Niranjana was sitting in her chamber and praying silently for her son. The night was indeed very difficult for her. The wind was blowing. She stood up from her place and walked towards the window. She could see the clouds engulfing the moon.

Jayadev stood silently near Niranjana. They looked into each other's eyes but said nothing. After a long time, Niranjana decided to break the silence. She said,"Nath, what do you think? Will our son be safe? Will the sun rise again in Matangpur? Or will Kaal claim the life of our son and the sun will never rise again in Matangpur?"

Jayadev took a deep breath and said to her,"Niranjana, you have given birth to a valiant. If he faces Kaal, he will defeat him and come back to us."

Niranjana started weeping. She looked at Jayadev with eyes filled with tears. With a voice filled with grief, she said,"Has anyone ever defeated Kaal? Do miracles still happen in Kali Yug? Nath, I have just one son. Even if I had given birth to a hundred sons, my heart would still cry for him. What shall I do? Every breath I take, feels like a curse. My mind thinks only of the ominous things that might happen. Nath, what shall I do?"

Jayadev embraced his wife and caressed her head. He whispered to her,"Have patience! Our son will return safe and sound."

Rudradev's camp:

With every passing moment, the weights on the hearts of the soldiers and the commanders grew heavier. Everyone was praying for the recovery of the crown prince.

The sun rose, marking the beginning of a new day. But it was still not known whether the crown prince will be reborn or the new day will mark his death.

The head physician was explaining his helplessness to Sambhava and Kirita when a soldier arrived there. The soldier paid his respects and said,“Senapati, I am Suketu. I am a foot soldier. You may not believe me but every word I am going to say is true. Last night, Devi Kali appeared in my dream. She told me that we have to take Yuvraj to the temple that is situated in the middle of the forest. We will find a cure for Yuvraj there.”

All the three men looked at each other. They were shocked. Kirita said,"But we cannot do that! We cannot put Yuvraj's life in danger. We should keep him in the tent and try to find a cure for him."

But the head physician had a different opinion. He said,"Senapati, we have given every him medicine that we know about. But his condition has not improved till now. As I said, it is very unlikely that Yuvraj will survive now. So, I do not think that there is any harm in following the soldier's advice and taking Yuvraj to that temple."

Sambhava and Kirita agreed to whatever the head physician had said.

They started the preparations. Kirita decided to stay in the camp along with the army. Sambhava, Kanva and the physicians were supposed to take the crown prince to the temple. They took a few soldiers with them.

The temple was a little far from the camp. It was situated in the middle of the forest. The temple was built by carving rocks and there was an idol of Goddess Kali made from black stone in it. No one knew who built that temple. It was said that the temple was built by a king hundreds of years ago. The Chakora Van used to be the kingdom of that king. But due to a curse, the entire population of the kingdom was wiped out and the whole kingdom turned into a dense forest. People say that the temple was abandoned after that. However, it was occasionally visited by the tribals who lived in the forest.

Finally, they reached the temple. Sambhava and Kanva took Rudradev inside the temple and made him lie on the floor. Then Sambhava, Kanva and the physicians sat near him. The physicians checked on Rudradev from time to time. But they could not see any improvement in his condition.

Back in the camp, Kirita was feeling very uneasy. He kept questioning himself,"Was it the right thing to do? Did I make the right decision by allowing them to take Yuvraj to the temple?"

He decided to talk to the soldier about his dream and clear his mind of suspicions. He went to the commander of foot soldiers and said to him,"Call Suketu. I want to talk to him." The commander bowed to him and went to call the soldier.

After some time, he returned with a soldier. But, the soldier looked very different. Kirita said,"I was not talking about him. There is another soldier named Suketu. He has a fair complexion and a mole on his left cheek."

The commander said to him,"Senapati, you must have been mistaken. There is no foot soldier who looks like that. Apart from that, he is the only foot soldier named Suketu."

Kirita's expression changed when realization hit him. Sending the crown prince to the temple was indeed a mistake. He was in danger. He ran towards his horse but suddenly, he started coughing. He went back to his tent to drink some water. The  coughing did not stop. He started feeling dizzy and very soon he fell unconscious.

Two men were standing at the bank of the river. They had opened a door which led to a tunnel. One of them said,"Ripsu, this tunnel will take us to the Garbhagriha of the temple."

Ripsu said,"Sukumar, you go inside first. I will walk behind you."

They entered the tunnel and closed the door behind them. Then, they nodded at each other and started walking.

The old temple:

Another door opened in the Garbhagriha behind the idol of the Goddess. Ripsu and Sukumar came out of the tunnel and entered the Garbhagriha. The door of the Garbhagriha was locked from inside.

They had come fully prepared. Ripsu had disguised himself as a soldier named Suketu and fooled Sambhava and Kirita. And Sukumar had secretly added a sedative in the water that was kept for Kirita. For their plan to work, they had to enter the Garbha griha before anyone else did. So, they had locked the door in that way when they had come to the temple the previous day.

Sukumar whispered to Ripsu,"Did you bring the incense?"

Ripsu showed him a pouch and said,"Here it is. It is a very powerful incense. It will make everyone faint. Then, we will behead the crown prince and escape. However, we cannot rely on the poison alone. Remember what our master had said to us. He does not want us to make any mistakes." Sukumar nodded his head.

They leaned on the closed door of the Garbhagriha and tried to listen to the sounds that were coming from outside. It was clear that the crown prince was present outside. Sukumar and Ripsu covered their mouths and noses with pieces of fabric and lit the incense. They leaned on the door once again. They were about to open the door when the unexpected happened.

A snake emerged from behind the idol of the Goddess and slithered all along the way to the door knob. Sukumar and Ripsu were concentrating on the sounds that were coming from outside. They did not notice the snake at all. As soon as Sukumar proceeded to touch the door knob, the snake bit him. Before he could even react, the snake bit Ripsu too.