The message was sent to the palace: the Princess had been found. As soon as the man confirmed that he had seen her in the village of Ser, the Prince immediately set out to retrieve her.
The man—a trader passing through the village on his way to the capital—told the Prince that the villagers had taken her in.
Given the urgency, only a small group of royal guards and a handful of soldiers could match the speed of the Prince’s horse. His mount seemed to race with the wind; his hair floated behind him as he urged the horse forward. What would have been a full-day journey was completed in just a few hours.
In Ser, Prithvi and Dhara sat in the hut as Shana, Prithvi’s mother, prepared a meal. Dhara felt uneasy under Prithvi’s intense gaze, occasionally adjusting her hair or touching her neck.
