Thuvia, maid of Mars
him even his own people had commenced to entertain suspicions that he
might have stolen the Ptarthian princess.
He did not know of the lengths to which the Dusarians had gone to
disrupt the friendship and alliance which existed between the three
great powers of the eastern hemisphere—Helium, Ptarth and Kaol.
How Dusarian emissaries had found employment in important posts in the
foreign offices of the three great nations, and how, through these men,
messages from one jeddak to another were altered and garbled until the
patience and pride of the three rulers and former friends could no
longer endure the humiliations and insults contained in these falsified
papers—not any of this he knew.
Nor did he know how even to the last John Carter, Warlord of Mars, had
refused to permit the jeddak of Helium to declare war against either
Ptarth or Kaol, because of his implicit belief in his son, and that
eventually all would be satisfactorily explained.
And now two great fleets were moving upon Helium, while the Dusarian
spies at the court of Tardos Mors saw to it that the twin cities
remained in ignorance of their danger.
War had been declared by Thuvan Dihn, but the messenger who had been
dispatched with the proclamation had been a Dusarian who had seen to it
that no word of warning reached the twin cities of the approach of a
hostile fleet.
For several days diplomatic relations had been severed between Helium
and her two most powerful neighbors, and with the departure of the
ministers had come a total cessation of wireless communication between
the disputants, as is usual upon Barsoom.
But of all this Carthoris was ignorant. All that interested him at
present was the finding of Thuvia of Ptarth. Her trail beside that of
the huge banth had been well marked to the tunnel, and was once more
visible leading southward into the foothills.
As he followed rapidly downward toward the dead sea-bottom, where he
knew he must lose the spoor in the resilient ochre vegetation, he was
suddenly surprised to see a naked man approaching him from the
north-east.
As the fellow drew closer, Carthoris halted to await his coming. He
knew that the man was unarmed, and that he was apparently a Lotharian,
for his skin was white and his hair auburn.
He approached the Heliumite without sign of fear, and when quite close
called out the cheery Barsoomian “kaor” of greeting.
“Who are you?” asked Carthoris.
“I am Kar Komak, odwar of the bowmen,” replied the other. “A strange
thing has happened to me. For ages Tario has been bringing me into
existence as he needed the services of the army of his mind. Of all the
bowmen it has been Kar Komak who has been oftenest materialized.
“For a long time Tario has been concentrating his mind upon my
permanent materialization. It has been an obsession with him that some
day this thing could be accomplished and the future of Lothar assured.
He asserted that matter was nonexistent except in the imagination of
man—that all was mental, and so he believed that by persisting in his
suggestion he could eventually make of me a permanent suggestion in the
minds of all creatures.
“Yesterday he succeeded, but at such a time! It must have come all
unknown to him, as it came to me without my knowledge, as, with my
horde of yelling bowmen, I pursued the fleeing Torquasians back to
their ochre plains.
“As darkness settled and the time came for us to fade once more into
thin air, I suddenly found myself alone upon the edge of the great
plain which lies yonder at the foot of the low hills.
“My men were gone back to the nothingness from which they had sprung,
but I remained—naked and unarmed.
“At first I could not understand, but at last came a realization of
what had occurred. Tario’s long suggestions had at last prevailed, and
Kar Komak had become a reality in the world of men; but my harness and
my weapons had faded away with my fellows, leaving me naked and unarmed
in a hostile country far from Lothar.”
“You wish to return to Lothar?” asked Carthoris.
“No!” replied Kar Komak quickly. “I have no love for Tario. Being a
creature of his mind, I know him too well. He is cruel and tyrannical—a
master I have no desire to serve. Now that he has succeeded in
accomplishing my permanent materialization, he will be unbearable, and
he will go on until he has filled Lothar with his creatures. I wonder
if he has succeeded as well with the maid of Lothar.”
“I thought there were no women there,” said Carthoris.
“In a hidden apartment in the palace of Tario,” replied Kar Komak, “the
jeddak has maintained the suggestion of a beautiful girl, hoping that
some day she would become permanent. I have seen her there. She is
wonderful! But for her sake I hope that Tario succeeds not so well with
her as he has with me.
“Now, red man, I have told you of myself—what of you?”
Carthoris liked the face and manner of the bowman. There had been no
sign of doubt or fear in his expression as he had approached the
heavily-armed Heliumite, and he had spoken directly and to the point.
So the Prince of Helium told the bowman of Lothar who he was and what
adventure had brought him to this far country.
“Good!” exclaimed the other, when he had done. “Kar Komak will
accompany you. Together we shall find the Princess of Ptarth and with
you Kar Komak will return to the world of men—such a world as he knew
in the long-gone past when the ships of mighty Lothar ploughed angry
Throxus, and the roaring surf beat against the barrier of these parched
and dreary hills.”
“What mean you?” asked Carthoris. “Had you really a former actual
existence?”
“Most assuredly,” replied Kar Komak. “In my day I commanded the fleets
of Lothar—mightiest of all the fleets that sailed the five salt seas.
“Wherever men lived upon Barsoom there was the name of Kar Komak known
and respected. Peaceful were the land races in those distant days—only
the seafarers were warriors; but now has the glory of the past faded,
nor did I think until I met you that there remained upon Barsoom a
single person of our own mould who lived and loved and fought as did
the ancient seafarers of my time.
“Ah, but it will seem good to see men once again—real men! Never had I
much respect for the landsmen of my day. They remained in their walled
cities wasting their time in play, depending for their protection
entirely upon the sea race. And the poor creatures who remain, the
Tarios and Javs of Lothar, are even worse than their ancient forbears.”
Carthoris was a trifle skeptical as to the wisdom of permitting the
stranger to attach himself to him. There was always the chance that he
was but the essence of some hypnotic treachery which Tario or Jav was
attempting to exert upon the Heliumite; and yet, so sincere had been
the manner and the words of the bowman, so much the fighting man did he
seem, but Carthoris could not find it in his heart to doubt him.
The outcome of the matter was that he gave the naked odwar leave to
accompany him, and together they set out upon the spoor of Thuvia and
Komal.
Down to the ochre sea-bottom the trail led. There it disappeared, as
Carthoris had known that it would; but where it entered the plain its
direction had been toward Aaanthor and so toward Aaanthor the two
turned their faces.
It was a long and tedious journey, fraught with many dangers. The
bowman could not travel at the pace set by Carthoris, whose muscles
carried him with great rapidity over the face of the small planet, the
force of gravity of which exerts so much less retarding power than that
of the Earth. Fifty miles a day is a fair average for a Barsoomian, but
the son of John Carter might easily have covered a hundred or more
miles had he cared to desert his new-found comrade.
All the way they were in constant danger of discovery by roving bands
of Torquasians, and especially was this true before they reached the
boundary of Torquas.
Good fortune was with them, however, and although they sighted two
detachments of the savage green men, they were not themselves seen.
And so they came, upon the morning of the third day, within sight of
the glistening domes of distant Aaanthor. Throughout the journey
Carthoris had ever strained his eyes ahead in search of Thuvia and the
great banth; but not till now had he seen aught to give him hope.
This morning, far ahead, half-way between themselves and Aaanthor, the
men saw two tiny figures moving toward the city. For a moment they
watched them intently. Then Carthoris, convinced, leaped forward at a
rapid run, Kar Komak following as swiftly as he could.
The Heliumite shouted to attract the girl’s attention, and presently he
was rewarded by seeing her turn and stand looking toward him. At her
side the great banth stood with up-pricked ears, watching the
approaching man.
Not yet could Thuvia of Ptarth have recognized Carthoris, though that
it was he she must have been convinced, for she waited there for him
without sign of fear.
Presently he saw her point toward the northwest, beyond him. Without
slackening his pace, he turned his eyes in the direction she indicated.
Racing silently over the thick vegetation, not half a mile behind, came
a score of fierce green warriors, charging him upon their mighty
thoats.
To their right was Kar Komak, naked and unarmed, yet running valiantly
toward Carthoris and shouting warning as though he, too, had but just
discovered the silent, menacing company that moved so swiftly forward
with couched spears and ready long-swords.
Carthoris shouted to the Lotharian, warning him back, for he knew that
he could but uselessly sacrifice his life by placing himself, all
unarmed, in the path of the cruel and relentless savages.
But Kar Komak never hesitated. With shouts of encouragement to his new
friend, he hurried onward toward the Prince of Helium. The red man’s
heart leaped in response to this exhibition of courage and
self-sacrifice. He regretted now that he had not thought to give Kar
Komak one of his swords; but it was too late to attempt it, for should
he wait for the Lotharian to overtake him or return to meet him, the
Torquasians would reach Thuvia of Ptarth before he could do so.
Even as it was, it would be nip and tuck as to who came first to her
side.
Again he turned his face in her direction, and now, from Aaanthor way,
he saw a new force hastening toward them—two medium-sized war craft—and
even at the distance they still were from him he discerned the device
of Dusar upon their bows.
Now, indeed, seemed little hope for Thuvia of Ptarth. With savage
warriors of the hordes of Torquas charging toward her from one
direction, and no less implacable enemies, in the form of the creatures
of Astok, Prince of Dusar, bearing down upon her from another, while
only a banth, a red warrior, and an unarmed bowman were near to defend
her, her plight was quite hopeless and her cause already lost ere ever
it was contested.
As Thuvia saw Carthoris approaching, she felt again that unaccountable
sensation of entire relief from responsibility and fear that she had
experienced upon a former occasion. Nor could she account for it while
her mind still tried to convince her heart that the Prince of Helium
had been instrumental in her abduction from her father’s court. She
only knew that she was glad when he was by her side, and that with him
there all things seemed possible—even such impossible things as escape
from her present predicament.
Now had he stopped, panting, before her. A brave smile of encouragement
lit his face.
“Courage, my princess,” he whispered.
To the girl’s memory flashed the occasion upon which he had used those
same words—in the throne-room of Tario of Lothar as they had commenced