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I gave the guy an inquisitive look. I had taken great care in remaining as vague as possible and not to share any details about where I had been, and who I had met during my stay in the forest. "So you know the panther's name. Now that is interesting, as I made sure not to share any details with anyone regarding my stay in the jungle." "Of course I know his name", he smiled. "I used to live in the jungle." "Mowgli?", I asked. "Yes. I've been curious about you ever since I heard you survived those months in the jungle two years ago." "Ah. Well, sorry if I appeared unkind. I've been through a lot the last days. So... Now after meeting you, it's not very likely that my brain will allow me to sleep anyway. I'm going to grab a coffee and then we can talk." The hot, black liquid did me good, even if it wasn't the best coffee I recalled having. The few slices of bread with ham that I also bought didn't last very last either. Mowgli grinned. "You're hungry." "The last food I ate was over a day ago, and I've had a long hike to here. But yes, Bagheera", I continued while eagerly chewing away the bread. "He saved my life two and a half years ago. I was half dead after dealing with the poachers you probably heard about, and he brought me to a wolf pack who took me in as one of their own. That is how I survived those six months. Mowgli sighed. "My mother and father. My brothers. I miss them." "As do I. Luri and Alexander looked after me. They often told me how they missed you, and so did Akru and Sura." "I'm sorry", Mowgli said while rubbing his eyes. I walked to the bathroom and got him a few sheets of tissue. I know how you feel when you say that you miss your family. On one day, Luri asked me if I wanted to be her and Alexander's son, and brother of Sura and Akru." He looked at me amazed shortly, before flying around my neck to hug me. "That makes us brothers! This makes me so happy", he smiled, his cheeks still wet from tears. "But why are you sad? Didn't you just come from them?" Things... Have changed. And not for the better", I said while looking to the ground. Mowgli saw the pained expression on my face and got worried. "What's wrong then? What has happened?

I took another sip of coffee and told Mowgli everything that happened the previous days. From how I read about Shere-Khan killing his guardian, how I got here, what happened between me and Sura, up to what happened when Shere-Khan got me, meeting Tabaqui, Bagheera and Vermillion, and my hike back to Balaghat. Especially hearing about the death of Alexander, his adoptive father, really got to him in a bad way. He broke down and went away for a few hours to process it. That left me in my room by myself, feeling miserable for hurting him so badly. But what could I do? And every time I talked about it, I hurt myself as well. Every time, everything was played back in front of my eyes, in brilliant high definition. It cost me a lot of energy not to give in to another explosion caused by my raging anger this time, as it would most probably result in me smashing up and demolishing most of the room, and ending up in a lot of trouble because of it. This was why I wanted to kill Shere-Khan myself so badly. It would put those feelings to rest, satisfying my aching lust for revenge. Just hearing about his death by the hands of someone else wouldn't. After a long, hot shower, I let myself fall on the bed. The excitement and anticipation from meeting Mowgli had ebbed away now, and I felt worn out.

Later that day, a few loud knocks on my door woke me out of a dreamless sleep. When I opened the door and saw Mowgli again, I was shocked. His eyes were red and bloodshot from hours of crying. With effort, I swallowed away the lump that had appeared in my throat and invited him back in. We both sat down on my bed. "I'm so sorry for this. Everything went wrong. I should never had left them to go find you that day. Maybe Sura was right", I sighed. "The reason I came back to Balaghat now is to get a shotgun somehow and kill that damn tiger. He is after you, me, Bagheera, Tabaqui... And I am sure he won't stop there. Surely there is a manhunt being organized, but they can't seem to track him down. He's clever and cunning. It will be easier for me to find him. He wants my blood. So the moment I'll be in his territory he'll find me, and all I'll have to do is wait for him, aim and pull the trigger." Mowgli had managed to compose himself and lay a hand on my shoulder. "That is not the right way, brother. Shere-Khan lives in the jungle, where The Law of the Jungle applies. Even if he breaks it all the time himself, he should be dealt with accordingly." I grabbed my head with my hands. "I can't win a fight with him one on one, with my bare hands. I've been there. I don't care much about a law. I just want to kill him." "Please don't let your hunger for revenge blind you. that will only bring more anger and sorrow." Mowgli had both his hands on my shoulders. It almost felt as if Akru or Sura was sitting next to me. The same tender care... I truly felt the wolf that was inside of him. We sat like that for a while. "I left the jungle because of a truce I made with Shere-Khan. He would leave the pack alone, and not set paw in their territory if I would go live with the humans. I agreed to those harsh terms out of love for my family. When he killed my guardian, I got very scared and asked if I could live closer to the center of town, further from the forest. I've been offered to stay here until the foundation will find something else for me. But now, I feel that all doesn't matter any more now. I want to go back to my family. I passionately hate Shere-Khan, especially after what you told happened, don't get me wrong. But I value the prospect of seeing and being with my family again over the satisfaction of seeing Shere-Khan dead, even after what he has done."

I walked to the window of the room to let my thoughts wander, while idly staring to the little court-yard two stories down, and the men sitting there enjoying some beers and food in the afternoon sun. "You're a better man than I am, Mowgli. Ever since my confrontation with Shere-Khan, I've been struggling with feelings of intense hate and anger, had terrible nightmares and rages. But he has done so many more terrible things to you." "But I am a wolf, Matthew. I've only lived among humans for a few years now. I've learned a lot from and about them, but I'll never really become one. We are a member of the same wolf pack. That makes you a wolf as much as I am. Try to think like a wolf. For a wolf, the pack is all that matters. Nothing should come in between. And definitely not Shere-Khan. He isn't worth it." I exhaled and stared at my feet. Mowgli pulled me to the side and playfully rubbed his right cheek against mine. "I need a break. Let's get some dinner", I suggested. "Is the food tolerable here? Or do we have to find a place on the street to eat?" "I believe it's Thursday today", Mowgli replied. "Curry day." "OK, I'm sold. I'll buy you." Mowgli chuckled and we walked downstairs.

"Now why am I -not- surprised to see you two together? The two jungle-boys!", the reception lady trumpeted through the hallway as we entered the restaurant area. "Is she always this obnoxious?", I asked Mowgli. "She likes to call me wolfyboy", he smirked. "She's not unkind. But yeah. That." "Oh. God. Better keep quiet that we're wolf brothers then, or she'll probably go hysteric." Four glasses of Lassi later, I had struggled halfway through my bowl of proper Indian Chicken Vindaloo. "Don't try to hide your tears, white man. You don't know what chili is!", the reception lady, now turned cook and waitress, joked while putting the fifth glass of Lassi in front of me. "Take an example of Wolfyboy here!" With a slight sheepish look on my face, I scooped up another mouthful of the scorching hot curry as stoic as I could. The lady laughed out loud, and threw a kitchen towel over my head before leaving us at peace. "Here, it's of more use to you than me at this moment!" "Ow!", I exclaimed after swallowing down the last spoonful. "This surely is pushing my boundaries. It almost hurts more than being bitten by Shere-Khan", I joked while using a piece of naan bread to dip up some of the delicious sauce. "Hmm. This actually gives me a good idea.'' The lady came back to our table to take the empty bowls and glasses away and gave me a teasing smile. "Well, well. Emptied your bowl. Good boy! I will tell you a little secret here. I did add more chilies than I normally do, just because I wanted to be evil! But you persevered. As a reward, the food will be on the house!" "That is very generous of you", I smiled. "And yes, it was painfully hot. Could you bring my friend and me a beer?", I asked while looking at Mowgli, who politely refused. "I'll have a glass of milk, thanks." "OK, one beer and a glass of milk then. And oh, could you make a good amount of chili-paste with your hottest peppers?" "You're feeling adventurous enough to go use that in your cooking?", she asked with a grin. "Uh, well, I might use it as a little nasty surprise for someone. Can you make two equally big portions?" "Oh, that is so naughty! I like that! I will be back in a bit." Mowgli gave me a curious look after the lady brought our drinks and went back to the kitchen. "What are you going to do with that?" Just something we can use in defense against Shere-Khan in case it's needed. If one of us is able to throw a good blob of that paste in his eyes, he'll be done for. He won't be able to see anything for a long while.

Twenty minutes later, the lady came back with two plastic sandwich bags filled with a red substance. "Here you go. Be very careful with that! Wash your hands thoroughly after even handling these bags. Especially if you have to go to the toilet", she added with a wink. She neatly packed the two bags away in a plastic Tupperware container and handed it over to me. I ordered another beer and a glass of milk, and generously tipped the lady. "Thank you ever so much." She smiled. "You are very welcome. And thanks for the tip! Are you really going to try to track down that tiger?" "Yes. We are. Mowgli has a unique understanding of the forest and the animals living there. His knowledge should make this a lot easier." "You're a very special Wolfyboy", she grinned to Mowgli. 'If only you knew', I thought while taking a big sip of my beer.

After five pints, I felt comfortably tipsy. A state I had not been in for a while, so I savoured it. I longed for a long night of sleep, and did not plan to spend much time out of bed tomorrow at all. "I'm going back to my room, Matthew. I'm tired. So much has happened today." "Alright. I'm going use tomorrow to get more rest. We can also make a plan on what route to take. We'll leave the next morning, is that OK?" "Yes. That sounds good", Mowgli replied. "I need some more time to process today. I'm overwhelmed." Mowgli left and I ordered my last beer. "You surely can handle your liquour", the lady remarked. "Well, I had an excellent meal to provide a solid foundation", I grinned. "And my stomach requires some more fluids to extinguish the smoldering fire there." "Haha. You silly", she chuckled. "Alright, it's past ten O'clock. Feel free to sit here and finish your ale, but I'm going to call it a night. I need to make sure breakfast is ready at six tomorrow morning for the workers that are staying here." She locked the doors and turned the radio off, most of the lights, except the one above the door to the staircase, and the one above my table. "The switches are on this panel here", she pointed out, "Have a good night!" "Thanks, you too", I replied.

Diffuse noise from the street filtered through the door and windows into the now quiet restaurant area. A never ending cacophony of TukTuks, cars, trucks, buses and people walking by that was ever present in this city. I emptied my last pint, grabbed the Tupperware box with the chili-paste, placed the beer glass on the counter next to the door to the kitchen, turned off the lights and went upstairs to my room. The six pints of beer and my exhaustion made me fall asleep almost the moment my head hit the pillow. Like I planned, I spent most of the next day snoozing in bed. My muscles were a bit sore and of course the black spot on my flank also still was tender. But I did notice improvement, which was a relief. The wounds on my torso also were healing up nicely. Around four in the afternoon, I felt rested enough to get up. Another warm shower was called for. Also, I took some soap and gave my clothing a much needed wash in the shower tub.

A recognizable knock on my door and a voice. "It's Mowgli." "I hope you don't mind me like this", I excused myself while locking the door back up, realizing I was only wearing a towel around my waist. He chuckled. "Clothing is such a human thing. I only wore something if I was cold when I was living with my pack. And well, my wolf brothers, mother, father... They all made sure that I never was cold during the night." I turned around to sit down in one of the chairs. Mowgli gasped softly. "Your scars and wounds." "Well, I've told you what has happened to me. These lines across my chest and that spot on my left thigh are from the poachers. The marks on my arms and legs are from play-fighting, and the fresh ones on my chest and stomach are from Shere-Khan." Mowgli took his shirt off. His upper body and arms were covered in scars. "Most of those are from playing with Akru, Sura and Lala", he grinned. I smiled faintly.

"Shere-Khan stands in between us and the pack. I am sure that by now, he has found out that I'm back here, even if I came from another direction. I don't know if we'll be able to get to the pack without walking into him." Mowgli again placed a hand on my shoulder. "It's really better if we do our best to avoid him". I exhaled. "I've been thinking about what you said yesterday. And it's only right. I shouldn't let my anger dominate. But that will be hard for me. Very hard." Mowgli embraced me in a warm hug. "I'll be there for you, brother. And when we're back with our pack, the others will be as well." "Well, I absolutely do not know what will happen. Sura was pretty clear about his feelings towards me. And I have no clue if Bagheera and Vermillion were welcomed back, or told to leave. The reception I will get might be less than warm." We agreed on leaving as early as we could the next morning, so we'd get to the pack's territory in the evening. I had another good, solid sleep. It was as if meeting Mowgli had calmed me down for some reason. There very quickly had formed a bond between us. Like the affection you can feel for a close friend.

We sat down for breakfast, and I had a look at my GPS receiver. "Taking the obvious and most direct route is not an option if we want to avoid running into Shere-Khan. The route I took to get here would not be a good decision either, as I've left my scent there. He might be wandering around the area waiting. It's best for us to try to go around the other side. That'll be a detour though. A few extra hours." After finishing breakfast, I got up to walk to reception to check out. Mowgli grabbed my arm. "Leave my room open, please. You never know. Any one of us would have a place to return to if there would be a need. And it's paid for anyway." "Good thinking", I smiled. "Will you get back here?", the hostess asked. "I can't tell. It all depends on a lot of things, Might be a few days, or not at all. Please keep Mowgli's room open. If we're not back within a week, you can cancel it." "Very well", she nodded and I paid the bill. "The best of luck, you two!" I smiled to her, well meant this time. "Thank you."

"I do not understand how anyone would want to live here", I shook my head while we walked over the busy side-walk, next to an equally busy down-town street. "It's something I'm still not used to", Mowgli replied. "The stench is the worst part. The crowds and noise I can deal with." "Hell, I lived in a densely populated area of the world and I'm not used to this." "I've had lessons in geography. Your home country is quite far away. What made you come here in the first place?", he asked. "Well, I wanted something different. Adventure. I saved up some money and planned a trip through India. Mostly as a challenge for myself. I had never been to this part of the world yet. The changes in culture and climate would be very interesting and I wanted to see how I would cope. And it would broaden my mind. So I sort-of plotted out a route between places of interest, and rented a car. After two weeks of traveling, I crashed it and narrowly escaped burning to death. And well, the rest is history. It was a bit more adventurous that I wished for! How about you?"

"Shere-Khan killed my parents when I was only a toddler. They were biologists working in this part of India. Some old newspapers in the library of where I used to live had articles about it. Authorities organized a man-hunt that lasted for weeks, but they never found him." "So he has dealt with this before then. Evasion, hiding... Makes sense why they can't find him now. I guess being a predator like a him means you're very skillful in moving around undetected. Do you know why he hates humans so much?", I asked. "He has had some bad experiences with humans in the past. Trophy hunters mostly. Though now, the majority of those who make the poor decision to try to hunt him down end up becoming the hunted." "So I've noticed", I remarked. "For some reason, Shere-Khan ignored me after he took the lives of my parents, and he left. I ended up wandering through the forest alone, vulnerable, and oblivious to the dangers. Mother has told me this story so often. Apparently I simply walked into the den, crawled in between Sura and Akru, and started to drink milk right away. Father asked Bagheera for help, because as you know, he has lived with humans. He agreed to teach me the ways of the Jungle, together with Baloo, and the pack allowed me to stay."

We paused after crossing the outskirts of town and entering the forest. "This plotted route should be far enough from Shere-Khan's territory to be safe, I hope", I said to myself while checking my GPS receiver. I grabbed the Tupperware box from my back-pack and took out the two sandwich bags filled with the chili-paste. I handed one to Mowgli and tied mine to one of the buckle-gaps of my pants. Mowgli followed my example. I took the machete and bowie knife out of my backpack and fastened them to my belt and thighs. This captured Mowgli's interest. "Can I have a look at those?", he asked. I unsheathed both, and handed them over. Mowgli skillfully swung both blades around in an acrobatic kind of way. "These are nice." "You certainly know how to handle those", I remarked with a grin. He handed the blades back to me and reached under his shirt to show me his dagger. It was quite pretty. The sheath had elaborate decorative stitching in the leather. The grip and quillions of the dagger were made of polished steel with brass inlay. It had a traditional straight blade, with the bevel running down the center. It was longer than my bowie knife, but came in a few inches shorter than my machete. "This is a very pretty dagger. Where did you get that?"

"A long walk from the pack's territory, there's an old abandoned temple. It's the territory of the Bandar-log. When I was younger, I found myself lost and ended up there, captured by monkies. They threatened to take me to Shere-Khan if I didn't teach their leader how to make fire. There were a lot of scattered human tools, jewelry and other things everywhere, and this dagger was among it. They didn't think much of it at first and let me have it. But when I was sharpening some wooden sticks with it, they very quickly changed their minds, and tried to take it away. While defending myself, I violently swung it around and ended up injuring three of them badly. This gave them enough of a scare to run out of the chamber we were in, leaving me all by myself. I made a run for it before they or their leader would come back to get me. At first, Bagheera and Baloo very much disapproved of me having that 'human weapon', as they called it. But after I learned how to properly handle it, they saw how it became an extension of me and had a change of heart. And well, since I don't have sharp claws or teeth, it's only fair that I have something to defend myself with, and help me with things like hunting."

Our conversation stopped when reaching a deep gorge with a river running at the bottom of it. With a grumble. I put my backpack on the ground. "There's no way we can climb our way in and out of that. And according to the map, if we continue in this direction, we'll end up nowhere near where we want to be. It seems this is the same river that runs by the old poacher's campsite. I think we have no other choice than to follow the river up-stream towards it. I really hope there will be a place where the gorge won't be this deep though, so that we can cross. Else we'll end up passing too close to Shere-Khan's territory." After a few seconds of silence, I looked at Mowgli, who stood next to me on my right side, to check if he had any ideas. However, he wasn't even looking at me or the gorge. I peered over his shoulder to see what had caught his attention.

A huge gush of adrenaline surged through my veins when I saw the huge tiger approach in the far distance, leaping from left to right over boulders and branches on the ground. In a split second when he was close enough for me to clearly see his eyes, I saw he wasn't staring at me though, but at Mowgli. "Run, and don't look back!", I shouted. "But what about..." "RUN! NOW!"

Mowgli made a run for it. Shere Kahn adjusted his course to go after him, completely ignoring me. I had only seconds. The bowie knife made a few revolutions in the air, stabbed through the muscle tissue of the tiger's left front leg, and buried itself into his humerus bone. The injured leg gave way under the strain of Shere-Khan's gallop. He yowled out in pain. and rolled over the ground against a tree, dislodging the knife, which fell onto the forest floor.

I didn't hesitate a moment. With the machete in my left hand, I ran towards the feline to deliver the final blow. However, the tiger almost immediately sprung back up. With his powerful hind legs, he launched himself in the air towards me. The massive blow when his body impacted mine threw me backwards on the ground, almost rendering me unconscious. The tiger jumped on top of me.

His sharp claws dug into my chest and flank. In a flash, I saw the bloodthirsty, predatory look in his eyes, his open maw with ropes of viscous saliva between his lips and the tips of his huge, yellow fangs.

I closed my eyes, hoping that my sacrifice would delay Shere-Khan long enough for Mowgli to make his escape to safety.