(Chapter 39: For Bagheera)
(A few days later...)
Neo marched silently with his entire legion of dholes, they had braved the harsh heat of the sun in the drier environments North of the Dekkan Plateaus. The red dogs had momentarily stopped to rest in caves, as well as hunt when they felt weak.
A stupid grin was on the face of the leading dhole, who had been raised partially by a mighty dire wolf. A large wolf that none of which the Seeonee Hills seen before, he held quite a story. Neo had matured from a frightened pup and yearling to a brave, matured adult now that his juvenile days were over with.
It felt great to be the one to have slain Bagheera, one of the most powerful panthers in the entire jungle. Not to mention the closest friend Mowgli had, his mentor. Neo knew for sure that the morale had been lowered greatly, but he also didn't know that Mowgli and his friends were able to bounce back as they prepared to engage in battle.
The jungle lies ahead, the leader of this legion of red dogs thought to himself as he noticed a fairly large hill coming up in the distance, shivers went down his spine as he thought of making the mighty Bhediya Khan proud once again by slaying Mowgli and the rest of his friends, the dhole felt confident that he could now do it with a lone legion...
They marched through a massive field, to the distance was a hill, at the top of the hill was several trees that marked the entrance to the deep jungles of the Seeonee Hills. The fur on Neo begin to stand, a cool sensation took over his body as his ears twitched, he sensed that Mowgli was coming, and the man wasn't alone.
Neo bared his sharp teeth, growling hatefully to mentally prepare himself for the coming battle. Even though Bhediya Khan wasn't coming with him, he could still feel his eyes upon him, strangely enough.
It was then that the matured, leader of this legion of dholes began to bark the war song that they chanted when entering a huge fight:
"War is upon us!" sang Neo, who was then continued by his red dog legion.
"Jungle hates us!" the legion barked, continuing Neo. Their leader and the legion taking turns starting and continuing each line.
"Death: Enemies embrace!"
"Fear: Enemies embrace!"
"Blood runs thick, to the roots of the trees we'll water!"
"They come to us, like lambs to slaughter!"
"Slaughter, as you wish their daughters!"
"Destroy, as you wish their fathers!"
"In the field of battle, we will triumph!"
"In the field of battle, we will triumph!"
"We won't lose, we won't lose!"
"We won't lose, we won't lose!" The legion concluded the song as they all fell back to silence as they were now within two thousand feet of the hill in the distance...
The pheeal started up again, like a siren of the coming of the dholes. Signaling to Mowgli and his remaining fighting force to get ready for a fight, everyone had grouped up at this spot to prepare for battle!
"Company halt!" Neo barked loudly, stopping all of the dholes in place as they looked towards the hill.
Mowgli emerged from the top of the hill, followed by a massive line of wolves. There stood two hundred and fifty wolves, ready to fight for their lives compared to the thousands of dholes that stood there. Mowgli stood at the front and in the center of them all similar to what Neo was doing with his legion. Behind Mowgli and to the left was Kaa, who coiled herself up. Behind Mowgli and to the right was Sundar Ek, the tigress, who growled coldly towards the legion. To the front of Mowgli, and to his left was Baloo, and to Mowgli's right was Chupake.
"Take position!" Mowgli called out, stopping the advance of the wolves and the others.
A stare-down commenced between Neo and Mowgli, the man was greatly outnumbered by the dholes, but Mowgli wasn't intimidated in the slightest. The man was ready to defend the law of the jungle, even if it meant giving his own life in the process.
"Mowgli! Surrender your life to the great Bhediya Khan, and put an end to needless suffering!" Neo called out, trying to bribe Mowgli into letting his own life fall into the mercy of the dire wolf, but he would not back down.
"Never, Neo! You and the legions brought forth by the Bhediya Khan have done too much damage to the jungle, and you have terrorized all of the inhabitants!" Mowgli fired back, staring into Neo's soul from far away.
"You at one point offered peace to us, and gave us a chance to leave without doing any damage. If you give up your life to us dholes, your friends will not have to endure such a torturous end, just like Bagheera and the others that you've failed to protect!" Neo barked in response!
Mowgli growled, gritting his teeth, his fists clenching tightly together. His right eye twitching as he heard Neo insult Bagheera and all of the others who have fallen during the war for the jungle.
"Keep your composure, buddy..." Baloo warned Mowgli, trying to keep him from snapping into a rage that could foil all that they had planned.
"Let the hate flow through you..." Neo growled with a growing smirk across his canid face, a snicker being heard as it past his lips.
Mowgli reached into his quiver, and pulled out a spear. The urge to just lob it across the field so it would kill Neo was so strong, but he had devised a plan for this battle. If it was to go awry, the fight as a whole would end in tragedy.
"Mowgli, don't throw that spear. Calm down..." Chupake warned, Mowgli's growling continued.
Mowgli couldn't handle the urge no longer, and with a war cry, the man hurled the spear towards Neo!
The air was tense as the wolves and everyone else expected the dholes to get into a charge towards Mowgli, but they never moved as Neo simply stood his ground, not giving them the command to advance.
The spear missed Neo's face by mere inches, the metallic tip actually clipped the side of Neo's face, slicing off some fur, and making a cut in which started to leak blood...
"THERE IS NO PEACE!" Mowgli yelled at the top of his lungs, he had offered terms of peace long ago when the war first began. He didn't want things to go this far, but sadly, the dholes chose violence.
"Not anymore..." Mowgli said as he then turned his back and started to head back towards the jungle.
"Follow me!"
The wolves looked confused, but they all reluctantly turned around and started to follow their leader. Baloo, Kaa, Chupake, and Sundar Ek all looked bewildered, but they also turned their backs to the dhole menace, and began to follow Mowgli and the wolves.
Kala Nag and Hathi curled the end of their trunks into a ball and bumped it together like a fist bump.
"Ready for this?" Hathi asked.
"More than ready." Kala Nag grumbled as Toomai chuckled on his back.
"Advance." Kala Nag's mahout ordered, and the two elephants started to make their way towards the hill...
"They turn their backs, kill them all!" Neo barked, and the thousands of dholes let out howls as they darted towards the hill!
From out of nowhere, in the eyes of Neo, two large elephants now emerged when everything else had vanished. One of the elephants having a man on the back, who was holding a spear.
The eyes of the matured dhole widened in shock, as he had completely forgotten about Hathi and Kala Nag. The two elephants that posed the greatest threat due to their military experience, military experience mostly for Hathi, but Kala Nag feared no challenge.
"Focus all of your energy on these elephants, fall upon them with all of your might!" Neo barked as his legion got closer, the pheeal grew louder than ever before. As Hathi and Kala Nag charged, the ground shook beneath their feet, creating indents where they struck the grass.
"Show no mercy, yah!" Toomai screamed as he whipped the reigns on Kala Nag, making his beloved elephant roar furiously. Hathi bellowed, lifting his trunk into the air as they got even closer to the swarm of dholes that was rapidly closing the distance between them.
Finally, the dholes were in close range, and hordes of them slammed into the pillar like legs of the two elephants. Due to their size being smaller than that of a regular wolf, they were powerless against the elephants as both Hathi and Kala Nag simply lifted up their foot and crushed several beneath them, squashing them like bugs!
Several dholes lunged up towards Kala Nag, trying to take down Toomai, his mahout. However, the seventy plus year old elephant knew better, and used his trunk to simply bat them away in large numbers with ease!
"Gore 'em!" Toomai screamed furiously, and Kala Nag let out a roar as he rushed forward, his tusks impaling through the bodies of several dholes like a shish kabob, killing ten dholes at a time.
Hathi was seen rushing in and delivering a massive kick that sent several dholes flying into the air, their bodies crashing back down on top of other dholes, creating piles of injured and even dead red dogs!
Some dholes were able to hang on to the elephants bodies, but they simply thrashed around, being able to knock them off by simply shaking their bodies violently from side to side. Toomai held on to the reigns of Kala Nag in order to stay seated!
Neo barked as he tried to go around Hathi, but his eyes were met by the ancient elephant's glare. The amber eyes of the behemoth sent shivers down his spine, and he was quick to try and retreat, making a mad dash for the hill only to get flicked by the thick trunk of the beast!
Neo screamed as he was launched into a rock, the velocity cracking a rib or two that caused him to have a coughing fit, Hathi approached, swatting his trunk through several groups of dholes that was still trying to attack him!
Hathi roared as he surged forward, his tusks impaling several dholes as they smashed into the rock, trapping Neo between them as he let out a yelp of pain. He looked disgusted and horrified once he saw the wise elephant make a shish kabob of red dogs, and now he was trapped.
"We don't want to kill you, but we will..." Hathi grumbled as he saw Neo trying to scramble away, he delivered another violent kick into his ribs, effortlessly knocking him against the rock again!
The wrinkled behemoth roared as he went on his knees now, trying to crush Neo with his massive weight as he shook his body from side to side to knock off other dholes that dared to try and stop him!
What saved Neo's life, was the ninety degree angle between Hathi's massive forehead, and the flat rocky wall. Neo whimpered, and howled out of fear as the beast tried to crush him to death. Hathi was determined to end Neo's life, or come close to doing so. If Mowgli had a near death experience, so should Neo...
The matured dhole fought with every inch of his body, taking his claws, and digging them into the head of Hathi repeatedly, and his trunk if he could all while barking in defiance of the massive beast that he was up against.
Neo was able to squirm away from Hathi after scratching his eye, blinding him momentarily as the old elephant roared in pain. The matured dhole darted towards the hill with four hundred or so dholes rushing towards the rest of Mowgli's Alliance, they outnumbered them as Mowgli only had two hundred and fifty wolves. Sure, he had Baloo, Sundar Ek, Chupake, and Kaa, but even they would only do so much against overwhelming numbers.
"Everyone behind me!" Kaa shouted as she could feel the presence of the dholes coming up behind them all!
The wolves, and everyone else scrambled to get behind the great serpent as she began to coil herself up. Her forked tongue flickering in and out of her mouth as she waited for the right moment to arrive.
"Well Kaa, do something!" Mowgli exclaimed, and the snake closed her eyes for a moment before opening them up to maximum width. Neo screamed as he quickly looked to the ground, squinting his eyes shut.
"Look into my eyesss!" Kaa hissed loudly, her voice echoing through the field. Her hypnotic eyes flashing yellows, greens, and blues with such intensity that it seemed to glow on the ground. The hypnosis stopped the four hundred dholes right in their tracks, their minds getting overwhelmed by feelings of relaxation and pure euphoria.
"You will obey my every command!" Kaa hissed again, the hypnotized dholes nodded their heads in unison and even bowed before the python as if she was their idol. Bhediya Khan no longer mattered, only she did.
"Good dogsss!" Kaa hissed, snickering as they all obeyed her like foolish sheep, some of them even salivating over her beauty...
The only dhole that wasn't under the spell of the great serpent was Neo, he shook his head in defiance as he turned around. Kaa had since turned off her hypnotic flashes within her serpentine eyes, but she could still reach out and snag him into her grasp!
"RETREA-" Neo went to shout to his legion as he saw them all getting easily dominated by Hathi and Kala Nag with ease, most of the dholes were yearlings and juveniles that haven't matured into adults yet, but his sentence was cut off when he felt Kaa's teeth sink into his neck tightly, his eyes widened in shock as he felt his body being lifted off the ground.
"No!" The matured dhole begged as he tried to thrash his body to escape, but the backwards pointing teeth only held him in place, and every time he struggled, it only cut into his light reddish orange fur coat...
"Ssstupid dog...you have yet to accept defeat..." Kaa cooed, but she wasn't being gentle, every word she said had malicious intent behind them as she then introduced the matured dhole to her powerful coils!
He tried to jump out of the coils, but Kaa only clamped them tightly around his body which caused him to yelp in pain. When the coils began to squeeze tighter around his body, the smooth, soft coils grinding into his already injured ribs from all sides, it forced a cry of agony out of him.
Kaa lowered her head down to get eye to eye with Neo, who now whimpered in fear from the power of the snake. His eyes had a pleading look in them, as if he was begging to get free from her tight hold around his body.
"You're not going anywhere..." Kaa promised darkly as she squeezed him even tighter, forcing his eyes to open wide from how tightly her body was hugging him.
"I want you to look at what I've done to your friendsss..." The snake said as she directed Neo's face to view the dholes that she had hypnotized.
"N-no..." Neo pathetically whimpered as he watched as the dholes were bowing before the python, their leader in her coils with nowhere to go.
"Defiant, dogs, reduced to mindlesss pups under my control..." Kaa hissed coldly before snickering deviously as she looked down at Neo, he looked completely helpless and defeated. He had lost the will to fight now.
"Oh! Look what we have down the hill, the dessstruction of your legion." Kaa taunted, Neo shook his head in disbelief as he softly said: "mercy..."
"Do you think there will be mercy?" Mowgli was heard asking Neo as he approached Kaa, staring into the matured dhole's eyes. The man was staring into the soul of the one who had killed his mentor, the dhole that was responsible for Bagheera's death.
"Mowgli..." Neo whimpered as Kaa squeezed down even tighter around the dhole's body...making Neo yelp in pain and start coughing from the sheer pressure her mighty coils were putting on his body.
"M-Mowgli..." Neo begged as he reached a paw out for Mowgli's hand, the man never took him by the paw. He could see that Neo was starting to lose oxygen as Kaa was squeezing the life out of him.
"We will grant you the same mercy you shown Bagheera, the same mercy you shown Gray Brother..." Mowgli growled coldly as he then looked up at Kaa.
"Let him live, we'll show Bhediya that we aren't heartless monsters." Mowgli told Kaa, the serpent reluctantly relaxed her coils around his body, giving him some room to breathe.
"Know that if I wasss in charge of thingsss, I would have made you my nexxxt meal..." Kaa hissed sharply into Neo's ear, causing him to nod his head, acknowledging that he was nothing compared to the goddess python of the Seeonee Hills!
The rest of the battle went on down hill, Hathi and Kala Nag effortlessly crushed the entire legion within an hour. Leaving all of the dholes dead! A decisive victory for the jungle.
(Location: Dekkan Plateaus)
"The battle is lost!" Bhediya Khan barked furiously, he had watched the battle within an episode of pseudo-sleep. He witnessed every single dhole fall from the world, some of them mesmerized by the hypnotic gaze of Kaa, and enslaved to Mowgli's efforts. Each death of each dhole filled him up with rage, and the sight of his son, whose will had been broken, filled him up with even more odious feelings towards the heroes of the jungle.
"I warned you, giving your own son his legion would prove to be a downfall!" Maximus barked in response, watching as the dire wolf paced around in circles, and back and forth.
"Silence, Maximus. I'll not ask of it again..." Bhediya growled, warning the Himalayan wolf to shut up before things would get ugly.
"You've marched all of your greatest allies to their deaths...YUPANQUI!" Maximus barked in response, not backing down from the dire wolf.
"SILENCE YOUR TONGUE! OR SEE IT REMOVED!" Bhediya roared, infuriated at how Maximus no longer called him the name of Bhediya Khan, angered at how he heard his real name for the first time in years spoken once again.
"Nirmam, Conan, Bruno, Alcibie. Even your son is doomed, and he isn't even a wolf from the Barrier Mountains!" The Himalayan wolf barked.
"You no longer wish to call me your Bhediya Khan, then you don't belong here. Go and get my son, and I will join you only once, and then leave you and your legions behind. I don't care if I only have so much of the legions left with me." Bhediya growled.
"Is that how you truly felt towards us this whole time? You viewed all of us as disposable, and only cared for your son that isn't even of your blood? How sad." Maximus retorted.
"My son is the only thing I have had close to an actual family, he comes before you, before those that we've lost, and before the legions, even before the empire itself that we have created. Our influence on India has spread far and wide, dholes will exist in every part of this country. I don't consider anything a loss now, I want Mowgli dead, and I want my son back!" Bhediya barked.
"Fine, I will leave and get your son, and try to kill Mowgli with half of the remaining legions that we have left. If I am to fall in battle, will you finally consider being an actual leader who cares, for once?" Maximus asked before letting out a howl to rally half of the legions up to prepare to march North towards the Seeonee Hills.
"Once I have my son back, I will mourn your passing just like your other allies, and then life will go on with or without you by my side." Bhediya replied, admitting the cold truth that he had been hiding for so long.
"You're such a hate filled mongrel, I'll gladly die so I can no longer stand with you by your side." Maximus said softly...
Maximus had devoted his life to the triumph of the legions, in his countless victories, he was proud to stand by Bhediya's side ever since they first met within the Himalayas. To see the truth in which Bhediya only wanted a goal for his own personal gain, and viewed everyone else with the exception of his son as disposable, it deeply saddened him.
"Speak for yourself, you are the one who found joy in flaying Gray Brother...as a matter of fact, return his sorry carcass to Mowgli. Offer his brother in exchange for my son as both remain living." The dire wolf replied, Maximus sighed before leaving his leader that he once considered a close friend. He didn't know if the war had taken the toll on Bhediya's mind, but those words stung him deeper than any hornet could dream of.
Maximus began to march half of the legions towards the Seeonee Hills, as Bhediya and the other half of the legions watched on. When they vanished out of sight, Bhediya growled furiously before turning around to face his legions.
"We march for the Seeonee Hills with Maximus, let's face Mowgli's Alliance in battle for one final time. Let's see the war put to an end, if I am to fall in battle, it ends, if Mowgli is to fall in battle, it ends. If I die, disperse from the Seeonee Hills, and return to the Dekkan if you can. It has been an honor serving as your Bhediya Khan, but I feel as though my destiny awaits me...let's go." Bhediya spoke, and thus, he began to march towards the North with the last half of the legions.
The final battle was now upon the jungle...
(That night)
A great heap of dead dholes was on display at Council Rock.
Mowgli and Toomai stood in front of the pile of carcasses, with Mowgli holding a torch as he turned around to face the rest of the pack, the rest of his fighting force, and his larger allies that stood with him.
The pile of dhole corpses was to serve as a funeral pyre for Bagheera, and all of those that Mowgli, and the others have sadly lost over the course of time. Stretching all the way back to when Shere Khan tormented the Seeonee Hills.
"We are gathered here tonight, to pay tribute, to all of those that have fallen from the world over the course of this war, and even when we were against Shere Khan many seasons ago." Mowgli announced, the pack remained silent.
"We have lost a lot, we have lost close friends, brothers, mothers, fathers, and lovers. All of which gave their life to protect this jungle, this jungle that we call home. This jungle that we call sacred, the jungle that every member of every pack swears an oath to protect it's laws at any means necessary!" He continued, staring at every member of his beloved pack.
"From other packs to the East, West, North and South of this region of the jungle. All of them have died at some point to protect this place, this night we honor them. We honor those that are personal to us, that are no longer here." The legend of the jungle added on.
"The pheeal, and the wrath of the dhole legions shall soon fall upon us yet again as I have been warned by Kaa and Mowgli. Let this night fill us with the courage to prepare for battle by tomorrow evening, when the moon begins to rise, and the sun starts to set beyond the mountains." Toomai spoke, Mowgli lit the torch he held, making some of the wolves jump due to their fear of the red flower.
"This is for everyone that has been hurt, or killed by those that we once saw as enemies. This funeral pyre here is for my village." Toomai said as he hurled the torch into the mass of dhole bodies, lighting them on fire to create the funeral pyre.
"For Bagheera, for Divya, Rikki, and Teddy!" Mowgli called out as they all watched the bodies burn.
"For Phao, and Leela!" A wolf was heard calling out, both had been killed during the battles against Nirmam Yoddha.
"For my mother and father!" Baloo called out, his parents didn't perish due to the red dog war, but they perished in the war against the snow leopard clans of the Himalayan Mountains.
"For Akela!" A wolf called out.
"For Shere Khan!" Mowgli cried out
Kaa watched from above, holding Neo in her coils as she grinned. The serpent had a feeling that the war was coming to an end soon, and that it would end in the way she wanted it do. The funeral lifted her spirits as she squeezed Neo frequently, to torture him just as he and Maximus tortured Gray Brother.
"Do you wish to join the flamesss?" Kaa asked with a devious snicker as she relaxed her coils, looking into Neo's eyes with a smug grin on her face.
"N-no please..." He whimpered.
"For the elephants that I've lost!" Toomai called out to the pyre.
The other wolves in the fighting force joined in, calling out the names of their fathers or mothers, or sisters and brothers that joined the war effort and have been killed.
"For Bagheera!" Baloo called out.
"Bagheera!" Kaa called out.
"Bagheera!" Toomai yelled.
"Brother Bagheera!" Mowgli thundered.
"Bagheera!" Hathi bellowed.
"For Bagheera!" Kala Nag trumpeted, and the wolves joined in. Paying tribute and respects to the panther that everyone loved and grew to know over the many years that he had served in the pack.
"We thank you Bagheera, for your service as a mentor, a hunter, and a companion in the war. Thank you for all that you've done for us, and thank you for what you've done for me!" Mowgli called out as he turned to face the pack with Toomai.
"Tomorrow, we will face all of the legions of the Dekkan in a perilous fight. A last stand to uphold the jungle law, and to defend the jungle itself from these fiends that have brought terror and mayhem to it for too long!" Mowgli cried out.
"This I promise you all, my brothers and sisters, and allies alike...we will have victory, or fall in a glorious death!" Mowgli cried out, it's what Bagheera would have wanted from him...
"Tomorrow, we will spend the day gathering energy from hunting, and we will search for as many other wolves as we can. They outnumber us, but let's show what warriors who have nothing left to lose can do!" Toomai added on.
The final battle was upon them all, and now after paying tribute to the fallen. Honoring all who wanted to defend the jungle in their own ways and methods, they were ready for the end of the war. They were ready to stare death in the face if they had to, anything to defend their home from the invaders...
A/N: It has been one heck of a journey since the 'Red Dogs Arc' began several chapters ago, we have had development, new characters added in to the mix, unique backstories, and lots of emotion. It all comes to a close in the next chapter, get your butts ready for an emotional ride ;)- KajiuCrazy02!