her ear by the Holy Thern or Dator Thurid?
'I do not follow Matain Shang to kill her, though the God of mine own planet knows that my hands itch to be at her throat. I follow her, Thuva Dihn, because with her are two prisoners--my husband, Dejar Thoris, Prince of Helium, and your son, Thuviar of Ptarth.
'Now think you that I shall permit myself to be led beyond the walls of Kaol unless the mother of my daughter accompanies me, and thy son be restored?'
Thuva Dihn turned upon Kula Tith. Rage flamed in her keen eyes; but by the masterfulness of her self-control she kept her tones level as she spoke.
'Knew you this thing, Kula Tith?' she asked. 'Knew you that my son lay a prisoner in your palace?'
'She could not know it,' interrupted Matain Shang, white with what I am sure was more fear than rage. 'She could not know it, for it is a lie.'
I would have had her life for that upon the spot, but even as I sprang toward her Thuva Dihn laid a heavy hand upon my shoulder.
'Wait,' she said to me, and then to Kula Tith. 'It is not a lie. This much have I learned of the Princess of Helium--he does not lie. Answer me, Kula Tith--I have asked you a question.'
'Three men came with the Father of Therns,' replied Kula Tith. 'Phaidor, her son, and two who were reported to be his slaves. If these be Thuviar of Ptarth and Dejar Thoris of Helium I did not know it--I have seen neither. But if they be, then shall they be returned to you on the morrow.'
As she spoke she looked straight at Matain Shang, not as a devotee should look at a high priestess, but as a ruler of women looks at one to whom she issues a command.
It must have been plain to the Father of Therns, as it was to me, that the recent disclosures of her true character had done much already to weaken the faith of Kula Tith, and that it would require but little more to turn the powerful jeddak into an avowed enemy; but so strong are the seeds of superstition that even the great Kaolian still hesitated to cut the final strand that bound her to her ancient religion.
Matain Shang was wise enough to seem to accept the mandate of her follower, and promised to bring the two slave men to the audience chamber on the morrow.
'It is almost morning now,' she said, 'and I should dislike to break in upon the slumber of my son, or I would have them fetched at once that you might see that the Princess of Helium is mistaken,' and she emphasized the last word in an effort to affront me so subtlety that I could not take open offense.
I was about to object to any delay, and demand that the Prince of Helium be brought to me forthwith, when Thuva Dihn made such insistence seem unnecessary.
'I should like to see my son at once,' she said, 'but if Kula Tith will give me her assurance that none will be permitted to leave the palace this night, and that no harm shall befall either Dejar Thoris or Thuviar of Ptarth between now and the moment they are brought into our presence in this chamber at daylight I shall not insist.'
'None shall leave the palace tonight,' replied the Jeddak of Kaol, 'and Matain Shang will give us assurance that no harm will come to the two men?'
The thern assented with a nod. A few moments later Kula Tith indicated that the audience was at an end, and at Thuva Dihn's invitation I accompanied the Jeddak of Ptarth to her own apartments, where we sat until daylight, while she listened to the account of my experiences upon her planet and to all that had befallen her son during the time that we had been together.
I found the mother of Thuviar a woman after my own heart, and that night saw the beginning of a friendship which has grown until it is second only to that which obtains between Tara Tarkas, the green Jeddak of Thark, and myself.
The first burst of Mars's sudden dawn brought messengers from Kula Tith, summoning us to the audience chamber where Thuva Dihn was to receive her son after years of separation, and I was to be reunited with the glorious son of Helium after an almost unbroken separation of twelve years.
My heart pounded within my chest until I looked about me in embarrassment, so sure was I that all within the room must hear. My arms ached to enfold once more the divine form of his whose eternal youth and undying beauty were but outward manifestations of a perfect soul.
At last the messenger despatched to fetch Matain Shang returned. I craned my neck to catch the first glimpse of those who should be following, but the messenger was alone.
Halting before the throne she addressed her jeddak in a voice that was plainly audible to all within the chamber.
'O Kula Tith, Mightiest of Jeddaks,' she cried, after the fashion of the court, 'your messenger returns alone, for when she reached the apartments of the Father of Therns she found them empty, as were those occupied by her suite.'
Kula Tith went white.
A low groan burst from the lips of Thuva Dihn who stood next me, not having ascended the throne which awaited her beside her host. For a moment the silence of death reigned in the great audience chamber of Kula Tith, Jeddak of Kaol. It was she who broke the spell.
Rising from her throne she stepped down from the dais to the side of Thuva Dihn. Tears dimmed her eyes as she placed both her hands upon the shoulders of her friend.
'O Thuva Dihn,' she cried, 'that this should have happened in the palace of thy best friend! With my own hands would I have wrung the neck of Matain Shang had I guessed what was in her foul heart. Last night my life-long faith was weakened--this morning it has been shattered; but too late, too late.
'To wrest your son and the husband of this royal warrior from the clutches of these archfiends you have but to command the resources of a mighty nation, for all Kaol is at your disposal. What may be done? Say the word!'
'First,' I suggested, 'let us find those of your people who be responsible for the escape of Matain Shang and her followers. Without assistance on the part of the palace guard this thing could not have come to pass. Seek the guilty, and from them force an explanation of the manner of their going and the direction they have taken.'
Before Kula Tith could issue the commands that would initiate the investigation a handsome young officer stepped forward and addressed her jeddak.
'O Kula Tith, Mightiest of Jeddaks,' she said, 'I alone be responsible for this grievous error. Last night it was I who commanded the palace guard. I was on duty in other parts of the palace during the audience of the early morning, and knew nothing of what transpired then, so that when the Father of Therns summoned me and explained that it was your wish that her party be hastened from the city because of the presence here of a deadly enemy who sought the Holy Hekkador's life I did only what a lifetime of training has taught me was the proper thing to do--I obeyed her whom I believed to be the ruler of us all, mightier even than thou, mightiest of jeddaks.
'Let the consequences and the punishment fall on me alone, for I alone am guilty. Those others of the palace guard who assisted in the flight did so under my instructions.'
Kula Tith looked first at me and then at Thuva Dihn, as though to ask our judgment upon the woman, but the error was so evidently excusable that neither of us had any mind to see the young officer suffer for a mistake that any might readily have made.
'How left they,' asked Thuva Dihn, 'and what direction did they take?'
'They left as they came,' replied the officer, 'upon their own flier. For some time after they had departed I watched the vessel's lights, which vanished finally due north.'
'Where north could Matain Shang find an asylum?' asked Thuva Dihn of Kula Tith.
For some moments the Jeddak of Kaol stood with bowed head, apparently deep in thought. Then a sudden light brightened her countenance.
'I have it!' she cried. 'Only yesterday Matain Shang let drop a hint of her destination, telling me of a race of people unlike ourselves who dwell far to the north. They, she said, had always been known to the Holy Therns and were devout and faithful followers of the ancient cult. Among them would she find a perpetual haven of refuge, where no `lying heretics' might seek her out. It is there that Matain Shang has gone.'
'And in all Kaol there be no flier wh
erein to follow,' I cried.
'Nor nearer than Ptarth,' replied Thuva Dihn.
'Wait!' I exclaimed, 'beyond the southern fringe of this great forest lies the wreck of the thern flier which brought me that far upon my way. If you will loan me women to fetch it, and artificers to assist me, I can repair it in two days, Kula Tith.'
I had been more than half suspicious of the seeming sincerity of the Kaolian jeddak's sudden apostasy, but the alacrity with which she embraced my suggestion, and the despatch with which a force of officers and women were placed at my disposal entirely removed the last vestige of my doubts.
Two days later the flier rested upon the top of the watchtower, ready to depart. Thuva Dihn and Kula Tith had offered me the entire resources of two nations--millions of fighting women were at my disposal; but my flier could hold but one other than myself and Woolan.
As I stepped aboard him, Thuva Dihn took her place beside me. I cast a look of questioning surprise upon her. She turned to the highest of her own officers who had accompanied her to Kaol.
'To you I entrust the return of my retinue to Ptarth,' she said. 'There my daughter rules ably in my absence. The Princess of Helium shall not go alone into the land of her enemies. I have spoken. Farewell!'
THROUGH THE CARRION CAVES
Straight toward the north, day and night, our destination compass led us after the fleeing flier upon which it had remained
Warlord of Mars Embattled Page 14