A Princess of Mars Rethroned (25 page)

She said no more,
nor was there opportunity, for the Warhoons were closing in about
us, and together we fought, shoulder to shoulder, during all that
long, hot afternoon, until the tide of battle turned and the
remnant of the fierce Warhoon horde fell back upon their thoats,
and fled into the gathering darkness.

Ten thousand
women had been engaged in that titanic struggle, and upon the field
of battle lay three thousand dead. Neither side asked or gave
quarter, nor did they attempt to take prisoners.

On our return to
the city after the battle we had gone directly to Tara Tarkas'
quarters, where I was left alone while the chieftain attended the
customary council which immediately follows an
engagement.

As I sat awaiting
the return of the green warrior I heard something move in an
adjoining apartment, and as I glanced up there rushed suddenly upon
me a huge and hideous creature which bore me backward upon the pile
of silks and furs upon which I had been reclining. It was
Woolan--faithful, loving Woolan. She had found her way back to
Thark and, as Tara Tarkas later told me, had gone immediately to my
former quarters where she had taken up her pathetic and seemingly
hopeless watch for my return.

'Tala Hajus knows
that you are here, Joan Carter,' said Tara Tarkas, on her return
from the jeddak's quarters; 'Sarkoja saw and recognized you as we
were returning. Tala Hajus has ordered me to bring you before her
tonight. I have ten thoats, Joan Carter; you may take your choice
from among them, and I will accompany you to the nearest waterway
that leads to Helium. Tara Tarkas may be a cruel green warrior, but
she can be a friend as well. Come, we must start.'

'And when you
return, Tara Tarkas?' I asked.

'The wild calots,
possibly, or worse,' she replied. 'Unless I should chance to have
the opportunity I have so long waited of battling with Tala
Hajus.'

'We will stay,
Tara Tarkas, and see Tala Hajus tonight. You shall not sacrifice
yourself, and it may be that tonight you can have the chance you
wait.'

She objected
strenuously, saying that Tala Hajus often flew into wild fits of
passion at the mere thought of the blow I had dealt her, and that
if ever she laid her hands upon me I would be subjected to the most
horrible tortures.

While we were
eating I repeated to Tara Tarkas the story which Solan had told me
that night upon the sea bottom during the march to
Thark.

She said but
little, but the great muscles of her face worked in passion and in
agony at recollection of the horrors which had been heaped upon the
only thing she had ever loved in all her cold, cruel, terrible
existence.

She no longer
demurred when I suggested that we go before Tala Hajus, only saying
that she would like to speak to Sarkoja first. At her request I
accompanied her to his quarters, and the look of venomous hatred he
cast upon me was almost adequate recompense for any future
misfortunes this accidental return to Thark might bring
me.

'Sarkoja,' said
Tara Tarkas, 'forty years ago you were instrumental in bringing
about the torture and death of a man named Gozava. I have just
discovered that the warrior who loved that man has learned of your
part in the transaction. She may not kill you, Sarkoja, it is not
our custom, but there is nothing to prevent her tying one end of a
strap about your neck and the other end to a wild thoat, merely to
test your fitness to survive and help perpetuate our race. Having
heard that she would do this on the morrow, I thought it only right
to warn you, for I am a just woman. The river Iss is but a short
pilgrimage, Sarkoja. Come, Joan Carter.'

The next morning
Sarkoja was gone, nor was he ever seen after.

In silence we
hastened to the jeddak's palace, where we were immediately admitted
to her presence; in fact, she could scarcely wait to see me and was
standing erect upon her platform glowering at the entrance as I
came in.

'Strap her to
that pillar,' she shrieked. 'We shall see who it is dares strike
the mighty Tala Hajus. Heat the irons; with my own hands I shall
burn the eyes from her head that she may not pollute my person with
her vile gaze.'

'Chieftains of
Thark,' I cried, turning to the assembled council and ignoring Tala
Hajus, 'I have been a chief among you, and today I have fought for
Thark shoulder to shoulder with his greatest warrior. You owe me,
at least, a hearing. I have won that much today. You claim to be
just people--'

'Silence,' roared
Tala Hajus. 'Gag the creature and bind her as I
command.'

'Justice, Tala
Hajus,' exclaimed Lorqua Ptomel. 'Who are you to set aside the
customs of ages among the Tharks.'

'Yes, justice!'
echoed a dozen voices, and so, while Tala Hajus fumed and frothed,
I continued.

'You are a brave
people and you love bravery, but where was your mighty jeddak
during the fighting today? I did not see her in the thick of
battle; she was not there. She rends defenseless men and little
children in her lair, but how recently has one of you seen her
fight with women? Why, even I, a midget beside her, felled her with
a single blow of my fist. Is it of such that the Tharks fashion
their jeddaks? There stands beside me now a great Thark, a mighty
warrior and a noble woman. Chieftains, how sounds, Tara Tarkas,
Jeddak of Thark?'

A roar of
deep-toned applause greeted this suggestion.

'It but remains
for this council to command, and Tala Hajus must prove her fitness
to rule. Were she a brave woman she would invite Tara Tarkas to
combat, for she does not love her, but Tala Hajus is afraid; Tala
Hajus, your jeddak, is a coward. With my bare hands I could kill
her, and she knows it.'

After I ceased
there was tense silence, as all eyes were riveted upon Tala Hajus.
She did not speak or move, but the blotchy green of her countenance
turned livid, and the froth froze upon her lips.

'Tala Hajus,'
said Lorqua Ptomel in a cold, hard voice, 'never in my long life
have I seen a jeddak of the Tharks so humiliated. There could be
but one answer to this arraignment. We wait it.' And still Tala
Hajus stood as though electrified.

'Chieftains,'
continued Lorqua Ptomel, 'shall the jeddak, Tala Hajus, prove her
fitness to rule over Tara Tarkas?'

There were twenty
chieftains about the rostrum, and twenty swords flashed high in
assent.

There was no
alternative. That decree was final, and so Tala Hajus drew her
long-sword and advanced to meet Tara Tarkas.

The combat was
soon over, and, with her foot upon the neck of the dead monster,
Tara Tarkas became jeddak among the Tharks.

Her first act was
to make me a full-fledged chieftain with the rank I had won by my
combats the first few weeks of my captivity among them.

Seeing the
favorable disposition of the warriors toward Tara Tarkas, as well
as toward me, I grasped the opportunity to enlist them in my cause
against Zodanga. I told Tara Tarkas the story of my adventures, and
in a few words had explained to her the thought I had in
mind.

'Joan Carter has
made a proposal,' she said, addressing the council, 'which meets
with my sanction. I shall put it to you briefly. Dejar Thoris, the
Prince of Helium, who was our prisoner, is now held by the jeddak
of Zodanga, whose daughter he must wed to save his country from
devastation at the hands of the Zodangan forces.

'Joan Carter
suggests that we rescue his and return his to Helium. The loot of
Zodanga would be magnificent, and I have often thought that had we
an alliance with the people of Helium we could obtain sufficient
assurance of sustenance to permit us to increase the size and
frequency of our hatchings, and thus become unquestionably supreme
among the green women of all Barsoom. What say you?'

It was a chance
to fight, an opportunity to loot, and they rose to the bait as a
speckled trout to a fly.

For Tharks they
were wildly enthusiastic, and before another half hour had passed
twenty mounted messengers were speeding across dead sea bottoms to
call the hordes together for the expedition.

In three days we
were on the march toward Zodanga, one hundred thousand strong, as
Tara Tarkas had been able to enlist the services of three smaller
hordes on the promise of the great loot of Zodanga.

At the head of
the column I rode beside the great Thark while at the heels of my
mount trotted my beloved Woolan.

We traveled
entirely by night, timing our marches so that we camped during the
day at deserted cities where, even to the beasts, we were all kept
indoors during the daylight hours. On the march Tara Tarkas,
through her remarkable ability and statesmanship, enlisted fifty
thousand more warriors from various hordes, so that, ten days after
we set out we halted at midnight outside the great walled city of
Zodanga, one hundred and fifty thousand strong.

The fighting
strength and efficiency of this horde of ferocious green monsters
was equivalent to ten times their number of red women. Never in the
history of Barsoom, Tara Tarkas told me, had such a force of green
warriors marched to battle together. It was a monstrous task to
keep even a semblance of harmony among them, and it was a marvel to
me that she got them to the city without a mighty battle among
themselves.

But as we neared
Zodanga their personal quarrels were submerged by their greater
hatred for the red women, and especially for the Zodangans, who had
for years waged a ruthless campaign of extermination against the
green women, directing special attention toward despoiling their
incubators.

Now that we were
before Zodanga the task of obtaining entry to the city devolved
upon me, and directing Tara Tarkas to hold her forces in two
divisions out of earshot of the city, with each division opposite a
large gateway, I took twenty dismounted warriors and approached one
of the small gates that pierced the walls at short intervals. These
gates have no regular guard, but are covered by sentries, who
patrol the avenue that encircles the city just within the walls as
our metropolitan police patrol their beats.

The walls of
Zodanga are seventy-five feet in height and fifty feet thick. They
are built of enormous blocks of carborundum, and the task of
entering the city seemed, to my escort of green warriors, an
impossibility. The fellows who had been detailed to accompany me
were of one of the smaller hordes, and therefore did not know
me.

Placing three of
them with their faces to the wall and arms locked, I commanded two
more to mount to their shoulders, and a sixth I ordered to climb
upon the shoulders of the upper two. The head of the topmost
warrior towered over forty feet from the ground.

In this way, with
ten warriors, I built a series of three steps from the ground to
the shoulders of the topmost woman. Then starting from a short
distance behind them I ran swiftly up from one tier to the next,
and with a final bound from the broad shoulders of the highest I
clutched the top of the great wall and quietly drew myself to its
broad expanse. After me I dragged six lengths of leather from an
equal number of my warriors. These lengths we had previously
fastened together, and passing one end to the topmost warrior I
lowered the other end cautiously over the opposite side of the wall
toward the avenue below. No one was in sight, so, lowering myself
to the end of my leather strap, I dropped the remaining thirty feet
to the pavement below.

I had learned
from Kantoa Kan the secret of opening these gates, and in another
moment my twenty great fighting women stood within the doomed city
of Zodanga.

I found to my
delight that I had entered at the lower boundary of the enormous
palace grounds. The building itself showed in the distance a blaze
of glorious light, and on the instant I determined to lead a
detachment of warriors directly within the palace itself, while the
balance of the great horde was attacking the barracks of the
soldiery.

Dispatching one
of my women to Tara Tarkas for a detail of fifty Tharks, with word
of my intentions, I ordered ten warriors to capture and open one of
the great gates while with the nine remaining I took the other. We
were to do our work quietly, no shots were to be fired and no
general advance made until I had reached the palace with my fifty
Tharks. Our plans worked to perfection. The two sentries we met
were dispatched to their mothers upon the banks of the lost sea of
Korus, and the guards at both gates followed them in
silence.

CHAPTER
XXV

THE LOOTING OF
ZODANGA

As the great gate
where I stood swung open my fifty Tharks, headed by Tara Tarkas
herself, rode in upon their mighty thoats. I led them to the palace
walls, which I negotiated easily without assistance. Once inside,
however, the gate gave me considerable trouble, but I finally was
rewarded by seeing it swing upon its huge hinges, and soon my
fierce escort was riding across the gardens of the jeddak of
Zodanga.

As we approached
the palace I could see through the great windows of the first floor
into the brilliantly illuminated audience chamber of Thana Kosis.
The immense hall was crowded with nobles and their men, as though
some important function was in progress. There was not a guard in
sight without the palace, due, I presume, to the fact that the city
and palace walls were considered impregnable, and so I came close
and peered within.