[shaman]

Third part right here right now.


3 THE RAID
Marty looked up at Sid. Trying to judge whether he was serious or not. Sid on the other hand knew that whatever was said next, there was no running away from it now. He was going with Marty, whether he wanted him to or not.
Marty looked at Sid like a curious child.
“You ... you sure about that”? He mumbled.
Sid sighed. “There’s no point in pretending we’re not in any danger mart”. Who are we trying to fool”? Both of them stood up. Sid’s heart racing as what he was getting into became more apparent.
“They’ll be here at midnight alright”? Be here sharp. “Oh and make sure your not followed”.
Sid nodded and they parted ways.


The next few hours felt like a dream. Sid knew what he was doing was crazy, but when was the last time he did anything out of the ordinary. At least the tomahawkers, smart assed though they were, had a bit of fun every now and then.
Big face had a habit of stopping Sid at random intervals and having log, drawn out conversations with him, but big face was an old man and had recently taken to spending more time in his shelter.
“If he knew what I’m about to do”. Sid thought to himself. And for a few minutes he became more and more paranoid about what would happen if he were caught. Although if Sid was honest, this was very exciting.
But always the thought of the fugitives coming to their home hung over him.
At last it was almost midnight, and the skies over the camp had long turned dark, Abe’s moon shone brightly in the sky and everyone was asleep. Apart from Sid, who lay awake waiting for the time to be right, and as soon as it was approaching midnight he got up from the floor of his shelter and walked into the night.

It was a still night, as though the whole of oddworld was watching in silence as this drama unfolded.
Even in the dark, Sid knew the way to the dugouts entrance well, a small noise from one of the nearby shelters made him jump a mile but it turned out to be nothing.
The threat of getting caught was stronger than ever now as Sid walked into the woods. And the dark canopy engulfed him; no one would have believed that he had come here for any innocent reason. And it was this that kept him turning round to make sure he wasn’t being followed.
Eventually he arrived at the clearing, with the entrance to the dugout at his right. There, surely enough, in the middle of the clearing, was Marty and six others, four of whom Sid recognised as members of his tribe.
There was uthur, a short mudarcher about the same age as Sid, and eefle, a tomahawker brandishing his tomahawk over his shoulder and wearing a bright red loincloth.
The other two were older than Sid, one of them was Theya. She was training to be a shaman like he was, but had recently passed her trial and bore the paints and tattoos to show it,. And the last one was roger who was a farmer in the tribe. Who also had a large sack over his back.
“Hey Sid” Marty said gladly
“Hi” Sid said raising a hand to the others. Who all nodded.
“You know all of us”. Theya said. “it’s good to have another shaman on the road with us”.
“Sid” nodded in appreciation
Eefle stepped forward and indicated the last two members of the group who Sid had never met before.
“This is Ross”. He told Sid. “He’s from the resistance group who attacked the slig caravan a while ago”. Ross was a giant Mudokon. Taller than anyone there and more muscular even than Marty. He was wearing a red loincloth and was adorned in many remorseless looking small tomahawks.
“And this” Eefle continued. “is Tom”.
“Hello” Tom smiled brightly. He was shorter than Ross (of course) and Marty, and was adorned in the paints of a native, however. Sid cringed to see it. Tom had the unmistakable brand of the “magog cartel” burned into his right arm.
“Ok” Theya announced. “Now that we’re all acquainted, let’s get on with it” (Sid’s heart dropped) “We all know why we’re here, we are going to raid the glukkon camp on the other side of the river to the east. Tom will cause a distraction at the gatehouse, and the rest of us will break through the right fence of the camp and open the slave huts, then we will all meet by those old Mudomo ruins up on the hill by the river and make our way home. Simple little job ya’ know”?
No one else seemed to have any argument with her. Watched as Tom produced a bag and from it pulled a small round metal ball.
“what’s that”? Sid asked.
“Fire bomb” Tom replied casually.
“A-a what” Sid replied quickly. He thought he had something insane in his ear for a second there.
Tom simply laughed. “Well what else am I going to distract the sligs with”?
Marty turned to Sid and winked. Sid made a mental note to have a serious talk with Marty if they all pulled through this.
“Well then we can’t stand here till morning”! Uthur shouted. And with that they all followed Theya into the woods.
The sounds of the woods made them even creepier at night. It was made even worse by the recent rumours of sligs occupying the lands around the glukkon camp.
Their path to the river was almost an hour long and completely undisturbed, and their troubles were rewarded by the site of the countless lights of the glukkon camp shining brightly on the other side of the river, and the unmistakable sight of a train pulling into its goods depot.
Ross looked back at Sid and the others quickly and signalled them to get down; all of them crouched on the bank, as one of the many floodlights from the camp danced slowly over the water’s surface. Obviously trying to pick out intruders.
Clearly they were not the only ones who had thought to raid the industrialists.
As soon as the floodlight had began circling the camp once again, Ross, Theya and Tom began to wade through the river towards their target, Sid followed then into the cold water, followed by uther, Eefle , Roger and Marty.
All of them reached the opposite bank undetected. And lead by Ross, the eight mudokons tiptoed up to the fence of the camp, and peered inside.
There were lots of make-shift buildings, serving as a barracks and several smaller ones which were obviously accommodation, and a large cage in which were housed about two dozen mudokons, many of whom were screaming to be let free or hurling abuse at nearby sligs.
Sid looked around the living hell and he felt a surge of anger and fear As he saw in a secluded corner of the camp, a mudokon trembling on the ground as a slig brutally beat him.
“This is what you get for trying to escape mud”! The slig was wearing no mask and his face was frantic, like a maniac. He swiped and swiped at the trembling native on the floor then frog-marched him back to his cage.
“Pick the lock again and you’ll lose an ear”! The slig shouted. “I swear it”.
The eight resistance fighters looked at each other, all with a mixture of fear and disgust on their faces. Sid. Who could bare it no longer said. “Now Tom, do it now”.

Tom nodded, and Roger produced from the sack he was carrying, what were obviously, homemade explosives. Tom vanished out of sight and within seconds the seven remaining muds saw his firebomb hurl across the wall, bounce off the barracks and land with a clunk at its entrance. Screams of alarm dotted the camp and in no time at all there was a dazzling bright flash and a bone shattering noise as the barracks disappeared under a column of fire.
“Now” shouted roger as all the sligs ran over to the burning building in an attempt to quell the flames. As quick as a flash, Roger grabbed an explosive, clicked off the detonator and crammed it under the fence.
“MOVE” Theya and Marty screamed at once and they all dived away from their positions as the dull “thud” of the crude grenade blew a hole in the fence.
Sid looked at the gaping wound they had made in the fence and in unison; all of them rose up and charged into the glukkon camp. Eefle and Marty producing spoocebows and throwing a hail of confusing blue fire all over the place. Whilst the sligs in the background still coped with the fire (which had now spread to other bunkers)
Theya, Ross and Sid ran over to the cage in the middle of the camp.
“Who are you”? Cried one of the muds from inside
“J-just a friend” Sid replied quickly. “Now stand back”. Theya clicked an explosive and jammed in the door. The muds inside stood back (as did Sid and Theya) and the door blew off its hinges.

“Go!, NOW”! Marty screamed at them, indicating the hole that had been blown in the wall. The mudokons flooded out of the camp, into the river and disappeared into the woods beyond.
“Ok” Marty shouted, “Let’s go ... ROSS”!
Ross had finished pummelling several sligs into the ground when he turned round, pulled out a grenade and lobbed it under the nearby train. It exploded and pummels of black smoke towered above them in seconds, Fire rose from its radiator and liquid metal ran from the stricken vehicle like tears.
“Get em”! A sligs voice sounded from the distance and Sid knew this to be a sign to leave ... quickly.
The sligs made a good attempt at catching them but the cloud of smoke so thick that they soon gave up, and the seven mudokons soon found themselves back in the woods, taking residence in the Mudomo ruins away from it all.
Sid’s heart was pounding so heart he thought it would leap from his chest; he lay down on the grass and just allowed the shock of it all to wash over him. It was very cold since they had not lit a fire, Theya had said it was best to lay low as to the industrialists this was a capital offence.
But still the moments of terror had passed and they all rested there, not saying a word, bathed in the light of the moon and stars and the great circular ruined walls their ancestors had built all around them, knowing that they had done good this night, and all those muds were back with their families; or would be very soon.
Finally Sid turned to Roger. “Did you make those things”? He asked. “The bombs i mean”.
Roger smiled. “’mazin what a few pounds o’ bonepowder will do ain’t it”?
“Tom would have gone back to HQ by now” Ross interrupted. “He should be-“
Ross stopped. They all heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps nearby.