The Chessmen of Mars
a run at the thought of the danger that threatened the woman he loved,
and then he collided with a wooden door that swung open to the impact.
Before him was a lighted corridor. On either side were chambers. He had
advanced but a short distance from the bottom of the spiral when he
recognized that he was in the pits below the palace. A moment later he
heard behind him the shuffling sound that had attracted his attention
in the spiral runway. Wheeling about he saw the author of the sound
emerging from a doorway he had just passed. It was Ghek the kaldane.
"Ghek!" exclaimed Gahan. "It was you in the runway? Have you seen Tara
of Helium?"
"It was I in the spiral," replied the kaldane; "but I have not seen
Tara of Helium. I have been searching for her. Where is she?"
"I do not know," replied the Gatholian; "but we must find her and take
her from this place."
"We may find her," said Ghek; "but I doubt our ability to take her
away. It is not so easy to leave Manator as it is to enter it. I may
come and go at will, through the ancient burrows of the ulsios; but you
are too large for that and your lungs need more air than may be found
in some of the deeper runways."
"But U-Thor!" exclaimed Gahan. "Have you heard aught of him or his
intentions?"
"I have heard much," replied Ghek. "He camps at The Gate of Enemies.
That spot he holds and his warriors lie just beyond The Gate; but he
has not sufficient force to enter the city and take the palace. An hour
since and you might have made your way to him; but now every avenue is
strongly guarded since O-Tar learned that A-Kor had escaped to U-Thor."
"A-Kor has escaped and joined U-Thor!" exclaimed Gahan.
"But little more than an hour since. I was with him when a warrior
came--a man whose name is Tasor--who brought a message from you. It was
decided that Tasor should accompany A-Kor in an attempt to reach the
camp of U-Thor, the great jed of Manatos, and exact from him the
assurances you required. Then U-Thor was to return and take food to you
and the Princess of Helium. I accompanied them. We won through easily
and found U-Thor more than willing to respect your every wish, but when
Tasor would have returned to you the way was blocked by the warriors of
O-Tar. Then it was that I volunteered to come to you and report and
find food and drink and then go forth among the Gatholian slaves of
Manator and prepare them for their part in the plan that U-Thor and
Tasor conceived."
"And what was this plan?"
"U-Thor has sent for reinforcements. To Manatos he has sent and to all
the outlying districts that are his. It will take a month to collect
and bring them hither and in the meantime the slaves within the city
are to organize secretly, stealing and hiding arms against the day that
the reinforcements arrive. When that day comes the forces of U-Thor
will enter the Gate of Enemies and as the warriors of O-Tar rush to
repulse them the slaves from Gathol will fall upon them from the rear
with the majority of their numbers, while the balance will assault the
palace. They hope thus to divert so many from The Gate that U-Thor will
have little difficulty in forcing an entrance to the city."
"Perhaps they will succeed," commented Gahan; "but the warriors of
O-Tar are many, and those who fight in defense of their homes and their
jeddak have always an advantage. Ah, Ghek, would that we had the great
warships of Gathol or of Helium to pour their merciless fire into the
streets of Manator while U-Thor marched to the palace over the corpses
of the slain." He paused, deep in thought, and then turned his gaze
again upon the kaldane. "Heard you aught of the party that escaped with
me from The Field of Jetan--of Floran, Val Dor, and the others? What of
them?"
"Ten of these won through to U-Thor at The Gate of Enemies and were
well received by him. Eight fell in the fighting upon the way. Val Dor
and Floran live, I believe, for I am sure that I heard U-Thor address
two warriors by these names."
"Good!" exclaimed Gahan. "Go then, through the burrows of the ulsios,
to The Gate of Enemies and carry to Floran the message that I shall
write in his own language. Come, while I write the message."
In a nearby room they found a bench and table and there Gahan sat and
wrote in the strange, stenographic characters of Martian script a
message to Floran of Gathol. "Why," he asked, when he had finished it,
"did you search for Tara through the spiral runway where we nearly met?"
"Tasor told me where you were to be found, and as I have explored the
greater part of the palace by means of the ulsio runways and the darker
and less frequented passages I knew precisely where you were and how to
reach you. This secret spiral ascends from the pits to the roof of the
loftiest of the palace towers. It has secret openings at every level;
but there is no living Manatorian, I believe, who knows of its
existence. At least never have I met one within it and I have used it
many times. Thrice have I been in the chamber where O-Mai lies, though
I knew nothing of his identity or the story of his death until Tasor
told it to us in the camp of U-Thor."
"You know the palace thoroughly then?" Gahan interrupted.
"Better than O-Tar himself or any of his servants."
"Good! And you would serve the Princess Tara, Ghek, you may serve her
best by accompanying Floran and following his instructions. I will
write them here at the close of my message to him, for the walls have
ears, Ghek, while none but a Gatholian may read what I have written to
Floran. He will transmit it to you. Can I trust you?"
"I may never return to Bantoom," replied Ghek. "Therefore I have but
two friends in all Barsoom. What better may I do than serve them
faithfully? You may trust me, Gatholian, who with a woman of your kind
has taught me that there be finer and nobler things than perfect
mentality uninfluenced by the unreasoning tuitions of the heart. I go."
* * * * *
As O-Tar pointed to the little doorway all eyes turned in the direction
he indicated and surprise was writ large upon the faces of the warriors
when they recognized the two who had entered the banquet hall. There
was I-Gos, and he dragged behind him one who was gagged and whose hands
were fastened behind with a ribbon of tough silk. It was the slave
girl. I-Gos' cackling laughter rose above the silence of the room.
"Ey, ey!" he shrilled. "What the young warriors of O-Tar cannot do, old
I-Gos does alone."
"Only a Corphal may capture a Corphal," growled one of the chiefs who
had fled from the chambers of O-Mai.
I-Gos laughed. "Terror turned your heart to water," he replied; "and
shame your tongue to libel. This be no Corphal, but only a woman of
Helium; her companion a warrior who can match blades with the best of
you and cut your putrid hearts. Not so in the days of I-Gos' youth. Ah,
then were there men in Manator. Well do I recall that day that I--"
"Peace, doddering fool!" commanded O-Tar. "Where is the man?"
"Where I found the woman--in the death chamber of O-Mai. Let your wise
and brave chieftains go thither and fetch him. I am an old man, and
could bring but one."
"You have done well, I-Gos," O-Tar hastened to assure him, for when he
learned that Gahan might still be in the haunted chambers he wished to
appease the wrath of I-Gos, knowing well the vitriolic tongue and
temper of the ancient one. "You think she is no Corphal, then, I-Gos?"
he asked, wishing to carry the subject from the man who was still at
large.
"No more than you," replied the ancient taxidermist.
O-Tar looked long and searchingly at Tara of Helium. All the beauty
that was hers seemed suddenly to be carried to every fibre of his
consciousness. She was still garbed in the rich harness of a Black
Princess of Jetan, and as O-Tar the Jeddak gazed upon her he realized
that never before had his eyes rested upon a more perfect figure--a
more beautiful face.
"She is no Corphal," he murmured to himself. "She is no Corphal and she
is a princess--a princess of Helium, and, by the golden hair of the
Holy Hekkador, she is beautiful. Take the gag from her mouth and
release her hands," he commanded aloud. "Make room for the Princess
Tara of Helium at the side of O-Tar of Manator. She shall dine as
becomes a princess."
Slaves did as O-Tar bid and Tara of Helium stood with flashing eyes
behind the chair that was offered her. "Sit!" commanded O-Tar.
The girl sank into the chair. "I sit as a prisoner," she said; "not as
a guest at the board of my enemy, O-Tar of Manator."
O-Tar motioned his followers from the room. "I would speak alone with
the Princess of Helium," he said. The company and the slaves withdrew
and once more the Jeddak of Manator turned toward the girl. "O-Tar of
Manator would be your friend," he said.
Tara of Helium sat with arms folded upon her small, firm breasts, her
eyes flashing from behind narrowed lids, nor did she deign to answer
his overture. O-Tar leaned closer to her. He noted the hostility of her
bearing and he recalled his first encounter with her. She was a
she-banth, but she was beautiful. She was by far the most desirable
woman that O-Tar had ever looked upon and he was determined to possess
her. He told her so.
"I could take you as my slave," he said to her; "but it pleases me to
make you my wife. You shall be Jeddara of Manator. You shall have seven
days in which to prepare for the great honor that O-Tar is conferring
upon you, and at this hour of the seventh day you shall become an
empress and the wife of O-Tar in the throne room of the jeddaks of
Manator." He struck a gong that stood beside him upon the table and
when a slave appeared he bade him recall the company. Slowly the chiefs
filed in and took their places at the table. Their faces were grim and
scowling, for there was still unanswered the question of their jeddak's
courage. If O-Tar had hoped they would forget he had been mistaken in
his men.
O-Tar arose. "In seven days," he announced, "there will be a great
feast in honor of the new Jeddara of Manator," and he waved his hand
toward Tara of Helium. "The ceremony will occur at the beginning of the
seventh zode* in the throne room. In the meantime the Princess of
Helium will be cared for in the tower of the women's quarters of the
palace. Conduct her thither, E-Thas, with a suitable guard of honor and
see to it that slaves and eunuchs be placed at her disposal, who shall
attend upon all her wants and guard her carefully from harm."
* About 8:30 P. M. Earth Time.
Now E-Thas knew that the real meaning concealed in these fine words was
that he should conduct the prisoner under a strong guard to the women's
quarters and confine her there in the tower for seven days, placing
about her trustworthy guards who would prevent her escape or frustrate
any attempted rescue.
As Tara was departing from the chamber with E-Thas and the guard, O-Tar
leaned close to her ear and whispered: "Consider well during these
seven days the high honor I have offered you, and--its sole
alternative." As though she had not heard him the girl passed out of
the banquet hall, her head high and her eyes straight to the front.
After Ghek had left him Gahan roamed the pits and the ancient corridors
of the deserted portions of the palace seeking some clue to the
whereabouts or the fate of Tara of Helium. He utilized the spiral
runway in passing from level to level until he knew every foot of it
from the pits to the summit of the high tower, and into what apartments
it opened at the various levels as well as the ingenious and hidden
mechanism that operated the locks of the cleverly concealed doors
leading to it. For food he drew upon the stores he found in the pits
and when he slept he lay upon the royal couch of O-Mai in the forbidden