~~~~ Chapter Three: A Chance at Glory ~~~~
"Who are you?! Why have you come here to my domain?" spoke the booming voice of Immortan Joe as he arrived to the overlook of the platform entrance flanked on either side by his bodyguards and sons. With baited breath I clung to the railing waiting to see what this stranger's reply to our leader would be as Slit nudged in the ribs with his elbow passing me a pair of binoculars that was making its way down the line. As I held the lenses to my eyes the figure took a clearer form, it appeared to be a thin young man about my height wearing black clothing, rifle strapped to his back, and a fully equipped utility belt with a small side arm. But when I tried to get a glimpse of the guy's face I realized he was wearing a black gas mask that I had seen often worn by the boys from Gas Town, there was no way to make out anymore details from this distance so I passed the lenses to the next pair of eager hands.
Collectively we gazed on as the figure climbed on to the top of the ramshackle cart and held a small amplifier to his mouthpiece, "I'm a dignitary from across the dessert, come to pay tribute to the almighty Immortan Joe and humbly ask for his aid." As so as the word 'tribute' was uttered the wretched swarmed around the cart like flies on carcass, as one they grabbed at the sides of the cart pushing it with their combined weight in an attempt to tip it over. A chorus of cries came from my fellow warboys, some cheered for the stranger to fight while others were hopeful to see a slaughter take place before their eyes. The stranger swayed backwards and forwards with the motion of the cart but his footing never faltered as he began franticly rummaging through his compartments searching for something; hopefully a weapon he could use to defend the precious cargo he carried. Then he pulled his hand out of one pocket holding what looked like a metal rock with a cap on the top, he yanked the top piece off and tossed it towards the zealous crowd. BOOM! An explosion reverberated from the object as thick smoke spewed out from it like an angry exhaust pipe, those that weren't hurt by the explosion started dropping dead-like to the ground while the others scrambled as far away as they could holding their throats and covering their mouths. BANG! BANG! BANG! Gunfire erupted from the strange warrior's pistol taking down anyone within reach of the rickety cart until the horde of people dispersed from sight taking cover behind rocks or in shallow holes as far away as they could from the deadly shots. Satisfied with the reaction the stranger lifted the amplifier to his face again, "I bring tribute to the great Immorten Joe, lower the platform," he said as he held the pistol aimed at his next target waiting for a reply.
Everyone turned to Immorten with weapons at the ready waiting for the signal to shred the newcomer or welcome him into our home. For what seemed like hours Immorten stood there gazing hard at the black cloaked warrior as if he was looking into the boy's soul judging his worthiness until his son ,Corpus Colossus, leaned toward his ear to whisper his opinion. We're too far away to hear what is being discussed between them but for the glances shared between them I'd wager my wheel that Corpus wants to let the warrior inside to receive the tribute. After one last hard glance Immorten raised his left hand motioning the elevator guardians to lower the platform as he spoke into the microphone, " Lay down your weapons as you enter the citadel, we shall consider your tribute and judge whether it is acceptable payment for your request." Hearing the declaration the newcomer hurries to the platform pulling with little effort as he is greeted by the guardians to surrender his weapons to them. Now that the standoff was over many of the warboys were returning to their stations but as the platform was raised I couldn't tear my eyes off the sight of the cart; my gut feeling from last night was coming back in full force telling me something was about to happen. As we entered the tunnels once again I grabbed Slit's arm and pulled him to the side, " We have got to be there when the tributes are presented, something isn't right I know it." Slit gives me a confused expression like he had no idea what I was on about but glanced back at the elevator being docked at the entrance, "You might be on to something Nux, let's find Ace. If anyone could get us in on the meeting it'd be him." Brilliant idea, I thought as we raced to find Ace stopping momentarily to return our weapons to the armory room on our way to the Imperator's lieutenant quarters. We didn't have to look far as Ace was directing the other warboys outside of the gates ordering the newcomer be searched and seize the weapons found on him. "Ace! Me and Slit want to help out can we be your bodyguards or something while this stranger is in the Citadel?" I ask as we come up to his side eying the stranger stood next to the cart with his hands behind his head passively accepting the pat down he was receiving. Ace glanced between us as if sizing us up for the job, "Couldn't hurt to have an extra pair of fists if needed, but do as I say and keep your mouth shut unless you're spoken to. Got it?" he whispered to us giving us a conspiratory grin. Nodding our understanding we took up positions on either side of the cart as the black cloaked stranger took up his position at the front and began to push the cart following Ace as he lead the way towards the center of the citadel.
The throne room was lit by torches of fire hanging along the walls, the air was moist from the aqua cola supply being stored underneath our feet. Evey high ranking member of Immorten's elite were gathered to witness this glorious offering; there in the back waiting for Ace was Imperator Furiosa her eyes trained onto the cart ready for any surprise attack that might be coming our way. Slowly the cart was pulled into the center of the chamber so that all eyes would be able to see the treasures that were held inside would be on display for all to see. Immorten lifted his hand in a silent command to stop the cart's advancement, prompting the stranger to halt his pace and wait for further instructions from our commander. From my position I could see the stranger up close almost within an arm's distance from him, it'd be easy to take him down if Immorten were to give the signal. A deep breath taken got my attention as Immorten addressed the stranger, "Take off your mask newcomer, if you want to negotiate with me I want to see your face."
Slowly the black clad warrior unfastened the straps securing the mask in place and pulled it off his face revealing half a young pink faced boy, just below his nose his mouth was covered with a greenish cloth that wrapped around his neck. He had a sharp beak like nose and his hair style was closely cut brown hair matted to the top of his head but shaved along the sides. His eyes were as blue as the endless sky. 'This boy doesn't even look as old as me and he took down a dozen wretched singlehandedly,' I thought to myself with astonishment, ' Just who is this guy?' The young warrior tied his gas mask to his belt, stood at attention with his hands behind his back, stared directly at our God and began to speak with a rough dry voice that sounded like it had not been used for many days.
"I am 2nd Lieutenant Stitch from the settlement beyond the dessert. Thank you for granting me audience and for accepting my tribute to you great Immorten," he nods his head respectfully towards our leader his rigid posture never wavering. "You continue to speak of tribute but all I see is a rusty old cart carrying five rusty oil drums. I am curious how you made it this far into my domain without coming into contact with my scouts or attracting attention, its very rare to find such a capable warrior wondering the fury road alone and with no car,"said Immorten Joe as he waved his hand towards the cart. Stitch turned his head to look at the cart of which our leader spoke with a knowing look in his eyes that could be found in a mischievous warpup. "I traveled during the night to avoid detection and rested during the day time. Your scouts have passed me on the Fury road but were never aware of my presence. Would you like me to demonstrate how I evaded them?" he said with pride resonating in his voice. 'How could we have missed this dinky little cart?! There is no way this warrior could have survived for so long and made it so deep into our territory without anyone noticing!' I screamed in my head thinking of all the times I was on a patrol struggling to remember if I had ever seen this person before now. Immorten nodded his consent for the demonstration as the Imperators leaned in closer as many were sure to be as interested as the rest of us dying to know just how this warrior managed to slip past our security.
Stitch reached for the edge of the cart's roof, pulled a pin loose and began to pull out what looked like a really shiny sheet of metal that was stored inside a compartment hidden in the design. One by one he pulled an locked the sheets into place until they surrounded the cart reflecting their surroundings; if this thing had been in the middle of the dessert it would look like an other pile of sand in the wastes. This guy even had the gall to say 'Ta-da!' waving his hands toward the now invisible cart. "Very clever boy using mirrors to camouflage your cargo,"mumbled Impertor Furiosa as she leaned back from the display. The young boy bowed towards her for the complainant, it really was quite clever actually. His people probably didn't want him followed from their base and with little weapons or supplies stealth was the best advantage he had in order to survive alone on the Fury Road.
"Why do you still cover your face boy?!" shouted one of the other Impertors pointing at the scarf covering the bottom half of the boy's face. The boy stood back at attention, faced the Impertor calmly stating, " This is part of the reason I am here, our settlement was weakened by a fever that broke out a few weeks ago and in order to prevent the spread of the sickness to your Citadel I have covered my face," he answer was met with a few people backing up from him as unrest began to take root among the elite. Immorten Joe stood to his full height, "YOU DARE BRING DISEASE TO MY FORTRESS!?" Guns were drawn directed at the foolish young warrior as he raised his hands in surrender a look of panic in his eyes as he quickly spoke, "Great Immorten I bring no sickness with me! I was never with fever and was sent on this mission before coming into contact with any of the diseased; I wear this cloth as a courtesy to you and your people in case I could be a carrier of the fever sickness!"
A few tense minutes dragged on as everyone waited for Immorten's next command that would decide the life or death of this interesting young warrior. While Immorten was still considering what to do with him, young Corpus Colossus spoke up, "You swear you come bearing no contagious sickness?" The young warrior quickly nodded towards the man child glancing around the room at the many weapons still pointed at his vulnerable body. Corpus leaned towards his father, " If he has been out in the wastes as long as he claims surely he would've become sick by now if he was infected Dad. But just for extra security we can put him in isolation until after we've finished with the negotiations." Immorten seemed to consider this plan as he lowered his revolver, " Since you don't appear to be sick with the disease we will allow you to stay in the Citadel but you will have to keep interactions with my warriors to a minimum in order to prevent any sickness from being passed to them. Agreed?" The warrior named Stitch nodded rapidly; Immorten holstered his gun and sat down on his throne, "Then continue with your story traveler but do not offer anymore unsettling surprises or your life will be forfeit."
My blood was rushing through my pipes just eager for this fool to make a wrong move, he was clearly a threat to us and yet he was being allowed to live. Stitch slowly lowered his hands as the war boys lowered their guns, each of his breaths were quick and muffled as he tried to calm himself before continuing his story. Finally he took a deep breath and began again, " My people were struck with sickness it is true, our numbers are in question because so many have fallen ill. We were easily over a thousand strong but when the fever broke out out ranks became thin. Many of our best fighters are struggling to survive the fever as we speak, that is why I was sent here to beg for assistance. Please send with me some of your warriors to protect my people from invaders while our numbers recover and we shall pay tribute to you every year for the rest of our lives," he spoke smoothly as he paced around the invisible cart withdrawing the reflective metal to reveal it once more. "What tributes do you offer? I see nothing of value in that cart except possibly five barrels of guzzaline which is worthless to us as we can acquire ten times that amount from our trades with Gas Town," an old Impertor pointed out to the foolish boy as said boy began to pry the tops off the barrels.
"Forgive me sir but you lack imagination," replied the boy as he continued to pry off the metal tops revealing sand in the barrels. 'What the hell are we gonna do with sand?!' I thought to myself as the strange boy continued with his little mocking speech scooping out handfuls of sand and throwing it on the ground. He continued piling up the sand until five barrels of the stuff surrounded the cart, he leaned in and pulled out five large clay jars and laid them in a line in front of himself. "These are my offerings to you and your people," Stitch removed the lid of the first jar revealing it to be full of bulging cloth pouches the size of my fist. He took one into his hands loosened the string holding it together and poured what looked to be pebbles into his cupped hand. " In this jar are a hundred pouches containing over ten thousand seeds of various crops we grown in our fields, enough for yourself to start your own garden and grown food for your people," he uncovers the second jar and pulls out what appears to be a dried out lizard with no legs, " This jar contains smoked fish from my settlement's hatchery." He uncovers the third jar and pulls out something that looks like a red sphere, "This jar contains various fruit from our orchard," the fourth jar opens, "here are fresh vegetables from our crops that were harvested a week before the outbreak," and finally the fifth jar is uncovered." This jar is the most important," he paused for a moment his eyes crinkle as if he is smiling underneath his scarf as he reaches inside the jar and pulls out a plump brown disk, " this jar contains the freshly baked bread from our bakery." Reverently he passes each offering to an Impertor stealing glances at Immorten's face as if trying to gauge his reaction to the tributes. I'm left speechless as I watched the foreign things being sniffed and tasted by my superiors; this wise-ass was offering food as tribute to our God!
'Our God is a god of war! Of blood! Of glory! This is hardly an acceptable offering, it is beyond mediocre as Slit would say,' I muse while awaiting the final say from our commander. Once everyone has sampled the offerings Stitch kneels to the ground with his head bowed, "Are these offerings acceptable to you?" The whole room takes a breath waiting for Immorten to pass judgment.
