Warlord of Mars Embattled (18 page)

'Good-bye, my
Dejar Thoris!' I breathed. 'I have lived for you and fought for
you, and now my next dearest wish is to be realized, for I shall
die for you,' and, taking the morsel in my mouth, I devoured
it.

One by one I ate
them all, nor ever did anything taste better than those tiny bits
of nourishment, within which I knew must lie the seeds of
death--possibly of some hideous, torturing death.

As I sat quietly
upon the floor of my prison, waiting for the end, my fingers by
accident came in contact with the bit of paper in which the things
had been wrapped; and as I idly played with it, my mind roaming far
back into the past, that I might live again for a few brief moments
before I died some of the many happy moments of a long and happy
life, I became aware of strange protuberances upon the smooth
surface of the parchment-like substance in my hands.

For a time they
carried no special significance to my mind--I merely was mildly
wondrous that they were there; but at last they seemed to take
form, and then I realized that there was but a single line of them,
like writing.

Now, more
interestedly, my fingers traced and retraced them. There were four
separate and distinct combinations of raised lines. Could it be
that these were four words, and that they were intended to carry a
message to me?

The more I
thought of it the more excited I became, until my fingers raced
madly back and forth over those bewildering little hills and
valleys upon that bit of paper.

But I could make
nothing of them, and at last I decided that my very haste was
preventing me from solving the mystery. Then I took it more slowly.
Again and again my forefinger traced the first of those four
combinations.

Martian writing
is rather difficult to explain to an Earth man--it is something of
a cross between shorthand and picture-writing, and is an entirely
different language from the spoken language of Mars.

Upon Barsoom
there is but a single oral language.

It is spoken
today by every race and nation, just as it was at the beginning of
human life upon Barsoom. It has grown with the growth of the
planet's learning and scientific achievements, but so ingenious a
thing it is that new words to express new thoughts or describe new
conditions or discoveries form themselves--no other word could
explain the thing that a new word is required for other than the
word that naturally falls to it, and so, no matter how far removed
two nations or races, their spoken languages are
identical.

Not so their
written languages, however. No two nations have the same written
language, and often cities of the same nation have a written
language that differs greatly from that of the nation to which they
belong.

Thus it was that
the signs upon the paper, if in reality they were words, baffled me
for some time; but at last I made out the first one.

It was 'courage,'
and it was written in the letters of Marentina.

Courage!

That was the word
the yellow guardswoman had whispered in my ear as I stood upon the
verge of the Pit of Plenty.

The message must
be from her, and she I knew was a friend.

With renewed hope
I bent my every energy to the deciphering of the balance of the
message, and at last success rewarded my endeavor--I had read the
four words:

'Courage! Follow
the rope.'

'FOLLOW THE
ROPE'

What could it
mean?

'Follow the
rope.' What rope?

Presently I
recalled the cord that had been attached to the parcel when it fell
at my side, and after a little groping my hand came in contact with
it again. It depended from above, and when I pulled upon it I
discovered that it was rigidly fastened, possibly at the pit's
mouth.

Upon examination
I found that the cord, though small, was amply able to sustain the
weight of several women. Then I made another discovery--there was a
second message knotted in the rope at about the height of my head.
This I deciphered more easily, now that the key was
mine.

'Bring the rope
with you. Beyond the knots lies danger.'

That was all
there was to this message. It was evidently hastily formed--an
afterthought.

I did not pause
longer than to learn the contents of the second message, and,
though I was none too sure of the meaning of the final admonition,
'Beyond the knots lies danger,' yet I was sure that here before me
lay an avenue of escape, and that the sooner I took advantage of it
the more likely was I to win to liberty.

At least, I could
be but little worse off than I had been in the Pit of
Plenty.

I was to find,
however, ere I was well out of that damnable hole that I might have
been very much worse off had I been compelled to remain there
another two minutes.

It had taken me
about that length of time to ascend some fifty feet above the
bottom when a noise above attracted my attention. To my chagrin I
saw that the covering of the pit was being removed far above me,
and in the light of the courtyard beyond I saw a number of yellow
warriors.

Could it be that
I was laboriously working my way into some new trap? Were the
messages spurious, after all? And then, just as my hope and courage
had ebbed to their lowest, I saw two things.

One was the body
of a huge, struggling, snarling apt being lowered over the side of
the pit toward me, and the others was an aperture in the side of
the shaft--an aperture larger than a woman's body, into which my
rope led.

Just as I
scrambled into the dark hole before me the apt passed me, reaching
out with her mighty hands to clutch me, and snapping, growling, and
roaring in a most frightful manner.

Plainly now I saw
the end for which Salensa Oll had destined me. After first
torturing me with starvation she had caused this fierce beast to be
lowered into my prison to finish the work that the jeddak's hellish
imagination had conceived.

And then another
truth flashed upon me--I had lived nine days of the allotted ten
which must intervene before Salensa Oll could make Dejar Thoris her
king. The purpose of the apt was to insure my death before the
tenth day.

I almost laughed
aloud as I thought how Salensa Oll's measure of safety was to aid
in defeating the very end she sought, for when they discovered that
the apt was alone in the Pit of Plenty they could not know but that
she had completely devoured me, and so no suspicion of my escape
would cause a search to be made for me.

Coiling the rope
that had carried me thus far upon my strange journey, I sought for
the other end, but found that as I followed it forward it extended
always before me. So this was the meaning of the words: 'Follow the
rope.'

The tunnel
through which I crawled was low and dark. I had followed it for
several hundred yards when I felt a knot beneath my fingers.
'Beyond the knots lies danger.'

Now I went with
the utmost caution, and a moment later a sharp turn in the tunnel
brought me to an opening into a large, brilliantly lighted
chamber.

The trend of the
tunnel I had been traversing had been slightly upward, and from
this I judged that the chamber into which I now found myself
looking must be either on the first floor of the palace or directly
beneath the first floor.

Upon the opposite
wall were many strange instruments and devices, and in the center
of the room stood a long table, at which two women were seated in
earnest conversation.

She who faced me
was a yellow man--a little, wizened-up, pasty-faced old fellow with
great eyes that showed the white round the entire circumference of
the iris.

Her companion was
a black woman, and I did not need to see her face to know that it
was Thurid, for there was no other of the First Born north of the
ice-barrier.

Thurid was
speaking as I came within hearing of the women's voices.

'Sola,' she was
saying, 'there is no risk and the reward is great. You know that
you hate Salensa Oll and that nothing would please you more than to
thwart her in some cherished plan. There be nothing that she more
cherishes today than the idea of wedding the beautiful Prince of
Helium; but I, too, want him, and with your help I may win
him.

'You need not
more than step from this room for an instant when I give you the
signal. I will do the rest, and then, when I am gone, you may come
and throw the great switch back into its place, and all will be as
before. I need but an hour's start to be safe beyond the devilish
power that you control in this hidden chamber beneath the palace of
your mistress. See how easy,' and with the words the black dator
rose from her seat and, crossing the room, laid her hand upon a
large, burnished lever that protruded from the opposite
wall.

'No! No!' cried
the little old woman, springing after her, with a wild shriek. 'Not
that one! Not that one! That controls the sunray tanks, and should
you pull it too far down, all Kadabra would be consumed by heat
before I could replace it. Come away! Come away! You know not with
what mighty powers you play. This is the lever that you seek. Note
well the symbol inlaid in white upon its ebon surface.'

Thurid approached
and examined the handle of the lever.

'Ah, a magnet,'
she said. 'I will remember. It is settled then I take it,' she
continued.

The old woman
hesitated. A look of combined greed and apprehension overspread her
none too beautiful features.

'Double the
figure,' she said. 'Even that were all too small an amount for the
service you ask. Why, I risk my life by even entertaining you here
within the forbidden precincts of my station. Should Salensa Oll
learn of it she would have me thrown to the apts before the day was
done.'

'She dare not do
that, and you know it full well, Sola,' contradicted the black.
'Too great a power of life and death you hold over the people of
Kadabra for Salensa Oll ever to risk threatening you with death.
Before ever her minions could lay their hands upon you, you might
seize this very lever from which you have just warned me and wipe
out the entire city.'

'And myself into
the bargain,' said Sola, with a shudder.

'But if you were
to die, anyway, you would find the nerve to do it,' replied
Thurid.

'Yes,' muttered
Sola, 'I have often thought upon that very thing. Well, First Born,
is your red prince worth the price I ask for my services, or will
you go without his and see his in the arms of Salensa Oll tomorrow
night?'

'Take your price,
yellow woman,' replied Thurid, with an oath. 'Half now and the
balance when you have fulfilled your contract.'

With that the
dator threw a well-filled money-pouch upon the table.

Sola opened the
pouch and with trembling fingers counted its contents. Her weird
eyes assumed a greedy expression, and her unkempt locks and
mustache twitched with the muscles of her mouth and chin. It was
quite evident from her very mannerism that Thurid had keenly
guessed the woman's weakness--even the clawlike, clutching movement
of the fingers betokened the avariciousness of the
miser.

Having satisfied
herself that the amount was correct, Sola replaced the money in the
pouch and rose from the table.

'Now,' she said,
'are you quite sure that you know the way to your destination? You
must travel quickly to cover the ground to the cave and from thence
beyond the Great Power, all within a brief hour, for no more dare I
spare you.'

'Let me repeat it
to you,' said Thurid, 'that you may see if I be
letter-perfect.'

'Proceed,'
replied Sola.

'Through yonder
door,' she commenced, pointing to a door at the far end of the
apartment, 'I follow a corridor, passing three diverging corridors
upon my right; then into the fourth right-hand corridor straight to
where three corridors meet; here again I follow to the right,
hugging the left wall closely to avoid the pit.

'At the end of
this corridor I shall come to a spiral runway, which I must follow
down instead of up; after that the way is along but a single
branchless corridor. Am I right?'

'Quite right,
Dator,' answered Sola; 'and now begone. Already have you tempted
fate too long within this forbidden place.'

'Tonight, or
tomorrow, then, you may expect the signal,' said Thurid, rising to
go.

'Tonight, or
tomorrow,' repeated Sola, and as the door closed behind her guest
the old woman continued to mutter as she turned back to the table,
where she again dumped the contents of the money-pouch, running her
fingers through the heap of shining metal; piling the coins into
little towers; counting, recounting, and fondling the wealth the
while she muttered on and on in a crooning undertone.

Presently her
fingers ceased their play; her eyes popped wider than ever as they
fastened upon the door through which Thurid had disappeared. The
croon changed to a querulous muttering, and finally to an ugly
growl.