Jungle Book-Stuck together

The sixth story:

Shere Khan had found himself in a predicament. Bagheera had dragged him into joining him on his trip to see a colossal Baobab tree, because he was owing  him a favor Shere Khan had to reluctantly aid him on what he perceived as another one of Bagheera`s boring learning expeditions. Once they reached their destination ,even Shere was a bit impressed at the size and majesty of the 100 foot tall tree, however one peculiar part of it caught Bagheera attention,a side of the tree that was cowered in oozing sap from as high up as 11 feet. As the two cats came nearer ,a brief rustle in the nearby bushes caught the tigers attention just a second before Razoul leaped out nowhere,followed by Scab and lunged at Shere Khan who managed to get a hold on him ,before the hyena could sink his fangs in his throat .The sudden attack however caused both beasts to slam into the wall of sap,and getting cowered in a good deal of it that disoriented them as they fell to the ground. As they regain their footing the two enemies found out something unnerving, they were stuck to each others sides. Before they could shed each others blood ,Bagheera intervened and made them calm down. and as they tried to separate by pulling away from the other,but  it turned out not to be working. Realizing the gravity of the situation Bagheera urged  Razoul to cooperate with them for his own sake as the 3 set of to find a solution to the problem,followed by Scab. On their way they were joined by Baloo,Louie and Kaa,as the former 2 were,at their own risk, laughed at Shere Khans and Razouls ,who were already buzzy being at each others throats (metaphorically speaking).

The party went out to seek Hati`s advice who told them of a mineral spring near a cavern opening that was formed by an enormous waterfall, that would dissolve the Baobabs sap,but the cavern lies in the Chota Nagpur Plateau witch is a days track away. The two enemies were of course less than pleased by that ,but knew they had to make the journey, joined by Khans friends for help and Scab who was following his masters orders. The journey trough the jungle proved to be difficult on its own,but made even worse by the tigers and hyenas incapability to cooperate or to stop arguing,and Scabs behavior also helped to grate on the others nerves. Another problem was added as the local village hunter Buldeo was guiding a group of poachers (coincidently the ones that brought Louie here) thought the jungle on their hunting trip. After finding the distinct tracks of Razoul,who the villagers had put a bounty on for attacking their life stock and man eating,the greedy hunter urged his clients to hunt down the giant hyena,and they found the group  as they now had cross a large log that was the only way of crossing a raging river.As Shere Khan and Razoul were crossing it, Buldeos misaimed shot spooked them and caused them to fall into the rapids,as the other ran away from the humans. Scabs seemed to be apathetic to his boss apparently drowning and left,but Khans friends went down river praying for the best.

A few hours later Shere Khan and Razoul washed up on the rivers shores ,alive but battered and warned out from the rapids constant beating. Feeling to tired to argue, they continued to wander the jungle to look for the others, but soon succumbed to exhaustion,and when Razoul caught the sent of the hunters ,they knew that they had to hide ,eventually finding shelter in a well secluded cave.They lied down to rest ,but soon start arguing yet again, accusing the other of his "faults", including how as cub the tiger had gouged out Razouls left aye with the branch of thorn bush after the latter had tried to kill him. Shere Khan points out that all of their quarrels were the hyenas fault and that he is just a scumbag who torments others for no reason. After a moment of silence, Razoul for no apparent reason starts reminiscing about his past,to witch Shere Khan quiets down and listens.

Razoul recalls how his father and sibling were shot by a hunter,and his mother sacrificed herself to let him escape, but the reminder of is pack shunned and even bullied him for being different, leaving him to fend for himself,a years of suffering he managed to track down the hunter in his village and mortally wound him and let him watch as he mauled his wife and 2 children to death before leaving him to bleed to death himself. After that he started realizing how he could use his abnormality for his advantage to scare others into submission and killed and replaced the pack`s leader, however his crimes against the law of the jungle caused Akela`s pack with the help of Hati and his sons to drive him out of the jungle, to witch he eventually retuned. After hearing that Shere Khan was surprised and started to see the hyenas he hated for years in a new light,but before he could think about it any further both dozed of to sleep.

The next morning the 2 awoke to see the Plateau in the near distance, and soon restarted their journey ,but also realized that the hunters were still in the area,but the two finally manage to look past their animosity,and in spite of their handicap, using Shere Khans knowledge of stealth and Razoul`s experience at evading hunters,they manage to shake them off,much to the anger of the poachers leader Jack and Buldeos misfortune.

They finally reached the cavern with the spring and instantly took a dive in it, surfacing separated.Shere Khan was relieved ,but as he was about to shake the water of himself Razoul once again lunged at him with the intent of killing ,but the tiger evaded his attack causing him to slip and fall down the cliff, clinging into some loss rocks. Although contemplating to let him fall,for some reason Shere Khan couldn't bring himself to let it happen right about as Bagheeram,Kaa,Baloo and Louie finally had caughted up with him.He told Louie to swing down on a wine and tie another around the hyenas waist ,as he along with the others pulled him up. Razouls managed to spit out a "Thank you" before departing, while Shere Khan realized that he would regret his decision tomorrow ,but Bagheera assured him that he did the right thing,and so the gang too headed back on their journey home.

Meanwhile poor Buldeo received a hefty beating from the poachers as punishment for not delivering them any quarry. 

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