The gods of Mars
Silently they lifted me and bore me toward the door of my chamber. As
they passed the window through which the farther moon was casting its
brilliant beams, I saw that each of the party had his face swathed in
layers of silk—I could not recognize one of them.
When they had come into the corridor with me, they turned toward a
secret panel in the wall which led to the passage that terminated in
the pits beneath the palace. That any knew of this panel outside my own
household, I was doubtful. Yet the leader of the band did not hesitate
a moment. He stepped directly to the panel, touched the concealed
button, and as the door swung open he stood aside while his companions
entered with me. Then he closed the panel behind him and followed us.
Down through the passageways to the pits we went. The leader rapped
upon it with the hilt of his sword—three quick, sharp blows, a pause,
then three more, another pause, and then two. A second later the wall
swung in, and I was pushed within a brilliantly lighted chamber in
which sat three richly trapped men.
One of them turned toward me with a sardonic smile upon his thin, cruel
lips—it was Zat Arras.
CHAPTER XIX
BLACK DESPAIR
“Ah,” said Zat Arras, “to what kindly circumstance am I indebted for
the pleasure of this unexpected visit from the Prince of Helium?”
While he was speaking, one of my guards had removed the gag from my
mouth, but I made no reply to Zat Arras: simply standing there in
silence with level gaze fixed upon the Jed of Zodanga. And I doubt not
that my expression was coloured by the contempt I felt for the man.
The eyes of those within the chamber were fixed first upon me and then
upon Zat Arras, until finally a flush of anger crept slowly over his
face.
“You may go,” he said to those who had brought me, and when only his
two companions and ourselves were left in the chamber, he spoke to me
again in a voice of ice—very slowly and deliberately, with many pauses,
as though he would choose his words cautiously.
“John Carter,” he said, “by the edict of custom, by the law of our
religion, and by the verdict of an impartial court, you are condemned
to die. The people cannot save you—I alone may accomplish that. You are
absolutely in my power to do with as I wish—I may kill you, or I may
free you, and should I elect to kill you, none would be the wiser.
“Should you go free in Helium for a year, in accordance with the
conditions of your reprieve, there is little fear that the people would
ever insist upon the execution of the sentence imposed upon you.
“You may go free within two minutes, upon one condition. Tardos Mors
will never return to Helium. Neither will Mors Kajak, nor Dejah Thoris.
Helium must select a new Jeddak within the year. Zat Arras would be
Jeddak of Helium. Say that you will espouse my cause. This is the price
of your freedom. I am done.”
I knew it was within the scope of Zat Arras’ cruel heart to destroy me,
and if I were dead I could see little reason to doubt that he might
easily become Jeddak of Helium. Free, I could prosecute the search for
Dejah Thoris. Were I dead, my brave comrades might not be able to carry
out our plans. So, by refusing to accede to his request, it was quite
probable that not only would I not prevent him from becoming Jeddak of
Helium, but that I would be the means of sealing Dejah Thoris’ fate—of
consigning her, through my refusal, to the horrors of the arena of
Issus.
For a moment I was perplexed, but for a moment only. The proud daughter
of a thousand Jeddaks would choose death to a dishonorable alliance
such as this, nor could John Carter do less for Helium than his
Princess would do.
Then I turned to Zat Arras.
“There can be no alliance,” I said, “between a traitor to Helium and a
prince of the House of Tardos Mors. I do not believe, Zat Arras, that
the great Jeddak is dead.”
Zat Arras shrugged his shoulders.
“It will not be long, John Carter,” he said, “that your opinions will
be of interest even to yourself, so make the best of them while you
can. Zat Arras will permit you in due time to reflect further upon the
magnanimous offer he has made you. Into the silence and darkness of the
pits you will enter upon your reflection this night with the knowledge
that should you fail within a reasonable time to agree to the
alternative which has been offered you, never shall you emerge from the
darkness and the silence again. Nor shall you know at what minute the
hand will reach out through the darkness and the silence with the keen
dagger that shall rob you of your last chance to win again the warmth
and the freedom and joyousness of the outer world.”
Zat Arras clapped his hands as he ceased speaking. The guards returned.
Zat Arras waved his hand in my direction.
“To the pits,” he said. That was all. Four men accompanied me from the
chamber, and with a radium hand-light to illumine the way, escorted me
through seemingly interminable tunnels, down, ever down beneath the
city of Helium.
At length they halted within a fair-sized chamber. There were rings set
in the rocky walls. To them chains were fastened, and at the ends of
many of the chains were human skeletons. One of these they kicked
aside, and, unlocking the huge padlock that had held a chain about what
had once been a human ankle, they snapped the iron band about my own
leg. Then they left me, taking the light with them.
Utter darkness prevailed. For a few minutes I could hear the clanking
of accoutrements, but even this grew fainter and fainter, until at last
the silence was as complete as the darkness. I was alone with my
gruesome companions—with the bones of dead men whose fate was likely
but the index of my own.
How long I stood listening in the darkness I do not know, but the
silence was unbroken, and at last I sunk to the hard floor of my
prison, where, leaning my head against the stony wall, I slept.
It must have been several hours later that I awakened to find a young
man standing before me. In one hand he bore a light, in the other a
receptacle containing a gruel-like mixture—the common prison fare of
Barsoom.
“Zat Arras sends you greetings,” said the young man, “and commands me
to inform you that though he is fully advised of the plot to make you
Jeddak of Helium, he is, however, not inclined to withdraw the offer
which he has made you. To gain your freedom you have but to request me
to advise Zat Arras that you accept the terms of his proposition.”
I but shook my head. The youth said no more, and, after placing the
food upon the floor at my side, returned up the corridor, taking the
light with him.
Twice a day for many days this youth came to my cell with food, and
ever the same greetings from Zat Arras. For a long time I tried to
engage him in conversation upon other matters, but he would not talk,
and so, at length, I desisted.
For months I sought to devise methods to inform Carthoris of my
whereabouts. For months I scraped and scraped upon a single link of the
massive chain which held me, hoping eventually to wear it through, that
I might follow the youth back through the winding tunnels to a point
where I could make a break for liberty.
I was beside myself with anxiety for knowledge of the progress of the
expedition which was to rescue Dejah Thoris. I felt that Carthoris
would not let the matter drop, were he free to act, but in so far as I
knew, he also might be a prisoner in Zat Arras’ pits.
That Zat Arras’ spy had overheard our conversation relative to the
selection of a new Jeddak, I knew, and scarcely a half-dozen minutes
prior we had discussed the details of the plan to rescue Dejah Thoris.
The chances were that that matter, too, was well known to him.
Carthoris, Kantos Kan, Tars Tarkas, Hor Vastus, and Xodar might even
now be the victims of Zat Arras’ assassins, or else his prisoners.
I determined to make at least one more effort to learn something, and
to this end I adopted strategy when next the youth came to my cell. I
had noticed that he was a handsome fellow, about the size and age of
Carthoris. And I had also noticed that his shabby trappings but illy
comported with his dignified and noble bearing.
It was with these observations as a basis that I opened my negotiations
with him upon his next subsequent visit.
“You have been very kind to me during my imprisonment here,” I said to
him, “and as I feel that I have at best but a very short time to live,
I wish, ere it is too late, to furnish substantial testimony of my
appreciation of all that you have done to render my imprisonment
bearable.
“Promptly you have brought my food each day, seeing that it was pure
and of sufficient quantity. Never by word or deed have you attempted to
take advantage of my defenceless condition to insult or torture me. You
have been uniformly courteous and considerate—it is this more than any
other thing which prompts my feeling of gratitude and my desire to give
you some slight token of it.
“In the guard-room of my palace are many fine trappings. Go thou there
and select the harness which most pleases you—it shall be yours. All I
ask is that you wear it, that I may know that my wish has been
realized. Tell me that you will do it.”
The boy’s eyes had lighted with pleasure as I spoke, and I saw him
glance from his rusty trappings to the magnificence of my own. For a
moment he stood in thought before he spoke, and for that moment my
heart fairly ceased beating—so much for me there was which hung upon
the substance of his answer.
“And I went to the palace of the Prince of Helium with any such demand,
they would laugh at me and, into the bargain, would more than likely
throw me headforemost into the avenue. No, it cannot be, though I thank
you for the offer. Why, if Zat Arras even dreamed that I contemplated
such a thing he would have my heart cut out of me.”
“There can be no harm in it, my boy,” I urged. “By night you may go to
my palace with a note from me to Carthoris, my son. You may read the
note before you deliver it, that you may know that it contains nothing
harmful to Zat Arras. My son will be discreet, and so none but us three
need know. It is very simple, and such a harmless act that it could be
condemned by no one.”
Again he stood silently in deep thought.
“And there is a jewelled short-sword which I took from the body of a
northern Jeddak. When you get the harness, see that Carthoris gives you
that also. With it and the harness which you may select there will be
no more handsomely accoutred warrior in all Zodanga.
“Bring writing materials when you come next to my cell, and within a
few hours we shall see you garbed in a style befitting your birth and
carriage.”
Still in thought, and without speaking, he turned and left me. I could
not guess what his decision might be, and for hours I sat fretting over
the outcome of the matter.
If he accepted a message to Carthoris it would mean to me that
Carthoris still lived and was free. If the youth returned wearing the
harness and the sword, I would know that Carthoris had received my note
and that he knew that I still lived. That the bearer of the note was a
Zodangan would be sufficient to explain to Carthoris that I was a
prisoner of Zat Arras.
It was with feelings of excited expectancy which I could scarce hide
that I heard the youth’s approach upon the occasion of his next regular
visit. I did not speak beyond my accustomed greeting of him. As he
placed the food upon the floor by my side he also deposited writing
materials at the same time.
My heart fairly bounded for joy. I had won my point. For a moment I
looked at the materials in feigned surprise, but soon I permitted an
expression of dawning comprehension to come into my face, and then,