CHAPTER XXII
VICTORY AND DEFEAT
"John Carter, John Carter," she sobbed, with her dear head upon myshoulder; "even now I can scarce believe the witness of my own eyes.When the girl, Thuvia, told me that you had returned to Barsoom, Ilistened, but I could not understand, for it seemed that such happinesswould be impossible for one who had suffered so in silent lonelinessfor all these long years. At last, when I realized that it was truth,and then came to know the awful place in which I was held prisoner, Ilearned to doubt that even you could reach me here.
"As the days passed, and moon after moon went by without bringing eventhe faintest rumour of you, I resigned myself to my fate. And now thatyou have come, scarce can I believe it. For an hour I have heard thesounds of conflict within the palace. I knew not what they meant, butI have hoped against hope that it might be the men of Helium headed bymy Prince.
"And tell me, what of Carthoris, our son?"
"He was with me less than an hour since, Dejah Thoris," I replied. "Itmust have been he whose men you have heard battling within theprecincts of the temple.
"Where is Issus?" I asked suddenly.
Dejah Thoris shrugged her shoulders.
"She sent me under guard to this room just before the fighting beganwithin the temple halls. She said that she would send for me later.She seemed very angry and somewhat fearful. Never have I seen her actin so uncertain and almost terrified a manner. Now I know that it musthave been because she had learned that John Carter, Prince of Helium,was approaching to demand an accounting of her for the imprisonment ofhis Princess."
The sounds of conflict, the clash of arms, the shouting and thehurrying of many feet came to us from various parts of the temple. Iknew that I was needed there, but I dared not leave Dejah Thoris, nordared I take her with me into the turmoil and danger of battle.
At last I bethought me of the pits from which I had just emerged. Whynot secrete her there until I could return and fetch her away in safetyand for ever from this awful place. I explained my plan to her.
For a moment she clung more closely to me.
"I cannot bear to be parted from you now, even for a moment, JohnCarter," she said. "I shudder at the thought of being alone againwhere that terrible creature might discover me. You do not know her.None can imagine her ferocious cruelty who has not witnessed her dailyacts for over half a year. It has taken me nearly all this time torealize even the things that I have seen with my own eyes."
"I shall not leave you, then, my Princess," I replied.
She was silent for a moment, then she drew my face to hers and kissedme.
"Go, John Carter," she said. "Our son is there, and the soldiers ofHelium, fighting for the Princess of Helium. Where they are you shouldbe. I must not think of myself now, but of them and of my husband'sduty. I may not stand in the way of that. Hide me in the pits, andgo."
I led her to the door through which I had entered the chamber frombelow. There I pressed her dear form to me, and then, though it toremy heart to do it, and filled me only with the blackest shadows ofterrible foreboding, I guided her across the threshold, kissed her onceagain, and closed the door upon her.
Without hesitating longer, I hurried from the chamber in the directionof the greatest tumult. Scarce half a dozen chambers had I traversedbefore I came upon the theatre of a fierce struggle. The blacks weremassed at the entrance to a great chamber where they were attempting toblock the further progress of a body of red men toward the inner sacredprecincts of the temple.
Coming from within as I did, I found myself behind the blacks, and,without waiting to even calculate their numbers or the foolhardiness ofmy venture, I charged swiftly across the chamber and fell upon themfrom the rear with my keen long-sword.
As I struck the first blow I cried aloud, "For Helium!" And then Irained cut after cut upon the surprised warriors, while the redswithout took heart at the sound of my voice, and with shouts of "JohnCarter! John Carter!" redoubled their efforts so effectually thatbefore the blacks could recover from their temporary demoralizationtheir ranks were broken and the red men had burst into the chamber.
The fight within that room, had it had but a competent chronicler,would go down in the annals of Barsoom as a historic memorial to thegrim ferocity of her warlike people. Five hundred men fought therethat day, the black men against the red. No man asked quarter or gaveit. As though by common assent they fought, as though to determineonce and for all their right to live, in accordance with the law of thesurvival of the fittest.
I think we all knew that upon the outcome of this battle would hingefor ever the relative positions of these two races upon Barsoom. Itwas a battle between the old and the new, but not for once did Iquestion the outcome of it. With Carthoris at my side I fought for thered men of Barsoom and for their total emancipation from the throttlingbondage of a hideous superstition.
Back and forth across the room we surged, until the floor was ankledeep in blood, and dead men lay so thickly there that half the time westood upon their bodies as we fought. As we swung toward the greatwindows which overlooked the gardens of Issus a sight met my gaze whichsent a wave of exultation over me.
"Look!" I cried. "Men of the First Born, look!"
For an instant the fighting ceased, and with one accord every eyeturned in the direction I had indicated, and the sight they saw was oneno man of the First Born had ever imagined could be.
Across the gardens, from side to side, stood a wavering line of blackwarriors, while beyond them and forcing them ever back was a greathorde of green warriors astride their mighty thoats. And as wewatched, one, fiercer and more grimly terrible than his fellows, rodeforward from the rear, and as he came he shouted some fierce command tohis terrible legion.
It was Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, and as he couched his greatforty-foot metal-shod lance we saw his warriors do likewise. Then itwas that we interpreted his command. Twenty yards now separated thegreen men from the black line. Another word from the great Thark, andwith a wild and terrifying battle-cry the green warriors charged. Fora moment the black line held, but only for a moment--then the fearsomebeasts that bore equally terrible riders passed completely through it.
After them came utan upon utan of red men. The green horde broke tosurround the temple. The red men charged for the interior, and then weturned to continue our interrupted battle; but our foes had vanished.
My first thought was of Dejah Thoris. Calling to Carthoris that I hadfound his mother, I started on a run toward the chamber where I hadleft her, with my boy close beside me. After us came those of ourlittle force who had survived the bloody conflict.
The moment I entered the room I saw that some one had been there sinceI had left. A silk lay upon the floor. It had not been there before.There were also a dagger and several metal ornaments strewn about asthough torn from their wearer in a struggle. But worst of all, thedoor leading to the pits where I had hidden my Princess was ajar.
With a bound I was before it, and, thrusting it open, rushed within.Dejah Thoris had vanished. I called her name aloud again and again,but there was no response. I think in that instant I hovered upon theverge of insanity. I do not recall what I said or did, but I know thatfor an instant I was seized with the rage of a maniac.
"Issus!" I cried. "Issus! Where is Issus? Search the temple for her,but let no man harm her but John Carter. Carthoris, where are theapartments of Issus?"
"This way," cried the boy, and, without waiting to know that I hadheard him, he dashed off at breakneck speed, further into the bowels ofthe temple. As fast as he went, however, I was still beside him,urging him on to greater speed.
At last we came to a great carved door, and through this Carthorisdashed, a foot ahead of me. Within, we came upon such a scene as I hadwitnessed within the temple once before--the throne of Issus, with thereclining slaves, and about it the ranks of soldiery.
We did not even give the men a chance to draw, so quickly were we upo
nthem. With a single cut I struck down two in the front rank. And thenby the mere weight and momentum of my body, I rushed completely throughthe two remaining ranks and sprang upon the dais beside the carvedsorapus throne.
The repulsive creature, squatting there in terror, attempted to escapeme and leap into a trap behind her. But this time I was not to beoutwitted by any such petty subterfuge. Before she had half arisen Ihad grasped her by the arm, and then, as I saw the guard starting tomake a concerted rush upon me from all sides, I whipped out my daggerand, holding it close to that vile breast, ordered them to halt.
"Back!" I cried to them. "Back! The first black foot that is plantedupon this platform sends my dagger into Issus' heart."
For an instant they hesitated. Then an officer ordered them back,while from the outer corridor there swept into the throne room at theheels of my little party of survivors a full thousand red men underKantos Kan, Hor Vastus, and Xodar.
"Where is Dejah Thoris?" I cried to the thing within my hands.
For a moment her eyes roved wildly about the scene beneath her. Ithink that it took a moment for the true condition to make anyimpression upon her--she could not at first realize that the temple hadfallen before the assault of men of the outer world. When she did,there must have come, too, a terrible realization of what it meant toher--the loss of power--humiliation--the exposure of the fraud andimposture which she had for so long played upon her own people.
There was just one thing needed to complete the reality of the pictureshe was seeing, and that was added by the highest noble of herrealm--the high priest of her religion--the prime minister of hergovernment.
"Issus, Goddess of Death, and of Life Eternal," he cried, "arise in themight of thy righteous wrath and with one single wave of thy omnipotenthand strike dead thy blasphemers! Let not one escape. Issus, thypeople depend upon thee. Daughter of the Lesser Moon, thou only artall-powerful. Thou only canst save thy people. I am done. We awaitthy will. Strike!"
And then it was that she went mad. A screaming, gibbering maniacwrithed in my grasp. It bit and clawed and scratched in impotent fury.And then it laughed a weird and terrible laughter that froze the blood.The slave girls upon the dais shrieked and cowered away. And the thingjumped at them and gnashed its teeth and then spat upon them fromfrothing lips. God, but it was a horrid sight.
Finally, I shook the thing, hoping to recall it for a moment torationality.
"Where is Dejah Thoris?" I cried again.
The awful creature in my grasp mumbled inarticulately for a moment,then a sudden gleam of cunning shot into those hideous, close-set eyes.
"Dejah Thoris? Dejah Thoris?" and then that shrill, unearthly laughpierced our ears once more.
"Yes, Dejah Thoris--I know. And Thuvia, and Phaidor, daughter of MataiShang. They each love John Carter. Ha-ah! but it is droll. Togetherfor a year they will meditate within the Temple of the Sun, but ere theyear is quite gone there will be no more food for them. Ho-oh! whatdivine entertainment," and she licked the froth from her cruel lips."There will be no more food--except each other. Ha-ah! Ha-ah!"
The horror of the suggestion nearly paralysed me. To this awful fatethe creature within my power had condemned my Princess. I trembled inthe ferocity of my rage. As a terrier shakes a rat I shook Issus,Goddess of Life Eternal.
"Countermand your orders!" I cried. "Recall the condemned. Haste, oryou die!"
"It is too late. Ha-ah! Ha-ah!" and then she commenced her gibberingand shrieking again.
Almost of its own volition, my dagger flew up above that putrid heart.But something stayed my hand, and I am now glad that it did. It were aterrible thing to have struck down a woman with one's own hand. But afitter fate occurred to me for this false deity.
"First Born," I cried, turning to those who stood within the chamber,"you have seen to-day the impotency of Issus--the gods are impotent.Issus is no god. She is a cruel and wicked old woman, who has deceivedand played upon you for ages. Take her. John Carter, Prince ofHelium, would not contaminate his hand with her blood," and with that Ipushed the raving beast, whom a short half-hour before a whole worldhad worshipped as divine, from the platform of her throne into thewaiting clutches of her betrayed and vengeful people.
Spying Xodar among the officers of the red men, I called him to lead mequickly to the Temple of the Sun, and, without waiting to learn whatfate the First Born would wreak upon their goddess, I rushed from thechamber with Xodar, Carthoris, Hor Vastus, Kantos Kan, and a score ofother red nobles.
The black led us rapidly through the inner chambers of the temple,until we stood within the central court--a great circular space pavedwith a transparent marble of exquisite whiteness. Before us rose agolden temple wrought in the most wondrous and fanciful designs, inlaidwith diamond, ruby, sapphire, turquoise, emerald, and the thousandnameless gems of Mars, which far transcend in loveliness and purity ofray the most priceless stones of Earth.
"This way," cried Xodar, leading us toward the entrance to a tunnelwhich opened in the courtyard beside the temple. Just as we were onthe point of descending we heard a deep-toned roar burst from theTemple of Issus, which we had but just quitted, and then a red man,Djor Kantos, padwar of the fifth utan, broke from a nearby gate, cryingto us to return.
"The blacks have fired the temple," he cried. "In a thousand places itis burning now. Haste to the outer gardens, or you are lost."
As he spoke we saw smoke pouring from a dozen windows looking out uponthe courtyard of the Temple of the Sun, and far above the highestminaret of Issus hung an ever-growing pall of smoke.
"Go back! Go back!" I cried to those who had accompanied me. "Theway! Xodar; point the way and leave me. I shall reach my Princessyet."
"Follow me, John Carter," replied Xodar, and without waiting for myreply he dashed down into the tunnel at our feet. At his heels I randown through a half-dozen tiers of galleries, until at last he led mealong a level floor at the end of which I discerned a lighted chamber.
Massive bars blocked our further progress, but beyond I saw her--myincomparable Princess, and with her were Thuvia and Phaidor. When shesaw me she rushed toward the bars that separated us. Already thechamber had turned upon its slow way so far that but a portion of theopening in the temple wall was opposite the barred end of the corridor.Slowly the interval was closing. In a short time there would be but atiny crack, and then even that would be closed, and for a longBarsoomian year the chamber would slowly revolve until once more for abrief day the aperture in its wall would pass the corridor's end.
But in the meantime what horrible things would go on within thatchamber!
"Xodar!" I cried. "Can no power stop this awful revolving thing? Isthere none who holds the secret of these terrible bars?"
"None, I fear, whom we could fetch in time, though I shall go and makethe attempt. Wait for me here."
After he had left I stood and talked with Dejah Thoris, and shestretched her dear hand through those cruel bars that I might hold ituntil the last moment.
Thuvia and Phaidor came close also, but when Thuvia saw that we wouldbe alone she withdrew to the further side of the chamber. Not so thedaughter of Matai Shang.
"John Carter," she said, "this be the last time that you shall see anyof us. Tell me that you love me, that I may die happy."
"I love only the Princess of Helium," I replied quietly. "I am sorry,Phaidor, but it is as I have told you from the beginning."
She bit her lip and turned away, but not before I saw the black andugly scowl she turned upon Dejah Thoris. Thereafter she stood a littleway apart, but not so far as I should have desired, for I had manylittle confidences to impart to my long-lost love.
For a few minutes we stood thus talking in low tones. Ever smaller andsmaller grew the opening. In a short time now it would be too smalleven to permit the slender form of my Princess to pass. Oh, why didnot Xodar haste. Above we could hear the faint echoes of a greattumult. It was the multitude of black an
d red and green men fightingtheir way through the fire from the burning Temple of Issus.
A draught from above brought the fumes of smoke to our nostrils. As westood waiting for Xodar the smoke became thicker and thicker.Presently we heard shouting at the far end of the corridor, andhurrying feet.
"Come back, John Carter, come back!" cried a voice, "even the pits areburning."
In a moment a dozen men broke through the now blinding smoke to myside. There was Carthoris, and Kantos Kan, and Hor Vastus, and Xodar,with a few more who had followed me to the temple court.
"There is no hope, John Carter," cried Xodar. "The keeper of the keysis dead and his keys are not upon his carcass. Our only hope is toquench this conflagration and trust to fate that a year will find yourPrincess alive and well. I have brought sufficient food to last them.When this crack closes no smoke can reach them, and if we hasten toextinguish the flames I believe they will be safe."
"Go, then, yourself and take these others with you," I replied. "Ishall remain here beside my Princess until a merciful death releases mefrom my anguish. I care not to live."
As I spoke Xodar had been tossing a great number of tiny cans withinthe prison cell. The remaining crack was not over an inch in width amoment later. Dejah Thoris stood as close to it as she could,whispering words of hope and courage to me, and urging me to savemyself.
Suddenly beyond her I saw the beautiful face of Phaidor contorted intoan expression of malign hatred. As my eyes met hers she spoke.
"Think not, John Carter, that you may so lightly cast aside the love ofPhaidor, daughter of Matai Shang. Nor ever hope to hold thy DejahThoris in thy arms again. Wait you the long, long year; but know thatwhen the waiting is over it shall be Phaidor's arms which shall welcomeyou--not those of the Princess of Helium. Behold, she dies!"
And as she finished speaking I saw her raise a dagger on high, and thenI saw another figure. It was Thuvia's. As the dagger fell toward theunprotected breast of my love, Thuvia was almost between them. Ablinding gust of smoke blotted out the tragedy within that fearsomecell--a shriek rang out, a single shriek, as the dagger fell.
The smoke cleared away, but we stood gazing upon a blank wall. Thelast crevice had closed, and for a long year that hideous chamber wouldretain its secret from the eyes of men.
They urged me to leave.
"In a moment it will be too late," cried Xodar. "There is, in fact,but a bare chance that we can come through to the outer garden aliveeven now. I have ordered the pumps started, and in five minutes thepits will be flooded. If we would not drown like rats in a trap wemust hasten above and make a dash for safety through the burningtemple."
"Go," I urged them. "Let me die here beside my Princess--there is nohope or happiness elsewhere for me. When they carry her dear body fromthat terrible place a year hence let them find the body of her lordawaiting her."
Of what happened after that I have only a confused recollection. Itseems as though I struggled with many men, and then that I was pickedbodily from the ground and borne away. I do not know. I have neverasked, nor has any other who was there that day intruded on my sorrowor recalled to my mind the occurrences which they know could but atbest reopen the terrible wound within my heart.
Ah! If I could but know one thing, what a burden of suspense would belifted from my shoulders! But whether the assassin's dagger reachedone fair bosom or another, only time will divulge.
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