(Chapter 23: New recruits, getting even.)
Morning had came, but it wasn't a peaceful arrival, the one hundred dholes in which were sent out, were now attacking Teddy's house, they had followed the scent of Mowgli's pack to the house.
Mowgli himself had awoken due to the sound of gunfire from above, it was Teddy within the upstairs room, shooting at a red dog in which had joined a small group in surrounding two wolves, the shell easily killed the fiend before Teddy began to reload.
"Mowgli!" Shanti cried, waking him up even more, her voice jolted him awake, fearful that something was happening to her, thankfully though, there was none of those dholes in the house.
"What's going on?" He asked his lover, she simply pointed outside of the window, the man gazed outside to see the pack doing battle against the one hundred dholes. He noticed that Baloo was holding his own against the dholes, and so was Kaa. A couple of his wolves had fallen, but not a scary amount by any means, but the numbers game was indeed putting pressure on the pack.
A shocked, angered Mowgli rushed outside, jumping towards a dhole in which had pinned down a yearling wolf who wished to fight, the blade of the knife plunging into the top of the red dog's head, killing it instantly.
Another dhole came from the side, but Mowgli spun around, slashing the throat with ease!
He noticed Phao, and Leela, fighting alongside each other as they defended themselves from the red dogs that were attempting to attack them. Gray Brother took out three dholes within the span of forty seconds!
Mowgli also noticed that Bagheera was slashing his way through the red dogs with his claws, finishing many of them off with his sharp teeth!
"Make sure none live!" He screamed to his allies as Bagheera clamped his jaws around the neck of another red dog, and as Baloo swatted two of them out of the air with his massive paws.
A red dog lunged towards Mowgli, but all he had to do was sidestep, and bring the knife down upon the back, killing the creature instantly.
Teddy fired his shotgun from upstairs yet again, the shell taking out two red dogs at one go!
"They're advancing towards the house, they've gotten around us!" Bagheera cried out, Mowgli looked over his shoulder to see that several red dogs were slowly making their way towards the two story house through the door in which Mowgli had left open.
"Mowgli, were you raised in a barn, get over here!" Teddy called out, Mowgli nodded his head before rushing towards the front door along with a few other wolves who would give help in guarding the house.
One of the red dogs was about to make it in, however, it was stopped in it's tracks when the knife was thrown into his back!
The other red dogs turned around, seeing Mowgli, a few of them went to attack, but all of them were easily tackled by the four wolves that had went with him.
"We need to guard all sides of this house, I want any wolf possible to protect any entrance known!" Mowgli ordered, and a small group of wolves headed towards the back of the house, and to other potential entryways to block access to enter the house.
There was a sound like shattered glass, followed by a terrified scream of Shanti!
"Shanti!" Mowgli cried out as he rushed inside of the house to see a dhole attempting to bite her throat, he rushed towards the red dog before quickly tackling it off of his lover with ease, finishing it instantly with a slash across the throat!
Within a matter of moments, most of the red dogs that had attacked them all were slain, two of them just barely managed to slip away un-noticed.
"How in the blazes did they find us!?" Baloo roared, his voice filled with frustration as well everyone else was.
"They must have tracked us, it has to be the only way." Gray Brother growled, it was then that Mowgli emerged from the house to deliver his thoughts.
"Wolves! I awake to violence, and quarrel. How did the dholes come upon us?" He asked aloud.
"They attempted to attack Phao in his sleep!" Leela cried.
"So we responded accordingly." Phao continued for his lover.
"Once they began to fight back, we all fell upon the dogs." Bagheera explained, approaching Mowgli.
"Sssome of them got away from usss..." Kaa hissed in annoyance.
"We will catch them in time, today we take victory. This morning, we do not need to keep violence on our hearts, stand alert, stay ready, but I say it is time to receive morning meal. Good hunting!" Mowgli called out.
The wolves took to the jungles to go on morning hunt while Mowgli stayed behind with Teddy, and Shanti. Mowgli was starting to take a liking to the human foods that Teddy would cook, and the human beverages, wine instead of water, or tea.
(A couple days later)
(Location: Mountain Cave)
"I take my legions away from here, all of them except the one I granted to you. You'd best not waste it, promise me this, if you are to fall in battle, I'll see your head returned to my location...A sign of your failure." Bhediya growled, staring Nirmam right in the eyes.
The Himalayan wolf nodded his head, accepting the deal from his leader.
Bhediya had looked over the large, powerful, ancient mercenaries that he was originally going to lead into battle, but now he decided to keep the deal with Nirmam Yoddha, he felt confident that he could finally defeat Mowgli with a sabre toothed tiger, an andrewsarchus, and a mute, brutal cave bear.
Nirmam smirked as he watched the massive amounts of legions marching further, and further away from the mountain. Eventually, it was only the Himalayan wolf, standing with three massive creatures from a bygone era, and four thousand two hundred red dogs standing before him at the foot of the mountain.
One legion out of several more was now under the leadership of the Himalayan wolf, he couldn't help but feel all powerful at the sight of such a large gathering of wolves at his feet, loyal solely to him, ones that would follow his every command.
"I stand before you all as leader, I stand before you all as the one who shall bring upon the death of our enemy, Mowgli the man who was raised by wolves!" Nirmam spoke aloud.
"Mowgli has taken too many of Bhediya's troops out, he's taken too many of my troops out. Some of your brothers and sisters have fallen at the hands of the man who plays the high one, he thinks he rules the jungle. He thinks he has ultimate power over all that stand before him, we shall prove difference!" Nirmam barked, the four thousand plus red dogs all barked, and cheered in unison, this brought a wicked smile to the face of the Himalayan wolf.
"Vultures, Charon, Cain, and Ash, have searched far and wide for greater warriors to bring to the table. They've brought us Long Fang, Kaiser, and they've brought us the mighty Danaba Baluka, the ancient one! Us, together with you all, we will bring down Mowgli, and crush all that remains of his jungle friends. We'll drive away everything that loved him, and this jungle shall be balanced evenly among all species yet again..."
(Location: Random cave, North of the Seeonee Hills)
A wolf pack was having their mid-day rest, they were situated in locations North of the Seeonee Hills. Now Mowgli had never really left the hills, he only ever reached the outskirts of the hills.
The leader of this pack in particular was named Kai, slightly younger than Akela was at the time of his death. Kai had a massive pack of around three hundred wolves, Mowgli was amazed that this pack had lasted this long without being discovered.
Mowgli and Bagheera, as well as Gray Brother, stood outside of the cave, surrounded by juvenile wolves, and brave yearlings, including the females who were unsure to let the man into their large cave home.
"We be of one blood, you and I." Mowgli said while outside of the cave, before making a howling noise into the skies above, the wolves in that area let out a howl as well as a form of acceptance.
"Strange, these wolves do not hold a council to let you into the pack." Gray Brother said, Mowgli nodded his head in agreement.
"You must be Mowgli." Kai said, looking up at the man as a few other wolves approached him to get a good sniff on him, getting to know him in their own ways.
"Indeed I am, I've come with a question, and a warning." Mowgli answered, all of the wolves seemed to stop what they were doing, all eyes were on Mowgli now.
"Speak." Kai replied.
"A great menace has come to harm the jungle, he goes by the name of Bhediya Khan, and has a gigantic army of dholes. They descended into my home of the Seeonee Hills, I am certain that they cut a swath through here. My pack cannot defeat them alone, so me and my Gray Brother have arrived to recruit ones that are willing to join our pack to help defeat Bhediya, and his forces. So, can we have some of your wo-" Mowgli went to ask, but he was abruptly cut off by Kai.
"I will not march my pack to their deaths, if you think you are taking any of my wolves, you're insane!" Kai barked, his oldest son came from behind him to reassure him.
"Calm down, father. We risk our lives each time we hunt, we never know when our prey shall fight back with deadly force and kill us. When we travel, we have risks of getting killed by larger game, killed by larger creatures of the jungle. We risk our lives in our every waking life practically, I wouldn't mind protecting our home from foreign invaders." The oldest son of Kai said with a smile, the old wolf growled at Mowgli, still not wanting to have several wolves travel into unknown territory.
"Who might this be?" Mowgli asked the oldest son.
"Lycidas, I was the first to be born from my father and mother, I am next in line to lead the pack. I will gladly come with you on your journey." The oldest son said, revealing his name to be Lycidas.
"Good, are there any others?" Bagheera replied.
"I'll come, I will serve alongside my Lycidas." A female wolf spoke, walking up next to the oldest son of Kai.
"Who might you be?" Gray Brother asked.
"Maka, I was one of the first daughters born from another pack, we were originally two separate packs before forming together. We were running from a dangerous threat from the North, it was the dholes, my mother and father perished, as well as several others from my pack, so the remaining hundred joined this one. I've loved every moment since. I will gladly fight in your journey to defeat Bhediya's red dogs." The female wolf spoke.
Once Lycidas and Maka said that they would join, slowly but surely, several other male and even female wolves started to join Mowgli's pack. All of them accepting the man's offer much to Kai's dismay.
"I hope you bring them home one day, or they all return one day." The leader said softly, Mowgli smiled.
"We will, don't worry, Kai." He said, petting the old wolf on his head.
(A few hours later...)
(Location: Teddy's House)
Mowgli, Bagheera, Gray Brother, and the massive gathering of two hundred and fifty wolves. The Seeonee Pack watched on as wolf after wolf filed into the large opening in which surrounded Teddy's house.
Baloo approached the three who went out to recruit the wolves, curious as to where they got such a massive amount.
"Mowgli, these wolves range in the hundreds. How did you find such an amount?" The brown bear asked.
"We traveled Northwards, we found them dwelling within a massive cave. There's way more than what we've found, but these chose to come with us to join our fight." Mowgli explained.
"That means we must do an extra amount of hunting for them all, morning meal hunting can last for hours on end." Baloo warned, that was something in which Mowgli wasn't thinking about.
"We all hunt as packs, if we can divide the entire pack into groups, hunting will be much easier. I will discuss matters with this later on, for now, we need to get these wolves used to their new location, these are uncharted lands." Mowgli replied, coming up with the best answer as he could.
As he began to make his way back to Teddy's home, Shanti met him at the door, embracing him with a hug and a kiss on the lips.
"I see that you've brought some more wolves to join your army!" She happily exclaimed.
"Indeed I have, I plan on recruiting more as we go on the offensive instead of constantly defending ourselves. I'm getting more confident as we grow in size." Mowgli replied with a smile.
"That's good..." Shanti said, motioning for Mowgli to come inside.
"Where's Teddy?" Mowgli asked.
"He's upstairs, asleep..." Shanti said, her voice coming to a pause.
"Is there something wrong?" Mowgli questioned.
"Yeah, nothing is wrong about you, my love. It's that I miss my home, the village. I want to go back, but I'm afraid I have no clue of where to go." She said, thinking about the man-village.
"I've been thinking about the man-village too, my Shanti. I would see you returned to it soon enough, and you shall be out of harm's way forever." Mowgli answered, embracing his girlfriend again.
"I do not wish to see wolves perish, I do not wish to see your friends fall, I wish for peace. The man-village brings me peace, you bring me peace. I only wish you would abandon this war, and return to a joyful life with the village." Shanti said as she hugged him back.
"I understand, but I cannot stand idle and let my mentors and allies that I've forged in the jungle perish in the war, I would have them live long, and die of a ripe old age rather than die of starvation, or killed. I swore to the pack code that I'll protect them as leader, until death rids me from the world or until long lasting peace is achieved, but if they howl for me again, I am to return." Mowgli replied, Shanti sighed.
"You put too much stress on yourself, my Mowgli. I wish you would just let all of this violence go." She said.
"I will one day, but this jungle needs a protector...a human protector. They've cherished me for years, and I don't know who will come after me." Mowgli replied, gently running his rough hand through Shanti's silky smooth black hair.
"There are many others, I'm certain that have close bonds with the creatures. Our village has cattle, that's a start." She said.
"You're right, and they'll be next to be recruited." Mowgli responded.
"I'll go fetch some water from the spring nearby, you look exhausted after all that walking." Shanti said with a warm smile.
Mowgli gave her another hug before they parted, Shanti took a pot from within the house, heading to get water from a spring in which was not too far away. The man approached the kitchen table to take a seat, relaxing.
He thought of Shanti's words, she was right. He needed to put this looming war behind him, but he felt that it was too late. He felt that he needed to go with pack code, and to follow the many laws of the jungle, and to stick with Baloo's teachings.
He wasn't going to leave his allies, and friends he made in the jungle, so soon. After sitting, and thinking about future decisions for a minute or two, he stood back up, and approached the door to look outside of the house at the large amount of wolves.
They'll be learning lots of things soon Mowgli thought to himself, so many new recruits, he had no idea if they knew the law of the jungle. For all Mowgli knew, he believed that only the Seeonee Pack was aware of the laws, and the newly added pack code that he himself invented.
"I see you've brought some fresh meat for all of us." Kaa said from behind, slithering up next to him as she examined all of the new wolves.
"Yes, took us a while, but I found some." Mowgli replied, gently rubbing the top of the serpent's flat head.
"Where did you find them?" She asked.
"Found them all in the North, all took shelter in a cave of great size. Many of them were eager to join our cause." Mowgli explained.
"Sounds good, more numbers mean less damage taken." Kaa said with a snicker, ready to finally go on the offensive against the dholes.
"Not necessarily. Bhediya's legions, and Nirmam's legions are still highly superior in number. To beat even one legion would require a good location, and a good game plan." Mowgli replied with a smirk, respecting and admiring the snake's readiness to attack the red dogs.
"Listen at you, you strategist!" Kaa giggled.
"It's the truth, my friend. We need to strategize, plan, and use our environment to our advantage. It will all prove beneficial." Mowgli said, Kaa then glanced over at Chupake the Asiatic Cheetah, he was resting in the gazebo beneath a table.
"I question his loyalty to our pack though." The snake said, Mowgli noticed him too.
Chupake was one of the executors at the Cold Lairs, he was promised a sum of carcasses if he was able to kill Phao or Leela. All of that was squandered when Mowgli and his pack shown up with their perfect game plan. He was the talkative creature, but ever since was crushed in Kaa's coils during their fight at the said location, he had gone silent, rarely speaking, only resting, eating, or drinking water from the spring.
"I do as well." Mowgli replied, little did he and Kaa know that the cheetah was listening in on their conversation, his ear twitched, a sign that he was becoming agitated...
I'll prove my loyalty Chupake thought to himself, wanting so badly to attack them, but in the back of his mind, he knew that he wouldn't stand much of a chance against Mowgli or Kaa.
(Location: Mountain Cave)
"I've just about had enough, those hundred dholes haven't returned to me yet..." Nirmam grumbled, he was wanting to wait for all of those red dogs to return to him after he sent them out to attack Mowgli's location.
"Perhaps most of them fallen at the hands of that man." Kaiser, the andrewsarchus growled.
"I hope not, that is one hundred of our troops I sent out. One hundred of our red dogs at one time should be more than enough to take them all out." The Himalayan wolf sighed.
"Nirmam, you're summoned!" Long Fang, the smilodon, called out.
The leader of this lone legion followed Kaiser and Long fang down to the bottom of the mountain pass in which would lead all the way up to the cave, it was four dholes of the group of one hundred that was dispatched to take out Mowgli and his allies.
"They...they were too strong." One of the dholes whimpered, Nirmam looked upon them all in shame.
"You were supposed to bring Mowgli's head to me, now Bhediya shall be deeply angered when I report this to him eventually." The Himalayan wolf growled, baring his teeth.
"This mistake will not happen again, we promise." Another dhole whimpered.
"It better not, I only command a single legion after being removed from the rest of the legions. We have no more room for any foolish mistakes..." Nirmam warned, he then glanced over to see his lover emerge from a hole at the bottom of a thick tree, her name was: Kota.
"Dearest Kota, are you alright. I understand that you've recently delivered some pups into the world, you were deathly sick the last couple of days." The Himalayan wolf gasped.
"I'm fine, during my days of rest, I've been having dreams of this man, he wears loincloth over his crotch, and hides of creatures for clothing on his body...these dreams aren't good ones, beloved Nirmam." The wolf said weakly, still sluggish from waking up from a nap.
"Weren't good?" Nirmam asked himself, looking at the ground before letting out a sigh.
"Yes, we all perished, the pups and the young were left without mothers, all of the mothers had to join the fight, and all of them perished...including me." Kota said, whimpering in fear, this filled Nirmam with rage.
"I will not let him harm you, my dearest Kota. What of the pups' lives?" He asked.
"They joined him, and his pack grew even larger." Kota warned.
"No, this will not happen. I'll not allow it!" Nirmam barked, not angry with Kota, but angry at her dreams.
"It is dreams, it is fate, something we cannot prevent or outrun." Kota sighed.
"No, some dreams will not come true. Your dream is but mere nightmare, something that only exists in your mind, but now you stand awake, now you stand in reality, and the reality shall be Mowgli's carcass being devoured by us all." Nirmam spoke softly, embracing Kota affectionately.
"If I must fight alongside the dhole troops you command now, I will..." Kota said, trying to gather up some courage.
"I admire your bravery, my love." Nirmam responded.
"I love your will to fight." Kota said, nudging her head beneath her lover's jaw.
"Would you be willing to make attempt to kill Mowgli tomorrow morning?" Nirmam asked.
"Anything for you, beloved." Kota answered, the Himalayan wolf smiled bright at her response.
The next morning would bring another skirmish near Mowgli's house...
(The next morning)
(Location: Outskirts of Teddy's land)
Mowgli's pack had woken up thanks to a round being fired into the air by Teddy, morning hunts had begun. The entire fighting force of Mowgli's pack was now at four hundred and fifty five, it was originally at three hundred and fifty five before the new recruits were gathered, even as the pack was greater in size, Nirmam's legion still vastly outnumbered them all.
As Mowgli had said, they had to have a basic knowledge of their surroundings, it would perhaps give them an edge in battle against the legions eventually. He planned on gathering more and more recruits from all over India, not wanting to stray too far from Teddy's house in which only served as a temporary shelter.
Now several squads of the pack were hunting within the jungle surrounding Teddy's house, hunting down some game for their morning meals.
Chupake was with Leela and Phao, including Won-Tolla, and several other wolves.
"I overheard Mowgli and that serpent, Kaa...saying that they questioned my loyalty to the pack." The Asiatic cheetah hissed quietly, keeping his voice low to not alert nearby prey.
"I would question loyalty as well-" Leela began, remaining silent.
"You attempted to kill me multiple times, you attempted to kill my friends, killing one of them even. You must prove yourself loyal..." She finished, her fur becoming bushy, her teeth being bared as she growled him that sentence.
"I intend to prove loyalty by hunting with you, if you want to make things hard, be my guest, continue your hateful growling towards me." Chupake hissed back, suddenly, snapping of twigs were heard, and all of the hunters lowered themselves.
"What is it?" Won-Tolla asked.
"Sambhur..." Chupake warned, but his eyes caught notice of something else, this was smaller than a sambhur deer, it's tail was tipped with black.
"Wait..." The cheetah continued.
Leela gasped as she seen another one of those dholes emerge from the shade, what the Asiatic Cheetah didn't see was the other red dogs in which were in the same area.
"Remain calm..." Phao said quietly.
"Leela, you said something about proving myself loyal, correct?" Chupake asked silently, glaring next to him at Leela.
"Yeah, what about it?" She asked, having her teeth bared.
"Watch me." Was the last two words that the Asiatic Cheetah spoke as he darted through the brush with a loud roar.
"Wait!" Leela cried out.
"We've got no other choice at this point!" Won-Tolla barked as he rushed after Chupake to give aid.
Fighting instantly broke out between one hunting party and a batch of dholes, in the skirmish, only one wolf fell, Chupake was the mvp of the fight, taking out dhole after dhole with relative ease.
Howling was heard, light pitched howling, more of them red dogs were coming.
"All of you go in the direction of the howling, I'll take care of this last remaining dog!" The cheetah commanded.
"You aren't our leader, you aren't even a wolf or a man like Mowgli!" Leela barked in response.
"Just do it!" Chupake fired back, the wolves weren't going to argue, and they rushed towards the direction of where the howling was heard.
The Asiatic cheetah turned back to the lone dhole that was laying down at his feet, she had backed up next to a rock.
"I swore to him that I would fight for him, and I shall see Mowgli dead this morning..." The red dog growled, Chupake only got closer.
"Nice try, but clearly you've failed to achieve your goal. It is your head that I shall send to Bhediya Khan, for lying to me about my price of meal..." The cheetah hissed in response.
"I am lover of Nirmam Yoddha, he no longer serves with the great Khan. Kill me, and you'll have the entire legion fall upon you in an instant when you're not ready..." Kota growled in defiance.
"I didn't mention anything about killing you, but I'll take you. Your lover took away Mowgli's lover, I think we should get even, and hold you as prisoner...You will learn how it feels to be captive, to be derived of food, and water." Chupake answered sternly.
"You really work for a man?" Kota continued to growl with her teeth clenched.
"I work for none, I will mourn Mowgli's passing once the legions destroy everyone here, but I will never work for a group of red furred liars ever again." Chupake finished, revealing his identity as a rogue, no one truly knew where his loyalties belonged.
(An hour later)
Everyone had returned to the hills around Teddy's residence, Chupake brought a whimpering Kota to Mowgli.
The wolves shouted obscenities towards Kota, barked at her, ones even bit at her, most of them gave the lover of Nirmam only the most cold and unforgiving looks. All held disdain for her.
Kota looked at the top of the stairs at the front of the house where Mowgli stood in the center, Kaa was behind him to the right coiled up, forked tongue flickering out. Bagheera stood to his right at his front, Baloo stood behind Mowgli to the left, on his haunches, and Gray Brother stood to the man's left at the front.
"I make myself member of the pack, but know this, if something fails in our war against the dholes, I will gladly leave this army of wolves, and retreat to old dens."
"You will ssstay, or die in my coilsss..." Kaa hissed coldly, Mowgli raised a fist to silence all talk and commotion.
"Who have you brought to me?" Mowgli asked the Asiatic cheetah.
"Her name is Kota, the lover of the red dog who commanded the attack on the man-village." Chupake answered, Mowgli was shocked, but his facial expressions didn't make him seem to be surprised, he looked stern and cold at the red dog.
"How do you know that my lover's mother was slain at the hands of Nirmam?" Mowgli asked the Asiatic cheetah.
"Word of mouth, spread like frenzied red flower throughout the jungle. I figured since the red fiends held your lover captive, we should do the same to Nirmam. They should know how it feels to be tormented as your Shanti was." Chupake explained.
Mowgli stood and thought for a moment before making the decision.
"It's best that we feed her, and keep her properly hydrated to stop her from reaching dewanee-" He began, looking around at his wolves, but then his eyes slowly focused on Kota again.
"However, we will get even with the red dogs tonight..."