The laughter brought warmth to my old bones. I chortled as the young krogan, some barely old enough to walk, chased each other with small sticks. Serenka chuckled beside me as she passed another plate of roasted varren. Innot lifted young Grinx, a chocolate skinned, blue crested boy, into the air. The young male would be as strong as his father, no doubt. Innot, unlike many of us, was unaffected by the genophage, but she followed my footsteps. We were Jorgal, our line was one of the strongest breeding lines. We would not abandon any child. She already had 47 children, birthed and adopted.
The canvas covering the living areas allowed a faint flickering of sunlight to decorate the dusty floor. The ruins of the ancient civilisation towered above us, remnants of culture we threw away through stupidity and greed. I longed to see the krogan people rise to the greatness of our ancestors, without the blood-lust that had slaughtered our culture and destroyed our home. It had been a week since my departure from the Starquake. I had not received any news, which relieved and worried me at the same time. Nevertheless, my time here was welcome. I had not realised how stressed I had been on the ship, tension that once held my muscles taut now released. Between fretting for Endellion and attempting to catch what slipped from her critical net, I was thankful for the rest. And the peace. Serenka lowered herself beside me, the pale female clasping a young child in her arms. Her silver crest glinted in the sunlight.
"Shannow has returned from the neutral ground, looks like she may have another chance at a child now," Serenka said.
"Wonderful news! Let us hope the genophage is kinder to her this time," I replied. "Innot has certainly filled your shoes for running the clan," Serenka laughed.
"She is considering becoming a shaman for the clan," Serenka smiled. I straightened.
"Truly? She certainly is strong like her mother was. The trials are not to be underestimated. She is fertile, though. Can we afford to take such a risk?" I asked, pride welling in my voice despite the fear. Serenka turned as Innot approached, overhearing our topic.
"I know I can do it, mother," she said, voice dropping as she set her jaw, pulling herself straight. "The trials are difficult, but the genophage has taught me much more than any book or rite," Innot pressed. Tears threatened to rise as I listened. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close. She squeezed back.
"You make me proud, Innot. You will be a fine shaman," I released her, holding her shoulders, ignoring the children running around my feet as a smile spread wide over my face. I heard a clatter of some pots nearby, laughter rising immediately. I grinned. "Now, you said my youngest grandchildren are able to speak now?" I asked. Innot laughed as she pulled me to my feet, leading me to a huddle of her children. I cast a glance into a nearby tent. I spotted mountains of food, ready to be cooked. I frowned, turning to Innot. Innot blinked as she picked up a young babe from a crib. She followed my gaze.
"Ah, we have a gathering tonight. We need to prepare the feast," she smiled. "Females and children from all clans are visiting, an advantage of Urdnot's new rules,"
"A gathering? Have mercy, how many are we expecting?" I asked.
"A few hundred," Innot said. "Don't worry, we'll have enough food,"
"I am more concerned about the number of hands available to prepare it," I chuckled, holding the young babe in my arms. My heart melted as it wriggled, small squeaks escaping. This was why I breathed. I pressed the babe close, taking in the young life. This was what I fought for.
I spent hours in the tents with the other women preparing for the night. Varren were cut, cooked and served, placed in heated pits to keep them warm while we prepared bread. I subdued my joy, my body falling into the old routine, a routine I had not experienced in many years. Time was soon lost to me as children tried to snatch pieces of food while we were otherwise occupied. Debates how to stuff the pyjak and goodness knows what else. I sucked in a breath, taking in the scent of the roasted food in the dry air. I was home.
As evening fell, the night was alive with light and music. I had never seen so many children and women gathered in a single area. Fires lit the landscape, candles burned as tiny sentinels as the night dragged the stars to decorate the sky. I found myself deep in conversation with an elderly female from Clan Werlock. We discussed the genophage, children, she even mentioned some of the ruins near their old clan, spoke of the tales that were hidden in the ancient markings of our ancestors. She had no idea what these ruins were, a tribute to some ancient god? Perhaps a tribute to the numerous thresher maws that prowled these lands. Another female arrived, this from Clan Ravanor. Within hours I was surrounded by bickering old women complaining about the boisterous nature of the younger generation. Pleasure lit my bloodstream. I missed this, conversing about simple things. Yes, the males were over-baring and the politics nearly non-existent until we were able to sort ourselves out, but it was not galactic destruction. I looked up as Innot approached.
"Mother, Serenka wishes to speak with you," she said. I chuckled.
"Thank you, dear. Excuse me, ladies," I released myself, standing from the perch I had spent the better part of four hours. I weaved through the masses, passing greetings as I heard them, dancing around the swell of children. The air was electrified with life and music. I found myself distracted by chatter, forcing myself to push past the familiar faces as I traversed the crowds until I reached a small tent neat the outskirts of the compound. The layers covering the door parted with ease when I strode inside the tent. "Serenka?" I called.
The round entrance room of the tent was empty, the fire in the middle of the room burnt to mere embers. I frowned, pushing the curtain to the side fully as I stepped inside. No response. Was Serenka here? Oh, I should have asked Innot before disappearing. My mind was not what it used to be, it seemed. I called again as I walked to a nearby room attached to the gathering room. I pushed the flap aside, faced with a small bedroom. There was no sign of life here. I furrowed my brow as I retreated, turning to the flap next to it. Again, empty. A stone settled in my stomach as I moved into the last room, the kitchen. If Serenka was not here, then she would be in another tent. Finding her with this many people would be troublesome. As I entered the room, just beyond a small table, I saw a form lying on the floor.
"Serenka!" I cried, dashing over the distance. I fell to my knees beside the form, revealed to be the krogan. I grabbed her shoulders, rolling her over onto her back to see her face.
Serenka shuddered, pale and in a cold sweat. She heaved herself into a sitting position with my aid, I secured a supportive arm over her shoulders. I saw no reason for her collapse. Was she unwell? Serenka raised her head, gazed at me with bleary eyes. Her eyes bled, droplets of blood flowing from her ears. Her eyes were dull, void, yet she still breathed. My heart skipped a beat. Her pupils narrowed to slits. With a maniacal cry, she grasped a knife and flung herself at me. I fell back, body sluggish to react. Instinct threw the smaller krogan away as I rolled back onto my feet. My reactions quickened as she flailed back towards me. I grabbed her hands, trying to restrain the thrashing woman as she struggled to claw me. All the while, my mind filled with conflicting information. Serenka was placid and gentle in nature. Even in illness she would never- I never knew her to have a drop of violence in her.
The woman screamed, foam collecting around her mouth. I struggled to hold her, resisting her attempts to push me. I tried to talk to her, to bring her back to her senses but she jumped back, dragging me forward and destroying my stability. I looked up in time to see the glint of the kitchen knife her hands. My own hands still aimed to the ground to catch my fall. I screamed as the knife carved down my crest, slicing over my face and throat. With no options left, I biotically threw her out the tent, the walls collapsing under her weight. The roof sagged around me as I thrashed for freedom. I held my face, hands soaked in blood. I pulled enough fabric and metal poles away to free myself from the collapsed tent. I grabbed some of the tent, tearing it off before pressing it to my face. I prayed the bleeding eased, for one eye did not wish to open despite the blade missing it. I pried the remaining eye open to assess the situation.
Screaming broke out across the camp, a shrill that shattered any warmth and nostalgia I had experienced earlier. My thoughts were muddled as I stumbled to my feet, spinning as I the swell of people around me flowed in waves. Everyone shifted in different directions, there was no pattern to the chaos. I was not sure what caused the outbreak. Was it Serenka? No, she would not have caused a camp wide stampede. The camp sprawled too far for her to amass terror in so many people already. I stumbled through the fleeing people, trying to peer through the blood. In the distance, I spotted a silvery mint crest in the distance.
"Innot!" I called. Innot whirled around, eyes wide and jaw agape. Her chocolate skin paled as she noticed my injuries. She sprinted towards me.
"Mother! You're hurt! What happened?" she asked, pressing the cloth tighter to my face. I grunted, grabbing her and pulling her a step closer to me to avoid being taken out for a charging krogan.
"Serenka attacked me. I-I think she has lost her mind, she was wild. What is going on?" I called over the noise. Innot looked over her shoulder, dragging me away, to move with the flow of the chaotic stampede around us.
"I-I don't know. It is anarchy! People are getting stabbed, people screaming, running over each other. People are being crushed out there! Mother, what do we do?" she begged. I struggled to see the true extent of the disorder, but there was nothing but terrified krogan. I set my jaw.
"Find whoever you can and run, I will meet you by the old ruins to the south of the Igunt Fissure," I told her, pushing her into the swelling crowd. Innot cried my name, reached for me but the crowd had captured her. She was swallowed within seconds.
I pushed through the swarm of krogan, aiming for a particular tent that held the only thing that may save me should this worsen. On the eastern side of the sea of fabrics and tents, smoke rose as fire spread through the carnage of the once serene gathering. It would engulf everything in minutes if one was not careful. I ducked under flaming roofs until I reached the necessary tent, an inconspicuous abode. I wrenched the fabric aside, lunging for a box in the corner. Inside, a lone shotgun. I yanked the gun free, securing within the wraps of material around my waist. I ducked under the tent flap and back into the fray.
I thrust my way through the crowd, trying to locate the cause of the panic, but through the screaming people, I saw nothing. I found dead sprawled in the dirt, both grown and young. I ran around a corner. Something blunt hit me, like a bat. It blinded me as I shuddered to the ground, black spots marring my vision. As my brain rattled in my head, I weaved a biotic shield, trying to pry my eye open. The shield fluttered with the bullets of shotguns and rifles. I grabbed the shotgun with one hand as I managed to open an eye, peering through the blood. The area before me was empty. I faltered, spinning to examine the entire area around me. All was still, not a single soul. Not a single soul at all. Had... had I passed out?
I pushed myself to my feet, trying to find the mass of people around me. I did not hear any screams, not a single krogan crossed my path. I did not even feel the thunder of feet beneath me. The fire still swallowed the camp around me, burning the sky amber and the bodies still lay there, still as the rocks in the distance. I could not understand what had happened. I had heard the shotguns, felt my biotic barrier flutter moments ago. I staggered away, fraught to find some semblance of sanity. I couldn't find any dead. There was nothing, an abandoned camp. I felt the ground tremble beneath me. It was no earthquake, I understood that. I spun, expecting people around me. I saw nothing.
The earth rocked once more, stronger, longer. I lowered the shotgun, trying to assess the whole situation as calmly as the blood pouring from my injured face and throat would allow. It was not an earthquake, it was not a horde of people. The only alternative was- I clenched my teeth, knees trembling as I pushed away from the camp, towards the craggy outcrops of the nearby mountains. I did not have much time, the tremors were too close. I turned my attention to moving south, to solid ground that would not be pierced so easily. I made it to the edge of the burning camp.
The earth erupted nearby, a fountain of dust and rock spewing upwards. I wheeled around, eyes floundering upwards as a thresher maw rose above the soil. Its roar trembled the very air. I stared up at the monster, frozen as it scanned the ruined camp. How had a thresher found us? The specialised maw hammers had never failed to drive them to different areas, away from the female camps. Why was a maw here now? It ducked its head, scanning the area. My legs released and I turned and ran for the nearby mountains, the hard rock would protect me for a time. The ground rumbled. My heart sank as my feet fumbled to stay upright.
Three more burst from the ground, igniting a frenzy of territorial proportions. The screeching sounds turned my blood cold as the distant mountains crept closer. More threshers surfaced, more than I wanted to count. I heard one almighty roar, shuddering the ground beneath me. The dust around me stirred. I dived to the side. A maw ruptured passed me, tossing me aside as dirt crumbled around me. I landed with a grunt, already rolling as survival instinct kicked in. I grabbed the shotgun, releasing a point blank shot to the tongue. It reared back with an ear piercing screech, the dust blinding me to the surrounding areas. I had lost sight of the mountains, lost sight of the sky. I sprinted through the cloud of earth as more maws rose up, dislodging my footing.
The maws fought with each other, tossing themselves around like flails. A claw would whip passed me in the dust cloud, a tongue would skim past my head. I was sent soaring, crashing into the ground hard enough to open the wounds on my face by a crashing maw. I secured the shotgun and lifted myself with biotics. I flung myself in a direction, any direction, to get out of the dust cloud. I landed on a pile of rocks near the base of the mountains. Instinct has once again spared me. I heaved myself up to my feet, scrambling up the slopes to reach higher ground.
The maws noticed their prey had fled, their quarrelling ceased. I swayed as the resulting earthquakes shook the mountain. I pulled myself up a ledge, cautious of the numerous gouges ripped through the rock that had collapsed into the ruins that lay beneath. As I climbed the face before me, a maw threw rubble in my direction. It missed, but dislodged rocks above me. My biotics surrounded me, to shield me from the hit. My hand hold broke free from the rock face. I screamed as I tumbled, slamming into the ground in the darkness of the ruins below. My biotics cushioned part of the blow.
I lay there, rasping for breathe in the musky air, listening to the ruins rattle as the threshers roared. I heard the faint tinkling of rock fragments chipping the ground below. I winced as I rolled onto my knees, easing myself onto my feet. In my older age, my regenerative abilities were not what they once were. The light from above rained a faint a ray of light, yet it was not enough to see the walls surrounding me. Enough leaked through to assure me the surrounding floor was safe. I opened my omni-tool, basking the broken walls in an orange hue. I limped my way through the maze, trying to find some exit to this place, to anywhere that did not have thresher maws waiting for me.
The ruins spoke of an ancient time, a truly ancient time. Wall carvings decorated the walls, tales of what we once were. Some murals had shattered through collapse, others lay hidden behind layers of dust that had accumulated in the ruins. The floors varied from stable to collapsed holes in the ground. Holes into darkened abysses would rise from the shadows, the ground would tremble a warning that ahead was unstable. I stumbled over the rubble, sometimes forced to turn around when I realised a corridor was blocked. Some sparse vegetation, a rarity, did exist. Moss lined the dampest shadows, the air heavy with moisture. The nuclear fallout had not killed everything, blessedly.
When I thought the ruins had held me captive like so many before me, the dank ruins expanded out, I found myself in the valley floor of a 200m high gorge, a faint river struggling to flow beneath me. The cool water, sparse as it was, relieved the sores on my worn and battered feet. I dragged my way through the weakened flow, locating a natural path upwards, a rough walkway that promised safety. I traversed the path, spiralling upwards in the darkness. There were times I had to pin myself to the cliff face to sidle over a thin hold. The rocks would tumble down the cliff to the dirt below. The path did widen as I reached the top, the air fresher than the dank gorge floor.
Out of the fissure, my eyes turned towards the horizon. A yellow hue stained the sky, the lowest stars struggling to tinkle through it. The sun would kiss the horizon in half an hours' time. The warm rays would be welcome. My bones trembled, my muscles pleaded for an end. I staggered onwards to a ruin, more solid rock on which to stand on should the maws return. In the distance, a small gathering of krogan, about 20 to 30, but it was difficult to see from here. They were females and children. I sighed in relief as I stumbled over. I was close, so close to the end. Someone spotted me, the group turning attentive. The group rushing towards me, a fanfare of voices. At the head, Innot sprinted onwards, brows upturned and eyes wide. She hugged me, squeezing me tight. I had to fight to stay upright.
"Mother! You are alright?" Innot asked, searching me over.
"I will survive, my dear. Is everyone safe?" I replied. The small children trotted up to me, clinging to my legs. I laid a heavy hand on their heads. "Do you have any idea what happened? I could not find anything,"
"I'm afraid not, mother, no one is really sure what happened," Innot said. "You look awful, mother, what happened?"
"Thresher maws," I sighed. "Let us not dwell on it. Come, let us find shelter for a time. I do not know if my old bones can take much more punishment,"
"Of course, let's get you seen to," Innot smiled.
A sharp pain erupted from my legs. I heaved, my knees collapsing. As I fell, my eyes met that of my grandchildren, armed with daggers, ripping shreds out of my thighs. I could not process it. I refused to. The dagger rose again to strike. I could not move, frozen. They screamed maniacally, diving for me. The rest of the females, women I considered sisters, leapt at me, knifes in hand. I could only stare with wide eyes. I could not comprehend what was happening to me. The daggers cut deep, I covered my face with my arms, summoning enough strength to plead with them to stop.
"That's enough," Innot summoned. The krogan ceased, backing away without a word. Innot approached. I could make out her form above me as she knelt down to me, but my vision was failing, I could only see part of her face. "I would have thought, oh dear mother, that the Advocacy would have trained you better. I am relieved to see that is not the case,"
"Ad... vocacy..." I managed. No, no, no, no, no, no. Not Innot. It was impossible. She had never been more than 50 years out of my sight! It was not possible! She was my daughter, she was normal, she wasn't a- "Saboteur...?"
"Sweet dreams, mother," Innot smiled as she plunged a dagger into my throat, cutting upwards towards my jaw. I gurgled on the blood, a warmth spreading over my neck. Consciousness abandoned me just as Innot rolled me to the cliff edge. My last known thought was the sensation of falling.
The Saboteur Sheet has been updated for this chapter. Please see profile for link to Archive.
A/N: Book 1 edits are nearly done, just chapter 25 onwards to finish. These should be done by the end of the week and then I can take a break before delving into Homecoming. Revenant edits will be done at the end of the book, as per usual.
I've created a poll (which you can access at the very top of my profile) which is asking about where you would prefer the location of the Fact Sheet/Timeline/Saboteur Sheet updates. I've only just realised now (you'll have to excuse me, it took me 13 months to realise I missed Dell's scar in the Revenant Poster for God sake) that it would introduce spoilers to the chapter. So, it's a simple question as to whether you prefer them at the start or at the end. You can also leave a review saying which one you prefer.