The Gods of Mars Revoked (24 page)

On and on I went,
but I could not escape my sinister pursuer. Suddenly I heard the
shuffling noise at my right, and, looking, saw another pair of
eyes, evidently approaching from an intersecting corridor. As I
started to renew my slow retreat I heard the noise repeated behind
me, and then before I could turn I heard it again at my
left.

The things were
all about me. They had me surrounded at the intersection of two
corridors. Retreat was cut off in all directions, unless I chose to
charge one of the beasts. Even then I had no doubt but that the
others would hurl themselves upon my back. I could not even guess
the size or nature of the weird creatures. That they were of goodly
proportions I guessed from the fact that the eyes were on a level
with my own.

Why is it that
darkness so magnifies our dangers? By day I would have charged the
great banth itself, had I thought it necessary, but hemmed in by
the darkness of these silent pits I hesitated before a pair of
eyes.

Soon I saw that
the matter shortly would be taken entirely from my hands, for the
eyes at my right were moving slowly nearer me, as were those at my
left and those behind and before me. Gradually they were closing in
upon me--but still that awful stealthy silence!

For what seemed
hours the eyes approached gradually closer and closer, until I felt
that I should go mad for the horror of it. I had been constantly
turning this way and that to prevent any sudden rush from behind,
until I was fairly worn out. At length I could endure it no longer,
and, taking a fresh grasp upon my long-sword, I turned suddenly and
charged down upon one of my tormentors.

As I was almost
upon it the thing retreated before me, but a sound from behind
caused me to wheel in time to see three pairs of eyes rushing at me
from the rear. With a cry of rage I turned to meet the cowardly
beasts, but as I advanced they retreated as had their fellow.
Another glance over my shoulder discovered the first eyes sneaking
on me again. And again I charged, only to see the eyes retreat
before me and hear the muffled rush of the three at my
back.

Thus we
continued, the eyes always a little closer in the end than they had
been before, until I thought that I should go mad with the terrible
strain of the ordeal. That they were waiting to spring upon my back
seemed evident, and that it would not be long before they succeeded
was equally apparent, for I could not endure the wear of this
repeated charge and countercharge indefinitely. In fact, I could
feel myself weakening from the mental and physical strain I had
been undergoing.

At that moment I
caught another glimpse from the corner of my eye of the single pair
of eyes at my back making a sudden rush upon me. I turned to meet
the charge; there was a quick rush of the three from the other
direction; but I determined to pursue the single pair until I
should have at least settled my account with one of the beasts and
thus be relieved of the strain of meeting attacks from both
directions.

There was no
sound in the corridor, only that of my own breathing, yet I knew
that those three uncanny creatures were almost upon me. The eyes in
front were not retreating so rapidly now; I was almost within sword
reach of them. I raised my sword arm to deal the blow that should
free me, and then I felt a heavy body upon my back. A cold, moist,
slimy something fastened itself upon my throat. I stumbled and went
down.

CHAPTER
XV

FLIGHT AND
PURSUIT

I could not have
been unconscious more than a few seconds, and yet I know that I was
unconscious, for the next thing I realized was that a growing
radiance was illuminating the corridor about me and the eyes were
gone.

I was unharmed
except for a slight bruise upon my forehead where it had struck the
stone flagging as I fell.

I sprang to my
feet to ascertain the cause of the light. It came from a torch in
the hand of one of a party of four green warriors, who were coming
rapidly down the corridor toward me. They had not yet seen me, and
so I lost no time in slipping into the first intersecting corridor
that I could find. This time, however, I did not advance so far
away from the main corridor as on the other occasion that had
resulted in my losing Tara Tarkas and her guards.

The party came
rapidly toward the opening of the passageway in which I crouched
against the wall. As they passed by I breathed a sigh of relief. I
had not been discovered, and, best of all, the party was the same
that I had followed into the pits. It consisted of Tara Tarkas and
her three guards.

I fell in behind
them and soon we were at the cell in which the great Thark had been
chained. Two of the warriors remained without while the woman with
the keys entered with the Thark to fasten her irons upon her once
more. The two outside started to stroll slowly in the direction of
the spiral runway which led to the floors above, and in a moment
were lost to view beyond a turn in the corridor.

The torch had
been stuck in a socket beside the door, so that its rays
illuminated both the corridor and the cell at the same time. As I
saw the two warriors disappear I approached the entrance to the
cell, with a well-defined plan already formulated.

While I disliked
the thought of carrying out the thing that I had decided upon,
there seemed no alternative if Tara Tarkas and I were to go back
together to my little camp in the hills.

Keeping near the
wall, I came quite close to the door to Tara Tarkas' cell, and
there I stood with my longsword above my head, grasped with both
hands, that I might bring it down in one quick cut upon the skull
of the jailer as she emerged.

I dislike to
dwell upon what followed after I heard the footsteps of the woman
as she approached the doorway. It is enough that within another
minute or two, Tara Tarkas, wearing the metal of a Warhoon chief,
was hurrying down the corridor toward the spiral runway, bearing
the Warhoon's torch to light her way. A dozen paces behind her
followed Joan Carter, Princess of Helium.

The two
companions of the woman who lay now beside the door of the cell
that had been Tara Tarkas' had just started to ascend the runway as
the Thark came in view.

'Why so long, Tan
Gama?' cried one of the women.

'I had trouble
with a lock,' replied Tara Tarkas. 'And now I find that I have left
my short-sword in the Thark's cell. Go you on, I'll return and
fetch it.'

'As you will, Tan
Gama,' replied she who had before spoken. 'We shall see you above
directly.'

'Yes,' replied
Tara Tarkas, and turned as though to retrace her steps to the cell,
but she only waited until the two had disappeared at the floor
above. Then I joined her, we extinguished the torch, and together
we crept toward the spiral incline that led to the upper floors of
the building.

At the first
floor we found that the hallway ran but halfway through,
necessitating the crossing of a rear room full of green folk, ere
we could reach the inner courtyard, so there was but one thing left
for us to do, and that was to gain the second floor and the hallway
through which I had traversed the length of the
building.

Cautiously we
ascended. We could hear the sounds of conversation coming from the
room above, but the hall still was unlighted, nor was any one in
sight as we gained the top of the runway. Together we threaded the
long hall and reached the balcony overlooking the courtyard,
without being detected.

At our right was
the window letting into the room in which I had seen Tan Gama and
the other warriors as they started to Tara Tarkas' cell earlier in
the evening. Her companions had returned here, and we now overheard
a portion of their conversation.

'What can be
detaining Tan Gama?' asked one.

'She certainly
could not be all this time fetching her shortsword from the Thark's
cell,' spoke another.

'Her
short-sword?' asked a man. 'What mean you?'

'Tan Gama left
her short-sword in the Thark's cell,' explained the first speaker,
'and left us at the runway, to return and get it.'

'Tan Gama wore no
short-sword this night,' said the man. 'It was broken in to-day's
battle with the Thark, and Tan Gama gave it to me to repair. See, I
have it here,' and as he spoke he drew Tan Gama's short-sword from
beneath his sleeping silks and furs.

The warriors
sprang to their feet.

'There is
something amiss here,' cried one.

''Tis even what I
myself thought when Tan Gama left us at the runway,' said another.
'Methought then that her voice sounded strangely.'

'Come! let us
hasten to the pits.'

We waited to hear
no more. Slinging my harness into a long single strap, I lowered
Tara Tarkas to the courtyard beneath, and an instant later dropped
to her side.

We had spoken
scarcely a dozen words since I had felled Tan Gama at the cell door
and seen in the torch's light the expression of utter bewilderment
upon the great Thark's face.

'By this time,'
she had said, 'I should have learned to wonder at nothing which
Joan Carter accomplishes.' That was all. She did not need to tell
me that she appreciated the friendship which had prompted me to
risk my life to rescue her, nor did she need to say that she was
glad to see me.

This fierce green
warrior had been the first to greet me that day, now twenty years
gone, which had witnessed my first advent upon Mars. She had met me
with levelled spear and cruel hatred in her heart as she charged
down upon me, bending low at the side of her mighty thoat as I
stood beside the incubator of her horde upon the dead sea bottom
beyond Korad. And now among the inhabitants of two worlds I counted
none a better friend than Tara Tarkas, Jeddak of the
Tharks.

As we reached the
courtyard we stood in the shadows beneath the balcony for a moment
to discuss our plans.

'There be five
now in the party, Tara Tarkas,' I said; 'Thuviar, Xodara,
Carthoris, and ourselves. We shall need five thoats to bear
us.'

'Carthoris!' she
cried. 'Your son?'

'Yes. I found her
in the prison of Shador, on the Sea of Omean, in the land of the
First Born.'

'I know not any
of these places, Joan Carter. Be they upon Barsoom?'

'Upon and below,
my friend; but wait until we shall have made good our escape, and
you shall hear the strangest narrative that ever a Barsoomian of
the outer world gave ear to. Now we must steal our thoats and be
well away to the north before these fellows discover how we have
tricked them.'

In safety we
reached the great gates at the far end of the courtyard, through
which it was necessary to take our thoats to the avenue beyond. It
is no easy matter to handle five of these great, fierce beasts,
which by nature are as wild and ferocious as their mistresses and
held in subjection by cruelty and brute force alone.

As we approached
them they sniffed our unfamiliar scent and with squeals of rage
circled about us. Their long, massive necks upreared raised their
great, gaping mouths high above our heads. They are fearsome
appearing brutes at best, but when they are aroused they are fully
as dangerous as they look. The thoat stands a good ten feet at the
shoulder. Her hide is sleek and hairless, and of a dark slate
colour on back and sides, shading down her eight legs to a vivid
yellow at the huge, padded, nailless feet; the belly is pure white.
A broad, flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root, completes
the picture of this ferocious green Martian mount--a fit war steed
for these warlike people.

As the thoats are
guided by telepathic means alone, there is no need for rein or
bridle, and so our object now was to find two that would obey our
unspoken commands. As they charged about us we succeeded in
mastering them sufficiently to prevent any concerted attack upon
us, but the din of their squealing was certain to bring
investigating warriors into the courtyard were it to continue much
longer.

At length I was
successful in reaching the side of one great brute, and ere she
knew what I was about I was firmly seated astride her glossy back.
A moment later Tara Tarkas had caught and mounted another, and then
between us we herded three or four more toward the great
gates.

Tara Tarkas rode
ahead and, leaning down to the latch, threw the barriers open,
while I held the loose thoats from breaking back to the herd. Then
together we rode through into the avenue with our stolen mounts
and, without waiting to close the gates, hurried off toward the
southern boundary of the city.

Thus far our
escape had been little short of marvellous, nor did our good
fortune desert us, for we passed the outer purlieus of the dead
city and came to our camp without hearing even the faintest sound
of pursuit.

Here a low
whistle, the prearranged signal, apprised the balance of our party
that I was returning, and we were met by the three with every
manifestation of enthusiastic rejoicing.

But little time
was wasted in narration of our adventure. Tara Tarkas and Carthoris
exchanged the dignified and formal greetings common upon Barsoom,
but I could tell intuitively that the Thark loved my girl and that
Carthoris reciprocated her affection.