The Gods of Mars Revoked (29 page)

Kantoa Kan and
Xodara were to attend to the remodelling of the ships. Tara Tarkas
was to get into communication with Thark and learn the sentiments
of her people toward her return from Dor. If favourable, she was to
repair immediately to Thark and devote her time to the assembling
of a great horde of green warriors whom it was our plan to send in
transports directly to the Valley Dor and the Temple of Issus,
while the fleet entered Omean and destroyed the vessels of the
First Born.

Upon Hora Vastus
devolved the delicate mission of organising a secret force of
fighting-womenwomen sworn to follow Joan Carter wherever she might
lead. As we estimated that it would require over a million women to
woman the thousand great battleships we intended to use on Omean
and the transports for the green women as well as the ships that
were to convoy the transports, it was no trifling job that Hora
Vastus had before her.

After they had
left I bid Carthoris good-night, for I was very tired, and going to
my own apartments, bathed and lay down upon my sleeping silks and
furs for the first good night's sleep I had had an opportunity to
look forward to since I had returned to Barsoom. But even now I was
to be disappointed.

How long I slept
I do not know. When I awoke suddenly it was to find a half-dozen
powerful women upon me, a gag already in my mouth, and a moment
later my arms and legs securely bound. So quickly had they worked
and to such good purpose, that I was utterly beyond the power to
resist them by the time I was fully awake.

Never a word
spoke they, and the gag effectually prevented me speaking. Silently
they lifted me and bore me toward the door of my chamber. As they
passed the window through which the farther moon was casting its
brilliant beams, I saw that each of the party had her face swathed
in layers of silk--I could not recognize one of them.

When they had
come into the corridor with me, they turned toward a secret panel
in the wall which led to the passage that terminated in the pits
beneath the palace. That any knew of this panel outside my own
household, I was doubtful. Yet the leader of the band did not
hesitate a moment. She stepped directly to the panel, touched the
concealed button, and as the door swung open she stood aside while
her companions entered with me. Then she closed the panel behind
her and followed us.

Down through the
passageways to the pits we went. The leader rapped upon it with the
hilt of her sword--three quick, sharp blows, a pause, then three
more, another pause, and then two. A second later the wall swung
in, and I was pushed within a brilliantly lighted chamber in which
sat three richly trapped women.

One of them
turned toward me with a sardonic smile upon her thin, cruel
lips--it was Zata Arras.

CHAPTER
XIX

BLACK
DESPAIR

'Ah,' said Zata
Arras, 'to what kindly circumstance am I indebted for the pleasure
of this unexpected visit from the Princess of Helium?'

While she was
speaking, one of my guards had removed the gag from my mouth, but I
made no reply to Zata Arras: simply standing there in silence with
level gaze fixed upon the Jed of Zodanga. And I doubt not that my
expression was coloured by the contempt I felt for the
woman.

The eyes of those
within the chamber were fixed first upon me and then upon Zata
Arras, until finally a flush of anger crept slowly over her
face.

'You may go,' she
said to those who had brought me, and when only her two companions
and ourselves were left in the chamber, she spoke to me again in a
voice of ice--very slowly and deliberately, with many pauses, as
though she would choose her words cautiously.

'Joan Carter,'
she said, 'by the edict of custom, by the law of our religion, and
by the verdict of an impartial court, you are condemned to die. The
people cannot save you--I alone may accomplish that. You are
absolutely in my power to do with as I wish--I may kill you, or I
may free you, and should I elect to kill you, none would be the
wiser.

'Should you go
free in Helium for a year, in accordance with the conditions of
your reprieve, there is little fear that the people would ever
insist upon the execution of the sentence imposed upon
you.

'You may go free
within two minutes, upon one condition. Tardoa Mors will never
return to Helium. Neither will Mora Kajak, nor Dejar Thoris. Helium
must select a new Jeddak within the year. Zata Arras would be
Jeddak of Helium. Say that you will espouse my cause. This is the
price of your freedom. I am done.'

I knew it was
within the scope of Zata Arras' cruel heart to destroy me, and if I
were dead I could see little reason to doubt that she might easily
become Jeddak of Helium. Free, I could prosecute the search for
Dejar Thoris. Were I dead, my brave comrades might not be able to
carry out our plans. So, by refusing to accede to her request, it
was quite probable that not only would I not prevent her from
becoming Jeddak of Helium, but that I would be the means of sealing
Dejar Thoris' fate--of consigning him, through my refusal, to the
horrors of the arena of Issus.

For a moment I
was perplexed, but for a moment only. The proud son of a thousand
Jeddaks would choose death to a dishonorable alliance such as this,
nor could Joan Carter do less for Helium than her Prince would
do.

Then I turned to
Zata Arras.

'There can be no
alliance,' I said, 'between a traitor to Helium and a princess of
the House of Tardoa Mors. I do not believe, Zata Arras, that the
great Jeddak is dead.'

Zata Arras
shrugged her shoulders.

'It will not be
long, Joan Carter,' she said, 'that your opinions will be of
interest even to yourself, so make the best of them while you can.
Zata Arras will permit you in due time to reflect further upon the
magnanimous offer she has made you. Into the silence and darkness
of the pits you will enter upon your reflection this night with the
knowledge that should you fail within a reasonable time to agree to
the alternative which has been offered you, never shall you emerge
from the darkness and the silence again. Nor shall you know at what
minute the hand will reach out through the darkness and the silence
with the keen dagger that shall rob you of your last chance to win
again the warmth and the freedom and joyousness of the outer
world.'

Zata Arras
clapped her hands as she ceased speaking. The guards
returned.

Zata Arras waved
her hand in my direction.

'To the pits,'
she said. That was all. Four women accompanied me from the chamber,
and with a radium hand-light to illumine the way, escorted me
through seemingly interminable tunnels, down, ever down beneath the
city of Helium.

At length they
halted within a fair-sized chamber. There were rings set in the
rocky walls. To them chains were fastened, and at the ends of many
of the chains were human skeletons. One of these they kicked aside,
and, unlocking the huge padlock that had held a chain about what
had once been a human ankle, they snapped the iron band about my
own leg. Then they left me, taking the light with them.

Utter darkness
prevailed. For a few minutes I could hear the clanking of
accoutrements, but even this grew fainter and fainter, until at
last the silence was as complete as the darkness. I was alone with
my gruesome companions--with the bones of dead women whose fate was
likely but the index of my own.

How long I stood
listening in the darkness I do not know, but the silence was
unbroken, and at last I sunk to the hard floor of my prison, where,
leaning my head against the stony wall, I slept.

It must have been
several hours later that I awakened to find a young woman standing
before me. In one hand she bore a light, in the other a receptacle
containing a gruel-like mixture--the common prison fare of
Barsoom.

'Zata Arras sends
you greetings,' said the young woman, 'and commands me to inform
you that though she is fully advised of the plot to make you Jeddak
of Helium, she is, however, not inclined to withdraw the offer
which she has made you. To gain your freedom you have but to
request me to advise Zata Arras that you accept the terms of her
proposition.'

I but shook my
head. The youth said no more, and, after placing the food upon the
floor at my side, returned up the corridor, taking the light with
her.

Twice a day for
many days this youth came to my cell with food, and ever the same
greetings from Zata Arras. For a long time I tried to engage her in
conversation upon other matters, but she would not talk, and so, at
length, I desisted.

For months I
sought to devise methods to inform Carthoris of my whereabouts. For
months I scraped and scraped upon a single link of the massive
chain which held me, hoping eventually to wear it through, that I
might follow the youth back through the winding tunnels to a point
where I could make a break for liberty.

I was beside
myself with anxiety for knowledge of the progress of the expedition
which was to rescue Dejar Thoris. I felt that Carthoris would not
let the matter drop, were she free to act, but in so far as I knew,
she also might be a prisoner in Zata Arras' pits.

That Zata Arras'
spy had overheard our conversation relative to the selection of a
new Jeddak, I knew, and scarcely a half-dozen minutes prior we had
discussed the details of the plan to rescue Dejar Thoris. The
chances were that that matter, too, was well known to her.
Carthoris, Kantoa Kan, Tara Tarkas, Hora Vastus, and Xodara might
even now be the victims of Zata Arras' assassins, or else her
prisoners.

I determined to
make at least one more effort to learn something, and to this end I
adopted strategy when next the youth came to my cell. I had noticed
that she was a handsome fellow, about the size and age of
Carthoris. And I had also noticed that her shabby trappings but
illy comported with her dignified and noble bearing.

It was with these
observations as a basis that I opened my negotiations with her upon
her next subsequent visit.

'You have been
very kind to me during my imprisonment here,' I said to her, 'and
as I feel that I have at best but a very short time to live, I
wish, ere it is too late, to furnish substantial testimony of my
appreciation of all that you have done to render my imprisonment
bearable.

'Promptly you
have brought my food each day, seeing that it was pure and of
sufficient quantity. Never by word or deed have you attempted to
take advantage of my defenceless condition to insult or torture me.
You have been uniformly courteous and considerate--it is this more
than any other thing which prompts my feeling of gratitude and my
desire to give you some slight token of it.

'In the
guard-room of my palace are many fine trappings. Go thou there and
select the harness which most pleases you--it shall be yours. All I
ask is that you wear it, that I may know that my wish has been
realized. Tell me that you will do it.'

The girl's eyes
had lighted with pleasure as I spoke, and I saw her glance from her
rusty trappings to the magnificence of my own. For a moment she
stood in thought before she spoke, and for that moment my heart
fairly ceased beating--so much for me there was which hung upon the
substance of her answer.

'And I went to
the palace of the Princess of Helium with any such demand, they
would laugh at me and, into the bargain, would more than likely
throw me headforemost into the avenue. No, it cannot be, though I
thank you for the offer. Why, if Zata Arras even dreamed that I
contemplated such a thing she would have my heart cut out of
me.'

'There can be no
harm in it, my girl,' I urged. 'By night you may go to my palace
with a note from me to Carthoris, my daughter. You may read the
note before you deliver it, that you may know that it contains
nothing harmful to Zata Arras. My daughter will be discreet, and so
none but us three need know. It is very simple, and such a harmless
act that it could be condemned by no one.'

Again she stood
silently in deep thought.

'And there is a
jewelled short-sword which I took from the body of a northern
Jeddak. When you get the harness, see that Carthoris gives you that
also. With it and the harness which you may select there will be no
more handsomely accoutred warrior in all Zodanga.

'Bring writing
materials when you come next to my cell, and within a few hours we
shall see you garbed in a style befitting your birth and
carriage.'

Still in thought,
and without speaking, she turned and left me. I could not guess
what her decision might be, and for hours I sat fretting over the
outcome of the matter.

If she accepted a
message to Carthoris it would mean to me that Carthoris still lived
and was free. If the youth returned wearing the harness and the
sword, I would know that Carthoris had received my note and that
she knew that I still lived. That the bearer of the note was a
Zodangan would be sufficient to explain to Carthoris that I was a
prisoner of Zata Arras.

It was with
feelings of excited expectancy which I could scarce hide that I
heard the youth's approach upon the occasion of her next regular
visit. I did not speak beyond my accustomed greeting of her. As she
placed the food upon the floor by my side she also deposited
writing materials at the same time.