Part 11 (1/2)
”I would sooner ed his suit
Astok glowered sullenly upon her
”You shall rowled, ”or, by your first ancestor, you shall have your preference--and irlthe balance of the journey
As a matter of fact Astok was a trifle awed by the proportions of the conflict which his abduction of the Ptarthian princess had induced, nor was he over coht of responsibility which the possession of such a prisoner entailed
His one thought was to get her to Dusar, and there let his father assume the responsibility In theto affront her, lest they all ht be captured and he have to account for his treatreat jeddaks whose interest centred in her
And so at last they cah in the east tower of his own palace He had sworn his irl, for until he had seen his father, Nutus, Jeddak of Dusar, he dared not let any one knohoht with hireat audience chamber before the cruel-lipped , and he dared not speak of the princess hid within his palace It occurred to him to test his father's senti one who claimed to know the whereabouts of Thuvia of Ptarth
”And if you co her here to Dusar”
Nutus frowned and shook his head
”You have done enough already to set Ptarth and Kaol and Helium all three upon us at once should they learn your part in the theft of the Ptarth princess That you succeeded in shi+fting the guilt upon the Prince of Heliuy; but were the girl to know the truth and ever return to her father's court, all Dusar would have to pay the penalty, and to have her here a prisoner auilt froht could save us It would cost me my throne, Astok, and that I have no mind to lose
”If we had her here--” the elder ain and again ”If we had her here, Astok,” he exclaimed fiercely ”Ah, if we but had her here and none knew that she was here! Can you not guess, ht be for ever buried with her bones,” he concluded in a low, savage whisper
Astok, Prince of Dusar, shuddered
Weak he was; yes, and wicked, too; but the suggestion that his father's words implied turned him cold with horror
Cruel to their enemies are the men of Mars; but the word ”enemies” is commonly interpreted to reat Barsoomian cities; yet to murder a woman is a crime so unthinkable that even the most hardened of the paid assassins would shrink fro to him
Nutus was apparently oblivious to his son's all-too-patent terror at his suggestion Presently he continued: ”You say that you knohere the girl lies hid, since she was stolen from your people at Aaanthor Should she be found by any one of the three powers, her unsupported story would be sufficient to turn theainst us
”There is but one way, Astok,” cried the older -place and fetch her hither in all secrecy And, look you here! Return not to Dusar without her, upon pain of death!”
Astok, Prince of Dusar, well knew his royal father's tele throb of love for any creature
Astok's mother had been a slave woman Nutus had never loved her He had never loved another In youth he had tried to find a bride at the courts of several of his powerful neighbours, but their wohters of his own nobility had sought self-destruction rather than wed hially wed one of his slaves that hethe jeds when Nutus died and a new jeddak was chosen
Slowly Astok withdrew fro limbs he made his way to his own palace As he crossed the courtyard his glance chanced to wander to the great east tower looht of it beads of sweat broke out upon his brow
Issus! No other hand than his could be trusted to do the horrid thing With his own fingers he e the silent blade into the red, red heart
Her heart! The heart that he had hoped would brim with love for hihty contempt hich his protestations of love had been received He went cold and then hot to the memory of it His coe crowded out the finer instincts that had for a ood that he had inherited froed in the bad blood that had come down to him from his royal sire; as, in the end, it alas
A cold smile supplanted the terror that had dilated his eyes He turned his steps toward the tower He would see her before he set out upon the journey that was to blind his father to the fact that the girl was already in Dusar
Quietly he passed in through the secret way, ascending a spiral runway to the apartment in which the Princess of Ptarth was i upon the sill of the east case out across the roof tops of Dusar toward distant Ptarth He hated Ptarth The thought of it filled hie Why not finish her now and have it done with?
At the sound of his step she turned quickly toward him Ah, how beautiful she was! His sudden deterht of her wondrous beauty He would wait until he had returned froht be some other way then Some other hand to strike the bloith that face, with those eyes before him, he could never do it Of that he was positive He had always gloried in the cruelty of his nature, but, Issus! he was not that cruel No, another must be found--one who at her as she stood there before hiaze steadily and unafraid He felt the hot passion of his love her
Why not sue once ht yet be well Even if his father could not be persuaded, they could fly to Ptarth, laying all the blareat nations into war, upon the shoulders of Nutus And as there that would doubt the justice of the charge?
”Thuvia,” he said, ”I coain, for the last time, to laywith Helium because of you Wed irl shook her head
”Wait!” he commanded, before she could speak ”Know the truth before you speak words that may seal, not only your own fate, but that of the thousands of warriors who battle because of you
”Refuse to wed ly, and Dusar would be laid waste should ever the truth be known to Ptarth and Kaol and Heliu not one stone upon another They would scatter our peoples across the face of Barsoo thereat nation remained only as a hated memory in thethe Dusarians, countless thousands of their oarriors le woman ould not wed the prince who loves her
”Refuse, Thuvia of Ptarth, and there rele alternative--no man must ever know your fate Only a handful of loyal servitors besides my royal father and ardens of Thuvan Dihn by Astok, Prince of Dusar, or that to-day you be imprisoned in my palace
”Refuse, Thuvia of Ptarth, and you must die to save Dusar--there is no other way Nutus, the jeddak, has so decreed I have spoken”
For a long aze rest full upon the face of Astok of Dusar Then she spoke, and though the words were few, the unimpassioned tone carried unfathomable depths of cold contempt
”Better all that you have threatened,” she said, ”than you”
Then she turned her back upon hi with sad eyes toward distant Ptarth
Astok wheeled and left the roo after a short interval of time with food and drink
”Here,” he said, ”is sustenance until I return again The next to enter this apartment will be your executioner Commend yourself to your ancestors, Thuvia of Ptarth, for within a few days you shall be with theone
Half an hour later he was interviewing an officer high in the navy of Dusar
”Whither went Vas Kor?” he asked ”He is not at his palace”
”South, to the great ay that skirts Torquas,” replied the other ”His son, Hal Vas, is Dwar of the Road there, and thither has Vas Kor gone to enlist recruits a the workers on the farms”