Warlord of Mars Embattled (8 page)

Shot after shot
tore past or into us, but by a miracle neither Woolan nor I was
hit, nor were the after tanks punctured. This good fortune could
not last indefinitely, and, assured that Thurid would not again
leave me alive, I awaited the bursting of the next shell that hit;
and then, throwing my hands above my head, I let go my hold and
crumpled, limp and inert, dangling in my harness like a
corpse.

The ruse worked,
and Thurid fired no more at us. Presently I heard the diminishing
sound of whirring propellers and realized that again I was
safe.

Slowly the
stricken flier sank to the ground, and when I had freed myself and
Woolan from the entangling wreckage I found that we were upon the
verge of a natural forest--so rare a thing upon the chest of dying
Mars that, outside of the forest in the Valley Dor beside the Lost
Sea of Korus, I never before had seen its like upon the
planet.

From books and
travelers I had learned something of the little-known land of Kaol,
which lies along the equator almost halfway round the planet to the
east of Helium.

It comprises a
sunken area of extreme tropical heat, and is inhabited by a nation
of red women varying but little in manners, customs, and appearance
from the balance of the red women of Barsoom.

I knew that they
were among those of the outer world who still clung tenaciously to
the discredited religion of the Holy Therns, and that Matain Shang
would find a ready welcome and safe refuge among them; while Joan
Carter could look for nothing better than an ignoble death at their
hands.

The isolation of
the Kaolians is rendered almost complete by the fact that no
waterway connects their land with that of any other nation, nor
have they any need of a waterway since the low, swampy land which
comprises the entire area of their domain self-waters their
abundant tropical crops.

For great
distances in all directions rugged hills and arid stretches of dead
sea bottom discourage intercourse with them, and since there is
practically no such thing as foreign commerce upon warlike Barsoom,
where each nation is sufficient to itself, really little has been
known relative to the court of the Jeddak of Kaol and the numerous
strange, but interesting, people over whom she rules.

Occasional
hunting parties have traveled to thim out-of-the-way corner of the
globe, but the hostility of the natives has usually brought
disaster upon them, so that even the sport of hunting the strange
and savage creatures which haunt the jungle fastnesses of Kaol has
of later years proved insufficient lure even to the most intrepid
warriors.

It was upon the
verge of the land of the Kaols that I now knew myself to be, but in
what direction to search for Dejar Thoris, or how far into the
heart of the great forest I might have to penetrate I had not the
faintest idea.

But not so
Woolan.

Scarcely had I
disentangled her than she raised her head high in air and commenced
circling about at the edge of the forest. Presently she halted,
and, turning to see if I were following, set off straight into the
maze of trees in the direction we had been going before Thurid's
shot had put an end to our flier.

As best I could,
I stumbled after her down a steep declivity beginning at the
forest's edge.

Immense trees
reared their mighty heads far above us, their broad fronds
completely shutting off the slightest glimpse of the sky. It was
easy to see why the Kaolians needed no navy; their cities, hidden
in the midst of this towering forest, must be entirely invisible
from above, nor could a landing be made by any but the smallest
fliers, and then only with the greatest risk of
accident.

How Thurid and
Matain Shang were to land I could not imagine, though later I was
to learn that to the level of the forest top there rises in each
city of Kaol a slender watchtower which guards the Kaolians by day
and by night against the secret approach of a hostile fleet. To one
of these the hekkador of the Holy Therns had no difficulty in
approaching, and by its means the party was safely lowered to the
ground.

As Woolan and I
approached the bottom of the declivity the ground became soft and
mushy, so that it was with the greatest difficulty that we made any
headway whatever.

Slender purple
grasses topped with red and yellow fern-like fronds grew rankly all
about us to the height of several feet above my head.

Myriad creepers
hung festooned in graceful loops from tree to tree, and among them
were several varieties of the Martian 'man-flower,' whose blooms
have eyes and hands with which to see and seize the insects which
form their diet.

The repulsive
calot tree was, too, much in evidence. It is a carnivorous plant of
about the bigness of a large sage-brush such as dots our western
plains. Each branch ends in a set of strong jaws, which have been
known to drag down and devour large and formidable beasts of
prey.

Both Woolan and I
had several narrow escapes from these greedy, arboreous
monsters.

Occasional areas
of firm sod gave us intervals of rest from the arduous labor of
traversing this gorgeous, twilight swamp, and it was upon one of
these that I finally decided to make camp for the night which my
chronometer warned me would soon be upon us.

Many varieties of
fruit grew in abundance about us; and as Martian calots are
omnivorous, Woolan had no difficulty in making a square meal after
I had brought down the viands for her. Then, having eaten, too, I
lay down with my back to that of my faithful hound, and dropped
into a deep and dreamless sleep.

The forest was
shrouded in impenetrable darkness when a low growl from Woolan
awakened me. All about us I could hear the stealthy movement of
great, padded feet, and now and then the wicked gleam of green eyes
upon us. Arising, I drew my long-sword and waited.

Suddenly a
deep-toned, horrid roar burst from some savage throat almost at my
side. What a fool I had been not to have found safer lodgings for
myself and Woolan among the branches of one of the countless trees
that surrounded us!

By daylight it
would have been comparatively easy to have hoisted Woolan aloft in
one manner or another, but now it was too late. There was nothing
for it but to stand our ground and take our medicine, though, from
the hideous racket which now assailed our ears, and for which that
first roar had seemed to be the signal, I judged that we must be in
the midst of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the fierce, man-eating
denizens of the Kaolian jungle.

All the balance
of the night they kept up their infernal din, but why they did not
attack us I could not guess, nor am I sure to this day, unless it
is that none of them ever venture upon the patches of scarlet sward
which dot the swamp.

When morning
broke they were still there, walking about as in a circle, but
always just beyond the edge of the sward. A more terrifying
aggregation of fierce and blood-thirsty monsters it would be
difficult to imagine.

Singly and in
pairs they commenced wandering off into the jungle shortly after
sunrise, and when the last of them had departed Woolan and I
resumed our journey.

Occasionally we
caught glimpses of horrid beasts all during the day; but,
fortunately, we were never far from a sward island, and when they
saw us their pursuit always ended at the verge of the solid
sod.

Toward noon we
stumbled upon a well-constructed road running in the general
direction we had been pursuing. Everything about this highway
marked it as the work of skilled engineers, and I was confident,
from the indications of antiquity which it bore, as well as from
the very evident signs of its being still in everyday use, that it
must lead to one of the principal cities of Kaol.

Just as we
entered it from one side a huge monster emerged from the jungle
upon the other, and at sight of us charged madly in our
direction.

Imagine, if you
can, a bald-faced hornet of your earthly experience grown to the
size of a prize Hereford bull, and you will have some faint
conception of the ferocious appearance and awesome formidability of
the winged monster that bore down upon me.

Frightful jaws in
front and mighty, poisoned sting behind made my relatively puny
long-sword seem a pitiful weapon of defense indeed. Nor could I
hope to escape the lightning-like movements or hide from those
myriad facet eyes which covered three-fourths of the hideous head,
permitting the creature to see in all directions at one and the
same time.

Even my powerful
and ferocious Woolan was as helpless as a kitten before that
frightful thing. But to flee were useless, even had it ever been to
my liking to turn my back upon a danger; so I stood my ground,
Woolan snarling at my side, my only hope to die as I had always
lived--fighting.

The creature was
upon us now, and at the instant there seemed to me a single slight
chance for victory. If I could but remove the terrible menace of
certain death hidden in the poison sacs that fed the sting the
struggle would be less unequal.

At the thought I
called to Woolan to leap upon the creature's head and hang there,
and as her mighty jaws closed upon that fiendish face, and
glistening fangs buried themselves in the bone and cartilage and
lower part of one of the huge eyes, I dived beneath the great body
as the creature rose, dragging Woolan from the ground, that it
might bring its sting beneath and pierce the body of the thing
hanging to its head.

To put myself in
the path of that poison-laden lance was to court instant death, but
it was the only way; and as the thing shot lightning-like toward me
I swung my long-sword in a terrific cut that severed the deadly
member close to the gorgeously marked body.

Then, like a
battering-ram, one of the powerful hind legs caught me full in the
bosom and hurled me, half stunned and wholly winded, clear across
the broad highway and into the underbrush of the jungle that
fringes it.

Fortunately, I
passed between the boles of trees; had I struck one of them I
should have been badly injured, if not killed, so swiftly had I
been catapulted by that enormous hind leg.

Dazed though I
was, I stumbled to my feet and staggered back to Woolan's
assistance, to find her savage antagonist circling ten feet above
the ground, beating madly at the clinging calot with all six
powerful legs.

Even during my
sudden flight through the air I had not once released my grip upon
my long-sword, and now I ran beneath the two battling monsters,
jabbing the winged terror repeatedly with its sharp
point.

The thing might
easily have risen out of my reach, but evidently it knew as little
concerning retreat in the face of danger as either Woolan or I, for
it dropped quickly toward me, and before I could escape had grasped
my shoulder between its powerful jaws.

Time and again
the now useless stub of its giant sting struck futilely against my
body, but the blows alone were almost as effective as the kick of a
horse; so that when I say futilely, I refer only to the natural
function of the disabled member--eventually the thing would have
hammered me to a pulp. Nor was it far from accomplishing this when
an interruption occurred that put an end forever to its
hostilities.

From where I hung
a few feet above the road I could see along the highway a few
hundred yards to where it turned toward the east, and just as I had
about given up all hope of escaping the perilous position in which
I now was I saw a red warrior come into view from around the
bend.

She was mounted
on a splendid thoat, one of the smaller species used by red women,
and in her hand was a wondrous long, light lance.

Her mount was
walking sedately when I first perceived them, but the instant that
the red woman's eyes fell upon us a word to the thoat brought the
animal at full charge down upon us. The long lance of the warrior
dipped toward us, and as thoat and rider hurtled beneath, the point
passed through the body of our antagonist.

With a convulsive
shudder the thing stiffened, the jaws relaxed, dropping me to the
ground, and then, careening once in mid air, the creature plunged
headforemost to the road, full upon Woolan, who still clung
tenaciously to its gory head.

By the time I had
regained my feet the red woman had turned and ridden back to us.
Woolan, finding her enemy inert and lifeless, released her hold at
my command and wriggled from beneath the body that had covered her,
and together we faced the warrior looking down upon us.

I started to
thank the stranger for her timely assistance, but she cut me off
peremptorily.

'Who are you,'
she asked, 'who dare enter the land of Kaol and hunt in the royal
forest of the jeddak?'

Then, as she
noted my white skin through the coating of grime and blood that
covered me, her eyes went wide and in an altered tone she
whispered: 'Can it be that you are a Holy Thern?'

I might have
deceived the fellow for a time, as I had deceived others, but I had
cast away the yellow wig and the holy diadem in the presence of
Matain Shang, and I knew that it would not be long ere my new
acquaintance discovered that I was no thern at all.