(Chapter 31: Betrayal at the highest degree)
Mowgli was standing at the top of the tower at the fortress, gazing out in the desert, trying to locate the wolves that Baloo had sent out on the hunt earlier. The man had received his status as leader back after he solved the issue with the dholes. The light of the moon helped him see what was out there due to it being pitch black at night currently.
"Where are those wolves?" Mowgli asked himself as he looked to the ground, Toomai approached him from behind.
"I suppose they are still out hunting." Toomai replied.
"I know that, but I thought they would be back a bit...sooner. Baloo sent them out didn't he?" Mowgli spoke, turning his head to the side to face his friend.
"You're right, do you wish me to head out with the elephants to look for them?" Toomai asked.
"No, I'm going to hold on to my hope. We wait until dawn's first light, and if the wolves haven't returned. Then it will be good hunting for you." Mowgli answered, Toomai chuckled.
"I'm going alone with my elephants, or will I have company? This desert is massive." Toomai asked with a raised eyebrow and a grin.
"It will be a widespread search, all of my larger allies, a group of wolves, with you and your elephants with an aerial view being provided by Chil. It will be nigh impossible to not find them at that point, unless they've wandered too far out." Mowgli responded, reassuring his friend that he had this situation all under control.
"Good, I'll be heading off to bed soon. I pray that the wolves return before morning, but if a hunt needs to be done, then so be it." Toomai said as he let out a yawn, stretching out his toned body.
As Toomai walked down the stairs to go to his bedchambers, Mowgli sat at the top of the tower, stroking his beard to think about further movements against Bhediya Khan and his legions...
(A few days later...)
(Location: Bhediya Khan's whereabouts)
Several vultures, including the three allied vultures that were with Bhediya Khan, were feasting on the carcasses of the unfaithful dholes in which had been slain a few nights ago.
Bhediya Khan, including the dholes he listed as faithful were all sleeping peacefully, including his son.
Several high pitched howls jolted Bhediya Khan from his sleep, including his son. They readied themselves for a fight, their fur grew bushy, and they exposed their gums with their sharp teeth bared. They were relieved when they noticed that several hundred dholes had just arrived from out of nowhere!
"I must be dreaming again, another episode of pseudo-sleep." Bhediya grumbled, but when he felt his son brush against him, he discovered that it was real life...
"I stand corrected, where do all of you come from?" The dire wolf continued, now getting curious as to how and why all of these random dholes had just appeared.
Mowgli's slaves, we were under the rule of Conan and Bruno until the night came when a serpent used her seductive powers to sway us into being his slaves. We worked for Mowgli, fought for him, and we couldn't control our minds...please forgive us, great Bhediya Khan..." A dhole begged, even bowing to the dire wolf, the large wolf grumbled and then let out a chuckle.
"Bowing is not necessary, I still deem you as faithful if you were swayed by the gaze of the serpent. How did all of you get back?" Bhediya Khan said, asking the dhole mass how they got back after being so far away.
"Maximus set us free, through a well crafted plan. Mowgli's numbers are lower than ever. He doesn't know what hit him..." The dhole replied, this brought a sinister grin to the face of the dire wolf.
"Mowgli also doesn't know what is coming for him either..." Bhediya stated.
(Location: Mowgli's Fortress)
Mowgli sat on top of one of the towers at the fortress, gazing out into the desert. The expression displayed on his face said it all if you seen him, he looked mentally worn out. The man had lost several friends, both animal and human over the course of this war against the red dogs who he deemed as villains.
Another thing he was dreading about was the lost wolves that they still weren't able to find, several hunts and searches were made over the last few days, but none ever went successful, be it that the wolves were alive or dead.
"Mowgli, we've searched for days, yet we have no luck of finding those wolves." Bagheera said as he approached Mowgli from behind.
"We'll find them, brother. Hold on to hope." Mowgli said, his voice sounding somewhat stern.
"Hope will only get us so far, Mowgli." The panther replied, Mowgli sighed and turned towards his longtime friend that he considered a brother just like Gray Brother.
"Well...keep hoping." Mowgli said with a bit of nervous laughter, but there was nothing about the current times that Bagheera found funny.
"Brother, I'm not seeing a light at the end of this tunnel anymore. Each day it gets worse the more we sit here at this fort, wolves die, food is scarce, if this continues, we will have nothing left. Yet you still insist on fighting?" Bagheera said with a confused voice, surprised that Mowgli still wanted to continue fighting, his never give up attitude was commendable to all of his allies.
Mowgli sighed as he looked out in the desert, not a single sign of those wolves...
"I feel the same, Bagheera." He said to the panther, Bagheera walked up to Mowgli and took a seat next to him.
"I miss the old ways when you were but a man-cub, things were better then. Not a lot of violence, not a lot of unnecessary death..." Bagheera sighed, Mowgli gently petted the panther's head.
"We still had Shere Khan to deal with." Mowgli replied with a smile.
"Yes indeed, there was the striped one, the lame one...but even then, it was only occasional. Shere Khan only became a major threat when you were eleven seasons old, when he put his reign of terror in full force." Bagheera said.
"Such is true, I miss going to sleep in the day and waking up in the night. I miss the fun we would have on our hunts, when the wolves would howl at the moon. When you and Baloo would teach me everything I needed to know about the jungle, and the laws of the jungle. I was but a kid then, now I stand an adult, and capable of teaching those same laws to the pups of today." Mowgli said, gently hugging Bagheera as a way of thanking him for all he had done for him.
"If I could relive those days, I would." Bagheera replied as he thought of every adventure Mowgli and the gang went on as he grew up, the good ones, and even the bad ones.
"I would too, perhaps we will be able to when this war ends. We can relive each moment if you want to, except the ones without Shere Khan." Mowgli chuckled, having hope for the future.
"When will the war end?" The panther asked, Mowgli fell silent for a moment.
"It ends when Bhediya Khan dies." Mowgli replied, Bagheera looked stunned.
"How do you know that you won't die, after all we've gone through, how can you be so confident?" Bagheera asked.
"Bhediya Khan may be a big wolf, but he's just a wolf. He's no tiger, I have a giant snake, an elusive panther, and a beast of a bear...well...when he wants to be a beast. I have all the power in the world to take him out, and with better strategy, we can defeat his legions too." Mowgli replied, his hand curled into a fist.
"What about the wolves that we're looking for?" Bagheera went on.
"Toomai will go out to try and find them one last time tomorrow, one last try." Mowgli replied, Bagheera let out a cynical laugh as he shook his head in disbelief as he gazed at the ground...
(The next day)
"Mowgli, I've done this for days. Kala Nag has protested against heading out of the fortress and going searching for wolves that he believes are long gone." Toomai groaned after his friend had delivered the news that he would need to travel out of the fortress yet again with the elephants of Kala Nag and Hathi.
"This is the last day, I promise." Mowgli replied with a grin, having a slight chuckle towards the end of his sentence.
"Oh come on, you said that yesterday!" Toomai growled, Mowgli sighed, still having the grin on his face.
"By the bull that bought me, this is the last time." Mowgli said, as Toomai went to speak, Kaa chimed in. She was coiled around a stone column behind them.
"He usually means it when he says that." The python stated with a giggle at the end of her sentence, Mowgli smirked at this.
"She's right." He said, Toomai let out a cynical laugh before heading to where he kept Kala Nag and Hathi.
A few minutes went by, and as everyone was doing their daily activities, such as pups of wolves sparring and tumbling with each other, yearlings practicing their hunting skills, and the fighters sparring with one another, Mowgli spoke with Sundar Ek.
"Tell me more about this 'psuedo-sleep,' I am intrigued on learning how to do it." Mowgli requested, having heard about it from Kaa, and Sundar herself.
"Pseudo-sleep is a state of mind that you can tap into, you can receive knowledge from the past is the best way I can describe it..." The tigress explained, Mowgli nodded, he was intrigued to learn more of this.
"That sounds cool!" Mowgli said, closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths.
"You have to be somewhat older as well, Hathi can easily do it, as well as Kaa. Tha knows how much knowledge they hold, the only thing I can think of in pseudo-sleep is memories of a cub with my father and mother." Sundar explained.
Mowgli sighed, looking to the ground as he remembered that he was the one who slain Shere Khan, the father of Sundar Ek. Regret instantly filled his mind, but he knew the tiger's death was justified due to him breaking the laws of the jungle during his rampage, but after hearing how troubled his past was, he felt sorry for the tiger he once hated. As a single tear traveled down his cheek, he asked the question:
"Do you ever speak with..." Mowgli couldn't even finish it, his voice becoming shaky. Sundar finished for him, gently stroking his back with her paw and nudging her head into his neck softly.
"Shere Khan?" The tigress asked.
"Yeah, your father." Mowgli answered.
"Of course, it's nice talking with him. Although it is a bit weird to have my adult voice in the body of my cub self, it's sort of strange. Feels like you're talking to a spirit or a ghost." Sundar told Mowgli, this brought a slight smile to the man's lips.
"You ever tell him on how you met me?" Mowgli asked.
"Yep, he told me that he forgives you for the trouble you brought him. He also told me that he wishes to speak with you, somehow." Sundar replied, this made Mowgli's lips quiver, he never expected a rage filled creature like Shere Khan to forgive him, but it finally seemed like the tiger saw the light, if only he could have turned back into his good self before he went against the laws of the jungle...
"Quit being so down in the dumps!" Toomai called out followed by a trumpet from an elephant.
"Yeah, what he said!" Kala Nag called out, Mowgli looked up and let out a hearty chuckle to see Toomai riding on the back of his elephant with Hathi at Kala Nag's side.
"To think that a few moments ago that you were all upset about going looking for the wolves! What happened!?" Mowgli asked.
"What can I say? I'm an emotional guy, I can be angry one minute and then happy the other!" Toomai said happily!
"Great! I'll get the gate open." Mowgli replied as he darted towards the giant gate, slowly pushing it open with the help of Baloo and Bagheera.
Kala Nag, along with Toomai and Hathi slowly left through the gate to the applause of the wolves and the allies of Mowgli.
"Good hunting!" Mowgli called out.
"Good hunting all!" Bagheera added on.
(Meanwhile...)
Bhediya Khan had all of the faithful dholes sitting down before him at the bottom of the hill, the massive army of a few legions staring up at him at attention. Neo stood beside his foster father with a look of pride in his eyes, a smirk on his face.
"My great army of the faithful, today is the day that we pursue glory! Today is the day that we march to Mowgli's fortress, we will end the war against the man once and for all by the time we get there!" Bhediya boomed, the dholes howled in agreement to their leader.
"We arrive fast, we arrive with brutality on our minds. We arrive violently!" Neo continued after his father, earning a nod of respect and a proud smile from the dire wolf.
"We will decimate all that Mowgli has to offer us, including the foolish man he is. Show no mercy, and let every mother, father, and pup know what it means when you go against the code of the dholes, created by my father! We shall kill them all!" Bhediya barked, a look of determination in his eyes. He was ready to kill, and it will be yet another battle for him in his lengthy life...
Bhediya turned towards the West, his eyes glaring coldly to the distance. The dholes stood up on their feet, preparing for the hunt. Neo howled into the sky, ecstatic to be joining his foster father in their first hunt together against their enemy!
"Army of the faithful, army of the strong. Army of the red dogs, let's march!" Bhediya finished with a loud, deep howl into the sky, and the legions began to follow behind him as several thousand strong grouped together. An army ready to fight till the death like they had nothing left to lose.
"I'm so ready, father. I can feel Mowgli's blood warm as it drizzles down my throat, and gets my teeth slick!" Neo exclaimed, Bhediya grew a sinister smile on his face and chuckled deeply.
"I stand ready too, son. When this all ends, you'll be the new leader. This war has shifted you in the right direction as a leader, and we will celebrate it by feasting on the carcasses of Mowgli's army..." Bhediya replied with another villainous snicker.
"I'm looking forward to it!" Neo exclaimed happily.
(That night)
"This is fantastic, first we lose the wolves, and then we lose Toomai..." Mowgli grumbled, ever since he had been released, Toomai hadn't returned yet with the two elephants he rode with. Mowgli couldn't command these elephants in particular, only Toomai could...
"Don't fret, sweetie. They'll return any time soon...I hope." Kaa replied, trying to calm Mowgli down, but nothing was working.
"Our numbers are dwindling, and without Toomai, those elephants will run away without given proper commands. We stand as sitting ducks right now, if we continue to sit around here, we'll perish." Mowgli continued.
"I thought you had a bright future in mind." Kaa teased.
"Heh, well...I did. With the way things are looking at the moment, I think our future will be hard, but with hard work, brings good times." The man chuckled, now trying to lighten up the mood himself.
"I've came here to tell you that Gray Brother is finally up and moving again." Kaa said, Mowgli was sitting on a pile of her coils with her head resting on his shoulders.
"Really?" Mowgli asked with a growing smile.
"Would I ever lie?" Kaa asked with a giggle at the end of her sentence.
"Heh, yeah. You never lie Kaa, you never lie..." Mowgli chuckled, remembering all of the times she had caught him in her coils and lied to him about safety so she could try and eat him.
"Those days are over, you aren't a meal, you're my friend." Kaa replied, sounding playful.
"I know, I'm just messing with you." Mowgli responded, gently scratching the underside of Kaa's chin. Her eyes closed and she groaned with satisfaction before Mowgli stood up and left his chamber to go see Gray Brother.
Meanwhile, at the backside of the fortress, Maximus was walking with a couple wolves by his side. The wolves were complaining about how the hunters that were dispatched a few days ago haven't returned.
"It pains me to say this, but I wish to head out and find them!" A wolf growled.
"It's a lost cause, brother, they've probably died of exhaustion or something. They aren't worth looking for now." The other wolf grumbled.
A third wolf emerged from an alley to speak with Maximus, asking where they are heading as they were heading towards the back gate in which was opened for some reason.
"The elephants are back, I heard them trumpeting earlier as well as some howling. This could mean that they found the hunters that were sent out a few days ago." Maximus explained, lying about the elephants, but speaking the truth about the howling.
"Alright, I'll meet you three up ther-" The wolf's sentence was cut off when he heard some commotion behind him.
The wolf turned around to see that Maximus had killed both of the wolves, the third wolf that had spoke to him was shocked.
"Why?" The wolf asked, Maximus licked his chops clean of blood.
"I don't work for you..." Maximus replied.
"MOWGLI, I'VE FOUND THE TRAITO-" The wolf's sentence couldn't be finished as Maximus lunged forward, clamping his teeth on the wolf's throat to kill it!
Mowgli had heard the message, and then came the loud high pitched howling followed by one loud low pitched howl. Everyone looked afraid of what was going on, and they knew exactly what was going on.
"They're here..." Mowgli said to Gray Brother, as he left the wolf's chamber, he could see the pups and mother scrambling for shelter.
"Everyone calm down! I want all of my hunters and fighters to head towards the back so we can face Bhediya and his legions head on. We must not let them take this fortress!" Mowgli screamed, Gray Brother instantly rushed towards the back, knowing Maximus would be there.
"What of our pups, what of our mothers!" Another wolf called out.
"See them to the underground chambers, there is an exit through them!" Mowgli replied.
"We could just use the front gate!" Baloo roared as he awoke from his slumber, wanting to take the obvious much more simple path, however, it would not be so.
"Dholes are pawing at the ground at the front gate, looks like they may end up tunneling in!" Bagheera called out as he leapt from the tower on to his feet.
"The underground chambers are the only way, now get the innocent there fast!" Mowgli called out as he raced towards his chambers to retrieve some weaponry, and to put on the clothes he had made such as shoes, and animal skin clothing such as a shirt or a coat for colder weather. Mowgli also put on his quiver, and other sacks and straps on his body, such as a pouch that held his knives, his quiver contained a sword and loads of arrows, including his bow, Mowgli carried a stone axe and a wooden shield.
A few wolves had already made it to the back by sprinting the entire way there, Gray Brother being one of them, his eyes immediately locked with Maximus. Who grinned deviously at Gray Brother.
"Traitor..." Gray Brother growled, Maximus laughed wickedly.
"It's about time you figured it out, half the time I've been here you've been beaten down. Is it finally time you've stopped pissing yourself in my presence!?" The Himalayan wolf chuckled, taunting Gray Brother. The wolves around Gray Brother bushed out their fur, and curled their snout to reveal the gums and teeth beneath, flashing an intimidation display towards Maximus, but Maximus wasn't so intimidated.
"I will have you slain for all the trouble you caused me, you fiend!" Gray Brother barked, Maximus still wasn't backing down. The howling of the dholes outside, grew louder.
"Are you sure?" Maximus asked, taunting Gray Brother even more.
"The last time I checked, I was the one who had all of those dholes attack you, nearly killing you. It was my own paws that saved you, when you were put asleep for days, it was me who done that to you. I saved your life and also nearly killed you, you should be groveling at my feet..." Maximus continued as several dholes began to pour into the fortress!
The dholes stood next to Maximus, showing their teeth, growling at Gray Brother and the wolves that had shown up to protect this entrance.
"If I was you pesky wolves, I would leave..." Maximus growled, Gray Brother nor the wolves were leaving their ground. More dholes slowly marched into the fortress, running in separate directions to attack! They were given orders by Bhediya Khan to kill everything including the innocent, no morals, no mercy...
"We stand our ground, and we will push you right back to where you came from..." Gray Brother grumbled.
"Keep dreaming, because it will never happen..." Maximus growled before he let out a ferocious bark, the dholes began to advance on the wolves!
Gray Brother managed to clamp his jaws down on one's neck, killing it before throwing it into two more dholes, barking with all of the fury he had in his heart. The other wolves rushed upon the dholes, tearing through them with ease, but the numbers game was fast to catch up as they began to get surrounded.
"There are too many of them!" A wolf shouted.
"We should of expected this, it's the legions!" Another wolf cried.
"Fall back!" Gray Brother cried, and he and the wolf squad ran further into the fortress, Maximus stood his ground as he awaited to re-unite with Bhediya Khan. The Himalayan wolf watched on as dhole after dhole rushed into the fort...
After a moment's notice, Bhediya Khan and his son entered the fort. The dire wolf looked around with a grin on his face, satisfied to finally be back at a place he hadn't been to in a long time!
"Welcome back, Great Khan..." Maximus stated, his face all smug.
"It feels great, let's continue the slaughter until none of Mowgli or his allies are left of this world." Bhediya replied, marching deeper into the fortress!
As several dholes rushed upon Mowgli's chambers, they were shocked to see Baloo suddenly burst from the weakened wall, barreling through several of them! Bagheera bounded down from the tower, pouncing on several red dogs at one time! Mowgli emerged from his chambers, screaming furiously with his axe, and Kaa lunged out from the shadows to attack!
A dhole jumped up at Mowgli, but the man swiftly killed it by slamming the axe down on it's head! Baloo had several dholes lunge on him, but due to his size and strength, he was able to simply roll on the ground, crushing them beneath him as he proceeded to rise, and stand on his haunches with a mighty roar!
Bagheera viciously slashed at every dhole that came towards him with his claws, batting some down and away, pouncing on one and crushing it's skull with his powerful jaws!
Kaa used her head as a battering ram to make some space for her allies, knocking several dholes out all at once. The serpent also used her large tail to sweep the dholes out from their feet before knocking them away with her head.
Mowgli used the handle of his axe to thwack a dhole away from him once it lunged towards him, he then spun and hacked it down at a dhole in which was biting at his calf, killing that one swiftly. The man could hear one coming up behind him, so he kicked his foot back to ram it right in the face of that dhole, stunning it! He spun again, slashing his axe downwards, delivering a fatal wound to the side of the head of the dhole in which was stunned!
A dhole jumped towards Mowgli, ramming him in the gut with a jumping headbutt, which made him stumble back. Another dhole lunged up to take him down! His body hit the stone ground with a thud, causing him to grunt in pain, but he blocked his throat with the handle of his axe as the jaws of a red dog latched on to it!
"Get off me!" Mowgli shouted as he kicked his legs into the underside of the dhole, and rolled backwards to end up on top of the enemy. He lifted his axe up with both hands just to get knocked to his back again by the dhole who had struck him in the stomach a few seconds earlier. The dholes began to all rush at Mowgli, but were scooped up into the coils of Kaa!
The serpent had wrapped up a good few of them into her coils, and she began to squeeze the air from the red dogs as Mowgli picked up his axe to continue fighting. A dhole lunged towards Baloo, but the brown bear swatted it from the air, killing it with a single strike. Another attempted to jump, but it met the same fate! Finally several of the dholes charged at the bear at one time, but Bagheera put a stop to their charge as he rammed his way through them!
Bagheera pinned a dhole down, preparing to go for the killing bite, but a dhole lunged on his back, clawing and biting into him like crazy, this caused a distraction and he tried to reach back to bite at their paws, but he couldn't seem to get a good grip on them! He began to thrash around, rolling and tumbling along the ground to try and knock some of them off!
Baloo roared and brought his full weight down upon some dholes that were trying to claw and bite at his undersides, but then several more flung themselves right at his face, slapping and biting at him!
The bear sank his claws deep into the dholes that were attacking his face, and he managed to clamp his powerful jaws around one's neck, killing it as he flung it's body into the other dholes that were trying to surround him!
"We will never give this fortress up!" Baloo roared as he stood up on his haunches again as he noticed several more dholes coming their way down an alley, the brown bear roared as loud as he could.
"More come!" Baloo cried out as Bagheera finally managed to liberate himself of the dholes that were picking at him, he had some cuts and scars on his body.
"You look roughed up baggy, are you sure that you can continue?" Baloo asked in a joking tone, the panther let out a cynical laugh as he replied with:
"Shut up."
Kaa finished squeezing the dholes that were caught in her coils to death, rallying with the two large animals as Mowgli emerged from a doorway holding the head of a decapitated dhole. He let out a war cry as he hurled the head towards a dhole to knock it out, he slashed the head off another red dog that was coming his way.
Mowgli regrouped with Baloo, Bagheera, and Kaa. The bear stood up on his haunches, Bagherra arched his back and planted his frontal paw down with authority, Kaa coiled herself up, and Mowgli held his axe tightly. Chupake bounded at their side, glaring at the oncoming hordes of dholes. Suddenly, Sundar Ek joined them with a mighty roar. The rest of them followed:
Baloo roared loudly, so did Bagheera, and Chupake. Mowgli let out a furious scream, veins bulging from his neck, eyes wide, mouth agape, rage coursing through his veins.
"The tiger fights with us!?" Kaa asked loudly.
"She's a ferocious fighter by blood!" Mowgli replied, this caused Bagheera to look over to face him.
"By blood?" The panther asked.
"She stands the daughter of Shere Khan!" Mowgli called out over the loud barking and howling of the dholes and wolves fighting throughout the fortress.
"WHAT!?" Mowgli's animal friends all shouted in unison.
There was no time to react as they were all forced to spring upon the dholes that were now attacking them!
Sundar Ek roared furiously as she instantly downed four dholes within a three second time span, it only took one hit from her paws to kill the four of them. Kaa struck her head out to take out several dholes, Baloo rushed forward with his arms outstretched, pulling them in as if he was hugging them just to squash them beneath his weight!
Bagheera swatted one, then two dholes out of the air as they lunged towards him before biting the back of one's head, flinging it into the group of dholes that were coming their way.
As Mowgli and his army fought bravely within the fortress, they started to get overwhelmed by greater numbers. The wolves began to retreat into the underground chambers that would lead them to freedom outside of the fortress! Mowgli and the larger allies began to move towards the chambers as well, with Mowgli staying above ground.
"We must hold them off!" Mowgli screamed to Bagheera as the panther retreated into the underground chamber, he couldn't see how truly outnumbered his army was compared to Bhediya's legions, it was even worse within the fortress.
"Mowgli!" Bagheera called out as he and Baloo watched from the doorway as Mowgli desperately tried to hold them off, but he just continued to get pushed back more and more towards the wall.
Bhediya Khan and Maximus, as well as Neo rounded a corner to see Mowgli screaming furiously as he swung his battle axe into the dholes, killing one after one, pushing larger groups that came straight for him back with his shield just to get nipped at in which pushed him back.
"There he is, your sworn enemy..." Maximus stated, Bhediya's eyes contained mostly hatred but there existed some respect.
"Alas, the one I've been hunting down for an entire year finally stands before me. His death shall finally bring peace to my life, and my journey shall be over on a grand note." Bhediya thought to himself before actually speaking.
"Mowgli!" The dire wolf barked, Mowgli looked into the distance to see the massive crimson coated wolf staring directly at him, the two rivals locked eyes with each other again for the first time in a while, ever since one of the battles at the Cold Lairs in which felt like forever ago.
Mowgli shook his head as he slammed the axe down on a dhole at his front at full force! Another dhole jumped at him, but the man knocked it away with his wicker shield.
The man reached into the quiver to pull out a spear, glaring at Bhediya Khan from afar...
"You've brought me enough pain, this night is the night it ends..." Mowgli thought to himself as he let out a battle cry, hurling the spear towards Bhediya!
The tip of the spear only clipped him across the side of his head, removed an ear, and pierced through a few dholes behind him, a complete shish kabob of dholes! Neo went back to check on the impaled dholes...
"You've lost an ear, Great Khan, you're bleeding!" Maximus cried out, but there was only a smirk on the face of the dire wolf.
"A minor inconvenience..." The dire wolf chuckled as he gave Mowgli a sinister grin, licking away his own blood...
"Slaughter him..." Bhediya whispered to Maximus, the Himalayan did as was told as he rushed upon Mowgli while barking with only malicious intentions behind it. Several dholes rushed upon the man as well!
"MOWGLI!" Baloo called out, Mowgli grinned as he left the fortress behind, following the bear into the chamber's entrance, Baloo then forcefully knocked over a large wall, the rubble covering up the doorway...
"They escape..." Maximus growled as he clawed at the pile of rubble, Bhediya wasn't worried at all though.
"They but prolong their own doom, let us relish this victory tonight and claim this fortress as our own-" The dire wolf began before looking back at Neo.
"Son, search this whole fortress, find any, and all of Mowgli's allies, and we shall slaughter them for sport in honor of Maximus and his duties!" Bhediya said aloud, rearing his head back to howl into the night sky...
(Meanwhile, far away from the fortress)
"We've been looking all night, water from the holes can only sustain us for so long, Toomai." Kala Nag grumbled to his mahout in which was on his back.
"I'm just about to call it a night, Mowgli better not tell me to go look again..." Toomai replied as he gazed around.
"You said that about an hour ago." Kala Nag said, Hathi was heard chuckling nearby.
"Look, this time I'm serious." Toomai said, Hathi was heard chuckling louder this time.
"You also said that an hour ago..." Kala Nag replied.
"Oh for crying out loud, how about we just get things over with and head on back to the fortre-" Mowgli went to speak but his sentence was cut off when he noticed something in the distance that caught his eye.
"Kala Nag, to the North. There's something there!" Toomai shouted, the two elephants and their leader headed towards the North to the spot where Toomai was looking.
What they came across was several bodies of dead wolves, and a few bodies of dholes...
"Unbelievable." Toomai said softly, hands rubbing through his hair.
"Believable..." Kala Nag said, Toomai growled and turned around to face his beloved elephant.
"This isn't the time for jokes, Kala Nag. This is a loss of life, and these wolves have been like this for God knows how long..." Toomai replied as he crouched down, noticing some fresh paw prints nearby, smaller paw prints like those of a dhole.
"We need to move back to the fortress to give report to Mowgli, and we need to get out of here fast." Toomai warned as he climbed back on Kala Nag's back.
(Location: Mowgli's Village)
"You better not be hurting each other out there!" Messua called out to her sons, Ranbir and Ranjan were sparring with each other behind their home.
"Oh come on, mother. If little Ranjan wants to go back into the jungle, he needs to be properly prepared!" Ranbir shouted in response, as he then darted towards Ranjan in a crouched position, trying to imitate a wild animal attacking him.
Ranjan went to strike downwards with a fake wooden spear, but Ranbir bit it with his teeth on the handle, and broke it in half with ease before tackling his younger brother to the ground!
"You didn't have to switch things up on me!" Ranjan protested, Ranbir was fighting like a human earlier but now he was acting more animalistic.
"Well, you didn't have to go back into the jungle but look what Mowgli got you into." Ranbir taunted playfully, but Ranjan wasn't so playful after he heard his brother's name mentioned.
"Mowgli...I miss him." Ranjan sighed, Ranbir fell silent for a moment, dropping his fake weapon.
"I miss him too, I pray to God that he is okay." Ranbir replied to Ranjan.
"I pray to God he is alive." Ranjan added.
"What did you say about Mowgli!?" Messua called out, every day since Mowgli returned to the jungle, she feared for his life.
"We miss him, mother!" Ranbir called out.
Shanti was sitting alone in her home, looking out into the night sky with tears welling up in her eyes as she thought of her boyfriend's fate. Fearing for his life, having an undying love for him.
"Where are you Mowgli?" She asked into the night, knowing she would receive no answer as she sighed. A single tear trailing down her cheeks.
"You've brought me so much comfort, and you've carved me from a weak girl to a powerful willed one. You made me the woman I am today, but now you're gone..." Shanti continued as more tears rolled down from her eyes.
She overheard his brothers talking amongst themselves as they walked through the village, carefully listening in on them.
"Why do you wish to enter the jungle, besides what Mowgli told you about it, and your special interactions with the various animal friends he has?" Ranbir asked as he ate a paw-paw fruit.
"So I can give him help when he needs it, if anyone is going to go looking for him, it will be me." Ranjan replied sternly.
"Brother, you're still young. You still need proper training, if Buldeo was still around, he would have taught you well, he taught me to the great hunter I stand today. He had guns, horses, wealth, swords, and-" Before Ranbir could continue, they stopped when they noticed a few British troops standing at the front of their village with a couple riding on horseback.
"Speaking of which..." Ranjan said as he began to march back towards the house to grab a spear, but Ranbir stopped him.
"Would you cut that out!? You've got to learn to trust people." Ranbir scolded his younger brother.
"Hello there!" Elias Valentine said aloud, he was one of the troops riding on horseback carrying the British flag in his arms.
"What brings you here?" Ranbir asked, he didn't know what to make of these people as he had never met them before.
"Lord Curzon, he has commanded us to make room for more British outposts." Elias spoke, Ranjan approached with his fists clenched tightly.
"So what's it to you!? What is it you want with our village? We hold no treasures here. You'll find nothing of worth to keep." Ranjan snapped, Elias raised an eyebrow and looked over to Lieutenant Lockwood, who unsheathed his golden sword to prepare for a fight.
"Watch the tone, savage boy..." Elias warned, his eyes narrowed at Ranjan who still looked very angry.
"Mind my brother, he can get carried away...but what is it you want with our village? We have no gold, we have nothing of value for your superiors." Ranbir asked.
Elias looked around with a grin.
"Well, this place is situated within a nice clearing, has a nice pathway out into the jungle. Seems like the perfect area to put an outpost..." Elias explained, Ranjan grew even more angry as his mind jumped to conclusions.
"Well, we have no more room to fit any of your buildings. I assume they are quite large in size, you won't destroy our home. Stranger..." Ranjan growled, it was then that the smirk on Elias' face went away.
"Don't give me any ideas...Take notes Lockwood, I'll return here eventually to see if we can make arrangements with these folk." Elias said, giving Ranjan a cold warning. Lieutenant Lockwood was writing notes in his journal about the geography of the location of this village.
"It was good speaking with you, stranger." Ranbir said with a nod of respect to the Englishman, he could tell that Elias was a high and mighty figure given his army uniform and with the British flag being held by him.
"Good speaking with you too, the name is Elias Valentine..." The British trooper spoke, his eyes narrowed as he sized Ranbir up before leaving the village with his group of men, heading back to Boulder Field where the new outpost was being constructed.
Shanti had listened in on the entire conversation, and she didn't like what these British troopers had to say. The eerie warning that Elias gave to Ranjan about ideas of burning the village down sent a shiver down her spine. Now she felt like she needed her Mowgli more than ever, now was the time for him to come back...
"My Mowgli, where are you!? PLEASE COME HOME!" The lonely young Indian woman called out into the night, her voice echoing into the jungle, bouncing off the trees and rocks...
A/N: Wow, a chapter that doesn't come out a month later!? Shocker am I right? XD...
I was originally intending to make this a much longer chapter, but I decided that I have had enough long chapters in this story to be honest. Shorter chapters around the 5,000 to 6,000 word mark makes things a lot easier for me and gives me much more breathing room. That is how I plan things to be worked out so I can put this writer's block stage to rest! I would expect a chapter by tomorrow as well!
Feel free to leave a review on how you liked the chapter or chapters before, and also feel free to leave a favorite and follow as well as it helps this story gain recognition and also helps me grow as a user on this site. Also feel free to send me a PM with ideas for this story or my two other stories I have planned in this "Jungle Book Universe" I have growing ;)- KaijuCrazy02