(Chapter 18: Preparing for war, old troubles arise )
(The next evening)
An entire day had passed since the battle at the man-village against the red dog batch, and although the physical wounds that had been inflicted began to heal up some, the mental ones remained.
Mowgli stood at the top of council rock, the ones he called the "enforcers" were standing at his side, these enforcers were Baloo, Bagheera, Kaa, and Gray Brother.
"Wolves!" Mowgli began, getting all of the wolves who were talking amongst themselves to stand at ease, at attention.
"Yesterday, the enforcers and I traveled to the man-village in attempt to liberate it from the vile mongrel horde of the dholes. The attempt to rid my other home of the red dogs was successful, but it came at most unfortunate cost, my love's mother was robbed of life, when she had many more seasons to live. The same woman who I lived alongside for several years until I reached the age of eighteen seasons. This deeply lit a fire inside of ALL of us! I initially wanted to give them all a secondary chance to live, but I no longer grant them that privilege. The first chance I gave them was the bee rocks, I gave them a second chance during the skirmish at the Waingunga River pass great lengths away from where we stand now, the killing of Divya was when the line of mercy was crossed. The dholes outnumber us greatly, but I will not surrender until all of them have been wiped from this world as the law says so!" Mowgli spoke, delivering a speech to the entire pack who then barked and howled in approval of his speech, but he wasn't done yet.
"We either hunt them down, or we wait for them to come to us, and we ambush them. I want all of you to know this, some of you may die, many of us may die in this war, but if blood is to be spilled, then it must be spilled. The best thing we can do is enforce the law of the jungle as long as we can, it is our duty. Have no fear though, we shall find other wolves across the Seeonee Hills to recruit in the war. For now though, I will let your voices be heard. Vote! How are we going to tackle the threat that is the dholes? Hunt them down? Or ambush?"
An uproar instantly began as they usually do during times of crisis when councils are held or any council at that matter. So with a roll of his eyes, Mowgli was quick to stop the outrage.
"ENOUGH!" He boomed.
"One by one, speak!"
Rama stepped forth, the wolf father of Mowgli chose to ambush.
"I choose to hunt those dogs!" Leela, granddaughter of Akela shouted with a vengeful tone of voice.
"I choose to stay put and ambush!" Another wolf called out.
"That is two for ambush, one for hunt them down. Any others that speak?" Mowgli asked.
"I choose to hunt them down...I want to end the lives of those fools so badly." Baloo grumbled.
"I choose to stay put, and ambush them." Bagheera said.
"I would rather ambush them if I am being honessst." Kaa hissed.
So far it was looking as if everyone was in favor of ambush, but more votes came in!
"I'll hunt them down, I don't wish anymore suffering upon this jungle.
"I say we hunt them, I know that I am no wolf. I think we need to recruit wolves, and then attack them when they least expect it. Shock combat if you understand what I am thinking." Chil said as he perched on the lone tree behind Mowgli.
"Very well, Chil. Now then, the vote is tied four to four. Four of us have voted to ambush, four others have voted to hunt them down. We need a tie breaker, who shall it b-" Before Mowgli had the opportunity to finish his sentence, the Won-Tolla spoke.
"I'm not for the pack, but I speak for it." The black coated wolf said.
"He hasss no sssay, sssweetie..." Kaa hissed in protest but Mowgli raised up a hand to silence her.
"Go ahead, speak your thoughts." Mowgli said with a smile.
"I say we go to hunt them down, I've got a plan to win the war early. We need to drive them further away, even if they go beyond the boundaries of the Seeonee Hills, we must follow for they will come back. We must move with haste, we cannot afford to move slowly." The Won-Tolla announced, choosing to hunt down the dholes instead of waiting for them.
"It's been decided, we shall hunt down the dholes after performing thorough recruiting from other packs, and other lone wolves across the hills!" Mowgli announced, several wolves spoke up about this in protest.
"You send all of us to our deaths!" A wolf cried.
"Such insanity, our poor cubs shall lose their fathers!" A female wolf cried.
"How could our leader march us to the edge of the world like this!?" Another wolf exclaimed.
"CALM YOURSELVES!" Mowgli voice boomed across Council Rock.
"It will be easier if we develop a strategy, I like Chil's idea and the Won-Tolla's ideas." He continued.
"Mowgli, are you sure about this?" Bagheera asked.
"I'm confident that if we move with haste, we can drive them out of the Seeonee Hills." The man replied.
"Yeah, but the more we drive them back, we only get closer to the Dekkan Plateausss." Kaa warned, and the plateaus is nowhere they needed to be.
"Understandable, Kaa. However, if we are able to engage in long battle with them at the plateaus, it would serve as warning to never trespass into our territory again without warning." Mowgli responded.
"Well, who do we go after first?" Baloo asked, ready to fight the red dogs again.
"We will go after their smaller leader first, I would be sure that Bhediya Khan stands larger than the one we faced at the man-village, the smaller one seems to be more vicious and brutal, and honestly he seems like the most likely to kill off some of us with his legions." Mowgli announced, he turned to face Chil the kite.
"We will begin our hunt soon, but Chil, I would like for you to give us an aerial view of the jungle. To see if any of them are on their way." He told the kite, Chil answered with a nod before taking to the skies above to give them support.
(Cold Lairs)
Bhediya Khan was resting within the old chamber in which King Louie once sat at, the throne was nothing but a heap of rubble after the battle at the Cold Lairs several years before when Mowgli was resting within it.
A decent sized bunch of monkeys remained, being kept as prisoners while many others were killed, and torn apart, and only a few others escaped.
"Tell me, do you know of a man known as Mowgli?" The Dire Wolf asked, his voice was deep and menacing, but it also had a charming tone to it as well.
"Yes, he sat in this very room in front of King Louie, King Louie reigned over us fo-" The monkeys all began to chatter in various ways of how they knew Mowgli, telling stories, but Bhediya Khan was quick to silence them.
"Spare me the history lessons, expendable ones, all I had asked was whether or not you knew of him." The great wolf answered with a sigh.
Nirmam stepped into the chamber room with a gathering of dholes behind him, he had overheard Bhediya's voice, and was eager to give him more info.
"I know more than these simians do, Great Khan." The Himalayan wolf snickered deviously. The Dire Wolf's eyes lifted open wider, intrigued to know more information on Mowgli.
"Speak." He commanded.
"When a squadron and I raided the man-village, we took out loved ones that were close to him. One of them was named Shanti, we killed her supposed mother, and a few other men in the village." Nirmam explained.
"Shanti, is that his lover or something? His mate?" Bhediya asked, a smirk starting to grow on his jaws.
"From the way Mowgli defended her, and her mother, I would say that you are correct." Nirmam replied.
"Good information from the monkeys, and good info from you, Nirmam. I have a mission for you, Bandar-Log..." Bhediya said, turning his gaze towards the batch of monkeys out at his front.
"Head to the man-village tonight, and while Shanti sleeps, steal her away, and bring her to us. We won't be killing her, we won't be tormenting her either, we will bait Mowgli into coming to these lairs, his thoughts will be clouded by rage, and desperation, and once he makes the mistake of coming to us, we will bring their lives to an abrupt end." Bhediya explained, the monkeys all agreed to his plans, darting out of the palace.
The Dire Wolf shifted his gaze towards Nirmam now.
"I go hunt for food, until I return, you're in charge, make sure nothing goes wrong..." Bhediya said as he stood up before leaving, a gathering of thirty dholes went with him to hunt.
(Later that evening...)
Right when the jaws of Bhediya Khan clamped around the neck of a sambhur deer, a spear pierced the body of a smaller deer far away from the Cold Lairs thanks to Mowgli. Usually a sambhur buck would feed the whole pack, which is the deer he had slain. However, he knew that there would be action coming soon, and that the wolves needed to eat up, including the others.
A few other wolves were helping him out with his hunting, and as he began to skin the sambhur buck in which he killed, Leela approached him from behind.
"Mowgli, may I ask you something?" The juvenile female wolf questioned.
"Sure, go right on ahead." Mowgli said as he finished skinning the buck, now he began to move on to cutting slaps of meat from the carcass into various shapes, he wasn't a great genius at cutting meat, he couldn't cut a ribeye from a bull carcass even if he was told it was on the bull, so the wonky looking slabs of meat appeared comical to some, but he didn't care, as long as it fed things, it was all it mattered.
"Why are we killing more than just one? Didn't Shere Khan do that before, and he drove all of the game away almost?" Leela asked, sounding concerned.
"We're killing more than one to satisfy the needs of the pack, those who wish to join in on the hunt will be well fed before Chil returns with information on what he seen during his flight. I will not have any brave wolf go without food or water before we set out on the hunt." Mowgli answered as he took a slab of meat, and placed it into his quiver in which had no bows or arrows in it.
"It is getting quite late, should we start to return to the pack?" Leela continued to ask.
Mowgli had essentially reset the entire sleep schedule when he returned to Council Rock, most of the pack were awake during the day now, and slept during the night. However, a nightly hunt would commence before all went to sleep.
"Yes, we will all get well fed for our supper, and when the sun starts to rise, that is when we make our move." Mowgli said, finishing up his cuts on the carcass.
Now when Mowgli shown up, he received some bad news...
As Mowgli, and the few wolves began to walk up the hill in which would lead to the multiple dens where the wolves slept, Chil the kite flew in with some urgent news!
"Mowgli! Bad news, we may need to re-think our plans!" The bird of prey squawked out of fear.
"What is it?" Mowgli asked, sounding concerned now.
"It's Shanti, they took her while you were hunting!" Chil warned, Mowgli's heart was filled with rage almost instantly at this news, his eyes shot open wide.
"Who...?" Mowgli asked, his eyes then narrowing, his face shifting into an angered one.
"The Bandar-Log, they took her, swung in from the trees, and then began to carry her off towards the Cold Lairs!" The kite answered, and if Mowgli wasn't angry enough already, his rage spiked ten fold.
Them again...Mowgli thought, the wolves that stood with him could see his visible anger, his teeth were gritted, his fists were tightly clenched.
"Mowgli?" Leela asked, worried for her close friend.
"Them again..." He repeated himself, only out loud for all to hear. He remembered how he was taught to hold disdain and disgust for the monkey people, the only redeemable one was King Louie, but there was no more gigantopithecus to respect, it was only smaller chattering monkeys.
"Anything else?" Mowgli asked, his voice had shifted from a calm tone to an enraged one, dreading what else could be happening.
"The monkeys seemed to have escort by the dholes." Chil added on, even more anger filled the thoughts and heart within the man.
"I will have their head, I have to get the others, now!" Mowgli shouted furiously, rushing up the hill as the wolves followed him as well as the kite.
The rest of the crew heard Mowgli's furious cry from a little ways up the hill, they knew something was off, and they were expecting him to say that he was ready for war without preparing.
"They've taken her!" He screamed, finally showing up at the main den were Rama slept, Raksha had been unfortunately killed by Buldeo...
All animals were put on alert by his words.
"Taken who?" Bagheera asked, alarmed at what he was hearing.
"They've taken my love, Shanti!" Mowgli cried.
"Who has?" Baloo asked.
"The Bandar-Log, and a grouping of red dogs. They're going to the Cold Lairs." Mowgli replied, trying to stay calm as much as possible.
"Thossse fiendsss..." Kaa hissed from above, Mowgli noticed her long, thick body lowering down from a tree she had coiled herself around.
"I know, it is best if we move out to save her now." Mowgli said.
"Mowgli, we aren't fed enough yet." Phao protested, but keeping a calm demeanor.
"I know, but we have to save Shanti!" Mowgli fired at Phao with aggressive tone of voice, Phao bared his teeth in response.
"Now, we must be civil!" Bagheera growled, getting between Mowgli and the juvenile wolf as it initially seemed that the two were about to come to blows with each other!
"We must be civil, if we fall apart now, see the war as good as lost!" The panther continued, glaring at both of them, his eyes shifting from Mowgli to Phao.
"I will not rest until we find my Shanti!" Mowgli exclaimed.
"Fine, I'll go with you to find her. Baloo will go too." Bagheera sighed.
"Wait a minute now, why are you dragging me into this!?" The brown bear grumbled loudly.
"Because you're a heavier creature, you'll be harder to take down, if the Bandar-Log had dhole escort, something tells me that greater numbers are waiting for us at the Cold Lairs." Bagheera explained, Kaa slithered towards them.
"I'll go with you all, jussst let me know when you all ssstand ready." She said, ready to attack any dhole that she laid her eyes upon.
"What about the wolves, we've hardly filled our stomachs yet!?" Baloo protested, licking his chops at the scent of meat coming from Mowgli's hollow quiver.
"Up to you now, brother, would you see us weak when we go rescue Shanti or have us strong, and prepared?" Bagheera asked.
"I'll go alone, the night is rapidly approaching, I will give message to Mang the bat that brings upon the dark skies to tell Chil of my whereabouts, then you all can pick up my scent as well as my chosen path." Mowgli explained, spilling all of the contents contained within his quiver out to the wolves, the wolves that went with him presented the other carcasses for the other wolves of the pack.
"Are you sure about that?" Bagheera asked, Mowgli answered with a stern expression and with a nod of his head.
(Location: British Outpost)
Elias Valentine sat at a long table with a few other higher ups from the British, eating supper.
"I long to hear some good news, I'm done of hearing negativity. Men vanishing into the jungles, fighting among troops and civilians. My men dying in the jungle, it's sickening." He groaned before taking a sip of tea.
"There have been reform movements within the past two years." A troop spoke.
"From whose side? Us or them?" Elias asked before taking a bite out of some Yorkshire pudding.
"Indians."
Elias rolled his eyes upon hearing more negative news, he just wanted something positive.
"I figured such, I cannot wait for the day that Viceroy Curzon gives me permission to finally take my men to another outpost away from these jungles, it's far too dangerous for any of us to be here. Especially after one of my best squadrons suddenly go missing..." Elias grumbled, some commotion was heard outside of the building, and Elias stood up to investigate.
Upon opening the door, he drew back his blade as he prepared to strike, witnessing a man attempting to swat at him. Two troops held him back!
"The crazed lunatic was seen trying to break into the window!" A troop screamed, Elias examined the face of the savage man that stood before his eyes, and upon further inspection, it was revealed that this savage man was none other than Percy Isaacs!
"This is no lunatic, this is Isaacs. Who could mistake the royal marine uniform? Albeit dirty, the mustache and cheekbones are a dead giveaway!" Elias exclaimed, this made Percy fling himself into his arms while crying with tears of joy.
"How did you survive?" Elias questioned.
"God, God saved me. The rest of the men, all killed by serpent of enormous size." Percy answered, his voice trembling with fear.
"I thank God for returning you to me, now see yourself cleaned by proper shower." Elias said happily, patting Percy on the shoulder before dusting some dirt off of his gloves.
He would return to the table to continue discussion, and supper among the other higher ups.
"Who was that?" A troop asked.
"Percy Isaacs, God returned him to us. His soul must be frozen with the fright of the jungles, I believe he will serve purpose in the Congo Basin area in Africa." Elias announced.
"The Congo Basin, that is far from here. He would have no knowledge of the terrain." Another troop warned.
"That may be the case, but his father served in the war against the Zulu Kingdom over twenty four years ago. His father would write his experiences in his journals, he stayed in Africa in years afterwards. He handed his journal over to Percy, and hopefully he can use this for his journeys." Elias replied, having hope for Percy.
"What is happening in the Congo Basin anyway? That region is under control by the Belgians, I question our relations with the Belgians." A troop questioned, his voice having concern in the tone.
"Another supposed wild man is giving them a hard time, the natives within the Congo are giving the Belgians a hard time, and I would increase positivity among Britain and Belgium if Percy can stop the fight in the Congo Basin." Elias reassured.
"Unfortunate that it is happening to the Belgians." A troop chuckled.
"Indeed, we will discuss matters with him at the end of supper."
(Location: Seeonee Hills Jungles)
"Keep moving, chattering animal..." A dhole growled to a frightened monkey, the red dogs were rounding up any monkeys, and were guiding them back towards the Cold Lairs.
As a matter of fact, they were right next to the small temple that briefly served home to Mowgli's new pack before he was kidnapped by the Bandar-Log all of those years ago.
"What do you mongrels want from us?" The monkey asked, the red dog laughed wickedly.
"Ironic that you call us mongrels, your kind acts without law..." The red dog taunted, but the monkey decided to talk back, which was unwise.
"Your kind follows no laws either, so you're one to speak as well." The monkey growled, but the snapping of the red dog's jaws close to the neck instantly made it cower.
"Silence your tongue!" The dhole barked until a faint sound of twigs snapping close by was heard, they all turned to where they heard the sound came from.
One dhole approached nearby brush, sniffing the air, his eyes widened when they locked on to Mowgli's eyes within the darkness, but it was too late as the blade plunged right into the throat, bleeding out within seconds!
Mowgli screamed furiously as he darted out from the cover of the brush, bushes parting ways as he ran out into the open. The dholes raced towards him, one lunged towards him, but he tilted back slightly as he slashed his knife down the torso, disemboweling it as it came crashing down behind him. However, the third dhole collided into his side, knocking him to his back.
Mowgli defended himself with ease, grabbing hold of the dhole's snout with one hand, his grip was taught to be strong when gripping vines, and thick tree limbs. His grip on the snout of the red dog was extraordinary, and he plunged his blade into the neck of the third dhole in which attacked him.
After taking out three of the red dogs in which were there, one of them managed to bite into the beefy calf of Mowgli, causing him to grunt in pain. He went to strike it in the head with his knife, but the arm in which held the knife was bit by another dhole that came in from behind.
Suddenly, Phao smashed into the dhole biting his arm, Bagheera then rushed in, tackling the one biting his leg.
"Wow, Phao, and Bagheera, gratitude for your help!" Mowgli exclaimed as he slowly rose to his feet, ready to defend himself from any other dhole that dared attack him.
He then heard the roar of a bear behind him, Mowgli turned to see Baloo rushing into battle, and Kaa slithering at his side to give aid!
Kaa coiled up quickly, delivering a menacing hiss to the monkeys in which were being marched back towards the Cold Lairs, they all cowered in fear, backing away in terror against a tree.
After Phao had smashed into the dhole, he swiftly killed it with a vicious bite to the throat, Bagheera killed the one he was fighting with two brutal swipes to the head, and then a killing bite to the throat.
Three dholes rushed towards Baloo, the bear knocked two away with his massive paws, and finished off the other one by catching it out of the air with his jaws, the bite force killing it!
Kaa struck her head out like a battering ram, the force behind it effortlessly knocking away a line of dholes, effectively knocking all of them out. She used the end of her tail to sweep any other dholes off of their feet, also using the weight of it to break the bones in their legs that would render them unable to stand.
A dhole attempted attack on Phao, but it was quickly brought to the ground by Leela, who joined in late.
"Where is Shanti?" The female wolf asked coldly, baring her teeth.
Suddenly, a dhole tackled Leela from the side, but it was Phao who took her place in pinning down the dhole in which she had questioned, it had given answer right before she was tackled.
"I come for Shanti, give me an update on her life's condition, or I'll kill the lot of you red dog scum!" Mowgli screamed with no remorse, he then heard a loud whimper, looking over to see Phao killing the red dog that he was fighting.
"Bad news, brother...she's no longer with us..."
Everything went silent...
A/N: Sorry for the two day wait for another chapter, I was busy thinking about how this chapter would go actually. You see, I take time to plan chapters out, and all of the surprises, twists, and even character development, and of course how the story shall go. Sometimes I get stuck on writers block when I come to a point in which I don't know where to go. Thankfully this time it wasn't a long wait XD, I hope y'all enjoy the cliff hanger ;)