A Princess of Mars Rethroned (8 page)

Slowly he drifted
to the southeast, rising higher and higher as the flames ate away
his wooden parts and diminished the weight upon him. Ascending to
the roof of the building I watched his for hours, until finally he
was lost in the dim vistas of the distance. The sight was
awe-inspiring in the extreme as one contemplated this mighty
floating funeral pyre, drifting unguided and unmanned through the
lonely wastes of the Martian heavens; a derelict of death and
destruction, typifying the life story of these strange and
ferocious creatures into whose unfriendly hands fate had carried
it.

Much depressed,
and, to me, unaccountably so, I slowly descended to the street. The
scene I had witnessed seemed to mark the defeat and annihilation of
the forces of a kindred people, rather than the routing by our
green warriors of a horde of similar, though unfriendly, creatures.
I could not fathom the seeming hallucination, nor could I free
myself from it; but somewhere in the innermost recesses of my soul
I felt a strange yearning toward these unknown foemen, and a mighty
hope surged through me that the fleet would return and demand a
reckoning from the green warriors who had so ruthlessly and
wantonly attacked it.

Close at my heel,
in her now accustomed place, followed Woolan, the hound, and as I
emerged upon the street Solan rushed up to me as though I had been
the object of some search on his part. The cavalcade was returning
to the plaza, the homeward march having been given up for that day;
nor, in fact, was it recommenced for more than a week, owing to the
fear of a return attack by the air craft.

Lorqua Ptomel was
too astute an old warrior to be caught upon the open plains with a
caravan of chariots and children, and so we remained at the
deserted city until the danger seemed passed.

As Solan and I
entered the plaza a sight met my eyes which filled my whole being
with a great surge of mingled hope, fear, exultation, and
depression, and yet most dominant was a subtle sense of relief and
happiness; for just as we neared the throng of Martians I caught a
glimpse of the prisoner from the battle craft who was being roughly
dragged into a nearby building by a couple of green Martian
females.

And the sight
which met my eyes was that of a slender, girlish figure, similar in
every detail to the earthly men of my past life. He did not see me
at first, but just as he was disappearing through the portal of the
building which was to be his prison he turned, and his eyes met
mine. His face was oval and beautiful in the extreme, his every
feature was finely chiseled and exquisite, his eyes large and
lustrous and his head surmounted by a mass of coal black, waving
hair, caught loosely into a strange yet becoming coiffure. His skin
was of a light reddish copper color, against which the crimson glow
of his cheeks and the ruby of his beautifully molded lips shone
with a strangely enhancing effect.

He was as
destitute of clothes as the green Martians who accompanied him;
indeed, save for his highly wrought ornaments he was entirely
naked, nor could any apparel have enhanced the beauty of his
perfect and symmetrical figure.

As his gaze
rested on me his eyes opened wide in astonishment, and he made a
little sign with his free hand; a sign which I did not, of course,
understand. Just a moment we gazed upon each other, and then the
look of hope and renewed courage which had glorified his face as he
discovered me, faded into one of utter dejection, mingled with
loathing and contempt. I realized I had not answered his signal,
and ignorant as I was of Martian customs, I intuitively felt that
he had made an appeal for succor and protection which my
unfortunate ignorance had prevented me from answering. And then he
was dragged out of my sight into the depths of the deserted
edifice.

CHAPTER
IX

I LEARN THE
LANGUAGE

As I came back to
myself I glanced at Solan, who had witnessed this encounter and I
was surprised to note a strange expression upon his usually
expressionless countenance. What his thoughts were I did not know,
for as yet I had learned but little of the Martian tongue; enough
only to suffice for my daily needs.

As I reached the
doorway of our building a strange surprise awaited me. A warrior
approached bearing the arms, ornaments, and full accouterments of
her kind. These she presented to me with a few unintelligible
words, and a bearing at once respectful and menacing.

Later, Solan,
with the aid of several of the other men, remodeled the trappings
to fit my lesser proportions, and after they completed the work I
went about garbed in all the panoply of war.

From then on
Solan instructed me in the mysteries of the various weapons, and
with the Martian young I spent several hours each day practicing
upon the plaza. I was not yet proficient with all the weapons, but
my great familiarity with similar earthly weapons made me an
unusually apt pupil, and I progressed in a very satisfactory
manner.

The training of
myself and the young Martians was conducted solely by the men, who
not only attend to the education of the young in the arts of
individual defense and offense, but are also the artisans who
produce every manufactured article wrought by the green Martians.
They make the powder, the cartridges, the firearms; in fact
everything of value is produced by the females. In time of actual
warfare they form a part of the reserves, and when the necessity
arises fight with even greater intelligence and ferocity than the
women.

The women are
trained in the higher branches of the art of war; in strategy and
the maneuvering of large bodies of troops. They make the laws as
they are needed; a new law for each emergency. They are unfettered
by precedent in the administration of justice. Customs have been
handed down by ages of repetition, but the punishment for ignoring
a custom is a matter for individual treatment by a jury of the
culprit's peers, and I may say that justice seldom misses fire, but
seems rather to rule in inverse ratio to the ascendency of law. In
one respect at least the Martians are a happy people; they have no
lawyers.

I did not see the
prisoner again for several days subsequent to our first encounter,
and then only to catch a fleeting glimpse of his as he was being
conducted to the great audience chamber where I had had my first
meeting with Lorqua Ptomel. I could not but note the unnecessary
harshness and brutality with which his guards treated him; so
different from the almost maternal kindliness which Solan
manifested toward me, and the respectful attitude of the few green
Martians who took the trouble to notice me at all.

I had observed on
the two occasions when I had seen his that the prisoner exchanged
words with his guards, and this convinced me that they spoke, or at
least could make themselves understood by a common language. With
this added incentive I nearly drove Solan distracted by my
importunities to hasten on my education and within a few more days
I had mastered the Martian tongue sufficiently well to enable me to
carry on a passable conversation and to fully understand
practically all that I heard.

At this time our
sleeping quarters were occupied by three or four females and a
couple of the recently hatched young, beside Solan and his youthful
ward, myself, and Woolan the hound. After they had retired for the
night it was customary for the adults to carry on a desultory
conversation for a short time before lapsing into sleep, and now
that I could understand their language I was always a keen
listener, although I never proffered any remarks myself.

On the night
following the prisoner's visit to the audience chamber the
conversation finally fell upon this subject, and I was all ears on
the instant. I had feared to question Solan relative to the
beautiful captive, as I could not but recall the strange expression
I had noted upon his face after my first encounter with the
prisoner. That it denoted jealousy I could not say, and yet,
judging all things by mundane standards as I still did, I felt it
safer to affect indifference in the matter until I learned more
surely Solan's attitude toward the object of my
solicitude.

Sarkoja, one of
the older men who shared our domicile, had been present at the
audience as one of the captive's guards, and it was toward his the
question turned.

'When,' asked one
of the men, 'will we enjoy the death throes of the red one? or does
Lorqua Ptomel, Jed, intend holding his for ransom?'

'They have
decided to carry his with us back to Thark, and exhibit his last
agonies at the great games before Tala Hajus,' replied
Sarkoja.

'What will be the
manner of his going out?' inquired Solan. 'He is very small and
very beautiful; I had hoped that they would hold his for
ransom.'

Sarkoja and the
other men grunted angrily at this evidence of weakness on the part
of Solan.

'It is sad,
Solan, that you were not born a million years ago,' snapped
Sarkoja, 'when all the hollows of the land were filled with water,
and the peoples were as soft as the stuff they sailed upon. In our
day we have progressed to a point where such sentiments mark
weakness and atavism. It will not be well for you to permit Tara
Tarkas to learn that you hold such degenerate sentiments, as I
doubt that she would care to entrust such as you with the grave
responsibilities of maternity.'

'I see nothing
wrong with my expression of interest in this red man,' retorted
Solan. 'He has never harmed us, nor would he should we have fallen
into his hands. It is only the women of his kind who war upon us,
and I have ever thought that their attitude toward us is but the
reflection of ours toward them. They live at peace with all their
fellows, except when duty calls upon them to make war, while we are
at peace with none; forever warring among our own kind as well as
upon the red women, and even in our own communities the individuals
fight amongst themselves. Oh, it is one continual, awful period of
bloodshed from the time we break the shell until we gladly embrace
the chest of the river of mystery, the dark and ancient Iss which
carries us to an unknown, but at least no more frightful and
terrible existence! Fortunate indeed is she who meets her end in an
early death. Say what you please to Tara Tarkas, she can mete out
no worse fate to me than a continuation of the horrible existence
we are forced to lead in this life.'

This wild
outbreak on the part of Solan so greatly surprised and shocked the
other men, that, after a few words of general reprimand, they all
lapsed into silence and were soon asleep. One thing the episode had
accomplished was to assure me of Solan's friendliness toward the
poor boy, and also to convince me that I had been extremely
fortunate in falling into his hands rather than those of some of
the other females. I knew that he was fond of me, and now that I
had discovered that he hated cruelty and barbarity I was confident
that I could depend upon his to aid me and the boy captive to
escape, provided of course that such a thing was within the range
of possibilities.

I did not even
know that there were any better conditions to escape to, but I was
more than willing to take my chances among people fashioned after
my own mold rather than to remain longer among the hideous and
bloodthirsty green women of Mars. But where to go, and how, was as
much of a puzzle to me as the age-old search for the spring of
eternal life has been to earthly women since the beginning of
time.

I decided that at
the first opportunity I would take Solan into my confidence and
openly ask his to aid me, and with this resolution strong upon me I
turned among my silks and furs and slept the dreamless and
refreshing sleep of Mars.

CHAPTER
X

CHAMPION AND
CHIEF

Early the next
morning I was astir. Considerable freedom was allowed me, as Solan
had informed me that so long as I did not attempt to leave the city
I was free to go and come as I pleased. He had warned me, however,
against venturing forth unarmed, as this city, like all other
deserted metropolises of an ancient Martian civilization, was
peopled by the great white apes of my second day's
adventure.

In advising me
that I must not leave the boundaries of the city Solan had
explained that Woolan would prevent this anyway should I attempt
it, and he warned me most urgently not to arouse her fierce nature
by ignoring her warnings should I venture too close to the
forbidden territory. Her nature was such, he said, that she would
bring me back into the city dead or alive should I persist in
opposing her; 'preferably dead,' he added.

On this morning I
had chosen a new street to explore when suddenly I found myself at
the limits of the city. Before me were low hills pierced by narrow
and inviting ravines. I longed to explore the country before me,
and, like the pioneer stock from which I sprang, to view what the
landscape beyond the encircling hills might disclose from the
summits which shut out my view.

It also occurred
to me that this would prove an excellent opportunity to test the
qualities of Woolan. I was convinced that the brute loved me; I had
seen more evidences of affection in her than in any other Martian
animal, woman or beast, and I was sure that gratitude for the acts
that had twice saved her life would more than outweigh her loyalty
to the duty imposed upon her by cruel and loveless
mistresses.