chapter XII
THE CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY
AS HAJ OSIS, Jed of Tjanath, pronounced sentence of death upon me I knew whatever I might do to save myself must be done at once, for the instant that the guards laid hold upon me again my final hope would have vanished, for it was evident that the torture and the death would take place immediately.
The warriors forming the guard that had escorted me from the pits were lined up several paces behind me. The dais upon which Haj Osis stood was raised but a little over three feet above the floor of the throne-room. Between me and the Jed of Tjanath there was no one, for as he had sentenced me he had advanced from his throne to the very edge of the platform.
The action that I took was not delayed as long as it has taken me to tell it. Had it been, it could never have been taken, for the guards would have been upon me. Instantly the last word fell from his mouth my plan was formulated, and in that instant I leaped cat-like to the dais, full upon Haj Osis, Jed of Tjanath. So sudden, so unexpected was my attack that there was no defence. I seized him by the throat with one hand and with the other I snatched his dagger from its sheath, and raising it above him I shouted my warning in a voice that all might hear.
“Stand back, or Haj Osis dies!” I cried.
They had started to rush me, but as the full import of my threat came home to them they halted.
“It is my life or yours, Haj Osis,” I said, “unless you do what I tell you to do.”
“What?” he asked, his face black with terror.
“Is there an ante-room behind the throne?” I asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “What of it?”
“Take me there alone,” I said. “Command your people to stand aside.”
“And let you kill me when you get me there?” he demanded, trembling.
“I shall kill you now if you do not,” I replied. “Listen, Haj Osis; I did not come here to kill you or your son. What I told the padwar of the guard was a lie. I came for another purpose, far transcending in importance to me the life of Haj Osis or that of his son. Do as I tell you and I promise that I shall not kill you. Tell your people that we are going into the ante-room and that I promise not to harm you if we are left alone there for five xats” (about fifteen minutes).
He hesitated.
“Make haste,” I said, “I have no time to waste,” and I let the point of his own dagger touch his throat.
“Don’t!” he screamed, shrinking back. “I will do whatever you say. Stand back all of you!” he shouted to his people. “I am going to the ante-room with this warrior and I command you upon pain of death not to enter there for five xats. At the end of that time, come; but not before.”
I took a firm hold upon Haj Osis’ harness between his shoulders and I kept the point of his dagger pressed against the flesh beneath his left shoulder-blade as I followed him towards the ante-room, while those who had crowded the dais behind the throne fell back to make an aisle for us. At the doorway I halted and turned towards them.
“Remember,” I said, “five full xats and not a tal before.”
Entering the ante-room I closed and bolted the door, and then, still forcing Haj Osis ahead of me, I crossed the room and closed and bolted the only other door to the chamber. Then I pushed the Jed to one side of the room.
“Lie down here upon your face,” I said.
“You promised not to kill me,” he wailed.
“I shall not kill you unless they come before the five xats are up and you do otherwise than as I bid you so as to delay me. I am going to bind you, but it will not hurt you.”
With poor grace he lay down upon his belly, and with his own harness I strapped his arms together behind his back. Then I blindfolded him and left him lying there.
As I had first entered the room I had taken in its contents with a single, quick glance and I had seen there precisely the things that I most needed, and now that I had disposed of Haj Osis I crossed quickly to one of the windows and tore down a part of the silk hangings that covered it. It was a full length of fine, light silk and very wide, since it had been intended to hang in graceful folds as an underdrape with heavier hangings. At the ornate desk where the Jed of Tjanath signed his decrees, I went to work. First I took the vial from my pocket-pouch and unstoppered it; then I wadded the silk into a ball, and because of its wonderful fineness I could compress it within my two hands. Fastening the ball of silk into a loosely compressed mass with strips torn from another hanging, I slowly poured the contents of the vial over it, turning the ball with the point of Haj Osis’ dagger. Remembering Phor Tak’s warning, I was careful not to let any of the contents of the vial come in contact with my flesh, and I could readily see why one had to be careful as I watched the ball of silk disappear before my eyes.
Knowing that the compound of invisibility would dry almost as rapidly as it impregnated the silk, I waited only a brief instant after emptying about half the contents of the vial upon the ball. Then, groping with my fingers, I found the strings that held it into its roughly spherical shape and cut them, after which I shook the silk out as best I could. For the most part it was invisible, but there were one or two spots that the compound had not reached. These I quickly daubed with some of the liquid remaining in the vial, which I now restoppered and replaced in my pocket-pouch.
So much depended upon the success of my experiment that I almost feared to put it to the test, but it must be tested, and there could be only a few xats remaining before the warriors of Haj Osis would burst into the ante-chamber.
By feel alone I draped the silk over my head so that it fell all about me. Through its thin and delicate meshes I could see objects at close range quite well enough to make my way about. I crossed to Haj Osis and took the blind from his eyes, at the same time stepping quickly back. He looked hurriedly and affrightedly about him.
“Who did that?” he demanded, and then half to himself, “He is gone.” For a moment he was silent, rolling his eyes about in all directions, searching every nook and corner of the apartment. Then an expression that was part hope and part relief came to his eyes.
“Quick!” he shouted in a loud voice. “The guard! He has escaped!”
I breathed a sigh of relief—if Haj Osis could not see me, no one could—my plan had succeeded.
I dared not return to the throne-room and make my escape that way along corridors with which I was familiar, for I could already hear the rush of feet towards the ante-room door, and I was well aware that, although they could not see me, they could feel me and that unquestionably in the rush my mantle of invisibility, or at least a portion of it, would be torn from me, which would indubitably spell my doom.
I ran quickly to the other doorway and unbolted it, and as I opened it I looked back at Haj Osis. His eyes were upon the doorway and they were wide with incredulity and horror. For an instant I did not realize the cause and looked quickly behind me to see if I could see what had caused Haj Osis’ fright, and then it dawned upon me and I smiled. He had seen and heard the bolt shot and the door open as though by ghostly hands.
He must have sensed a vague suspicion of the truth, for he turned quickly towards the other door and screamed a warning in a high falsetto voice. “Do not enter,” he cried, “until the five xats are up. It is I who commands—Haj Osis, the Jed.”
Closing the door after me and still smiling, I hastened along the corridor, searching for a ramp that would carry me to the upper levels of the palace from which I could easily locate the guard-room and the hangar where I had left my ship.
The corridor I had entered led directly into the royal apartments.
At first it was difficult to accustom myself to my invisibility, and as I suddenly entered an apartment in which there were several people, my first impulse was to turn and flee, but as I had stepped directly into the view of one of the occupants of the room and at a distance of little more than five or six feet without attracting his attention, although his eyes were apparently directly upon me, my confidence was
quickly restored. I continued on across the room as nonchalantly as though I had been in my own quarters in Helium.
The royal apartments seemed interminable, and though I was constantly seeking a way out of them into one of the main corridors of the palace, I was instead constantly stumbling into places where I did not care to be and where I had no business, sometimes with considerable embarrassment, as when I entered a cosy, private apartment in the women’s quarters at a moment when I was convinced they were not expecting strange gentlemen.
I would not turn back, however, for I had no time to lose, and crossing the room I followed another short corridor only to leap from the frying-pan into the fire—I had entered the forbidden apartment of the Jeddara herself. It is a good thing for the royal lady that it was I and not Haj Osis who came thus unexpectedly upon her, for her position was most compromising, and from his harness I judged that her good-looking companion was a slave. In disgust I retreated, for there was no other exit from the apartment, and presently I stumbled, entirely by accident, upon one of the main corridors of the palace—a busy corridor filled with slaves, warriors and courtiers, with men, women and children passing to and fro upon whatever business called them, or perhaps seated upon the carved benches that lined the walls.
I was not yet accustomed to my new and surprising state of invisibility. I could see the people about me and it seemed inevitable that I must be seen. For a moment I had hesitated in the doorway that had led me to the corridor. A slave girl, approaching along the corridor, turned suddenly towards the doorway where I stood. She was looking directly at me, yet her gaze appeared to pass entirely through me. For an instant I was filled with consternation, and then, realizing that she was about to collide with me, I stepped quickly to one side. She passed by me, but it was evident that she sensed my presence, for she paused and looked quickly about, an expression of surprise in her eyes. Then, to my immense relief, she passed on through the doorway. She had not seen me, though doubtless she had heard me as I stepped aside. With a feeling of renewed confidence I now joined the throng in the corridor, threading my way in and out among the people to avoid contact with them and searching diligently all the while for the entrance to a ramp leading upward. This I presently discovered, and it was not long thereafter that I reached the upper level of the palace, where a short search brought me to the guard-room at the foot of the ramp leading to the royal hangars.
Idling in the guard-room, the warriors then off duty were engaged in various pursuits. Some where cleaning their harness and polishing their metal; two were playing at jetan, while others were rolling tiny numbered spheres at a group of numbered holes—a fascinating game of chance, called yano, which is, I presume, almost as old as Barsoomian civilization. The room was filled with the laughter and oaths of fighting men. How alike are warriors the world over! But for their harness and their metal they might have been a detachment of the palace guard at Helium.
Passing among them I ascended the ramp to the roof where the hangars stood. Two warriors on duty at the top of the ramp almost blocked my further progress. It would be a narrow squeeze to pass between them and I feared detection. As I paused I could not but overhear their conversation.
“I tell you that he was struck from behind,” said one. “He never knew what killed him,” and I knew that they were talking about the guardsman I had killed.
“But from whence came his assassin?” demanded the other.
“The padwar believes it may have been a fellow member of the guard. There will be an investigation and we shall all be questioned.”
“It was not I,” said the other. “He was my best friend.”
“Nor was it I.”
“He had a way with women. Perhaps—”
My attention was distracted and their conversation terminated by the footsteps of a warrior running rapidly up the ramp. My position was now most precarious. The ramp was narrow and the man coming from behind might easily bump into me. I must therefore pass the sentries immediately and make my way to the roof. There was just sufficient room between the warrior at my left and the side wall of the ramp for me to pass through, if he did not step back, and with all the stealth that I could summon I edged myself slowly behind him, and you may rest assured that I breathed a sigh of relief when I had passed him.
The warrior ascending the ramp had now reached the two men. “The assassin of the hangar sentry has been discovered,” he said. “He is none other than the spy from Jahar who called himself Hadron of Hastor and who, with the other spy, Nur An, was sentenced to die The Death. Through some miracle he escaped and has returned to the palace of Haj Osis. Besides the hangar sentry, he has slain Yo Seno, but he was captured after attacking the Prince, Haj Alt. Again he has escaped and he is now at large in the palace. The padwar of the guard has sent me to direct you to redouble your watchfulness. Great will be the reward of him who captures Hadron of Hastor, dead or alive.”
“By my metal, I’d like to see him try to escape this way,” said one of the sentries.
“He’ll never come here by daylight.”
I smiled as I walked quickly towards the hangar. To reach the roof without disarranging my robe of invisibility was difficult, but I finally accomplished it. Before me lay the empty roof; no ship was in sight, but I smiled again to myself, knowing well that it was there. I looked about for the eye of the periscope that would reveal the craft’s presence to me, but it was not visible. However, that did not concern me greatly, since I realized that it might be turned in the opposite direction. It was only necessary for me to walk to where I had left the ship, and this I did, feeling ahead of me with extended hands.
I crossed the roof from one side to the other, but found no ship. That I was perplexed goes without saying. I most certainly knew where I had left the ship, but it was no longer there. Perhaps a wind had moved it slightly, and with this thought in mind I searched another section of the roof, but with equal disappointment. By now I was truly apprehensive, and thereupon I set about a systematic search of the roof until I had covered every square foot of it and was convinced beyond doubt that the worst of disasters had befallen me—my ship was gone; but where? Indeed the compound of invisibility had its drawbacks. My ship might be and probably was at no great distance from me, yet I could not see it. A gentle wind was blowing from the south-west. If my ship had risen from the roof, it would drift in a north-easterly direction, but though I strained my eyes towards that point of the compass I could discern nothing of the tiny eye of the periscope.
I must admit that for a moment I was well-nigh discouraged. It seemed that always when success was about within my grasp some malign fate snatched it from me, but presently I shook this weak despondency from me and with squared shoulders faced the future and whatever it might bring.
For a few moments I considered my position in all its aspects and sought to discover the best solution of my problem. I must rescue Tavia, but I felt that it would be useless to attempt to do so without a ship, therefore I must have a ship, and I knew that ships were just beneath me in the royal hangars. At night these hangars would be closed and locked, and watched over by sentries into the bargain. If I would have a ship I must take it now and depend upon the swiftness and boldness of my act for its success.
Royal fliers are usually fast fliers, and if the ships of Haj Osis were no exception to this general Barsoomian rule, I might hope to outdistance pursuit could I but pass the hangar sentry.
Of one thing I was certain, I could not accomplish that by remaining upon the roof of the hangar, and so I cautiously descended, choosing a moment when the attention of the sentries was directed elsewhere for there was always danger that my robe might blow aside, revealing my limbs.
Once on the roof again I slipped quickly into the hangar, and inspecting the ships I selected one that I was sure would carry four with ease, and which, from its lines, gave token of considerable speed.
Clambering to the deck I took my place at the controls; very gradually I elevated the ship
about a foot from the floor; then I opened the throttle wide.
Directly ahead of me, through the open doorways of the hangar, the sentries were standing upon the opposite side of the room. As the ship leaped into the sunlight they voiced simultaneously a cry of surprise and alarm. Like brave warriors they sprang forward with drawn long swords and I could see that they were going to try to board me before I could gain altitude, but presently one of them halted wide-eyed and stood aside.
“Blood of our first ancestor!” he cried. “There is no one at the controls.”
The second man had evidently discovered this simultaneously, for he, too, shrank aside, and with whirling propeller I shot upward from the royal hangar of the Jed of Tjanath.
But only for an instant were the two sentries overwhelmed by astonishment. Immediately I heard the shriek of sirens and the clang of great gongs, and then, glancing behind, I saw that already they had launched a flier in pursuit. It was a two-man flier, and almost immediately I realized that it was far swifter than the one I had chosen; and then to make matters even worse for me I saw patrol boats arising from hangars located elsewhere upon the palace roof. That they all saw my ship and were converging upon it was evident; escape seemed impossible; each way I turned a patrol boat was approaching; already I had been driven into an ascending spiral, my eyes constantly alert for any avenue of escape that might open to me.
How hopeless it looked! My ship was too slow; my pursuers too many.
It would not be long now, I thought, and at that very instant I saw something off my port bow at a little greater altitude that gave me one of the greatest thrills I had ever experienced in my life. It was only a little round eye of glass, but to me it meant life and more than life, for it might mean also life and happiness for Tavia—and of course for Sanoma Tora.
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