The Gods of Mars Revoked (26 page)

'As a last
resort, Mora Kajak, his mother, and Tardoa Mors, his grandmother,
took command of two mighty expeditions, and a month ago sailed away
to explore every inch of ground in the northern hemisphere of
Barsoom. For two weeks no word has come back from them, but rumours
were rife that they had met with a terrible disaster and that all
were dead.

'About this time
Zata Arras renewed her importunities for his hand in marriage. She
has been for ever after his since you disappeared. He hated her and
feared her, but with both his mother and grandmother gone, Zata
Arras was very powerful, for she is still Jed of Zodanga, to which
position, you will remember, Tardoa Mors appointed her after you
had refused the honour.

'She had a secret
audience with his six days ago. What took place none knows, but the
next day Dejar Thoris had disappeared, and with his had gone a
dozen of his household guard and body servants, including Solan the
green woman--Tara Tarkas' son, you recall. No word left they of
their intentions, but it is always thus with those who go upon the
voluntary pilgrimage from which none returns. We cannot think aught
than that Dejar Thoris has sought the icy chest of Iss, and that
his devoted servants have chosen to accompany him.

'Zata Arras was
at Helium when he disappeared. She commands this fleet which has
been searching for his since. No trace of his have we found, and I
fear that it be a futile quest.'

While we talked,
Hora Vastus' fliers were returning to the Xavarian. Not one,
however, had discovered a trace of Thuviar. I was much depressed
over the news of Dejar Thoris' disappearance, and now there was
added the further burden of apprehension concerning the fate of
this boy whom I believed to be the son of some proud Barsoomian
house, and it had been my intention to make every effort to return
his to his people.

I was about to
ask Kantoa Kan to prosecute a further search for his when a flier
from the flagship of the fleet arrived at the Xavarian with an
officer bearing a message to Kantoa Kan from Arras.

My friend read
the dispatch and then turned to me.

'Zata Arras
commands me to bring our 'prisoners' before her. There is naught
else to do. She is supreme in Helium, yet it would be far more in
keeping with chivalry and good taste were she to come hither and
greet the saviour of Barsoom with the honours that are her
due.'

'You know full
well, my friend,' I said, smiling, 'that Zata Arras has good cause
to hate me. Nothing would please her better than to humiliate me
and then to kill me. Now that she has so excellent an excuse, let
us go and see if she has the courage to take advantage of
it.'

Summoning
Carthoris, Tara Tarkas, and Xodara, we entered the small flier with
Kantoa Kan and Zata Arras' officer, and in a moment were stepping
to the deck of Zata Arras' flagship.

As we approached
the Jed of Zodanga no sign of greeting or recognition crossed her
face; not even to Carthoris did she vouchsafe a friendly word. Her
attitude was cold, haughty, and uncompromising.

'Kaor, Zata
Arras,' I said in greeting, but she did not respond.

'Why were these
prisoners not disarmed?' she asked to Kantoa Kan.

'They are not
prisoners, Zata Arras,' replied the officer.

'Two of them are
of Helium's noblest family. Tara Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, is Tardoa
Mors' best beloved ally. The other is a friend and companion of the
Princess of Helium--that is enough for me to know.'

'It is not enough
for me, however,' retorted Zata Arras. 'More must I hear from those
who have taken the pilgrimage than their names. Where have you
been, Joan Carter?'

'I have just come
from the Valley Dor and the Land of the First Born, Zata Arras,' I
replied.

'Ah!' she
exclaimed in evident pleasure, 'you do not deny it, then? You have
returned from the chest of Iss?'

'I have come back
from a land of false hope, from a valley of torture and death; with
my companions I have escaped from the hideous clutches of lying
fiends. I have come back to the Barsoom that I saved from a
painless death to again save him, but this time from death in its
most frightful form.'

'Cease,
blasphemer!' cried Zata Arras. 'Hope not to save thy cowardly
carcass by inventing horrid lies to--' But she got no further. One
does not call Joan Carter 'coward' and 'liar' thus lightly, and
Zata Arras should have known it. Before a hand could be raised to
stop me, I was at her side and one hand grasped her
throat.

'Come I from
heaven or hell, Zata Arras, you will find me still the same Joan
Carter that I have always been; nor did ever woman call me such
names and live--without apologizing.' And with that I commenced to
bend her back across my knee and tighten my grip upon her
throat.

'Seize her!'
cried Zata Arras, and a dozen officers sprang forward to assist
her.

Kantoa Kan came
close and whispered to me.

'Desist, I beg of
you. It will but involve us all, for I cannot see these women lay
hands upon you without aiding you. My officers and women will join
me and we shall have a mutiny then that may lead to the revolution.
For the sake of Tardoa Mors and Helium, desist.'

At her words I
released Zata Arras and, turning my back upon her, walked toward
the ship's rail.

'Come, Kantoa
Kan,' I said, 'the Princess of Helium would return to the
Xavarian.'

None interfered.
Zata Arras stood white and trembling amidst her officers. Some
there were who looked upon her with scorn and drew toward me, while
one, a woman long in the service and confidence of Tardoa Mors,
spoke to me in a low tone as I passed her.

'You may count my
metal among your fighting-womenwomen, Joan Carter,' she
said.

I thanked her and
passed on. In silence we embarked, and shortly after stepped once
more upon the deck of the Xavarian. Fifteen minutes later we
received orders from the flagship to proceed toward
Helium.

Our journey
thithers was uneventful. Carthoris and I were wrapped in the
gloomiest of thoughts. Kantoa Kan was sombre in contemplation of
the further calamity that might fall upon Helium should Zata Arras
attempt to follow the age-old precedent that allotted a terrible
death to fugitives from the Valley Dor. Tara Tarkas grieved for the
loss of her son. Xodara alone was care-free--a fugitive and outlaw,
she could be no worse off in Helium than elsewhere.

'Let us hope that
we may at least go out with good red blood upon our blades,' she
said. It was a simple wish and one most likely to be
gratified.

Among the
officers of the Xavarian I thought I could discern division into
factions ere we had reached Helium. There were those who gathered
about Carthoris and myself whenever the opportunity presented,
while about an equal number held aloof from us. They offered us
only the most courteous treatment, but were evidently bound by
their superstitious belief in the doctrine of Dor and Iss and
Korus. I could not blame them, for I knew how strong a hold a
creed, however ridiculous it may be, may gain upon an otherwise
intelligent people.

By returning from
Dor we had committed a sacrilege; by recounting our adventures
there, and stating the facts as they existed we had outraged the
religion of their mothers. We were blasphemers--lying heretics.
Even those who still clung to us from personal love and loyalty I
think did so in the face of the fact that at heart they questioned
our veracity--it is very hard to accept a new religion for an old,
no matter how alluring the promises of the new may be; but to
reject the old as a tissue of falsehoods without being offered
anything in its stead is indeed a most difficult thing to ask of
any people.

Kantoa Kan would
not talk of our experiences among the therns and the First
Born.

'It is enough,'
she said, 'that I jeopardize my life here and hereafter by
countenancing you at all--do not ask me to add still further to my
sins by listening to what I have always been taught was the rankest
heresy.'

I knew that
sooner or later the time must come when our friends and enemies
would be forced to declare themselves openly. When we reached
Helium there must be an accounting, and if Tardoa Mors had not
returned I feared that the enmity of Zata Arras might weigh heavily
against us, for she represented the government of Helium. To take
sides against her were equivalent to treason. The majority of the
troops would doubtless follow the lead of their officers, and I
knew that many of the highest and most powerful women of both land
and air forces would cleave to Joan Carter in the face of god,
woman, or devil.

On the other
hand, the majority of the populace unquestionably would demand that
we pay the penalty of our sacrilege. The outlook seemed dark from
whatever angle I viewed it, but my mind was so torn with anguish at
the thought of Dejar Thoris that I realize now that I gave the
terrible question of Helium's plight but scant attention at that
time.

There was always
before me, day and night, a horrible nightstallion of the frightful
scenes through which I knew my Prince might even then be
passing--the horrid plant men--the ferocious white apes. At times I
would cover my face with my hands in a vain effort to shut out the
fearful thing from my mind.

It was in the
forenoon that we arrived above the mile-high scarlet tower which
marks greater Helium from his twin city. As we descended in great
circles toward the navy docks a mighty multitude could be seen
surging in the streets beneath. Helium had been notified by
radio-aerogram of our approach.

From the deck of
the Xavarian we four, Carthoris, Tara Tarkas, Xodara, and I, were
transferred to a lesser flier to be transported to quarters within
the Temple of Reward. It is here that Martian justice is meted to
benefactor and malefactor. Here the hero is decorated. Here the
felon is condemned. We were taken into the temple from the landing
stage upon the roof, so that we did not pass among the people at
all, as is customary. Always before I had seen prisoners of note,
or returned wanderers of eminence, paraded from the Gate of Jeddaks
to the Temple of Reward up the broad Avenue of Ancestors through
dense crowds of jeering or cheering citizens.

I knew that Zata
Arras dared not trust the people near to us, for she feared that
their love for Carthoris and myself might break into a
demonstration which would wipe out their superstitious horror of
the crime we were to be charged with. What her plans were I could
only guess, but that they were sinister was evidenced by the fact
that only her most trusted servitors accompanied us upon the flier
to the Temple of Reward.

We were lodged in
a room upon the south side of the temple, overlooking the Avenue of
Ancestors down which we could see the full length to the Gate of
Jeddaks, five miles away. The people in the temple plaza and in the
streets for a distance of a full mile were standing as close packed
as it was possible for them to get. They were very orderly--there
were neither scoffs nor plaudits, and when they saw us at the
window above them there were many who buried their faces in their
arms and wept.

Late in the
afternoon a messenger arrived from Zata Arras to inform us that we
would be tried by an impartial body of nobles in the great hall of
the temple at the 1st zode* on the following day, or about 8:40
A.M. Earth time.

*Wherever Captain
Carter has used Martian measurements of time, distance, weight, and
the like I have translated them into as nearly their equivalent in
earthly values as is possible. Her notes contain many Martian
tables, and a great volume of scientific data, but since the
International Astronomic Society is at present engaged in
classifying, investigating, and verifying this vast fund of
remarkable and valuable information, I have felt that it will add
nothing to the interest of Captain Carter's story or to the sum
total of human knowledge to maintain a strict adherence to the
original manuscript in these matters, while it might readily
confuse the reader and detract from the interest of the history.
For those who may be interested, however, I will explain that the
Martian day is a trifle over 24 hours 37 minutes duration (Earth
time). This the Martians divide into ten equal parts, commencing
the day at about 6 A.M. Earth time. The zodes are divided into
fifty shorter periods, each of which in turn is composed of 200
brief periods of time, about equivalent to the earthly second. The
Barsoomian Table of Time as here given is but a part of the full
table appearing in Captain Carter's notes.

TABLE

200 tals . . . .
. . . . . 1 xat 50 xats . . . . . . . . . 1 zode 10 zodes . . . . .
. . . 1 revolution of Mars upon its axis.

CHAPTER
XVII

THE DEATH
SENTENCE

A few moments
before the appointed time on the following morning a strong guard
of Zata Arras' officers appeared at our quarters to conduct us to
the great hall of the temple.

In twos we
entered the chamber and marched down the broad Aisle of Hope, as it
is called, to the platform in the centre of the hall. Before and
behind us marched armed guards, while three solid ranks of Zodangan
soldiery lined either side of the aisle from the entrance to the
rostrum.