Vandiyathevan weighed his options. Jump down and face the dog, or climb back over the wall. He could see a piece of white cloth behind a nearby tree. Someone was hiding there. It would be dumb to jump without knowing whose hands he might fall into!
He called out. "Vaishnavare! Vaishnavare! What is this game?"
Laughter. Not Alwarkadiyan's voice.
He began climbing back up. The dog leaped higher, barking furiously. A figure stepped out from behind the tree holding a spear. Devaralan.
"My boy, your life is very hard to destroy."
"You seem to know that already. Why come after me again?"
"This time you will not escape." He aimed the spear.
Hanging halfway up a wall with a spear aimed at him and a dog below, Vandiyathevan said, "Devaralan, remember the queen of Pazhuvur's orders. She told you not to harm me."
Devaralan laughed. "The queen of Pazhuvur is not my mistress. Bhadrakali Durga Parameswari alone is my mistress."
"Durga is my family goddess too! Touch me and she will destroy you."
"If you are truly her devotee, do one thing for me and I will spare your life. Help me find the Vaishnavite who came this way. I have vowed to offer a brave Vaishnavite as sacrifice to the Goddess."
The shrub Vandiyathevan was gripping began to pull loose. "That Vaishnavite is my friend. I will never betray him. Offer me instead."
"Then become food for this spear!" Devaralan raised it.
Vandiyathevan let go of the shrub, dropped below the spear point, grabbed the shaft and swung to the ground. He fell flat. Devaralan recovered and raised the spear again.
A figure came running from behind and struck Devaralan hard on the head with a staff. He went down.
Alwarkadiyan threw his upper cloth over the dog's head and, while it thrashed blindly, looped a forest creeper around its neck and tied it to a tree. The two men bound Devaralan's hands and feet. Vandiyathevan took the spear, Alwarkadiyan his staff, and they set off along the fort wall.
"I thought you were a clever man," said Alwarkadiyan. "Thambi, when Devaralan asked you to hand over the Vaishnavite, why not simply say yes? Why put yourself in danger?"
"Bad company. Ponniyin Selvan. After being with him, my heart no longer allows me to lie. Besides, I knew you were somewhere nearby. If I had agreed to hand you over and you had believed me, would you have come to my rescue?"
"Your sharpness of mind is truly beyond measure. Now let me tell you how I got here. After you entered the tunnel, the conspirators followed. Devaralan was left outside. I had no weapon so when he came after me with the dog I ran into the forest. I thought I had lost him, then spotted a hut with a lamp. When I went closer, Devaralan was already there with a girl and the dog. He said something to her, took the dog and set out straight toward where I was standing.
"I gave up the road and went deeper into the forest, tracking them by the barking. Then I saw the palace wall, climbed it, and at that moment saw you running on the terrace. I knew you were heading for the wall, so I came back down. You know the rest."
"Vaishnavare, do you believe in fate?"
"No. If one believed entirely in fate, the path of devotion would be meaningless."
"I have complete faith in it now. My intelligence led me into danger I could not see the bottom of. Fate brought me out."
As they talked, they cleared the forest. The palace entrance was ahead, blazing with torches, loud drums filling the night air. Pazhuvettarayar's procession was arriving.
Alwarkadiyan pulled his arm. "Come! Someone may see us!"
"No one is looking this way. I want to see one thing. Does Nandini come down with him openly, or in a closed palanquin?"
"Do not think fate will always favour you. It may arrive in the form of a bewitching enchantress and undo everything."
"I am not one who will be so easily enchanted, Vaishnavare. There are others for that."
The great elephant stopped at the palace gate. Pazhuvettarayar descended, and behind him the younger queen of Pazhuvur came down too, openly, not in a palanquin.
"This time he has brought her openly," said Alwarkadiyan.
"That is what I wanted to know. Now let us go," said Vandiyathevan.
But Alwarkadiyan stood staring at Nandini. Whether by chance or drawn by his gaze, she turned and looked toward the trees. Fear spread across her face. Pazhuvettarayar noticed and spoke quietly to Sambuvarayar, who gave a quick command. Two mounted warriors rode into the forest.
They pushed through the trees, found no one, and came out the other side.
"There is nobody here. The old lord imagined it," said one.
A dog came howling toward them.
"Do you know when a dog howls like that?" asked the other.
"When someone dies. Or when it sees something it cannot explain."
"Perhaps it thinks you are one of those things."
"Or perhaps you."
Then from the branches above their heads came a loud startling laugh. Both men looked up.
On two branches sat two figures who each slapped a warrior hard across the cheek, grabbed him by the neck, and threw him to the ground.
Then those two rascals climbed onto the horses and rode off into the open plains.