A princess of Mars
in the shadows like some frightened child.
Just thirty days after my advent upon Barsoom we entered the ancient
city of Thark, from whose long-forgotten people this horde of green men
have stolen even their name. The hordes of Thark number some thirty
thousand souls, and are divided into twenty-five communities. Each
community has its own jed and lesser chieftains, but all are under the
rule of Tal Hajus, Jeddak of Thark. Five communities make their
headquarters at the city of Thark, and the balance are scattered among
other deserted cities of ancient Mars throughout the district claimed
by Tal Hajus.
We made our entry into the great central plaza early in the afternoon.
There were no enthusiastic friendly greetings for the returned
expedition. Those who chanced to be in sight spoke the names of
warriors or women with whom they came in direct contact, in the formal
greeting of their kind, but when it was discovered that they brought
two captives a greater interest was aroused, and Dejah Thoris and I
were the centers of inquiring groups.
We were soon assigned to new quarters, and the balance of the day was
devoted to settling ourselves to the changed conditions. My home now
was upon an avenue leading into the plaza from the south, the main
artery down which we had marched from the gates of the city. I was at
the far end of the square and had an entire building to myself. The
same grandeur of architecture which was so noticeable a characteristic
of Korad was in evidence here, only, if that were possible, on a larger
and richer scale. My quarters would have been suitable for housing the
greatest of earthly emperors, but to these queer creatures nothing
about a building appealed to them but its size and the enormity of its
chambers; the larger the building, the more desirable; and so Tal Hajus
occupied what must have been an enormous public building, the largest
in the city, but entirely unfitted for residence purposes; the next
largest was reserved for Lorquas Ptomel, the next for the jed of a
lesser rank, and so on to the bottom of the list of five jeds. The
warriors occupied the buildings with the chieftains to whose retinues
they belonged; or, if they preferred, sought shelter among any of the
thousands of untenanted buildings in their own quarter of town; each
community being assigned a certain section of the city. The selection
of building had to be made in accordance with these divisions, except
in so far as the jeds were concerned, they all occupying edifices which
fronted upon the plaza.
When I had finally put my house in order, or rather seen that it had
been done, it was nearing sunset, and I hastened out with the intention
of locating Sola and her charges, as I had determined upon having
speech with Dejah Thoris and trying to impress on her the necessity of
our at least patching up a truce until I could find some way of aiding
her to escape. I searched in vain until the upper rim of the great red
sun was just disappearing behind the horizon and then I spied the ugly
head of Woola peering from a second-story window on the opposite side
of the very street where I was quartered, but nearer the plaza.
Without waiting for a further invitation I bolted up the winding runway
which led to the second floor, and entering a great chamber at the
front of the building was greeted by the frenzied Woola, who threw his
great carcass upon me, nearly hurling me to the floor; the poor old
fellow was so glad to see me that I thought he would devour me, his
head split from ear to ear, showing his three rows of tusks in his
hobgoblin smile.
Quieting him with a word of command and a caress, I looked hurriedly
through the approaching gloom for a sign of Dejah Thoris, and then, not
seeing her, I called her name. There was an answering murmur from the
far corner of the apartment, and with a couple of quick strides I was
standing beside her where she crouched among the furs and silks upon an
ancient carved wooden seat. As I waited she rose to her full height and
looking me straight in the eye said:
“What would Dotar Sojat, Thark, of Dejah Thoris his captive?”
“Dejah Thoris, I do not know how I have angered you. It was furtherest
from my desire to hurt or offend you, whom I had hoped to protect and
comfort. Have none of me if it is your will, but that you must aid me
in effecting your escape, if such a thing be possible, is not my
request, but my command. When you are safe once more at your father’s
court you may do with me as you please, but from now on until that day
I am your master, and you must obey and aid me.”
She looked at me long and earnestly and I thought that she was
softening toward me.
“I understand your words, Dotar Sojat,” she replied, “but you I do not
understand. You are a queer mixture of child and man, of brute and
noble. I only wish that I might read your heart.”
“Look down at your feet, Dejah Thoris; it lies there now where it has
lain since that other night at Korad, and where it will ever lie
beating alone for you until death stills it forever.”
She took a little step toward me, her beautiful hands outstretched in a
strange, groping gesture.
“What do you mean, John Carter?” she whispered. “What are you saying to
me?”
“I am saying what I had promised myself that I would not say to you, at
least until you were no longer a captive among the green men; what from
your attitude toward me for the past twenty days I had thought never to
say to you; I am saying, Dejah Thoris, that I am yours, body and soul,
to serve you, to fight for you, and to die for you. Only one thing I
ask of you in return, and that is that you make no sign, either of
condemnation or of approbation of my words until you are safe among
your own people, and that whatever sentiments you harbor toward me they
be not influenced or colored by gratitude; whatever I may do to serve
you will be prompted solely from selfish motives, since it gives me
more pleasure to serve you than not.”
“I will respect your wishes, John Carter, because I understand the
motives which prompt them, and I accept your service no more willingly
than I bow to your authority; your word shall be my law. I have twice
wronged you in my thoughts and again I ask your forgiveness.”
Further conversation of a personal nature was prevented by the entrance
of Sola, who was much agitated and wholly unlike her usual calm and
possessed self.
“That horrible Sarkoja has been before Tal Hajus,” she cried, “and from
what I heard upon the plaza there is little hope for either of you.”
“What do they say?” inquired Dejah Thoris.
“That you will be thrown to the wild calots [dogs] in the great arena
as soon as the hordes have assembled for the yearly games.”
“Sola,” I said, “you are a Thark, but you hate and loathe the customs
of your people as much as we do. Will you not accompany us in one
supreme effort to escape? I am sure that Dejah Thoris can offer you a
home and protection among her people, and your fate can be no worse
among them than it must ever be here.”
“Yes,” cried Dejah Thoris, “come with us, Sola, you will be better off
among the red men of Helium than you are here, and I can promise you
not only a home with us, but the love and affection your nature craves
and which must always be denied you by the customs of your own race.
Come with us, Sola; we might go without you, but your fate would be
terrible if they thought you had connived to aid us. I know that even
that fear would not tempt you to interfere in our escape, but we want
you with us, we want you to come to a land of sunshine and happiness,
amongst a people who know the meaning of love, of sympathy, and of
gratitude. Say that you will, Sola; tell me that you will.”
“The great waterway which leads to Helium is but fifty miles to the
south,” murmured Sola, half to herself; “a swift thoat might make it in
three hours; and then to Helium it is five hundred miles, most of the
way through thinly settled districts. They would know and they would
follow us. We might hide among the great trees for a time, but the
chances are small indeed for escape. They would follow us to the very
gates of Helium, and they would take toll of life at every step; you do
not know them.”
“Is there no other way we might reach Helium?” I asked. “Can you not
draw me a rough map of the country we must traverse, Dejah Thoris?”
“Yes,” she replied, and taking a great diamond from her hair she drew
upon the marble floor the first map of Barsoomian territory I had ever
seen. It was crisscrossed in every direction with long straight lines,
sometimes running parallel and sometimes converging toward some great
circle. The lines, she said, were waterways; the circles, cities; and
one far to the northwest of us she pointed out as Helium. There were
other cities closer, but she said she feared to enter many of them, as
they were not all friendly toward Helium.
Finally, after studying the map carefully in the moonlight which now
flooded the room, I pointed out a waterway far to the north of us which
also seemed to lead to Helium.
“Does not this pierce your grandfather’s territory?” I asked.
“Yes,” she answered, “but it is two hundred miles north of us; it is
one of the waterways we crossed on the trip to Thark.”
“They would never suspect that we would try for that distant waterway,”
I answered, “and that is why I think that it is the best route for our
escape.”
Sola agreed with me, and it was decided that we should leave Thark this
same night; just as quickly, in fact, as I could find and saddle my
thoats. Sola was to ride one and Dejah Thoris and I the other; each of
us carrying sufficient food and drink to last us for two days, since
the animals could not be urged too rapidly for so long a distance.
I directed Sola to proceed with Dejah Thoris along one of the less
frequented avenues to the southern boundary of the city, where I would
overtake them with the thoats as quickly as possible; then, leaving
them to gather what food, silks, and furs we were to need, I slipped
quietly to the rear of the first floor, and entered the courtyard,
where our animals were moving restlessly about, as was their habit,
before settling down for the night.
In the shadows of the buildings and out beneath the radiance of the
Martian moons moved the great herd of thoats and zitidars, the latter
grunting their low gutturals and the former occasionally emitting the
sharp squeal which denotes the almost habitual state of rage in which
these creatures passed their existence. They were quieter now, owing to
the absence of man, but as they scented me they became more restless
and their hideous noise increased. It was risky business, this entering
a paddock of thoats alone and at night; first, because their increasing
noisiness might warn the nearby warriors that something was amiss, and
also because for the slightest cause, or for no cause at all some great
bull thoat might take it upon himself to lead a charge upon me.
Having no desire to awaken their nasty tempers upon such a night as
this, where so much depended upon secrecy and dispatch, I hugged the
shadows of the buildings, ready at an instant’s warning to leap into
the safety of a nearby door or window. Thus I moved silently to the
great gates which opened upon the street at the back of the court, and
as I neared the exit I called softly to my two animals. How I thanked
the kind providence which had given me the foresight to win the love
and confidence of these wild dumb brutes, for presently from the far
side of the court I saw two huge bulks forcing their way toward me
through the surging mountains of flesh.