War Of The Animals (Book 4): Azaz, King of Kings: War Of The Animals, #4

By Jonathan DeCoteau

The War of the Animals series is an animal bible that chronicles the rise and fall of animal civilization over ten generations.

 

In Book 4, Azaz, King of Kings, a young grizzly cub fights for his life after hunters murder his mother before his very eyes. The newly awakened bears, fearing retribution, exile Azaz and his father for murdering humans. Military hunters capture Azaz and experiment on him. The experiments create a monster of untold strength. Azaz's father leads an attack on the military base, freeing Azaz. The military fatally shoots Azaz's father. Azaz vows revenge. The grizzly king conquers one bear clan after another until there is only one ruler, Azaz, king of kings. Azaz ignites a war with humanity that will change the face of history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jonathan DeCoteau
• Release date: Jul 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9798991007313

Book preview

Immagine copertina

War of

the Animals

Book 4: Azaz, King of Kings

Jonathan DeCoteau

All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2024 by Jonathan DeCoteau.

No part of this book, including its characters, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, audio, or mechanical, including photographing, recording, or by an information retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real or fictitious persons or animals, living or dead, or to actual events, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Animus Nor Books

waroftheanimals.com

Paperback ISBN: 979-8-9910073-0-6

eBook ISBN: 979-8-9910073-1-3

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Epilogue

For God and family

Other Books By The Author

Sing of the High Country

The Naked Earth

Bashert

Spree

War of the Animals: The Shut Face of Thunder

War of the Animals: Cry of the Gods

War of the Animals: The Crown of Crowns

Prologue

In the ancient bear tongue, there was a prophecy of a terror that would befall the bear kingdom. A plague from the ancient bear clan ancestors would strike anew, setting bear king upon bear king. Entire sleuths, clans, and bloodlines would fall to slaughter. Among those kings, only one noble growl would thunder above the rest: a cry so bloodthirsty, so terrifying, so primal, even Madness knelt before it. For this was the cry of the fabled king of kings.

Chapter 1

Gungsung Dor

Rockies, USA

There is one moment that shaped the great king of the fire bears above all others. Once, when he was a tiny cub of black and brown fur, a young bear saw hunters on the Gungsung Dor as he foraged with his mother. The bear had a heart of fire, but the fire in those days burned for knowledge and love. The cub enjoyed exploring, roaming along river and creek, sticking its snout into whatever cluster of white yarrow spotted the slope. For a single sun cycle, the bear was content with flower, rock, and sun. That’s when Adyre, in bear tongue, or Gentle River, locked eyes with his first rulku. Most animals remember the experience in the days just after the end of days: the moment their eyes spot a strange predator that does not follow ozu, who hunts to kill like a rabies-ridden mongrel. It is the moment most animals first learn fear. And so it was with Adyre when he spotted the rulku hunters between his mother and him. The fear was uncontrollable, like the raging river spilling over into night. Adyre, though yet a cub, stood up on his hind legs. He sniffed, huffed, growled. The two rulku stopped. At first they seemed sylarg, consumed with the water that makes rulku crazy. They stumbled about, laughing at the sight. Yet, in his heart, Adyre made a promise. Be gone, he had said in the bear tongue of old, or I will kill you. Before the final growl, Adyre’s mother rose to her full height.

Look at the size of that one, one rulku said to the other. Easy, girl! We’re just hunting elk. Back off!

The first rulku tried to make itself bigger, screaming and waving a thunderstick.

The second rulku shook its head and said, That’s a grizzly. You don’t fight a grizzly, you stupid drunk! You shoot her dead or you end up dead yourself!

The first rulku stood for a second with the eyes of death upon him.

That look was all it took. Myrgle, or Winter Blood, as the cub’s mother was named, mauled the rulku with steel thunder in his hands. The rulku, too water crazy to balance his thunderstick, fell over. Within a crack of mountain thunder, Winter Blood was upon him. The mother grizzly mauled at his neck as the rulku screamed, fighting to cover himself. Claws draped in skin emerged, only to sink into flesh again. The second rulku grabbed the thunderstick. Gentle River stood on his hind legs again, crying out. The rulku killer ignored the cub. He aimed the thunderstick right at Winter Blood’s head. She lifted her head from her first victim, turning it slightly, just in time to see the mortal blow. One crack of thunder. Then another. Gentle River growled in agony. Winter Blood fell. Gentle River ran to poke his snout at his mother. She lay still, blood matting the front of her head. Gentle River looked in Winter Blood’s eyes, but the fire bear had already come. Winter Blood was gone, a shadow of flame searching out a distant sun.

Are you all right? the first rulku cried to the other.

My face! My neck! the fallen rulku screamed. Get something for the blood!

Gentle River watched as one rulku attended to ripping off part of his shirt and bandaging the head and neck wounds of his fallen friend. The thunderstick fell to the ground, right by Winter Blood’s reddening body.

Go on–get! Move! Get out of here, stupid bear! the second rulku said as he bandaged the first one. Go–or end up just like your mother!

There was something in the tone of the rulku, something in the pointing gesture, in the finger nearly jerking low enough to hit his mother’s corpse, that killed the gentleness in Adyre that day on the mountain. Reckless rulku had taken blood but felt no need to repay with blood of their own. The cub, though small, did something in that moment that no other cub in the grizzly clans of Gungsung Dor had ever done. He attacked, using his weight to push the second rulku off of the first. The second rulku yelled as he toppled. The first rulku reached for the thunderstick. His drunken hand took the gun, pressed upon the trigger. Adyre moved. The bullet lodged right in the head of the first drunken rulku, who was busy scrambling to his feet before taking the bullet right in the skull and sinking to the earth below. The fallen first rulku, seeing what he had done, screamed.

You’re dead, bear, dead! the fallen rulku said, fighting to aim his thunderstick.

Had the first rulku hunter had his senses and sobriety that day, the history of the animal world might have been very different indeed. But the foolish rulku didn’t. He fidgeted, fighting to aim. Adyre attacked, mauling, finishing what his mother bear had started. The rulku fought to shoot, but Adyre had a fire in him no drunken rulku could tame. He bit the hand, the leg. The bear cub then rose, blood dripping from his fangs.

I said I would kill you, Adyre growled. You aren’t worthy to die the same way as my mother. Die slowly–and in pain.

Adyre bit into the neck. Somewhere between that bite and the endless mauling of the paws, the rulku was done. Whatever spirit animal claims the wanton spirit of the man beast finally claimed his. Adyre kept mauling, until the other bears of the clan approached.

"Mygrle," Lygra, or Growl of the Gods, said.

He was a massive grizzly, with reddish fur. A river of battle scars matting his fur looked to be the size of a rattlesnake jutting out from the heart of Bear Mountain. This was Adyre’s father.

Growl of the Gods turned to see his son, Gentle River, the bear who loved to frolic in streams and watch jumping fish, covered in rulku blood.

The bear gods are with him, an elder bear, Iyola, or Wind Whisper, said. "No other cub has faced two rulku and survived."

Growl of the Gods contemplated his son, the austere glow of pride and lamentation in his fatherly eyes.

"He is Adyre no more, Wind Whisper said. This day he’s earned the name of a warrior. Perhaps Rulgle, or Rulku Blood."

No, Adyre said. "I will be named after no rulku."

Spoken like a true bear, Growl of the Gods said. "From now on, we will call you Azaz, a name that means to be strong, to prevail."

"All hail Azaz," the bears said in a collective growl.

The young cub looked from the body of his mother to the bears before him. Wind Whisper had guessed right. The taste of rulku blood was on Azaz’s fangs, dripping on his tongue. From that moment, War claimed the heart of the gentle bear as his own.

Payee-Qwenta

Rockies Cave Pass, Montana, USA

Among the caves of a rocky river pass, Growl of the Gods spoke with the bear elders about the fate all knew stalked them as prey.

Your son is indeed brave, one elder, Kyrunga, or Stone Eyes, said. "But bravery does not matter to the blood-crazed rulku. Two of their blood have been killed, and only one of our bears. There has been talk, among the bear clans across Gunsung Dor that the rulku have slaughtered bears and killed entire families involved with the slaying of even one rulku. It is the most forbidden act of the animal. Your cub was pushed to it–that I believe, Growl of the Gods.

Still, he put the entire clan at risk."

"The rulku will not be able to access the heart of Gunsung Dor for at least one sun cycle, Wind Whisper said. We must think this through carefully. If Growl of the Gods leaves us, will we not be more vulnerable to rulku attack?"

"There is no stopping the rulku," Pvra, or Red Tooth, said. We use claws. They use stone and the magic inside the stone. No bear stands a chance, no matter how powerful he is.

"You fear the rulku too much, Growl of the Gods said. They are weak in individual combat. If we move farther up the mountain, we will have the advantage."

For how long? Red Tooth asked. "The rulku will outlast us. They always do."

"Only when the prophesied deliverer comes can we stand against the rulku, Wind Whisper said. Now is not the time."

You can’t seriously suggest that this cub is the great liberator of bearkind? Red Tooth asked. The Bear of Seven Scars?

His snout already has one, Wind Whisper said. But he is young yet. Too young for us to tell. We need action now. Not later.

Red Tooth and Wind Whisper are both right, Stone Eyes said. "The rulku are fierce hunters. They hunt and trap all that kill their kind. You are too young to remember The Sky Bears of North Mountain. They were as fierce a network of grizzlies as any bear has ever seen, back to the All Bear himself. One day, some reckless rulku campers invaded bear territory–land that was clearly scented and marked for all animalkind to smell and see. The Sky Bears chased them from their territory, way up in the mountains by the ice. The rulku fled, unharmed. A bear might think that this would be all, but that bear would be wrong. More rulku returned, from the heavens themselves, with ferocious steel beasts and thundersticks. The father of the clan, Blood Rain, fought the rulku as best he could. The slaughterers put him down quickly–a perfectly good bear. They took and tagged the cubs, taking them by sky and dropping them into reserves watched over by the rulku themselves. In just one day, the rulku killed one of the mightiest clans of Gungsung Dor. They can and will do the same to us."

Growl of the Gods looked back from Stone Eyes to Red Tooth to Wind Whisper to the entirety of the Pale River tribe. Bear eyes tell no lie. The decision was made before Growl of the Gods ever spoke.

We will leave by the first light of the moon, Growl of the Gods said.

We must all leave, Stone Eyes said. "We will disperse this clan and meet again, up by the great northern mountains where few rulku roam. Growl of the Gods and his family will head west, towards denser mountain coverage. When the rulku arrive, we will be as silent as winter snow. If it is the will of our ancestors, we will meet again."

It is decided, Growl of the Gods said. My brothers and sisters, if I never see you again, it was a life of good hunting and even better friends.

The bears growled–in that growl was camaraderie, angst, and a curse for the plague that was the rulku all in one. His last words spoken, Growl of the Gods headed off to collect his family.

Chapter 2

Igprgr

Western Rockies, USA

Night pressed on the backs of the bears like the breath of a hungry predator. However far Growl of the Gods led his newly appointed mate, Dusk Fire, or Freggatyra, and his young cub, Azaz, the night never eased. Only after wandering into the first flickers of dawn did Growl of the Gods find hollowed out trees that might hold his mate and his cub. A solitary bear, Growl of the Gods had never stayed with a mate for so long. Yet, since The Misting, the rulku had been more active and the bears had felt the need to tighten their bonds.

We will rest here for the day, Growl of the Gods announced. We are far out of our own land, and who knows what predators lurk about?

That is good. My paws cannot stumble upon another stone, Dusk Fire said.

Father, Azaz asked when they settled in.

What is it? Growl of the Gods replied.

Red Tooth spoke of a bear of seven scars. Who is that? Azaz inquired.

Nothing more than a legend from the first days of The Misting, Growl of the Gods said, "when silver rain fell and bear first spoke to bear. Wind Whisper started the legend. He said he saw it in a vision: a bear who would suffer seven scars before uniting all grizzly bears against the rulku as their king. This bear would be The Great All Bear, the spirit giver of all grizzlies, incarnated in bear flesh. The other bears laughed and with good reason. That was rulku thinking. A true bear survives on his own. He needs no others to fight his fights for him. Remember that."

Then why do we run? Azaz asked.

A bear can run and fight, Growl of the Gods said. "Survival dictates both. Especially since The Great Awakening. I remember it like a dream wrapped in a nightmare. I was hunting, alone, when the silver rain entered me. I felt it in my veins and suddenly, the connection to the land, to the air, to the water was gone. There was only a connection to thought. I saw the rulku hunters coming in, clearing out entire bear populations. Sometimes one ray of lightning from their thundersticks was all it took. It was then that I came back to your mother, like the other bears. It was then that we formed a clan. I ran then, and I fought. We run now. But we will fight soon enough."

I remember it too, Azaz said. "I remember walking with my mother. I remember eating honey, enjoying the feel of the grass between my toes. And then–everything changed, in a single rain. The rulku ruined nature."

Dusk Fire growled. "Enough of the New Talk. The rulku are diligent hunters by daylight. We must be quiet. We must stay hidden. We must rest."

Growl of the Gods nodded his head. The bears nestled up to the hollowed out tree trunks, selecting just the right spot to hold them as they lay down.

Yvock-Tylneyan

Rocky Mountain Hunter General Headquarters

We found the body, Hunter Sergeant Major Jules Van Lyndon said, swiping his finger along the bloody cheek of the fallen hunter. Van Lyndon was a tall man, with black eyes and skin that always had the look of a slowly burning fire.

It’s James Ulton, all right, Van Lyndon said. Mauled to death. Size of the claw marks isn’t that big. Looks recent. Van Lyndon turned over the body to reveal a half-eaten face. Looks like the bears got him. Scavenger birds look to have done the rest.

Then we have little choice, Commander Wyleski said. We will have to euthanize the entire population.

A smaller man with meditative blue eyes and large fists, Wyleski had been part of the first exterminations of animals from Canada down to Argentina. He was cerebral, but with an affect chilling even by military standards.

All for a reckless deserter, Hunter Seargeant Lyla Stetson said.

Stetson was Van Lyndon’s scout but also one of the most accomplished hunters in the military. She had over one-thousand kills to her credit, so her words carried the weight of blood.

Ulton was as quick with the bottle as he was with the laser rifle, Stetson said. "The fool had it coming. So now