanted.

Kanka looked at Brihi who has been silent all along, "What do you say Brihi?" he asked. "Anna weapons are not a problem, I during my travels learned a way in which we can disguise and hide our weapons, what I am more concerned about is everyone knows that 5 men and 1 women are on a run and if we go together we will surely be suspected"

Kanka smiled at him and said, "I know and that is why we won't go in together, tomorrow morning as the gates open,  we will pose as immigrants looking for jobs in the city and enter.  There is a Kamadhenu temple in the east side of the city, it will be crowded as the king is performing pooja and annadan on the occasion of Vijayadashimi for the welfare of his kingdom, they mostly depend on cattle as their source of income, so it's sacred to them. We shall meet tomorrow evening in that temple, till then stay low and try to find jobs" he said looking at all of them.

(*Pooja is prayer and Annadan is feeding poor with food)

Brihi and others noded. "Now hand me your weapons" said Brihi and others did as told, he placed his bow and quiver at the top followed by the other weapons and then their armours on a white cloth and took out a few pouches from his satchel. He felt all eyes on him and looked up,  "Now now this is a trade secret, all of you turn your back" he said with a smirk and twinkle in his eyes, reluctantly everyone turned their back until they heard, "Ah!  Its finally done". When they turned back towards Brihi, they were surprised to see a corpse infront of them and they heard Malini give a small scream.

"What is this?" Malini asked looking shocked and an expression of revulsion on her face. "Well we needed a disguise and what better than a corpse, no one dares to touch a corpse because, one it's scary and two it's untouchable as people consider unclaimed bodies as some form of black magic. Now where shall we place this" he said looking around. They were standing in the forest area towards the south western side of the kingdom, beyond which lies the great desert.

Brihi went around looking at different trees, some had thick leave, some were tall, some were shrubs. He finally settled on one which had leaves which looked spikey, "I think I found our tree" he said looking at his pack with a grin. It was a Khejri tree,  this tree had different names in different kingdoms like Shami, Jammi, Banni, Jand etc. In some parts, leaves of this tree were exchanged as good luck.

With the help of Vallaba he mounted the corpse on a high branch. Happy with his handy work he climbed down and asked Granthik " Walk away a 100 steps and tell me what do you see". Everyone looked at Brihi confused but Granthik did as he was told and counted a 100 steps as others watches him.

He was surprised at what he saw and kept rubbing his eyes, he walked back smiling, " You are getting better and better at your artwork, it looks like a snake wrapped on a branch from far, which is very commonly seen in these trees. Some day you have to tell me how you did it" he said looking at Brihi with pride.

Brihi smiled back and said "Some day I will, but for now all we have to do is wait till the sun sets and rises tomorrow with a new beginning".