(Chapter 38: So be it)
(Location: Dekkan Plateaus)
(The next day)
Bhediya Khan and his legions were once again torturing the wolves that had been knocked out for their malicious entertainment, laughing and heckling the wolves as they were brought an agonizing end one by one.
Bhediya, Maximus, and Neo roamed through the killing field, watching as wolves were tortured to their deaths one by one. Some wolves were torn limb from limb while being kept alive, others had their tails forcefully ripped off, other wolves had no energy due to being starved and were beaten to death in a fight against four dholes that easily destroyed him or her. Others were skinned alive and left to suffer until death claimed them, having the teeth of the red dogs sink into their flesh and peel the fur coat off of their bodies...
The dire wolf and his two main allies noticed Gray Brother, who was laying on his side in an unimaginable amount of agony. Still suffering from the events of yesterday, Bhediya knew that he was one of Mowgli's allies due to the fact that the aging wolf was staying close to Chupake and Bagheera during the battle from the day before.
Gray Brother himself was scratched up and bloody in some places, but he was relatively fine compared to the conditions of the other wolves in which had been knocked out during the battle from yesterday, the poor wolf didn't know that Bagheera had passed, and Chupake was sent back simply as a warning for Mowgli to give up his life, or suffer a torturous demise with humiliation to add salt to the wound.
Bhediya had given orders to the dholes in which were in charge of keeping Gray Brother in place to keep him alive until he arrived after a morning hunt, he would question Gray Brother if Mowgli was alive, and where he was. The dire wolf had remembered seeing Mowgli in his pseudo-sleep episode, and pondered why the man wasn't present at the battle.
"Do you know why you are here?" Bhediya asked, Gray Brother simply snarled in response.
"You're here due to my mercy, I brought upon your alliance a swift defeat. Had I not cared for you, you will be dead as I speak. Mowgli wasn't present at the battle yesterday, where was he? Is he alive?" The dire wolf continued for Gray Brother, followed by a question of Mowgli's whereabouts and status.
"Drink my piss, scumbag." Gray Brother growled, Maximus growled and lunged forward, snagging his jaws around the throat of the aging wolf before smashing him into the rocky hillside as hard as he could, hearing some ribs snap!
Gray Brother groaned in pain, and coughed, blood spattering from his mouth and at Bhediya Khan's feet.
"He is more dead than alive, I'm confident that he can hardly have the energy to speak. We should just kill him now, the old fool isn't of worth to us anymore." Maximus said with a grin, licking his canine chompers clean of blood.
"No, I'll keep him alive. I will get answers from him. We'll break him first though... Neo, hold him down. Maximus skin him alive, I want him to feel the agony of defeat, he will give us answers or die slowly and painfully." Bhediya replied, Neo growled and hopped on Gray Brother's back, forcefully pinning him down.
Maximus grinned as he approached Gray Brother from the side, the aging wolf struggled, but he was powerless due to not being fed after the morning hunt, even more so due to the injuries he sustained in battle the previous day.
"Mowgli will set me free, and your reign of terror will end just as all other tyrants have..." Gray Brother growled in defiance as Maximus lowered down to eye level, smirking as his enemy struggled helplessly.
"Words is all you can form, but Mowgli will be joining you on the other side soon enough. He shall join you and Bagheera..." Maximus growled as he quickly bit down on the frontal leg of Gray Brother and twisted viciously, breaking the bone, and twisting it the other way! A horrible snap came from it, causing Gray Brother to howl in severe pain!
"Turn him over." Maximus told Neo, and the dhole did as such as he rammed his head into the side of the body of Gray Brother, right into the broken ribs. Causing the aging wolf to spit out more blood as he was forcefully rolled over to his back.
"Yes...Bagheera shouldn't be lonely while he waits for you and Mowgli to join him..." Maximus chuckled deviously as he proceeded to sink his teeth into the paw of Gray Brother as hard as he could, right behind the pad...
Gray Brother howled in agony as tears started to well up in his eyes, these sick bastards had killed Bagheera...and now it seemed that he would be next in the torturous death...
Maximus growled as he started to drag his tooth through his fur, slicing down his leg towards his body like a knife through butter. This painful process caused Gray Brother to continue screaming, and howling in agony as he felt his fur coat get easily cut away from his body...
"Let me ask you again! Is Mowgli alive, and why wasn't he at the battle!?" Bhediya asked loudly, his voice raw and aggressive!
Gray Brother growled in a mixture of both agony and defiance, not giving any answers to his nemesis.
"Very well then, skin his other leg." Bhediya ordered Maximus, and so the Himalayan wolf went to the other front leg, and did the same procedure as he sank his tooth into the back of the pad, and dragged it up the leg, splitting the fur away to reveal the bones, muscles, and tendons beneath...all while Gray Brother howled in unspeakable pain.
Maximus continued to skin him, flaying the fur on his anus before staring at his tail.
"Shall I flay the tail as well?" The Himalayan wolf asked, licking his teeth clean of blood.
"ANSWER ME YOU FOOL! WHERE IS MOWGLI, AND IS HE ALIVE!?" Bhediya screamed at the top of his lungs down at Gray Brother, who was seen howling in agony as tears of pain rolled down his snout. He didn't give no answer.
"Flay his damned tail!" The dire wolf barked, and Maximus did as was told. Skinning the tail to reduce what was once a bushy tail, to a skinny muscle that looked like a rat's tail in comparison to what it once was, the fur falling to the dusty ground.
"I'm giving you one last chance, fool. If you don't give me an answer, I will have Maximus flay the fur from the rest of your body, and you shall die without saying goodbye to Mowgli, and you will walk with Bagheera into the next life with or without him!" Bhediya barked, Gray Brother groaned in immense pain.
They had broken him, the pain was driving him crazy...
"H-he's within the Seeonee Hills...h-he's a-alive...p-please st-s-stop this..." Gray Brother groaned, begging for his torture to end.
"Leave him be, I have all I need now." Bhediya told to Maximus as he nodded his head towards the Himalayan wolf. Gray Brother moaned, and groaned as he was left laying there in the hot sun of the Dekkan...
(Location: Kaa's Lair)
"What have they done to him...?" Mowgli asked, as Kaa had him hypnotized into an episode of pseudo-sleep so that he could see what was going on to all of the wolves from Bagheera's Alliance, specifically seeing what happened to Gray Brother.
"My gosh..." Kaa said in shock, in disbelief at what she was seeing. Both of them were viewing the torturous executions in real time as if it was some sort of live broadcast being played in their visions.
"That's my brother...my wolf brother..." Mowgli said softly, sounding like he was on the verge of tears once again.
"We mussst ssstop thessse fiendsss..." Kaa hissed, her anger showing for the red dogs, but she couldn't do nothing about it for the Dekkan Plateaus were far away to the South where they stood.
"I agree, Kaa. However, we must make our moves wisely. Let's keep watching them, and see what their next actions are. For they've given away my location." Mowgli advised.
The two allies continued to witness what was happening with pseudo-sleep, it all played out like a dream before their visions. If you was to view Mowgli and Kaa's eyes, they appeared to be shut, but they were very much aware of their surroundings. It was all like a lucid dream, but it was actually happening.
"You've proven yourself worthy of a legion, my son. You have made me proud with your killings during the last battle, especially since you were the one to gravely wound and kill Bagheera. One of the biggest threats from Mowgli's Alliance, travel to the Seeonee Hills with your legion. Offer Mowgli terms of surrender, and we won't give him such a harsh death, we'll give him a quick one. So that this needless war will end." Bhediya told Neo as they began to head up towards the top of one of the few Plateaus to feast upon a pile of lizards and insects.
"They're coming for you, Mowgli." Kaa warned, the man grinned as he knew it was only one legion.
"Let them come for me, a surprise awaits for Neo. I will not sacrifice more wolves if I could help it." Mowgli replied, Kaa turned towards him now that they were out of the pseudo-sleep episode.
"How would you defeat one legion without the wolves?" Kaa asked, Mowgli smirked at this.
"Two words my serpent friend, the elephants..."
"I love your thinking sweetie!" Kaa exclaimed with a giggle as she nudged her flat head into his gently, Mowgli done the same as their noses touched each other. Kaa's tongue flickering out to lick him some.
"I thank you, but now we must move, we need to get Hathi and all of the males of his herd to get ready for the coming days when Neo and his dhole legion will arrive. I've got a plan in mind." Mowgli replied with a grin...
(A few hours later)
Mowgli and Kaa found themselves walking and slithering down a path of fallen trees. The elephants casually knocked down the trees as they walked, their large bodies was too much for the smaller, younger trees to handle and they would collapse under their weight.
"So, what's the plan, my friend?" Kaa asked as she slithered down the path, Mowgli rubbed his hands together as he thought what he had in mind would work really well to his advantage.
"We would be at a severe disadvantage if we was to go down into the Dekkan Plateaus, they have all of the dholes located in that area, it is where they originated from. If we allow the dholes to come to us, a single legion, we can easily crush them with only Hathi and Kala Nag. We potentially only need two elephants to wipe them all out. We take a few as prisoners, and wait it out until Bhediya Khan and his legions march towards us with revenge on their minds." Mowgli explained, revealing his plan to his serpent ally.
"Wonderful thinking!" Kaa exclaimed as the two of them could then hear the elephants going about their daily lives at the clearing in which they lived at. The two entered through a large gap between the trees.
All of the elephants locked their eyes upon Mowgli and Kaa, and Hathi emerged from the shadows. Approaching the two, having a feeling that Mowgli would be needing him in terms of the war.
"We be of one blood, you and I!" Mowgli called out to the rest of the elephants, and then he proceeded to perform the master word for the herd, calming them down so that they could go back to what they were doing, grazing, bathing in the watering hole, or drinking from the watering hole.
"Mowgli, you arrive to my grounds. What is it that you seek?" Hathi asked, Mowgli gently placed his hand on the ancient elephant's trunk.
"I need you, the dhole legions are coming. Our supply of wolves that are able to fight or wish to fight are very limited now, we need you now more than ever." The man explained, Hathi sighed.
"So I have foreseen, when shall they arrive?" The old elephant said, ready to give aid in destroying the red dog menace that had terrorized the jungle for so long...
"Soon, in a matter of days, the son of Bhediya Khan will arrive with a lone legion. Kaa spoke to me with a vision of the near future, they will arrive with the intentions of wiping us out. However, I believe you and Kala Nag will easily crush them, and we'll send message to Bhediya Khan that we aren't afraid of what lies ahead." Mowgli explained, a grin came to Hathi's face.
"I like the sound of that." Hathi replied as he nodded his head, ready to follow Mowgli towards Toomai's village so that they may recruit him and Kala Nag.
(A few hours later)
Mowgli, along with Hathi, and Kaa, arrived at the gates of Toomai's village.
"Stay hidden." Mowgli whispered to his animal friends as he approached the front of the gate, where a British guard was seen emerging from...
"Hello there! Who are you?" The guard asked aloud, getting the man's attention as he approached him.
"I'm Mowgli, it is pleasant to meet you." The legend of the jungle replied to the guard, the British guard's eyes were narrowed as he seemed to be judging him.
"You don't look familiar, your clothing style is rather primitive compared to the somewhat decent clothing the natives here have..." The guard replied, he felt that something was off with Mowgli's clothing that looked like it came from the stone age rather than native villagers to the continent of India, especially those that lived deep in the jungle.
"I come from lands North of here to visit my brother, Toomai." Mowgli lied, and the British knew of the cold Himalayan mountains North of the Seeonee Hills.
"Understandable, you may enter." The British guard explained as he slowly opened the large wooden door, giving Mowgli clearance.
When Mowgli entered, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. The villagers weren't slaves by any means, but some of the females had to bathe these white men who came from an entirely unknown location, at least to Mowgli. These men were dressed very differently, they wore coats, hats, pants, and boots. They all carried guns, and they all had a different feel to them rather than the village folk and the people of the jungle.
Mowgli noticed one of the British guards sexually harassing one of the female natives as she bathed his naked body in a large iron bucket...
He also heard some of the guards making rather racial jokes about them, mocking them, taunting them.
Mowgli didn't like these new people, and he looked up to see the British flag.
Although what was happening to the villagers wasn't as bad as slavery, the British troops stationed here were still rude and harsh acting towards their subjects in the village. Their actions deeply disgusted Mowgli, these men were destroying the homes of these natives, and harming the jungle itself with their presence, something that Shere Khan initially feared, and it was now that Mowgli began to understand the tiger's reasoning...
Mowgli eventually noticed Toomai sitting against a house, skinning a deer that he had hunted earlier. As the time passed between the Himalayan fight and Bagheera's death, Toomai had gotten slightly more muscular than before, and his facial hair was starting to grow out in the form of a mustache and goatee.
"Toomai, I've come to talk!" Mowgli shouted happily, he truly missed a good human friend. He was the only other human friend that he didn't consider a brother other than Teddy.
"Mowgli!? Well I'll be damned!" Toomai exclaimed as he stood up, dropping his blade and the deer pelt. The two giving each other a handshake while grinning towards each other.
"What brings you to my village?" The elephant handler asked.
"Recruiting you for war." Mowgli replied, Toomai's eyes widened and so did his mouth.
"Mowgli, we're going through another war?" The mahout asked, surprised at this news.
"No, the war from before is continuing. I thought Bagheera would have handled things but...he is no longer with us." Mowgli explained, letting out a sigh towards the end of his sentence.
"I am sorry for your friend's passing..." Toomai said softly, Mowgli nodded in acceptance.
"Such isn't your fault, my friend. I'm sorry too, for the way your fellow villagers are being treated." He replied to Toomai, the mahout sighed and nodded his head in acceptance of Mowgli's words.
"Why do you need me for the war?" Toomai asked, not wanting to dwell on what was happening to his village.
"Kala Nag, your elephant. We have too small of numbers of remaining wolves, and an entire legion is coming our way. We have Hathi, and if you will ride Kala Nag into battle, we will crush them." Mowgli explained, Toomai grew a wide grin.
"I won't miss this opportunity, I'm in." The elephant handler replied as he went with Mowgli out to the large elephant stables.
Toomai climbed up top of Kala Nag, and marched him out into the jungle with Mowgli following behind the elephant without given permission by the guard at the other end of the village.
"Halt, who has granted you permission to leave the village!?" The British guard asked, Mowgli looked over his shoulder to stare at the man in the eye from a far distance away, a grin growing on his face as he seen Kaa lowering her head from out of the tree, her forked tongue flickering in and out of her mouth as she got closer to the guard.
"None of your concern, I would be worried about what is bessside you..." Mowgli said, letting out a hiss at the end of his sentence, a master word for Kaa.
The guard turned to his left, confused on what Mowgli was talking about, but he was startled when he was face to face with a gigantic python who was coiled around a tree right next to one of the village's walls!
The serpent's eyes flashed several entrancing colors that captivated the guard almost instantly as his mouth went agape, fear ran through his veins as he felt that he couldn't move. Her hypnosis had paralyzed him in place!
"Trussst in me..." Kaa whispered seductively before suddenly striking forward, latching her jaws around the guard's neck, and jerking him from the platform he was standing on to wrap him into her coils within the shadows, where the guard would meet his end by constriction!
Kaa had witnessed what the troops were doing to the villagers, and how they treated them, and the serpent didn't like them. For the great python had a run in with a British battalion several years ago when Mowgli was just a child!
Mowgli would lead Kala Nag and Toomai to a spot around the corner where they would wait for Kaa and Hathi to rejoin them after the snake devoured her meal for the day. Once they all met up again, they continued their journey back to the den!
(A few hours later)
(Location: Council Rock)
Mowgli stood at the top of Council Rock, he was joined by Baloo, Sundar Ek, Toomai, Chupake, and Kaa. All of the other wolves and two elephants watched Mowgli as he prepared to deliver a speech.
"Wolves, and other species that live amongst us. The war draws closer to an end, I have devised a plan, one that which shall bring doom upon our enemies!" Mowgli began, getting the wolves to howl, and the two elephants that had joined the effort to trumpet!
"Neo, a dhole, the foster son of the villain, Bhediya Khan...is bringing a legion of his own to try and take us down, they hold superior numbers. However you wolves shall not fight unless it is an emergency, the elephants, Hathi, and Kala Nag shall crush them all!" Mowgli continued, the wolves howled again, followed by Hathi and Kala Nag.
"We will keep Neo, and all of those that are knocked out alive. The reason why is to use this as mental bait, to lure Bhediya Khan and all of his legions out of the Dekkan towards us where we hold the advantage. When the dire wolf gets here, we will see war put to rest!"
"We hold a great disadvantage in number of wolves that will join us, Mowgli. What will we do!?" An elder wolf called out, Mowgli smiled at this question.
"Scour the land, from the coldest mountains in the North, to the hottest climates to the South, to the jungles of the East and the West. We will gather all of the wolves we possibly can to strike down this enemy once and for all." Mowgli replied.
"What if we cannot find much more wolves?" A female wolf asked from within the crowd, Mowgli sighed as he looked to the ground. A silent pause filled the air for a good minute or two as Mowgli's eyes scanned all of the wolves around him, and his closest allies, including Hathi and Kala Nag.
"Then so be it." Mowgli replied...
A/N: Ohhhh boy! Them dholes are about to get what is coming to them everybody! Are you ready to read of their furry butts getting kicked!? I know I am. Everyone strap in, for the final battle is within the next two chapters... As always feel free to leave a favorite and a follow if you are enjoying the story! It helps me out, and feel free to leave your thoughts of the story so far in a review. It is gladly appreciated! I have had a blast writing this entire arc, filled with new characters, surprising twists, and the emotions. Sorry it took a day for me to release the newest chapter, I was busy yesterday. Stay tuned to see Neo get what is coming to him, he will pay for killing Bagheera! :(- KaijuCrazy02