(Chapter 32: Tension)
(Location: Bhediya Khan's Fortress...)
Dholes had scoured the entire fortress to try and find any weakened wolves who dared put up a fight against the superior legions, they found quite a few. Several of them were already brutishly torn to shreds and slaughtered for entertainment of the dholes. Bhediya, Neo, and Maximus all watched on in sinister glee as one wolf wailed in pain as four dholes were biting into his limbs, and pulling backwards...
The dholes laughed, taunted, and heckled the wolf as it begged for forgiveness, lending Bhediya Khan his companionship in terms of surrender, but the dire wolf wasn't listening one bit. Mowgli and his alliance would suffer for giving him so much trouble, and the strongest will die first followed by the weak. In his world, even the strong couldn't survive.
The wolf continued to cry out and whimper in pain, feeling all four of his legs get stretched beyond their limits. He glanced over to one of his arms to see it starting to come out of the socket, the flesh ripping as he let out another howl of agony as one of his arms was forcefully torn from his body, followed by one of his legs. A dhole suddenly came from behind, the dholes left him for dead against the wall as he moaned and groaned in agony. Their enemies wouldn't be given a quick and merciful passing...
"I like how we are killing the strongest ones, so that the weak know there is no hope for them. To hear the strongest of the wolves howl in terrible pain, it must terrify them, it must make them lose that will to fight. Their resolve, shattered." Neo continued with a smile, looking over at his foster father who watched the brutal executions with sinister joy.
"Such is only the premise of what will become of Mowgli and the rest of his friends, if you thought the gore and violence was gruesome here, my son, wait until we reach Mowgli. We'll give him a violent ending to a pathetic life..." Bhediya replied, his voice was cold and malicious, filled with venomous hatred for the man he despised with every fiber of his being.
"Yes, look at them bleed, Great Khan!" Maximus exclaimed as he seen a wolf have it's tail forcefully torn from his behind as two dholes bit down on it, two more dholes had pinned his body down as he helplessly thrashed under them!
"Yes, such is a fine sight to see the mightiest warriors of Mowgli's side turn into the weakest willed ones, crying like pups." Bhediya Khan replied as he watched another wolf get ruthlessly tackled on by several dholes, and torn into!
Gaddarr watched on in horror as his pack was mercilessly put to death by his enemies, he struggled as he was pinned underneath the paws of several dholes who taunted him from above.
"I HATE YOU!" Gaddarr barked at the top of his lungs as he witnessed his wolves being killed off one by one in the executions. The dholes only laughed at his anger, which made the wolf start to tear up a bit, crying as he knew there was nothing he could do to save what was left of his pack after the raid on the fortress.
"Who is he directing that to?" Neo asked Bhediya, the dire wolf growled at Gaddarr before responding to his foster son.
"I don't know, most likely towards me. He's not worth my time, I'll kill him within seconds-" He replied to his son first before addressing the legions in which were watching the executions take place.
"My dholes, we host these executions for the one and only Maximus! Do we not!?" Bhediya Khan asked aloud, the dholes began to howl in respect for Maximus, their second in command leader.
"I shall give him the honors of taking on this wolf! This shall be the final kill, and the official vision of what will happen to Mowgli when we face him in battle once again!" Bhediya exclaimed, Maximus gave him a nod before leaping off of the platform that they were all sitting on.
"You are a fool, wolf!" Maximus growled, Gaddarr wasn't backing down...
"Takes one to know one." He replied to the Himalayan wolf as he wriggled free from the dholes that were pinning him down, rushing towards Maximus!
The two stood up on their hind legs immediately, their paws slamming into their chests as they barked at each other viciously. Clawing into each other's chest, Gaddarr tried to work for a bite, but Maximus shoved him away, and the two went back down to all fours!
Maximus smacked the older, slower, wolf across the face, slashing him open with his claws. Some blood splattered on the stone grounds of the courtyard, this attack left Gaddarr stunned, and he tried to pin his head down, but the determination within the aging wolf did not allow him to be defeated so easily, he forced himself up and rammed his head into the lower jaw of the Himalayan wolf which chipped a few teeth!
Angered, Maximus went to slap Gaddarr again only to have his paw clamped on by the jaws of the old wolf, and forcefully slung into the horde of dholes that were watching!
Bhediya stood up, now he was ready to fight as he let out a bark towards Gaddarr! The old wolf turned to face the dire wolf, but heard the dholes coming up behind him! Gaddarr turned around to smack one dhole away, another came towards him and he clamped his jaws around the neck of the red dog, killing it as the dholes continued to advance towards him.
Gaddarr continued to smack away the dholes one by one, his paws only stunning them as they began to outnumber him, Maximus used this as a distraction and jumped over the dholes to trap Gaddarr's neck into his jaws, bringing him to the ground!
The bite wasn't enough to kill him, but it did major damage as Gaddarr couldn't even stand anymore as Maximus was now looming over him. The old wolf slowly looked up with a scowl on his face, shaking his head in defiance.
"You're conquered, act like it." Maximus growled with authority, Gaddarr began to chuckle in disbelief.
"I hate you..." Gaddarr growled, Maximus smirked at this before killing the old wolf with a quick bite to the neck!
"And I don't care." The Himalayan wolf replied, spitting out some blood on the corpse of his enemy.
Bhediya calmed down and climbed back on the pedestal with a grin, ready to announce what will come next after the final kill was delivered in the executions.
"My faithful dholes, we have no vanquished several wolves with tormenting final moments being granted unto them! That same fate lies with Mowgli, tomorrow, we all march in direction that Mowgli went off too. The vultures, Ash, Charon, and Cain, have all told me that he went East of this location, heading in the location that we ourselves came from! We shall follow their tracks, and attack them when ready once we've found them. I'm tired of sitting around, I'm moving in to end his life as quick as possible!" Bhediya barked before howling into the night sky...
(The next morning)
(Location: Gaddarr's Cave)
Mowgli and his pack had traveled almost all night long, finally being able to crash out at the cave where Gaddarr and his pack once took shelter in momentarily before joining Mowgli at the fortress, he had no idea of what happened to the old wolf, but he would never be seeing him again, and that was a fact.
Most of the morning had elapsed when suddenly, the thunderous sound of an elephant's trumpet awoken them all from their slumber, Mowgli sluggishly walked towards the light of the cave to see Toomai approaching him with a bag in his hands.
"Toomai?" Mowgli asked, his voice still sounding sleepy as he let out a yawn.
"Don't yawn, it's contagiou-" Toomai went to say before yawning himself.
"Sorry." Mowgli said with a slight laugh, his eyes gazed down at the bag and he had a confused look on his face upon seeing it.
"What's in the bag?" He asked.
"I was about to get to that, we found the wolves that were sent out to hunt...All of them were dead with dholes laying with them." Toomai explained, Mowgli sighed and looked to the ground with a defeated expression on his face.
"It's a shame, what does it have to do with what is in the ba-" Mowgli's sentence was cut off when Toomai pulled the bag away to reveal the disembodied head of a fallen red dog.
"A dead dhole?" Mowgli asked, Toomai let out a smart laugh.
"What do you think it is?" He asked, Mowgli smirked before calling out for Chil the kite to come to their side.
"Chil, fly this head, and drop it into the fortress of Bhediya Khan. Let him know what awaits him if they even dare to come after us..." Mowgli said, Chil nodded his head as he grabbed the head by the pointy ears, flying it towards the fortress where the rest of the legions resided!
"Mowgli, they decimated us at the fortress. You're crazy to go against them again!" Toomai shouted, he couldn't believe that Mowgli was wanting to fight again against the legions.
"You would be right, I am crazy. If you thought we were violent in hunt mode, we should be even more violent on defense mode..." Mowgli said, a smile growing on his lips. Toomai shook his head in disbelief...
(Later that day)
Chil was able to get to the fortress much faster than the animals and mammals that walked on the ground, and he could see the dholes constantly feasting on insects and lizards that they found in the desert as the larger dogs rested in the shade. Chil smirked as he dropped the head of the dhole from several hundred feet in the air!
Bhediya Khan was resting in the shade with Neo and Maximus with a grin on his face, just thinking about taking out Mowgli and how close he got to doing that yesterday during the raid on the fortress to take it back.
"Imagine if Nirmam could see this, Conan, Bruno, they would be happy to return here." The dire wolf sighed, Maximus growled as he thought about the man responsible for the deaths of the three Himalayan wolves.
"I grew up and lived with them and you, and that fool Mowgli took them all out..." Maximus growled, clawing the ground as he thought of their deaths.
"Relax, Maximus. We shall rain death upon them all soon enough..." Bhediya said, trying to calm him down.
Suddenly, something smacked into the center of the fortress. Bouncing off the stone ground once it hit it with a thud! Neo sniffed the air, and began to retch and vomit.
"What seems to be the problem?" The dire wolf asked his foster son.
"It reeks of death." Neo gagged.
Bhediya stood up, sending Maximus to go investigate it. Once he looked at what the object was, he vomited before letting out a furious barking rant.
"The fool rains death on US!" Maximus barked, Bhediya's eyes widened as he looked closer to discover that it was a severed head of a dhole. In shock of what he was seeing
"What are we going to do, father?" Neo asked, appalled at the sight of a dhole head laying there, eyes still open with flies circling around it.
"You said we would march for Mowgli and his allies today, did you not?" Maximus asked.
"After seeing such sights, I say that we move for the fool NOW!" Bhediya Khan barked, the dholes reared their heads into the sky, letting out a howl into the evening sunset.
"We move for Mowgli, we move for his army. I take this sign as a challenge, we will follow him everywhere he goes. There is no more slowing down, we move quick, and hard!" Bhediya continued as he would then go on to lead his legions out into the desert, abandoning his fortress after just one night of having it.
(Next year)
Several months went on, several battles raged from the desert all the way back up through the Seeonee Hills between Bhediya's armies and legions and Mowgli's Alliance, ever since the war against the dhole horde had begun, a whole two years had passed, the year was now 1904.
Mowgli had turned 20 years old, or in his jungle language with the animals, 20 seasons old.
There was a silent period during the war when everyone celebrated their return to the Seeonee Hills, Mowgli had a euphoric home welcoming to his village, and by the rest of the wolf pack at their cave, where they gained new fighters in the form of brave yearlings and adolescents.
However, the grace period within the Seeonee Hills was quick to end as Bhediya's legions rushed through the jungle like a bat out of Hell, similar to how they entered it. They arrived violently, and the pheeal had returned, which was a warning that the war was continuing.
Mowgli's Alliance was continuously pushed further, and further back from the Dekkan, when Mowgli's original goal was to push them back to their original home, instead, they had been pushed further North, closer to the Himalayan mountains.
As predicted, Mowgli's Alliance dominated most of the battles within the Seeonee Hills, but surprisingly, it was Bhediya Khan who was winning the overall war with more battles won.
The dire wolf had defeated Mowgli's Alliance for a total of ten times, while Mowgli only won six. All it took was one decisive victory within the Seeonee Hills to push Mowgli's Alliance further North, and it was the battle at the Boulder Field in which Bhediya won decisively. The British had watched in awe of what happened, a report was sent to the British government, and it was covered up.
Now Mowgli and his rapidly dwindling army found themselves trapped at the feet of the Himalayan Mountain Range, the great Mount Everest was towards their West, so thankfully they didn't have to scale over them...
Mowgli and his alliance managed to go in a complete semi-circle, and got behind Bhediya's legions, where they won a few skirmishes but not battles as they had them retreat from their location multiple times.
Now, the legions of the dire wolf were taking shelter in an abandoned cliffside monastery what we know today as the Tiger's Nest Monastery. Mowgli and his Alliance were sitting at the bottom of the mountain in the jungles surrounding the trail that would lead up to the top of the mountain where the monastery and small temples sat at.
There was only one way down the mountain, and that was to get through Mowgli's Alliance. Even though Bhediya had many more dholes than Mowgli had wolves, Mowgli held an advantage. It was like the strategy Nirmam Yoddha had put on Mowgli that nearly destroyed the allies of the jungle when the war began, when Mowgli and his smaller pack was trapped in the ravine, Bhediya and his legions were trapped on the mountain, and now several of them were resorting to cannibalism for food. Bagheera, Baloo, and Kaa, not to mention Sundar Ek and Chupake all patrolled the trail to make sure none of the dholes made it to the bottom. They planned on starving them...
However, the weather had taken a turn for the worst. It was the Winter now, and freezing rain along with snow pounded the land. Blinding snow fell each day, freezing rain fell as well, torrential rainfall at that. Mowgli wasn't used for the cold, nor was Toomai and his elephants, or Chil the kite, everyone else was. Another disadvantage that Mowgli's Alliance had is that Bhediya had gained several more dholes with another Himalayan wolf!
The new Himalayan wolf was named Alcibie, it was female. She decided to keep one thousand dholes to wait for the legions return if food ever grew scarce or for whatever reason. Alcibie was also gifted a few legions from Bhediya Khan as well due to her patience.
"We've resorted to killing ourselves for food, that is a new low..." Alcibie groaned, not knowing what to do with the weight of several legions packed up in the mountain.
"We need food, that's what we need." Bhediya Khan growled as he looked around.
"Food, and lots of it." Neo said, who was now an adult instead of an adolescent.
"Well, do you got any suggestions?" Alcibie asked, it was then that Maximus made a sudden appearance in the doorway of the monastery temple in which that Bhediya, Alcibie, and Neo was standing in.
"I'll take a legion, an entire legion and a half. We need as much food as we can, we can pick the goats from the mountains, from the forests." Maximus stated, Bhediya grinned.
"Alright then, take a legion and a half. Get as much goats as you can." The dire wolf replied.
"It will be done, Great Khan." The Himalayan wolf stated.
(Location: Bottom of the mountain)
Mowgli was searching through the jungle, holding a spear in his arm as his eyes scanned through this new area of India that he had never been in before. Looking out for any meal he could, the man had crafted himself a furry coat to protect himself from the cold. His shoulder length blonde hair remained the same length, but his beard had been trimmed off, getting a nice clean shave that he hadn't had since he was a little boy.
The animals that lived in this area were much more better than what the desert had to offer, the mountains offered sheep, goats, and boars. The only natural predator was that of the snow leopards, but for the time being, Mowgli's Alliance and Bhediya's Legions were the new predators, and the top of the food chain.
He heard some twigs breaking nearby, and Mowgli crouched low, slowly sneaking up behind a large rock to take cover. The man peered out from around the rock to see what the animal was, it was a Himalayan Tahr, a goat looking animal. Due to it being winter, the coat of this male Tahr was thick, the hide would make for a perfect extra layer of clothing as the weather was only going to get worse.
Mowgli prepared to throw the spear as he slowly moved out of cover, cocking his arm back as he was just about to throw but as he got halfway through the motion of hurling it at the Tahr, he suddenly froze in place when he noticed something laying on the ground. It was a dead bird, but not just any dead bird, it was a dead kite. Chil the kite...
"CHIL!" Mowgli cried out, dropping the spear, his sudden anguished cry scared the Tahr away as he bolted towards his fallen friend.
The man couldn't say any last words, Chil had been dead, and Mowgli didn't know how long he had been like this. He scooped up the bird into his arms, feeling just how cold his former friend was. It was like he was holding a block of eyes, when he tried to move the wings, they were stiff as a board. The kite had frozen to death, dying of hypothermia, and falling from a tree. Being one of the first to succumb to the unforgiving climate in these unforgiving mountains.
"May your spirit fly in the skies, high above these mountains, high above the clouds, Rann." Mowgli said to his fallen ally, calling Chil by his first name before it was changed. Ever since Mowgli grew up in the jungle as a young boy, Chil went by Rann, and to him it always will be Rann.
He had to give report to the others that were hunting with him, Mowgli's Alliance had gotten together for a gigantic hunt. Trying to store up on food for the winter as Baloo had advised them to, out of everyone there, Baloo was the only one ready for this type of environment due to his fat body, and the amount of fur that covered him.
Kaa could also protect herself fairly well by balancing her body heat since she was a cold blooded snake, but everyone else felt the cold air. Some more than others...
Mowgli ran up beside Baloo, telling him what had happened as he shown off the dead Chil in his hands. Baloo's eyes widened but he immediately looked to the ground, shaking his head in disbelief.
"One has already fallen to the climate, we cannot stay in the Unforgiving Mountains for long..." Mowgli warned, following Baloo and the pack through the woods.
They eventually came out to the path, and when they all looked to the side, they noticed a large mass of dholes walking down the mountain. A single legion and a half, the path wasn't wide enough to fit them all, so they stood in three gigantic rows while Maximus was leading them down.
"We can take them out now while they're starved!" Bagheera cried out, the wolves howled in agreement, all starting to bark towards their enemies!
"Turn back, make way for me at the front!" Maximus called out to the legion and a half that went down the path, every dhole pivoted, and faced the other way as they began to march up the mountain pass once again. The Himalayan wolf glared back at Mowgli with a hateful expression, this strategy of starving their legions was working effectively, and now the battle seemed to be lost.
Bhediya Khan believed that a war could end in just one battle if the losses were significant enough, and if their leader fell. This seemed to be what Mowgli's plan was, and the smirk on the man's face said it all, he knew what he was doing...
"We can drive the dholes over the mountain on the other side, and they will enter into unknown territory. We can end the war here, plain and simple!" Bagheera shouted to Mowgli, wondering why the man wasn't doing anything about the dholes current weaknesses!
"We hold no clue of what awaits us at the top, the cliffs can be too steep. It could be much more cold, and with all of this cold rain and snow falling from the sky. It would make our situation far more worse than it needs to be." Mowgli replied, Bagheera growled in frustration.
"We move to our cave again, we'll eat with the game we've captured. My quiver is already full enough with meat, so is Toomai's." Mowgli explained to Baloo and Bagheera.
It was another thirty minute trek to one of the few caves at the foot of this specific mountain, where everyone took shelter. Toomai approached Mowgli and pointed towards the elephants, who were visibly shaking.
"Kala Nag is complaining of the cold, even Hathi said it's cold and he hardly ever speaks. We need a fire." Toomai complained, Mowgli pointed to a fire he had lit, stacking some small logs on each other and lighting it up to create a fire for warmth.
"Yeah, well we need a much bigger fire if we want to get the elephants warm. They can't fit in the cave either!" Toomai explained, his voice loud and aggressive, showing that he loved and cared for Kala Nag and Hathi, the only two elephants that remained.
"Okay then, I'll cut down some trees and heat everyone up with the warmth of a much bigger fire." Mowgli replied as he picked up his new axe in which was placed into a tree stump. This axe was new, instead of some stone hatchet, it was a steel axe made by Buldeo several years ago, and gifted to Ranbir, when Ranbir was proud of Mowgli during the war, Ranbir gifted Mowgli his axe.
The legend of the jungle would go right to work, trying to chop down some of the tall trees so he could create a much more larger fire to heat up his elephants.
Once Mowgli chopped down one of the trees, he heard a squeal from above, and he rolled away just in time, but he felt something quickly wrap around him, and pull him close!
"What'sss the big idea!?" Kaa hissed as she leaned in close, giving Mowgli a punishing full body squeeze with her coils, making him grunt loudly in pain.
"Chopping trees t-to help with th-the ELEPHANTS!" Mowgli stuttered, screaming the word 'elephants' when Kaa squeezed him even more tighter than before!
"What cruel jessst you have, when you sliced down the tree I was resssting in?" Kaa asked, relaxing her coils around him some for a moment...
"Look, Kaa. I didn't know, okay, now relax..." Mowgli said in a pleading tone, even he feared the serpent's power.
"Urgh, fine..." The python chuckled as she spun him out of her coils, as Mowgli was spun out, he ripped the axe up, and spun around again to swing it into another tree!
"Oh hey, could you do me a favor?" Mowgli asked as the python began to slither away.
"Yes?" Kaa asked as she turned around.
"Chil...he's passed to the next life due to the weather...I could need a new adviser, nothing will ever beat him, but for the remainder of the war, I'll still need one." Mowgli explained.
Kaa sighed, she had heard of Chil and the way he died.
"Such a sad fate for a helpful little thing...I could have warmed him up...What is it you want me to do, my friend?" Kaa asked, feeling sad for the kite.
"I've seen those vultures circling around, sometimes they get quite close to the ground. Next time you crawl up in a tree, try to hypnotize one of them into joining our side like you done with the dholes that night." Mowgli requested of the snake.
"Sure! Anything for you, my friend." Kaa replied with a sweet smile before slithering towards a nearby tree.
"I give gratitude." Mowgli replied before going right back to work at cutting the trees.
Meanwhile, Bagheera and Baloo were feasting on some of the meat that Toomai and Mowgli were able to find. Having a conversation about the war in which was about to turn into an argument...
"Bagheera, why do you insist on making dumb decisions like the one you made earlier? You are reminding me of Mowgli when he was in his younger days making all the weird decisions and you were the one that had to school 'em." Baloo asked, feeling something was off about Bagheera.
"I'm wanting to end the war as quick as we possibly can, we can rush up the mountain, and slaughter those dholes with ease, they are starved and hold no energy. We can strike them all while they are begging for scraps. Much better if we can just drive them off the mountain if the sides are steep enough, sending them falling to their deaths." Bagheera stated calmly at first.
"You would do that, and see several of our kind die as well." Baloo stated, trying to understand where Bagheera's mind was.
"I would risk it all just to return home to a peaceful life in the Seeonee Hills, training and raising the pups as we trained and helped raise Mowgli along with Raksha and Rama. If that mountain can hold those starving legions up there, you know there must be some kind of room to fit us as well. With steep ledges, and starving enemies. Yet you all don't want to take that route as simple as it is!" Bagheera growled raising his voice.
"We have bested the legions in open battle in flat land, or in land that we are familiar with. Bhediya and his legions have bested us in land where we cannot spread out as effectively as we should. That mountain would be a death sentence if we were to get caught on the path, and have a wave of insane dholes driven by a bloodlust of hunger crash upon us, sending us all falling off the sides to our deaths!" Baloo growled in response.
"We should all race up the mountain silently and fall upon them all, and drive them off of the edge of the mountain!" Bagheera roared, planting his paws into the ground while baring his fang like teeth, Baloo prepared to rise up to his haunches...
"You will kill us all if you do this!" Baloo roared.
"We've already lost so much, Mowgli stated that we will lose some. Isn't that the cost of warfare, I've gladly accepted the fact that many of us will die at this point. We've gotten so far into it, that there is no turning back. We'll die as warriors, and have our legacies remembered!" Bagheera roared, backing up, preparing to charge.
"Some of these wolves with to return home to find a mate and to raise families, death is the last thing on their mind!" Baloo roared ferociously!
"I pray for this war to end as quick as we can end it, so that we all may return to better lives!" Bagheera roared.
"I'll take things slowly, and cautiously. I will not let our wolves become merely disposable fodder for some greater good that you have in mind, every death we've received is a tragedy!" Baloo roared back.
"Very well then, I'll head up the mountain tonight and face off against Bhediya Khan myself with those who don't want this war to go on any longer!" Bagheera roared, Baloo had enough and stood up on his haunches.
"You will listen to Mowgli!"
Bagheera had enough, and charged at Baloo as he stood up on his hind legs, sinking his claws into the beefy body of the brown bear! The panther tried to take bites at his neck but Baloo held him off.
"I taught him our ways, he should be following our rules!" Bagheera roared in the bear's face as he tried to swipe and bite at his head, but the bear was able to hold him off fairly well.
"He's the leader of the pack, have you forgotten that!?" The brown bear roared in return as he simply threw the panther away with his superior strength.
"Are we not of equal worth!?" Bagheera roared as he darted towards the bear's legs, Baloo managed to catch the big cat but the feline was quick to claw his way out, and sink his jaws into the bear's backside.
"ARGH! Bagheera, dirty move!" Baloo roared as he slammed his large paw into the middle of the panther's back! The pain was enough for Bagheera to stop his attack, and back up.
"Are we not of equal worth!?" Bagheera roared out once again, Baloo went silent after this.
"We taught Mowgli everything we had to offer, the master words, the laws, how to hunt, how to fit with the pack, how to survive like an animal in the jungle. When we were at the fortress, I offered Mowgli that I should leave and take a massive amount of wolves with me so we can break up the legions and have a better chance at winning. He never took up the offer, and we discussed it with him daily!" Bagheera continued to rant, Baloo had no answer.
"One way or the other, I will break up and take the fight to the dholes in the way I see fit! Hold them off while Mowgli and the rest of you plan ahead, so that you may have more opportunities!" The panther added on.
(Location: Monastery)
Bhediya was standing at the edge of a cliff, looking to see if he could find any other means to get down the mountain, and into a brand new land. Mongolia, wanting so badly to just abandon the war now that they were at a severe disadvantage.
"Father, T'ukri...I've failed you, we're trapped on the cliffside, and Mowgli has us pinned. The dholes are killing themselves for food, my legions are getting eradicated by the minute that passes. I've followed your instructions, just to get to this point. I'm afraid that we'll have to abandon the war, and head into the new lands North of here." Bhediya said softly, looking down the mountain.
"You haven't failed yet, Yupanqui. I'm proud with the work you've done, but your journey has yet to end. All you must do now is wait, wait for them to come for you." T'ukri spoke, he was nowhere to be seen, it was like a voice in Bhediya Khan's head, was he going insane?
"How long, father, how long must I wait? How many more of my legions must die!?" Bhediya called out.
"The wait won't be a long one, give it time. My son..." T'ukri spoke, his voice fading away.
"Stop speaking to me with riddles, father!" Bhediya called out to receive no answer, so he tried again.
"Father!?" Bhediya called out, his voice breaking some.
"FATHER!?" The dire wolf howled at the top of his lungs, not being able to contact the voice that was in the sky, or so it seemed.
Bhediya had enough, it was time to abandon the war as he finally located a very narrow path that had been cut into the mountain side, possibly due to erosion over the many years that it has been there. They would have to travel down some steep steppes to get to it though...
The dire wolf stormed into the monastery temple that he was currently taking shelter in, ready to make the announcement that it was time to give up.
"Maximus, Neo, Alcibie. It's time that we move on, it's time that we travel down the side of the mountain, and into foreign territory. We're abandoning this war!" Bhediya exclaimed.
"You surrender?" Maximus asked, surprised to hear that the dire wolf had given up hope.
"Yes, I give up. We're tearing each other apart, and we must move down to the other side!" Bhediya screamed, seemingly surrendering to Mowgli's Alliance.
"We're not going down the mountain, the other side has no large path to hold us all on it, it's too dangerous!" Maximus protested against this.
"Well would you rather have us all suffer and die a slow, agonizing death? Or would you have us safe with more than a few dholes remaining!?" Bhediya boomed.
"We're not disposable, Great Khan! I'm not giving up, I'm just frustrated!" Alcibie replied.
"We stand no chance against Mowgli at this point, they've trapped us, and we've have got nowhere else to go!" Bhediya barked ferociously.
"You cower in fear of the mountains once again, lands further North hold greater promise of potential game, and a life out of the war. I know all of you desire peace, how about we seize it by heading down the treacherous steppes onto a narrow path!? I've raised all of you to be faithful warriors with no fear in your hearts, but you still tremble at the thought of scaling down the mountain we stand on!" He continued.
"You're being unfaithful to your own cause by wanting to surrender!" Neo barked, Bhediya's eyes widened.
"You said that your destiny was to lead our pack to glory, and to have a fitting end to your life by honoring the work of your father!" Neo continued.
"Y-you're right." Bhediya replied as he stormed out of the monastery...
(Location: Foot of the mountain)
Cain squawked as he flew around, trying to find a mean's to escape the foot of the mountain so he could relay the information to Bhediya. The other vultures were flying around too, shivering, Cain himself was shivering as well. These scavengers wouldn't last long in the harsh winter, Cain flew over the location of Mowgli's Alliance, seeing everyone close to each other to try and warm each other up.
Cain chuckled as he witnessed Mowgli's Alliance struggling to get warm together, knowing that it certainly wasn't easy for them right now, however it was even worse for Bhediya and his legions.
The vulture flew into a darker part of the woods, where the leaves of the trees formed a canopy of sorts that shielded out the sunlight. It wasn't even sunny that day, a thick cast of clouds had engulfed the skies. The wind howled, and the rain was chilling. All roads were leading to a storm coming their way, which would make things several times worse than they already were.
What Cain didn't notice was a large python coiled around a tree, her dark brown body disguising itself among the shady forest, and bark of the trees. He only found out when he felt tiny dagger like teeth sink into his body, and was pulled into the powerful coils of the serpent!
Cain instantly started to thrash and kick around wildly, flapping his wings whenever he could as Kaa began to squeeze her coils down tightly around the scavenger. This caused him to panic as he felt his body being compressed, and his ability to breathe slowly becoming more and more restricted.
"Charon help!" Cain cried out, Kaa doubled down and squeezed him even tighter, causing the bird to squawk in agony.
"A-Ash help!" He struggled to call out for the other vultures as he could hardly draw in the energy or air to even talk properly!
The serpent raised her head to stare deeply into the eyes of Cain, but the vulture was quick to ram his beak into her face! Defiant of what the python was wanting to do to him.
"I won't let your gaze mesmerize me!" Cain shouted, Kaa giggled at this and gave him another squeeze! Rubbing and grinding her thick coils into his feathery body...
"Oh...but it will..." Kaa said before activating her hypnotic spirals, squeezing the vulture extra tight to make sure his eyes remained wide open!
Within seconds, the weak willpower of the vulture gave out, and his eyes reflected the serpent's.
"We could ussse a good messsenger..." Kaa said, explaining what the vulture's new duty was to be.
"F-for who?" Cain struggled to ask.
"Mowgli..." Kaa explained.
(Location: Top of the mountain)
Bhediya Khan felt something was up, the dire wolf having a strange feeling that something was coming for the mountain. He walked through a small crack between the large rocks that made up the top of the mountain, sliding his body through to get to the other side. The dire wolf came to a ledge, and when he looked into the distance, he felt a blast of wind strike him! Blowing through his crimson red fur coat.
Within the distance was large dark clouds, slowly coming their way. He could see the faint lines of heavy rain falling from them, pounding the lands further North, there was a few more mountains, but Mongolia is what was ahead.
Bhediya had traveled to Mongolia before making his return trip back to the Himalayas, where he met the Himalayan wolves. It was mostly flat lands, with game being plentiful, it would be a perfectly peaceful place to reside in after the war.
Looking at the dark sky in which was rolling in was enough to give the dire wolf chills. He had to warn his dholes, he had to warn his Himalayan wolves about the looming threat of the weather.
"A storm approaches!" Maximus said from behind him, startling him.
"Announce your presence before you jolt me with voice of thunder." Bhediya warned as he let out a sigh of relief, Maximus marched to his leader at his side.
"You're right though, storm looms over us all." The dire wolf continued as he looked into the distance.
"Thunderstorm?" Maximus asked.
"Likely, but given the frigid air, and the season...I would say we brace for something worse than that of a thunderstorm..." Bhediya warned...
A/N: Hello everyone once again! Sorry for the day or two worth a wait for the chapter, but hey, at least it wasn't an entire month long XD...This new strategy of simply writing shorter chapters had made things much easier. So I would expect chapters to come out quickly, and prepare for the coming chapters as I've stated ;)...
Also as an update, I've been planning a Bhediya Khan origins story or a Jungle Book: Origins story to tell the stories about the life of Bhediya Khan before the events of this story, and the Jungle Book: Origins story will obviously tell the tale of life before Mowgli! I'll be making a poll on it, so keep a lookout for it my wolves!
As always, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of Jungle Book: The Story Re-Told. Feel free to leave a review, favorite or follow as they are deeply appreciated ^^- KaijuCrazy02!