The Gods of Mars Revoked (23 page)

'Then she stepped
out to meet them. Ah, my Princess, such fighting! For an hour they
swarmed about her, until the Warhoon dead formed a hill where she
had stood; but at last they overwhelmed her, those behind pushing
the foremost upon her until there remained no space to swing her
great sword. Then she stumbled and went down and they rolled over
her like a huge wave. When they carried her away toward the heart
of the city, she was dead, I think, for I did not see her
move.'

'Before we go
farther we must be sure,' I said. 'I cannot leave Tara Tarkas alive
among the Warhoons. To-night I shall enter the city and make
sure.'

'And I shall go
with you,' spoke Carthoris.

'And I,' said
Xodara.

'Neither one of
you shall go,' I replied. 'It is work that requires stealth and
strategy, not force. One woman alone may succeed where more would
invite disaster. I shall go alone. If I need your help, I will
return for you.'

They did not like
it, but both were good soldiers, and it had been agreed that I
should command. The sun already was low, so that I did not have
long to wait before the sudden darkness of Barsoom engulfed
us.

With a parting
word of instructions to Carthoris and Xodara, in case I should not
return, I bade them all farewell and set forth at a rapid dogtrot
toward the city.

As I emerged from
the hills the nearer moon was winging its wild flight through the
heavens, its bright beams turning to burnished silver the barbaric
splendour of the ancient metropolis. The city had been built upon
the gently rolling foothills that in the dim and distant past had
sloped down to meet the sea. It was due to this fact that I had no
difficulty in entering the streets unobserved.

The green hordes
that use these deserted cities seldom occupy more than a few
squares about the central plaza, and as they come and go always
across the dead sea bottoms that the cities face, it is usually a
matter of comparative ease to enter from the hillside.

Once within the
streets, I kept close in the dense shadows of the walls. At
intersections I halted a moment to make sure that none was in sight
before I sprang quickly to the shadows of the opposite side. Thus I
made the journey to the vicinity of the plaza without detection. As
I approached the purlieus of the inhabited portion of the city I
was made aware of the proximity of the warriors' quarters by the
squealing and grunting of the thoats and zitidars corralled within
the hollow courtyards formed by the buildings surrounding each
square.

These old
familiar sounds that are so distinctive of green Martian life sent
a thrill of pleasure surging through me. It was as one might feel
on coming home after a long absence. It was amid such sounds that I
had first courted the incomparable Dejar Thoris in the age-old
marble halls of the dead city of Korad.

As I stood in the
shadows at the far corner of the first square which housed members
of the horde, I saw warriors emerging from several of the
buildings. They all went in the same direction, toward a great
building which stood in the centre of the plaza. My knowledge of
green Martian customs convinced me that this was either the
quarters of the principal chieftain or contained the audience
chamber wherein the Jeddak met her jeds and lesser chieftains. In
either event, it was evident that something was afoot which might
have a bearing on the recent capture of Tara Tarkas.

To reach this
building, which I now felt it imperative that I do, I must needs
traverse the entire length of one square and cross a broad avenue
and a portion of the plaza. From the noises of the animals which
came from every courtyard about me, I knew that there were many
people in the surrounding buildings--probably several communities
of the great horde of the Warhoons of the South.

To pass
undetected among all these people was in itself a difficult task,
but if I was to find and rescue the great Thark I must expect even
more formidable obstacles before success could be mine. I had
entered the city from the south and now stood on the corner of the
avenue through which I had passed and the first intersecting avenue
south of the plaza. The buildings upon the south side of this
square did not appear to be inhabited, as I could see no lights,
and so I decided to gain the inner courtyard through one of
them.

Nothing occurred
to interrupt my progress through the deserted pile I chose, and I
came into the inner court close to the rear walls of the east
buildings without detection. Within the court a great herd of
thoats and zitidars moved restlessly about, cropping the moss-like
ochre vegetation which overgrows practically the entire
uncultivated area of Mars. What breeze there was came from the
north-west, so there was little danger that the beasts would scent
me. Had they, their squealing and grunting would have grown to such
a volume as to attract the attention of the warriors within the
buildings.

Close to the east
wall, beneath the overhanging balconies of the second floors, I
crept in dense shadows the full length of the courtyard, until I
came to the buildings at the north end. These were lighted for
about three floors up, but above the third floor all was
dark.

To pass through
the lighted rooms was, of course, out of the question, since they
swarmed with green Martian women and men. My only path lay through
the upper floors, and to gain these it was necessary to scale the
face of the wall. The reaching of the balcony of the second floor
was a matter of easy accomplishment--an agile leap gave my hands a
grasp upon the stone hand-rail above. In another instant I had
drawn myself upon the balcony.

Here through the
open windows I saw the green folk squatting upon their sleeping
silks and furs, grunting an occasional monosyllable, which, in
connection with their wondrous telepathic powers, is ample for
their conversational requirements. As I drew closer to listen to
their words a warrior entered the room from the hall
beyond.

'Come, Tan Gama,'
she cried, 'we are to take the Thark before Kab Kadja. Bring
another with you.'

The warrior
addressed arose and, beckoning to a fellow squatting near, the
three turned and left the apartment.

If I could but
follow them the chance might come to free Tara Tarkas at once. At
least I would learn the location of her prison.

At my right was a
door leading from the balcony into the building. It was at the end
of an unlighted hall, and on the impulse of the moment I stepped
within. The hall was broad and led straight through to the front of
the building. On either side were the doorways of the various
apartments which lined it.

I had no more
than entered the corridor than I saw the three warriors at the
other end--those whom I had just seen leaving the apartment. Then a
turn to the right took them from my sight again. Quickly I hastened
along the hallway in pursuit. My gait was reckless, but I felt that
Fate had been kind indeed to throw such an opportunity within my
grasp, and I could not afford to allow it to elude me
now.

At the far end of
the corridor I found a spiral stairway leading to the floors above
and below. The three had evidently left the floor by this avenue.
That they had gone down and not up I was sure from my knowledge of
these ancient buildings and the methods of the Warhoons.

I myself had once
been a prisoner of the cruel hordes of northern Warhoon, and the
memory of the underground dungeon in which I lay still is vivid in
my memory. And so I felt certain that Tara Tarkas lay in the dark
pits beneath some nearby building, and that in that direction I
should find the trail of the three warriors leading to her
cell.

Nor was I wrong.
At the bottom of the runway, or rather at the landing on the floor
below, I saw that the shaft descended into the pits beneath, and as
I glanced down the flickering light of a torch revealed the
presence of the three I was trailing.

Down they went
toward the pits beneath the structure, and at a safe distance
behind I followed the flicker of their torch. The way led through a
maze of tortuous corridors, unlighted save for the wavering light
they carried. We had gone perhaps a hundred yards when the party
turned abruptly through a doorway at their right. I hastened on as
rapidly as I dared through the darkness until I reached the point
at which they had left the corridor. There, through an open door, I
saw them removing the chains that secured the great Thark, Tara
Tarkas, to the wall.

Hustling her
roughly between them, they came immediately from the chamber, so
quickly in fact that I was near to being apprehended. But I managed
to run along the corridor in the direction I had been going in my
pursuit of them far enough to be without the radius of their meagre
light as they emerged from the cell.

I had naturally
assumed that they would return with Tara Tarkas the same way that
they had come, which would have carried them away from me; but, to
my chagrin, they wheeled directly in my direction as they left the
room. There was nothing for me but to hasten on in advance and keep
out of the light of their torch. I dared not attempt to halt in the
darkness of any of the many intersecting corridors, for I knew
nothing of the direction they might take. Chance was as likely as
not to carry me into the very corridor they might choose to
enter.

The sensation of
moving rapidly through these dark passages was far from reassuring.
I knew not at what moment I might plunge headlong into some
terrible pit or meet with some of the ghoulish creatures that
inhabit these lower worlds beneath the dead cities of dying Mars.
There filtered to me a faint radiance from the torch of the women
behind--just enough to permit me to trace the direction of the
winding passageways directly before me, and so keep me from dashing
myself against the walls at the turns.

Presently I came
to a place where five corridors diverged from a common point. I had
hastened along one of them for some little distance when suddenly
the faint light of the torch disappeared from behind me. I paused
to listen for sounds of the party behind me, but the silence was as
utter as the silence of the tomb.

Quickly I
realized that the warriors had taken one of the other corridors
with their prisoner, and so I hastened back with a feeling of
considerable relief to take up a much safer and more desirable
position behind them. It was much slower work returning, however,
than it had been coming, for now the darkness was as utter as the
silence.

It was necessary
to feel every foot of the way back with my hand against the side
wall, that I might not pass the spot where the five roads radiated.
After what seemed an eternity to me, I reached the place and
recognized it by groping across the entrances to the several
corridors until I had counted five of them. In not one, however,
showed the faintest sign of light.

I listened
intently, but the naked feet of the green women sent back no
guiding echoes, though presently I thought I detected the clank of
side arms in the far distance of the middle corridor. Up this,
then, I hastened, searching for the light, and stopping to listen
occasionally for a repetition of the sound; but soon I was forced
to admit that I must have been following a blind lead, as only
darkness and silence rewarded my efforts.

Again I retraced
my steps toward the parting of the ways, when to my surprise I came
upon the entrance to three diverging corridors, any one of which I
might have traversed in my hasty dash after the false clue I had
been following. Here was a pretty fix, indeed! Once back at the
point where the five passageways met, I might wait with some
assurance for the return of the warriors with Tara Tarkas. My
knowledge of their customs lent colour to the belief that she was
but being escorted to the audience chamber to have sentence passed
upon her. I had not the slightest doubt but that they would
preserve so doughty a warrior as the great Thark for the rare sport
she would furnish at the Great Games.

But unless I
could find my way back to that point the chances were most
excellent that I would wander for days through the awful blackness,
until, overcome by thirst and hunger, I lay down to die, or--What
was that!

A faint shuffling
sounded behind me, and as I cast a hasty glance over my shoulder my
blood froze in my veins for the thing I saw there. It was not so
much fear of the present danger as it was the horrifying memories
it recalled of that time I near went mad over the corpse of the
woman I had killed in the dungeons of the Warhoons, when blazing
eyes came out of the dark recesses and dragged the thing that had
been a woman from my clutches and I heard it scraping over the
stone of my prison as they bore it away to their terrible
feast.

And now in these
black pits of the other Warhoons I looked into those same fiery
eyes, blazing at me through the terrible darkness, revealing no
sign of the beast behind them. I think that the most fearsome
attribute of these awesome creatures is their silence and the fact
that one never sees them--nothing but those baleful eyes glaring
unblinkingly out of the dark void behind.

Grasping my
long-sword tightly in my hand, I backed slowly along the corridor
away from the thing that watched me, but ever as I retreated the
eyes advanced, nor was there any sound, not even the sound of
breathing, except the occasional shuffling sound as of the dragging
of a dead limb, that had first attracted my attention.