(Chapter 19: Healing to suffer again)
Mowgli's heart came to a standstill after leaping into his throat, what were the words he just heard?
Was Shanti really dead?
He collapsed to his knees, as all of the other red dogs were taken out in that area, Leela noticed a thousand yard stare in the eyes of her human ally.
"Mowgli, are you alright?" She asked, a look of worry in her eyes, she received no response.
"Mowgli?" Bagheera asked.
Many memories that he and Shanti shared over the years played within his mind, Mowgli was reluctant to believe that his girlfriend for so many years was dead now at the hands of most hated enemy.
Mowgli's eyes began to twitch, his lips quivered, his voice cracked as he struggled to speak a single word from his mouth.
"Mowgli, please don-" Baloo tried to stop the tears from coming but he was all too late.
"I can't!" Mowgli cried, his masculine voice breaking as the tears instantly began to fall from his eyes, rolling down his cheeks.
"Y-you can't what?" Leela asked, her voice fading into that whimpering squeak that most canids make when they are feeling sad or weakened. Her eyes drooped into the sad look as her ears flattened, she attempted to lick Mowgli's tears away but he turned away.
"I can't do this no longer..." Mowgli sobbed.
"You can't, you can't leave us." Baloo said, his voice sounding as if he was begging him to not leave his closest allies behind.
"Why should I stay then!?" Mowgli screamed, running into the bear's arms to bury his head into his shoulder to weep, his shoulders heaved up and down as he cried hysterically.
"I'm unfit to rule all of you, I've let a close one to me die, and her only daughter!" He sobbed aloud before pulling away from Baloo.
"Mowgli, you aren't unfit to rule us..." The bear said softly, trying to comfort him.
"I've let too many die, I should have been there for Shanti!" He continued, his hand formed into a fist, and he pounded the ground over and over again.
All of his allies that had joined in to help him fight against the dholes were in disbelief, they hadn't seen Mowgli like this in a long time, to see the badass, brave, calm and collected adult Mowgli, who seemed like none could ever crack, crying unlike he ever done before even as a child...it made them feel hopeless against the dholes.
Rama, Mowgli's father wolf joined in, immediately trying to give him some comfort, but Bagheera stopped him.
"There's no point in trying, let him get it out." The panther said, his voice filled with regret and sorrow as Mowgli reared his head back into the air.
"My Shanti!" he wailed into the sky...
He ugly cried for the better part of an hour, he hadn't felt so broken, so hopeless, so defeated in his entire life. His will to fight back against the dholes was shattered just like that, he lost three people that he loved so dearly once he turned 18. He lost mother wolf AKA Raksha, he lost Shanti's mother (Divya,) and now he lost Shanti herself. This all felt like a nightmare, but it was reality.
Gray Brother arrived, and after comforting Mowgli along with Kaa, and Leela, he seemed to have calmed down, but he fell mute, not speaking a single word.
The rest of the pack that were willing to go out and fight against the dholes had arrived, even some of the bold yearlings. Even some of the brave females joined along to bring the fight to the red dogs, until Mowgli had the courage to speak again, Gray Brother took the reigns as leader.
"The small temple isn't too far from here, we'll take shelter at it tonight before we head for the Cold Lairs in the morning." Gray Brother announced.
"What of the Bandar-Log?" Bagheera asked, all of the animals cast the most disgraceful looks upon the monkeys, but it was Mowgli who broke the silence for one of the few times he did that night.
"Let them stay with us." The man spoke, everything fell silent again.
"Mowgli, those are the Bandar-Log, what have I told you about them befo-" Baloo went to admonish Mowgli, including the others, but Mowgli snapped.
"LET THEM STAY!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, veins of pure rage bulged out of his forehead, and neck. The boldest wolves of the pack cowered at the level of monstrous wrath in his voice alone.
"I will not speak again, and I will not say it again." He said with authority in a much more relaxed level, turning his back to everyone as they went to the small temple located nearby.
Even the monkeys looked bewildered, they never expected Mowgli, the one who was taught to look down upon the monkeys, the same one they kidnapped several years ago, to forgive them.
The monkeys were allowed to stay with the pack, but if they made one mistake, they would be kicked out without remorse.
As Mowgli sat down, Leela curled her soft, furry body around him to keep him warm this night as Rama was next to take a seat next to him.
Mowgli peered over to Rama, the wolf father who raised him ever since he was an infant up to the point in which he was eleven years old.
"When Mother Wolf, Raksha, fell from this world...how did you resist the urge to end your own life? How did you remain sane?" Mowgli asked.
"Because I didn't want to live a life without you, I was gifted by Tha, the creator of the jungle, a very special cub. I didn't want to end my life, so yours can be even more dark. I want to be the light at the end of the tunnel for you, or one of the many stars in the sky called your life." Rama answered, nudging his head into Mowgli's neck.
A few tears fell from Mowgli's eyes at those loving, comforting words, and he embraced his only father figure he had ever known.
(The next morning)
As everyone was leaving the small temple, Leela approached Mowgli from behind for she is the one that curled herself around him within the night to keep him warm. Mowgli was slowly but surely building up courage to speak yet again.
"Mowgli, are you able to speak yet?" She asked, sounding afraid to ask him the question after his small outburst from the night before about letting the monkeys stay.
He stopped in place, letting out a sigh before turning his head to face her out of the corner of his eye with a slight smile on his face.
"Yes, what is it?" He asked.
"I want to speak to you about Shanti, the truth about her fate." She said, Mowgli instantly turned around.
"The truth?"
"Yes, the truth."
In another area of the small temple, Phao was speaking with Gray Brother, and a couple other wolves.
"We head in those Cold Lairs, wherever they may be, slaughter all of those dogs without mercy, and leave. Put the past behind us, I need it to be quick and easy." He spoke.
"Remember Phao, this is an army we're talking about. It isn't going to be a walk in the field to take them all out at the Cold Lairs." Gray Brother warned, a smirk came to Phao's face.
"Well, it is a start then." He said, suddenly, Mowgli came sprinting towards him!
"PHAO!" He roared, his voice echoing across the small temple.
Mowgli tackled the juvenile, the two of them rolling across the floor as he sent fists down at Phao's face over and over again.
"YOU SON OF A JACKAL!" He screamed, doing anything he could to cause harm to the wolf.
Phao bit at Mowgli's face, pawing into his chest, anything to get the bigger being off of him.
"You insane bastard!" The wolf barked furiously.
"LIAR!" Mowgli roared as he was then pulled back by Baloo, Gray Brother pulled back Phao by the scruff of his neck while Bagheera jumped in between the two, the others watched in shock.
"Mowgli, have you lost your mind!?" Bagheera roared.
"Shanti yet lives, Phao is a liar among the pack, and he doesn't deserve to stand with us any longer!" Mowgli screamed, pointing his finger towards Phao, who was hatefully snarling at him.
"You amount to the scat we drop after we devour meals!" Phao barked, Gray Brother snarled at the juvenile, but he was too angry to be intimidated.
"I will end your life..." Mowgli growled as he unsheathed his knife.
"How did you come by this?" Bagheera asked in shock, remembering how Mowgli was so devastated the night before.
"Leela, she spoke the truth to me when I awoken mere moments ago." Mowgli replied.
Bagheera turned to Phao, a look of sadness displayed on his face, yet one of disgust.
"Why do you lie to us all, and break the code of the pack, when a life of a loved one yet holds in the balance?" The panther asked.
"What of our lives, Bagheera?" Phao asked.
Everyone fell silent.
"What of our lives!? We are wolves! We shouldn't care for the lives of any other human with the exception of Mowgli. He's shown to us last night that he was unfit to rule, Akela lost several good wolves in his time, but he never backed down to his emotions. Mowgli even admitted himself that he is unfit to rule us all! Shanti is worth the dirt that we walk on, we shouldn't be caring about her, that shouldn't be our mission when we head to the Cold Lairs, what is more important to all of you!? Is the jungle more important or the life of one human woman!?" Phao barked, making sure the whole pack heard his voice, he wasn't done speaking though, he got right into Bagheera's face with his next sentence.
"I only save multiple lives in the process, we drive them out of the Cold Lairs tomorrow, and we can continue flexing our muscle on the red dogs. Mowgli is the only human that we've known for the past eighteen seasons, not Shanti!" He finished.
"He stands with good point, brother...He lies, breaks the code of the pack for a supposed greater good..." The panther said softly to Mowgli, before turning around with a single swipe of his powerful paw that nearly knocked Phao out cold.
"Know that it would have been different if your lover, Leela, would have been in the same position!" Bagheera roared, revealing the loving relationship that Leela and Phao had been keeping a secret.
"Oop!" Kaa said from nearby, in shock of this news.
"Enough of the quarrel between each other!" Baloo finally roared, standing up on his haunches to catch everyone's attention.
"If one life isn't worth saving, then none of us are worth if that is the case! We go to the Cold Lairs, and drive the red dogs out of them, and save Shanti in the process. We'll have her returned to the man-village, and then we can move from there in recruiting other wolves!" Baloo continued.
It is then that Gray Brother looked into the eyes of Phao, giving these words:
"When we get back to Council Rock to prepare the recruiting process of the other wolves, the consequences of breaking the pack code will be harsh. It will be Mowgli who decides your fate."
"I no longer care where I stand in this pack, when I was but a pup, Shere Khan told me, Leela, and the others on how this jungle has become soft...maybe he was right." Phao growled, walking away from the small temple.
Gray Brother looked at Mowgli, he didn't want Phao to stay in the pack anymore after so many controversial words, and the breaking of pack code.
"I'll decide whether he leaves or stays, but now we must travel towards the Cold Lairs to confront the red dogs in the first battle of potentially many to come." Mowgli said
(Location: British Outpost)
"I thank you for serving under me, you've provided a great help when times get rough here." Elias said with pride to Percy Isaacs, who had cut his longer hair, his massive beard, and had cleaned off his clothes.
"I thank you for being a great colonel, I thank God for guiding me back to you. I will head to Africa, and put an end to the crisis in the Congo for the glory of Queen Victoria!" Percy exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air while laughing happily.
"My friend, I'm afraid Queen Victoria isn't in charge anymore." Elias laughed.
"Really, how many years have passed? Who is in charge now?" Percy asked.
"I haven't seen you since 1895, and the King is now King Edward the Seventh." Elias answered, Percy looked shocked.
"It's been that long? I must have gone insane, hopefully I can re-connect with reality once I reach Africa." Percy said, his eyes wide in surprise.
"Tread the lands lightly, Issacs, they speak of one who was raised by gorillas within that area..." Elias warned, Percy laughed his warning off by cocking up his rifle.
"I do not stand intimidated, if this threat wants to get in my way, he will be taken out just like all of the others." He answered to the warning Elias Valentine.
"You had to retreat from a giant snake in the jungle, and took forever to return." Elias said, showing doubt.
"I was the one who came back in one piece out of an entire squadron of highly experienced troops, I survived what the rest of the jungle threw at me, whatever or whoever gets in my way next will be blown into the wind, colonel." Percy replied, filled with arrogance.
"Be careful, regardless." Elias said, Percy gave him a salute before mounting a horse.
"I shall." Percy said, before trotting out of the outpost by an escort of other riders.
Percy would take a ship that would go to the Eastern side of Africa before he made his way in towards the Congo Basin, but this would be only the beginning of his journey to Africa, where several new, more dangerous creatures awaited him, not to mention a certain wild man that has been sighted several times.
(Location: Cold Lairs)
A couple hours had passed on, and now the Seeonee Pack stood at the ever more cracked walls of the Cold Lairs. They no longer heard the chattering of the Bandar-Log, instead they heard the barks and howls of the dholes.
They even had to avoid some of the red dogs that were sleeping outside of the abandoned city, but as they did so, they noticed several bones littered all across the jungle floor.
"I have no clue of what they are doing, but it isn't good." A monkey said, the small group had been following the Seeonee Pack like they were their protectors, and for right now, they indeed were.
"You hear that, Baloo? When the Bandar-Log says something is wrong, you know something is up." Mowgli said as he peered through the bushes to see a giant hole in one size of the wall.
"How are we going to get in brother?" Bagheera asked, Mowgli sat and thought for a moment until that proverbial light bulb went off in his head.
"Here's how we do this: We go in, quick and hard. We find Shanti, and make a quick getaway. Until we can get more wolves with us, they outnumber us even still with what we have." Mowgli explained.
"The psycho leads us to our deaths, if you wish to avoid having your life cut short, come with me!" Phao announced, everyone turned towards him with looks of confusion, and a massive amount of wolves marched towards him.
"Phao, I'm really getting sick of your attitude, are you with us or against us?" Mowgli growled.
"I can't say, I know I don't trust you though. We'll be leaving in search of nightly shelter." Phao responded before leaving with his newly acquired gathering of wolves, most of them were the younglings in particular.
"I've got a strong feeling that he will turn his back on us." Baloo said, Mowgli smirked at those words.
"I do too." He said.
"Well what do we do now with such lower numbers?" Bagheera asked.
"Well, there must be a change of plans then, with the batch of yearlings we may have been able to last longer in the Cold Lairs, but not anymore. We go in and find Shanti as quick as possible, and we leave as quick as possible to avoid dying." Mowgli said.
"When do we make the move?" Kaa asked.
"Now." Mowgli replied, and without any other words to give, the smaller amount of fighting wolves, including the brown bear, panther, and gigantic reticulated python as well as the man, rushed towards the Cold Lairs silently.
Within seconds, Kaa was the first one in, and with a loud hiss, she forced the cobras within the summer house to go back into hiding. The dholes were quick to swarm upon her, but she used her head as a battering ram to knock away several of them!
"Go see what the commotion is, now!" Bhediya ordered to Nirmam, and the Himalayan wolf did as was told with a large gathering of red dogs following behind him.
"How about you go and fight? Or are you too scared to die?" Shanti asked, who was scarred up, bitten in a couple locations, her hair torn in areas on her head as well.
"See her to the summer house." Bhediya ordered as he continued to take bites out of a carcass from his hunt from earlier.
It was then that five dholes forced themselves on the poor young woman, making her stand up, guiding her towards the summerhouse.
Kaa noticed a battered Shanti stumbling her way towards the summerhouse, and the serpent made it her mission to get to her. With a single sweep of her tail, she knocked several more red dogs off of their feet.
Baloo then came roaring into the Cold Lairs, barreling through more of the red dogs as they all tried (and failed) to take him down.
"Stay close with me, brother!" Bagheera roared as Mowgli rode on his back, the two entered the ancient city, screaming at the top of their lungs, a vicious battle cry.
Baloo seemed to be putting up a good fight by using his heavy paws as well as his jaws, but now he and Kaa were getting overwhelmed. That wouldn't be too long, as the gathering of wolves of the Seeonee Wolf pack rushed in.
A feminine scream was heard, it was Shanti falling down into the summerhouse!
"SHANTI!" Mowgli cried out as he heard her voice, inspiring him to fight hard, he stabbed a dhole in the back of the head, and as one attempted to jump on him from behind, he spun around and disemboweled it with a slash to the gut!
"Don't worry, I'm here!" He continued, Bagheera stayed close to him including several other wolves.
Mowgli noticed three dholes lunging towards Kaa, only for the serpent to easily bat them out of the sky with her huge tail.
"Kaa, go free Shanti, quickly!" Mowgli commanded, the serpent did as was told, quickly slithering towards the hole, coiling around some columns so she could reach her thick tail into the pit within.
"I want Baloo, and a group of wolves to protect Kaa from getting overwhelmed, we need this to go fast!" Mowgli cried out as he fought his way closer to the summerhouse with each kill he made.
It was then that Nirmam caught sight of Mowgli, and he bared his teeth before shouting:
"You!"
Mowgli turned his attention to the Himalayan wolf that was coming his way, barking like a wild dog. He braced himself as a few wolves guarded his sides and back, as Nirmam lunged towards him, Bagheera intercepted, tackling him in mid-air!
As soon as Nirmam was brought to the ground, several dholes slammed into the side of the panther, forcing him off.
"Bagheera!" Mowgli cried as he took his knife, hurling it at one of the dholes, the blade lodged itself into the throat, killing it instantly.
"Mowgli!" Shanti cried out, tears of fear streaming down her cheeks as she seen something lowering into the cave amongst all the fighting going on outside.
"Wh-who are you?" She whimpered as it got closer to her, curling around her waist twice.
"Don't be afraid, my friend. I'm Kaa, one of your lover's closest friends." The python said softly as she lifted Shanti out of the summer house slowly.
"Oh, o-okay..." Shanti said, holding on to the snake's tail as she continued to get lifted out from the summerhouse.
Fighting at the moment between the smaller amount of the Seeonee Pack and dholes, seemed to be fairly equal, both sides were taking casualties, but the big names were still alive. However, it would all change within seconds as Bhediya Khan then emerged from the palace with a deafening howl into the skies, abruptly bringing the fighting to a halt!
Mowgli's facial expression said it all, he was in shock at the size of this wolf, from where he stood, the wolf looked like it was the size of a horse!
"Mowgli, more come!" Baloo warned as he seen a wave of dholes entering the abandoned city, they started to close in on the pack from all sides.
They had to act quickly...
Mowgli's eyes darted up towards where Kaa was, he noticed that Shanti had been liberated by the serpent.
"She's been freed, we must retreat, now!" Mowgli screamed, rushing towards the large hole in the wall as Baloo ran by his side, knocking away as many red dogs as he could.
Next, Kaa and Bagheera rushed towards the hole, the serpent had coiled up Shanti to gently drag her along with her. The wolves began to make their escape, but several of them were trapped in by the time most of them escaped.
Four wolves remained trapped in as dholes formed a circle around them all, two of them were important names in the pack.
One of them was Leela, and the other was Phaona, the father of Phao.
"Leela!" Mowgli cried as he seen that she was stuck, he let out a growl before rushing back up the hill in an attempt to save her, and the other wolves.
"Mowgli, no!" Bagheera shouted, tackling him to the ground before he could make any progress up the hill.
"Why? I cannot let Phaona, and Leela behind!" Mowgli cried out as he heard Leela's fearful whimpers.
"There are too many of them, we shall come back for them soon." Bagheera replied.
As Mowgli began to walk away from the Cold Lairs like the rest, he looked back to see Leela get swiftly knocked out by getting a hard smack to the back of her head from the paw of Nirmam Yoddha as Bhediya Khan watched on from afar.
The mission to rescue Shanti was a success, but the red dogs have no taken Leela, and Phaona hostage. The pack was healing just to suffer again...
A/N: Here's a warning, the story is about to get real. The war against the red dogs is only just beginning ;)...
Also, if you've already noticed, I've been referencing a certain "wild man" from the Congo in the story, and if any of you are wondering: I do plan on writing a Tarzan story in the future! I actually plan on having him crossover into the eventual sequel of this story here. Mowgli and Tarzan working together, now ain't that a trip!?