The Chessmen of Mars
CHAPTER XXII
AT THE MOMENT OF MARRIAGE
The silence of the tomb lay heavy about him as O-Tar, Jeddak of
Manator, opened his eyes in the chamber of O-Mai. Recollection of the
frightful apparition that had confronted him swept to his
consciousness. He listened, but heard naught. Within the range of his
vision there was nothing apparent that might cause alarm. Slowly he
lifted his head and looked about. Upon the floor beside the couch lay
the thing that had at first attracted his attention and his eyes closed
in terror as he recognized it for what it was; but it moved not, nor
spoke. O-Tar opened his eyes again and rose to his feet. He was
trembling in every limb. There was nothing on the dais from which he
had seen the thing arise.
O-Tar backed slowly from the room. At last he gained the outer
corridor. It was empty. He did not know that it had emptied rapidly as
the loud scream with which his own had mingled had broken upon the
startled ears of the warriors who had been sent to spy upon him. He
looked at the timepiece set in a massive bracelet upon his left
forearm. The ninth zode was nearly half gone. O-Tar had lain for an
hour unconscious. He had spent an hour in the chamber of O-Mai and he
was not dead! He had looked upon the face of his predecessor and was
still sane! He shook himself and smiled. Rapidly he subdued his
rebelliously shaking nerves, so that by the time he reached the
tenanted portion of the palace he had gained control of himself. He
walked with chin high and something of a swagger. To the banquet hall
he went, knowing that his chiefs awaited him there and as he entered
they arose and upon the faces of many were incredulity and amaze, for
they had not thought to see O-Tar the jeddak again after what the spies
had told them of the horrid sounds issuing from the chamber of O-Mai.
Thankful was O-Tar that he had gone alone to that chamber of fright,
for now no one could deny the tale that he should tell.
E-Thas rushed forward to greet him, for E-Thas had seen black looks
directed toward him as the tals slipped by and his benefactor failed to
return.
"O brave and glorious jeddak!" cried the major-domo. "We rejoice at
your safe return and beg of you the story of your adventure."
"It was naught," exclaimed O-Tar. "I searched the chambers carefully
and waited in hiding for the return of the slave, Turan, if he were
temporarily away; but he came not. He is not there and I doubt if he
ever goes there. Few men would choose to remain long in such a dismal
place."
"You were not attacked?" asked E-Thas. "You heard no screams, nor
moans?"
"I heard hideous noises and saw phantom figures; but they fled before
me so that never could I lay hold of one, and I looked upon the face of
O-Mai and I am not mad. I even rested in the chamber beside his corpse."
In a far corner of the room a bent and wrinkled old man hid a smile
behind a golden goblet of strong brew.
"Come! Let us drink!" cried O-Tar and reached for the dagger, the
pommel of which he was accustomed to use to strike the gong which
summoned slaves, but the dagger was not in its scabbard. O-Tar was
puzzled. He knew that it had been there just before he entered the
chamber of O-Mai, for he had carefully felt of all his weapons to make
sure that none was missing. He seized instead a table utensil and
struck the gong, and when the slaves came bade them bring the strongest
brew for O-Tar and his chiefs. Before the dawn broke many were the
expressions of admiration bellowed from drunken lips--admiration for
the courage of their jeddak; but some there were who still looked glum.
* * * * *
Came at last the day that O-Tar would take the Princess Tara of Helium
to wife. For hours slaves prepared the unwilling bride. Seven perfumed
baths occupied three long and weary hours, then her whole body was
anointed with the oil of pimalia blossoms and massaged by the deft
fingers of a slave from distant Dusar. Her harness, all new and wrought
for the occasion was of the white hide of the great white apes of
Barsoom, hung heavily with platinum and diamonds--fairly encrusted with
them. The glossy mass of her jet hair had been built into a coiffure of
stately and becoming grandeur, into which diamond-headed pins were
stuck until the whole scintillated as the stars in heaven upon a
moonless night.
But it was a sullen and defiant bride that they led from the high tower
toward the throne room of O-Tar. The corridors were filled with slaves
and warriors, and the women of the palace and the city who had been
commanded to attend the ceremony. All the power and pride, wealth and
beauty of Manator were there.
Slowly Tara, surrounded by a heavy guard of honor, moved along the
marble corridors filled with people. At the entrance to The Hall of
Chiefs E-Thas, the major-domo, received her. The Hall was empty except
for its ranks of dead chieftains upon their dead mounts. Through this
long chamber E-Thas escorted her to the throne room which also was
empty, the marriage ceremony in Manator differing from that of other
countries of Barsoom. Here the bride would await the groom at the foot
of the steps leading to the throne. The guests followed her in and took
their places, leaving the central aisle from The Hall of Chiefs to the
throne clear, for up this O-Tar would approach his bride alone after a
short solitary communion with the dead behind closed doors in The Hall
of Chiefs. It was the custom.
The guests had all filed through The Hall of Chiefs; the doors at both
ends had been closed. Presently those at the lower end of the hall
opened and O-Tar entered. His black harness was ornamented with rubies
and gold; his face was covered by a grotesque mask of the precious
metal in which two enormous rubies were set for eyes, though below them
were narrow slits through which the wearer could see. His crown was a
fillet supporting carved feathers of the same metal as the mask. To the
least detail his regalia was that demanded of a royal bridegroom by the
customs of Manator, and now in accordance with that same custom he came
alone to The Hall of Chiefs to receive the blessings and the council of
the great ones of Manator who had preceded him.
As the doors at the lower end of the Hall closed behind him O-Tar the
Jeddak stood alone with the great dead. By the dictates of ages no
mortal eye might look upon the scene enacted within that sacred
chamber. As the mighty of Manator respected the traditions of Manator,
let us, too, respect those traditions of a proud and sensitive people.
Of what concern to us the happenings in that solemn chamber of the dead?
Five minutes passed. The bride stood silently at the foot of the
throne. The guests spoke together in low whispers until the room was
filled with the hum of many voices. At length the doors leading into
The Hall of Chiefs swung open, and the resplendent bridegroom stood
framed for a moment in the massive opening. A hush fell upon the
wedding guests. With measured and impressive step the groom approached
the bride. Tara felt the muscles of her heart contract with the
apprehension that had been growing upon her as the coils of Fate
settled more closely about her and no sign came from Turan. Where was
he? What, indeed, could he accomplish now to save her? Surrounded by
the power of O-Tar with never a friend among them, her position seemed
at last without vestige of hope.
"I still live!" she whispered inwardly in a last brave attempt to
combat the terrible hopelessness that was overwhelming her, but her
fingers stole for reassurance to the slim blade that she had managed to
transfer, undetected, from her old harness to the new. And now the
groom was at her side and taking her hand was leading her up the steps
to the throne, before which they halted and stood facing the gathering
below. Came then, from the back of the room a procession headed by the
high dignitary whose office it was to make these two man and wife, and
directly behind him a richly-clad youth bearing a silken pillow on
which lay the golden handcuffs connected by a short length of
chain-of-gold with which the ceremony would be concluded when the
dignitary clasped a handcuff about the wrist of each symbolizing their
indissoluble union in the holy bonds of wedlock.
Would Turan's promised succor come too late? Tara listened to the long,
monotonous intonation of the wedding service. She heard the virtues of
O-Tar extolled and the beauties of the bride. The moment was
approaching and still no sign of Turan. But what could he accomplish
should he succeed in reaching the throne room, other than to die with
her? There could be no hope of rescue.
The dignitary lifted the golden handcuffs from the pillow upon which
they reposed. He blessed them and reached for Tara's wrist. The time
had come! The thing could go no further, for alive or dead, by all the
laws of Barsoom she would be the wife of O-Tar of Manator the instant
the two were locked together. Even should rescue come then or later she
could never dissolve those bonds and Turan would be lost to her as
surely as though death separated them.
Her hand stole toward the hidden blade, but instantly the hand of the
groom shot out and seized her wrist. He had guessed her intention.
Through the slits in the grotesque mask she could see his eyes upon her
and she guessed the sardonic smile that the mask hid. For a tense
moment the two stood thus. The people below them kept breathless
silence for the play before the throne had not passed unnoticed.
Dramatic as was the moment it was suddenly rendered trebly so by the
noisy opening of the doors leading to The Hall of Chiefs. All eyes
turned in the direction of the interruption to see another figure
framed in the massive opening--a half-clad figure buckling the
half-adjusted harness hurriedly in place--the figure of O-Tar, Jeddak
of Manator.
"Stop!" he screamed, springing forward along the aisle toward the
throne. "Seize the impostor!"
All eyes shot to the figure of the groom before the throne. They saw
him raise his hand and snatch off the golden mask, and Tara of Helium
in wide-eyed incredulity looked up into the face of Turan the panthan.
"Turan the slave," they cried then. "Death to him! Death to him!"
"Wait!" shouted Turan, drawing his sword, as a dozen warriors leaped
forward.
"Wait!" screamed another voice, old and cracked, as I-Gos, the ancient
taxidermist, sprang from among the guests and reached the throne steps
ahead of the foremost warriors.
At sight of the old man the warriors paused, for age is held in great
veneration among the peoples of Barsoom, as is true, perhaps, of all
peoples whose religion is based to any extent upon ancestor worship.
But O-Tar gave no heed to him, leaping instead swiftly toward the
throne. "Stop, coward!" cried I-Gos.
The people looked at the little old man in amazement. "Men of Manator,"
he cackled in his thin, shrill voice, "wouldst be ruled by a coward and
a liar?"
"Down with him!" shouted O-Tar.
"Not until I have spoken," retorted I-Gos. "It is my right. If I fail
my life is forfeit--that you all know and I know. I demand therefore to
be heard. It is my right!"
"It is his right," echoed the voices of a score of warriors in various
parts of the chamber.
"That O-Tar is a coward and a liar I can prove," continued I-Gos. "He
said that he faced bravely the horrors of the chamber of O-Mai and saw
nothing of the slave Turan. I was there, hiding behind the hangings,
and I saw all that transpired. Turan had been hiding in the chamber and
was even then lying upon the couch of O-Mai when O-Tar, trembling with
fear, entered the room. Turan, disturbed, arose to a sitting position
at the same time voicing a piercing shriek. O-Tar screamed and swooned."