Part 13 (1/2)
”Come!” cried Carthoris ”There is no tih warriors to overpower me”
But Astok had no such plan inof the fact aossips that the Ptarthian princess was a prisoner in the east tower Quickly would the word have co could have explained away the facts that the jeddak's investigation would have brought to light
Instead Astok was racingcorridor to reach the door of the tower-room before Carthoris and Thuvia left the apartirl remove the key and place it in her pocket-pouch, and he knew that a dagger point driven into the keyhole from the opposite side would iht dead worlds circled a cold, dead sun
As fast as he could run Astok entered the main corridor that led to the tower chamber Would he reach the door in tied and he should run upon hieway? Astok felt a cold chill run up his spine He had no stomach to face that uncanny blade
He was almost at the door Around the next turn of the corridor it stood No, they had not left the apart the Heliurin at the clever manner in which he had outwitted the noble and disposed of him at the same time And then he rounded the turn and caiant
The fellow did not wait to ask the reason for his co-sword, so that Astok had to parry a dozen vicious cuts before he could disengage himself and flee back down the runway
A moment later Carthoris and Thuvia entered the corridor from the secret chamber
”Well, Kar Komak?” asked the Heliumite
”It is fortunate that you left me here, red man,” said the bowman ”I but just now intercepted one who seemed over-anxious to reach this door--it was he whom they call Astok, Prince of Dusar”
Carthoris smiled
”Where is he now?” he asked
”He escaped my blade, and ran down this corridor,” replied Kar Komak
”We must lose no tiuard upon us yet!”
Together the three hastened along the winding passages through which Carthoris and Kar Komak had tracked the Dusarians by the marks of the latter's sandals in the thin dust that overspread the floors of these seldoe-ways
They had come to the chamber at the entrances to the lifts before they uardsers, questioned their presence in the palace of Astok
Once more Carthoris and Kar Komak had recourse to their blades, and before they had won their way to one of the lifts the noise of the conflict must have aroused the entire palace, for they heard , and as they passed the e they saw ar hither and thither in search of the cause of the coe lay the Thuria, with three warriors on guard Again the Heliuht shoulder to shoulder, but the battle was soon over, for the Prince of Helium alone would have been a match for any three that Dusar could produce
Scarce had the Thuria risen fro e At their head was Astok of Dusar, and as he saw the two he had thought so safely in his power slipping fro his fists and hurling abuse and vile insults at thele, the Thuria shot meteor-like into the sky From a dozen points swift patrol boats darted after her, for the scene upon the landing-stage above the palace of the Prince of Dusar had not gone unnoticed
A dozen tirazed the Thuria's side, and as Carthoris could not leave the control levers, Thuvia of Ptarth turned the uns upon the ene to the steep and slippery surface of the deck
It was a noble race and a noble fight One against a score now, for other Dusarian craft had joined in the pursuit; but Astok, Prince of Dusar, had built hen he built the Thuria None in the navy of his sire possessed a swifter flier; no other craft so well armoured or so well armed
One by one the pursuers were distanced, and as the last of thee behind, Carthoris dropped the Thuria's nose to a horizontal plane, as with lever drawn to the last notch, she tore through the thin air of dying Mars toward the east and Ptarth
Thirteen and a half thousand haads away lay Ptarth--a stiff thirty-hour journey for the swiftest of fliers, and between Dusar and Ptarth ht lie half the navy of Dusar, for in this direction was the reported seat of the great naval battle that even now ress
Could Carthoris have known precisely where the great fleets of the contending nations lay, he would have hastened to them without delay, for in the return of Thuvia to her sire lay the greatest hope of peace
Half the distance they covered without sighting a single warshi+p, and then Kar Komak called Carthoris's attention to a distant craft that rested upon the ochre vegetation of the great dead sea-botto
About the vesselWith the aid of powerful glasses, the Heliureen warriors, and that they were repeatedly charging down upon the crew of the stranded airshi+p The nationality of the latter he could not reat a distance
It was not necessary to change the course of the Thuria to per directly above the scene of battle, but Carthoris dropped his craft a few hundred feet that he ht have a better and closer view
If the shi+p was of a friendly power, he could do no less than stop and direct his guns upon her eneht he carried he scarcely felt justified in landing, for he could offer but tords in reinforce the safety of the Princess of Ptarth
As they came close above the stricken shi+p, they could see that it would be but a question of reen horde would swarlut the ferocity of their bloodlust upon the defenders
”It would be futile to descend,” said Carthoris to Thuvia ”The craft nia All that we may do is fire upon the hordesuns and deflected its reen warriors at the shi+p's side
At the first shot from the Thuria those upon the vessel below evidently discovered her for the first time Immediately a device fluttered froround Thuvia of Ptarth caught her breath quickly, glancing at Carthoris
The device was that of Kulan tith, Jeddak of Kaol--the man to whom the Princess of Ptarth was betrothed!
How easy for the Heliu his rival to the fate that could not for long be averted! No man could accuse hiainst Heliuh swords to delay even teone conclusion in the minds of the watchers