THE NEW RULER
The flier upon whose deck Dejah Thoris and I found ourselves aftertwelve long years of separation proved entirely useless. Herbuoyancy tanks leaked badly. Her engine would not start. We werehelpless there in mid air above the arctic ice.
The craft had drifted across the chasm which held the corpses ofMatai Shang, Thurid, and Phaidor, and now hung above a low hill.Opening the buoyancy escape valves I permitted her to come slowlyto the ground, and as she touched, Dejah Thoris and I stepped fromher deck and, hand in hand, turned back across the frozen wastetoward the city of Kadabra.
Through the tunnel that had led me in pursuit of them we passed,walking slowly, for we had much to say to each other.
She told me of that last terrible moment months before when thedoor of her prison cell within the Temple of the Sun was slowlyclosing between us. Of how Phaidor had sprung upon her withuplifted dagger, and of Thuvia's shriek as she had realized thefoul intention of the thern goddess.
It had been that cry that had rung in my ears all the long, wearymonths that I had been left in cruel doubt as to my princess' fate;for I had not known that Thuvia had wrested the blade from thedaughter of Matai Shang before it had touched either Dejah Thorisor herself.
She told me, too, of the awful eternity of her imprisonment. Ofthe cruel hatred of Phaidor, and the tender love of Thuvia, andof how even when despair was the darkest those two red girls hadclung to the same hope and belief--that John Carter would find away to release them.
Presently we came to the chamber of Solan. I had been proceedingwithout thought of caution, for I was sure that the city and thepalace were both in the hands of my friends by this time.
And so it was that I bolted into the chamber full into the midstof a dozen nobles of the court of Salensus Oll. They were passingthrough on their way to the outside world along the corridors wehad just traversed.
At sight of us they halted in their tracks, and then an ugly smileoverspread the features of their leader.
"The author of all our misfortunes!" he cried, pointing at me. "Weshall have the satisfaction of a partial vengeance at least when weleave behind us here the dead and mutilated corpses of the Princeand Princess of Helium.
"When they find them," he went on, jerking his thumb upward towardthe palace above, "they will realize that the vengeance of theyellow man costs his enemies dear. Prepare to die, John Carter,but that your end may be the more bitter, know that I may change myintention as to meting a merciful death to your princess--possiblyshe shall be preserved as a plaything for my nobles."
I stood close to the instrument-covered wall--Dejah Thoris at myside. She looked up at me wonderingly as the warriors advancedupon us with drawn swords, for mine still hung within its scabbardat my side, and there was a smile upon my lips.
The yellow nobles, too, looked in surprise, and then as I made nomove to draw they hesitated, fearing a ruse; but their leader urgedthem on. When they had come almost within sword's reach of meI raised my hand and laid it upon the polished surface of a greatlever, and then, still smiling grimly, I looked my enemies full inthe face.
As one they came to a sudden stop, casting affrighted glances atme and at one another.
"Stop!" shrieked their leader. "You dream not what you do!"
"Right you are," I replied. "John Carter does not dream. Heknows--knows that should one of you take another step toward DejahThoris, Princess of Helium, I pull this lever wide, and she and Ishall die together; but we shall not die alone."
The nobles shrank back, whispering together for a few moments. Atlast their leader turned to me.
"Go your way, John Carter," he said, "and we shall go ours."
"Prisoners do not go their own way," I answered, "and you areprisoners--prisoners of the Prince of Helium."
Before they could make answer a door upon the opposite side of theapartment opened and a score of yellow men poured into the apartment.For an instant the nobles looked relieved, and then as their eyesfell upon the leader of the new party their faces fell, for he wasTalu, rebel Prince of Marentina, and they knew that they could lookfor neither aid nor mercy at his hands.
"Well done, John Carter," he cried. "You turn their own mightypower against them. Fortunate for Okar is it that you were hereto prevent their escape, for these be the greatest villains northof the ice-barrier, and this one"--pointing to the leader of theparty--"would have made himself Jeddak of Jeddaks in the placeof the dead Salensus Oll. Then indeed would we have had a morevillainous ruler than the hated tyrant who fell before your sword."
The Okarian nobles now submitted to arrest, since nothing but deathfaced them should they resist, and, escorted by the warriors ofTalu, we made our way to the great audience chamber that had beenSalensus Oll's. Here was a vast concourse of warriors.
Red men from Helium and Ptarth, yellow men of the north, rubbingelbows with the blacks of the First Born who had come under myfriend Xodar to help in the search for me and my princess. Therewere savage, green warriors from the dead sea bottoms of the south,and a handful of white-skinned therns who had renounced theirreligion and sworn allegiance to Xodar.
There was Tardos Mors and Mors Kajak, and tall and mighty in hisgorgeous warrior trappings, Carthoris, my son. These three fellupon Dejah Thoris as we entered the apartment, and though the livesand training of royal Martians tend not toward vulgar demonstration,I thought that they would suffocate her with their embraces.
And there were Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, and Kantos Kan,my old-time friends, and leaping and tearing at my harness in theexuberance of his great love was dear old Woola--frantic mad withhappiness.
Long and loud was the cheering that burst forth at sight of us;deafening was the din of ringing metal as the veteran warriors ofevery Martian clime clashed their blades together on high in tokenof success and victory, but as I passed among the throng of salutingnobles and warriors, jeds and jeddaks, my heart still was heavy,for there were two faces missing that I would have given much tohave seen there--Thuvan Dihn and Thuvia of Ptarth were not to befound in the great chamber.
I made inquiries concerning them among men of every nation, and atlast from one of the yellow prisoners of war I learned that theyhad been apprehended by an officer of the palace as they sought toreach the Pit of Plenty while I lay imprisoned there.
I did not need to ask to know what had sent them thither--thecourageous jeddak and his loyal daughter. My informer said thatthey lay now in one of the many buried dungeons of the palacewhere they had been placed pending a decision as to their fate bythe tyrant of the north.
A moment later searching parties were scouring the ancient pile insearch of them, and my cup of happiness was full when I saw thembeing escorted into the room by a cheering guard of honor.
Thuvia's first act was to rush to the side of Dejah Thoris, and Ineeded no better proof of the love these two bore for each otherthan the sincerity with which they embraced.
Looking down upon that crowded chamber stood the silent and emptythrone of Okar.
Of all the strange scenes it must have witnessed since that long-deadage that had first seen a Jeddak of Jeddaks take his seat uponit, none might compare with that upon which it now looked down,and as I pondered the past and future of that long-buried race ofblack-bearded yellow men I thought that I saw a brighter and moreuseful existence for them among the great family of friendly nationsthat now stretched from the south pole almost to their very doors.
Twenty-two years before I had been cast, naked and a stranger, intothis strange and savage world. The hand of every race and nationwas raised in continual strife and warring against the men ofevery other land and color. Today, by the might of my sword and theloyalty of the friends my sword had made for me, black man and white,red man and green rubbed shoulders in peace and good-fellowship.All the nations of Barsoom were not yet as one, but a greatstride forward toward that goal had been taken, and now if I couldbut cement the fierce yellow race into this solidarity of nationsI s
hould feel that I had rounded out a great lifework, and repaidto Mars at least a portion of the immense debt of gratitude I owedher for having given me my Dejah Thoris.
And as I thought, I saw but one way, and a single man who couldinsure the success of my hopes. As is ever the way with me, I actedthen as I always act--without deliberation and without consultation.
Those who do not like my plans and my ways of promoting them havealways their swords at their sides wherewith to back up theirdisapproval; but now there seemed to be no dissenting voice, as,grasping Talu by the arm, I sprang to the throne that had once beenSalensus Oll's.
"Warriors of Barsoom," I cried, "Kadabra has fallen, and with herthe hateful tyrant of the north; but the integrity of Okar must bepreserved. The red men are ruled by red jeddaks, the green warriorsof the ancient seas acknowledge none but a green ruler, the FirstBorn of the south pole take their law from black Xodar; nor wouldit be to the interests of either yellow or red man were a red jeddakto sit upon the throne of Okar.
"There be but one warrior best fitted for the ancient and mightytitle of Jeddak of Jeddaks of the North. Men of Okar, raise yourswords to your new ruler--Talu, the rebel prince of Marentina!"
And then a great cry of rejoicing rose among the free men ofMarentina and the Kadabran prisoners, for all had thought that thered men would retain that which they had taken by force of arms,for such had been the way upon Barsoom, and that they should beruled henceforth by an alien Jeddak.
The victorious warriors who had followed Carthoris joined in themad demonstration, and amidst the wild confusion and the tumultand the cheering, Dejah Thoris and I passed out into the gorgeousgarden of the jeddaks that graces the inner courtyard of the palaceof Kadabra.
At our heels walked Woola, and upon a carved seat of wondrousbeauty beneath a bower of purple blooms we saw two who had precededus--Thuvia of Ptarth and Carthoris of Helium.
The handsome head of the handsome youth was bent low above thebeautiful face of his companion. I looked at Dejah Thoris, smiling,and as I drew her close to me I whispered: "Why not?"
Indeed, why not? What matter ages in this world of perpetual youth?
We remained at Kadabra, the guests of Talu, until after his formalinduction into office, and then, upon the great fleet which I hadbeen so fortunate to preserve from destruction, we sailed southacross the ice-barrier; but not before we had witnessed the totaldemolition of the grim Guardian of the North under orders of thenew Jeddak of Jeddaks.
"Henceforth," he said, as the work was completed, "the fleetsof the red men and the black are free to come and go across theice-barrier as over their own lands.
"The Carrion Caves shall be cleansed, that the green men may findan easy way to the land of the yellow, and the hunting of the sacredapt shall be the sport of my nobles until no single specimen ofthat hideous creature roams the frozen north."
We bade our yellow friends farewell with real regret, as we setsail for Ptarth. There we remained, the guest of Thuvan Dihn, fora month; and I could see that Carthoris would have remained foreverhad he not been a Prince of Helium.
Above the mighty forests of Kaol we hovered until word from KulanTith brought us to his single landing-tower, where all day and halfa night the vessels disembarked their crews. At the city of Kaolwe visited, cementing the new ties that had been formed betweenKaol and Helium, and then one long-to-be-remembered day we sightedthe tall, thin towers of the twin cities of Helium.
The people had long been preparing for our coming. The sky wasgorgeous with gaily trimmed fliers. Every roof within both citieswas spread with costly silks and tapestries.
Gold and jewels were scattered over roof and street and plaza,so that the two cities seemed ablaze with the fires of the heartsof the magnificent stones and burnished metal that reflected thebrilliant sunlight, changing it into countless glorious hues.
At last, after twelve years, the royal family of Helium was reunitedin their own mighty city, surrounded by joy-mad millions beforethe palace gates. Women and children and mighty warriors wept ingratitude for the fate that had restored their beloved Tardos Morsand the divine princess whom the whole nation idolized. Nor didany of us who had been upon that expedition of indescribable dangerand glory lack for plaudits.
That night a messenger came to me as I sat with Dejah Thoris andCarthoris upon the roof of my city palace, where we had long sincecaused a lovely garden to be made that we three might find seclusionand quiet happiness among ourselves, far from the pomp and ceremonyof court, to summon us to the Temple of Reward--"where one is tobe judged this night," the summons concluded.
I racked my brain to try and determine what important case theremight be pending which could call the royal family from their palaceson the eve of their return to Helium after years of absence; butwhen the jeddak summons no man delays.
As our flier touched the landing stage at the temple's top we sawcountless other craft arriving and departing. In the streets belowa great multitude surged toward the great gates of the temple.
Slowly there came to me the recollection of the deferred doom thatawaited me since that time I had been tried here in the Temple byZat Arras for the sin of returning from the Valley Dor and the LostSea of Korus.
Could it be possible that the strict sense of justice which dominatesthe men of Mars had caused them to overlook the great good thathad come out of my heresy? Could they ignore the fact that to me,and me alone, was due the rescue of Carthoris, of Dejah Thoris, ofMors Kajak, of Tardos Mors?
I could not believe it, and yet for what other purpose could I havebeen summoned to the Temple of Reward immediately upon the returnof Tardos Mors to his throne?
My first surprise as I entered the temple and approached the Throneof Righteousness was to note the men who sat there as judges. Therewas Kulan Tith, Jeddak of Kaol, whom we had but just left withinhis own palace a few days since; there was Thuvan Dihn, Jeddak ofPtarth--how came he to Helium as soon as we?
There was Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, and Xodar, Jeddak of theFirst Born; there was Talu, Jeddak of Jeddaks of the North, whomI could have sworn was still in his ice-bound hothouse city beyondthe northern barrier, and among them sat Tardos Mors and Mors Kajak,with enough lesser jeds and jeddaks to make up the thirty-one whomust sit in judgment upon their fellow-man.
A right royal tribunal indeed, and such a one, I warrant, as neverbefore sat together during all the history of ancient Mars.
As I entered, silence fell upon the great concourse of people thatpacked the auditorium. Then Tardos Mors arose.
"John Carter," he said in his deep, martial voice, "take your placeupon the Pedestal of Truth, for you are to be tried by a fair andimpartial tribunal of your fellow-men."
With level eye and high-held head I did as he bade, and as I glancedabout that circle of faces that a moment before I could have sworncontained the best friends I had upon Barsoom, I saw no singlefriendly glance--only stern, uncompromising judges, there to dotheir duty.
A clerk rose and from a great book read a long list of the morenotable deeds that I had thought to my credit, covering a long periodof twenty-two years since first I had stepped the ocher sea bottombeside the incubator of the Tharks. With the others he read ofall that I had done within the circle of the Otz Mountains wherethe Holy Therns and the First Born had held sway.
It is the way upon Barsoom to recite a man's virtues with his sinswhen he is come to trial, and so I was not surprised that all thatwas to my credit should be read there to my judges--who knew itall by heart--even down to the present moment. When the readinghad ceased Tardos Mors arose.
"Most righteous judges," he exclaimed, "you have heard recited allthat is known of John Carter, Prince of Helium--the good with thebad. What is your judgment?"
Then Tars Tarkas came slowly to his feet, unfolding all his mighty,towering height until he loomed, a green-bronze statue, far aboveus all. He turned a baleful eye upon me--he, Tars Tarkas, with whomI had fought through countless battles; whom I love
d as a brother.
I could have wept had I not been so mad with rage that I almostwhipped my sword out and had at them all upon the spot.
"Judges," he said, "there can be but one verdict. No longer mayJohn Carter be Prince of Helium"--he paused--"but instead let himbe Jeddak of Jeddaks, Warlord of Barsoom!"
As the thirty-one judges sprang to their feet with drawn andupraised swords in unanimous concurrence in the verdict, the stormbroke throughout the length and breadth and height of that mightybuilding until I thought the roof would fall from the thunder ofthe mad shouting.
Now, at last, I saw the grim humor of the method they had adoptedto do me this great honor, but that there was any hoax in the realityof the title they had conferred upon me was readily disproved bythe sincerity of the congratulations that were heaped upon me bythe judges first and then the nobles.
Presently fifty of the mightiest nobles of the greatest courts ofMars marched down the broad Aisle of Hope bearing a splendid carupon their shoulders, and as the people saw who sat within, thecheers that had rung out for me paled into insignificance besidethose which thundered through the vast edifice now, for she whomthe nobles carried was Dejah Thoris, beloved Princess of Helium.
Straight to the Throne of Righteousness they bore her, and thereTardos Mors assisted her from the car, leading her forward to myside.
"Let a world's most beautiful woman share the honor of her husband,"he said.
Before them all I drew my wife close to me and kissed her upon the lips.
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