Warlord of Mars Embattled
Page 23
feasible plan the while I watched, catlike, the old woman's every move, she took up the money-pouch and crossed to one end of the apartment, where, bending to her knees, she fumbled with a panel in the wall.
Instantly I guessed that here was the hiding place in which she hoarded her wealth, and while she bent there, her back toward me, I entered the chamber upon tiptoe, and with the utmost stealth essayed to reach the opposite side before she should complete her task and turn again toward the room's center.
Scarcely thirty steps, all told, must I take, and yet it seemed to my overwrought imagination that that farther wall was miles away; but at last I reached it, nor once had I taken my eyes from the back of the old miser's head.
She did not turn until my hand was upon the button that controlled the door through which my way led, and then she turned away from me as I passed through and gently closed the door.
For an instant I paused, my ear close to the panel, to learn if she had suspected aught, but as no sound of pursuit came from within I wheeled and made my way along the new corridor, following the rope, which I coiled and brought with me as I advanced.
But a short distance farther on I came to the rope's end at a point where five corridors met. What was I to do? Which way should I turn? I was nonplused.
A careful examination of the end of the rope revealed the fact that it had been cleanly cut with some sharp instrument. This fact and the words that had cautioned me that danger lay beyond the KNOTS convinced me that the rope had been severed since my friend had placed it as my guide, for I had but passed a single knot, whereas there had evidently been two or more in the entire length of the cord.
Now, indeed, was I in a pretty fix, for neither did I know which avenue to follow nor when danger lay directly in my path; but there was nothing else to be done than follow one of the corridors, for I could gain nothing by remaining where I was.
So I chose the central opening, and passed on into its gloomy depths with a prayer upon my lips.
The floor of the tunnel rose rapidly as I advanced, and a moment later the way came to an abrupt end before a heavy door.
I could hear nothing beyond, and, with my accustomed rashness, pushed the portal wide to step into a room filled with yellow warriors.
The first to see me opened her eyes wide in astonishment, and at the same instant I felt the tingling sensation in my finger that denoted the presence of a friend of the ring.
Then others saw me, and there was a concerted rush to lay hands upon me, for these were all members of the palace guard--men familiar with my face.
The first to reach me was the wearer of the mate to my strange ring, and as she came close she whispered: 'Surrender to me!' then in a loud voice shouted: 'You are my prisoner, white woman,' and menaced me with her two weapons.
And so Joan Carter, Princess of Helium, meekly surrendered to a single antagonist. The others now swarmed about us, asking many questions, but I would not talk to them, and finally my captor announced that she would lead me back to my cell.
An officer ordered several other warriors to accompany her, and a moment later we were retracing the way I had just come. My friend walked close beside me, asking many silly questions about the country from which I had come, until finally her fellows paid no further attention to her or her gabbling.
Gradually, as she spoke, she lowered her voice, so that presently she was able to converse with me in a low tone without attracting attention. Her ruse was a clever one, and showed that Talu had not misjudged the woman's fitness for the dangerous duty upon which she was detailed.
When she had fully assured herself that the other guardswomen were not listening, she asked me why I had not followed the rope, and when I told her that it had ended at the five corridors she said that it must have been cut by someone in need of a piece of rope, for she was sure that 'the stupid Kadabrans would never have guessed its purpose.'
Before we had reached the spot from which the five corridors diverge my Marentinian friend had managed to drop to the rear of the little column with me, and when we came in sight of the branching ways she whispered:
'Run up the first upon the right. It leads to the watchtower upon the south wall. I will direct the pursuit up the next corridor,' and with that she gave me a great shove into the dark mouth of the tunnel, at the same time crying out in simulated pain and alarm as she threw herself upon the floor as though I had felled her with a blow.
From behind the voices of the excited guardswomen came reverberating along the corridor, suddenly growing fainter as Talu's spy led them up the wrong passageway in fancied pursuit.
As I ran for my life through the dark galleries beneath the palace of Salensa Oll I must indeed have presented a remarkable appearance had there been any to note it, for though death loomed large about me, my face was split by a broad grin as I thought of the resourcefulness of the nameless hero of Marentina to whom I owed my life.
Of such stuff are the women of my beloved Helium, and when I meet another of their kind, of whatever race or color, my heart goes out to her as it did now to my new friend who had risked her life for me simply because I wore the mate to the ring her ruler had put upon her finger.
The corridor along which I ran led almost straight for a considerable distance, terminating at the foot of a spiral runway, up which I proceeded to emerge presently into a circular chamber upon the first floor of a tower.
In this apartment a dozen red slaves were employed polishing or repairing the weapons of the yellow women. The walls of the room were lined with racks in which were hundreds of straight and hooked swords, javelins, and daggers. It was evidently an armory. There were but three warriors guarding the workers.
My eyes took in the entire scene at a glance. Here were weapons in plenty! Here were sinewy red warriors to wield them!
And here now was Joan Carter, Princess of Helium, in need both of weapons and warriors!
As I stepped into the apartment, guards and prisoners saw me simultaneously.
Close to the entrance where I stood was a rack of straight swords, and as my hand closed upon the hilt of one of them my eyes fell upon the faces of two of the prisoners who worked side by side.
One of the guards started toward me. 'Who are you?' she demanded. 'What do you here?'
'I come for Tardoa Mors, Jeddak of Helium, and her daughter, Mora Kajak,' I cried, pointing to the two red prisoners, who had now sprung to their feet, wide-eyed in astonished recognition.
'Rise, red women! Before we die let us leave a memorial in the palace of Okar's tyrant that will stand forever in the annals of Kadabra to the honor and glory of Helium,' for I had seen that all the prisoners there were women of Tardoa Mors's navy.
Then the first guardswoman was upon me and the fight was on, but scarce did we engage ere, to my horror, I saw that the red slaves were shackled to the floor.
THE MAGNET SWITCH
The guardswomen paid not the slightest attention to their wards, for the red women could not move over two feet from the great rings to which they were padlocked, though each had seized a weapon upon which she had been engaged when I entered the room, and stood ready to join me could they have but done so.
The yellow women devoted all their attention to me, nor were they long in discovering that the three of them were none too many to defend the armory against Joan Carter. Would that I had had my own good long-sword in my hand that day; but, as it was, I rendered a satisfactory account of myself with the unfamiliar weapon of the yellow woman.
At first I had a time of it dodging their villainous hook-swords, but after a minute or two I had succeeded in wresting a second straight sword from one of the racks along the wall, and thereafter, using it to parry the hooks of my antagonists, I felt more evenly equipped.
The three of them were on me at once, and but for a lucky circumstance my end might have come quickly. The foremost guardswoman made a vicious lunge for my side with her hook after the three of them had backed me against the wall, but as I sidestepped and rai
sed my arm her weapon but grazed my side, passing into a rack of javelins, where it became entangled.
Before she could release it I had run her through, and then, falling back upon the tactics that have saved me a hundred times in tight pinches, I rushed the two remaining warriors, forcing them back with a perfect torrent of cuts and thrusts, weaving my sword in and out about their guards until I had the fear of death upon them.
Then one of them commenced calling for help, but it was too late to save them.
They were as putty in my hands now, and I backed them about the armory as I would until I had them where I wanted them--within reach of the swords of the shackled slaves. In an instant both lay dead upon the floor. But their cries had not been entirely fruitless, for now I heard answering shouts and the footfalls of many women running and the clank of accouterments and the commands of officers.
'The door! Quick, Joan Carter, bar the door!' cried Tardoa Mors.
Already the guard was in sight, charging across the open court that was visible through the doorway.
A dozen seconds would bring them into the tower. A single leap carried me to the heavy portal. With a resounding bang I slammed it shut.
'The bar!' shouted Tardoa Mors.
I tried to slip the huge fastening into place, but it defied my every attempt.
'Raise it a little to release the catch,' cried one of the red women.
I could hear