[shaman]

Damn sorry it took so long to get the next part up. i almost forgot about it. Anyways i estimate that there is about one more chapter left.

11: uprising
Sid sat with Theo in his tent in the middle of the temple. It was early evening, the fires inside had been out for hours though; to stop any passing sligs from suspecting that the ancient temple may still be occupied by mudokons. Marty and Archie had long since fell asleep in anticipation for the raid they were going to pull tomorrow –news of which had spread throughout the community – but Sid was unable to sleep. He clutched a spoocebow in his hand (he had been issued with one just after he had left Marley’s company and had spent the time learning how to use it) Theo just sat in his corner humming gingerly to himself, trying to break the silence.
“What can i expect tomorrow”? Sid asked Theo.
“Just keep your head down” Theo replied vacantly. “There’s a clacker settlement not far from here, I imagine Marley will order us to hit that; the clackers usually have some good loot to be made use of, we can trade lots of supplied with what we plunder”...
Sid nodded, the seriousness of the task had at last hit him, but he had to shrug his fear aside because of the many other burning questions rearing their ugly heads.
There was an unbearably long silence, and then Sid said.
“Did my mother ever help the NLA”?
At this Theo looked up Sid could see that he knew whom he was referring to; the question had obviously struck a nerve.
“Yeah she did” Theo replied at last. “She came with us on loads of raids, a real activist just like you two. “Got herself banished from her tribe as well, she told me she had made your big face tell everyone she had been kidnapped, to protect her good name see”?.
Sid swelled with pride at this – there was still hope that she was out there.
“Looks like me and Mart are turning out just like she did” Sid laughed.
Theo looked up; his expression was unmistakably pained, as though suppressing an emotional agony.
Part of Sid was begging him not to push the matter. But his mother was missing, and he felt angry at himself for even suggesting that he should just accept that.
“w – what happened to her”?
Theo looked up this time in genuine horror.
“What you have to understand Sid is that –“
“I need to know Theo”. Sid retorted slightly angrily.
Theo shivered as his worst memories washed ashore again, and it was obvious that he could hardly bear Sid’s gaze, after a long while Theo stood up and turned to Sid with silver tears shimmering in his eyes..
“you know what happened and don’t you make me tell you”
And with that he left the tent into the temple.
Dawn.
A scrab roar broke the peace of the morning. Scrabania laid still and silent, no sand storms today, it was clear and cool. A thick atmosphere of tension hung over the temple. Sid waited outside his tent. All around the other mudokons were emerging - Armed to the teeth and ready. A large group of Elum were outside grunting and waiting for their riders.
Marty and Archie joined Sid, followed shortly by Theo and the rest of the mudokons from the mines.
“Good day”. Theo announced smiling.
Some of the others nodded and made their way towards the Elum outside.
“If anything goes wrong, turn around and get out, that’s what happens ok”? Theo whispered to Sid and Marty.
“Ok” They both replied.

The mood outside could be described in many different ways, but pleasant was not one of them. In fact it was terrifying, no wonder the NLA were feared so. Hundreds of mudokons armed with terrible looking bows and tomahawks were sharpening many other remorseless looking knives, or perhaps slapping magazines into customized guns.
They were deploying into a neat rank outside the temple, with a few sentries on the upper levels looking over them all.

“Hey”! Theo yelled at Sid and Marty. “Come on or you’ll get left behind”!
He pointed them to two Elum standing close to the temple walls, Sid and Marty had decent experience with Riding Elum and easily kept up with eh others – but only because they were taking it slow so they would not make too much noise.
A gentle gust of wind swept over the rebels; it was calm, even the scrabs seemed to have given their morning hunt a rest for the sake of a successful raid. And even without the scrabs, Sid had a feeling that today would see enough blood.
Night time is short in scrabania, and even though it was early the sun hung high in the sky, even by the desert’s standard it was becoming monstrously hot. So the prospect of a blood pumping raid was not a welcome one, still the close – knit crowd of muds kept riding slowly through the desert, until they crept over a sand dune a few miles from the temple. From there they could see the town which the industrialists called “Heckena” stretched out before them.
Some storm clouds had begun to form, promising a the rare gift of rain, it was still very hot; In this blistering heat the town was deserted, obviously the occupants had retreated indoors.
It was mainly populated by Clackers, which was basically the backbone of the mudokon strategy. Clackers were slow and cowardly, and were a welcome break from the battle – ready sligs which were easy to encounter.
Sid and Marty were on the left end of the neat line the mudokons had deployed themselves into, the other NLA memers had arranged themselves into an orderly rank above the town, even Sid with his very little amount of battle smarts could tell that this formation would be impossible to escape on foot.
The mudokons stood still, Marley had materialised at the front, clad in his jacket and with a tomahawk belted at his side, and carrying a sawn off blitz packer, obviously they were waiting for his signal.
A slight gust of wind interrupted the silence of the town; the atmosphere was horridly thick with anticipation as marley produced a horn from his loincloth to signal the surrounding mudokons to attack.
Marley put the horn to his mouth.
Sid’s attention was caught by the mudokon next to him, a weird looking one with many piercings dotted about his rough face, he smiled.

“The weirdos of Necrum told me that neither I nor the mudokons with me would die in my next battle”
Sid nodded, unaware weather to laugh or not, the mudokon next to him looked over the town.
“Well, at least that’s what I think they said”

The horn sounded and echoed over the town. And the whole line of mudokons began descending the dune to strike deep into the heart of the settlement. Almost automatically, Sid and Marty spurred their Elum and followed. By now the Clackers had obviously noticed their attackers and thousands of terrified screams were lifting from the town, soon drowned out by the rattling gunfire as the NLA began loosing off shots as they rode, Theo looked back at Sid and Marty, as they thundered down the slopes, Sid knew he had to take part.

Sid raised his spoocebow, and squeezed the trigger. A hail of blue shots erupted from the end and joined the millions of others fired from the screaming mudokons stampeding into Heckena. The noise was immense and Sid saw the tiny dots that were the Clackers running terrified from their homes, in a hopeless attempt to escape. The tin roofs splattered and collapsed as the spoocebows shredded through the settlement, and the distinct rattle of a few blitz packers could be heard over the din of the assault.
The NLA in front of Sid and Marty had now spared their spoocebows and pulled out their tomahawks, more screams from the terrified Clackers, as the flapped and ran frantically to escape, fires were emerging from the town’s buildings now as the wall of mudokons devoured every scrap of resistance in their path, soon Sid and Marty were in the burning town.
It was an utter travesty, the noise was monstrous, everywhere burning buildings fell in on themselves and great columns of smoke rose from a stricken oil storage facility, mudokons everywhere began looting the area for anything they could find, the screams still had not died down, the Clackers could be heard all around lamenting their gutted home.
“Welcome to the revolution”. Said a voice behind Sid, it was Marley. He had dismounted and was striding casually towards them, his blitz packer smoking in his hands. “Leave your Elum here, and follow me to their bank”.

Sid obeyed and he and Marty dismounted. They followed Marley through the empty streets into what was evidently the town centre, Where the rest of the NLA had met up after leaving their Elum at the edge of town.
Several Clackers were detained within the circle of mudokons, including Archie. Who for the first time since Sid had met him looked genuinely disgusted all of them looked slightly well off, they were dressed finely and each bore a look of despair on their face.
Theo joined Sid; obviously he knew what Sid was thinking.
“Slave dealers”. He said angrily. “Most of the scrubs in that mine we were sold by them”.
id looked at Theo, then back at the Clackers. Who were now being kicked into a neat line by the mudokon rebels surrounding them, He couldn’t help feeling sorry for them.
“Come on”. Theo said “we have things to do here”.
He lead Sid, Marty and a small group of NLA members deeper into the burning town, they came across a large building- the town jail several mudokon prisoners were being hurriedly taken from the building having been rescued by the NLA. Sid followed Marley and Theo to the treasury with the other NLA members. Here came the moment they had all been waiting for...
Excellent! Marley shouted throwing his hat into the air in celebration. The plundered gold from the Clackers treasury safe glinted in the firelight of the burning buildings outside. As several mudokons scooped it into large sacks to be carried off the headquarters, Theo spoke up.
“What about the other Clackers that my squads captured”?
“Let them go” Marley replied, still captivated by the sweet shining of their prize. “All of them apart from those slavers we rooted out, our boys looked pretty wild when they found out they were around here, so I’ve decided not to get involved and not deny the other members justice, you and the other captains can decide what happens to them”.
Theo nodded and left into the ruined settlement.
“Wish I got hold of those slave dealers by odd I do”. Marty snarled. Sid nodded; it was an unpleasant notion to agree with, but after his own time in the mines he knew how Marty felt”.
“It’s not uncommon to find people selling mudokon tribesmen to the glukkons around here”. Marley said callously.
“No offence” Marty began. “your just going to let them live, after all they did, after all they still might do”.
“Don’t kid yourself son”. Marley replied examining a particularly large gold nugget of gold. “Theo’s just an activist, not a violent bone in that mud, but the other captains, they were enslaved at Necrum mines and Rupture Farms. They had it so rough it’s hard to imagine why they didn’t choke those Clackers when we first charged the place. I know for a fact when i say: you guys decide what to do with the slave dealers we capture; that’s pretty much code for shoot em’”.
The other Mudokons sniggered and continued shovelling their captured swag. It had all gone quiet now, but Sid heard the distinct sound of gunfire outside...