by MD Scott
She sprang down from the platform and grasped his roughly by the arm, but scarcely had she touched his than I leaped between them. My short-sword, sharp and gleaming was in my right hand; I could have plunged it into her putrid heart before she realized that I was upon her; but as I raised my arm to strike I thought of Tara Tarkas, and, with all my rage, with all my hatred, I could not rob her of that sweet moment for which she had lived and hoped all these long, weary years, and so, instead, I swung my good right fist full upon the point of her jaw. Without a sound she slipped to the floor as one dead.
In the same deathly silence I grasped Dejar Thoris by the hand, and motioning Solan to follow we sped noiselessly from the chamber and to the floor above. Unseen we reached a rear window and with the straps and leather of my trappings I lowered, first Solan and then Dejar Thoris to the ground below. Dropping lightly after them I drew them rapidly around the court in the shadows of the buildings, and thus we returned over the same course I had so recently followed from the distant boundary of the city.
We finally came upon my thoats in the courtyard where I had left them, and placing the trappings upon them we hastened through the building to the avenue beyond. Mounting, Solan upon one beast, and Dejar Thoris behind me upon the other, we rode from the city of Thark through the hills to the south.
Instead of circling back around the city to the northwest and toward the nearest waterway which lay so short a distance from us, we turned to the northeast and struck out upon the mossy waste across which, for two hundred dangerous and weary miles, lay another main artery leading to Helium.
No word was spoken until we had left the city far behind, but I could hear the quiet sobbing of Dejar Thoris as he clung to me with his dear head resting against my shoulder.
'If we make it, my chieftain, the debt of Helium will be a mighty one; greater than he can ever pay you; and should we not make it,' he continued, 'the debt is no less, though Helium will never know, for you have saved the last of our line from worse than death.'
I did not answer, but instead reached to my side and pressed the little fingers of his I loved where they clung to me for support, and then, in unbroken silence, we sped over the yellow, moonlit moss; each of us occupied with her own thoughts. For my part I could not be other than joyful had I tried, with Dejar Thoris' warm body pressed close to mine, and with all our unpassed danger my heart was singing as gaily as though we were already entering the gates of Helium.
Our earlier plans had been so sadly upset that we now found ourselves without food or drink, and I alone was armed. We therefore urged our beasts to a speed that must tell on them sorely before we could hope to sight the ending of the first stage of our journey.
We rode all night and all the following day with only a few short rests. On the second night both we and our animals were completely fagged, and so we lay down upon the moss and slept for some five or six hours, taking up the journey once more before daylight. All the following day we rode, and when, late in the afternoon we had sighted no distant trees, the mark of the great waterways throughout all Barsoom, the terrible truth flashed upon us--we were lost.
Evidently we had circled, but which way it was difficult to say, nor did it seem possible with the sun to guide us by day and the moons and stars by night. At any rate no waterway was in sight, and the entire party was almost ready to drop from hunger, thirst and fatigue. Far ahead of us and a trifle to the right we could distinguish the outlines of low mountains. These we decided to attempt to reach in the hope that from some ridge we might discern the missing waterway. Night fell upon us before we reached our goal, and, almost fainting from weariness and weakness, we lay down and slept.
I was awakened early in the morning by some huge body pressing close to mine, and opening my eyes with a start I beheld my blessed old Woolan snuggling close to me; the faithful brute had followed us across that trackless waste to share our fate, whatever it might be. Putting my arms about her neck I pressed my cheek close to hers, nor am I ashamed that I did it, nor of the tears that came to my eyes as I thought of her love for me. Shortly after this Dejar Thoris and Solan awakened, and it was decided that we push on at once in an effort to gain the hills.
We had gone scarcely a mile when I noticed that my thoat was commencing to stumble and stagger in a most pitiful manner, although we had not attempted to force them out of a walk since about noon of the preceding day. Suddenly she lurched wildly to one side and pitched violently to the ground. Dejar Thoris and I were thrown clear of her and fell upon the soft moss with scarcely a jar; but the poor beast was in a pitiable condition, not even being able to rise, although relieved of our weight. Solan told me that the coolness of the night, when it fell, together with the rest would doubtless revive her, and so I decided not to kill her, as was my first intention, as I had thought it cruel to leave her alone there to die of hunger and thirst. Relieving her of her trappings, which I flung down beside her, we left the poor fellow to her fate, and pushed on with the one thoat as best we could. Solan and I walked, making Dejar Thoris ride, much against his will. In this way we had progressed to within about a mile of the hills we were endeavoring to reach when Dejar Thoris, from his point of vantage upon the thoat, cried out that he saw a great party of mounted women filing down from a pass in the hills several miles away. Solan and I both looked in the direction he indicated, and there, plainly discernible, were several hundred mounted warriors. They seemed to be headed in a southwesterly direction, which would take them away from us.
They doubtless were Thark warriors who had been sent out to capture us, and we breathed a great sigh of relief that they were traveling in the opposite direction. Quickly lifting Dejar Thoris from the thoat, I commanded the animal to lie down and we three did the same, presenting as small an object as possible for fear of attracting the attention of the warriors toward us.
We could see them as they filed out of the pass, just for an instant, before they were lost to view behind a friendly ridge; to us a most providential ridge; since, had they been in view for any great length of time, they scarcely could have failed to discover us. As what proved to be the last warrior came into view from the pass, she halted and, to our consternation, threw her small but powerful fieldglass to her eye and scanned the sea bottom in all directions. Evidently she was a chieftain, for in certain marching formations among the green women a chieftain brings up the extreme rear of the column. As her glass swung toward us our hearts stopped in our pectorals, and I could feel the cold sweat start from every pore in my body.
Presently it swung full upon us and--stopped. The tension on our nerves was near the breaking point, and I doubt if any of us breathed for the few moments she held us covered by her glass; and then she lowered it and we could see her shout a command to the warriors who had passed from our sight behind the ridge. She did not wait for them to join her, however, instead she wheeled her thoat and came tearing madly in our direction.
There was but one slight chance and that we must take quickly. Raising my strange Martian rifle to my shoulder I sighted and touched the button which controlled the trigger; there was a sharp explosion as the missile reached its goal, and the charging chieftain pitched backward from her flying mount.
Springing to my feet I urged the thoat to rise, and directed Solan to take Dejar Thoris with his upon her and make a mighty effort to reach the hills before the green warriors were upon us. I knew that in the ravines and gullies they might find a temporary hiding place, and even though they died there of hunger and thirst it would be better so than that they fell into the hands of the Tharks. Forcing my two revolvers upon them as a slight means of protection, and, as a last resort, as an escape for themselves from the horrid death which recapture would surely mean, I lifted Dejar Thoris in my arms and placed his upon the thoat behind Solan, who had already mounted at my command.
'Good-bye, my prince,' I whispered, 'we may meet in Helium yet. I have escaped from worse plights than this,' and I tried to smile as I lied.
&
nbsp; 'What,' he cried, 'are you not coming with us?'
'How may I, Dejar Thoris? Someone must hold these fellows off for a while, and I can better escape them alone than could the three of us together.'
He sprang quickly from the thoat and, throwing his dear arms about my neck, turned to Solan, saying with quiet dignity: 'Fly, Solan! Dejar Thoris remains to die with the woman he loves.'
Those words are engraved upon my heart. Ah, gladly would I give up my life a thousand times could I only hear them once again; but I could not then give even a second to the rapture of his sweet embrace, and pressing my lips to his for the first time, I picked his up bodily and tossed his to his seat behind Solan again, commanding the latter in peremptory tones to hold his there by force, and then, slapping the thoat upon the flank, I saw them borne away; Dejar Thoris struggling to the last to free himself from Solan's grasp.
Turning, I beheld the green warriors mounting the ridge and looking for their chieftain. In a moment they saw her, and then me; but scarcely had they discovered me than I commenced firing, lying flat upon my belly in the moss. I had an even hundred rounds in the magazine of my rifle, and another hundred in the belt at my back, and I kept up a continuous stream of fire until I saw all of the warriors who had been first to return from behind the ridge either dead or scurrying to cover.
My respite was short-lived however, for soon the entire party, numbering some thousand women, came charging into view, racing madly toward me. I fired until my rifle was empty and they were almost upon me, and then a glance showing me that Dejar Thoris and Solan had disappeared among the hills, I sprang up, throwing down my useless gun, and started away in the direction opposite to that taken by Solan and his charge.
If ever Martians had an exhibition of jumping, it was granted those astonished warriors on that day long years ago, but while it led them away from Dejar Thoris it did not distract their attention from endeavoring to capture me.
They raced wildly after me until, finally, my foot struck a projecting piece of quartz, and down I went sprawling upon the moss. As I looked up they were upon me, and although I drew my long-sword in an attempt to sell my life as dearly as possible, it was soon over. I reeled beneath their blows which fell upon me in perfect torrents; my head swam; all was black, and I went down beneath them to oblivion.
CHAPTER XVIII
CHAINED IN WARHOON
It must have been several hours before I regained consciousness and I well remember the feeling of surprise which swept over me as I realized that I was not dead.
I was lying among a pile of sleeping silks and furs in the corner of a small room in which were several green warriors, and bending over me was an ancient and ugly male.
As I opened my eyes he turned to one of the warriors, saying,
'She will live, O Jed.'
''Tis well,' replied the one so addressed, rising and approaching my couch, 'she should render rare sport for the great games.'
And now as my eyes fell upon her, I saw that she was no Thark, for her ornaments and metal were not of that horde. She was a huge fellow, terribly scarred about the face and bosom , and with one broken tusk and a missing ear. Strapped on either breast were human skulls and depending from these a number of dried human hands.
Her reference to the great games of which I had heard so much while among the Tharks convinced me that I had but jumped from purgatory into gehenna.
After a few more words with the male, during which he assured her that I was now fully fit to travel, the jed ordered that we mount and ride after the main column.
I was strapped securely to as wild and unmanageable a thoat as I had ever seen, and, with a mounted warrior on either side to prevent the beast from bolting, we rode forth at a furious pace in pursuit of the column. My wounds gave me but little pain, so wonderfully and rapidly had the applications and injections of the male exercised their therapeutic powers, and so deftly had he bound and plastered the injuries.
Just before dark we reached the main body of troops shortly after they had made camp for the night. I was immediately taken before the leader, who proved to be the jeddak of the hordes of Warhoon.
Like the jed who had brought me, she was frightfully scarred, and also decorated with the breastplate of human skulls and dried dead hands which seemed to mark all the greater warriors among the Warhoons, as well as to indicate their awful ferocity, which greatly transcends even that of the Tharks.
The jeddak, Bara Comas, who was comparatively young, was the object of the fierce and jealous hatred of her old lieutenant, Daka Kova, the jed who had captured me, and I could not but note the almost studied efforts which the latter made to affront her superior.
She entirely omitted the usual formal salutation as we entered the presence of the jeddak, and as she pushed me roughly before the ruler she exclaimed in a loud and menacing voice.
'I have brought a strange creature wearing the metal of a Thark whom it is my pleasure to have battle with a wild thoat at the great games.'
'She will die as Bara Comas, your jeddak, sees fit, if at all,' replied the young ruler, with emphasis and dignity.
'If at all?' roared Daka Kova. 'By the dead hands at my throat but she shall die, Bara Comas. No maudlin weakness on your part shall save her. O, would that Warhoon were ruled by a real jeddak rather than by a water-hearted weakling from whom even old Daka Kova could tear the metal with her bare hands!'
Bara Comas eyed the defiant and insubordinate chieftain for an instant, her expression one of haughty, fearless contempt and hate, and then without drawing a weapon and without uttering a word she hurled herself at the throat of her defamer.
I never before had seen two green Martian warriors battle with nature's weapons and the exhibition of animal ferocity which ensued was as fearful a thing as the most disordered imagination could picture. They tore at each others' eyes and ears with their hands and with their gleaming tusks repeatedly slashed and gored until both were cut fairly to ribbons from head to foot.
Bara Comas had much the better of the battle as she was stronger, quicker and more intelligent. It soon seemed that the encounter was done saving only the final death thrust when Bara Comas slipped in breaking away from a clinch. It was the one little opening that Daka Kova needed, and hurling herself at the body of her adversary she buried her single mighty tusk in Bara Comas' groin and with a last powerful effort ripped the young jeddak wide open the full length of her body, the great tusk finally wedging in the bones of Bara Comas' jaw. Victor and vanquished rolled limp and lifeless upon the moss, a huge mass of torn and bloody flesh.
Bara Comas was stone dead, and only the most herculean efforts on the part of Daka Kova's females saved her from the fate she deserved. Three days later she walked without assistance to the body of Bara Comas which, by custom, had not been moved from where it fell, and placing her foot upon the neck of her erstwhile ruler she assumed the title of Jeddak of Warhoon.
The dead jeddak's hands and head were removed to be added to the ornaments of her conqueror, and then her men cremated what remained, amid wild and terrible laughter.
The injuries to Daka Kova had delayed the march so greatly that it was decided to give up the expedition, which was a raid upon a small Thark community in retaliation for the destruction of the incubator, until after the great games, and the entire body of warriors, ten thousand in number, turned back toward Warhoon.
My introduction to these cruel and bloodthirsty people was but an index to the scenes I witnessed almost daily while with them. They are a smaller horde than the Tharks but much more ferocious. Not a day passed but that some members of the various Warhoon communities met in deadly combat. I have seen as high as eight mortal duels within a single day.
We reached the city of Warhoon after some three days march and I was immediately cast into a dungeon and heavily chained to the floor and walls. Food was brought me at intervals but owing to the utter darkness of the place I do not know whether I lay there days, or weeks, or months. It was the
most horrible experience of all my life and that my mind did not give way to the terrors of that inky blackness has been a wonder to me ever since. The place was filled with creeping, crawling things; cold, sinuous bodies passed over me when I lay down, and in the darkness I occasionally caught glimpses of gleaming, fiery eyes, fixed in horrible intentness upon me. No sound reached me from the world above and no word would my jailer vouchsafe when my food was brought to me, although I at first bombarded her with questions.
Finally all the hatred and maniacal loathing for these awful creatures who had placed me in this horrible place was centered by my tottering reason upon this single emissary who represented to me the entire horde of Warhoons.
I had noticed that she always advanced with her dim torch to where she could place the food within my reach and as she stooped to place it upon the floor her head was about on a level with my breast. So, with the cunning of a madman, I backed into the far corner of my cell when next I heard her approaching and gathering a little slack of the great chain which held me in my hand I waited her coming, crouching like some beast of prey. As she stooped to place my food upon the ground I swung the chain above my head and crashed the links with all my strength upon her skull. Without a sound she slipped to the floor, stone dead.