A/N: Hi everyone! You may be starting to wonder just how in the world there are so many species in this story that are supposed to be extinct, Bhediya Khan is a dire wolf, however, as far as what I have read via the internet, dire wolves only existed in North America during the ice age times. I have added in a way that these species can get into the European countries, as well as the Asiatic countries, it is something known as a land bridge. The land bridge is how the dire wolves and other species were able to get into India. As a head's up, I do plan on adding in another animal from the ice age times that shouldn't be in India, like Bhediya Khan, he shall get into India by way of land bridge. I am not going to spoil the surprise though ;)- KaijuCrazy02
(Chapter 17: Where he goes, death follows)
It was later on in the night, the fighting had calmed down some, the Seeonee Pack had decided to devour the fallen dholes as a meal since it was right there and ready for them. Some of the wolves admitted that it was awkward to be eating another canid, but it didn't bother them too much.
Mowgli was currently hunting something for Kaa, he had forgotten to do that, if he wanted to remain the leader of the jungle, he would have to keep his relationships and friendships intact.
Gray Brother, Phao, Rama, and Leela had decided to go on the hunt with Mowgli in order to protect him. They feared that he might get ambushed by another bunch of dholes.
Leela was the granddaughter of the late great Akela, she had big shoes to fill...or should I say, paws to fill. She was a bold juvenile wolf, determined to become leader when Gray Brother's time as leader was up. After all, it was in her blood to become one, if she accomplished this, she would become the first ever female leader of the Seeonee Pack, she wanted to do it to make Akela's spirit proud.
Right now, Mowgli held his knife tight in his hand, he kept his head on a swivel, for he too was aware that roaming dholes could potentially be lurking around.
Indeed, some dholes were...
Nirmam had dispatched five red dogs to go after Mowgli, and to kill him when he least suspects it.
Right now, Mowgli was in a kneeling position, he had noticed a small deer in the distance, it should be big enough to satisfy the hunger of the great reticulated python. His eyes narrowed, his breathing began to slow down some as he tried to remain calm as he stalked it. He made sure not to make any loud noises, he slowly crept through the brush towards the deer, ready to spring on to it when he had the chance.
The rough skin of his foot broke a dried up, brittle twig, a cracking noise was heard, echoing off the trees. The deer stopped grazing, looking up to see if anything was there, Mowgli stopped every movement to remain hidden in the brush.
His darker skin complexion, as well as the fact that it was night, and also the fact that he was hiding in the shade, made him practically invisible, it would be even more difficult to see him if it was raining.
The deer suddenly screamed, as barking noises were heard, higher pitched, the dholes had arrived!
"Son of a jackal..." Mowgli muttered in annoyance before running for his life, heading back down the trail as fast as his legs could carry him.
"We've found you, foolish man!" One of the dholes barked, Mowgli ignored it as he continued to run as fast as he could.
He could see the shadows of wolves in the distance, and the only wolves he knew would be his friends, no wolf hardly ever left this far away from the area of Council Rock, so it had to be his allies.
After about thirty seconds of constant running, Mowgli suddenly skidded to a stop before turning around, unsheathing his knife!
A dhole lunged on him, managing to nearly take Mowgli down, but the man held on, shifting his body weight to keep his legs anchored to the ground. The dhole clamped it's teeth into his shoulder, making him shout in pain, but the man was relentless as he slit the throat of the red dog!
Phao was first to attack, leaping out of the shadows to tackle another dhole down to the ground. Leela came next, pouncing on another one of those red dogs from behind, killing it instantly with a bite!
Gray Brother connected with another dhole, the two stood up on their hind legs as they barked viciously at each other. The bigger wolf would overpower the smaller dhole, forcing it to the ground with a killing bite to the neck, and a brutal claw to the face for good measure.
As Mowgli killed another dhole, he noticed the shadow of four more coming towards them!
"More come! Stay sharp!" Mowgli exclaimed as he removed his large knife out of another dhole's gut, only to get headbutted in the back by another dhole. He grunted in pain before turning around, stabbing his knife in to the top of the head of the attacker.
He could also hear the pitter patter of the other dhole's feet coming up behind him, with a determined yell, he turned around again, performing the same maneuver as he did mere seconds ago, plunging the blade into the head of the dhole.
Leela got two swipes across the snout of a dhole, before the two of them stood up on their hind legs, she managed to bring down the red dog before finishing it with a bite to the neck.
Gray Brother was tackled by two dholes, and before one could deliver the killing blow, the knife found itself lodged into the throat of one of them!
Mowgli let out a scream as he rushed in, tackling the other dhole off of his wolf brother, it tried to get a bite in on his ribs, but from the angle, the red dog was not successful.
The man curled an arm around the dhole, using his masculine strength to strangle it out in a chokehold that looked strikingly similar to a guillotine choke you would see in MMA.
Within seconds, the dhole was killed via asphyxiation, a thing that Mowgli learned from Kaa. The remaining dholes were all killed off by Mowgli and his allies within seconds, only one of them was able to retreat.
Phao was beating a dead horse, he was seen repeatedly slashing open the torso of a fallen red dog over and over again, making the wound bloodier and wider. This caught the attention of Gray Brother, who was more matured than him.
"I believe it to be dead, Phao." Gray Brother said, appalled at the sight.
Phao only laughed, continuing to rip and tear apart the carcass of the red dog, but he was pounced on by Gray Brother!
"Stop! Playing with a dead body makes us no better than those fools that break the jungle law!" He scolded Phao, the younger wolf growled before slinking away.
"Alright, I'll have Leela and Gray Brother come with me, I'll chop up the bodies and take what we have to Kaa for her meal." Mowgli announced, and they did as such.
(One hour later)
Around an hour later was when the lone dhole arrived back to the legion being commanded by Nirmam Yoddha.
"I've failed you, the squadron of us you've sent failed to kill him." The red dog spoke through rapid breaths.
"You must be joking, you still couldn't take him out alone!?" Nirmam barked aggressively, deeply angered at how Mowgli was still alive.
"A few wolves were with him, Nirmam. Four of them to be precise." The dhole responded, this only made the Himalayan wolf even more infuriated than he arleady was.
"I've sent around fifteen in total to kill him! How could we possibly be defeated by four wolves and one man!?" Nirmam yapped.
"Maybe what they speak of him is true, maybe he is the legend of the jungle." The dhole answered, this got the Himalayan wolf to immediately pounce on him, pinning his own ally to the ground.
"So you want to speak with good intentions of a being that has NO place in these jungles? I don't believe in legends, they are fairy tales. No legend of the jungle or legend of the wildlife has ever spoken of people that have broken these so called laws, they only mention the survival of the people that defend it. I'm sick of it!" The wolf growled, the dhole beneath his paws whimpered in fear.
"Well, shouldn't Bhediya be dead now? After all he is part of an ancient species forgotten by time..." It pathetically squeaked.
"He is the only legend we speak of in this pack, now, back to that man-" Nirmam began.
"He has slain too many of my red dogs, and yet he offers peace. Why offer peace when you kill more than sixty of my red dogs? He's done enough damage, and tonight we will take the things he loves away from him. The man-village will fall, the first step in defeating him physically, is defeating him mentally." Nirmam finished with a sinister grin spreading on his canid face.
"This isn't what Bhediya wants..." The dhole begged.
"It is exactly what he wants, he speaks the same as I when having man in our thoughts." Nirmam continued, he looked back at his legions with an unforgiving glare.
"Let this be a message to ANYONE that dares to go against me, or our high leader, our warrior khan, Bhediya!" He roared before plunging his jaws into the neck of the red dog, silencing the legions that had surrounded him.
"Where Bhediya goes, the black veil of doom is with him to all that stand in his way! It is the same where his right hand person, me, as well-" Nirmam started, licking his jaws clean of blood.
"I go, use your sense of smell to find the Cold Lairs. I travel to the man-village with twenty of you in total, I travel there to take the lives of all that Mowgli finds dear to him!" Nirmam finished before letting out a howl into the night...
(Cold Lairs)
The Bandar-Log were going about their business, scratching each other for pesky little fleas, fighting each other in the streets of the abandoned city. Some of them even mating for all to see, they chanted about how great they were, and they would forget any activity they would do if they were in the middle of doing something.
Without King Louie they were more barbaric than ever, and they had called this location their home for so many decades, but it was all about to change...
A low rumbling was heard from the outside, and then from out of nowhere, several dholes began to flood into the city!
It was a chaotic mess as red dogs continued to pour into the Cold Lairs via large gaping holes in the ruined walls, the canids were fast moving as they were quick to kill any monkey they had in their sights.
The Bandar-Log tried, but none of them could handle the ruthless dholes.
Some monkeys threw feces, others threw stones and sticks, others tried to pile on dholes just to get knocked off. They had no chance against the might of Bhediya Khan's legion, it was already hard enough to take them all on, if they were unified with Nirmam, it would be impossible, as if it wasn't impossible already for them to resist.
A low pitched howl came from the outside of the city walls, causing the monkeys to bunch up together in a tight formation, trying to formulate some kind of battle strategy.
There would be no need for a battle strategy as the mighty Bhediya Khan strolled into the city with several other dholes flowing in behind him, the monkeys were horrified, but angry.
Up to that point, the only one they feared was Kaa, but now it all had changed.
"Make way!" The dire wolf barked, his low voice was like a boom of thunder that bounced off the walls of the city. The dholes cleared a path as he rushed towards the bunched up monkeys.
In a single bite, he fit three monkeys into his jaws, killing them instantly as he clamped down on them. They instantly fell on him from all sides, biting, clawing, pinching, doing anything to fight back, but it was pointless.
Bhediya Khan easily flung them all off as he thrashed his body around, he killed a monkey with a single swipe of his paw. Another monkey charged at him only to get swatted away, and then pinned down beneath a paw, the dire wolf finished him with a bite to the skull that easily killed it by crushing the skull.
The monkeys began to realize who they were going up against, a monkey lunged right at the dire wolf, wanting to scratch his eyes only to be swallowed whole due to the sheer size of the massive crimson coated wolf!
"If all of you tiny pests value your lives, it would be best to leave or see every cub, juvenile, male and female, slaughtered within seconds!" Bhediya roared, baring his blood soaked teeth, some of which had bits of flesh curled around them that he licked down his throat with his tongue.
The monkeys had no other option, they began to shriek in terror as they began to flee out into the jungle!
"Where I go...death follows."
(Two hours later)
Mowgli, Kaa, Bagheera, and Baloo, including Gray Brother, were making a mad dash towards the man-village after Chil the kite had warned them that he discovered a decent sized grouping of dholes were rushing towards the man-village.
"I cannot believe those fools would go that far!" Mowgli exclaimed as he rode on the back of Baloo, the bear rushed as fast as he could through the jungle.
"Me neither, brother, I think that we can forget about giving these red dogs a second chance!" Bagheera called out in response.
"I'm inclined to agree now!" Mowgli said again, they all had to call to each other due to them running, the sound of leaves rustling filled the air as they ran.
"I'm pretty sssure a sssnack wouldn't do me any harm, now would it!?" Kaa asked aloud, Mowgli let out a cynical laugh.
"Of course, there is an all you can eat bar down here if we can make it on time!" Mowgli taunted.
"Hush up, sssweet one!" Kaa hissed playfully.
It was then that Mowgli thought of Messua, Ranbir, Ranjan, Divya, and Shanti. How their lives could be put in serious danger if they didn't arrive, he wasn't so sure that the people of the village could handle the odds.
"Chil, did you see any dog like creature running with them!?" Mowgli called out as he looked into the air.
"Yes, I noticed a slightly bigger dog like creature running with them!" The kite answered.
Nirmam was leading the bunch, and now they were drawing closer to the outside of the city walls.
"How much further!?" Mowgli called out again to the bird of prey that flew overhead.
"We still have a bit of a ways to go!" Chil answered.
This cannot be happening Mowgli thought to himself as he rode on the back of the bear, giving him a kick into his sides.
"What was that for!?" Baloo grumbled aloud.
"We must move faster!" Mowgli screamed, worrying about his human friends and family in he man-village.
"Well as a bear, I can only move as fast as my body will allow!" Baloo groaned, Kaa seemed to be slithering faster, Bagheera was running leaps and bounds now. Gray Brother had also sped up slightly faster than Baloo.
"Well can you try!?" Mowgli asked loudly.
"You're giving me a good working out, I hope I don't have to devour the entire jungle after this run. I'll be a skinny bear!" Baloo joked, but he was aware of how serious Mowgli was.
Eventually, Mowgli and his animal friends would have made it to the man-village. They could hear the commotion within, it was crazy!
Nirmam had entered the home of Mowgli, and had cornered Messua while Ranjan was struggling against two dholes, and while Ranbir was guarding the outside of the home, desperately trying to find a way to board the hut up.
"There's too many of them, mother!" Ranjan screamed as he finally managed to stab a knife into the snout of the dhole in which was attacking him, making it flee from the hut.
"If only Mowgli were here!" She cried as she barricaded herself with the bed, a dhole tried to lunge on her, but Ranjan tackled it before it could bite into his mother's face.
"Get away from my mother you fiend!" He cried as he repeatedly stabbed the knife into the head of the red dog over and over again.
"So, you must be his younger brother..." A devilish raspy voice cackled from outside the hut, Ranjan turned around to see that Nirmam had entered the hut.
"What the...how?" The younger brother of Mowgli asked as he backed into the corner with the knife held tightly in his hand, ready to strike at any moment.
"I was going to wait until I found him first, but I grew impatient. You would be the perfect kill, now peri-" The Himalayan wolf's sentence was abruptly cut off when...
"I'll ram red flower down thy gullet!" Mowgli was heard screaming from outside, he had entered the village with a torch. Two guards rushed in with him, as well as Baloo, who was roaring, Gray Brother was racing in too, and Bagheera leapt over the walls, Kaa threw herself over the wall as well.
Ranbir managed to shoot a shell into the side of an attacking dhole, only to see a large bear and a panther rush in along with Mowgli, these animals began to attack the red dogs, not harming any people that were trying to survive inside their homes. His eyes widened at the sight of this, the tales that his younger brother told him of the jungle weren't fairy tales after all, they were reality.
"Unbelievable..." Ranbir said to himself as he saw the massive Baloo power a dhole through a wall of a hut with a loud ferocious roar!
The time to stare in awe would have to wait, for these dholes were fighting harder than ever before, the lives of three people had already been claimed, several more had injuries.
Mowgli thrusted the torch he held down the throat of a dhole, incinerating the insides of it, the red dog screamed in agony before pawing at its throat, eventually suffocating due to the throat being burnt up, and with smoke all over the insides of the body, smothering the lungs.
The man then took the bottom of the torch, stabbing it into the head of a dhole, killing another one instantly. He seen Bagheera tackle down two at one time, swiftly killing them both with double bites to the neck!
A scream of terror was heard from within Shanti's hut, Ranbir's house was right next to it, so he quickly darted to see what the trouble was.
Several dholes had entered the home of Shanti, who was hiding under the bed while her mother frantically fought against the dholes, Divya stood no match and she was overpowered.
Ranbir fired into the house, taking care of a red dog, but several remained. The older adoptive brother of Mowgli willingly stepped in, ramming the back of the shotgun into the head of another red dog that had lunged at him.
Divya was already looking messed up, she had several bloody gashes and wounds all over her body, and several bite marks. Her clothing was torn in several locations, and blood was beginning to coat up the floor, it wasn't looking good at all as she continued to fight for her life.
Ranbir fired into the dhole he just hit, killing it, this is when the other dholes jumped on him, he blocked his throat with his shotgun as he delivered a kick into the dhole that was on top of him. The second dhole snuck behind him, clamping it's jaws around his skull, making him scream in pain.
"I've got you, brother!" Ranjan screamed, grabbing the red dog by the black tipped tail before slinging it out of the house, using a spear to quickly kill the dhole.
Nirmam lunged at Mowgli, but the man quickly batted it away with his torch.
"You're the one that leads these dogs!" He exclaimed as the Himalayan wolf attempted to take a bite at his shin, but he shifted back to avoid it.
"One of them actually, now DIE!" Nirmam barked as he lunged at Mowgli, managing to latch his jaws around his toned forearm, the man shouted in pain before sending punch after punch down at the wolf with his weak arm, not doing much to loosen up the grip.
Gray Brother collided into the Himalayan wolf, Nirmam stood very slightly bigger than the jungle brother of Mowgli, the only question is who was stronger.
That question wouldn't be answered as Gray Brother jumped on to another dhole that was heading towards a fleeing villager.
Nirmam instantly rushed at Mowgli again, attempting to pounce on him, but Mowgli blocked his neck with the torch. The wolf taking him down to his back with a loud thud!
The wolf hatefully growled at Mowgli as he tried to bite his way through the torch, the man growled back as he tried to kick Nirmam off but to no avail. The two continued to struggle on the ground before Mowgli smashed his head into Nirmam's snout for a total of three times, the third one being the strongest headbutt that stunned Nirmam enough for the man to twist his body to the side so that it was the wolf in which was on his back!
Nirmam began to gag as Mowgli started to press the torch against his neck, a smirk appeared on his face as he seen the Himalayan wolf choke.
"What was it about tearing my guts out?" Mowgli taunted, that was until a dhole bite his calf from behind, causing him to rear his head back, letting out a loud scream.
The surge of pain was enough to force Mowgli to drop the torch next to him, Nirmam was about to take advantage, when right before his jaws could clamp around the throat of the man, Kaa had rushed in, using her head like a battering ram to send the wolf flying!
The serpent wasn't done, as she struck out to bite into the dhole that was crushing Mowgli's calf, she instantly coiled it up to deliver the deadly hug of her coils that would surely kill it.
This gave Mowgli enough time to limp his way into Ranbir's house, collapsing to a knee as he looked over to his left to see through a gaping hole in the wall, Baloo tackling several dholes through the wall of the hut next door.
"Shanti!?" He called out, he noticed her crying over a bloodied up Divya as well as a mourning Ranbir, who was too tough to cry.
"See Divya to the outside of the village, go now!" Mowgli called out, Shanti carried her mortally wounded mother to the outsides of the village's walls including Ranbir, who protected her.
"Baloo, make sure they don't get hurt from any reinforcements that these red dogs may have coming!" Mowgli ordered again, Baloo nodded his head, and gave escort to Mowgli's human allies, and friends.
Nirmam slowly rose to his feet to see all of his allies being demolished, he had no choice but to retreat as he seen Bagheera approaching him, as well as Kaa. Village guards marched their way behind them with spears trained on the Himalayan wolf.
"I will have killed Mowgli soon...For his will shall be shattered after he sees a close one dead at the hands of my red do-" His sentence was cut off by Bagheera, who roared, Gray Brother, who barked, and Kaa, who hissed all in unison at him.
Nirmam retreated with three red dogs following close behind him, taking their leave of the man-village after their attempted attack!
Now that the attack was over with, Mowgli limped towards the outside of the village to check on Divya. Things were not looking too good.
"Divya..." He said softly as he kneeled next to his lover, Shanti, who was crying profusely at the sight of her mother in critical condition.
"It's going to be alright, we can fix you..." Ranbir said, trying to find some leaves to put over her deep wounds.
"Hurry!" Ranjan exclaimed, motioning Ranbir off to find some leaves or some type of material.
Mowgli could already feel the tears begin to well up in his eyes, he was silently crying because his heart was broken to see his beloved girlfriend in tears, and to see what those bastard red dogs have done to a woman he grew up loving as part of his family even though they weren't connected at all.
Tears streamed down Divya's cheeks as well, clearing some of the blood off of her face as she struggled to even breathe, it sounded like a rattle.
"P-pro-promise...m-m-me-e..." She began to say, before blood shot from her mouth as she began to cough, her mouth gasping for air.
"Please, you're only giving up more and more of your energy by straining yourself to speak..." Baloo advised.
Divya wanted to say something about the talking animals, but she didn't want to waste her energy as the bear warned. So instead, she gave her final bits of energy to speak with Mowgli, and Shanti.
"Sh-Shanti...I-I.." She struggled to even finish.
"I love you, with all of my heart!" Shanti sobbed loudly, finishing it for her mother.
"Th-thank you..." Divya groaned, blood trailing from out of her mouth as she turned her attention to Mowgli again.
"Pl-please...Don't e-ever t-t-take my d-daughter into th-the j-jungle...again..." She moaned before her voice faded out, her hand in which was squeezing Mowgli's grew cold and limp...she passed away before them all.
Ranjan stood next to Kaa, the serpent seemed to have a saddened look displayed on her serpentine face.
"Are you alright, dearest Kaa?" The younger brother of Mowgli asked.
"Yeah, just a little heartbroken at the moment..." She said, burying her flat head into the soft shoulder of Ranjan, curling herself over his shoulders as even the snake began to weep.
"It's okay, dear..." Ranjan said as he gently rubbed her soft skin as a few tears trailed down his cheeks.
Ranbir arrived to see everyone in tears, the sight let him know what had happened. The older adoptive brother of Mowgli collapsed to his knees with thatch and leaves in both hands.
"I'm sorry." Were the only words that left his mouth.
"No need, brother-" Mowgli began before closing the wide opened eyes of Divya, shut.
"You did the best you could, you wanted to preserve her life for as long as possible, and that I can respect." Mowgli said gently.
"We're the ones that should be sorry, us creatures, brother." Gray Brother said, nudging his furry body into Mowgli's to calm him down.
"No, you all did the best you could as well." Mowgli responded.
"Those red dogs, they need to pay with blood." Bagheera said from behind.
"Indeed they do, I no longer hold mercy for these monsters, for these demons. I've lost Raksha, I've lost Divya now, I will see no more deaths of my loved ones if I can help it. Tomorrow, I hold council at Council Rock. We will decide by vote on what should we do with these fiends, we will decide whether we hunt them down, or we prepare to ambush them by any means necessary!" Mowgli said with a raised voice before glancing down at Divya.
"Shanti, my love. Remove the tarp from the doorway, we shall see your mother buried properly." Mowgli said, gently stroking her silky smooth black hair.
After an hour of mourning for the fallen Divya, she was wrapped in the tarp on the doorway of Shanti's home, buried in the ground behind her hut. As she was buried, she cried hysterically into the beefy shoulder of her boyfriend.
"What do we do now?" She sobbed loudly, Mowgli sighed.
"Messua is a great mother, she will watch over you if you ever need her help. You are a year older than me, but I understand how this loss shall ruin your mood. Ranbir, and Ranjan are great brothers too, who shall watch over you." He went on to say to her in a soothing voice.
After saying their goodbyes, everyone eventually returned to their respective homes, with Mowgli returning to the jungle with unfinished business with the red dogs that needed to be resolved... The war was about to begin, and the death of Divya was the one that set it off, no more peace existed in the mind of Mowgli..