The warlord of Mars
to the city of Kaol from the north in a small flier. But one thing I
ask of you, and that is: the word of John Carter that he contemplates
no overt act against either the nation of Kaol or its jeddak.”
“You may have my word as to that, Torkar Bar,” I replied.
“My way leads along the Kaolian road, away from the city of Kaol,” he
continued. “I have seen no one—John Carter least of all. Nor have you
seen Torkar Bar, nor ever heard of him. You understand?”
“Perfectly,” I replied.
He laid his hand upon my shoulder.
“This road leads directly into the city of Kaol,” he said. “I wish you
fortune,” and vaulting to the back of his thoat he trotted away without
even a backward glance.
It was after dark when Woola and I spied through the mighty forest the
great wall which surrounds the city of Kaol.
We had traversed the entire way without mishap or adventure, and though
the few we had met had eyed the great calot wonderingly, none had
pierced the red pigment with which I had smoothly smeared every square
inch of my body.
But to traverse the surrounding country, and to enter the guarded city
of Kulan Tith, Jeddak of Kaol, were two very different things. No man
enters a Martian city without giving a very detailed and satisfactory
account of himself, nor did I delude myself with the belief that I
could for a moment impose upon the acumen of the officers of the guard
to whom I should be taken the moment I applied at any one of the gates.
My only hope seemed to lie in entering the city surreptitiously under
cover of the darkness, and once in, trust to my own wits to hide myself
in some crowded quarter where detection would be less liable to occur.
With this idea in view I circled the great wall, keeping within the
fringe of the forest, which is cut away for a short distance from the
wall all about the city, that no enemy may utilize the trees as a means
of ingress.
Several times I attempted to scale the barrier at different points, but
not even my earthly muscles could overcome that cleverly constructed
rampart. To a height of thirty feet the face of the wall slanted
outward, and then for almost an equal distance it was perpendicular,
above which it slanted in again for some fifteen feet to the crest.
And smooth! Polished glass could not be more so. Finally I had to admit
that at last I had discovered a Barsoomian fortification which I could
not negotiate.
Discouraged, I withdrew into the forest beside a broad highway which
entered the city from the east, and with Woola beside me lay down to
sleep.
A HERO IN KAOL
It was daylight when I was awakened by the sound of stealthy movement
near by.
As I opened my eyes Woola, too, moved and, coming up to his haunches,
stared through the intervening brush toward the road, each hair upon
his neck stiffly erect.
At first I could see nothing, but presently I caught a glimpse of a bit
of smooth and glossy green moving among the scarlet and purple and
yellow of the vegetation.
Motioning Woola to remain quietly where he was, I crept forward to
investigate, and from behind the bole of a great tree I saw a long line
of the hideous green warriors of the dead sea bottoms hiding in the
dense jungle beside the road.
As far as I could see, the silent line of destruction and death
stretched away from the city of Kaol. There could be but one
explanation. The green men were expecting an exodus of a body of red
troops from the nearest city gate, and they were lying there in ambush
to leap upon them.
I owed no fealty to the Jeddak of Kaol, but he was of the same race of
noble red men as my own princess, and I would not stand supinely by and
see his warriors butchered by the cruel and heartless demons of the
waste places of Barsoom.
Cautiously I retraced my steps to where I had left Woola, and warning
him to silence, signaled him to follow me. Making a considerable detour
to avoid the chance of falling into the hands of the green men, I came
at last to the great wall.
A hundred yards to my right was the gate from which the troops were
evidently expected to issue, but to reach it I must pass the flank of
the green warriors within easy sight of them, and, fearing that my plan
to warn the Kaolians might thus be thwarted, I decided upon hastening
toward the left, where another gate a mile away would give me ingress
to the city.
I knew that the word I brought would prove a splendid passport to Kaol,
and I must admit that my caution was due more to my ardent desire to
make my way into the city than to avoid a brush with the green men. As
much as I enjoy a fight, I cannot always indulge myself, and just now I
had more weighty matters to occupy my time than spilling the blood of
strange warriors.
Could I but win beyond the city’s wall, there might be opportunity in
the confusion and excitement which were sure to follow my announcement
of an invading force of green warriors to find my way within the palace
of the jeddak, where I was sure Matai Shang and his party would be
quartered.
But scarcely had I taken a hundred steps in the direction of the
farther gate when the sound of marching troops, the clank of metal, and
the squealing of thoats just within the city apprised me of the fact
that the Kaolians were already moving toward the other gate.
There was no time to be lost. In another moment the gate would be
opened and the head of the column pass out upon the death-bordered
highway.
Turning back toward the fateful gate, I ran rapidly along the edge of
the clearing, taking the ground in the mighty leaps that had first made
me famous upon Barsoom. Thirty, fifty, a hundred feet at a bound are
nothing for the muscles of an athletic Earth man upon Mars.
As I passed the flank of the waiting green men they saw my eyes turned
upon them, and in an instant, knowing that all secrecy was at an end,
those nearest me sprang to their feet in an effort to cut me off before
I could reach the gate.
At the same instant the mighty portal swung wide and the head of the
Kaolian column emerged. A dozen green warriors had succeeded in
reaching a point between me and the gate, but they had but little idea
who it was they had elected to detain.
I did not slacken my speed an iota as I dashed among them, and as they
fell before my blade I could not but recall the happy memory of those
other battles when Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, mightiest of Martian
green men, had stood shoulder to shoulder with me through long, hot
Martian days, as together we hewed down our enemies until the pile of
corpses about us rose higher than a tall man’s head.
When several pressed me too closely, there before the carved gateway of
Kaol, I leaped above their heads, and fashioning my tactics after those
of the hideous plant men of Dor, struck down upon my enemies’ heads as
I passed above them.
From the city the red warriors were rushing toward us, and from the
jungle the savage horde of green men were coming to meet them. In a
moment I was in the very center of as fierce and bloody a battle as I
had ever passed through.
These Kaolians are most noble fighters, nor are the green men of the
equator one whit less warlike than their cold, cruel cousins of the
temperate zone. There were many times when either side might have
withdrawn without dishonor and thus ended hostilities, but from the mad
abandon with which each invariably renewed hostilities I soon came to
believe that what need not have been more than a trifling skirmish
would end only with the complete extermination of one force or the
other.
With the joy of battle once roused within me, I took keen delight in
the fray, and that my fighting was noted by the Kaolians was often
evidenced by the shouts of applause directed at me.
If I sometimes seem to take too great pride in my fighting ability, it
must be remembered that fighting is my vocation. If your vocation be
shoeing horses, or painting pictures, and you can do one or the other
better than your fellows, then you are a fool if you are not proud of
your ability. And so I am very proud that upon two planets no greater
fighter has ever lived than John Carter, Prince of Helium.
And I outdid myself that day to impress the fact upon the natives of
Kaol, for I wished to win a way into their hearts—and their city. Nor
was I to be disappointed in my desire.
All day we fought, until the road was red with blood and clogged with
corpses. Back and forth along the slippery highway the tide of battle
surged, but never once was the gateway to Kaol really in danger.
There were breathing spells when I had a chance to converse with the
red men beside whom I fought, and once the jeddak, Kulan Tith himself,
laid his hand upon my shoulder and asked my name.
“I am Dotar Sojat,” I replied, recalling a name given me by the Tharks
many years before, from the surnames of the first two of their warriors
I had killed, which is the custom among them.
“You are a mighty warrior, Dotar Sojat,” he replied, “and when this day
is done I shall speak with you again in the great audience chamber.”
And then the fight surged upon us once more and we were separated, but
my heart’s desire was attained, and it was with renewed vigor and a
joyous soul that I laid about me with my long-sword until the last of
the green men had had enough and had withdrawn toward their distant sea
bottom.
Not until the battle was over did I learn why the red troops had
sallied forth that day. It seemed that Kulan Tith was expecting a visit
from a mighty jeddak of the north—a powerful and the only ally of the
Kaolians, and it had been his wish to meet his guest a full day’s
journey from Kaol.
But now the march of the welcoming host was delayed until the following
morning, when the troops again set out from Kaol. I had not been bidden
to the presence of Kulan Tith after the battle, but he had sent an
officer to find me and escort me to comfortable quarters in that part
of the palace set aside for the officers of the royal guard.
There, with Woola, I had spent a comfortable night, and rose much
refreshed after the arduous labors of the past few days. Woola had
fought with me through the battle of the previous day, true to the
instincts and training of a Martian war dog, great numbers of which are
often to be found with the savage green hordes of the dead sea bottoms.
Neither of us had come through the conflict unscathed, but the
marvelous, healing salves of Barsoom had sufficed, overnight, to make
us as good as new.
I breakfasted with a number of the Kaolian officers, whom I found as
courteous and delightful hosts as even the nobles of Helium, who are
renowned for their ease of manners and excellence of breeding. The meal
was scarcely concluded when a messenger arrived from Kulan Tith
summoning me before him.
As I entered the royal presence the jeddak rose, and stepping from the
dais which supported his magnificent throne, came forward to meet me—a
mark of distinction that is seldom accorded to other than a visiting
ruler.
“Kaor, Dotar Sojat!” he greeted me. “I have summoned you to receive the
grateful thanks of the people of Kaol, for had it not been for your
heroic bravery in daring fate to warn us of the ambuscade we must
surely have fallen into the well-laid trap. Tell me more of
yourself—from what country you come, and what errand brings you to the
court of Kulan Tith.”
“I am from Hastor,” I said, for in truth I had a small palace in that
southern city which lies within the far-flung dominions of the
Heliumetic nation.
“My presence in the land of Kaol is partly due to accident, my flier
being wrecked upon the southern fringe of your great forest. It was
while seeking entrance to the city of Kaol that I discovered the green
horde lying in wait for your troops.”