Part 1 (1/2)
Thuvia, Maid of Mars
By Edgar Rice Burroughs
CHAPTER I
CARTHORIS AND THUVIA
Upon a eous blooiant pimalia a woman sat Her shapely, sandalled foot tapped impatiently upon the jewel-strealk that wound beneath the stately sorapus trees across the scarlet sward of the royal gardens of Thuvan Dihn, Jeddak of Ptarth, as a dark-haired, red-skinned warrior bent loard her, whispering heated words close to her ear
”Ah, Thuvia of Ptarth,” he cried, ”you are cold even before the fiery blasts oflove! No harder than your heart, nor colder is the hard, cold ersite of this thrice happy bench which supports your divine and fadeless form! Tell h you do not love irl sprang to her feet with an exclamation of surprise and displeasure Her queenly head was poised haughtily upon her srily into those of the et yourself, and the custoht thus to address the daughter of Thuvan Dihn, nor have you won such a right”
The rasped her by the arm
”You shall be my princess!” he cried ”By the breast of Issus, thou shalt, nor shall any other come between Astok, Prince of Dusar, and his heart's desire Tell me that there is another, and I shall cut out his foul heart and fling it to the wild calots of the dead sea-bottoirl went pallid beneath her coppery skin, for the persons of the royal women of the courts of Mars are held but little less than sacred The act of Astok, Prince of Dusar, was profanation There was no terror in the eyes of Thuvia of Ptarth--only horror for the thing the man had done and for its possible consequences
”Release id
The hly toward hiuard, and the Prince of Dusar knohat that will ht arm about her shoulders and strove to draw her face to his lips With a little cry she struck him full in the mouth with the massive bracelets that circled her free aruard! Hasten in protection of the Princess of Ptarth!”
In answer to her call a dozen guards-swords naked in the sun, the ainst that of their leathern harness, and in their throats hoarse shouts of rage at the sight which met their eyes
But before they had passed half across the royal garden to where Astok of Dusar still held the struggling girl in his grasp, another figure sprang froolden fountain close at hand A tall, straight youth he ith black hair and keen grey eyes; broad of shoulder and narrow of hip; a clean-lied with the copper colour thatplanet--he was like thereater even than that which lay in his lighter skin and his grey eyes
There was a difference, too, in his reat leaps that carried hiuards by comparison
Astok still clutched Thuvia's wrist as the young warrior confronted hile word
”Calot!” he snapped, and then his clenched fist landed beneath the other's chin, lifting hi him in a crumpled heap within the centre of the pimalia bush beside the ersite bench
Her chairl ”Kaor, Thuvia of Ptarth!” he cried ”It seems that fate timed my visit well”
”Kaor, Carthoris of Heliu, ”and what less could one expect of the son of such a sire?”
He bowed his acknowledgment of the compliment to his father, John Carter, Warlord of Mars And then the guardse, ca at the lement of the pimalia
Astok would have leaped to uardsh it was clearly evident that naught would have better pleased Carthoris of Heliued, ”and naught will giveto this fellow the punishment he has earned”
”It cannot be, Carthoris,” she replied ”Even though he has forfeited all claiuest of the jeddak, my father, and to him alone may he account for the unpardonable act he has committed”
”As you say, Thuvia,” replied the Heliumite ”But afterward he shall account to Carthoris, Prince of Heliuhter of h, there burned in his eyes a fire that proclailorious daughter of Barsoom
The maid's cheek darkened beneath the satin of her transparent skin, and the eyes of Astok, Prince of Dusar, darkened, too, as he read that which passed unspoken between the two in the royal gardens of the jeddak
”And thou touard still surrounded Astok It was a difficult position for the young officer who cohty jeddak; he was the guest of Thuvan Dihn--until but now an honoured guest upon whonity had been showered To arrest hiht else than war, and yet he had done that which in the eyes of the Ptarth warrioruessed all that hung upon the action of the co moment For many years Dusar and Ptarth had been at peace with each other Their great er cities of the two nations Even now, far above the gold-shot scarlet doiant freighter taking its h the thin Barsooht plunge these two hty nations into a bloody conflict that would drain them of their bravest blood and their incalculable riches, leaving theainst the inroads of their envious and less powerful neighbors, and at last a prey to the savage green hordes of the dead sea-bottoms
No sense of fear influenced her decision, for fear is seldom known to the children of Mars It was rather a sense of the responsibility that she, the daughter of their jeddak, felt for the welfare of her father's people
”I called you, Padwar,” she said to the lieutenant of the guard, ”to protect the person of your princess, and to keep the peace that ardens of the jeddak That is all You will escort me to the palace, and the Prince of Heliulance in the direction of Astok she turned, and taking Carthoris' proffered hand, moved slowly toward the massivecourt On either side uardsmen Thus Thuvia of Ptarth found a way out of a dileuest under forcible restraint, and at the sa the two princes, who otherould have been at each other's throat the uard had departed
Beside the pimalia stood Astok, his dark eyes narrowed tobrows as he watched the retreating forms of the woman who had aroused the fiercest passions of his nature and the man whom he now believed to be the one who stood between his love and its consummation
As they disappeared within the structure Astok shrugged his shoulders, and with aof the building where he and his retinue were housed
That night he took forh no arden, it was plain to see through the cold mask of the jeddak's courtesy that only the custo the contempt he felt for the Prince of Dusar
Carthoris was not present at the leave-taking, nor was Thuvia The ceremony was as stiff and formal as court etiquette could make it, and when the last of the Dusarians claht thehty engine of destruction had risen slowly froe, a note of relief was apparent in the voice of Thuvan Dihn as he turned to one of his officers with a word of con to that which had been uppermost in the n?
”Inform Prince Sovan,” he directed, ”that it is our wish that the fleet which departed for Kaol thisbe recalled to cruise to the west of Ptarth”
As the warshi+p, bearing Astok back to the court of his father, turned toward the west, Thuvia of Ptarth, sitting upon the same bench where the Prince of Dusar had affronted her, watched the twinkling lights of the craft growing sht of the nearer moon, sat Carthoris His eyes were not upon the diirl's upturned face
”Thuvia,” he whispered
The girl turned her eyes toward his His hand stole out to find hers, but she drew her own gently away
”Thuvia of Ptarth, I love you!” cried the young warrior ”Tell me that it does not offend”
She shook her head sadly ”The love of Carthoris of Heliuht but an honour to any wo upon ot slowly to his feet His eyes ide in astonishment It never had occurred to the Prince of Heliuht love another
”But at Kadabra!” he exclaimed ”And later here at your father's court, what did you do, Thuvia of Ptarth, that ht have warned me that you could not return my love?”
”And what did I do, Carthoris of Heliuht lead you to believe that I DID return it?”