The capital is in Agra and not Delhi. So they had to travel all the way there.
At first she thought, Yo! What a great chance to roam around!. Her second and logical thought, well, NO!
Travel had to be partly on foot and partly in bullock carts. And, it was about 70 kos(Mughal measuring system) so which is roughly 210 km.
Sloane thought, HOLY SMOKES! Piece of crappiest crap!Wanted to curse more but her purity mattered.
Plus,there was a huge chance of getting robbed, slipping in monsoon muds and catching some medieval diseases. What bothered her wasn't the danger. It was the feeling that some dangers were… expected.
But let her see the positive side, (She said this totally for her sanity). More adventure! Knowledge! Will get to meet ancient people!
She asked Dannyal how many coins he had. He said," 100 dams(copper coins) and 20 rupees(silver coins)". Basically his entire living savings. She shaked head guessing she got a spendaholic.
He added,"Enough for the journey and less risky to carry.". Sloane translated this as:Bro's broke.
She assumed But what did she had to say as a person with no money?
He said they were gonna have to catch a caravan–a convoy where merchants travel together with goods and animals to avoid risks.
He then went to his storage room,thank God it hadn't burnt. Gathered the goods on his cart pulled by two donkeys and hit the roads.
The roads were dusty with long trees on both sides. Sloane's favorite songs got replaced by camel's grunting noise. That was what bothered her the most.
As they were walking, she noticed the rivalry between their caravan and a other one. One of the Persian merchants told her about the use of tactics to slow down the opponent-poisoning the animals. She knew it before as a historian but couldn't agree with the poisoning like the other merchants.
Dannyal reassured,"We've joined the powerful bad side. Safer. Let's not interfere with what they are doing." She hated to agree that he was right.
She noticed that he said it so calmly, like choosing sides was already accounted for.
They came to a toll post. Long line but their leader–an old rich merchant –bribed them to get faster. Fortunately the opponent caravan fell back and their animals got saved.
Weird how falling behind saved them. Sloane smiled thinking.
An Afghan merchant was storytelling to avoid boredom. He told her that on the way they would meet a temple, a cursed one. Abandoned for ages but some say there might be treasury under the statue. Whoever tried to go there for greed instead of need was killed by an angel dressed as a devil.
The phrasing stuck with her. Angel. Devil. Like judgment pretending to be punishment.
By then they reached a sarai–inns present around every 10-20 km, it had a mat and felt kinda warm unlike the cold nights she experiences in London. There was a big courtyard in middle, well and communal kitchens around it.
Being able to witness these stuffs in real life was pretty awesome for her. Even though her legs were screaming,"SOS!"
The weird thing was–her being able to vibe and joke with them. She assumed that maybe time just made things easier for men, not change them.
Even though Dannyal thought, it was just her humours that made her able to vibe.
While laying on the mat and staring at the moon, she realized that it was the same moon she always looked at home. Dannyal smiled,"This moon is the same at your time too,right?"
"Dude,I was literally thinking the same.But in our time you would be in the museum.Hahaha." Sloane joked.
His question felt innocent. But it made her wonder how much of him was allowed to exist beyond this time?
"Not funny. By the way, about the temple the Afgan was talking about, you wanna check that out?"asked Dannyal.
"It is cursed, isn't it?" She asked turning her head just a bit.
"And you believe that?Just admit you are scared." He teased.
"I mean-"
Dannyal interfered saying,"Scaredy cat!"
"Fine,we will go there."
Something in her said yes faster than her logic could object. She explained herself this was because she liked cursed things.
Sloane was confused that how easy Dannyal made danger feel. But she would have to compete with him to see who had better humour.
The next dawn. The toilettes were.... NORMAL. In her mind, Sloane expected something disastrous enough to keep her stuffs inside her but this was fine squat like latrines.
The nuclearly reacted kebabs–as she named her wastes to sound more elegant, are channeled outside the city. Surprisingly there were some fragrant herbs and limes to mask the smell.
They started the journey again. She went ahead and asked the Afgan merchant,"Are you sure that temple is cursed?"
"Of course I am."
"Who told you all this?"
"Everyone knows this. Why? Planning to go there?"
"You never saw anyone dying by going there, did you?"
"These young kids...nowdays." He said while grunting.
When passing by the cursed temple, seeing everyone's scared face, Sloane's hand started trembling a bit. Dannyal said,"We will stop here, you guys go ahead. We will meet you in the next sarai."
Everyone started whispering. The leader told them not to, but who was Dannyal listening to? Of course he had to get the real feeling of 'adventure' by almost going to places where people die.
Sloane predicted that people like him probably invented rides and amusement parks in the future.
The temple was....creepy. Spider webs. Dead bodies. Idols and carvings. Diseases partying. Sloane clicked a photo, found it aesthetic.
For her, it looked like something a future game would exaggerate for entertainment.
Sloane accidentally slipped and fell behind. Behind the back of that idol they found a door.
Led to a secret chamber. She gaslit Dannyal into thinking that she did it intentionally to avoid embarrassment.
"Holy Mo-" She decided them as her final words as she fell into in to a pit. Dannyal grabbed her and and pulled her up.
"Dang! You got some good reflexes." She exclaimed.
"Unlike you,"he muttered.
She manifested that, Oh Gosh as a person with zero reflexes, I ain't surviving this.
They looked forward and damn,THERE WERE TRAPS AND TRAPS.
Sloane felt that the traps weren't random. They reacted. Like the temple was measuring intent, not movement.
Dannyal stared at her for a moment, decided whether she can survive or not and concluded that,"I'm grabbing your head."
"What?"
He literally grabbed her head like it was a basketball and started running.
Arrows shot out of the wall, so close to almost getting pinned into her heart. And Dannyal was telling her to run while literally holding her head.
She thought, Hypocrits! Then asked,"Who are you giving motivation to? Yourself?"
They sprinted forward but the wall above them started falling everytime they stood on a push tile. Sloane didn't understand how Dannyal figured out which to avoid and somehow saved her.
But the fact is Dannyal himself didn't know how. He just predicted. He got good guts.
Next came swinging logs-massive wooden trunks with spikes. Sloane yelled, "THIS AIN'T NORMAL!"
Dannyal shot back saying,"Oh yes, I thought cursed temples had red carpets to welcome us!"
One log came so close to Dannyal that he swore he smelt those rusty spikes. Sloane pulled him aside.
Dannyal understood, Sloane actually notices even if she can't connect them.
After entering to the next room, she thought a bit of rest but her gut sucked like her reflexes. IT WAS A ROOM FILLED WITH POISONED THORNS GETTING SHOT FROM THE DAMN WALL.
Dannyal warned, "One scratch and we are done."
"Thanks for the funfact!" She said while running like crazy.
Guess what now? Gases and arrows AGAIN. Sloane said,"I can't breathe!" And suddenly all the arrows pinned her to the wall.
"USE YOUR SLEEVES,"said Dannyal.
"Dude,I am stuck," said Sloane, breaths hitching.
He came and freed her while muttering,"Out of all ways-imagine dying due to sleeve. I shouldn't have let go of your head."
The last one was devastating. Stones with fire getting thrown out of the wall.
Before seeing the trap, Sloane noticed her hands trembling and sweats falling.
She felt weak not because she was trembling but because a shiver ran down her spine telling her she can't tremble.
And she felt being watched, being judged. But was it her anxiety or instinct? She couldn't understand. Whatever may it be, overthinking about this might cause death.