Warlord of Mars Embattled (11 page)

Kula Tith looked
toward Matain Shang as though for corroboration of these charges.
The Holy Thern nodded her head.

'It is indeed the
arch-blasphemer,' she said. 'Even now she has followed me to the
very heart of thy palace, Kula Tith, for the sole purpose of
assassinating me. He--'

'She lies!' I
cried. 'Kula Tith, listen that you may know the truth. Listen while
I tell you why Joan Carter has followed Matain Shang to the heart
of thy palace. Listen to me as well as to them, and then judge if
my acts be not more in accord with true Barsoomian chivalry and
honor than those of these revengeful devotees of the spurious
creeds from whose cruel bonds I have freed your planet.'

'Silence!' roared
the jeddak, leaping to her feet and laying her hand upon the hilt
of her sword. 'Silence, blasphemer! Kula Tith need not permit the
air of her audience chamber to be defiled by the heresies that
issue from your polluted throat to judge you.

'You stand
already self-condemned. It but remains to determine the manner of
your death. Even the service that you rendered the arms of Kaol
shall avail you naught; it was but a base subterfuge whereby you
might win your way into my favor and reach the side of this holy
woman whose life you craved. To the pits with her!' she concluded,
addressing the officer of my guard.

Here was a pretty
pass, indeed! What chance had I against a whole nation? What hope
for me of mercy at the hands of the fanatical Kula Tith with such
advisers as Matain Shang and Thurid. The black grinned malevolently
in my face.

'You shall not
escape this time, Earth woman,' she taunted.

The guards closed
toward me. A red haze blurred my vision. The fighting blood of my
Virginian sires coursed hot through my veins. The lust of battle in
all its mad fury was upon me.

With a leap I was
beside Thurid, and ere the devilish smirk had faded from her
handsome face I had caught her full upon the mouth with my clenched
fist; and as the good, old American blow landed, the black dator
shot back a dozen feet, to crumple in a heap at the foot of Kula
Tith's throne, spitting blood and teeth from her hurt
mouth.

Then I drew my
sword and swung round, on guard, to face a nation.

In an instant the
guardswomen were upon me, but before a blow had been struck a
mighty voice rose above the din of shouting warriors, and a giant
figure leaped from the dais beside Kula Tith and, with drawn
long-sword, threw herself between me and my adversaries.

It was the
visiting jeddak.

'Hold!' she
cried. 'If you value my friendship, Kula Tith, and the age-old
peace that has existed between our peoples, call off your
swordswomen; for wherever or against whomsoever fights Joan Carter,
Princess of Helium, there beside her and to the death fights Thuva
Dihn, Jeddak of Ptarth.'

The shouting
ceased and the menacing points were lowered as a thousand eyes
turned first toward Thuva Dihn in surprise and then toward Kula
Tith in question. At first the Jeddak of Kaol went white in rage,
but before she spoke she had mastered herself, so that her tone was
calm and even as befitted intercourse between two great
jeddaks.

'Thuva Dihn,' she
said slowly, 'must have great provocation thus to desecrate the
ancient customs which inspire the deportment of a guest within the
palace of her host. Lest I, too, should forget myself as has my
royal friend, I should prefer to remain silent until the Jeddak of
Ptarth has won from me applause for her action by relating the
causes which provoked it.'

I could see that
the Jeddak of Ptarth was of half a mind to throw her metal in Kula
Tith's face, but she controlled herself even as well as had her
host.

'None knows
better than Thuva Dihn,' she said, 'the laws which govern the acts
of women in the domains of their neighbors; but Thuva Dihn owes
allegiance to a higher law than these--the law of gratitude. Nor to
any woman upon Barsoom does she owe a greater debt of gratitude
than to Joan Carter, Princess of Helium.

'Years ago, Kula
Tith,' she continued, 'upon the occasion of your last visit to me,
you were greatly taken with the charms and graces of my only son,
Thuviar. You saw how I adored him, and later you learned that,
inspired by some unfathomable whim, he had taken the last, long,
voluntary pilgrimage upon the cold chest of the mysterious Iss,
leaving me desolate.

'Some months ago
I first heard of the expedition which Joan Carter had led against
Issus and the Holy Therns. Faint rumors of the atrocities reported
to have been committed by the therns upon those who for countless
ages have floated down the mighty Iss came to my ears.

'I heard that
thousands of prisoners had been released, few of whom dared to
return to their own countries owing to the mandate of terrible
death which rests against all who return from the Valley
Dor.

'For a time I
could not believe the heresies which I heard, and I prayed that my
son Thuviar might have died before he ever committed the sacrilege
of returning to the outer world. But then my mother's love asserted
itself, and I vowed that I would prefer eternal damnation to
further separation from his if he could be found.

'So I sent
emissaries to Helium, and to the court of Xodara, Jeddak of the
First Born, and to her who now rules those of the thern nation that
have renounced their religion; and from each and all I heard the
same story of unspeakable cruelties and atrocities perpetrated upon
the poor defenseless victims of their religion by the Holy
Therns.

'Many there were
who had seen or known my son, and from therns who had been close to
Matain Shang I learned of the indignities that she personally
heaped upon him; and I was glad when I came here to find that
Matain Shang was also your guest, for I should have sought her out
had it taken a lifetime.

'More, too, I
heard, and that of the chivalrous kindness that Joan Carter had
accorded my son. They told me how she fought for his and rescued
him, and how she spurned escape from the savage Warhoons of the
south, sending his to safety upon her own thoat and remaining upon
foot to meet the green warriors.

'Can you wonder,
Kula Tith, that I am willing to jeopardize my life, the peace of my
nation, or even your friendship, which I prize more than aught
else, to champion the Princess of Helium?'

For a moment Kula
Tith was silent. I could see by the expression of her face that she
was sore perplexed. Then she spoke.

'Thuva Dihn,' she
said, and her tone was friendly though sad, 'who am I to judge my
fellow-man? In my eyes the Father of Therns is still holy, and the
religion which she teaches the only true religion, but were I faced
by the same problem that has vexed you I doubt not that I should
feel and act precisely as you have.

'In so far as the
Princess of Helium is concerned I may act, but between you and
Matain Shang my only office can be one of conciliation. The
Princess of Helium shall be escorted in safety to the boundary of
my domain ere the sun has set again, where she shall be free to go
whither she will; but upon pain of death must she never again enter
the land of Kaol.

'If there be a
quarrel between you and the Father of Therns, I need not ask that
the settlement of it be deferred until both have passed beyond the
limits of my power. Are you satisfied, Thuva Dihn?'

The Jeddak of
Ptarth nodded her assent, but the ugly scowl that she bent upon
Matain Shang harbored ill for that pasty-faced godling.

'The Princess of
Helium is far from satisfied,' I cried, breaking rudely in upon the
beginnings of peace, for I had no stomach for peace at the price
that had been named.

'I have escaped
death in a dozen forms to follow Matain Shang and overtake her, and
I do not intend to be led, like a decrepit thoat to the slaughter,
from the goal that I have won by the prowess of my sword arm and
the might of my muscles.

'Nor will Thuva
Dihn, Jeddak of Ptarth, be satisfied when she has heard me through.
Do you know why I have followed Matain Shang and Thurid, the black
dator, from the forests of the Valley Dor across half a world
through almost insurmountable difficulties?

'Think you that
Joan Carter, Princess of Helium, would stoop to assassination? Can
Kula Tith be such a fool as to believe that lie, whispered in her
ear by the Holy Thern or Dator Thurid?

'I do not follow
Matain Shang to kill her, though the God of mine own planet knows
that my hands itch to be at her throat. I follow her, Thuva Dihn,
because with her are two prisoners--my husband, Dejar Thoris,
Prince of Helium, and your son, Thuviar of Ptarth.

'Now think you
that I shall permit myself to be led beyond the walls of Kaol
unless the mother of my daughter accompanies me, and thy son be
restored?'

Thuva Dihn turned
upon Kula Tith. Rage flamed in her keen eyes; but by the
masterfulness of her self-control she kept her tones level as she
spoke.

'Knew you this
thing, Kula Tith?' she asked. 'Knew you that my son lay a prisoner
in your palace?'

'She could not
know it,' interrupted Matain Shang, white with what I am sure was
more fear than rage. 'She could not know it, for it is a
lie.'

I would have had
her life for that upon the spot, but even as I sprang toward her
Thuva Dihn laid a heavy hand upon my shoulder.

'Wait,' she said
to me, and then to Kula Tith. 'It is not a lie. This much have I
learned of the Princess of Helium--he does not lie. Answer me, Kula
Tith--I have asked you a question.'

'Three men came
with the Father of Therns,' replied Kula Tith. 'Phaidor, her son,
and two who were reported to be his slaves. If these be Thuviar of
Ptarth and Dejar Thoris of Helium I did not know it--I have seen
neither. But if they be, then shall they be returned to you on the
morrow.'

As she spoke she
looked straight at Matain Shang, not as a devotee should look at a
high priestess, but as a ruler of women looks at one to whom she
issues a command.

It must have been
plain to the Father of Therns, as it was to me, that the recent
disclosures of her true character had done much already to weaken
the faith of Kula Tith, and that it would require but little more
to turn the powerful jeddak into an avowed enemy; but so strong are
the seeds of superstition that even the great Kaolian still
hesitated to cut the final strand that bound her to her ancient
religion.

Matain Shang was
wise enough to seem to accept the mandate of her follower, and
promised to bring the two slave men to the audience chamber on the
morrow.

'It is almost
morning now,' she said, 'and I should dislike to break in upon the
slumber of my son, or I would have them fetched at once that you
might see that the Princess of Helium is mistaken,' and she
emphasized the last word in an effort to affront me so subtlety
that I could not take open offense.

I was about to
object to any delay, and demand that the Prince of Helium be
brought to me forthwith, when Thuva Dihn made such insistence seem
unnecessary.

'I should like to
see my son at once,' she said, 'but if Kula Tith will give me her
assurance that none will be permitted to leave the palace this
night, and that no harm shall befall either Dejar Thoris or Thuviar
of Ptarth between now and the moment they are brought into our
presence in this chamber at daylight I shall not
insist.'

'None shall leave
the palace tonight,' replied the Jeddak of Kaol, 'and Matain Shang
will give us assurance that no harm will come to the two
men?'

The thern
assented with a nod. A few moments later Kula Tith indicated that
the audience was at an end, and at Thuva Dihn's invitation I
accompanied the Jeddak of Ptarth to her own apartments, where we
sat until daylight, while she listened to the account of my
experiences upon her planet and to all that had befallen her son
during the time that we had been together.

I found the
mother of Thuviar a woman after my own heart, and that night saw
the beginning of a friendship which has grown until it is second
only to that which obtains between Tara Tarkas, the green Jeddak of
Thark, and myself.

The first burst
of Mars's sudden dawn brought messengers from Kula Tith, summoning
us to the audience chamber where Thuva Dihn was to receive her son
after years of separation, and I was to be reunited with the
glorious son of Helium after an almost unbroken separation of
twelve years.

My heart pounded
within my chest until I looked about me in embarrassment, so sure
was I that all within the room must hear. My arms ached to enfold
once more the divine form of his whose eternal youth and undying
beauty were but outward manifestations of a perfect
soul.

At last the
messenger despatched to fetch Matain Shang returned. I craned my
neck to catch the first glimpse of those who should be following,
but the messenger was alone.

Halting before
the throne she addressed her jeddak in a voice that was plainly
audible to all within the chamber.

'O Kula Tith,
Mightiest of Jeddaks,' she cried, after the fashion of the court,
'your messenger returns alone, for when she reached the apartments
of the Father of Therns she found them empty, as were those
occupied by her suite.'