[shaman]

fourth part. !!!!!!!!!TWIST ALERT!!!!!!!!!

4 The fugitive
All of them sat rooted to the spot. Far too afraid to move, surely they had gone far enough from the camp to avoid being caught.
As the footsteps grew louder and closer, Sid became all the more aware of what would happen if they were discovered.
It was a death sentence.
He gulped and shut his eyes. Unable to bare the glow of the sligs res eyes as it marched through the ruins.
“Hi guys”!
Sid opened his eyes; Pushing through the bushes, looking out of breath, was Tom. They all breathed a sigh of relief.
“Where did you go”! Theya shouted as she hugged Tom. “Ross said you’d gone back to HQ but we feared the worst”.
“I’ve done this like three times before”. Tom retorted. “And this won’t be the last time either”.

So they all sat there for what hours, until the first light shone dimly over the horizon. Sid was confident that the industrialists. Who were probably combing the lands outlying their camp, would never find this place, no slig had ever stood on these ruins before, and plus the mudokons knew the land far better than them.
So Sid had ample time to make it back to his tribe by taking alternate routes that the sligs didn’t know, still though he tried to get back before everyone got up to avoid any awkward questions.
Sid arrived at his camp as soon as he could. Thankfully. No one was awake yet, and he tiptoed back to his shelter, anxiously awaiting the conversations he and Marty (who had gone home hours before Sid) would share about this little secret.
Sid had absolutely no doubt in his mind that the industrialists would come asking around soon, still they had no proof it was any of them, and they couldn’t round up the whole tribe and check them all, so Sid promised himself that he would keep a low profile whenever a group of sligs came looking for the perpetrators.
Still it had been a long night, and there was no time to think of that kind of stuff now. Now Sid could finally get some sleep.
The next few days were very uninteresting. Occasionally, Sid and Marty would exchange glances and start to laugh, which annoyed the hell out of some of their friends who saw it as an immature inside joke. Although the glukkon camp was only a few miles away, no news had come to the tribe about it being raided. (For which Sid was very grateful) no sligs had called either. It seemed that they had given up hope of finding whoever had burned down all those buildings and set free some many “scrubs to be”.

Weeks passed. And still there was no news about what had happened at the camp. Of course by now the tribe knew that the industrialist property had “mysteriously” caught fire. But they had no idea that it had been attacked.
Marty and Sid had been talking frequently about the events that had happened that night. Now, they both stood in the middle of an open plain about a mile from their tribe ,next to a large lake it was very lonely there. They were supposed to be fishing but it was a perfect place for a conversation that could get you killed.
“There hasn’t been much news has there”? Marty said in a disappointed tone.
“Good” Sid replied blankly. “The less news there is the less chance we’ve got of being caught”.
“i would actually like to know if my cousin got out ok”. Marty replied rather loudly. So that Sid looked around for eavesdroppers. “I haven’t seen him since we rescued him”.
Sid shrugged. “That’s because he lives like... miles away”.
“I’m just a little worried man”. Marty said.
It was easy to tell that Marty was stressing out. “Tell you what”. Sid said. Tomorrow we’ll go to his camp and see if he’s ok ... which I’m sure he will be”.
Marty smiled. “You sure”? ... “I mean I’ll go myself if you don’t want to-“
“i’ll go don’t worry yourself”. Sid laughed. “Anyway we don’t start training again for another week ain’t it”.
“Thanks, anyway we better get on with the fishing just in case the hunters blow it”.
So they walked across the plain to the lake. Winter was only around the corner, and the small strip of wet land surrounding the lake was alive with ratz attempting to find fish that had been washed up.
It was a clear day, though fairly cold. Abe’s moon was visible in the sky, though it was daytime. All in all it was a beautiful time of year, and the winter grip was becoming ever stronger.
The next couple of hours were spent relaxing and joking about their pitiful catch, soon it was mid-day. The two of them had to cook a few of the fish they caught for there and then but by the end of it they had enough stock to stop everyone blaming them if the hunting was a cock-up.
Sid and Marty weren’t expected back at camp until the evening. So they had some free-time left over, which they spent mostly by sitting by the lake and talking and Sid actually dropped off a couple of times.
“Come on”. Marty said when Sid had finally woken up for the fifth time.
“Yeah s-sure just gimmie a minute”. Sid replied drowsily.
Marty was quiet for a few seconds when he said: “I never knew a train want by here”.
Sid looked up. A train didn’t go by here. “What you talking about”? He said.
“There’s a steam train up there” Marty replied. He was pointing at the hill off in the distance. Exactly where camp was, the hill was shadowed by a tower of black smoke. Sid jumped up in alarm and stared transfixed at the smoke rising from his home.
“Marty...That’s the campsite”. Sid whimpered.
“What”?! Marty replied shocked.
“IT’S THE CAMP”! Sid shouted. “It’s on fire come on”
Sid and Marty took off like a flash towards the smoke. It couldn’t be true, it just couldn’t. Sid thought as he ran. This was probably just an accident, some idiot knocked over a torch or something. Then of course it was still daytime, no need for torches.
Sid and Marty hoofed it through the woods; it was torture not knowing what had happened. But there was still time for optimism. SURELY it was a simple accident and they would arrive out of breath to find their whole tribe fighting the flames and then laugh about the idiocy of the one who was at fault.
When they arrived at camp, Sid found himself to be half right. Yes, there whole tribe was there fighting the flames billowing from three of the huts, and Bigface talking with Mazza and a few other senior members. But no one was laughing.
The whole area was smoky as hell, and several trees were on fire as well as the three shelters.
Sid and Marty approached Big face and the others next to the unbelievable fire.
“We got here as fast as we could”. Sid panted. “What-“
“What the hell happened”!? Marty shouted.
Big face spun round, his mask was down and his blue old face was alight with anger.
“You”! He whispered before raising his stick and advancing on Marty.
“Stop” mazza yelled grabbing Big face’s hands and restraining him.
“It was them”! He yelled. Pointing at Marty and Sid, the other mudokons were now circling them. “Leave me you bastard leave me”!. He attempted to shake off mazza, who surprisingly had to struggle against an old mudokon.
“Big face stop”! mazza yelled and finally Big face fell silent. “Please”.
The whole tribe were now circling Marty and Sid. Big face stood up. Sid, who was itching to know what, was going on. Walked up to bigface.
“Big face-“
“You’re both fools”. Big face sobbed.
“Why”. Sid retorted. “What happened”?. Big face got up and shoved Sid hard.
“Don’t you know what you’ve done you s**t!?”. He shouted. “Don’t you know how much i worked for safety here!, don’t you care”?

He produced a role of paper from his loincloth and shoved it into Sid’s hands.
“Look at it”. He commanded. Sid unrolled the paper. Terrified of what he might see, there on the paper were eight faces; united under a “WANTED” sign.
Marty gasped and Sid just froze. His face and Marty’s were on the paper. Surrounded by Ross, Theya, Eefle, Roger, uthur and Tom.
Mazza walked up to the both of them, Big face put his mask down and sat on the ground, and meanwhile the whole tribe was chattering angrily ion the background.
Mazza looked more disappointed than angry. Sid and Marty were still paralyzed with shock.
“So this is it then”? mazza said. “You grow up here only to throw your lot in with terrorists? What does that show”.
Sid was on the verge of fainting, he felt sick. He could guess what had happened here.
“mazza”. He managed at a whisper trying to hold back tears. “It was weeks ago, we set free about thirty muds. It was-“
“They came about two hours ago”. Mazza said looking at the wanted poster. “At first we thought it was a peaceful caravan that had taken a wrong turn, but then it turned. A slig approached me and asked me about the glukkon camp burning down; I told him I didn’t know a thing. Then he asked me what I knew about certain individuals on the paper”. Mazza rolled his eyes. “Even when i saw you two and the others from this tribe I said I didn’t know you, but they didn’t believe me, they shot fire rounds into the trees and three of the huts, said that they’d be looking for the fugitives, and if he thought we were lying then they’d come with shock troops”.
Sid could hardly believe what he was hearing. He looked at Marty, but couldn’t bear looking at his tribe, who were now jeering at them and throwing stones.
“I’m not finished yet!” mazza shouted and the hail of pebbles stopped. “Roger and Theya decided to leave when we confronted them. They thought it was only right, since you were both fishing then we couldn’t find you so we waited for you here. You’ve endangered us all with your terrorism, and i can hardly believe you didn’t think the Greeters they had installed at their camp wouldn’t take photos of you”. He paused. The whole camp was now watching in silence.
The Big face stood up and mazza looked back at him. The whole tribe was listening intently. Big face nodded, and mazza turned to them and sighed.
“Your criminals”. He said, Sid’s heart jumped into his throat. “So long as your here we are harbouring terrorists”. “The camp leaders and I met just now and decided what to do”.
This had to be a nightmare, he was still asleep at the lake with Marty, the worst case scenario was they would both be late, but this could not be real ... it just couldn’t.
Mazza cleared his throat. “You’re banished. Both of you, we can’t have you staying here, pack your things and we want you out by morning”.
Sid was sure now that he would wake up any minute. But the disappointment in mazza’s face told him otherwise. It would have been better if he had hit Sid, if Sid was honest with himself he didn’t have any plans for the future, but even if he did they would now be shattered.
The tribe were throwing harsh glares as they walked back into their shelters; among them, Zule who stared in disbelief at Marty and Sid.
Mazza was obviously felling the atmosphere as much as everyone else, and escorted Big face back to his shelter.

It was a while before Sid could bear to look up at Marty.
“What happens now”? Marty said.
“What we deserve that’s what”. Sid replied.
Marty put his hand on Sid’s shoulder. “ I’m sorry man”
“what”?!
“i asked you to do this”. Marty whispered. “now neither of us can stay”.
“i wanted to help”!. Sid retorted. “it’s as much my fault as yours”!

Marty stared at him. “Right well, we had better get ready for tomorrow”.
Sid nodded and they went back to their homes.