Part 7 (2/2)
You speak of the young woman as captured with me?” asked Ghek, his expressionless ht of the interest he felt
”I speak of her,” replied the dwar, and then turning to the warrior who had summoned hiames Perhaps by that time thy eyes may have learned not to deceive thee”
The fellow cast a venolance at Ghek and turned away The officer shook his head ”I do not understand it,” he muttered ”Always has U-Van been a true and dependable warrior Could it be--?” he glanced piercingly at Ghek ”Thou hast a strange head that ends tell us of those ancient creatures that placed hallucinations upon the mind of their fellows If thou be such then maybe U-Van suffered from thy forbidden powers If thou be such O-Tar will knoell how to deal with thee” He wheeled about and motioned his warriors to follow him
”Wait!” cried Ghek ”Unless I am to be starved, send me food”
”You have had food,” replied the warrior
”Am I to be fed but once a day?” asked Ghek ”I require food oftener than that Send me food”
”You shall have food,” replied the officer ”None may say that the prisoners of Manator are ill-fed Just are the laws of Manator,” and he departed
No sooner had the sounds of their passing died away in the distance than Ghek clambered from the shoulders of his rykor, and scurried to the burrohere he had hidden the key Fetching it he unlocked the fetter from about the creature's ankle, locked it empty and carried the key farther down into the burrow Then he returned to his place upon his brainless servitor After a while he heard footsteps approaching, whereupon he rose and passed into another corridor fro Here he waited out of sight, listening He heard the man enter the chamber and halt He heard a le of metal dishes as a salver was sla footsteps, which quickly died away in the distance
Ghek lost no ti the rykor to his chain Then he replaced the key in the burrow and squatting on the table beside his headless body, directed its hands toward the food While the rykor ate Ghek sat listening for the scraping sandals and clattering ar to wait Ghek scra Again it was the officer who had been summoned by U-Van and with him were three warriors The one directly behind hiht the food, for his eyes hen he saw Ghek sitting at the table and he looked very foolish as the dwar turned his stern glance upon him
”It is even as I said,” he cried ”He was not here when I brought his food”
”But he is here now,” said the officer grimly, ”and his fetter is locked about his ankle Look! it has not been opened--but where is the key? It should be upon the table at the end opposite him Where is the key, creature?” he shouted at Ghek
”How should I, a prisoner, know better than my jailer the whereabouts of the key to my fetters?” he retorted
”But it lay here,” cried the officer, pointing to the other end of the table
”Did you see it?” asked Ghek
The officer hesitated ”No but it must have been there,” he parried
”Did you see the key lying there?” asked Ghek, pointing to another warrior
The fellow shook his head negatively ”And you? and you?” continued the kaldane addressing the others
They both admitted that they never had seen the key ”And if it had been there how could I have reached it?” he continued
”No, he could not have reached it,” admitted the officer; ”but there shall be no uard with this prisoner until you are relieved”
I-Zav looked anything but happy as this intelligence was transmitted to him, and he eyed Ghek suspiciously as the dwar and the other warriors turned and left him to his unhappy lot
CHAPTER XIII
A DESPERATE DEED
E-MED crossed the tower chairl, Lan-O He seized the forhly by a shoulder ”Stand!” he co, backed away
”Lay not your hand upon the person of a princess of Heliuhed ”Think you that I play at jetan for you without first knowing so of the stake for which I play?” he deirl drew herself to her full height, folding her arers of her right hand were inserted beneath the broad leather strap of her harness where it passed over her left shoulder
”And O-Tar learns of this you shall rue it, E-Med,” cried the slave girl; ”there be no law in Manator that gives you this girl before you shall have won her fairly”
”What cares O-Tar for her fate?” replied E-Med ”Have I not heard? Did she not flout the great jeddak, heaping abuse upon hiht ain he advanced toward Tara
”Wait!” said the girl in low, even tone ”Perhaps you know not what you do Sacred to the people of Helium are the persons of the women of Heliureat jeddak hireatest nations of Barsoom have trembled to the thunders of war in defense of the person of Dejah Thoris, my mother We are but mortal and so may die; but we may not be defiled You h you may win the match, never may you claim the reward If thou wouldst possess a dead body press me too far, but know, man of Manator, that the blood of The Warlord flows not in the veins of Tara of Heliuht of Helium and O-Tar is our warlord,” replied E-Med; ”but I do know that I would examine more closely the prize that I shall play for and win I would test the lips of her who is to be aer” His eyes narrowed as he spoke, his visage taking on the se beast ”If you doubt the truth of irl”
”He speaks truly, O woman of Helium,” interjected Lan-O ”Try not the temper of E-Med, if you value your life”
But Tara of Helium made no reply Already had she spoken She stood in silence now facing the burly warrior who approached her He ca, tried to draw her lips to his
Lan-O saw the woman froht hand from where it had lain upon her breast She saw the hand shoot from beneath the arm of E-Med and rise behind his shoulder and she saw in the hand a long, sli closer to those of the wohtened, stiffly, a shriek upon his lips, and then he crumpled like an empty fur and lay, a shrunken heap, upon the floor Tara of Helium stooped and wiped her blade upon his harness
Lan-O, wide-eyed, looked with horror upon the corpse ”For this we shall both die,” she cried
”And ould live a slave in Manator?” asked Tara of Heliuirl, ”and life is sweet and there is always hope”
”Life is sweet,” agreed Tara of Helium, ”but honor is sacred But do not fear When they come I shall tell them the truth--that you had no hand in this and no opportunity to prevent it”
For adeeply Suddenly her eyes lighted ”There is a way, perhaps,” she said, ”to turn suspicion from us He has the key to this cha him out--maybe we shall find a place to hide him”
”Good!” exclaimed Tara of Heliuested Quickly they found the key and unlatched the door and then, between theed, the corpse of E-Med from the room and down the stairway to the next level where Lan-O said there were vacant chah this the two bore their grisly burden into a sleThe apart-rooree of coht of about seven feet fro were decorated with faded paintings of another day
As Tara's eyes ran quickly over the interior her attention was drawn to a section of paneling that see it Quickly she crossed to it, discovering that one vertical edge of an entire panel projected a half-inch beyond the others There was a possible explanation which piqued her curiosity, and acting upon its suggestion she seized upon the projecting edge and pulled outward Slowly the panel swung toward her, revealing a dark aperture in the wall behind
”Look, Lan-O!” she cried ”See what I have found--a hole in which weupon the floor”
Lan-O joined her and together the two investigated the dark aperture, finding a small platforian darkness Thick dust covered the floor within the doorway, indicating that a great period of time had elapsed since human foot had trod it--a secret way, doubtless, unknown to living Manatorians Here they dragged the corpse of E-Med, leaving it upon the platform, and as they left the dark and forbidden closet Lan-O would have slammed to the panel had not Tara prevented
”Wait!” she said, and fell to exa the door frairl ”If they come we are lost”
”It ain,” replied Tara of Heliuainst a section of the carved base at the right of the open panel ”Ah!” she breathed, a note of satisfaction in her tone, and closed the panel until it fitted snugly in its place ”Come!” she said and turned toward the outer doorway of the chamber
They reached their own cell without detection, and closing the door Tara locked it from the inside and placed the key in a secret pocket in her harness
”Let them come,” she said ”Let them question us! What could two poor prisoners know of the whereabouts of their noble jailer? I ask you, Lan-O, what could they?”