For story continuity, please check my previous blogs too.

       Two people were talking at the corner of a road.  They looked like city guards.  When they saw Paranjothi, they themselves stopped.  

      "Who are you? Where do you go in the middle of the night?" asked one of them.  

      "I am outsider, sir!..." Before Paranjothi started to say, the first person to speak asked, "What do you mean of outsider, which town are you from?"  He said.

        "Chola country.."

       "Oh! Uraiyur?"

       "No, sir! Sengatangudi village in east Chola country. I arrived at Kanchi only this evening.

      "Really?  Why did you come here?"

        "I came to learn Tamil at a Navukkarasar Monastery."

       "Then why are you wandering in the streets at midnight?"

        "I don't know where the Monastery is, I have been searching since evening.

        The two guards lightly laughed with a tinge of sarcasm.  One of them said, "Do you have to go to the Navukkarasar Monastery?"  He asked.

        "Yes, sir!"

        "We're going that way. If you come, we'll show you."

        Paranjothi thanked the guards and followed them.  After a while they stopped at the door of a building with high walls.  

       "Is this the monastery?" asked Paranjothi.

       "Yes, doesn't this look like the monastery?"

        Actually it did not look like the monastery to Paranjothi.  There is no temple nearby.  The high walls of the building and the large lock on the front door made him suspicious.  One of those who took him went to the gate and said something to the guard there.  Immediately the lock was unlocked: the door was also opened.

        "Come on, brother!"  Paranjothi stepped over the doorway while his heart beat fast.  

       They led him through a narrow alley with high walls on both sides.  They stood at one place and the door of the room was opened.

        "Lie down here, everyone in the monastery is sleeping so you can meet when the day dawns," said one.
      Paranjothi peered into the dark room.  There was some hay and a mat.  A pot of water was kept in a corner.

       He turned and looked at the guards who had come with him, "Is this the Monastery?" he asked.

      “Yes, brother!  What do you doubt?" said one of the guards.

       "If you don’t want to stay here, go out!" said another.

      Paranjothi was so tired that it was enough to find a place to sleep for the night. He said, 
     
       "No, I will sleep here" and entered the room.

      Then one of the guards who brought him said, "Brother!  It is a monastery but not the Navukkarasar monastery. It is King Mahendra Chakravarthy's monastery!" He slammed the door. The next moment Paranjoi heard the door of the room being locked!

Here ends the fourth chapter of first volume.

To be continued....