hidden in the ornate carving of the wood paneling that covered the
wall. I waited in breathless expectancy, but the panel did not open.
Phao pushed frantically again and again, and then she turned to me with
a gesture of helplessness and defeat.
"He has tampered with the lock upon the other side," she said. "He is a
clever rogue and he would have thought of that."
"We must follow," I said, and raising my long sword I struck the panel
a heavy blow that would have shattered much thicker planking, but I
only made a scratch upon it, tearing away a little piece scarce thicker
than a fingernail, but the scar that I had made revealed the harrowing
truth--the panel was constructed of forandus, the hardest and the
lightest metal known to Barsoomians. I turned away. "It is useless," I
said, "to attempt to pierce forandus with cold steel."
Tavia had crossed to us and was standing in silence, looking up into
my face. Her eyes were bathed with unshed tears and I saw her lips
tremble. "Hadron!" she breathed. "You have come back from the dead.
Oh, why did you come, for this time they will make no mistake."
"You know why I came, Tavia," I told her.
"Tell me," she said, very soft and low.
"For friendship, Tavia," I replied; "for the best friend that a man
ever had."
At first she seemed surprised and then an odd little smile curved her
lips. "I would rather have the friendship of Hadron of Hastor," she
said, "than any other gift the world might give me."
It was a nice thing for her to say and I certainly appreciated it, but
I did not understand that little smile. However, I had no time then in
which to solve riddles; the problem of our safety was the all important
question, and then it was that I thought of the vial in my pocket
pouch. I looked quickly about the room. In one corner I espied a pile
of sleeping silks and furs; something there might answer my purpose;
the contents of the vial might yet give us all freedom if I had but
time enough. I ran quickly across the room and searched rapidly until I
had found three pieces of fabric that were at least better suited to my
purpose than any of the others. I opened my pocket pouch to withdraw
the vial and at the same instant I heard the pounding of running feet
and the clank and clatter of arms.
Too late! They were already at the door. I closed my pocket pouch and
waited. At first it was in my mind to take them on in combat as they
entered, but I put that idea aside as worse than useless, since it
could result in nothing but my death, whereas time might conjure an
opportunity to use the contents of the vial.
The door swung open, fully fifty warriors were revealed in the
corridor without. A padwar of the guard entered followed by his men.
"Surrender!" he commanded.
"I have not drawn," I replied. "Come and take it."
"You admit that you are the warrior who attacked the prince, Haj Alt?"
he demanded.
"I do," I replied.
"What have these women to do with it?"
"Nothing. I do not know them. I followed Haj Alt here because I thought
that it would give me the opportunity that I have long sought to kill
him."
"Why did you want to kill him?" demanded the padwar. "What grievance
have you against the prince?"
"None," I replied. "I am a professional assassin and I was hired by
others."
"Who are they?" he demanded.
I laughed at him, for I knew that he knew better than to ask a
professional assassin of Barsoom such a question as that. The members
of this ancient fraternity are guided by a code of ethics which they
scrupulously observe and seldom, if ever, can anything persuade or
force one of their number to divulge the name of his principal.
I saw Tavia's eyes upon me and it seemed to me that there was a little
questioning expression in them, but I knew that she must know that I
was lying thus to protect her and Phao.
I was hustled from the chamber and as I was being conducted along the
corridors and down the ramps of the palace, the padwar questioned
me in an endeavor to learn my true identity. I was greatly relieved
to discover that they did not recognize me and I hoped that I might
continue to escape recognition, not that it would make any difference
in my fate for I realized that the direst would be inflicted upon one
who had attempted to assassinate the prince of the house of Haj Osis,
but I was afraid that were I to be recognized they might accuse Tavia
of complicity in the attack upon Haj Alt and that she would be made to
suffer accordingly.
Presently I found myself in the pits again and by chance in the
very cell that Nur An and I had occupied. I experienced almost the
sensations of a homecoming, but with variations. Once again I was
alone, fettered to a stone wall. My only hope the vial which they had
overlooked and which still reposed at the bottom of my pocket pouch.
But this was no time or place to use its contents, nor had I the
requisite materials at hand even had I been unfettered.
I was not long in the pits this time before warriors came and,
unlocking my fetters, conducted me to the great throne room of the
palace, where Haj Osis sat upon his dais surrounded by the high
officers and functionaries of his army and his court.
Haj Alt, the prince, was there and when he saw me being led up toward
the throne he trembled with rage. As I was halted in front of the jed,
he turned to his son. "Is this the warrior who attacked you, Haj Alt?"
he asked.
"This is the scoundrel," replied the younger man. "He took me by
surprise and would have stabbed me in the back had I not managed to
outwit him."
"He drew his sword against you," demanded Haj Osis--"against the person
of a prince?"
"He did and he would have killed me with it, too, as he did kill Yo
Seno, whose corpse I found in the corridor that leads from Yo Seno's
office to the tower."
So, they had found the body of Yo Seno. Well, they would not kill me
any deader for that crime than for menacing the life of the prince.
At this juncture an officer entered the throne room rather hurriedly.
He was breathing rapidly as he stopped at the foot of the throne. He
was standing right beside me and I saw him turn and look quickly at me,
his eyes running rapidly up and down me between head and feet. Then he
addressed the man upon the throne.
"Haj Osis, Jed of Tjanath," he said, "I came quickly to tell you that
the body of a warrior of the hangar guard was just found within the
Jed's hangar. His harness had been stripped from him and his weapons,
while strange harness and strange weapons were left beside his corpse
and as I approached your throne, Haj Osis, I recognized the harness
of my dead warrior upon the body of this man here," and he pointed an
accusing finger at me.
Haj Osis was scrutinizing me very carefully now. There was a strange
look in his eyes that I did not like. It betokened half recognition
and then of a sudden I saw the dawning of full recognition there, and
the Jed of Tjanath swore a loud oath that resounded through the great
throne room.
"Breath of Issus!" he shouted. "Look at him! Do you not know him? He
is the spy from Jahar who called himself Hadron of Hastor. He died
The Death. With my own eyes I saw him, and yet he is back here in my
palace murdering my people and threatening my son, but this time he
shall die." Haj Osis had arisen from his throne and with upraised hands
that seemed to claw the air above me he appeared like some hideous
corphal pronouncing a curse upon its victim. "But first we shall know
who sent him there. He did not come of his own volition to kill me and
my son; behind him is some malignant mind that yearns to destroy the
Jed of Tjanath and his family. Burn him slowly, but do not let him die
until he has divulged the name. Away with him! Let the fire be hot, but
slow."
XII
THE CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY
As Haj Osis, Jed of Tjanath, pronounced sentence of death upon me I
knew that whatever I might do to save myself must be done at once, for
the instant that the guards laid hold upon me again my final hope would
have vanished for it was evident that the torture and the death would
take place immediately.
The warriors forming the guard that had escorted me from the pits were
lined up several paces behind me. The dais upon which Haj Osis stood
was raised but a little over three feet above the floor of the throne
room. Between me and the Jed of Tjanath there was no one, for as he had
sentenced me he had advanced from his throne to the very edge of the
platform.
The action that I took was not delayed as long as it has taken me to
tell it. Had it been, it could never have been taken for the guards
would have been upon me. Instantly the last word fell from his mouth
my plan was formulated and in that instant I leaped cat-like to the
dais, full upon Haj Osis, Jed of Tjanath. So sudden, so unexpected was
my attack that there was no defense. I seized him by the throat with
one hand and with the other I snatched his dagger from its sheath and
raising it above him I shouted my warning in a voice that all might
hear.
"Stand back, or Haj Osis dies!" I cried.
They had started to rush me, but as the full import of my threat came
home to them, they halted.
"It is my life, or yours, Haj Osis," I said, "unless you do what I tell
you to do."
"What?" he asked, his face black with terror.
"Is there an ante room behind the throne?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied. "What of it?"
"Take me there alone," I said. "Command your people to stand aside."
"And let you kill me when you get me there?" he demanded, trembling.
"I shall kill you now if you do not," I replied. "Listen, Haj Osis, I
did not come here to kill you or your son. What I told the padwar of
the guard was a lie. I came for another purpose, far transcending in
importance to me the life of Haj Osis or that of his son. Do as I tell
you and I promise that I shall not kill you. Tell your people that we
are going into the ante room and that I promise not to harm you if we
are left alone there for five xats (_about fifteen minutes_)."
He hesitated. "Make haste," I said, "I have no time to waste," and I
let the point of his own dagger touch his throat.
"Don't!" he screamed, shrinking back. "I will do whatever you say.
Stand back all of you!" he shouted to his people. "I am going to the
ante room with this warrior and I command you upon pain of death not
to enter there for five xats. At the end of that time, come; but not
before."
I took a firm hold upon Haj Osis' harness between his shoulders and I
kept the point of his dagger pressed against the flesh beneath his left
shoulder blade as I followed him toward the ante room, while those who
had crowded the dais behind the throne fell back to make an aisle for
us. At the doorway I halted and turned toward them.
"Remember," I said, "five full xats and not a tal before."
Entering the ante room I closed and bolted the door, and then, still
forcing Haj Osis ahead of me, I crossed the room and closed and bolted
the only other door to the chamber. Then I pushed the Jed to one side
of the room.
"Lie down here upon your face," I said.
"You promised not to kill me," he wailed.
"I shall not kill you unless they come before the five xats are up and
you do otherwise than as I bid you so as not to delay me. I am going to
bind you, but it will not hurt you."
With poor grace he lay down upon his belly and with his own harness I
strapped his arms together behind his back. Then I blindfolded him and
left him lying there.
As I had first entered the room I had taken in its contents with a
single, quick glance and I had seen there precisely the things that I
most needed, and now that I had disposed of Haj Osis I crossed quickly
to one of the windows and tore down a part of the silk hangings that
covered it. It was a full length of fine, light silk and very wide,
since it had been intended to hang in graceful folds as an underdrape
with heavier hangings. At the ornate desk where the Jed of Tjanath
signed his decrees, I went to work. First I took the vial from my
pocket pouch and unstoppered it; then I wadded the silk into a ball
and because of its wonderful fineness I could compress it within my
two hands. Fastening the ball of silk into a loosely compressed mass
with strips torn from another hanging, I slowly poured the contents of
the vial over it, turning the ball with the point of Haj Osis' dagger.
Remembering Phor Tak's warning, I was careful not to let any of the
contents of the vial come in contact with my flesh and I could readily
see why one had to be careful as I watched the ball of silk disappear
before my eyes.
Knowing that the compound of invisibility would dry almost as rapidly
as it impregnated the silk, I waited only a brief instant after
emptying about half the contents of the vial upon the ball. Then,
groping with my fingers, I found the strings that held it into its
roughly spherical shape and cut them, after which I shook the silk out
as best I could. For the most part it was invisible, but there were one
or two spots that the compound had not reached. These I quickly daubed
with some of the liquid remaining in the vial, which I now restoppered
and replaced in my pocket pouch.
So much depended upon the success of my experiment that I almost feared
to put it to the test, but it must be tested and there could be only a
few xats remaining before the warriors of Haj Osis would burst into the
ante-chamber.
By feel alone I draped the silk over my head so that it fell all about
me. Through its thin and delicate meshes I could see objects at close
range quite well enough to make my way about. I crossed to Haj Osis and
took the blind from his eyes, at the same time stepping quickly back.
He looked hurriedly and affrightedly about him.
"Who did that?" he demanded, and then half to himself, "he is gone."
For a moment he was silent, rolling his eyes about in all directions,
searching every nook and corner of the apartment. Then an expression
that was part hope and part relief came to his eyes.
"Quick!" he shouted in a loud voice. "The guard! He has escaped!"
I breathed a sigh of relief--if Haj Osis could not see me, no one
could--my plan had succeeded.
I dared not return to the throne room and make my escape that way along
corridors with which I was familiar for I could already hear the rush
of feet toward the ante room door and I was well aware that, although
they could not see me, they could feel me and that unquestionably in
the rush my mantle of invisibility, or at least a portion of it, would
be torn from me, which would indubitably spell my doom.
I ran quickly to the other doorway and unbolted it and as I opened it I
looked back at Haj Osis. His eyes were upon the doorway and they were
wide with incredulity and horror. For an instant I did not realize
the cause and looked quickly behind me to see if I could see what had
caused Haj Osis' fright and then it dawned upon me and I smiled. He had
seen and heard the bolt shot and the door open as though by ghostly
hands.
He must have sensed a vague suspicion of the truth, for he turned
quickly toward the other door and screamed a warning in a high falsetto
voice. "Do not enter," he cried, "until the five xats are up. It is I
who commands--Haj Osis, the Jed."
Closing the door after me and still smiling, I hastened along the
corridor, searching for a ramp that would carry me to the upper levels
of the palace from which I could easily locate the guard room and the
hangar where I had left my ship.
The corridor I had entered led directly into the royal apartments.
At first it was difficult to accustom myself to my invisibility and as
I suddenly entered an apartment in which there were several people, my
first impulse was to turn and flee, but though I had stepped directly
into the view of one of the occupants of the room and at a distance of
little more than five or six feet without attracting his attention,
although his eyes were apparently directly upon me, my confidence was
quickly restored. I continued on across the room as nonchalantly as
though I had been in my own quarters in Helium.
The royal apartments seemed interminable and though I was constantly
seeking a way out of them into one of the main corridors of the
palace, I was instead constantly stumbling into places where I did not
care to be and where I had no business, sometimes with considerable
embarrassment, as when I entered a cozy, private apartment in the
women's quarters at a moment when I was convinced they were not
expecting strange gentlemen.
I would not turn back, however, for I had no time to lose, and crossing
the room I followed another short corridor only to leap from the
frying pan into the fire--I had entered the forbidden apartment of the
Jeddara herself. It is a good thing for the royal lady that it was I
and not Haj Osis who came thus unexpectedly upon her, for her position
was most compromising, and from his harness I judged that her good
looking companion was a slave. In disgust I retreated, for there was
no other exit from the apartment, and presently I stumbled, entirely
by accident, upon one of the main corridors of the palace--a busy
corridor filled with slaves, warriors and courtiers, with men, women
and children passing to and fro upon whatever business called them, or
perhaps seated upon the carved benches that lined the walls.
I was not yet accustomed to my new and surprising state of
invisibility. I could see the people about me and it seemed inevitable
that I must be seen. For a moment I had hesitated in the doorway
that had led me to the corridor. A slave girl, approaching along the
corridor, turned suddenly toward the doorway where I stood. She was
looking directly at me, yet her gaze appeared to pass entirely through
me. For an instant I was filled with consternation, and then, realizing
that she was about to collide with me, I stepped quickly to one side.
She passed by me, but it was evident that she sensed my presence for
she paused and looked quickly about, an expression of surprise in her
eyes. Then, to my immense relief, she passed on through the doorway.
She had not seen me, though doubtless she had heard me as I stepped
aside. With a feeling of renewed confidence I now joined the throng in
the corridor, threading my way in and out among the people to avoid
contact with them and searching diligently all the while for the
entrance to a ramp leading upward. This I presently discovered, and it
was not long thereafter that I reached the upper level of the palace,
where a short search brought me to the guard room at the foot of the
ramp leading to the royal hangars.
Idling in the guard room, the warriors then off duty were engaged
in various pursuits. Some were cleaning their harness and polishing
their metal; two were playing at jetan, while others were rolling tiny
numbered spheres at a group of numbered holes--a fascinating game of
chance, called yano, which is, I presume, almost as old as Barsoomian
civilization. The room was filled with the laughter and oaths of
fighting men. How alike are warriors the world over! But for their
harness and their metal they might have been a detachment of the palace
guard at Helium.
Passing among them I ascended the ramp to the roof where the hangars
stood. Two warriors on duty at the top of the ramp almost blocked my
further progress. It would be a narrow squeeze to pass between them
and I feared detection. As I paused I could not but overhear their
conversation.
"I tell you that he was struck from behind," said one. "He never knew
what killed him," and I knew that they were talking about the guardsman
I had killed.
"But from whence came his assassin?" demanded the other.
"The padwar believes it may have been a fellow member of the guard.
There will be an investigation and we shall all be questioned."
"It was not I," said the other. "He was my best friend."
"Nor was it I."
"He had a way with women. Perhaps--"
My attention was distracted and their conversation terminated by the
footsteps of a warrior running rapidly up the ramp. My position was
now most precarious. The ramp was narrow and the man coming from
behind might easily bump into me. I must, therefore, pass the sentries
immediately and make my way to the roof. There was just sufficient room
between the warrior at my left and the sidewall of the ramp for me to
pass through, if he did not step back, and with all the stealth that I
could summon I edged myself slowly behind him and you may rest assured
that I breathed a sigh of relief when I had passed him.
The warrior ascending the ramp had now reached the two men. "The
assassin of the hangar sentry has been discovered," he said. "He is
none other than the spy from Jahar who called himself Hadron of Hastor
and who, with the other spy, Nur An, was sentenced to die The Death.
Through some miracle he escaped and has returned to the palace of Haj
Osis. Besides the hangar sentry, he has slain Yo Seno, but he was
captured after attacking the prince, Haj Alt. Again he has escaped and
he is now at large in the palace. The padwar of the guard has sent me
to direct you to redouble your watchfulness. Great will be the reward
of him who captures Hadron of Hastor, dead or alive."
"By my metal, I'd like to see him try to escape this way," said one of
the sentries.
"He'll never come here by daylight."
I smiled as I walked quickly toward the hangar. To reach the roof
without disarranging my robe of invisibility was difficult, but I
finally accomplished it. Before me lay the empty roof; no ship was in
sight, but I smiled again to myself, knowing well that it was there.
I looked about for the eye of the periscope that would reveal the
craft's presence to me, but it was not visible. However, that did not
concern me greatly since I realized that it might be turned in the
opposite direction. It was only necessary for me to walk to where I had
left the ship, and this I did, feeling ahead of me with extended hands.
I crossed the roof from one side to the other, but found no ship.
That I was perplexed goes without saying. I most certainly knew where
I had left the ship, but it no longer was there. Perhaps a wind had
moved it slightly, and with this thought in mind I searched another
section of the roof, but with equal disappointment. By now I was truly
apprehensive, and thereupon I set about a systematic search of the roof
until I had covered every square foot of it and was convinced beyond
doubt that the worst of disasters had befallen me--my ship was gone;
but where? Indeed the compound of invisibility had its drawbacks. My
ship might be and probably was at no great distance from me, yet I
could not see it. A gentle wind was blowing from the southwest. If
my ship had risen from the roof, it would drift in a northeasterly
direction, but though I strained my eyes toward that point of the
compass I could discern nothing of the tiny eye of the periscope.
I must admit that for a moment I was well nigh discouraged. It seemed
that always when success was about within my grasp some malign fate
snatched it from me, but presently I shook this weak despondency from
me and with squared shoulders faced the future and whatever it might
bring.
For a few moments I considered my position in all its aspects and
sought to discover the best solution of my problem. I must rescue
Tavia, but I felt that it would be useless to attempt to do so without
a ship, therefore I must have a ship, and I knew that ships were just
beneath me in the royal hangars. At night these hangars would be closed
and locked and watched over by sentries in the bargain. If I would have
a ship I must take it now and depend upon the swiftness and boldness of
my act for its success.
Royal fliers are usually fast fliers and if the ships of Haj Osis
were no exception to this general Barsoomian rule, I might hope to
outdistance pursuit could I but pass the hangar sentry.
Of one thing I was certain, I could not accomplish that by remaining
upon the roof of the hangar and so I cautiously descended, choosing a
moment when the attention of the sentries was directed elsewhere, for
there was always danger that my robe might blow aside, revealing my
limbs.
Once on the roof again I slipped quickly into the hangar and inspecting
the ships I selected one that I was sure would carry four with ease,
and which, from its lines, gave token of considerable speed.
Clambering to the deck I took my place at the controls; very gradually
I elevated the ship about a foot from the floor; then I opened the
throttle wide.
Directly ahead of me, through the open doorways of the hangar, the
sentries were standing upon the opposite side of the room. As the ship
leaped into the sunlight they voiced simultaneously a cry of surprise
and alarm. Like brave warriors they sprang forward with drawn long
swords and I could see that they were going to try to board me before
I could gain altitude, but presently one of them halted wide eyed and
stood aside.