[shaman]

3) Reign of the thief.

Ianto shivered as the cold morning wind cut through him, and the Elum he was sat on grunted in irritation for having been made to wait for so long. Ianto looked over the stinking swamp, it was a bright, cloudless day; the sun was beginning to peak its way over the jungle and casting a shining glare over the area, the steel monorail tracks below the hill on which he waited glistened in the light.


Ianto was a mudokon, he was in his late teens and was small built and tall, hunched over on his Elum, and clad in a long loincloth belted at his shoulder by a strap, and fastened with a bright badge. He carried a semi – auto spoocebow in his hands, and a scarf covered the lower part of his face.

There were three mudokons on the hill, all waiting silently on their Elum and looking around cautiously. All were armed with short close combat weapons and spoocebows, and one of the older ones carried some unarmed bombs. Anyone with a brainstem could tell they were up to no good.

A light breeze crept over the hill on which the muds were waiting. And suddenly they all turned their heads towards a small clearing at the edge of the swamp where the monorail tracks started. The unmistakable sound of a train whistled from the jungle, and soon they all saw what they had been waiting for; steam.
Steam was rising from the jungle, as always the trains were right on time. One of the Mudokons turned to Ianto.

“Dibs on the blitz packers” Jimmy smirked, and with perfect precision they rode the Elum down the hill right underneath where the train would be going.
The train passed with an audible rumble and Tony swung his sling and catapulted three objects onto the polished metal rails, the train ran right over them, there were several loud beeps. And three dull clangs as the mines exploded. The monorail shuddered and the front of the train crumpled as part of the pistons driving the machine were blown clean out from under it, it landed with a deafening skid on the track above, and the alarms sounded.

Dozens of emergency ladders fell from the exits on the train, and the doors swung open as the alarms carried on sounding. As quick as a flash Ianto and his fellows climbed the ladders and ended up on the train as the driver and staff clambered out of the stricken control room.

The mudokons immediately started throwing the trains merchandise out of the doors to be loaded up. Moolah, ammunition, weapons, food, drink, medicines, and boxes of soulstorm Brew.

“THIS IS A ROBBERY!” Jimmy yelled. “GET ON THE FLOOR ... RIGHT NOW!”

The unarmed Sligs obeyed and were on the floor with absolutely no fight.

“We are sooo fired”! One of them winged. “The boss is gonna kill us!”

“If you don’t shut up I’ll kill you myself!” Tony bellowed. “Now obviously we don’t want
you too mobile while we finish our work”

There were several loud bangs and the sligs screamed. But Tony was a good shot and the only damage was to the kneecaps of the slig’s mechanical pants, which Tony had shot out to prevent them from fighting back or running away.
Soon everything of value the Muds could carry had been loaded up, Jimmy came running out of the train’s armoury with a large number of blitz packers.

“Here you are mates!”He yelled. “Present” Ianto threw his swag over his head and took a blitz packer from Jimmy, thanked him and continued to make his way to the exits.

“Much obliged gents” he said to the sligs - Promoting several laughs from his fellows.

Ianto was (obviously) a bandit, a growing trade here in the old kingdom, before the war his part had been a place where any mud could make his living. But not now N.O.K (North Old Kingdom) was now a town of warcheifs, gang’s bandits and thieves. No doubt the war had caused this boom in illegal activity, but Ianto wasn’t in a rush for it to be over. He wasn’t dumb; he knew the war wouldn’t last forever. So their mischief wouldn’t go unnoticed for much longer.

Pity, because he lived for it.

Soon the three desperadoes were riding quickly over the swamp away from the looted train, the industrialists would find the wreckage and look for the perpetrators, but Ianto had done this sort of thing before. There was a place around here where nobody knew about, save over criminals. And they were not about to give up a hideout of this proportion.

The three mudokons continued out of the muddy swamp into the jungle, a place where the plants on the ground made it impossible to see any tracks. They rode for an hour, deeper and deeper into the trees, more and more the light seemed to be diminishing and for a newcomer it was amazing how they managed to see on the track.
Suddenly, a long whistle sounded from overhead, and all the mudokons stopped. By now they were in a very empty and very old part of the jungle, the only sound was of birds, and the occasional paramite which helped keep industrialists away.

“What’s goin on”? Ianto whispered. “The base isn’t for another mil!e”

Jimmy turned around. “They abandoned that base a week ago Ianto, makes us all harder to track”. “This is where the operations are now.”

“Who the hell’s bright idea was that?!”

Jimmy smirked. “Marley’s”

“You mean that nutter who spent over five years in the scrabanian temple with a bunch of freedom fighters and attacking Clacker towns?!”

“The very same nutter, but whatever we might think, he’s in charge now, the other guys left The Old Kingdom ages ago, and you know that, anywayz we better get inside.”
Ianto looked around; there was nothing but plants and trees, nothing which qualified for a secret entrance. Either this was a cheap trick or the powers that be really did strike the jackpot this time.

“Watch this” Tony smiled. And he walked over to a small tree stump, examined it and took five precise steps to the right. In front of him was a large tree, a massive thing with a huge trunk. Tony ran his finger down the trunk and then begun to knock his fist onto it, in a strange rhythm. Eventually he stopped, and to Ianto’s dismay, a flap at the base of the tree opened, and the unmistakable eyes of a skuba toad greeted them.

“wadda you want?!” It croaked.
Tony looked around. “I’ve lost my Elum” He whispered.

The toad’s eyes darted around. “What Your name?” He said.

“I can’t tell you”

At once the Skuba toad nodded and disappeared, then the whole side of the tree opened up, half the trunk swung away from its side and Ianto saw a slope underneath the tree, leading into a dark stone corridor.
“Come on come on” The toad hissed. “Get in, you too Gormless ... Don’t stand around chumps you wanna bring the sligs down on us now do ya’?!” Ianto obeyed and led his Elum under the tree with the others, into the jungles bowels and into headquarters.
As soon as all of them were inside the toad closed the entrance, leaving them in the dark corridor, it was almost impossible to see and Ianto’s Elum became nervous, the only light was from two small burning torches at the far end of the tunnel, from beyond that Ianto could here muffled voices and music.

They came at last to the end of the tunnel, a small space sloping downwards so by now they were several metres underground. All around thin tree roots stuck out from the ceiling and a the air was stale and hot, a door at the end of the tunnel ground open, where the three muds were greeted by a grub armed with a small tomahawk, the grub pointed them nervously into the main structure, leading their Elum to one side to be fed.
“What’re you doin?!” Tony said indignantly to the grub, which recoiled in fright. “You think you’re trusted with our bounty? You must think I’ve had my eyes stitched up! I know what you do when your left alone with other guy’s loot, they never see it again! Hand it over!”

The grub quickly unstrapped the swag from the Elum and handed it to Tony, then quickly got out of his way at the risk of being beaten up.
Ianto looked around, the whole place was stone built and lit with a few zappfly cages, casting a green light over the place, it was full of many creatures; Grubs, Mudokons, steef and skuba toads, all chatting quietly over their brews, hundreds of weapons were stacked against the walls, along with several customised shooters kept jealously close to their owners. Ianto had done all this before at different locations and he knew the drill – keep yourself to yourself, keep your weapons holstered and don’t make eye contact with anyone.

“What now?” Ianto whispered to jimmy.

“Hang on.” jimmy replied. And he made his way over to one of the tables and started whispering to a particularly robust looking bandit, Ianto saw Jimmy indicate to his friends and the bandit give a curt nod, get up and walk through another door out of sight.

“Come on we better follow him”. Jimmy hurriedly said to Ianto and the others, he then led them into the same door where the bandit had gone, down another small stone corridor into another room, this one was empty apart from the large bandit and five other creatures, two skuba toads and three mudokons., all with their faces hidden and casting angry looks at the bandits who had just walked into their midst.
Tony turned to Ianto. “That’s the rebellion” He whispered; the ones fighting the industrialists down south. Hard bunch – better keep your distance.”
Jimmy walked up to the mudokon at the head of the five bandits, he was much shorter than the rebel and standing face to face with such a figure must have been very unnerving.

“Um” Jimmy mumbled. “We’re here to do business with Marley”

“No no no”, the rebel said quickly in the deep, course accent of The Old Kingdom. “I am Captain Antoc, you will trade with me.”
Jimmy turned to his fellows, And Ianto felt unnerved to see Tony’s hand reach for his spoocebow.
“We came to see Marley nobody else”. Jimmy continued. “Where can I find him?”
The five rebels exchanged looks of frustration.
“I said you will trade with ME!”
Jimmy sighed and walked straight past the rebels to the door at the other end of the room. “Marley, hey it’s me!”
The rebel turned sharply. “HEY!, I KILL YOU! I TOLD YOU THAT YOU TRADE WITH ME!”
“Antoc, do me a favour. And shut up”
The whole room went silent. Everybody turned to see a tall figure strolling from the door next to Jimmy. A mudokon clad in a long loincloth and a leather jacket, with a small scar on his middle aged face and a sawn off blitz packer at his side.
“YOU TOLD ME NOT TO LET ANYONE SEE YOU”. Antoc yelled”THIS LITTLE BASTARD DISRESPECTED ME!”

Marley stopped and addressed Antoc coolly. “Well this isn’t exactly a respectable business captain” He said patronisingly. “I can say that these guys are just another bunch of scummy bandits just like you it don’t seem to bother them”.
Ianto sniggered to see Antoc silenced by someone half his size. The giant mudokon turned and muttered something under his breath about being better respected in the military, Marley snapped.

“Well you know if you go back to the military they’ll just hang you for deserting Antoc! So like it or not you’re stuck here”! Then he turned to Jimmy, Ianto and Tony. “Now then Jimmy I believe you have some loot for me-”.
“Didn’t you used to be a freedom fighter in scrabania”? Tony spluttered, unable to control himself. Ianto looked at him accusingly, Marley just smiled.

“Yes”, he replied Cooley. “But scrabania is” Ianto saw Marley’s hand reach unconsciously to the scar on his face “well not a problem anymore, so I decided I needed to stir up some trouble and profit in my hometown”. Marley then turned quickly to Jimmy. “So let’s see it”.

Ianto and his friends dropped their sacks onto the ground, where their precious interior poured onto the floor, Marley’s eyes lit up as the moolah, ammo and various brand new weapons (some of which were probably unique) were revealed...
“Well well well boys”! He boomed. “I haven’t seen such a prize since my days attacking clacker towns” Antoc muttered under his breath in the background. “So”. Marley said dubiously clapping his hands. “I’ll buy ... Let me see, yes I’ll take those tomahawks, we should make a profit on them”.

This was wonderful, Ianto found it hard to suppress his joy; those tomahawks were worth an awful lot and the Bandits were a wealthy bunch, let alone their rebellion allies. They would be rich!

“Excellent!” Jimmy cried. “You can have them right – “

“I haven’t finished yet!” Marley protested. “The rebellions planning a big operation we need a few boxes of ammo, let me see, I’ll take those hellfire rounds. And the cluster bombs, that’ll be all for the day boys.”
Jimmy divided up the bounty, handing Marley and Antoc their purchases, whilst Marley left the room to fetch their pay. Meanwhile Ianto and Tony chatted excitedly amongst themselves. They hadn’t had this much luck in their whole lives, and clearly the thought of profiting from a war hadn’t crossed a single one of their minds, and even if it did during times like this most of The Old Kingdom’s citizens were ridiculously right – wing ;so Ianto doubted they could be said to have the moral low – ground.
“Pleasure doing business with you boys!” Marley shouted shaking each one of their hands and handing them a small sack of moolah. “Two – thousand, worth every moolah in my opinion, you’ve been a big help. I was thinking we’d soon have nothing left to
shoot em’ with!”

“Thanks very much.” Ianto replied happily.

“Your good bandit’s guys” Marley smiled.

“And that’s why I need to talk to them”.

Marley, Antoc and all the others in the room whipped around, there, standing in their midst, was a tall mudokon in a big – face mask, carrying a long staff and adorned in
many glimmering trinkets and symbols.

“Who the hell are you?!” Marley snapped. “How the hell did you get in?!”

The figure stopped, “My name is Toko.” He replied, calmly. “And I expect you to cooperate with me, I need to speak with these boys, I mean you know harm.”
“A spy!” Antoc yelled running with his tomahawk unsheathed at the intruder. At once Toko reached out a hand and Antoc’s weapon burned white hot. Antoc screamed with pain and dropped the sizzling weapon to the floor, where it cooled in an instant.
“Don’t pick it up, or I’ll do that to your earrings.” Toko warned pointing a finger at the giant mudokon nursing his burned hand. “Now then”

“Tribal magic” Marley muttered. Ianto and the others clutched their weapons. “What do you want?”

“Five hundred, thousand moolah in gold” Toko continued “it’s yours if you listen to me Marley; all of you could be rich; So long as you pay attention.” Marley looked very stern but the fact that this mudokon had entered a hardened bandit camp totally undetected paled in the face of that much gold. Ianto couldn’t blame him, that much loot would mean none of them would ever have to steal again.
“We’re listening” Marley continued. “And – and how to you know my name?!”
Toko shrugged. “I just made a guy’s tomahawk burst into flames without touching it; it’s not surprising that I’m cleverer than I look”

“Tribal magic” Tony whispered to Ianto.

“Shuddup”! Marley snapped. “Ok then, why would you come here just to offer us five hundred, thousand moolah? What’s in it for you?”
“Believe it or not” Toko retorted. “It’s not strength of arms or tacticians which will win this war; it’s a bunch of lousy bandits in a swamp ... who knew? The point is, I need your help and I’m prepared to offer five hundred thousand for it, I can’t say why here” Toko indicated to Antoc. “You don’t know who’s watching”.

Marley upholstered his blitz packer, hiding it behind his back. “What do we do?”
“It is vitally important that you all come to the temple in The Old Kingdom’s capital, I apologise but since no one can be magically travelled to the capital - a nice little security system – You’ll all have to get there yourselves. Still five hundred, thousand’s worth a little trek isn’t it-“

“Now”! Marley yelled firing wildly at Toko. There was a loud crack far louder than the blast from Marley’s blitz packer, and where there should have been a bullet ridden corpse, there was nothing; Toko had vanished.
Marley swore loudly. “Search the base I want that guy dead!, if he get in once he can tell others where to find -”. There was a noise like a gust of wind and simultaneously, Ianto’s weapon along with everyone else’s, imploded in their hands; crushed instantly into tiny fragments of metal.

“He’s still here!” Tony whispered...

“Yes, they say he’s deaf as well.” Everyone looked up; Toko was stood metres above them, hanging in mid air as though it were solid ground.

“Listen”, if you don’t believe me take a look at this”. Toko produced a wad of moolah, there must have been over a thousand in his hand. “There’s more of that at the capital, just make your way there and everyone will be happy. Nobody gets caught, nobody gets SHOT! And we all go home in a good mood ok! I’ll see you there.”
Ianto stared in amazement, who was this mud? Where had he come from, and what on oddworld were they of all creatures going to do to aid the natives in a war? Toko gave Ianto a wink, there was a bright flash and a cracking sound ... and he had vanished, leaving the bandit’s with a great journey in front of them.