CHAPTER XXII
I FIND DEJAH
The major-domo to whom I reported had been given instructions tostation me near the person of the jeddak, who, in time of war, isalways in great danger of assassination, as the rule that all is fairin war seems to constitute the entire ethics of Martian conflict.
He therefore escorted me immediately to the apartment in which ThanKosis then was. The ruler was engaged in conversation with his son,Sab Than, and several courtiers of his household, and did not perceivemy entrance.
The walls of the apartment were completely hung with splendidtapestries which hid any windows or doors which may have pierced them.The room was lighted by imprisoned rays of sunshine held between theceiling proper and what appeared to be a ground-glass false ceiling afew inches below.
My guide drew aside one of the tapestries, disclosing a passage whichencircled the room, between the hangings and the walls of the chamber.Within this passage I was to remain, he said, so long as Than Kosis wasin the apartment. When he left I was to follow. My only duty was toguard the ruler and keep out of sight as much as possible. I would berelieved after a period of four hours. The major-domo then left me.
The tapestries were of a strange weaving which gave the appearance ofheavy solidity from one side, but from my hiding place I could perceiveall that took place within the room as readily as though there had beenno curtain intervening.
Scarcely had I gained my post than the tapestry at the opposite end ofthe chamber separated and four soldiers of The Guard entered,surrounding a female figure. As they approached Than Kosis thesoldiers fell to either side and there standing before the jeddak andnot ten feet from me, her beautiful face radiant with smiles, was DejahThoris.
Sab Than, Prince of Zodanga, advanced to meet her, and hand in handthey approached close to the jeddak. Than Kosis looked up in surprise,and, rising, saluted her.
"To what strange freak do I owe this visit from the Princess of Helium,who, two days ago, with rare consideration for my pride, assured methat she would prefer Tal Hajus, the green Thark, to my son?"
Dejah Thoris only smiled the more and with the roguish dimples playingat the corners of her mouth she made answer:
"From the beginning of time upon Barsoom it has been the prerogative ofwoman to change her mind as she listed and to dissemble in mattersconcerning her heart. That you will forgive, Than Kosis, as has yourson. Two days ago I was not sure of his love for me, but now I am, andI have come to beg of you to forget my rash words and to accept theassurance of the Princess of Helium that when the time comes she willwed Sab Than, Prince of Zodanga."
"I am glad that you have so decided," replied Than Kosis. "It is farfrom my desire to push war further against the people of Helium, and,your promise shall be recorded and a proclamation to my people issuedforthwith."
"It were better, Than Kosis," interrupted Dejah Thoris, "that theproclamation wait the ending of this war. It would look strange indeedto my people and to yours were the Princess of Helium to give herselfto her country's enemy in the midst of hostilities."
"Cannot the war be ended at once?" spoke Sab Than. "It requires butthe word of Than Kosis to bring peace. Say it, my father, say the wordthat will hasten my happiness, and end this unpopular strife."
"We shall see," replied Than Kosis, "how the people of Helium take topeace. I shall at least offer it to them."
Dejah Thoris, after a few words, turned and left the apartment, stillfollowed by her guards.
Thus was the edifice of my brief dream of happiness dashed, broken, tothe ground of reality. The woman for whom I had offered my life, andfrom whose lips I had so recently heard a declaration of love for me,had lightly forgotten my very existence and smilingly given herself tothe son of her people's most hated enemy.
Although I had heard it with my own ears I could not believe it. Imust search out her apartments and force her to repeat the cruel truthto me alone before I would be convinced, and so I deserted my post andhastened through the passage behind the tapestries toward the door bywhich she had left the chamber. Slipping quietly through this openingI discovered a maze of winding corridors, branching and turning inevery direction.
Running rapidly down first one and then another of them I soon becamehopelessly lost and was standing panting against a side wall when Iheard voices near me. Apparently they were coming from the oppositeside of the partition against which I leaned and presently I made outthe tones of Dejah Thoris. I could not hear the words but I knew thatI could not possibly be mistaken in the voice.
Moving on a few steps I discovered another passageway at the end ofwhich lay a door. Walking boldly forward I pushed into the room onlyto find myself in a small antechamber in which were the four guards whohad accompanied her. One of them instantly arose and accosted me,asking the nature of my business.
"I am from Than Kosis," I replied, "and wish to speak privately withDejah Thoris, Princess of Helium."
"And your order?" asked the fellow.
I did not know what he meant, but replied that I was a member of TheGuard, and without waiting for a reply from him I strode toward theopposite door of the antechamber, behind which I could hear DejahThoris conversing.
But my entrance was not to be so easily accomplished. The guardsmanstepped before me, saying,
"No one comes from Than Kosis without carrying an order or thepassword. You must give me one or the other before you may pass."
"The only order I require, my friend, to enter where I will, hangs atmy side," I answered, tapping my long-sword; "will you let me pass inpeace or no?"
For reply he whipped out his own sword, calling to the others to joinhim, and thus the four stood, with drawn weapons, barring my furtherprogress.
"You are not here by the order of Than Kosis," cried the one who hadfirst addressed me, "and not only shall you not enter the apartments ofthe Princess of Helium but you shall go back to Than Kosis under guardto explain this unwarranted temerity. Throw down your sword; youcannot hope to overcome four of us," he added with a grim smile.
My reply was a quick thrust which left me but three antagonists and Ican assure you that they were worthy of my metal. They had me backedagainst the wall in no time, fighting for my life. Slowly I worked myway to a corner of the room where I could force them to come at me onlyone at a time, and thus we fought upward of twenty minutes; theclanging of steel on steel producing a veritable bedlam in the littleroom.
The noise had brought Dejah Thoris to the door of her apartment, andthere she stood throughout the conflict with Sola at her back peeringover her shoulder. Her face was set and emotionless and I knew thatshe did not recognize me, nor did Sola.
Finally a lucky cut brought down a second guardsman and then, with onlytwo opposing me, I changed my tactics and rushed them down after thefashion of my fighting that had won me many a victory. The third fellwithin ten seconds after the second, and the last lay dead upon thebloody floor a few moments later. They were brave men and noblefighters, and it grieved me that I had been forced to kill them, but Iwould have willingly depopulated all Barsoom could I have reached theside of my Dejah Thoris in no other way.
Sheathing my bloody blade I advanced toward my Martian Princess, whostill stood mutely gazing at me without sign of recognition.
"Who are you, Zodangan?" she whispered. "Another enemy to harass me inmy misery?"
"I am a friend," I answered, "a once cherished friend."
"No friend of Helium's princess wears that metal," she replied, "andyet the voice! I have heard it before; it is not--it cannot be--no,for he is dead."
"It is, though, my Princess, none other than John Carter," I said. "Doyou not recognize, even through paint and strange metal, the heart ofyour chieftain?"
As I came close to her she swayed toward me with outstretched hands,but as I reached to take her in my arms she drew back with a shudderand a little moan of misery.
"Too late, too late," she grieved. "O my chieftain that was, and w
homI thought dead, had you but returned one little hour before--but now itis too late, too late."
"What do you mean, Dejah Thoris?" I cried. "That you would not havepromised yourself to the Zodangan prince had you known that I lived?"
"Think you, John Carter, that I would give my heart to you yesterdayand today to another? I thought that it lay buried with your ashes inthe pits of Warhoon, and so today I have promised my body to another tosave my people from the curse of a victorious Zodangan army."
"But I am not dead, my princess. I have come to claim you, and allZodanga cannot prevent it."
"It is too late, John Carter, my promise is given, and on Barsoom thatis final. The ceremonies which follow later are but meaninglessformalities. They make the fact of marriage no more certain than doesthe funeral cortege of a jeddak again place the seal of death upon him.I am as good as married, John Carter. No longer may you call me yourprincess. No longer are you my chieftain."
"I know but little of your customs here upon Barsoom, Dejah Thoris, butI do know that I love you, and if you meant the last words you spoke tome that day as the hordes of Warhoon were charging down upon us, noother man shall ever claim you as his bride. You meant them then, myprincess, and you mean them still! Say that it is true."
"I meant them, John Carter," she whispered. "I cannot repeat them nowfor I have given myself to another. Ah, if you had only known ourways, my friend," she continued, half to herself, "the promise wouldhave been yours long months ago, and you could have claimed me beforeall others. It might have meant the fall of Helium, but I would havegiven my empire for my Tharkian chief."
Then aloud she said: "Do you remember the night when you offended me?You called me your princess without having asked my hand of me, andthen you boasted that you had fought for me. You did not know, and Ishould not have been offended; I see that now. But there was no one totell you what I could not, that upon Barsoom there are two kinds ofwomen in the cities of the red men. The one they fight for that theymay ask them in marriage; the other kind they fight for also, but neverask their hands. When a man has won a woman he may address her as hisprincess, or in any of the several terms which signify possession. Youhad fought for me, but had never asked me in marriage, and so when youcalled me your princess, you see," she faltered, "I was hurt, but eventhen, John Carter, I did not repulse you, as I should have done, untilyou made it doubly worse by taunting me with having won me throughcombat."
"I do not need ask your forgiveness now, Dejah Thoris," I cried. "Youmust know that my fault was of ignorance of your Barsoomian customs.What I failed to do, through implicit belief that my petition would bepresumptuous and unwelcome, I do now, Dejah Thoris; I ask you to be mywife, and by all the Virginian fighting blood that flows in my veinsyou shall be."
"No, John Carter, it is useless," she cried, hopelessly, "I may neverbe yours while Sab Than lives."
"You have sealed his death warrant, my princess--Sab Than dies."
"Nor that either," she hastened to explain. "I may not wed the man whoslays my husband, even in self-defense. It is custom. We are ruled bycustom upon Barsoom. It is useless, my friend. You must bear thesorrow with me. That at least we may share in common. That, and thememory of the brief days among the Tharks. You must go now, nor eversee me again. Good-bye, my chieftain that was."
Disheartened and dejected, I withdrew from the room, but I was notentirely discouraged, nor would I admit that Dejah Thoris was lost tome until the ceremony had actually been performed.
As I wandered along the corridors, I was as absolutely lost in themazes of winding passageways as I had been before I discovered DejahThoris' apartments.
I knew that my only hope lay in escape from the city of Zodanga, forthe matter of the four dead guardsmen would have to be explained, andas I could never reach my original post without a guide, suspicionwould surely rest on me so soon as I was discovered wandering aimlesslythrough the palace.
Presently I came upon a spiral runway leading to a lower floor, andthis I followed downward for several stories until I reached thedoorway of a large apartment in which were a number of guardsmen. Thewalls of this room were hung with transparent tapestries behind which Isecreted myself without being apprehended.
The conversation of the guardsmen was general, and awakened no interestin me until an officer entered the room and ordered four of the men torelieve the detail who were guarding the Princess of Helium. Now, Iknew, my troubles would commence in earnest and indeed they were uponme all too soon, for it seemed that the squad had scarcely left theguardroom before one of their number burst in again breathlessly,crying that they had found their four comrades butchered in theantechamber.
In a moment the entire palace was alive with people. Guardsmen,officers, courtiers, servants, and slaves ran helter-skelter throughthe corridors and apartments carrying messages and orders, andsearching for signs of the assassin.
This was my opportunity and slim as it appeared I grasped it, for as anumber of soldiers came hurrying past my hiding place I fell in behindthem and followed through the mazes of the palace until, in passingthrough a great hall, I saw the blessed light of day coming in througha series of larger windows.
Here I left my guides, and, slipping to the nearest window, sought foran avenue of escape. The windows opened upon a great balcony whichoverlooked one of the broad avenues of Zodanga. The ground was aboutthirty feet below, and at a like distance from the building was a wallfully twenty feet high, constructed of polished glass about a foot inthickness. To a red Martian escape by this path would have appearedimpossible, but to me, with my earthly strength and agility, it seemedalready accomplished. My only fear was in being detected beforedarkness fell, for I could not make the leap in broad daylight whilethe court below and the avenue beyond were crowded with Zodangans.
Accordingly I searched for a hiding place and finally found one byaccident, inside a huge hanging ornament which swung from the ceilingof the hall, and about ten feet from the floor. Into the capaciousbowl-like vase I sprang with ease, and scarcely had I settled downwithin it than I heard a number of people enter the apartment. Thegroup stopped beneath my hiding place and I could plainly overheartheir every word.
"It is the work of Heliumites," said one of the men.
"Yes, O Jeddak, but how had they access to the palace? I could believethat even with the diligent care of your guardsmen a single enemy mightreach the inner chambers, but how a force of six or eight fighting mencould have done so unobserved is beyond me. We shall soon know,however, for here comes the royal psychologist."
Another man now joined the group, and, after making his formalgreetings to his ruler, said:
"O mighty Jeddak, it is a strange tale I read in the dead minds of yourfaithful guardsmen. They were felled not by a number of fighting men,but by a single opponent."
He paused to let the full weight of this announcement impress hishearers, and that his statement was scarcely credited was evidenced bythe impatient exclamation of incredulity which escaped the lips of ThanKosis.
"What manner of weird tale are you bringing me, Notan?" he cried.
"It is the truth, my Jeddak," replied the psychologist. "In fact theimpressions were strongly marked on the brain of each of the fourguardsmen. Their antagonist was a very tall man, wearing the metal ofone of your own guardsmen, and his fighting ability was little short ofmarvelous for he fought fair against the entire four and vanquishedthem by his surpassing skill and superhuman strength and endurance.Though he wore the metal of Zodanga, my Jeddak, such a man was neverseen before in this or any other country upon Barsoom.
"The mind of the Princess of Helium whom I have examined and questionedwas a blank to me, she has perfect control, and I could not read oneiota of it. She said that she witnessed a portion of the encounter,and that when she looked there was but one man engaged with theguardsmen; a man whom she did not recognize as ever having seen."
"Where is my erstwhile savior?" spoke another of the
party, and Irecognized the voice of the cousin of Than Kosis, whom I had rescuedfrom the green warriors. "By the metal of my first ancestor," he wenton, "but the description fits him to perfection, especially as to hisfighting ability."
"Where is this man?" cried Than Kosis. "Have him brought to me atonce. What know you of him, cousin? It seemed strange to me now thatI think upon it that there should have been such a fighting man inZodanga, of whose name, even, we were ignorant before today. And hisname too, John Carter, who ever heard of such a name upon Barsoom!"
Word was soon brought that I was nowhere to be found, either in thepalace or at my former quarters in the barracks of the air-scoutsquadron. Kantos Kan, they had found and questioned, but he knewnothing of my whereabouts, and as to my past, he had told them he knewas little, since he had but recently met me during our captivity amongthe Warhoons.
"Keep your eyes on this other one," commanded Than Kosis. "He also isa stranger and likely as not they both hail from Helium, and where oneis we shall sooner or later find the other. Quadruple the air patrol,and let every man who leaves the city by air or ground be subjected tothe closest scrutiny."
Another messenger now entered with word that I was still within thepalace walls.
"The likeness of every person who has entered or left the palacegrounds today has been carefully examined," concluded the fellow, "andnot one approaches the likeness of this new padwar of the guards, otherthan that which was recorded of him at the time he entered."
"Then we will have him shortly," commented Than Kosis contentedly, "andin the meanwhile we will repair to the apartments of the Princess ofHelium and question her in regard to the affair. She may know morethan she cared to divulge to you, Notan. Come."
They left the hall, and, as darkness had fallen without, I slippedlightly from my hiding place and hastened to the balcony. Few were insight, and choosing a moment when none seemed near I sprang quickly tothe top of the glass wall and from there to the avenue beyond thepalace grounds.