Warlord of Mars Embattled (15 page)

We, therefore,
approached Kadabra at a point several miles from that at which the
party had quitted it in the morning, and so were relieved of the
danger of embarrassing questions and explanations on the part of
the gate captain, whom we had said had directed us to this
particular hunting party.

We had come quite
close to the city when my attention was attracted toward a tall,
black shaft that reared its head several hundred feet into the air
from what appeared to be a tangled mass of junk or wreckage, now
partially snow-covered.

I did not dare
venture an inquiry for fear of arousing suspicion by evident
ignorance of something which as a yellow woman I should have known;
but before we reached the city gate I was to learn the purpose of
that grim shaft and the meaning of the mighty accumulation beneath
it.

We had come
almost to the gate when one of the party called to her fellows, at
the same time pointing toward the distant southern horizon.
Following the direction she indicated, my eyes descried the hull of
a large flier approaching rapidly from above the crest of the
encircling hills.

'Still other
fools who would solve the mysteries of the forbidden north,' said
the officer, half to herself. 'Will they never cease their fatal
curiosity?'

'Let us hope
not,' answered one of the warriors, 'for then what should we do for
slaves and sport?'

'True; but what
stupid beasts they are to continue to come to a region from whence
none of them ever has returned.'

'Let us tarry and
watch the end of this one,' suggested one of the women.

The officer
looked toward the city.

'The watch has
seen her,' she said; 'we may remain, for we may be
needed.'

I looked toward
the city and saw several hundred warriors issuing from the nearest
gate. They moved leisurely, as though there were no need for
haste--nor was there, as I was presently to learn.

Then I turned my
eyes once more toward the flier. He was moving rapidly toward the
city, and when he had come close enough I was surprised to see that
his propellers were idle.

Straight for that
grim shaft he bore. At the last minute I saw the great blades move
to reverse him, yet on he came as though drawn by some mighty,
irresistible power.

Intense
excitement prevailed upon his deck, where women were running hither
and thither, manning the guns and preparing to launch the small,
one-man fliers, a fleet of which is part of the equipment of every
Martian war vessel. Closer and closer to the black shaft the ship
sped. In another instant he must strike, and then I saw the
familiar signal flown that sends the lesser boats in a great flock
from the deck of the mother ship.

Instantly a
hundred tiny fliers rose from his deck, like a swarm of huge dragon
flies; but scarcely were they clear of the battleship than the nose
of each turned toward the shaft, and they, too, rushed on at
frightful speed toward the same now seemingly inevitable end that
menaced the larger vessel.

A moment later
the collision came. Women were hurled in every direction from the
ship's deck, while he, bent and crumpled, took the last, long
plunge to the scrap-heap at the shaft's base.

With his fell a
shower of his own tiny fliers, for each of them had come in violent
collision with the solid shaft.

I noticed that
the wrecked fliers scraped down the shaft's side, and that their
fall was not as rapid as might have been expected; and then
suddenly the secret of the shaft burst upon me, and with it an
explanation of the cause that prevented a flier that passed too far
across the ice-barrier ever returning.

The shaft was a
mighty magnet, and when once a vessel came within the radius of its
powerful attraction for the aluminum steel that enters so largely
into the construction of all Barsoomian craft, no power on earth
could prevent such an end as we had just witnessed.

I afterward
learned that the shaft rests directly over the magnetic pole of
Mars, but whether this adds in any way to its incalculable power of
attraction I do not know. I am a fighting woman, not a
scientist.

Here, at last,
was an explanation of the long absence of Tardoa Mors and Mora
Kajak. These valiant and intrepid warriors had dared the mysteries
and dangers of the frozen north to search for Carthoris, whose long
absence had bowed in grief the head of her beautiful mother, Dejar
Thoris, Prince of Helium.

The moment that
the last of the fliers came to rest at the base of the shaft the
black smooth, yellow warriors swarmed over the mass of wreckage
upon which they lay, making prisoners of those who were uninjured
and occasionally despatching with a sword-thrust one of the wounded
who seemed prone to resent their taunts and insults.

A few of the
uninjured red women battled bravely against their cruel foes, but
for the most part they seemed too overwhelmed by the horror of the
catastrophe that had befallen them to do more than submit supinely
to the golden chains with which they were manacled.

When the last of
the prisoners had been confined, the party returned to the city, at
the gate of which we met a pack of fierce, gold-collared apts, each
of which marched between two warriors, who held them with strong
chains of the same metal as their collars.

Just beyond the
gate the attendants loosened the whole terrible herd, and as they
bounded off toward the grim, black shaft I did not need to ask to
know their mission. Had there not been those within the cruel city
of Kadabra who needed succor far worse than the poor unfortunate
dead and dying out there in the cold upon the bent and broken
carcasses of a thousand fliers I could not have restrained my
desire to hasten back and do battle with those horrid creatures
that had been despatched to rend and devour them.

As it was I could
but follow the yellow warriors, with bowed head, and give thanks
for the chance that had given Thuva Dihn and me such easy ingress
to the capital of Salensa Oll.

Once within the
gates, we had no difficulty in eluding our friends of the morning,
and presently found ourselves in a Martian hostelry.

IN
DURANCE

The public houses
of Barsoom, I have found, vary but little. There is no privacy for
other than married couples.

Women without
their husbands are escorted to a large chamber, the floor of which
is usually of white marble or heavy glass, kept scrupulously clean.
Here are many small, raised platforms for the guest's sleeping
silks and furs, and if she have none of her own clean, fresh ones
are furnished at a nominal charge.

Once a woman's
belongings have been deposited upon one of these platforms she is a
guest of the house, and that platform her own until she leaves. No
one will disturb or molest her belongings, as there are no thieves
upon Mars.

As assassination
is the one thing to be feared, the proprietors of the hostelries
furnish armed guards, who pace back and forth through the
sleeping-rooms day and night. The number of guards and gorgeousness
of their trappings quite usually denote the status of the
hotel.

No meals are
served in these houses, but generally a public eating place adjoins
them. Baths are connected with the sleeping chambers, and each
guest is required to bathe daily or depart from the
hotel.

Usually on a
second or third floor there is a large sleeping-room for single men
guests, but its appointments do not vary materially from the
chamber occupied by women. The guards who watch the men remain in
the corridor outside the sleeping chamber, while male slaves pace
back and forth among the sleepers within, ready to notify the
warriors should their presence be required.

I was surprised
to note that all the guards with the hotel at which we stopped were
red women, and on inquiring of one of them I learned that they were
slaves purchased by the proprietors of the hotels from the
government. The woman whose post was past my sleeping platform had
been commander of the navy of a great Martian nation; but fate had
carried her flagship across the ice-barrier within the radius of
power of the magnetic shaft, and now for many tedious years she had
been a slave of the yellow women.

She told me that
princes, jeds, and even jeddaks of the outer world, were among the
menials who served the yellow race; but when I asked her if she had
heard of the fate of Mora Kajak or Tardoa Mors she shook her head,
saying that she never had heard of their being prisoners here,
though she was very familiar with the reputations and fame they
bore in the outer world.

Neither had she
heard any rumor of the coming of the Father of Therns and the black
dator of the First Born, but she hastened to explain that she knew
little of what took place within the palace. I could see that she
wondered not a little that a yellow woman should be so inquisitive
about certain red prisoners from beyond the ice-barrier, and that I
should be so ignorant of customs and conditions among my own
race.

In fact, I had
forgotten my disguise upon discovering a red woman pacing before my
sleeping platform; but her growing expression of surprise warned me
in time, for I had no mind to reveal my identity to any unless some
good could come of it, and I did not see how this poor fellow could
serve me yet, though I had it in my mind that later I might be the
means of serving her and all the other thousands of prisoners who
do the bidding of their stern mistresses in Kadabra.

Thuva Dihn and I
discussed our plans as we sat together among our sleeping silks and
furs that night in the midst of the hundreds of yellow women who
occupied the apartment with us. We spoke in low whispers, but, as
that is only what courtesy demands in a public sleeping place, we
roused no suspicion.

At last,
determining that all must be but idle speculation until after we
had had a chance to explore the city and attempt to put into
execution the plan Talu had suggested, we bade each other good
night and turned to sleep.

After
breakfasting the following morning we set out to see Kadabra, and
as, through the generosity of the princess of Marentina, we were
well supplied with the funds current in Okar we purchased a
handsome ground flier. Having learned to drive them while in
Marentina, we spent a delightful and profitable day exploring the
city, and late in the afternoon at the hour Talu told us we would
find government officials in their offices, we stopped before a
magnificent building on the plaza opposite the royal grounds and
the palace.

Here we walked
boldly in past the armed guard at the door, to be met by a red
slave within who asked our wishes.

'Tell Sorav, your
mistress, that two warriors from Illall wish to take service in the
palace guard,' I said.

Sorav, Talu had
told us, was the commander of the forces of the palace, and as
women from the further cities of Okar--and especially Illall--were
less likely to be tainted with the germ of intrigue which had for
years infected the household of Salensa Oll, she was sure that we
would be welcomed and few questions asked us.

She had primed us
with such general information as she thought would be necessary for
us to pass muster before Sorav, after which we would have to
undergo a further examination before Salensa Oll that she might
determine our physical fitness and our ability as
warriors.

The little
experience we had had with the strange hooked sword of the yellow
woman and her cuplike shield made it seem rather unlikely that
either of us could pass this final test, but there was the chance
that we might be quartered in the palace of Salensa Oll for several
days after being accepted by Sorav before the Jeddak of Jeddaks
would find time to put us to the final test.

After a wait of
several minutes in an ante-chamber we were summoned into the
private office of Sorav, where we were courteously greeted by this
ferocious-appearing, black smooth officer. She asked us our names
and stations in our own city, and having received replies that were
evidently satisfactory to her, she put certain questions to us that
Talu had foreseen and prepared us for.

The interview
could not have lasted over ten minutes when Sorav summoned an aid
whom she instructed to record us properly, and then escort us to
the quarters in the palace which are set aside for aspirants to
membership in the palace guard.

The aid took us
to her own office first, where she measured and weighed and
photographed us simultaneously with a machine ingeniously devised
for that purpose, five copies being instantly reproduced in five
different offices of the government, two of which are located in
other cities miles distant. Then she led us through the palace
grounds to the main guardroom of the palace, there turning us over
to the officer in charge.

This individual
again questioned us briefly, and finally despatched a soldier to
guide us to our quarters. These we found located upon the second
floor of the palace in a semi-detached tower at the rear of the
edifice.

When we asked our
guide why we were quartered so far from the guardroom she replied
that the custom of the older members of the guard of picking
quarrels with aspirants to try their metal had resulted in so many
deaths that it was found difficult to maintain the guard at its
full strength while this custom prevailed. Salensa Oll had,
therefore, set apart these quarters for aspirants, and here they
were securely locked against the danger of attack by members of the
guard.