The Gods of Mars Revoked (31 page)

'Wait!' said
Xodara. 'If you will, Princess, ask that a cloth and a little thoat
oil be brought.'

I nodded to one
of the soldiers, who left the chamber, returning presently with the
things that Xodara had requested. The black kneeled beside the body
and, dipping a corner of the cloth in the thoat oil, rubbed for a
moment on the dead face before her, Then she turned to me with a
smile, pointing to her work. I looked and saw that where Xodara had
applied the thoat oil the face was white, as white as mine, and
then Xodara seized the black hair of the corpse and with a sudden
wrench tore it all away, revealing a hairless pate
beneath.

Guardsmen and
nobles pressed close about the silent witness upon the marble
floor. Many were the exclamations of astonishment and questioning
wonder as Xodara's acts confirmed the suspicion which she had
held.

'A thern!'
whispered Tara Tarkas.

'Worse than that,
I fear,' replied Xodara. 'But let us see.'

With that she
drew her dagger and cut open a locked pouch which had dangled from
the thern's harness, and from it she brought forth a circlet of
gold set with a large gem--it was the mate to that which I had
taken from Satora Throg.

'She was a Holy
Thern,' said Xodara. 'Fortunate indeed it is for us that she did
not escape.'

The officer of
the guard entered the chamber at this juncture.

'My Princess,'
she said, 'I have to report that this fellow's companion escaped
us. I think that it was with the connivance of one or more of the
women at the gate. I have ordered them all under
arrest.'

Xodara handed her
the thoat oil and cloth.

'With this you
may discover the spy among you,' she said.

I at once ordered
a secret search within the city, for every Martian noble maintains
a secret service of her own.

A half-hour later
the officer of the guard came again to report. This time it was to
confirm our worst fears--half the guards at the gate that night had
been therns disguised as red women.

'Come!' I cried.
'We must lose no time. On to Hastor at once. Should the therns
attempt to check us at the southern verge of the ice cap it may
result in the wrecking of all our plans and the total destruction
of the expedition.'

Ten minutes later
we were speeding through the night toward Hastor, prepared to
strike the first blow for the preservation of Dejar
Thoris.

CHAPTER
XX

THE AIR
BATTLE

Two hours after
leaving my palace at Helium, or about midnight, Kantoa Kan, Xodara,
and I arrived at Hastor. Carthoris, Tara Tarkas, and Hora Vastus
had gone directly to Thark upon another cruiser.

The transports
were to get under way immediately and move slowly south. The fleet
of battleships would overtake them on the morning of the second
day.

At Hastor we
found all in readiness, and so perfectly had Kantoa Kan planned
every detail of the campaign that within ten minutes of our arrival
the first of the fleet had soared aloft from its dock, and
thereafter, at the rate of one a second, the great ships floated
gracefully out into the night to form a long, thin line which
stretched for miles toward the south.

It was not until
after we had entered the cabin of Kantoa Kan that I thought to ask
the date, for up to now I was not positive how long I had lain in
the pits of Zata Arras. When Kantoa Kan told me, I realized with a
pang of dismay that I had misreckoned the time while I lay in the
utter darkness of my cell. Three hundred and sixty-five days had
passed--it was too late to save Dejar Thoris.

The expedition
was no longer one of rescue but of revenge. I did not remind Kantoa
Kan of the terrible fact that ere we could hope to enter the Temple
of Issus, the Prince of Helium would be no more. In so far as I
knew he might be already dead, for I did not know the exact date on
which he first viewed Issus.

What
now the value of burdening my friends with my added personal
sorrows--they had shared quite enough of them with me in the past.
Hereafter I would keep my grief to myself, and so I said nothing to
any other of the fact that we were too late. The expedition could
yet do much if it could but teach the people of Barsoom the facts
of the cruel deception that had been worked upon them for countless
ages, and thus save thousands each year from the horrid fate that
awaited them at the conclusion of the voluntary
pilgrimage.

If it
could open to the red women the fair Valley Dor it would have
accomplished much, and in the Land of Lost Souls between the
Mountains of Otz and the ice barrier were many broad acres that
needed no irrigation to bear rich harvests.

Here
at the bottom of a dying world was the only naturally productive
area upon its surface. Here alone were dews and rains, here alone
was an open sea, here was water in plenty; and all this was but the
stamping ground of fierce brutes and from its beauteous and fertile
expanse the wicked remnants of two once mighty races barred all the
other millions of Barsoom. Could I but succeed in once breaking
down the barrier of religious superstition which had kept the red
races from this El Dorado it would be a fitting memorial to the
immortal virtues of my Princess--I should have again served Barsoom
and Dejar Thoris' martyrdom would not have been in vain.

On the
morning of the second day we raised the great fleet of transports
and their consorts at the first flood of dawn, and soon were near
enough to exchange signals. I may mention here that radio-aerograms
are seldom if ever used in war time, or for the transmission of
secret dispatches at any time, for as often as one nation discovers
a new cipher, or invents a new instrument for wireless purposes its
neighbours bend every effort until they are able to intercept and
translate the messages. For so long a time has this gone on that
practically every possibility of wireless communication has been
exhausted and no nation dares transmit dispatches of importance in
this way.

Tara
Tarkas reported all well with the transports. The battleships
passed through to take an advanced position, and the combined
fleets moved slowly over the ice cap, hugging the surface closely
to prevent detection by the therns whose land we were
approaching.

Far in
advance of all a thin line of one-man air scouts protected us from
surprise, and on either side they flanked us, while a smaller
number brought up the rear some twenty miles behind the transports.
In this formation we had progressed toward the entrance to Omean
for several hours when one of our scouts returned from the front to
report that the cone-like summit of the entrance was in sight. At
almost the same instant another scout from the left flank came
racing toward the flagship.

Her
very speed bespoke the importance of her information. Kantoa Kan
and I awaited her upon the little forward deck which corresponds
with the bridge of earthly battleships. Scarcely had her tiny flier
come to rest upon the broad landing-deck of the flagship ere she
was bounding up the stairway to the deck where we stood.

'A
great fleet of battleships south-south-east, my Princess,' she
cried. 'There must be several thousands and they are bearing down
directly upon us.'

'The
thern spies were not in the palace of Joan Carter for nothing,'
said Kantoa Kan to me. 'Your orders, Princess.'

'Dispatch ten battleships to guard the entrance to Omean, with
orders to let no hostile enter or leave the shaft. That will bottle
up the great fleet of the First Born.

'Form
the balance of the battleships into a great V with the apex
pointing directly south-south-east. Order the transports,
surrounded by their convoys, to follow closely in the wake of the
battleships until the point of the V has entered the enemies' line,
then the V must open outward at the apex, the battleships of each
leg engage the enemy fiercely and drive her back to form a lane
through her line into which the transports with their convoys must
race at top speed that they may gain a position above the temples
and gardens of the therns.

'Here
let them land and teach the Holy Therns such a lesson in ferocious
warfare as they will not forget for countless ages. It had not been
my intention to be distracted from the main issue of the campaign,
but we must settle this attack with the therns once and for all, or
there will be no peace for us while our fleet remains near Dor, and
our chances of ever returning to the outer world will be greatly
minimized.'

Kantoa
Kan saluted and turned to deliver my instructions to her waiting
aides. In an incredibly short space of time the formation of the
battleships changed in accordance with my commands, the ten that
were to guard the way to Omean were speeding toward their
destination, and the troopships and convoys were closing up in
preparation for the spurt through the lane.

The
order of full speed ahead was given, the fleet sprang through the
air like coursing greyhounds, and in another moment the ships of
the enemy were in full view. They formed a ragged line as far as
the eye could reach in either direction and about three ships deep.
So sudden was our onslaught that they had no time to prepare for
it. It was as unexpected as lightning from a clear sky.

Every
phase of my plan worked splendidly. Our huge ships mowed their way
entirely through the line of thern battlecraft; then the V opened
up and a broad lane appeared through which the transports leaped
toward the temples of the therns which could now be plainly seen
glistening in the sunlight. By the time the therns had rallied from
the attack a hundred thousand green warriors were already pouring
through their courts and gardens, while a hundred and fifty
thousand others leaned from low swinging transports to direct their
almost uncanny marksmanship upon the thern soldiery that manned the
ramparts, or attempted to defend the temples.

Now
the two great fleets closed in a titanic struggle far above the
fiendish din of battle in the gorgeous gardens of the therns.
Slowly the two lines of Helium's battleships joined their ends, and
then commenced the circling within the line of the enemy which is
so marked a characteristic of Barsoomian naval warfare.

Around
and around in each other's tracks moved the ships under Kantoa Kan,
until at length they formed nearly a perfect circle. By this time
they were moving at high speed so that they presented a difficult
target for the enemy. Broadside after broadside they delivered as
each vessel came in line with the ships of the therns. The latter
attempted to rush in and break up the formation, but it was like
stopping a buzz saw with the bare hand.

From
my position on the deck beside Kantoa Kan I saw ship after ship of
the enemy take the awful, sickening dive which proclaims its total
destruction. Slowly we manoeuvered our circle of death until we
hung above the gardens where our green warriors were engaged. The
order was passed down for them to embark. Then they rose slowly to
a position within the centre of the circle.

In the
meantime the therns' fire had practically ceased. They had had
enough of us and were only too glad to let us go on our way in
peace. But our escape was not to be encompassed with such ease, for
scarcely had we gotten under way once more in the direction of the
entrance to Omean than we saw far to the north a great black line
topping the horizon. It could be nothing other than a fleet of
war.

Whose
or whither bound, we could not even conjecture. When they had come
close enough to make us out at all, Kantoa Kan's operator received
a radio-aerogram, which she immediately handed to my companion. She
read the thing and handed it to me.

'Kantoa Kan:' it read. 'Surrender, in the name of the Jeddak
of Helium, for you cannot escape,' and it was signed, 'Zata
Arras.'

The
therns must have caught and translated the message almost as soon
as did we, for they immediately renewed hostilities when they
realized that we were soon to be set upon by other
enemies.

Before
Zata Arras had approached near enough to fire a shot we were again
hotly engaged with the thern fleet, and as soon as she drew near
she too commenced to pour a terrific fusillade of heavy shot into
us. Ship after ship reeled and staggered into uselessness beneath
the pitiless fire that we were undergoing.

The
thing could not last much longer. I ordered the transports to
descend again into the gardens of the therns.

'Wreak
your vengeance to the utmost,' was my message to the green allies,
'for by night there will be none left to avenge your
wrongs.'

Presently I saw the ten battleships that had been ordered to
hold the shaft of Omean. They were returning at full speed, firing
their stern batteries almost continuously. There could be but one
explanation. They were being pursued by another hostile fleet.
Well, the situation could be no worse. The expedition already was
doomed. No woman that had embarked upon it would return across that
dreary ice cap. How I wished that I might face Zata Arras with my
longsword for just an instant before I died! It was she who had
caused our failure.

As I
watched the oncoming ten I saw their pursuers race swiftly into
sight. It was another great fleet; for a moment I could not believe
my eyes, but finally I was forced to admit that the most fatal
calamity had overtaken the expedition, for the fleet I saw was none
other than the fleet of the First Born, that should have been
safely bottled up in Omean. What a series of misfortunes and
disasters! What awful fate hovered over me, that I should have been
so terribly thwarted at every angle of my search for my lost love!
Could it be possible that the curse of Issus was upon me! That
there was, indeed, some malign divinity in that hideous carcass! I
would not believe it, and, throwing back my shoulders, I ran to the
deck below to join my women in repelling boarders from one of the
thern craft that had grappled us broadside. In the wild lust of
hand-to-hand combat my old dauntless hopefulness returned. And as
thern after thern went down beneath my blade, I could almost feel
that we should win success in the end, even from apparent
failure.