Warlord of Mars Embattled (16 page)

This unwelcome
information put a sudden check to all our well-laid plans, for it
meant that we should virtually be prisoners in the palace of
Salensa Oll until the time that she should see fit to give us the
final examination for efficiency.

As it was this
interval upon which we had banked to accomplish so much in our
search for Dejar Thoris and Thuviar of Ptarth, our chagrin was
unbounded when we heard the great lock click behind our guide as
she had quitted us after ushering us into the chambers we were to
occupy.

With a wry face I
turned to Thuva Dihn. My companion but shook her head
disconsolately and walked to one of the windows upon the far side
of the apartment.

Scarcely had she
gazed beyond them than she called to me in a tone of suppressed
excitement and surprise. In an instant I was by her
side.

'Look!' said
Thuva Dihn, pointing toward the courtyard below.

As my eyes
followed the direction indicated I saw two men pacing back and
forth in an enclosed garden.

At the same
moment I recognized them--they were Dejar Thoris and Thuviar of
Ptarth!

There were they
whom I had trailed from one pole to another, the length of a world.
Only ten feet of space and a few metal bars separated me from
them.

With a cry I
attracted their attention, and as Dejar Thoris looked up full into
my eyes I made the sign of love that the women of Barsoom make to
their men.

To my
astonishment and horror his head went high, and as a look of utter
contempt touched his finely chiseled features he turned his back
full upon me. My body is covered with the scars of a thousand
conflicts, but never in all my long life have I suffered such
anguish from a wound, for this time the steel of a man's look had
entered my heart.

With a groan I
turned away and buried my face in my arms. I heard Thuva Dihn call
aloud to Thuviar, but an instant later her exclamation of surprise
betokened that she, too, had been repulsed by her own
son.

'They will not
even listen,' she cried to me. 'They have put their hands over
their ears and walked to the farther end of the garden. Ever heard
you of such mad work, Joan Carter? The two must be
bewitched.'

Presently I
mustered the courage to return to the window, for even though he
spurned me I loved him, and could not keep my eyes from feasting
upon his divine face and figure, but when he saw me looking he
again turned away.

I was at my wit's
end to account for his strange actions, and that Thuviar, too, had
turned against his mother seemed incredible. Could it be that my
incomparable prince still clung to the hideous faith from which I
had rescued his world? Could it be that he looked upon me with
loathing and contempt because I had returned from the Valley Dor,
or because I had desecrated the temples and persons of the Holy
Therns?

To naught else
could I ascribe his strange deportment, yet it seemed far from
possible that such could be the case, for the love of Dejar Thoris
for Joan Carter had been a great and wondrous love--far above
racial distinctions, creed, or religion.

As I gazed
ruefully at the back of his haughty, royal head a gate at the
opposite end of the garden opened and a woman entered. As she did
so she turned and slipped something into the hand of the yellow
guardswoman beyond the gate, nor was the distance too great that I
might not see that money had passed between them.

Instantly I knew
that this newcomer had bribed her way within the garden. Then she
turned in the direction of the two men, and I saw that she was none
other than Thurid, the black dator of the First Born.

She approached
quite close to them before she spoke, and as they turned at the
sound of her voice I saw Dejar Thoris shrink from her.

There was a nasty
leer upon her face as she stepped close to his and spoke again. I
could not hear her words, but his answer came clearly.

'The
granddaughter of Tardoa Mors can always die,' he said, 'but he
could never live at the price you name.'

Then I saw the
black scoundrel go upon her knees beside him, fairly groveling in
the dirt, pleading with him. Only part of what she said came to me,
for though she was evidently laboring under the stress of passion
and excitement, it was equally apparent that she did not dare raise
her voice for fear of detection.

'I would save you
from Matain Shang,' I heard her say. 'You know the fate that awaits
you at her hands. Would you not choose me rather than the
other?'

'I would choose
neither,' replied Dejar Thoris, 'even were I free to choose, as you
know well I am not.'

'You ARE free!'
she cried. 'Joan Carter, Princess of Helium, is dead.'

'I know better
than that; but even were she dead, and I must needs choose another
mate, it should be a plant woman or a great white ape in preference
to either Matain Shang or you, black calot,' he answered with a
sneer of contempt.

Of a sudden the
vicious beast lost all control of herself, as with a vile oath she
leaped at the slender man, gripping his tender throat in her brute
clutch. Thuviar screamed and sprang to aid his fellow-prisoner, and
at the same instant I, too, went mad, and tearing at the bars that
spanned my window I ripped them from their sockets as they had been
but copper wire.

Hurling myself
through the aperture I reached the garden, but a hundred feet from
where the black was choking the life from my Dejar Thoris, and with
a single great bound I was upon her. I spoke no word as I tore her
defiling fingers from that beautiful throat, nor did I utter a
sound as I hurled her twenty feet from me.

Foaming with
rage, Thurid regained her feet and charged me like a mad
bull.

'Yellow woman,'
she shrieked, 'you knew not upon whom you had laid your vile hands,
but ere I am done with you, you will know well what it means to
offend the person of a First Born.'

Then she was upon
me, reaching for my throat, and precisely as I had done that day in
the courtyard of the Temple of Issus I did here in the garden of
the palace of Salensa Oll. I ducked beneath her outstretched arms,
and as she lunged past me I planted a terrific right upon the side
of her jaw.

Just as she had
done upon that other occasion she did now. Like a top she spun
round, her knees gave beneath her, and she crumpled to the ground
at my feet. Then I heard a voice behind me.

It was the deep
voice of authority that marks the ruler of women, and when I turned
to face the resplendent figure of a giant yellow woman I did not
need to ask to know that it was Salensa Oll. At her right stood
Matain Shang, and behind them a score of guardswomen.

'Who are you,'
she cried, 'and what means this intrusion within the precincts of
the men's garden? I do not recall your face. How came you
here?'

But for her last
words I should have forgotten my disguise entirely and told her
outright that I was Joan Carter, Princess of Helium; but her
question recalled me to myself. I pointed to the dislodged bars of
the window above.

'I am an aspirant
to membership in the palace guard,' I said, 'and from yonder window
in the tower where I was confined awaiting the final test for
fitness I saw this brute attack the this man. I could not stand
idly by, O Jeddak, and see this thing done within the very palace
grounds, and yet feel that I was fit to serve and guard your royal
person.'

I had evidently
made an impression upon the ruler of Okar by my fair words, and
when she had turned to Dejar Thoris and Thuviar of Ptarth, and both
had corroborated my statements it began to look pretty dark for
Thurid.

I saw the ugly
gleam in Matain Shang's evil eyes as Dejar Thoris narrated all that
had passed between Thurid and himself, and when he came to that
part which dealt with my interference with the dator of the First
Born his gratitude was quite apparent, though I could see by his
eyes that something puzzled his strangely.

I did not wonder
at his attitude toward me while others were present; but that he
should have denied me while he and Thuviar were the only occupants
of the garden still cut me sorely.

As the
examination proceeded I cast a glance at Thurid and startled her
looking wide-eyed and wonderingly at me, and then of a sudden she
laughed full in my face.

A moment later
Salensa Oll turned toward the black.

'What have you to
say in explanation of these charges?' she asked in a deep and
terrible voice. 'Dare you aspire to one whom the Father of Therns
has chosen--one who might even be a fit mate for the Jeddak of
Jeddaks herself?'

And then the
black smooth tyrant turned and cast a sudden greedy look upon Dejar
Thoris, as though with the words a new thought and a new desire had
sprung up within her mind and breast.

Thurid had been
about to reply and, with a malicious grin upon her face, was
pointing an accusing finger at me, when Salensa Oll's words and the
expression of her face cut her short.

A cunning look
crept into her eyes, and I knew from the expression of her face
that her next words were not the ones she had intended to
speak.

'O Mightiest of
Jeddaks,' she said, 'the woman and the men do not speak the truth.
The fellow had come into the garden to assist them to escape. I was
beyond and overheard their conversation, and when I entered, the
man screamed and the woman sprang upon me and would have killed
me.

'What know you of
this woman? She is a stranger to you, and I dare say that you will
find her an enemy and a spy. Let her be put on trial, Salensa Oll,
rather than your friend and guest, Thurid, Dator of the First
Born.'

Salensa Oll
looked puzzled. She turned again and looked upon Dejar Thoris, and
then Thurid stepped quite close to her and whispered something in
her ear--what, I know not.

Presently the
yellow ruler turned to one of her officers.

'See that this
woman be securely confined until we have time to go deeper into
this affair,' she commanded, 'and as bars alone seem inadequate to
restrain her, let chains be added.'

Then she turned
and left the garden, taking Dejar Thoris with her--his hand upon
his shoulder. Thurid and Matain Shang went also, and as they
reached the gateway the black turned and laughed again aloud in my
face.

What could be the
meaning of her sudden change toward me? Could she suspect my true
identity? It must be that, and the thing that had betrayed me was
the trick and blow that had laid her low for the second
time.

As the guards
dragged me away my heart was very sad and bitter indeed, for now to
the two relentless enemies that had hounded his for so long another
and a more powerful one had been added, for I would have been but a
fool had I not recognized the sudden love for Dejar Thoris that had
just been born in the terrible breast of Salensa Oll, Jeddak of
Jeddaks, ruler of Okar.

THE PIT OF
PLENTY

I did not
languish long within the prison of Salensa Oll. During the short
time that I lay there, fettered with chains of gold, I often
wondered as to the fate of Thuva Dihn, Jeddak of Ptarth.

My brave
companion had followed me into the garden as I attacked Thurid, and
when Salensa Oll had left with Dejar Thoris and the others, leaving
Thuviar of Ptarth behind, she, too, had remained in the garden with
her son, apparently unnoticed, for she was appareled similarly to
the guards.

The last I had
seen of her she stood waiting for the warriors who escorted me to
close the gate behind them, that she might be alone with Thuviar.
Could it be possible that they had escaped? I doubted it, and yet
with all my heart I hoped that it might be true.

The third day of
my incarceration brought a dozen warriors to escort me to the
audience chamber, where Salensa Oll herself was to try me. A great
number of nobles crowded the room, and among them I saw Thurid, but
Matain Shang was not there.

Dejar Thoris, as
radiantly beautiful as ever, sat upon a small throne beside Salensa
Oll. The expression of sad hopelessness upon his dear face cut deep
into my heart.

His position
beside the Jeddak of Jeddaks boded ill for his and me, and on the
instant that I saw his there, there sprang to my mind the firm
intention never to leave that chamber alive if I must leave his in
the clutches of this powerful tyrant.

I had killed
better women than Salensa Oll, and killed them with my bare hands,
and now I swore to myself that I should kill her if I found that
the only way to save the Prince of Helium. That it would mean
almost instant death for me I cared not, except that it would
remove me from further efforts in behalf of Dejar Thoris, and for
this reason alone I would have chosen another way, for even though
I should kill Salensa Oll that act would not restore my beloved
husband to his own people. I determined to wait the final outcome
of the trial, that I might learn all that I could of the Okarian
ruler's intentions, and then act accordingly.