tmp_c799c46e2bf43fc5e02e822bf0c23ac4_SzE3FM.fixed.tidied

by MD Scott

  'Dejar Thoris, I do not know how I have angered you. It was furtherest from my desire to hurt or offend you, whom I had hoped to protect and comfort. Have none of me if it is your will, but that you must aid me in effecting your escape, if such a thing be possible, is not my request, but my command. When you are safe once more at your mother's court you may do with me as you please, but from now on until that day I am your mistress, and you must obey and aid me.'

  He looked at me long and earnestly and I thought that he was softening toward me.

  'I understand your words, Dotar Sojat,' he replied, 'but you I do not understand. You are a queer mixture of child and woman, of brute and noble. I only wish that I might read your heart.'

  'Look down at your feet, Dejar Thoris; it lies there now where it has lain since that other night at Korad, and where it will ever lie beating alone for you until death stills it forever.'

  He took a little step toward me, his beautiful hands outstretched in a strange, groping gesture.

  'What do you mean, Joan Carter?' he whispered. 'What are you saying to me?'

  'I am saying what I had promised myself that I would not say to you, at least until you were no longer a captive among the green women; what from your attitude toward me for the past twenty days I had thought never to say to you; I am saying, Dejar Thoris, that I am yours, body and soul, to serve you, to fight for you, and to die for you. Only one thing I ask of you in return, and that is that you make no sign, either of condemnation or of approbation of my words until you are safe among your own people, and that whatever sentiments you harbor toward me they be not influenced or colored by gratitude; whatever I may do to serve you will be prompted solely from selfish motives, since it gives me more pleasure to serve you than not.'

  'I will respect your wishes, Joan Carter, because I understand the motives which prompt them, and I accept your service no more willingly than I bow to your authority; your word shall be my law. I have twice wronged you in my thoughts and again I ask your forgiveness.'

  Further conversation of a personal nature was prevented by the entrance of Solan, who was much agitated and wholly unlike his usual calm and possessed self.

  'That horrible Sarkoja has been before Tala Hajus,' he cried, 'and from what I heard upon the plaza there is little hope for either of you.'

  'What do they say?' inquired Dejar Thoris.

  'That you will be thrown to the wild calots [dogs] in the great arena as soon as the hordes have assembled for the yearly games.'

  'Solan,' I said, 'you are a Thark, but you hate and loathe the customs of your people as much as we do. Will you not accompany us in one supreme effort to escape? I am sure that Dejar Thoris can offer you a home and protection among his people, and your fate can be no worse among them than it must ever be here.'

  'Yes,' cried Dejar Thoris, 'come with us, Solan, you will be better off among the red women of Helium than you are here, and I can promise you not only a home with us, but the love and affection your nature craves and which must always be denied you by the customs of your own race. Come with us, Solan; we might go without you, but your fate would be terrible if they thought you had connived to aid us. I know that even that fear would not tempt you to interfere in our escape, but we want you with us, we want you to come to a land of sunshine and happiness, amongst a people who know the meaning of love, of sympathy, and of gratitude. Say that you will, Solan; tell me that you will.'

  'The great waterway which leads to Helium is but fifty miles to the south,' murmured Solan, half to himself; 'a swift thoat might make it in three hours; and then to Helium it is five hundred miles, most of the way through thinly settled districts. They would know and they would follow us. We might hide among the great trees for a time, but the chances are small indeed for escape. They would follow us to the very gates of Helium, and they would take toll of life at every step; you do not know them.'

  'Is there no other way we might reach Helium?' I asked. 'Can you not draw me a rough map of the country we must traverse, Dejar Thoris?'

  'Yes,' he replied, and taking a great diamond from his hair he drew upon the marble floor the first map of Barsoomian territory I had ever seen. It was crisscrossed in every direction with long straight lines, sometimes running parallel and sometimes converging toward some great circle. The lines, he said, were waterways; the circles, cities; and one far to the northwest of us he pointed out as Helium. There were other cities closer, but he said he feared to enter many of them, as they were not all friendly toward Helium.

  Finally, after studying the map carefully in the moonlight which now flooded the room, I pointed out a waterway far to the north of us which also seemed to lead to Helium.

  'Does not this pierce your grandfather's territory?' I asked.

  'Yes,' he answered, 'but it is two hundred miles north of us; it is one of the waterways we crossed on the trip to Thark.'

  'They would never suspect that we would try for that distant waterway,' I answered, 'and that is why I think that it is the best route for our escape.'

  Solan agreed with me, and it was decided that we should leave Thark this same night; just as quickly, in fact, as I could find and saddle my thoats. Solan was to ride one and Dejar Thoris and I the other; each of us carrying sufficient food and drink to last us for two days, since the animals could not be urged too rapidly for so long a distance.

  I directed Solan to proceed with Dejar Thoris along one of the less frequented avenues to the southern boundary of the city, where I would overtake them with the thoats as quickly as possible; then, leaving them to gather what food, silks, and furs we were to need, I slipped quietly to the rear of the first floor, and entered the courtyard, where our animals were moving restlessly about, as was their habit, before settling down for the night.

  In the shadows of the buildings and out beneath the radiance of the Martian moons moved the great herd of thoats and zitidars, the latter grunting their low gutturals and the former occasionally emitting the sharp squeal which denotes the almost habitual state of rage in which these creatures passed their existence. They were quieter now, owing to the absence of woman, but as they scented me they became more restless and their hideous noise increased. It was risky business, this entering a paddock of thoats alone and at night; first, because their increasing noisiness might warn the nearby warriors that something was amiss, and also because for the slightest cause, or for no cause at all some great bull thoat might take it upon herself to lead a charge upon me.

  Having no desire to awaken their nasty tempers upon such a night as this, where so much depended upon secrecy and dispatch, I hugged the shadows of the buildings, ready at an instant's warning to leap into the safety of a nearby door or window. Thus I moved silently to the great gates which opened upon the street at the back of the court, and as I neared the exit I called softly to my two animals. How I thanked the kind providence which had given me the foresight to win the love and confidence of these wild dumb brutes, for presently from the far side of the court I saw two huge bulks forcing their way toward me through the surging mountains of flesh.

  They came quite close to me, rubbing their muzzles against my body and nosing for the bits of food it was always my practice to reward them with. Opening the gates I ordered the two great beasts to pass out, and then slipping quietly after them I closed the portals behind me.

  I did not saddle or mount the animals there, but instead walked quietly in the shadows of the buildings toward an unfrequented avenue which led toward the point I had arranged to meet Dejar Thoris and Solan. With the noiselessness of disembodied spirits we moved stealthily along the deserted streets, but not until we were within sight of the plain beyond the city did I commence to breathe freely. I was sure that Solan and Dejar Thoris would find no difficulty in reaching our rendezvous undetected, but with my great thoats I was not so sure for myself, as it was quite unusual for warriors to leave the city after dark; in fact there was no place for them to go within any but a long ride.

  I
reached the appointed meeting place safely, but as Dejar Thoris and Solan were not there I led my animals into the entrance hall of one of the large buildings. Presuming that one of the other men of the same household may have come in to speak to Solan, and so delayed their departure, I did not feel any undue apprehension until nearly an hour had passed without a sign of them, and by the time another half hour had crawled away I was becoming filled with grave anxiety. Then there broke upon the stillness of the night the sound of an approaching party, which, from the noise, I knew could be no fugitives creeping stealthily toward liberty. Soon the party was near me, and from the black shadows of my entranceway I perceived a score of mounted warriors, who, in passing, dropped a dozen words that fetched my heart clean into the top of my head.

  'She would likely have arranged to meet them just without the city, and so--' I heard no more, they had passed on; but it was enough. Our plan had been discovered, and the chances for escape from now on to the fearful end would be small indeed. My one hope now was to return undetected to the quarters of Dejar Thoris and learn what fate had overtaken him, but how to do it with these great monstrous thoats upon my hands, now that the city probably was aroused by the knowledge of my escape was a problem of no mean proportions.

  Suddenly an idea occurred to me, and acting on my knowledge of the construction of the buildings of these ancient Martian cities with a hollow court within the center of each square, I groped my way blindly through the dark chambers, calling the great thoats after me. They had difficulty in negotiating some of the doorways, but as the buildings fronting the city's principal exposures were all designed upon a magnificent scale, they were able to wriggle through without sticking fast; and thus we finally made the inner court where I found, as I had expected, the usual carpet of moss-like vegetation which would prove their food and drink until I could return them to their own enclosure. That they would be as quiet and contented here as elsewhere I was confident, nor was there but the remotest possibility that they would be discovered, as the green women had no great desire to enter these outlying buildings, which were frequented by the only thing, I believe, which caused them the sensation of fear--the great white apes of Barsoom.

  Removing the saddle trappings, I hid them just within the rear doorway of the building through which we had entered the court, and, turning the beasts loose, quickly made my way across the court to the rear of the buildings upon the further side, and thence to the avenue beyond. Waiting in the doorway of the building until I was assured that no one was approaching, I hurried across to the opposite side and through the first doorway to the court beyond; thus, crossing through court after court with only the slight chance of detection which the necessary crossing of the avenues entailed, I made my way in safety to the courtyard in the rear of Dejar Thoris' quarters.

  Here, of course, I found the beasts of the warriors who quartered in the adjacent buildings, and the warriors themselves I might expect to meet within if I entered; but, fortunately for me, I had another and safer method of reaching the upper story where Dejar Thoris should be found, and, after first determining as nearly as possible which of the buildings he occupied, for I had never observed them before from the court side, I took advantage of my relatively great strength and agility and sprang upward until I grasped the sill of a second-story window which I thought to be in the rear of his apartment. Drawing myself inside the room I moved stealthily toward the front of the building, and not until I had quite reached the doorway of his room was I made aware by voices that it was occupied.

  I did not rush headlong in, but listened without to assure myself that it was Dejar Thoris and that it was safe to venture within. It was well indeed that I took this precaution, for the conversation I heard was in the low gutturals of women, and the words which finally came to me proved a most timely warning. The speaker was a chieftain and she was giving orders to four of her warriors.

  'And when she returns to this chamber,' she was saying, 'as she surely will when she finds he does not meet her at the city's edge, you four are to spring upon her and disarm her. It will require the combined strength of all of you to do it if the reports they bring back from Korad are correct. When you have her fast bound bear her to the vaults beneath the jeddak's quarters and chain her securely where she may be found when Tala Hajus wishes her. Allow her to speak with none, nor permit any other to enter this apartment before she comes. There will be no danger of the boy returning, for by this time he is safe in the arms of Tala Hajus, and may all his ancestors have pity upon him, for Tala Hajus will have none; the great Sarkoja has done a noble night's work. I go, and if you fail to capture her when she comes, I commend your carcasses to the cold chest of Iss.'

  CHAPTER XVII

  A COSTLY RECAPTURE

  As the speaker ceased she turned to leave the apartment by the door where I was standing, but I needed to wait no longer; I had heard enough to fill my soul with dread, and stealing quietly away I returned to the courtyard by the way I had come. My plan of action was formed upon the instant, and crossing the square and the bordering avenue upon the opposite side I soon stood within the courtyard of Tala Hajus.

  The brilliantly lighted apartments of the first floor told me where first to seek, and advancing to the windows I peered within. I soon discovered that my approach was not to be the easy thing I had hoped, for the rear rooms bordering the court were filled with warriors and men. I then glanced up at the stories above, discovering that the third was apparently unlighted, and so decided to make my entrance to the building from that point. It was the work of but a moment for me to reach the windows above, and soon I had drawn myself within the sheltering shadows of the unlighted third floor.

  Fortunately the room I had selected was untenanted, and creeping noiselessly to the corridor beyond I discovered a light in the apartments ahead of me. Reaching what appeared to be a doorway I discovered that it was but an opening upon an immense inner chamber which towered from the first floor, two stories below me, to the dome-like roof of the building, high above my head. The floor of this great circular hall was thronged with chieftains, warriors and men, and at one end was a great raised platform upon which squatted the most hideous beast I had ever put my eyes upon. She had all the cold, hard, cruel, terrible features of the green warriors, but accentuated and debased by the animal passions to which she had given herself over for many years. There was not a mark of dignity or pride upon her bestial countenance, while her enormous bulk spread itself out upon the platform where she squatted like some huge devil fish, her six limbs accentuating the similarity in a horrible and startling manner.

  But the sight that froze me with apprehension was that of Dejar Thoris and Solan standing there before her, and the fiendish leer of her as she let her great protruding eyes gloat upon the lines of his beautiful figure. He was speaking, but I could not hear what he said, nor could I make out the low grumbling of her reply. He stood there erect before her, his head high held, and even at the distance I was from them I could read the scorn and disgust upon his face as he let his haughty glance rest without sign of fear upon her. He was indeed the proud son of a thousand jeddaks, every inch of his dear, precious little body; so small, so frail beside the towering warriors around him, but in his majesty dwarfing them into insignificance; he was the mightiest figure among them and I verily believe that they felt it.

  Presently Tala Hajus made a sign that the chamber be cleared, and that the prisoners be left alone before her. Slowly the chieftains, the warriors and the men melted away into the shadows of the surrounding chambers, and Dejar Thoris and Solan stood alone before the jeddak of the Tharks.

  One chieftain alone had hesitated before departing; I saw her standing in the shadows of a mighty column, her fingers nervously toying with the hilt of her great-sword and her cruel eyes bent in implacable hatred upon Tala Hajus. It was Tara Tarkas, and I could read her thoughts as they were an open book for the undisguised loathing upon her face. She was thinking of that other man who, forty ye
ars ago, had stood before this beast, and could I have spoken a word into her ear at that moment the reign of Tala Hajus would have been over; but finally she also strode from the room, not knowing that she left her own son at the mercy of the creature she most loathed.

  Tala Hajus arose, and I, half fearing, half anticipating her intentions, hurried to the winding runway which led to the floors below. No one was near to intercept me, and I reached the main floor of the chamber unobserved, taking my station in the shadow of the same column that Tara Tarkas had but just deserted. As I reached the floor Tala Hajus was speaking.

  'Princess of Helium, I might wring a mighty ransom from your people would I but return you to them unharmed, but a thousand times rather would I watch that beautiful face writhe in the agony of torture; it shall be long drawn out, that I promise you; ten days of pleasure were all too short to show the love I harbor for your race. The terrors of your death shall haunt the slumbers of the red women through all the ages to come; they will shudder in the shadows of the night as their mothers tell them of the awful vengeance of the green women; of the power and might and hate and cruelty of Tala Hajus. But before the torture you shall be mine for one short hour, and word of that too shall go forth to Tardoa Mors, Jeddak of Helium, your grandmother, that she may grovel upon the ground in the agony of her sorrow. Tomorrow the torture will commence; tonight thou art Tala Hajus'; come!'