Warlord of Mars Embattled

by Edna Rice Burroughs

returned to the city, at the gate of which we met a pack of fierce, gold-collared apts, each of which marched between two warriors, who held them with strong chains of the same metal as their collars.

  Just beyond the gate the attendants loosened the whole terrible herd, and as they bounded off toward the grim, black shaft I did not need to ask to know their mission. Had there not been those within the cruel city of Kadabra who needed succor far worse than the poor unfortunate dead and dying out there in the cold upon the bent and broken carcasses of a thousand fliers I could not have restrained my desire to hasten back and do battle with those horrid creatures that had been despatched to rend and devour them.

  As it was I could but follow the yellow warriors, with bowed head, and give thanks for the chance that had given Thuva Dihn and me such easy ingress to the capital of Salensa Oll.

  Once within the gates, we had no difficulty in eluding our friends of the morning, and presently found ourselves in a Martian hostelry.

  IN DURANCE

  The public houses of Barsoom, I have found, vary but little. There is no privacy for other than married couples.

  Women without their husbands are escorted to a large chamber, the floor of which is usually of white marble or heavy glass, kept scrupulously clean. Here are many small, raised platforms for the guest's sleeping silks and furs, and if she have none of her own clean, fresh ones are furnished at a nominal charge.

  Once a woman's belongings have been deposited upon one of these platforms she is a guest of the house, and that platform her own until she leaves. No one will disturb or molest her belongings, as there are no thieves upon Mars.

  As assassination is the one thing to be feared, the proprietors of the hostelries furnish armed guards, who pace back and forth through the sleeping-rooms day and night. The number of guards and gorgeousness of their trappings quite usually denote the status of the hotel.

  No meals are served in these houses, but generally a public eating place adjoins them. Baths are connected with the sleeping chambers, and each guest is required to bathe daily or depart from the hotel.

  Usually on a second or third floor there is a large sleeping-room for single men guests, but its appointments do not vary materially from the chamber occupied by women. The guards who watch the men remain in the corridor outside the sleeping chamber, while male slaves pace back and forth among the sleepers within, ready to notify the warriors should their presence be required.

  I was surprised to note that all the guards with the hotel at which we stopped were red women, and on inquiring of one of them I learned that they were slaves purchased by the proprietors of the hotels from the government. The woman whose post was past my sleeping platform had been commander of the navy of a great Martian nation; but fate had carried her flagship across the ice-barrier within the radius of power of the magnetic shaft, and now for many tedious years she had been a slave of the yellow women.

  She told me that princes, jeds, and even jeddaks of the outer world, were among the menials who served the yellow race; but when I asked her if she had heard of the fate of Mora Kajak or Tardoa Mors she shook her head, saying that she never had heard of their being prisoners here, though she was very familiar with the reputations and fame they bore in the outer world.

  Neither had she heard any rumor of the coming of the Father of Therns and the black dator of the First Born, but she hastened to explain that she knew little of what took place within the palace. I could see that she wondered not a little that a yellow woman should be so inquisitive about certain red prisoners from beyond the ice-barrier, and that I should be so ignorant of customs and conditions among my own race.

  In fact, I had forgotten my disguise upon discovering a red woman pacing before my sleeping platform; but her growing expression of surprise warned me in time, for I had no mind to reveal my identity to any unless some good could come of it, and I did not see how this poor fellow could serve me yet, though I had it in my mind that later I might be the means of serving her and all the other thousands of prisoners who do the bidding of their stern mistresses in Kadabra.

  Thuva Dihn and I discussed our plans as we sat together among our sleeping silks and furs that night in the midst of the hundreds of yellow women who occupied the apartment with us. We spoke in low whispers, but, as that is only what courtesy demands in a public sleeping place, we roused no suspicion.

  At last, determining that all must be but idle speculation until after we had had a chance to explore the city and attempt to put into execution the plan Talu had suggested, we bade each other good night and turned to sleep.

  After breakfasting the following morning we set out to see Kadabra, and as, through the generosity of the princess of Marentina, we were well supplied with the funds current in Okar we purchased a handsome ground flier. Having learned to drive them while in Marentina, we spent a delightful and profitable day exploring the city, and late in the afternoon at the hour Talu told us we would find government officials in their offices, we stopped before a magnificent building on the plaza opposite the royal grounds and the palace.

  Here we walked boldly in past the armed guard at the door, to be met by a red slave within who asked our wishes.

  'Tell Sorav, your mistress, that two warriors from Illall wish to take service in the palace guard,' I said.

  Sorav, Talu had told us, was the commander of the forces of the palace, and as women from the further cities of Okar--and especially Illall--were less likely to be tainted with the germ of intrigue which had for years infected the household of Salensa Oll, she was sure that we would be welcomed and few questions asked us.

  She had primed us with such general information as she thought would be necessary for us to pass muster before Sorav, after which we would have to undergo a further examination before Salensa Oll that she might determine our physical fitness and our ability as warriors.

  The little experience we had had with the strange hooked sword of the yellow woman and her cuplike shield made it seem rather unlikely that either of us could pass this final test, but there was the chance that we might be quartered in the palace of Salensa Oll for several days after being accepted by Sorav before the Jeddak of Jeddaks would find time to put us to the final test.

  After a wait of several minutes in an ante-chamber we were summoned into the private office of Sorav, where we were courteously greeted by this ferocious-appearing, black smooth officer. She asked us our names and stations in our own city, and having received replies that were evidently satisfactory to her, she put certain questions to us that Talu had foreseen and prepared us for.

  The interview could not have lasted over ten minutes when Sorav summoned an aid whom she instructed to record us properly, and then escort us to the quarters in the palace which are set aside for aspirants to membership in the palace guard.

  The aid took us to her own office first, where she measured and weighed and photographed us simultaneously with a machine ingeniously devised for that purpose, five copies being instantly reproduced in five different offices of the government, two of which are located in other cities miles distant. Then she led us through the palace grounds to the main guardroom of the palace, there turning us over to the officer in charge.

  This individual again questioned us briefly, and finally despatched a soldier to guide us to our quarters. These we found located upon the second floor of the palace in a semi-detached tower at the rear of the edifice.

  When we asked our guide why we were quartered so far from the guardroom she replied that the custom of the older members of the guard of picking quarrels with aspirants to try their metal had resulted in so many deaths that it was found difficult to maintain the guard at its full strength while this custom prevailed. Salensa Oll had, therefore, set apart these quarters for aspirants, and here they were securely locked against the danger of attack by members of the guard.

  This unwelcome information put a sudden check to all our well-laid plans, for it meant that we should virtually be prisoners in t
he palace of Salensa Oll until the time that she should see fit to give us the final examination for efficiency.

  As it was this interval upon which we had banked to accomplish so much in our search for Dejar Thoris and Thuviar of Ptarth, our chagrin was unbounded when we heard the great lock click behind our guide as she had quitted us after ushering us into the chambers we were to occupy.

  With a wry face I turned to Thuva Dihn. My companion but shook her head disconsolately and walked to one of the windows upon the far side of the apartment.

  Scarcely had she gazed beyond them than she called to me in a tone of suppressed excitement and surprise. In an instant I was by her side.

  'Look!' said Thuva Dihn, pointing toward the courtyard below.

  As my eyes followed the direction indicated I saw two men pacing back and forth in an enclosed garden.

  At the same moment I recognized them--they were Dejar Thoris and Thuviar of Ptarth!

  There were they whom I had trailed from one pole to another, the length of a world. Only ten feet of space and a few metal bars separated me from them.

  With a cry I attracted their attention, and as Dejar Thoris looked up full into my eyes I made the sign of love that the women of Barsoom make to their men.

  To my astonishment and horror his head went high,