Part 6 (2/2)
At the entrance U-Dor disuard about the two prisoners ere then conducted toward the foot of the throne, following a few paces behind U-Dor As they halted at the foot of the aze of Tara of Heliuure of thepresence trapped in the barbaric splendor that the Barsooe man, the perfection of whose handsome face was estion of cruelty ilance to assure the least observing that here indeed was a ruler of ht worshi+p but not love, and for whose slightest favor warriors would vie with one another to go forth and die This was O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, and as Tara of Heliue a certain ade chieftain who so virilely personified the ancient virtues of the God of War
U-Dor and the jeddak interchanged the sis of Barsoom, and then the former recounted the details of the discovery and capture of the prisoners O-Tar scrutinized the U-Dor's narration of events, his expression revealing naught of what passed in the brain behind those inscrutable eyes When the officer had finished the jeddak fastened his gaze upon Ghek
”And you,” he asked, ”whatare you? From what country? Why are you in Manator?”
”I ahest type of created creature upon the face of Barsoom; I am mind, you are matter I co”
”And you!” O-Tar turned suddenly on Tara ”You, too, are a kaldane?”
”I airl ”I was a prisoner in Bantoom This kaldane and a warrior of my own race rescued me The warrior left us to search for food and water He has doubtless fallen into the hands of your people I ask you to free hio upon our way I ahter of a jeddak of jeddaks, The Warlord of Barsoom I ask only the treatment that my people would accord you or yours”
”Heliuht of Helium, nor does the Jeddak of Helium rule Manator I, O-Tar, am Jeddak of Manator I alone rule I protect my own You have never seen a woman or a warrior of Manator captive in Helium! Why should I protect the people of another jeddak? It is his duty to protect them If he cannot, he is weak, and his peopleI will keep you That--” he pointed at Ghek--”can it fight?”
”It is brave,” replied Tara of Helium, ”but it has not the skill at arht for you?” asked O-Tar ”We are a just people,” he continued without waiting for a reply, ”and had you one to fight for you he ht win to freedom for himself and you as well”
”But U-Dor assured er ever had departed froed ”That does not disprove the justice of the laws of Manator,” replied O-Tar, ”but rather that the warriors of Manator are invincible Had there come one who could defeat our warriors that one had won to liberty”
”And you fetch htily, ”you shall see such swordplay as doubtless the cru city never have witnessed, and if there be no trick in your offer we are already as good as free”
O-Tar smiled more broadly than before and U-Dor sed one another and whispered, laughing And Tara of Helium knew then that there was trickery in their justice; but though her situation seemed hopeless she did not cease to hope, for was she not the daughter of John Carter, Warlord of Barsooe to Fate, ”I still live!” reht of her noble sire the patrician chin of Tara of Heliuher Ah! if he but knehere she was there were little to fear then The hosts of Heliureen warriors of John Carter's savage allies would sware and for loot, the stately shi+ps of her beloved navy would soar above the unprotected towers and minarets of the doomed city which only capitulation and heavy tribute could then save
But John Carter did not know! There was only one other to whoht hope to look--Turan the panthan; but where was he? She had seen his sword in play and she knew that it had been wielded by a master hand, and who should knoordplay better than Tara of Heliue of John Carter hireater physical prowess than her own, and a ht have been at once the envy and despair of the cleverest of warriors And so it was that her thoughts turned to Turan the panthan, though not alone because of the protection he ht afford her She had realized, since he had left her in search of food, that there had grown between them a certain comradeshi+p that she now missed There had been that about hiulf between their stations in life With him she had failed to consider that he was a panthan or that she was a princess--they had been comrades Suddenly she realized that she missed him for himself more than for his sword She turned toward O-Tar
”Where is Turan, my warrior?” she demanded
”You shall not lack for warriors,” replied the jeddak ”One of your beauty will find plenty ready to fight for her Possibly it shall not be necessary to look farther than the jeddak of Manator You please h narrowed lids the Princess of Helium scrutinized the Jeddak of Manator, from feathered headdress to sandaled foot and back to feathered headdress
”'Honor'!” she mimicked in tones of scorn ”I please thee, do I? Then knoine, that thou pleaseth hter of John Carter is not for such as thou!”
A sudden, tense silence fell upon the assembled chiefs Slowly the blood receded fro him a sickly purple in his wrath His eyes narrowed to two thin slits, his lips were co moment there was no sound in the throne room of the palace at Manator Then the jeddak turned toward U-Dor
”Take her away,” he said in a level voice that belied his appearance of rage ”Take her away, and at the next games let the prisoners and the common warriors play at Jetan for her”
”And this?” asked U-Dor, pointing at Ghek
”To the pits until the next games,” replied O-Tar
”So this is your vaunted justice!” cried Tara of Heliued you shall be sentenced without trial? And one of them is a woman The swine of Manator are as just as they are brave”
”Aith her!” shouted O-Tar, and at a sign frouards formed about the two prisoners and conducted them from the chamber
Outside the palace, Ghek and Tara of Heliu avenues toward the center of the city and finally into a low building, topped by lofty towers of massive construction Here she was turned over to a warrior ore the insignia of a dwar, or captain
”It is O-Tar's wish,” explained U-Dor to this one, ”that she be kept until the next games, when the prisoners and the coue of a thoat she had been a worthy stake for our noblest steel,” and U-Dor sighed ”Perhaps even yet I may win a pardon for her It were too bad to see such beauty fall to the lot of some common felloould have honored her myself”
”If I airl ”I do not recall that I was sentenced to listen to the insults of every low-born boor who chanced to adue that she has Even so and worse spoke she to O-Tar the jeddak”
”I see,” replied A-Kor, who a smile ”Come, then, with me, woman,” he said, ”and we shall find a safe place within The Towers of Jetan--but stay! what ails thee?”
The girl had staggered and would have fallen had not the ather herself then and bravely sought to stand erect without support A-Kor glanced at U-Dor ”Knew you the woman was ill?” he asked
”Possibly it is lack of food,” replied the other ”She mentioned, I believe, that she and her companions had not eaten for several days”
”Brave are the warriors of O-Tar,” sneered A-Kor; ”lavish their hospitality U-Dor, whose riches are uncounted, and the brave O-Tar, whose squealing thoats are stabled within old, can spare no crust to feed a starving girl”
The black haired U-Dor scowled ”Thy tongue will yet pierce thy heart, son of a slave!” he cried ”Once too often uard thy speech as well as thy towers”
”Think not to taunt me with my mother's state,” said A-Kor ”'Tis the blood of the slave woman that fills my veins with pride, and my only shame is that I am also the son of thy jeddak”
”And O-Tar heard this?” queried U-Dor
”O-Tar has already heard it from my own lips,” replied A-Kor; ”this, andarm still around the waist of Tara of Helium and thus he half led, half carried her into The Towers of Jetan, while U-Dor wheeled his thoat and galloped back in the direction of the palace
Within the main entrance to The Tower of Jetan lolled a half-dozen warriors To one of these spoke A-Kor, keeper of the towers ”Fetch Lan-O, the slave girl, and bid her bring food and drink to the upper level of the Thurian tower,” then he lifted the half-fainting girl in his ar the spiral, inclined runway that led upithin the tower
So ascent Tara lost consciousness When it returned she found herself in a large, circular chaular intervals about the entire circu silks and furs while there knelt above her a young woe between her parched lips Tara of Helium half rose upon an elbow and looked about In the firstconsciousness there were swept fros of ht that she awoke in the palace of The Warlord at Heliu over her
”Who are you?” she asked, and, ”Where is Uthia?”
”I airl,” replied the other ”I know none by the name of Uthia”
Tara of Heliuh stone was not the marble of her father's halls ”Where airl, and then seeing that the other still did not understand she guessed the truth ”You are a prisoner in The Towers of Jetan in the city of Manator,” she explained ”You were brought to this cha, by A-Kor, Dwar of The Towers of Jetan, who sent me to you with food and drink, for kind is the heart of A-Kor”
”I remember, now,” said Tara, slowly ”I remember; but where is Turan, ht of another,” replied Lan-O; ”you alone were brought to the towers In that you are fortunate, for there be no nobler man in Manator than A-Kor It is his irl from Gathol”