Part 13 (1/2)
In a nearby room they found a bench and table and there Gahan sat and wrote in the strange, stenographic characters of Martian script a e to Floran of Gathol ”Why,” he asked, when he had finished it, ”did you search for Tara through the spiral runhere we nearly met?”
”Tasor told reater part of the palace by means of the ulsio runways and the darker and less frequented passages I knew precisely where you were and how to reach you This secret spiral ascends from the pits to the roof of the loftiest of the palace towers It has secret openings at every level; but there is no living Manatorian, I believe, who knows of its existence At least never have I met one within it and I have used it many tih I knew nothing of his identity or the story of his death until Tasor told it to us in the cahly then?” Gahan interrupted
”Better than O-Tar himself or any of his servants”
”Good! And you would serve the Princess Tara, Ghek, youhis instructions I rite thee to him, for the walls have ears, Ghek, while none but a Gatholian may read what I have written to Floran He will transmit it to you Can I trust you?”
”I may never return to Bantoom,” replied Ghek ”Therefore I have but two friends in all Barsoom What better may I do than serve them faithfully? You may trust ht s than perfecttuitions of the heart I go”
As O-Tar pointed to the little doorway all eyes turned in the direction he indicated and surprise rit large upon the faces of the warriors when they recognized the tho had entered the banquet hall There was I-Gos, and he dragged behind hied and whose hands were fastened behind with a ribbon of tough silk It was the slave girl I-Gos' cackling laughter rose above the silence of the roo warriors of O-Tar cannot do, old I-Gos does alone”
”Only a Corphal rowled one of the chiefs who had fled frohed ”Terror turned your heart to water,” he replied; ”and shaue to libel This be no Corphal, but only a woman of Helium; her companion a warrior who can match blades with the best of you and cut your putrid hearts Not so in the days of I-Gos' youth Ah, then were there men in Manator Well do I recall that day that I--”
”Peace, doddering fool!” commanded O-Tar ”Where is the man?”
”Where I found the woman--in the death chao thither and fetch hi but one”
”You have done well, I-Gos,” O-Tar hastened to assure hiht still be in the haunted cha well the vitriolic tongue and temper of the ancient one ”You think she is no Corphal, then, I-Gos?” he asked, wishi+ng to carry the subject froe
”No more than you,” replied the ancient taxiderly at Tara of Helium All the beauty that was hers seemed suddenly to be carried to every fibre of his consciousness She was still garbed in the rich harness of a Black Princess of Jetan, and as O-Tar the Jeddak gazed upon her he realized that never before had his eyes rested upon a ure--a more beautiful face
”She is no Corphal,” he murmured to himself ”She is no Corphal and she is a princess--a princess of Heliuolden hair of the Holy Hekkador, she is beautiful Take the gag from her mouth and release her hands,” he commanded aloud ”Make room for the Princess Tara of Helium at the side of O-Tar of Manator She shall dine as becomes a princess”
Slaves did as O-Tar bid and Tara of Heliu eyes behind the chair that was offered her ”Sit!” coirl sank into the chair ”I sit as a prisoner,” she said; ”not as a guest at the board of my enemy, O-Tar of Manator”
O-Tar motioned his followers from the room ”I would speak alone with the Princess of Helium,” he said The company and the slaves withdrew and once irl ”O-Tar of Manator would be your friend,” he said
Tara of Helium sat with arms folded upon her s fron to answer his overture O-Tar leaned closer to her He noted the hostility of her bearing and he recalled his first encounter with her She was a she-banth, but she was beautiful She was by far the most desirable woman that O-Tar had ever looked upon and he was determined to possess her He told her so
”I could take you as my slave,” he said to her; ”but it pleases me to make you my wife You shall be Jeddara of Manator You shall have seven days in which to prepare for the great honor that O-Tar is conferring upon you, and at this hour of the seventh day you shall become an empress and the wife of O-Tar in the throne roo that stood beside him upon the table and when a slave appeared he bade him recall the company Slowly the chiefs filed in and took their places at the table Their faces were gri, for there was still unanswered the question of their jeddak's courage If O-Tar had hoped they would forget he had been mistaken in his men
O-Tar arose ”In seven days,” he announced, ”there will be a great feast in honor of the new Jeddara of Manator,” and he waved his hand toward Tara of Heliu of the seventh zode in the throne room In the meantime the Princess of Helium will be cared for in the tower of the women's quarters of the palace Conduct her thither, E-Thas, with a suitable guard of honor and see to it that slaves and eunuchs be placed at her disposal, who shall attend upon all her wants and guard her carefully from harm”
About 8:30 P M Earth Ti concealed in these fine words was that he should conduct the prisoner under a strong guard to the women's quarters and confine her there in the tower for seven days, placing about her trustworthy guards ould prevent her escape or frustrate any atte frouard, O-Tar leaned close to her ear and whispered: ”Consider well during these seven days the high honor I have offered you, and--its sole alternative” As though she had not heard hih and her eyes straight to the front
After Ghek had left him Gahan roamed the pits and the ancient corridors of the deserted portions of the palace seeking some clue to the whereabouts or the fate of Tara of Heliu from level to level until he knew every foot of it froh tower, and into what apartenious and hidden mechanism that operated the locks of the cleverly concealed doors leading to it For food he drew upon the stores he found in the pits and when he slept he lay upon the royal couch of O-Mai in the forbidden cha the dais with the dead foot of the ancient jeddak
In the palace about him seethed, all unknown to Gahan, a vast unrest Warriors and chieftains pursued the duties of their vocations with dour faces, and little knots of theer discussing some subject that was upper Tara's incarceration in the tower that E-Thas, the major-domo of the palace and one of O-Tar's creatures, came to his master upon some trivial errand O-Tar was alone in one of the smaller chambers of his personal suite when the major-domo was announced, and after the matter upon which E-Thas had coned him to remain
”From the position of an obscure warrior I have elevated you, E-Thas, to the honors of a chief Within the confines of the palace your word is second only to mine You are not loved for this, E-Thas, and should another jeddak ascend the throne of Manator ould beco the ged E-Thas ”These last few days I have thought upon it ht to appease the wrath of ent with thee in the air?” demanded the jeddak
E-Thas was palpably uneasy and he did not reply
”Why did you not come to me with your apprehensions?” dehty jeddak!” replied E-Thas ”I feared that you would not understand and that you would be angry”
”What know you? Speak the whole truth!” co the chieftains and the warriors,” replied E-Thas ”Even those ere your friends fear the power of those who speak against you”
”What say they?” growled the jeddak
”They say that you are afraid to enter the apartry with me, Jeddak; it is but what they say that I repeat I, your loyal E-Thas, believe no such foul slander”
”No, no; why should I fear?” demanded O-Tar ”We do not know that he is there Did notof hio,” pursued E-Thas, ”and that they will have none of a coward upon the throne of Manator”
”They said that treason?” O-Tar alreat jeddak,” answered the major-domo ”They said that not only did you fear to enter the chambers of O-Mai, but that you feared the slave Turan, and they blame you for your treatment of A-Kor, whom they all believe to have been murdered at your command They were fond of A-Kor and there are many noho say aloud that A-Kor would have made a wondrous jeddak”
”They dare?” screaest the name of a slave's bastard for the throne of O-Tar!”
”He is your son, O-Tar,” E-Thas reminded him, ”nor is there a more beloved man in Manator--I but speak to you of facts which nored, and I dare do so because only when you realize the truth may you seek a cure for the ills that draw about your throne”
O-Tar had slumped down upon his bench--suddenly he looked shrunken and tired and old ”Cursed be the day,” he cried, ”that saw those three strangers enter the city of Manator Would that U-Dor had been spared to one--dead at the hands of that hateful slave, Turan; may the curse of Issus be upon hied E-Thas ”Cursing the slave will not solve your problee is but three days off,” plead O-Tar ”It shall be a great gala occasion The warriors and the chiefs all know that--it is the custoifts and honors shall be bestowed Tellthe rewards for their past services to the throne We will rant them palaces and slaves Eh, E-Thas?”
The other shook his head ”It will not do, O-Tar They will have nothing of your gifts or honors I have heard them say as much”
”What do they want?” demanded O-Tar
”They want a jeddak as brave as the bravest,” replied E-Thas, though his knees shook as he said it
”They think I am a coward?” cried the jeddak
”They say you are afraid to go to the apart ti blankly at the floor