A/N: I don't own Grimm Fairy Tales Presents: The Jungle Book.
Chapter 5
It was noisy, as usual, within the wrecked ship of the Bandar Log, with the primates and Dewan the naked monkey-boy, fooling around and in dose. Since the wreckage of the steamship and the appearance of the four human children on Kipling Island, the vessel was immediately occupied by the apes. Inside they found many things, weapons, harpoons, navigational instruments, but most importantly, crates of opium. It was unclear, who was the first of the Bandar Log to taste the drug, but the seductive smell and what possibilities it brought immediately attracted the apes.
Bomani sat there, finally regaining his senses after a dose. He didn't know what it was, what was it called, but he wanted more. The naked boy was in pain, he felt himself at the lowest point of existence; his father was dead, he failed to lead the Shere, and he cannot determine the feelings he had for that wolf-girl Mowglii. She seemed to be a beautiful one, but Bomani could not forget that it was she who killed his father. The drug was the only thing that gave him freedom from such thoughts. As Bomani sat there, Dewan was standing on his hands, trying to giggle a few rabbit skulls with his feet, singing.
Bounce and a bounce,
Bouncey-bounce
Heads go bounce,
Watch the heads go bounce,
Bouncey heads go bounce.
"You've brought a tiger into the Log of Bandar, my dear Dewan." Bandar Louis spoke as he lifted his eye-patch, revealing a very healthy eye. "It is an honor that the prince of the Shere joins us. You enjoy the treasure of the Bandar, do you not, tiger prince?"
"And why should you not?" Bandar Louis went on, resting on a crate, flanked by two gorillas standing still as his guards. "It is the royal life the Bandar lead after all, and royalty deserves treasure."
Kicking the skulls away, Dewan then jumped on Bomani and began to pull the poor boy's hair, laughing maniacally.
"What pain brings the prince of the Shere to the Log?" Bandar Louis asked. "Did the death of tiger Khan leave a hole where the heart drummed? The treasure will help. Whatever it is, the treasure makes all of the pain go away, does it not?"
"I want… give me more!" Bomani yelled at Bandar Louis as he knocked out Dewan.
"Whatever do you mean? Do you mean the Bandar treasure?" the langur asked, despite not even turning his head towards Bomani.
"I will not ask you again, ape. The treasure that made all of the hurt disappear." Bomani snarled, losing his patience over the monkeys. "Give it to me now or my claws will dine deep!"
Bomani began approaching the crate with Bandar Louis, only for the two gorillas roar and beat their chests, obviously threaten to attack the naked boy in defence of their king. Bandar Louis, meanwhile, finally turned towards the naked tiger-boy.
"I would be happy to provide you with more of my precious treasure, young cub," he spoke. "Far be it from me to get in the way of you ridding yourself of those pesky, guilty thoughts of Papa Khan and the little girl who bested him. But this time, if you want the treasure, there will be a price."
"Name it."
"Hmmm, what does a king want?" the langur asked rhetorically as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That is a good question. Bandar Log is a paradise."
He sat on the crate for around ten minutes in silence. Bomani was beginning to lose his patience. The naked tiger-boy was about to yell at the monkey only for Bandar Louis to snap his fingers.
"Aha! I have got it!" he exclaimed. "Bring me the one who tightens his grip on the Island of Kipling."
"The one who plucks my faithful Bandar from the trees like fruit." Bandar continued as he leaned on one of his gorillas, who continued to sit still with a stoic expression on his face. "Whose length is never-ending and hunger fathomless! Whose wall of scales fence in the apes of the Bandar from the rest of Kipling Isles! Bring me the head of Kaa, the river of scales, and all the treasure you desire will be yours!"
Cackling excitedly, Bandar Louis stood up and used his two arms to form the shadow of the snake's jaws on the ship's walls.
"This place, we are going where none of Tribe Tavi have ever ventured." Tobaqui whispered nervously as he and the naked Mowglii walked down the cave tunnels, with their feet merged into water that streamed down.
"The wolves never spoke of this either." Mowglii added. Still, they continued on in hopes of finding a way out. As they went on, it started to become slightly lighter.
"Look a light!" Mowglii exclaimed, and indeed, there was glowing light in the distance.
"Must be a way out of this fetid." Tobaqui made a logic assumption. "Pit and a portal back to the surface."
The two ran straight to the source of the light, eager to quickly return to the surface. Their hopes vanished once they reached it. Instead of an exit, a fire torch was adjusted to a wall. Both Mowglii and Tobaqui awed as the fire danced in their eyes.
"What is this?" the teenage silver-fox asked, more rhetorically.
"Lightning flower," the naked girl answered for him as she approached the torch. "I have seen this before. It hit the ground from the sky the night mother was murdered."
"But how does it come to bloom here?" Tobaqui asked when suddenly they heard a noise from behind. The two turned around, but they didn't see anything as it was pitch dark out there, while the naked girl and silver fox stood where the torch illuminated. Wary, Mowglii gently approached the torch once again before carefully taking the wooden handle and pulled it from the hole it was held by. Trying not to burn herself, Mowglii continued walking down the tunnels with Tobaqui following them. Unknown to them, a pair of yellow years stared at them from the darkness.
A/N: Short chapter, I know. But I'm planning chapter 6 to be a special one as it has two plot twists in it.