15
"The King Is Dead!"
As they conversed Ja-don had led her down the stone stairway that leadsfrom the upper floors of the Temple of the Gryf to the chambers and thecorridors that honeycomb the rocky hills from which the temple and thepalace are hewn and now they passed from one to the other through adoorway upon one side of which two priests stood guard and upon theother two warriors. The former would have halted Ja-don when they sawwho it was that accompanied him for well known throughout the templewas the quarrel between king and high priest for possession of thisbeautiful stranger.
"Only by order of Lu-don may she pass," said one, placing himselfdirectly in front of Jane Clayton, barring her progress. Through thehollow eyes of the hideous mask the woman could see those of the priestbeneath gleaming with the fires of fanaticism. Ja-don placed an armabout her shoulders and laid his hand upon his knife.
"She passes by order of Ko-tan, the king," he said, "and by virtue ofthe fact that Ja-don, the chief, is her guide. Stand aside!"
The two warriors upon the palace side pressed forward. "We are here,gund of Ja-lur," said one, addressing Ja-don, "to receive and obey yourcommands."
The second priest now interposed. "Let them pass," he admonished hiscompanion. "We have received no direct commands from Lu-don to thecontrary and it is a law of the temple and the palace that chiefs andpriests may come and go without interference."
"But I know Lu-don's wishes," insisted the other.
"He told you then that Ja-don must not pass with the stranger?"
"No--but--"
"Then let them pass, for they are three to two and will pass anyway--wehave done our best."
Grumbling, the priest stepped aside. "Lu-don will exact an accounting,"he cried angrily.
Ja-don turned upon him. "And get it when and where he will," he snapped.
They came at last to the quarters of the Princess O-lo-a where, in themain entrance-way, loitered a small guard of palace warriors andseveral stalwart black eunuchs belonging to the princess, or her women.To one of the latter Ja-don relinquished his charge.
"Take her to the princess," he commanded, "and see that she does notescape."
Through a number of corridors and apartments lighted by stone cressetsthe eunuch led Lady Greystoke halting at last before a doorwayconcealed by hangings of JATO skin, where the guide beat with his staffupon the wall beside the door.
"O-lo-a, Princess of Pal-ul-don," he called, "here is the strangerwoman, the prisoner from the temple."
"Bid her enter," Jane heard a sweet voice from within command.
The eunuch drew aside the hangings and Lady Greystoke stepped within.Before her was a low-ceiled room of moderate size. In each of the fourcorners a kneeling figure of stone seemed to be bearing its portion ofthe weight of the ceiling upon its shoulders. These figures wereevidently intended to represent Waz-don slaves and were not withoutbold artistic beauty. The ceiling itself was slightly arched to acentral dome which was pierced to admit light by day, and air. Upon oneside of the room were many windows, the other three walls being blankexcept for a doorway in each. The princess lay upon a pile of furswhich were arranged over a low stone dais in one corner of theapartment and was alone except for a single Waz-don slave girl who satupon the edge of the dais near her feet.
As Jane entered O-lo-a beckoned her to approach and when she stoodbeside the couch the girl half rose upon an elbow and surveyed hercritically.
"How beautiful you are," she said simply.
Jane smiled, sadly; for she had found that beauty may be a curse.
"That is indeed a compliment," she replied quickly, "from one soradiant as the Princess O-lo-a."
"Ah!" exclaimed the princess delightedly; "you speak my language! I wastold that you were of another race and from some far land of which weof Pal-ul-don have never heard."
"Lu-don saw to it that the priests instructed me," explained Jane; "butI am from a far country, Princess; one to which I long to return--and Iam very unhappy."
"But Ko-tan, my father, would make you his queen," cried the girl;"that should make you very happy."
"But it does not," replied the prisoner; "I love another to whom I amalready wed. Ah, Princess, if you had known what it was to love and tobe forced into marriage with another you would sympathize with me."
The Princess O-lo-a was silent for a long moment. "I know," she said atlast, "and I am very sorry for you; but if the king's daughter cannotsave herself from such a fate who may save a slave woman? for such infact you are."
The drinking in the great banquet hall of the palace of Ko-tan, king ofPal-ul-don had commenced earlier this night than was usual, for theking was celebrating the morrow's betrothal of his only daughter toBu-lot, son of Mo-sar, the chief, whose great-grandfather had been kingof Pal-ul-don and who thought that he should be king, and Mo-sar wasdrunk and so was Bu-lot, his son. For that matter nearly all of thewarriors, including the king himself, were drunk. In the heart ofKo-tan was no love either for Mo-sar, or Bu-lot, nor did either ofthese love the king. Ko-tan was giving his daughter to Bu-lot in thehope that the alliance would prevent Mo-sar from insisting upon hisclaims to the throne, for, next to Ja-don, Mo-sar was the most powerfulof the chiefs and while Ko-tan looked with fear upon Ja-don, too, hehad no fear that the old Lion-man would attempt to seize the throne,though which way he would throw his influence and his warriors in theevent that Mo-sar declare war upon Ko-tan, the king could not guess.
Primitive people who are also warlike are seldom inclined toward eithertact or diplomacy even when sober; but drunk they know not the words,if aroused. It was really Bu-lot who started it.
"This," he said, "I drink to O-lo-a," and he emptied his tankard at asingle gulp. "And this," seizing a full one from a neighbor, "to herson and mine who will bring back the throne of Pal-ul-don to itsrightful owners!"
"The king is not yet dead!" cried Ko-tan, rising to his feet; "nor isBu-lot yet married to his daughter--and there is yet time to savePal-ul-don from the spawn of the rabbit breed."
The king's angry tone and his insulting reference to Bu-lot'swell-known cowardice brought a sudden, sobering silence upon theroistering company. Every eye turned upon Bu-lot and Mo-sar, who sattogether directly opposite the king. The first was very drunk thoughsuddenly he seemed quite sober. He was so drunk that for an instant heforgot to be a coward, since his reasoning powers were so effectuallyparalyzed by the fumes of liquor that he could not intelligently weighthe consequences of his acts. It is reasonably conceivable that a drunkand angry rabbit might commit a rash deed. Upon no other hypothesis isthe thing that Bu-lot now did explicable. He rose suddenly from theseat to which he had sunk after delivering his toast and seizing theknife from the sheath of the warrior upon his right hurled it withterrific force at Ko-tan. Skilled in the art of throwing both theirknives and their clubs are the warriors of Pal-ul-don and at this shortdistance and coming as it did without warning there was no defense andbut one possible result--Ko-tan, the king, lunged forward across thetable, the blade buried in his heart.
A brief silence followed the assassin's cowardly act. White withterror, now, Bu-lot fell slowly back toward the doorway at his rear,when suddenly angry warriors leaped with drawn knives to prevent hisescape and to avenge their king. But Mo-sar now took his stand besidehis son.
"Ko-tan is dead!" he cried. "Mo-sar is king! Let the loyal warriors ofPal-ul-don protect their ruler!"
Mo-sar commanded a goodly following and these quickly surrounded himand Bu-lot, but there were many knives against them and now Ja-donpressed forward through those who confronted the pretender.
"Take them both!" he shouted. "The warriors of Pal-ul-don will choosetheir own king after the assassin of Ko-tan has paid the penalty of histreachery."
Directed now by a leader whom they both respected and admired those whohad been loyal to Ko-tan rushed forward upon the faction that hadsurrounded Mo-sar. Fierce and terrible was the fighting, devoid,apparently, of all else than the ferocious lust to
kill and while itwas at its height Mo-sar and Bu-lot slipped unnoticed from the banquethall.
To that part of the palace assigned to them during their visit to A-lurthey hastened. Here were their servants and the lesser warriors oftheir party who had not been bidden to the feast of Ko-tan. These weredirected quickly to gather together their belongings for immediatedeparture. When all was ready, and it did not take long, since thewarriors of Pal-ul-don require but little impedimenta on the march,they moved toward the palace gate.
Suddenly Mo-sar approached his son. "The princess," he whispered. "Wemust not leave the city without her--she is half the battle for thethrone."
Bu-lot, now entirely sober, demurred. He had had enough of fighting andof risk. "Let us get out of A-lur quickly," he urged, "or we shall havethe whole city upon us. She would not come without a struggle and thatwould delay us too long."
"There is plenty of time," insisted Mo-sar. "They are still fighting inthe pal-e-don-so. It will be long before they miss us and, with Ko-tandead, long before any will think to look to the safety of the princess.Our time is now--it was made for us by Jad-ben-Otho. Come!"
Reluctantly Bu-lot followed his father, who first instructed thewarriors to await them just inside the gateway of the palace. Rapidlythe two approached the quarters of the princess. Within theentrance-way only a handful of warriors were on guard. The eunuchs hadretired.
"There is fighting in the pal-e-don-so," Mo-sar announced in feignedexcitement as they entered the presence of the guards. "The kingdesires you to come at once and has sent us to guard the apartments ofthe princess. Make haste!" he commanded as the men hesitated.
The warriors knew him and that on the morrow the princess was to bebetrothed to Bu-lot, his son. If there was trouble what more naturalthan that Mo-sar and Bu-lot should be intrusted with the safety of theprincess. And then, too, was not Mo-sar a powerful chief to whoseorders disobedience might prove a dangerous thing? They were but commonfighting men disciplined in the rough school of tribal warfare, butthey had learned to obey a superior and so they departed for thebanquet hall--the place-where-men-eat.
Barely waiting until they had disappeared Mo-sar crossed to thehangings at the opposite end of the entrance-hall and followed byBu-lot made his way toward the sleeping apartment of O-lo-a and amoment later, without warning, the two men burst in upon the threeoccupants of the room. At sight of them O-lo-a sprang to her feet.
"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded angrily.
Mo-sar advanced and halted before her. Into his cunning mind hadentered a plan to trick her. If it succeeded it would prove easier thantaking her by force, and then his eyes fell upon Jane Clayton and healmost gasped in astonishment and admiration, but he caught himself andreturned to the business of the moment.
"O-lo-a," he cried, "when you know the urgency of our mission you willforgive us. We have sad news for you. There has been an uprising in thepalace and Ko-tan, the king, has been slain. The rebels are drunk withliquor and now on their way here. We must get you out of A-lur atonce--there is not a moment to lose. Come, and quickly!"
"My father dead?" cried O-lo-a, and suddenly her eyes went wide. "Thenmy place is here with my people," she cried. "If Ko-tan is dead I amqueen until the warriors choose a new ruler--that is the law ofPal-ul-don. And if I am queen none can make me wed whom I do not wishto wed--and Jad-ben-Otho knows I never wished to wed thy cowardly son.Go!" She pointed a slim forefinger imperiously toward the doorway.
Mo-sar saw that neither trickery nor persuasion would avail now andevery precious minute counted. He looked again at the beautiful womanwho stood beside O-lo-a. He had never before seen her but he well knewfrom palace gossip that she could be no other than the godlike strangerwhom Ko-tan had planned to make his queen.
"Bu-lot," he cried to his son, "take you your own woman and I willtake--mine!" and with that he sprang suddenly forward and seizing Janeabout the waist lifted her in his arms, so that before O-lo-a orPan-at-lee might even guess his purpose he had disappeared through thehangings near the foot of the dais and was gone with the stranger womanstruggling and fighting in his grasp.
And then Bu-lot sought to seize O-lo-a, but O-lo-a had herPan-at-lee--fierce little tiger-girl of the savageKor-ul-JA--Pan-at-lee whose name belied her--and Bu-lot found that withthe two of them his hands were full. When he would have lifted O-lo-aand borne her away Pan-at-lee seized him around the legs and strove todrag him down. Viciously he kicked her, but she would not desist, andfinally, realizing that he might not only lose his princess but be sodelayed as to invite capture if he did not rid himself of this clawing,scratching she-JATO, he hurled O-lo-a to the floor and seizingPan-at-lee by the hair drew his knife and--
The curtains behind him suddenly parted. In two swift bounds a lithefigure crossed the room and before ever the knife of Bu-lot reached itsgoal his wrist was seized from behind and a terrific blow crashing tothe base of his brain dropped him, lifeless, to the floor. Bu-lot,coward, traitor, and assassin, died without knowing who struck him down.
As Tarzan of the Apes leaped into the pool in the GRYF pit of thetemple at A-lur one might have accounted for his act on the hypothesisthat it was the last blind urge of self-preservation to delay, even fora moment, the inevitable tragedy in which each some day must play theleading role upon his little stage; but no--those cool, gray eyes hadcaught the sole possibility for escape that the surroundings and thecircumstances offered--a tiny, moonlit patch of water glimmeringthrough a small aperture in the cliff at the surface of the pool uponits farther side. With swift, bold strokes he swam for speed aloneknowing that the water would in no way deter his pursuer. Nor did it.Tarzan heard the great splash as the huge creature plunged into thepool behind him; he heard the churning waters as it forged rapidlyonward in his wake. He was nearing the opening--would it be largeenough to permit the passage of his body? That portion of it whichshowed above the surface of the water most certainly would not. Hislife, then, depended upon how much of the aperture was submerged. Andnow it was directly before him and the GRYF directly behind. There wasno alternative--there was no other hope. The ape-man threw all theresources of his great strength into the last few strokes, extended hishands before him as a cutwater, submerged to the water's level and shotforward toward the hole.
Frothing with rage was the baffled Lu-don as he realized how neatly thestranger she had turned his own tables upon him. He could of courseescape the Temple of the Gryf in which her quick wit had temporarilyimprisoned him; but during the delay, however brief, Ja-don would findtime to steal her from the temple and deliver her to Ko-tan. But hewould have her yet--that the high priest swore in the names ofJad-ben-Otho and all the demons of his faith. He hated Ko-tan. Secretlyhe had espoused the cause of Mo-sar, in whom he would have a willingtool. Perhaps, then, this would give him the opportunity he had longawaited--a pretext for inciting the revolt that would dethrone Ko-tanand place Mo-sar in power--with Lu-don the real ruler of Pal-ul-don. Helicked his thin lips as he sought the window through which Tarzan hadentered and now Lu-don's only avenue of escape. Cautiously he made hisway across the floor, feeling before him with his hands, and when theydiscovered that the trap was set for him an ugly snarl broke from thepriest's lips. "The she-devil!" he muttered; "but she shall pay, sheshall pay--ah, Jad-ben-Otho; how she shall pay for the trick she hasplayed upon Lu-don!"
He crawled through the window and climbed easily downward to theground. Should he pursue Ja-don and the woman, chancing an encounterwith the fierce chief, or bide his time until treachery and intrigueshould accomplish his design? He chose the latter solution, as mighthave been expected of such as he.
Going to his quarters he summoned several of his priests--those whowere most in his confidence and who shared his ambitions for absolutepower of the temple over the palace--all men who hated Ko-tan.
"The time has come," he told them, "when the authority of the templemust be placed definitely above that of the palace. Ko-tan must makeway for Mo-sar, for Ko-tan has defied your
high priest. Go then,Pan-sat, and summon Mo-sar secretly to the temple, and you others go tothe city and prepare the faithful warriors that they may be inreadiness when the time comes."
For another hour they discussed the details of the coup d'etat that wasto overthrow the government of Pal-ul-don. One knew a slave who, asthe signal sounded from the temple gong, would thrust a knife into theheart of Ko-tan, for the price of liberty. Another held personalknowledge of an officer of the palace that he could use to compel thelatter to admit a number of Lu-don's warriors to various parts of thepalace. With Mo-sar as the cat's paw, the plan seemed scarce possibleof failure and so they separated, going upon their immediate errands topalace and to city.
As Pan-sat entered the palace grounds he was aware of a suddencommotion in the direction of the pal-e-don-so and a few minutes laterLu-don was surprised to see him return to the apartments of the highpriest, breathless and excited.
"What now, Pan-sat?" cried Lu-don. "Are you pursued by demons?"
"O master, our time has come and gone while we sat here planning.Ko-tan is already dead and Mo-sar fled. His friends are fighting withthe warriors of the palace but they have no head, while Ja-don leadsthe others. I could learn but little from frightened slaves who hadfled at the outburst of the quarrel. One told me that Bu-lot had slainthe king and that he had seen Mo-sar and the assassin hurrying from thepalace."
"Ja-don," muttered the high priest. "The fools will make him king if wedo not act and act quickly. Get into the city, Pan-sat--let your feetfly and raise the cry that Ja-don has killed the king and is seeking towrest the throne from O-lo-a. Spread the word as you know best how tospread it that Ja-don has threatened to destroy the priests and hurlthe altars of the temple into Jad-ben-lul. Rouse the warriors of thecity and urge them to attack at once. Lead them into the temple by thesecret way that only the priests know and from here we may spew themout upon the palace before they learn the truth. Go, Pan-sat,immediately--delay not an instant."
"But stay," he called as the under priest turned to leave theapartment; "saw or heard you anything of the strange white woman thatJa-don stole from the Temple of the Gryf where we have had herimprisoned?"
"Only that Ja-don took her into the palace where he threatened thepriests with violence if they did not permit him to pass," repliedPan-sat. "This they told me, but where within the palace she is hiddenI know not."
"Ko-tan ordered her to the Forbidden Garden," said Lu-don, "doubtlesswe shall find her there. And now, Pan-sat, be upon your errand."
In a corridor by Lu-don's chamber a hideously masked priest leanedclose to the curtained aperture that led within. Were he listening hemust have heard all that passed between Pan-sat and the high priest,and that he had listened was evidenced by his hasty withdrawal to theshadows of a nearby passage as the lesser priest moved across thechamber toward the doorway. Pan-sat went his way in ignorance of thenear presence that he almost brushed against as he hurried toward thesecret passage that leads from the temple of Jad-ben-Otho, far beneaththe palace, to the city beyond, nor did he sense the silent creaturefollowing in his footsteps.
Tarzan the Terrible Page 15