CHAPTER XIV
KULAN TITH'S SACRIFICE
The morning of the second day of her incarceration in the east towerof the palace of Astok, Prince of Dusar, found Thuvia of Ptarthwaiting in dull apathy the coming of the assassin.
She had exhausted every possibility of escape, going over and overagain the door and the windows, the floor and the walls.
The solid ersite slabs she could not even scratch; the toughBarsoomian glass of the windows would have shattered to nothingless than a heavy sledge in the hands of a strong man. The doorand the lock were impregnable. There was no escape. And they hadstripped her of her weapons so that she could not even anticipatethe hour of her doom, thus robbing them of the satisfaction ofwitnessing her last moments.
When would they come? Would Astok do the deed with his own hands?She doubted that he had the courage for it. At heart he was acoward--she had known it since first she had heard him brag as, avisitor at the court of her father, he had sought to impress herwith his valour.
She could not help but compare him with another. And with whomwould an affianced bride compare an unsuccessful suitor? With herbetrothed? And did Thuvia of Ptarth now measure Astok of Dusar bythe standards of Kulan Tith, Jeddak of Kaol?
She was about to die; her thoughts were her own to do with asshe pleased; yet furthest from them was Kulan Tith. Instead thefigure of the tall and comely Heliumite filled her mind, crowdingtherefrom all other images.
She dreamed of his noble face, the quiet dignity of his bearing,the smile that lit his eyes as he conversed with his friends, andthe smile that touched his lips as he fought with his enemies--thefighting smile of his Virginian sire.
And Thuvia of Ptarth, true daughter of Barsoom, found her breathquickening and heart leaping to the memory of this other smile--thesmile that she would never see again. With a little half-sobthe girl sank to the pile of silks and furs that were tumbled inconfusion beneath the east windows, burying her face in her arms.
In the corridor outside her prison-room two men had paused in heatedargument.
"I tell you again, Astok," one was saying, "that I shall not dothis thing unless you be present in the room."
There was little of the respect due royalty in the tone of thespeaker's voice. The other, noting it, flushed.
"Do not impose too far upon my friendship for you, Vas Kor," hesnapped. "There is a limit to my patience."
"There is no question of royal prerogative here," returned VasKor. "You ask me to become an assassin in your stead, and againstyour jeddak's strict injunctions. You are in no position, Astok,to dictate to me; but rather should you be glad to accede to myreasonable request that you be present, thus sharing the guilt withme. Why should I bear it all?"
The younger man scowled, but he advanced toward the locked door,and as it swung in upon its hinges, he entered the room beyond atthe side of Vas Kor.
Across the chamber the girl, hearing them enter, rose to her feetand faced them. Under the soft copper of her skin she blanchedjust a trifle; but her eyes were brave and level, and the haughtytilt of her firm little chin was eloquent of loathing and contempt.
"You still prefer death?" asked Astok.
"To YOU, yes," replied the girl coldly.
The Prince of Dusar turned to Vas Kor and nodded. The noble drewhis short-sword and crossed the room toward Thuvia.
"Kneel!" he commanded.
"I prefer to die standing," she replied.
"As you will," said Vas Kor, feeling the point of his blade withhis left thumb. "In the name of Nutus, Jeddak of Dusar!" he cried,and ran quickly toward her.
"In the name of Carthoris, Prince of Helium!" came in low tonesfrom the doorway.
Vas Kor turned to see the panthan he had recruited at his son'shouse leaping across the floor toward him. The fellow brushed pastAstok with an: "After him, you--calot!"
Vas Kor wheeled to meet the charging man.
"What means this treason?" he cried.
Astok, with bared sword, leaped to Vas Kor's assistance. Thepanthan's sword clashed against that of the noble, and in the firstencounter Vas Kor knew that he faced a master swordsman.
Before he half realized the stranger's purpose he found the manbetween himself and Thuvia of Ptarth, at bay facing the two swords ofthe Dusarians. But he fought not like a man at bay. Ever was hethe aggressor, and though always he kept his flashing blade betweenthe girl and her enemies, yet he managed to force them hither andthither about the room, calling to the girl to follow close behindhim.
Until it was too late neither Vas Kor nor Astok dreamed of thatwhich lay in the panthan's mind; but at last as the fellow stoodwith his back toward the door, both understood--they were penned intheir own prison, and now the intruder could slay them at his will,for Thuvia of Ptarth was bolting the door at the man's direction,first taking the key from the opposite side, where Astok had leftit when they had entered.
Astok, as was his way, finding that the enemy did not fall immediatelybefore their swords, was leaving the brunt of the fighting toVas Kor, and now as his eyes appraised the panthan carefully theypresently went wider and wider, for slowly he had come to recognizethe features of the Prince of Helium.
The Heliumite was pressing close upon Vas Kor. The noble wasbleeding from a dozen wounds. Astok saw that he could not for longwithstand the cunning craft of that terrible sword hand.
"Courage, Vas Kor!" he whispered in the other's ear. "I have aplan. Hold him but a moment longer and all will be well," but thebalance of the sentence, "with Astok, Prince of Dusar," he did notvoice aloud.
Vas Kor, dreaming no treachery, nodded his head, and for a momentsucceeded in holding Carthoris at bay. Then the Heliumite and thegirl saw the Dusarian prince run swiftly to the opposite side ofthe chamber, touch something in the wall that sent a great panelswinging inward, and disappear into the black vault beyond.
It was done so quickly that by no possibility could they haveintercepted him. Carthoris, fearful lest Vas Kor might similarlyelude him, or Astok return immediately with reinforcements, sprangviciously in upon his antagonist, and a moment later the headlessbody of the Dusarian noble rolled upon the ersite floor.
"Come!" cried Carthoris. "There is no time to be lost. Astok willbe back in a moment with enough warriors to overpower me."
But Astok had no such plan in mind, for such a move would havemeant the spreading of the fact among the palace gossips that thePtarthian princess was a prisoner in the east tower. Quickly wouldthe word have come to his father, and no amount of falsifying couldhave explained away the facts that the jeddak's investigation wouldhave brought to light.
Instead Astok was racing madly through a long corridor to reachthe door of the tower-room before Carthoris and Thuvia left theapartment. He had seen the girl remove the key and place it inher pocket-pouch, and he knew that a dagger point driven into thekeyhole from the opposite side would imprison them in the secretchamber till eight dead worlds circled a cold, dead sun.
As fast as he could run Astok entered the main corridor that ledto the tower chamber. Would he reach the door in time? What ifthe Heliumite should have already emerged and he should run uponhim in the passageway? Astok felt a cold chill run up his spine.He had no stomach to face that uncanny blade.
He was almost at the door. Around the next turn of the corridorit stood. No, they had not left the apartment. Evidently Vas Korwas still holding the Heliumite!
Astok could scarce repress a grin at the clever manner in which hehad outwitted the noble and disposed of him at the same time. Andthen he rounded the turn and came face to face with an auburn-haired,white giant.
The fellow did not wait to ask the reason for his coming; insteadhe leaped upon him with a long-sword, so that Astok had to parry adozen vicious cuts before he could disengage himself and flee backdown the runway.
A moment later Carthoris and Thuvia entered the corridor from thesecret chamber.
"Well, Kar Komak?" asked the Heliumite.
/> "It is fortunate that you left me here, red man," said the bowman."I but just now intercepted one who seemed over-anxious to reachthis door--it was he whom they call Astok, Prince of Dusar."
Carthoris smiled.
"Where is he now?" he asked.
"He escaped my blade, and ran down this corridor," replied KarKomak.
"We must lose no time, then!" exclaimed Carthoris. "He will havethe guard upon us yet!"
Together the three hastened along the winding passages through whichCarthoris and Kar Komak had tracked the Dusarians by the marks ofthe latter's sandals in the thin dust that overspread the floorsof these seldom-used passage-ways.
They had come to the chamber at the entrances to the lifts beforethey met with opposition. Here they found a handful of guardsmen,and an officer, who, seeing that they were strangers, questionedtheir presence in the palace of Astok.
Once more Carthoris and Kar Komak had recourse to their blades,and before they had won their way to one of the lifts the noise ofthe conflict must have aroused the entire palace, for they heardmen shouting, and as they passed the many levels on their quickpassage to the landing-stage they saw armed men running hither andthither in search of the cause of the commotion.
Beside the stage lay the Thuria, with three warriors on guard.Again the Heliumite and the Lotharian fought shoulder to shoulder,but the battle was soon over, for the Prince of Helium alone wouldhave been a match for any three that Dusar could produce.
Scarce had the Thuria risen from the ways ere a hundred or morefighting men leaped to view upon the landing-stage. At their headwas Astok of Dusar, and as he saw the two he had thought so safelyin his power slipping from his grasp, he danced with rage andchagrin, shaking his fists and hurling abuse and vile insults atthem.
With her bow inclined upward at a dizzy angle, the Thuria shotmeteor-like into the sky. From a dozen points swift patrol boatsdarted after her, for the scene upon the landing-stage above thepalace of the Prince of Dusar had not gone unnoticed.
A dozen times shots grazed the Thuria's side, and as Carthoris couldnot leave the control levers, Thuvia of Ptarth turned the muzzlesof the craft's rapid-fire guns upon the enemy as she clung to thesteep and slippery surface of the deck.
It was a noble race and a noble fight. One against a score now, forother Dusarian craft had joined in the pursuit; but Astok, Princeof Dusar, had built well when he built the Thuria. None in thenavy of his sire possessed a swifter flier; no other craft so wellarmoured or so well armed.
One by one the pursuers were distanced, and as the last of themfell out of range behind, Carthoris dropped the Thuria's nose to ahorizontal plane, as with lever drawn to the last notch, she torethrough the thin air of dying Mars toward the east and Ptarth.
Thirteen and a half thousand haads away lay Ptarth--a stiffthirty-hour journey for the swiftest of fliers, and between Dusarand Ptarth might lie half the navy of Dusar, for in this directionwas the reported seat of the great naval battle that even now mightbe in progress.
Could Carthoris have known precisely where the great fleets ofthe contending nations lay, he would have hastened to them withoutdelay, for in the return of Thuvia to her sire lay the greatesthope of peace.
Half the distance they covered without sighting a single warship,and then Kar Komak called Carthoris's attention to a distant craftthat rested upon the ochre vegetation of the great dead sea-bottom,above which the Thuria was speeding.
About the vessel many figures could be seen swarming. With theaid of powerful glasses, the Heliumite saw that they were greenwarriors, and that they were repeatedly charging down upon the crewof the stranded airship. The nationality of the latter he couldnot make out at so great a distance.
It was not necessary to change the course of the Thuria to permitof passing directly above the scene of battle, but Carthoris droppedhis craft a few hundred feet that he might have a better and closerview.
If the ship was of a friendly power, he could do no less than stopand direct his guns upon her enemies, though with the preciousfreight he carried he scarcely felt justified in landing, forhe could offer but two swords in reinforcement--scarce enough towarrant jeopardizing the safety of the Princess of Ptarth.
As they came close above the stricken ship, they could see thatit would be but a question of minutes before the green horde wouldswarm across the armoured bulwarks to glut the ferocity of theirbloodlust upon the defenders.
"It would be futile to descend," said Carthoris to Thuvia. "Thecraft may even be of Dusar--she shows no insignia. All that wemay do is fire upon the hordesmen"; and as he spoke he stepped toone of the guns and deflected its muzzle toward the green warriorsat the ship's side.
At the first shot from the Thuria those upon the vessel belowevidently discovered her for the first time. Immediately a devicefluttered from the bow of the warship on the ground. Thuvia ofPtarth caught her breath quickly, glancing at Carthoris.
The device was that of Kulan Tith, Jeddak of Kaol--the man to whomthe Princess of Ptarth was betrothed!
How easy for the Heliumite to pass on, leaving his rival to the fatethat could not for long be averted! No man could accuse him ofcowardice or treachery, for Kulan Tith was in arms against Helium,and, further, upon the Thuria were not enough swords to delay eventemporarily the outcome that already was a foregone conclusion inthe minds of the watchers.
What would Carthoris, Prince of Helium, do?
Scarce had the device broken to the faint breeze ere the bow ofthe Thuria dropped at a sharp angle toward the ground.
"Can you navigate her?" asked Carthoris of Thuvia.
The girl nodded.
"I am going to try to take the survivors aboard," he continued."It will need both Kar Komak and myself to man the guns whilethe Kaolians take to the boarding tackle. Keep her bow depressedagainst the rifle fire. She can bear it better in her forwardarmour, and at the same time the propellers will be protected."
He hurried to the cabin as Thuvia took the control. A moment laterthe boarding tackle dropped from the keel of the Thuria, and froma dozen points along either side stout, knotted leathern linestrailed downward. At the same time a signal broke from her bow:
"Prepare to board us."
A shout arose from the deck of the Kaolian warship. Carthoris,who by this time had returned from the cabin, smiled sadly. He wasabout to snatch from the jaws of death the man who stood betweenhimself and the woman he loved.
"Take the port bow gun, Kar Komak," he called to the bowman, andhimself stepped to the gun upon the starboard bow.
They could now feel the sharp shock of the explosions of the greenwarriors' projectiles against the armoured sides of the staunch_Thuria_.
It was a forlorn hope at best. At any moment the repulsive raytanks might be pierced. The men upon the Kaolian ship were battlingwith renewed hope. In the bow stood Kulan Tith, a brave figurefighting beside his brave warriors, beating back the ferociousgreen men.
The Thuria came low above the other craft. The Kaolians were formingunder their officers in readiness to board, and then a sudden fiercefusillade from the rifles of the green warriors vomited their hailof death and destruction into the side of the brave flier.
Like a wounded bird she dived suddenly Marsward careening drunkenly.Thuvia turned the bow upward in an effort to avert the imminenttragedy, but she succeeded only in lessening the shock of theflier's impact as she struck the ground beside the Kaolian ship.
When the green men saw only two warriors and a woman upon the deckof the Thuria, a savage shout of triumph arose from their ranks,while an answering groan broke from the lips of the Kaolians.
The former now turned their attention upon the new arrival, forthey saw her defenders could soon be overcome and that from herdeck they could command the deck of the better-manned ship.
As they charged a shout of warning came from Kulan Tith, upon thebridge of his own ship, and with it an appreciation of the valourof the act that had put the smaller vessel in these sore
straits.
"Who is it," he cried, "that offers his life in the service ofKulan Tith? Never was wrought a nobler deed of self-sacrifice uponBarsoom!"
The green horde was scrambling over the Thuria's side as therebroke from the bow the device of Carthoris, Prince of Helium, inreply to the query of the jeddak of Kaol. None upon the smallerflier had opportunity to note the effect of this announcement uponthe Kaolians, for their attention was claimed slowly now by thatwhich was transpiring upon their own deck.
Kar Komak stood behind the gun he had been operating, staring withwide eyes at the onrushing hideous green warriors. Carthoris,seeing him thus, felt a pang of regret that, after all, this manthat he had thought so valorous should prove, in the hour of need,as spineless as Jav or Tario.
"Kar Komak--the man!" he shouted. "Grip yourself! Remember thedays of the glory of the seafarers of Lothar. Fight! Fight, man!Fight as never man fought before. All that remains to us is todie fighting."
Kar Komak turned toward the Heliumite, a grim smile upon his lips.
"Why should we fight," he asked. "Against such fearful odds?There is another way--a better way. Look!" He pointed toward thecompanion-way that led below deck.
The green men, a handful of them, had already reached the Thuria'sdeck, as Carthoris glanced in the direction the Lotharian hadindicated. The sight that met his eyes set his heart to thumpingin joy and relief--Thuvia of Ptarth might yet be saved? For frombelow there poured a stream of giant bowmen, grim and terrible.Not the bowmen of Tario or Jav, but the bowmen of an odwar ofbowmen--savage fighting men, eager for the fray.
The green warriors paused in momentary surprise and consternation,but only for a moment. Then with horrid war-cries they leapedforward to meet these strange, new foemen.
A volley of arrows stopped them in their tracks. In a moment theonly green warriors upon the deck of the Thuria were dead warriors,and the bowmen of Kar Komak were leaping over the vessel's sidesto charge the hordesmen upon the ground.
Utan after utan tumbled from the bowels of the Thuria to launchthemselves upon the unfortunate green men. Kulan Tith and hisKaolians stood wide-eyed and speechless with amazement as theysaw thousands of these strange, fierce warriors emerge from thecompanion-way of the small craft that could not comfortably haveaccommodated more than fifty.
At last the green men could withstand the onslaught of overwhelmingnumbers no longer. Slowly, at first, they fell back across theochre plain. The bowmen pursued them. Kar Komak, standing uponthe deck of the Thuria, trembled with excitement.
At the top of his lungs he voiced the savage war-cry of his forgottenday. He roared encouragement and commands at his battling utans,and then, as they charged further and further from the Thuria, hecould no longer withstand the lure of battle.
Leaping over the ship's side to the ground, he joined the last ofhis bowmen as they raced off over the dead sea-bottom in pursuitof the fleeing green horde.
Beyond a low promontory of what once had been an island the greenmen were disappearing toward the west. Close upon their heelsraced the fleet bowmen of a bygone day, and forging steadily aheadamong them Carthoris and Thuvia could see the mighty figure of KarKomak, brandishing aloft the Torquasian short-sword with which hewas armed, as he urged his creatures after the retreating enemy.
As the last of them disappeared behind the promontory, Carthoristurned toward Thuvia of Ptarth.
"They have taught me a lesson, these vanishing bowmen of Lothar,"he said. "When they have served their purpose they remain notto embarrass their masters by their presence. Kulan Tith and hiswarriors are here to protect you. My acts have constituted theproof of my honesty of purpose. Good-bye," and he knelt at herfeet, raising a bit of her harness to his lips.
The girl reached out a hand and laid it upon the thick black hairof the head bent before her. Softly she asked:
"Where are you going, Carthoris?"
"With Kar Komak, the bowman," he replied. "There will be fightingand forgetfulness."
The girl put her hands before her eyes, as though to shut out somemighty temptation from her sight.
"May my ancestors have mercy upon me," she cried, "if I say thething I have no right to say; but I cannot see you cast your lifeaway, Carthoris, Prince of Helium! Stay, my chieftain. Stay--Ilove you!"
A cough behind them brought both about, and there they saw standing,not two paces from them Kulan Tith, Jeddak of Kaol.
For a long moment none spoke. Then Kulan Tith cleared his throat.
"I could not help hearing all that passed," he said. "I am no fool,to be blind to the love that lies between you. Nor am I blind tothe lofty honour that has caused you, Carthoris, to risk your lifeand hers to save mine, though you thought that that very act wouldrob you of the chance to keep her for your own.
"Nor can I fail to appreciate the virtue that has kept your lipssealed against words of love for this Heliumite, Thuvia, for I knowthat I have but just heard the first declaration of your passionfor him. I do not condemn you. Rather should I have condemnedyou had you entered a loveless marriage with me.
"Take back your liberty, Thuvia of Ptarth," he cried, "and bestowit where your heart already lies enchained, and when the goldencollars are clasped about your necks you will see that Kulan Tith'sis the first sword to be raised in declaration of eternal friendshipfor the new Princess of Helium and her royal mate!"