BACK TO THAVAS
All that night we sped beneath the hurtling moons of Mars, as strange a
company as was ever foregathered upon any planet, I will swear. Two men,
each possessing the body of the other, an old and wicked empress whose
fair body belonged to a youthful damsel beloved by another of this
company, a great white ape dominated by half the brain of a human being,
and I, a creature of a distant planet, with Gor Hajus, the Assassin of
Toonol, completed the mad roster.
I could scarce keep my eyes from the fair form and face of Xaxa, and it
is well that I was thus fascinated for I caught her in the act of
attempting to hurl herself overboard, so repugnant to her was the
prospect of living again in her own old and hideous corpse. After that I
kept her securely bound and fastened to the deck, though it hurt me to
see the bonds upon those fair limbs.
Dar Tarus was almost equally fascinated by the contemplation of his own
body, which he had not seen for many years.
“By my first ancestor,” he ejaculated. “It must be that I was the least
vain of fellows, for I give you my word I had no idea that I was so fair
to look upon. I can say this now without seeming egotism, since I am
speaking of Sag Or,” and he laughed aloud at his little joke.
But the fact remained that the body and face of Dar Tarus were beautiful
indeed, though there was a hint of steel in the eyes and the set of the
jaw that betokened fighting blood. Little wonder, then, that Sag Or had
coveted the body of this young warrior; for his own, which Dar Tarus now
possessed, was marked by dissipation and age; nor that Dar Tarus yearned
to come again into his own.
Just before dawn we dropped to one of the numerous small islands that
dot the Great Toonolian Marshes and nosing the ship between the boles of
great trees we came to rest upon the surface of the ground, half buried
in the lush and gorgeous jungle grasses, well hidden from the sight of
possible pursuers. Here Hovan Du found fruits and nuts for us which the
simian section of his brain pronounced safe for human consumption, and
instinct led him to a nearby spring from which there bubbled delicious
water. We four were half famished and much fatigued, so that the food
and water were most welcome to us; nor did Xaxa and Sag Or refuse them.
Having eaten, three of us lay down upon the ship’s deck to sleep, after
securely chaining our prisoners, while the fourth stood watch. In this
way, taking turns, we slept away most of the day and when night fell,
rested and refreshed, we were ready to resume our flight.
Making a wide detour to the south we avoided Toonol and about two hours
before dawn we sighted the high Tower of Thavas. I think we were all
keyed up to the highest pitch of excitement, for there was not one
aboard that flier but whose whole life would be seriously affected by
the success or failure of our venture. As a first precaution we secured
the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind their backs and placed gags in their
mouths, lest they succeed in giving warning of our approach.
Cluros had long since set and Thuria was streaming towards the horizon
as we stopped our motor and drifted without lights a mile or two south
of the tower while we waited impatiently for Thuria to leave the heavens
to darkness and the world to us. To the north-west the lights of Toonol
shone plainly against the dark background of the windows of the great
laboratory of Ras Thavas, but the tower itself was dark from plinth to
pinnacle.
And now the nearer moon dropped plummetlike beneath the horizon and left
the scene to darkness and to us. Dar Tarus started the motor, the
wonderful, silent motor of Barsoom, and we moved slowly, close to the
ground, towards Ras Thavas’ island, with no sound other than the gentle
whirring of our propeller; nor could that have been heard scarce a
hundred feet so slowly was it turning. Close off the island we came to a
stop behind a cluster of giant trees and Hovan Du, going into the bow,
uttered a few low growls. Then we stood waiting in silence, listening.
There was a rustling in the dense undergrowth upon the shore. Again
Hovan Du voiced his low, grim call and this time there came an answer
from the black shadows. Hovan Du spoke in the language of the great apes
and the invisible creature replied.
For five minutes, during which time we were aware from the different
voices that others had joined in the conversation from the shore, the
apes conversed, and then Hovan Du turned to me.
“It is arranged,” he said. “They will permit us to hide our ship beneath
these trees and they will permit us to pass out again when we are ready
and board her, nor will they harm us in any way. All they ask is that
when we are through we shall leave the gate open that leads to the inner
court.”
“Do they understand that while an ape goes in with us none will return
with us?” I asked.
“Yes; but they will not harm us.”
“Why do they wish the gate left open?”
“Do not inquire too closely, Vad Varo,” replied Hovan Du. “It should be
enough that the great apes make it possible for you to restore Valla
Dia’s body to her brain and escape with her from this terrible place.”
“It is enough,” I replied. “When may we land?”
“At once. They will help us drag the ship beneath the trees and make her
fast.”
“But first we must top the wall to the inner court,” I reminded him.
“Yes, true—I had forgotten that we cannot open the gate from this
side.”
He spoke again, then, to the apes, whom we had not yet seen; and then he
told us that all was arranged and that he and Dar Tarus would return
with the ship after landing us inside the wall.
Again we got under way and rising slowly above the outer wall dropped
silently to the courtyard beyond. The night was unusually dark, clouds
having followed Thuria and blotted out the stars after the moon had set.
No one could have seen the ship at a distance of fifty feet, and we
moved almost without noise. Quietly we lowered our prisoners over the
side and Gor Hajus and I remained with them while Dar Tarus and Hovan Du
rose again and piloted the ship back to its hiding place.
I moved at once to the gate and, unlatching it, waited. I heard nothing.
Never, I think, have I endured such utter silence. There came no sound
from the great pile rising behind me, nor any from the dark jungle
beyond the wall. Dimly I could see the huddled forms of Gor Hajus, Xaxa
and Sag Or beside me—otherwise I might have been alone in the darkness
and immensity of space.
It seemed an eternity that I waited there before I heard a soft
scratching on the panels of the heavy gate. I pushed it open and Dar
Tarus and Hovan Du stepped silently within as I closed and relatched it.
No one spoke. All had been carefully planned so that there was no need
of speech. Dar Tarus and I led the way, Gor Hajus and Hovan Du brought
up the rear with the prisoners. We moved directly to the entrance to the
tower, found the runway and descended to the pits. Every fortune seemed
with us. We met no one, we had no difficulty in finding the vault we
sought, and once within we secured the door so that we had no fear of
interruption—that was our first concern—and then I hastened to the
spot where I had hidden Valla Dia behind the body of a large warrior,
tucked far back against the wall in a dark corner. My heart stood still
as I dragged aside the body of the warrior, for always had I feared that
Ras Thavas, knowing my interest in her and guessing the purpose of my
venture, would cause every chamber and pit to be searched and every body
to be examined until he found her for whom he sought; but my fears had
been baseless, for there lay the body of Xaxa, the old and wrinkled
casket of the lovely brain of my beloved, where I had hidden it against
this very night. Gently I lifted it out and bore it to one of the two
ersite topped tables. Xaxa, standing there bound and gagged, looked on
with eyes that shot hate and loathing at me and at that hideous body to
which her brain was so soon to be restored.
As I lifted her to the adjoining slab she tried to wriggle from my grasp
and hurl herself to the floor, but I held her and soon had strapped her
securely in place. A moment later she was unconscious and the
re-transference was well under way. Gor Hajus, Sag Or and Hovan Du were
interested spectators, but to Dar Tarus, who stood ready to assist me,
it was an old story, for he had worked in the laboratory and seen more
than enough of similar operations. I will not bore you with a
description of it—it was but a repetition of what I had done many times
in preparation for this very event.
At last it was completed and my heart fairly stood still as I replaced
the embalming fluid with Valla Dia’s own life blood and saw the color
mount to her cheeks and her rounded bosom rise and fall to her gentle
breathing. Then she opened her eyes and looked up into mine.
“What has happened, Vad Varo?” she asked. “Has something gone amiss that
you have recalled me so soon, or did I not respond to the fluid?”
Her eyes wandered past me to the faces of the others standing about.
“What does it mean?” she asked. “Who are these?”
I raised her gently in my arms and pointed at the body of Xaxa lying
deathlike on the ersite slab beside her. Valla Dia’s eyes went wide. “It
is done?” she cried, and clapped her hands to her face and felt of all
her features and of the soft, delicate contours of her smooth neck; and
yet she could scarce believe it and asked for a glass and I took one
from Xaxa’s pocket pouch and handed it to her. She looked long into it
and the tears commenced to roll down her cheeks, and then she looked up
at me through the mist of them and put her dear arms about my neck and
drew my face down to hers. “My chieftain,” she whispered—that was all.
But it was enough. For those two words I had risked my life and faced
unknown dangers, and gladly would I risk my life again for that same
reward and always, for ever.
Another night had fallen before I had completed the restoration of Dar
Tarus and Hovan Du. Xaxa, and Sag Or and the great ape I left sleeping
the deathlike sleep of Ras Thavas’ marvelous anaesthetic. The great ape
I had no intention of restoring, but the others I felt bound to return
to Phundahl, though Dar Tarus, now resplendent in his own flesh and the
gorgeous trappings of Sag Or, urged me not to inflict them again upon
the long suffering Phundahlians.
“But I have given my word,” I told him.
“Then they must be returned,” he said.
“Though what I may do afterward is another matter,” I added, for there
had suddenly occurred to me a bold scheme.
I did not tell Dar Tarus what it was nor would I have had time, for at
the very instant we heard someone without trying the door and then we
heard voices and presently the door was tried again, this time with
force. We made no noise, but just waited. I hoped that whoever it was
would go away. The door was very strong and when they tried to force it
they must soon have realized the futility of it because they quickly
desisted and we heard their voices for only a short time thereafter and
then they seemed to have gone away.
“We must leave,” I said, “before they return.”
Strapping the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind them and placing gags in
their mouths I quickly restored them to life, nor ever did I see two
less grateful. The looks they cast upon me might well have killed could
looks do that, and with what disgust they viewed one another was writ
plain in their eyes.
Cautiously unbolting the door I opened it very quietly, a naked sword in
my right hand and Dar Tarus, Gor Hajus and Hovan Du ready with theirs at
my shoulder, and as it swung back it revealed two standing in the
corridor watching—two of Ras Thavas’ slaves; and one of them was
Yamdor, his body servant. At sight of us the fellow gave a loud cry of
recognition and before I could leap through the doorway and prevent
them, they had both turned and were flying up the corridor as fast as
their feet would carry them.
Now there was no time to be lost—everything must be sacrificed to
speed. Without thought of caution or silence we hastened through the
pits towards the runway in the tower; and when we stepped into the inner
court it was night again, but the farther moon was in the heavens and
there were no clouds. The result was that we were instantly discovered
by a sentry, who gave the alarm as he ran forward to intercept us.
What was a sentry doing in the courtyard of Ras Thavas? I could not
understand. And what were these? A dozen armed warriors were hurrying
across the court on the heels of the sentry.
“Toonolians!” shouted Gor Hajus. “The warriors of Vobis Kan, Jeddak of
Toonol!”
Breathlessly we raced for the gate. If we could but reach it first! But
we were handicapped by our prisoners, who held back the moment they
discovered how they might embarrass us, and so it was that we all met in
front of the gate. Dar Tarus and Gor Hajus and Hovan Du and I put Valla
Dia and our prisoners behind us and fought the twenty warriors of Toonol
with the odds five to one against us; but we had more heart in the fight
than they and perhaps that gave us an advantage, though I am sure that
Gor Hajus was as ten men himself so terrible was the effect of his name
alone upon the men of Toonol.
“Gor Hajus!” cried one, the first to recognize him.
“Yes, it is Gor Hajus,” replied the assassin. “Prepare to meet your
ancestors!” and he drove into them like a racing propeller, and I was
upon his right and Hovan Du and Dar Tarus upon his left.
It was a pretty fight, but it must eventually have gone against us, so
greatly were we outnumbered, had I not thought of the apes and the gate
beside us. Working my way to it I threw it open and there upon the
outside, attracted by the noise of the conflict, stood a full dozen of
the great beasts. I called to Gor Hajus and the others to fall back
beside the gate, and as the apes rushed in I pointed to the Toonolian
warriors.
I think the apes were at a loss to know which were friends and which
were foes, but the Toonolians apprised them by attacking them, while we
stood aside with our points upon the ground. Just a moment we stood thus
waiting. Then as the apes rushed among the Toonolian warriors, we
slipped into the darkness of the jungle beyond the outer wall and sought
our flier. Behind us we could hear the growls and the roars of the
beasts mingled with the shouts and the curses of the men; and the sound
still rose from the courtyard as we clambered aboard the flier and
pushed off into the night.
As soon as we felt that we were safely escaped from the Island of Thavas
I removed the gags from the mouths of Xaxa and Sag Or and I can tell you
that I immediately regretted it, for never in my life had I been
subjected to such horrid abuse as poured from the wrinkled old lips of
the Jeddara; and it was only when I started to gag her again that she
promised to desist.
My plans were now well laid and they included a return to Phundahl since
I could not start for Duhor with Valla Dia without provisions and fuel;
nor could I obtain these elsewhere than in Phundahl, since I felt that I
held the key that would unlock the resources of that city to me; whereas
all Toonol was in arms against us owing to Vobis Kan’s fear of Gor
Hajus.
So we retraced our way towards Phundahl as secretly as we had come, for
I had no mind to be apprehended before we had gained entrance to the
palace of Xaxa.
Again we rested over daylight upon the same island that had given us
sanctuary two days before, and at dark we set out upon the last leg of
our journey to Phundahl. If there had been pursuit we had seen naught of
it; and that might easily be explained by the great extent of the
uninhabited marshes across which we flew and the far southerly course
that we followed close above the ground.
As we neared Phundahl I caused Xaxa and Sag Or to be again gagged, and
further, I had their heads bandaged so that none might recognize them;
and then we sailed straight over the city towards the palace, hoping
that we would not be discovered and yet ready in the event that we
should be.
But we came to the hangars on the roof apparently unseen and constantly
I coached each upon the part he was to play. As we were settling slowly
to the roof Dar Tarus, Hovan Du and Valla Dia quickly bound Gor Hajus
and me and wrapped our heads in bandages, for we had seen below the
figures of the hangar guard. Had we found the roof unguarded the binding
of Gor Hajus and me had been unnecessary.
As we dropped nearer one of the guard hailed us. “What ship?” he cried.
“The royal flier of the Jeddara of Phundahl,” replied Dar Tarus,
“returning with Xaxa and Sag Or.”
The warriors whispered among themselves as we dropped nearer and I must
confess that I felt a bit nervous as to the outcome of our ruse; but
they permitted us to land without a word and when they saw Valla Dia
they saluted her after the manner of Barsoom, as, with the regal
carriage of an empress, she descended from the deck of the flier.
“Carry the prisoners to my apartments!” she commanded, addressing the
guard, and with the help of Hovan Du and Dar Tarus the four bound and
muffled figures were carried from the flier down the spiral runway to
the apartments of Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl. Here excited slaves
hastened to do the bidding of the Jeddara. Word must have flown through
the palace with the speed of light that Xaxa had returned, for almost
immediately court functionaries began to arrive and be announced; but
Valla Dia sent word that she would see no one for a while. Then she
dismissed her slaves, and at my suggestion Dar Tarus investigated the
apartments with a view to finding a safe hiding place for Gor Hajus, me,
and the prisoners. This he soon found in a small antechamber directly
off the main apartment of the royal suite; the bonds were removed from
the assassin and myself and together we carried Xaxa and Sag Or into the
room.
The entrance here was furnished with a heavy door over which there were
hangings that completely hid it. I bade Hovan Du, who, like the rest of
us, wore Phundahlian harness, stand guard before the hangings and let no
one enter but members of our own party. Gor Hajus and I took up our
positions just within the hangings through which we cut small holes that
permitted us to see all that went on within the main chamber, for I was
greatly concerned for Valla Dia’s safety while she posed as Xaxa, whom I
knew to be both feared and hated by her people and therefore always
liable to assassination.
Valla Dia summoned the slaves and bade them admit the officials of the
court, and as the doors opened fully a score of nobles entered. They
appeared ill at ease and I could guess that they were recalling the
episode in the temple when they had deserted their Jeddara and even
hurled her roughly at the feet of the Great Tur, but Valla Dia soon put
them at their ease.
“I have summoned you,” she said, “to hear the word of Tur. Tur would
speak again to his people. Three days and three nights have I spent with
Tur. His anger against Phundahl is great. He bids me summon all the
higher nobles to the temple after the evening meal to-night, and all the
priests, and the commanders and dwars of the Guard, and as many of the
lesser nobles as be in the palace; and then shall the people of Phundahl
hear the word and the law of Tur and all those who shall obey shall live
and all those who shall not obey shall die; and woe be to him who,
having been summoned, shall not be in the temple this night. I, Xaxa,
Jeddara of Phundahl, have spoken! Go!”
They went and they seemed glad to go. Then Valla Dia summoned the odwar
of the Guard, who would be in our world a general, and she told him to
clear the palace of every living being from the temple level to the roof
an hour before the evening meal, nor to permit any one to enter the
temple or the levels above it until the hour appointed for the
assembling in the temple to hear the word of Tur, excepting however
those who might be in her own apartments, which were not to be entered
upon pain of death. She made it all very clear and plain and the odwar
understood and I think he trembled a trifle, for all were in great fear
of the Jeddara Xaxa; and then he went away and the slaves were dismissed
and we were alone.