CHAPTER XIX
BLACK DESPAIR
"Ah," said Zat Arrras, "to what kindly circumstance am I indebted forthe pleasure of this unexpected visit from the Prince of Helium?"
While he was speaking, one of my guards had removed the gag from mymouth, but I made no reply to Zat Arrras: simply standing there insilence with level gaze fixed upon the Jed of Zodanga. And I doubt notthat 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 thenupon Zat Arrras, until finally a flush of anger crept slowly over hisface.
"You may go," he said to those who had brought me, and when only histwo companions and ourselves were left in the chamber, he spoke to meagain in a voice of ice--very slowly and deliberately, with manypauses, as though he would choose his words cautiously.
"John Carter," he said, "by the edict of custom, by the law of ourreligion, and by the verdict of an impartial court, you are condemnedto die. The people cannot save you--I alone may accomplish that. Youare absolutely in my power to do with as I wish--I may kill you, or Imay 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 theconditions of your reprieve, there is little fear that the people wouldever insist upon the execution of the sentence imposed upon you.
"You may go free within two minutes, upon one condition. Tardos Morswill never return to Helium. Neither will Mors Kajak, nor DejahThoris. Helium must select a new Jeddak within the year. Zat Arrraswould be Jeddak of Helium. Say that you will espouse my cause. Thisis the price of your freedom. I am done."
I knew it was within the scope of Zat Arrras' cruel heart to destroy me,and if I were dead I could see little reason to doubt that he mighteasily become Jeddak of Helium. Free, I could prosecute the search forDejah Thoris. Were I dead, my brave comrades might not be able tocarry out our plans. So, by refusing to accede to his request, it wasquite probable that not only would I not prevent him from becomingJeddak of Helium, but that I would be the means of sealing DejahThoris' fate--of consigning her, through my refusal, to the horrors ofthe arena of Issus.
For a moment I was perplexed, but for a moment only. The prouddaughter of a thousand Jeddaks would choose death to a dishonorablealliance such as this, nor could John Carter do less for Helium thanhis Princess would do.
Then I turned to Zat Arrras.
"There can be no alliance," I said, "between a traitor to Helium and aprince of the House of Tardos Mors. I do not believe, Zat Arrras, thatthe great Jeddak is dead."
Zat Arrras shrugged his shoulders.
"It will not be long, John Carter," he said, "that your opinions willbe of interest even to yourself, so make the best of them while youcan. Zat Arrras will permit you in due time to reflect further upon themagnanimous offer he has made you. Into the silence and darkness ofthe pits you will enter upon your reflection this night with theknowledge that should you fail within a reasonable time to agree to thealternative which has been offered you, never shall you emerge from thedarkness and the silence again. Nor shall you know at what minute thehand will reach out through the darkness and the silence with the keendagger that shall rob you of your last chance to win again the warmthand the freedom and joyousness of the outer world."
Zat Arrras clapped his hands as he ceased speaking. The guards returned.
Zat Arrras waved his hand in my direction.
"To the pits," he said. That was all. Four men accompanied me fromthe chamber, and with a radium hand-light to illumine the way, escortedme through seemingly interminable tunnels, down, ever down beneath thecity of Helium.
At length they halted within a fair-sized chamber. There were ringsset in the rocky walls. To them chains were fastened, and at the endsof many of the chains were human skeletons. One of these they kickedaside, and, unlocking the huge padlock that had held a chain about whathad once been a human ankle, they snapped the iron band about my ownleg. Then they left me, taking the light with them.
Utter darkness prevailed. For a few minutes I could hear the clankingof accoutrements, but even this grew fainter and fainter, until at lastthe silence was as complete as the darkness. I was alone with mygruesome companions--with the bones of dead men whose fate was likelybut the index of my own.
How long I stood listening in the darkness I do not know, but thesilence was unbroken, and at last I sunk to the hard floor of myprison, where, leaning my head against the stony wall, I slept.
It must have been several hours later that I awakened to find a youngman standing before me. In one hand he bore a light, in the other areceptacle containing a gruel-like mixture--the common prison fare ofBarsoom.
"Zat Arrras sends you greetings," said the young man, "and commands meto inform you that though he is fully advised of the plot to make youJeddak of Helium, he is, however, not inclined to withdraw the offerwhich he has made you. To gain your freedom you have but to request meto advise Zat Arrras that you accept the terms of his proposition."
I but shook my head. The youth said no more, and, after placing thefood upon the floor at my side, returned up the corridor, taking thelight with him.
Twice a day for many days this youth came to my cell with food, andever the same greetings from Zat Arrras. For a long time I tried toengage 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 mywhereabouts. For months I scraped and scraped upon a single link ofthe massive chain which held me, hoping eventually to wear it through,that I might follow the youth back through the winding tunnels to apoint where I could make a break for liberty.
I was beside myself with anxiety for knowledge of the progress of theexpedition which was to rescue Dejah Thoris. I felt that Carthoriswould not let the matter drop, were he free to act, but in so far as Iknew, he also might be a prisoner in Zat Arrras' pits.
That Zat Arrras' spy had overheard our conversation relative to theselection of a new Jeddak, I knew, and scarcely a half-dozen minutesprior 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 evennow be the victims of Zat Arrras' assassins, or else his prisoners.
I determined to make at least one more effort to learn something, andto this end I adopted strategy when next the youth came to my cell. Ihad noticed that he was a handsome fellow, about the size and age ofCarthoris. And I had also noticed that his shabby trappings but illycomported with his dignified and noble bearing.
It was with these observations as a basis that I opened my negotiationswith him upon his next subsequent visit.
"You have been very kind to me during my imprisonment here," I said tohim, "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 myappreciation of all that you have done to render my imprisonmentbearable.
"Promptly you have brought my food each day, seeing that it was pureand of sufficient quantity. Never by word or deed have you attemptedto take advantage of my defenceless condition to insult or torture me.You have been uniformly courteous and considerate--it is this more thanany other thing which prompts my feeling of gratitude and my desire togive you some slight token of it.
"In the guard-room of my palace are many fine trappings. Go thou thereand select the harness which most pleases you--it shall be yours. AllI ask is that you wear it, that I may know that my wish has beenrealized. Tell me that you will do it."
The boy's eyes had lighted with pleasure as I spoke, and I saw himglance from his rusty trappings to the magnificence of my own. For amoment he stood in thought before he spoke, and for that moment myheart fairly ceased beating--so much for me there was which hung uponthe 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 likelythrow me headforemost into the avenue. No, it cannot be, though Ithank you for the offer. Why, if Zat Arrras even dreamed that Icontemplated 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 tomy palace with a note from me to Carthoris, my son. You may read thenote before you deliver it, that you may know that it contains nothingharmful to Zat Arrras. My son will be discreet, and so none but usthree need know. It is very simple, and such a harmless act that itcould 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 anorthern Jeddak. When you get the harness, see that Carthoris givesyou that also. With it and the harness which you may select there willbe no more handsomely accoutred warrior in all Zodanga.
"Bring writing materials when you come next to my cell, and within afew hours we shall see you garbed in a style befitting your birth andcarriage."
Still in thought, and without speaking, he turned and left me. I couldnot guess what his decision might be, and for hours I sat fretting overthe outcome of the matter.
If he accepted a message to Carthoris it would mean to me thatCarthoris still lived and was free. If the youth returned wearing theharness and the sword, I would know that Carthoris had received my noteand that he knew that I still lived. That the bearer of the note was aZodangan would be sufficient to explain to Carthoris that I was aprisoner of Zat Arrras.
It was with feelings of excited expectancy which I could scarce hidethat I heard the youth's approach upon the occasion of his next regularvisit. I did not speak beyond my accustomed greeting of him. As heplaced the food upon the floor by my side he also deposited writingmaterials at the same time.
My heart fairly bounded for joy. I had won my point. For a moment Ilooked at the materials in feigned surprise, but soon I permitted anexpression of dawning comprehension to come into my face, and then,picking them up, I penned a brief order to Carthoris to deliver toParthak a harness of his selection and the short-sword which Idescribed. That was all. But it meant everything to me and toCarthoris.
I laid the note open upon the floor. Parthak picked it up and, withouta word, left me.
As nearly as I could estimate, I had at this time been in the pits forthree hundred days. If anything was to be done to save Dejah Thoris itmust be done quickly, for, were she not already dead, her end must sooncome, since those whom Issus chose lived but a single year.
The next time I heard approaching footsteps I could scarce await to seeif Parthak wore the harness and the sword, but judge, if you can, mychagrin and disappointment when I saw that he who bore my food was notParthak.
"What has become of Parthak?" I asked, but the fellow would not answer,and as soon as he had deposited my food, turned and retraced his stepsto the world above.
Days came and went, and still my new jailer continued his duties, norwould he ever speak a word to me, either in reply to the simplestquestion or of his own initiative.
I could only speculate on the cause of Parthak's removal, but that itwas connected in some way directly with the note I had given him wasmost apparent to me. After all my rejoicing, I was no better off thanbefore, for now I did not even know that Carthoris lived, for ifParthak had wished to raise himself in the estimation of Zat Arrras hewould have permitted me to go on precisely as I did, so that he couldcarry my note to his master, in proof of his own loyalty and devotion.
Thirty days had passed since I had given the youth the note. Threehundred and thirty days had passed since my incarceration. As closelyas I could figure, there remained a bare thirty days ere Dejah Thoriswould be ordered to the arena for the rites of Issus.
As the terrible picture forced itself vividly across my imagination, Iburied my face in my arms, and only with the greatest difficulty was itthat I repressed the tears that welled to my eyes despite my everyeffort. To think of that beautiful creature torn and rended by thecruel fangs of the hideous white apes! It was unthinkable. Such ahorrid fact could not be; and yet my reason told me that within thirtydays my incomparable Princess would be fought over in the arena of theFirst Born by those very wild beasts; that her bleeding corpse would bedragged through the dirt and the dust, until at last a part of it wouldbe rescued to be served as food upon the tables of the black nobles.
I think that I should have gone crazy but for the sound of myapproaching jailer. It distracted my attention from the terriblethoughts that had been occupying my entire mind. Now a new and grimdetermination came to me. I would make one super-human effort toescape. Kill my jailer by a ruse, and trust to fate to lead me to theouter world in safety.
With the thought came instant action. I threw myself upon the floor ofmy cell close by the wall, in a strained and distorted posture, asthough I were dead after a struggle or convulsions. When he shouldstoop over me I had but to grasp his throat with one hand and strikehim a terrific blow with the slack of my chain, which I gripped firmlyin my right hand for the purpose.
Nearer and nearer came the doomed man. Now I heard him halt before me.There was a muttered exclamation, and then a step as he came to myside. I felt him kneel beside me. My grip tightened upon the chain.He leaned close to me. I must open my eyes to find his throat, graspit, and strike one mighty final blow all at the same instant.
The thing worked just as I had planned. So brief was the intervalbetween the opening of my eyes and the fall of the chain that I couldnot check it, though in that minute interval I recognized the face soclose to mine as that of my son, Carthoris.
God! What cruel and malign fate had worked to such a frightful end!What devious chain of circumstances had led my boy to my side at thisone particular minute of our lives when I could strike him down andkill him, in ignorance of his identity! A benign though tardyProvidence blurred my vision and my mind as I sank into unconsciousnessacross the lifeless body of my only son.
When I regained consciousness it was to feel a cool, firm hand pressedupon my forehead. For an instant I did not open my eyes. I wasendeavouring to gather the loose ends of many thoughts and memorieswhich flitted elusively through my tired and overwrought brain.
At length came the cruel recollection of the thing that I had done inmy last conscious act, and then I dared not to open my eyes for fear ofwhat I should see lying beside me. I wondered who it could be whoministered to me. Carthoris must have had a companion whom I had notseen. Well, I must face the inevitable some time, so why not now, andwith a sigh I opened my eyes.
Leaning over me was Carthoris, a great bruise upon his forehead wherethe chain had struck, but alive, thank God, alive! There was no onewith him. Reaching out my arms, I took my boy within them, and if everthere arose from any planet a fervent prayer of gratitude, it was therebeneath the crust of dying Mars as I thanked the Eternal Mystery for myson's life.
The brief instant in which I had seen and recognized Carthoris beforethe chain fell must have been ample to check the force of the blow. Hetold me that he had lain unconscious for a time--how long he did notknow.
"How came you here at all?" I asked, mystified that he had found mewithout a guide.
"It was by your wit in apprising me of your existence and imprisonmentthrough the youth, Parthak. Until he came for his harness and hissword, we had thought you dead. When I had read your note I did as youhad bid, giving Parthak his choice of the harnesses in the guardroom,and later bringing the jewelled short-sword to him; but the minute thatI had fulfilled the promise you evidently had made him, my obligationto him ceased. Then I commenced to question him, but he would give meno information as to your whereabouts. He was intensely loyal to ZatArrras.
"Finally I gave him a fair choice between freedom and the pits beneaththe palace--the price of freedom to be full information as to where youwere imprisoned and directions which would lead us to you; but still hemaintained his stubborn partisansh
ip. Despairing, I had him removed tothe pits, where he still is.
"No threats of torture or death, no bribes, however fabulous, wouldmove him. His only reply to all our importunities was that wheneverParthak died, were it to-morrow or a thousand years hence, no man couldtruly say, 'A traitor is gone to his deserts.'
"Finally, Xodar, who is a fiend for subtle craftiness, evolved a planwhereby we might worm the information from him. And so I caused HorVastus to be harnessed in the metal of a Zodangan soldier and chainedin Parthak's cell beside him. For fifteen days the noble Hor Vastushas languished in the darkness of the pits, but not in vain. Little bylittle he won the confidence and friendship of the Zodangan, until onlyto-day Parthak, thinking that he was speaking not only to a countryman,but to a dear friend, revealed to Hor Vastus the exact cell in whichyou lay.
"It took me but a short time to locate the plans of the pits of Heliumamong the official papers. To come to you, though, was a trifle moredifficult matter. As you know, while all the pits beneath the city areconnected, there are but single entrances from those beneath eachsection and its neighbour, and that at the upper level just underneaththe ground.
"Of course, these openings which lead from contiguous pits to thosebeneath government buildings are always guarded, and so, while I easilycame to the entrance to the pits beneath the palace which Zat Arrras isoccupying, I found there a Zodangan soldier on guard. There I left himwhen I had gone by, but his soul was no longer with him.
"And here I am, just in time to be nearly killed by you," he ended,laughing.
As he talked Carthoris had been working at the lock which held myfetters, and now, with an exclamation of pleasure, he dropped the endof the chain to the floor, and I stood up once more, freed from thegalling irons I had chafed in for almost a year.
He had brought a long-sword and a dagger for me, and thus armed we setout upon the return journey to my palace.
At the point where we left the pits of Zat Arrras we found the body ofthe guard Carthoris had slain. It had not yet been discovered, and, inorder to still further delay search and mystify the jed's people, wecarried the body with us for a short distance, hiding it in a tiny celloff the main corridor of the pits beneath an adjoining estate.
Some half-hour later we came to the pits beneath our own palace, andsoon thereafter emerged into the audience chamber itself, where wefound Kantos Kan, Tars Tarkas, Hor Vastus, and Xodar awaiting us mostimpatiently.
No time was lost in fruitless recounting of my imprisonment. What Idesired to know was how well the plans we had laid nearly a year agohad been carried out.
"It has taken much longer than we had expected," replied Kantos Kan."The fact that we were compelled to maintain utter secrecy hashandicapped us terribly. Zat Arrras' spies are everywhere. Yet, to thebest of my knowledge, no word of our real plans has reached thevillain's ear.
"To-night there lies about the great docks at Hastor a fleet of athousand of the mightiest battleships that ever sailed above Barsoom,and each equipped to navigate the air of Omean and the waters of Omeanitself. Upon each battleship there are five ten-man cruisers, and tenfive-man scouts, and a hundred one-man scouts; in all, one hundred andsixteen thousand craft fitted with both air and water propellers.
"At Thark lie the transports for the green warriors of Tars Tarkas,nine hundred large troopships, and with them their convoys. Seven daysago all was in readiness, but we waited in the hope that by so doingyour rescue might be encompassed in time for you to command theexpedition. It is well we waited, my Prince."
"How is it, Tars Tarkas," I asked, "that the men of Thark take not theaccustomed action against one who returns from the bosom of Iss?"
"They sent a council of fifty chieftains to talk with me here," repliedthe Thark. "We are a just people, and when I had told them the entirestory they were as one man in agreeing that their action toward mewould be guided by the action of Helium toward John Carter. In themeantime, at their request, I was to resume my throne as Jeddak ofThark, that I might negotiate with neighboring hordes for warriors tocompose the land forces of the expedition. I have done that which Iagreed. Two hundred and fifty thousand fighting men, gathered from theice cap at the north to the ice cap at the south, and representing athousand different communities, from a hundred wild and warlike hordes,fill the great city of Thark to-night. They are ready to sail for theLand of the First Born when I give the word and fight there until I bidthem stop. All they ask is the loot they take and transportation totheir own territories when the fighting and the looting are over. I amdone."
"And thou, Hor Vastus," I asked, "what has been thy success?"
"A million veteran fighting-men from Helium's thin waterways man thebattleships, the transports, and the convoys," he replied. "Each issworn to loyalty and secrecy, nor were enough recruited from a singledistrict to cause suspicion."
"Good!" I cried. "Each has done his duty, and now, Kantos Kan, may wenot repair at once to Hastor and get under way before to-morrow's sun?"
"We should lose no time, Prince," replied Kantos Kan. "Already thepeople of Hastor are questioning the purpose of so great a fleet fullymanned with fighting-men. I wonder much that word of it has not beforereached Zat Arrras. A cruiser awaits above at your own dock; let usleave at--" A fusillade of shots from the palace gardens just withoutcut short his further words.
Together we rushed to the balcony in time to see a dozen members of mypalace guard disappear in the shadows of some distant shrubbery as inpursuit of one who fled. Directly beneath us upon the scarlet sward ahandful of guardsmen were stooping above a still and prostrate form.
While we watched they lifted the figure in their arms and at my commandbore it to the audience chamber where we had been in council. Whenthey stretched the body at our feet we saw that it was that of a redman in the prime of life--his metal was plain, such as common soldierswear, or those who wish to conceal their identity.
"Another of Zat Arrras' spies," said Hor Vastus.
"So it would seem," I replied, and then to the guard: "You may removethe body."
"Wait!" said Xodar. "If you will, Prince, ask that a cloth and alittle thoat oil be brought."
I nodded to one of the soldiers, who left the chamber, returningpresently with the things that Xodar had requested. The black kneeledbeside the body and, dipping a corner of the cloth in the thoat oil,rubbed for a moment on the dead face before him. Then he turned to mewith a smile, pointing to his work. I looked and saw that where Xodarhad applied the thoat oil the face was white, as white as mine, andthen Xodar seized the black hair of the corpse and with a sudden wrenchtore it all away, revealing a hairless pate beneath.
Guardsmen and nobles pressed close about the silent witness upon themarble floor. Many were the exclamations of astonishment andquestioning wonder as Xodar's acts confirmed the suspicion which he hadheld.
"A thern!" whispered Tars Tarkas.
"Worse than that, I fear," replied Xodar. "But let us see."
With that he drew his dagger and cut open a locked pouch which haddangled from the thern's harness, and from it he brought forth acirclet of gold set with a large gem--it was the mate to that which Ihad taken from Sator Throg.
"He was a Holy Thern," said Xodar. "Fortunate indeed it is for us thathe did not escape."
The officer of the guard entered the chamber at this juncture.
"My Prince," he said, "I have to report that this fellow's companionescaped us. I think that it was with the connivance of one or more ofthe men at the gate. I have ordered them all under arrest."
Xodar handed him the thoat oil and cloth.
"With this you may discover the spy among you," he said.
I at once ordered a secret search within the city, for every Martiannoble maintains a secret service of his own.
A half-hour later the officer of the guard came again to report. Thistime it was to confirm our worst fears--half the guards at the gatethat night had been therns disguised as red men.
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bsp; "Come!" I cried. "We must lose no time. On to Hastor at once. Shouldthe therns attempt to check us at the southern verge of the ice cap itmay result in the wrecking of all our plans and the total destructionof the expedition."
Ten minutes later we were speeding through the night toward Hastor,prepared to strike the first blow for the preservation of Dejah Thoris.