A Princess of Mars (24 page)

As my machine sank among them I realized that it was fight or die,
with good chances of dying in any event, and so I struck the ground
with drawn long-sword ready to defend myself as I could.

I fell beside a huge monster who was engaged with three antagonists,
and as I glanced at his fierce face, filled with the light of
battle, I recognized Tars Tarkas the Thark. He did not see me, as I
was a trifle behind him, and just then the three warriors opposing
him, and whom I recognized as Warhoons, charged simultaneously. The
mighty fellow made quick work of one of them, but in stepping back
for another thrust he fell over a dead body behind him and was down
and at the mercy of his foes in an instant. Quick as lightning they
were upon him, and Tars Tarkas would have been gathered to his
fathers in short order had I not sprung before his prostrate form
and engaged his adversaries. I had accounted for one of them when
the mighty Thark regained his feet and quickly settled the other.

He gave me one look, and a slight smile touched his grim lip as,
touching my shoulder, he said,

"I would scarcely recognize you, John Carter, but there is no other
mortal upon Barsoom who would have done what you have for me. I
think I have learned that there is such a thing as friendship, my
friend."

He said no more, nor was there opportunity, for the Warhoons were
closing in about us, and together we fought, shoulder to shoulder,
during all that long, hot afternoon, until the tide of battle turned
and the remnant of the fierce Warhoon horde fell back upon their
thoats, and fled into the gathering darkness.

Ten thousand men had been engaged in that titanic struggle, and upon
the field of battle lay three thousand dead. Neither side asked or
gave quarter, nor did they attempt to take prisoners.

On our return to the city after the battle we had gone directly to
Tars Tarkas' quarters, where I was left alone while the chieftain
attended the customary council which immediately follows an
engagement.

As I sat awaiting the return of the green warrior I heard something
move in an adjoining apartment, and as I glanced up there rushed
suddenly upon me a huge and hideous creature which bore me backward
upon the pile of silks and furs upon which I had been reclining. It
was Woola—faithful, loving Woola. He had found his way back to
Thark and, as Tars Tarkas later told me, had gone immediately to my
former quarters where he had taken up his pathetic and seemingly
hopeless watch for my return.

"Tal Hajus knows that you are here, John Carter," said Tars Tarkas,
on his return from the jeddak's quarters; "Sarkoja saw and
recognized you as we were returning. Tal Hajus has ordered me to
bring you before him tonight. I have ten thoats, John Carter; you
may take your choice from among them, and I will accompany you to
the nearest waterway that leads to Helium. Tars Tarkas may be a
cruel green warrior, but he can be a friend as well. Come, we
must start."

"And when you return, Tars Tarkas?" I asked.

"The wild calots, possibly, or worse," he replied. "Unless I should
chance to have the opportunity I have so long waited of battling
with Tal Hajus."

"We will stay, Tars Tarkas, and see Tal Hajus tonight. You shall
not sacrifice yourself, and it may be that tonight you can have the
chance you wait."

He objected strenuously, saying that Tal Hajus often flew into wild
fits of passion at the mere thought of the blow I had dealt him, and
that if ever he laid his hands upon me I would be subjected to the
most horrible tortures.

While we were eating I repeated to Tars Tarkas the story which Sola
had told me that night upon the sea bottom during the march to
Thark.

He said but little, but the great muscles of his face worked in
passion and in agony at recollection of the horrors which had been
heaped upon the only thing he had ever loved in all his cold, cruel,
terrible existence.

He no longer demurred when I suggested that we go before Tal Hajus,
only saying that he would like to speak to Sarkoja first. At his
request I accompanied him to her quarters, and the look of venomous
hatred she cast upon me was almost adequate recompense for any
future misfortunes this accidental return to Thark might bring me.

"Sarkoja," said Tars Tarkas, "forty years ago you were instrumental
in bringing about the torture and death of a woman named Gozava.
I have just discovered that the warrior who loved that woman has
learned of your part in the transaction. He may not kill you,
Sarkoja, it is not our custom, but there is nothing to prevent him
tying one end of a strap about your neck and the other end to a wild
thoat, merely to test your fitness to survive and help perpetuate
our race. Having heard that he would do this on the morrow, I
thought it only right to warn you, for I am a just man. The river
Iss is but a short pilgrimage, Sarkoja. Come, John Carter."

The next morning Sarkoja was gone, nor was she ever seen after.

In silence we hastened to the jeddak's palace, where we were
immediately admitted to his presence; in fact, he could scarcely
wait to see me and was standing erect upon his platform glowering
at the entrance as I came in.

"Strap him to that pillar," he shrieked. "We shall see who it is
dares strike the mighty Tal Hajus. Heat the irons; with my own
hands I shall burn the eyes from his head that he may not pollute
my person with his vile gaze."

"Chieftains of Thark," I cried, turning to the assembled council and
ignoring Tal Hajus, "I have been a chief among you, and today I have
fought for Thark shoulder to shoulder with her greatest warrior.
You owe me, at least, a hearing. I have won that much today. You
claim to be just people—"

"Silence," roared Tal Hajus. "Gag the creature and bind him as I
command."

"Justice, Tal Hajus," exclaimed Lorquas Ptomel. "Who are you to set
aside the customs of ages among the Tharks."

"Yes, justice!" echoed a dozen voices, and so, while Tal Hajus fumed
and frothed, I continued.

"You are a brave people and you love bravery, but where was your
mighty jeddak during the fighting today? I did not see him in the
thick of battle; he was not there. He rends defenseless women and
little children in his lair, but how recently has one of you seen
him fight with men? Why, even I, a midget beside him, felled him
with a single blow of my fist. Is it of such that the Tharks
fashion their jeddaks? There stands beside me now a great Thark,
a mighty warrior and a noble man. Chieftains, how sounds, Tars
Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark?"

A roar of deep-toned applause greeted this suggestion.

"It but remains for this council to command, and Tal Hajus must
prove his fitness to rule. Were he a brave man he would invite Tars
Tarkas to combat, for he does not love him, but Tal Hajus is afraid;
Tal Hajus, your jeddak, is a coward. With my bare hands I could
kill him, and he knows it."

After I ceased there was tense silence, as all eyes were riveted
upon Tal Hajus. He did not speak or move, but the blotchy green of
his countenance turned livid, and the froth froze upon his lips.

"Tal Hajus," said Lorquas Ptomel in a cold, hard voice, "never in my
long life have I seen a jeddak of the Tharks so humiliated. There
could be but one answer to this arraignment. We wait it." And
still Tal Hajus stood as though electrified.

"Chieftains," continued Lorquas Ptomel, "shall the jeddak, Tal
Hajus, prove his fitness to rule over Tars Tarkas?"

There were twenty chieftains about the rostrum, and twenty swords
flashed high in assent.

There was no alternative. That decree was final, and so Tal Hajus
drew his long-sword and advanced to meet Tars Tarkas.

The combat was soon over, and, with his foot upon the neck of the
dead monster, Tars Tarkas became jeddak among the Tharks.

His first act was to make me a full-fledged chieftain with the rank
I had won by my combats the first few weeks of my captivity among
them.

Seeing the favorable disposition of the warriors toward Tars Tarkas,
as well as toward me, I grasped the opportunity to enlist them in
my cause against Zodanga. I told Tars Tarkas the story of my
adventures, and in a few words had explained to him the thought
I had in mind.

"John Carter has made a proposal," he said, addressing the council,
"which meets with my sanction. I shall put it to you briefly.
Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium, who was our prisoner, is now
held by the jeddak of Zodanga, whose son she must wed to save her
country from devastation at the hands of the Zodangan forces.

"John Carter suggests that we rescue her and return her to Helium.
The loot of Zodanga would be magnificent, and I have often thought
that had we an alliance with the people of Helium we could obtain
sufficient assurance of sustenance to permit us to increase the size
and frequency of our hatchings, and thus become unquestionably
supreme among the green men of all Barsoom. What say you?"

It was a chance to fight, an opportunity to loot, and they rose to
the bait as a speckled trout to a fly.

For Tharks they were wildly enthusiastic, and before another half
hour had passed twenty mounted messengers were speeding across dead
sea bottoms to call the hordes together for the expedition.

In three days we were on the march toward Zodanga, one hundred
thousand strong, as Tars Tarkas had been able to enlist the services
of three smaller hordes on the promise of the great loot of Zodanga.

At the head of the column I rode beside the great Thark while at the
heels of my mount trotted my beloved Woola.

We traveled entirely by night, timing our marches so that we camped
during the day at deserted cities where, even to the beasts, we
were all kept indoors during the daylight hours. On the march Tars
Tarkas, through his remarkable ability and statesmanship, enlisted
fifty thousand more warriors from various hordes, so that, ten days
after we set out we halted at midnight outside the great walled city
of Zodanga, one hundred and fifty thousand strong.

The fighting strength and efficiency of this horde of ferocious
green monsters was equivalent to ten times their number of red men.
Never in the history of Barsoom, Tars Tarkas told me, had such a
force of green warriors marched to battle together. It was a
monstrous task to keep even a semblance of harmony among them, and
it was a marvel to me that he got them to the city without a mighty
battle among themselves.

But as we neared Zodanga their personal quarrels were submerged
by their greater hatred for the red men, and especially for
the Zodangans, who had for years waged a ruthless campaign of
extermination against the green men, directing special attention
toward despoiling their incubators.

Now that we were before Zodanga the task of obtaining entry to the
city devolved upon me, and directing Tars Tarkas to hold his forces
in two divisions out of earshot of the city, with each division
opposite a large gateway, I took twenty dismounted warriors and
approached one of the small gates that pierced the walls at short
intervals. These gates have no regular guard, but are covered by
sentries, who patrol the avenue that encircles the city just
within the walls as our metropolitan police patrol their beats.

The walls of Zodanga are seventy-five feet in height and fifty feet
thick. They are built of enormous blocks of carborundum, and the
task of entering the city seemed, to my escort of green warriors, an
impossibility. The fellows who had been detailed to accompany me
were of one of the smaller hordes, and therefore did not know me.

Placing three of them with their faces to the wall and arms locked,
I commanded two more to mount to their shoulders, and a sixth I
ordered to climb upon the shoulders of the upper two. The head
of the topmost warrior towered over forty feet from the ground.

In this way, with ten warriors, I built a series of three steps from
the ground to the shoulders of the topmost man. Then starting from
a short distance behind them I ran swiftly up from one tier to the
next, and with a final bound from the broad shoulders of the highest
I clutched the top of the great wall and quietly drew myself to its
broad expanse. After me I dragged six lengths of leather from an
equal number of my warriors. These lengths we had previously
fastened together, and passing one end to the topmost warrior I
lowered the other end cautiously over the opposite side of the wall
toward the avenue below. No one was in sight, so, lowering myself
to the end of my leather strap, I dropped the remaining thirty feet
to the pavement below.

I had learned from Kantos Kan the secret of opening these gates,
and in another moment my twenty great fighting men stood within
the doomed city of Zodanga.

I found to my delight that I had entered at the lower boundary of
the enormous palace grounds. The building itself showed in the
distance a blaze of glorious light, and on the instant I determined
to lead a detachment of warriors directly within the palace itself,
while the balance of the great horde was attacking the barracks of
the soldiery.

Dispatching one of my men to Tars Tarkas for a detail of fifty
Tharks, with word of my intentions, I ordered ten warriors to
capture and open one of the great gates while with the nine
remaining I took the other. We were to do our work quietly, no
shots were to be fired and no general advance made until I had
reached the palace with my fifty Tharks. Our plans worked to
perfection. The two sentries we met were dispatched to their
fathers upon the banks of the lost sea of Korus, and the guards
at both gates followed them in silence.

As the great gate where I stood swung open my fifty Tharks, headed
by Tars Tarkas himself, rode in upon their mighty thoats. I led
them to the palace walls, which I negotiated easily without
assistance. Once inside, however, the gate gave me considerable
trouble, but I finally was rewarded by seeing it swing upon its
huge hinges, and soon my fierce escort was riding across the
gardens of the jeddak of Zodanga.