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09 - Thuvia, Maid of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Classic Science Fiction Books

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Chapter nine, the battle in the Plain. The distance from the bottom of
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the funnel to the floor of the chamber beneath it could not have been great,
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for all three of the victims of Tario's wrath alighted unscathed. Carthoris,
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still clasping Thuvia tightly to his breast, came to the ground catlike upon his
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feet, breaking the shock for the girl. Scarce had his feet touched the
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rough stone flagging of this new chamber than his sword flashed out, ready for
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instant use. But though the room was lighted, there was no sign of
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enemy about. Carthoris turned toward Jav. The man was pasty white with fear.
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What is to be our fate, asked the Heliumite. Tell me,
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man, shake off your terror long enough to tell me so I may be
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prepared to sell my life and that of the Princess of Ptarth as dearly as
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possible. Comal whispered Jav. We are to be devoured by comal, your
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deity, asked Carthoris. The Lotharian nodded his head. Then he pointed toward
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a low doorway at one end of the chamber. From thence will he come
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upon us? Lay aside your puny sword, fool, it will but enrage
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him the more and make our sufferings the worse. Carthoris smiled, gripping his
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longsword the more firmly. Presently, Jav gave a horrified moan. At the
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same time, pointing toward the door he has come, he whimpered. Carthoris
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and Thuvia looked in the direction the Lotharian had indicated, expecting to see some
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strange and fearful creature in human form, But to their astonishment, they saw
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the broad head and great maned shoulders of a huge banth, the largest that
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either had ever seen. Slowly and with dignity, the mighty beast advanced into
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the room. Jav had fallen to the floor and was wriggling his body in
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the same servile manner that he had adopted toward Tario. He spoke to the
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fierce beasts as he would have spoken to a human being, pleading with it
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for mercy. Carthoris stepped between Thuvia and the banth, his sword, ready
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to contest the beast's victory over them. Thuvia turned toward Jav. Is this
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comal, your god? She asked. Jav nodded, affirmatively. The girl
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smiled, and then, brushing past Carthoris, she stepped swiftly toward the growling
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carnivore. In low, firm tones, she spoke to it, as she
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had spoken to the banths of the Golden Cliffs and the scavengers before the walls
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of Lothar. The beast ceased its growling with lowered head and cat like purr,
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It came slinking to the girl's feet. Thuvia turned toward Carthoris. It
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is but a banth, she said, We have nothing to fear from it.
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Carthoris smiled. I did not fear it, he replied, for I
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too believed it to be only a banth, and I have my long sword.
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Jav sat up and gazed at the spectacle before him, the slender girl
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weaving her fingers in the tawny mane of the huge creature that he had thought
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divine, while Koman rubbed his hideous snout against her side. So this is
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your God, laughed Thuvia. Jav looked bewildered. He scarce knew whether he
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dared chance offending comal or not, For so strong is the power of superstition
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that, even though we know that we have been reverencing a sham. Yet
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still we has to admit the validity of our new found convictions. Yes,
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he said, this is Komal for ages. The enemies of Tario have been
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hurled into his pit to fill his maw, for Komal must be fed.
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Is there any way out of this chamber to the avenues of the city,
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asked Carthoris. Jav shrugged. I do not know, he replied. Never
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have I been here before, nor ever have I cared to do so.
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Come, suggested Thuvia. Let us explore there must be a way out.
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Together, the three approached the doorway through which Comal had entered the apartment that
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was to have witnessed their deaths. Beyond was a low roofed lair with a
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small door at the far end. This, to their delight, opened to
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the lifting of an ordinary latch, letting them into a circular arena surrounded by
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tiers of seats. Here is where Comal is fed in public, explained the
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Jav. Had Tario dared, it would have been here that our fates had
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been sealed, but he feared too much, thy keen blade red man,
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and so he hurled us all downward to the pit I did not know how
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closely connected were the two chambers. Now we may easily reach the avenues and
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the city gates. Only the bowmen may dispute the right of way, and
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knowing their secret, I doubt that they will have power to harm us.
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Another door led to a flight of stairs that rose from the arena level upward
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through the seats to an exit at the back of the hall. Beyond this
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was a straight, broad corridor running directly through the palace to the gardens at
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the side. No one appeared to question them as they advanced, mighty comal
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pacing by the girl's side. Where are the people of the palace, the
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Jeddak's retinue asked Carthoris. Even in the city streets as we came through,
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I scarce saw a sign of a human being. Yet all about are the
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evidences of a mighty population, jav sighed, Poor Lothar, he said,
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it is indeed a city of ghosts. There are scarce a thousand of us
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left who once were numbered in the millions. Our great city is peopled by
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the creatures of our own imaginings. For our own needs, we do not
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take the trouble to materialize these peoples of our brain. Yet they are apparent
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to us even now. I see great throngs lining the avenues, hastening to
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and fro in the round of their duties. I see women and children laughing
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on the balconies. These we are forbidden to materialize. But yet I see
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them. They are here. But why not, he mused, No longer
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need I vir tario. He has done his worst and failed. Why not
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indeed, stay friends, he continued, Would you see Lothar in all her
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glory? Carthoris and Thuvia not of their assent, more out of courtesy than
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because they fully grasped the import of his mutterings. Jav gazed at them penetratingly
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for an instant, then, with a wave of his hand, cried,
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Look. The sight that met them was awe inspiring. Where before there had
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been nought but deserted pavements and scarlet swards, yawning windows and tenantless doors,
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now swarmed a countless multitude of happy, laughing people. It is the past,
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said Jav in a low voice. They do not see us, but
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they live the old, dead past of ancient Lothar, the dead and crumbled
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Lothar of antiquequity which stood upon the shore of Throxus, mightiest of the five
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oceans. See those fine upstanding men swinging along the broad avenue. See the
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young girls and the women smile upon them. See the men greet them with
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love and respect. Those be seafarers coming up from their ships which lie at
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the quays at the city's edge. Brave men, they, oh, But
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the glory of Lothar has faded. See their weapons, they alone bore arms,
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for they crossed the five seas to strange places where dangers were. With
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their passing past the martial spirit of the Lotharians, leaving as the ages rolled
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by a race of spineless cowards. We hated war, and so we trained
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not our youth in warlike ways. Thus follow our undoing. For when the
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seas dried and the green hordes encroached upon us, we could do nought but
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flee. But we remembered the seafaring bowmen of the days of our glory.
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It is the memory of these which we hurl upon our enemies. As Jav
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ceased speaking, the picture faded, and once more the three took up their
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way toward the distant city gates along deserted avenues twice they sighted Lotharians of flesh
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and blood. At sight of them and the huge banth, which they must
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have recognized as comal, the citizens turned and fled. They will carry word
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of our flight to Tario, cried Jav, and soon he will send his
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bowmen after us. Let us hope that our theory is correct, and that
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their shafts are powerless against minds cognizant of their unreality. Otherwise we are doomed.
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Explain red man to the woman the truths that I have explained to you,
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that she may meet the arrows with a stronger counter suggestion of immunity.
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Carthoris did as Jav bid him, but they came to the great gates without
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sign of pursuit developing. Here, Jav said in motion the mechanism that rolled
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the huge wheel like gait aside, and a moment later the three, accompanied
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by the banf, stepped out into the plain before Lothar Scarce. Had they
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covered a hundred yards when the sound of many men shouting rose behind them.
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As they turned, they saw a company of bowmen debuching upon the plain from
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the gate through which they had but just passed. Upon the wall above the
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gate. There were a number of Lotharians, among whom Jav recognized. Tario
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the Jeddak stood glaring at them, evidently concentrating all the forces of his trained
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mind upon them. That he was making a supreme effort to render his imaginary
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creatures deadly was apparent. Jav turned white and commenced to tremble. At the
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crucial moment he appeared to lose the courage of his conviction. The great banth
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turned back toward the advancing bowmen and growled. Carthoris placed himself between Thuvia and
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the enemy, and, facing them, awaited the outcome of the charge.
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Suddenly, an inspiration came to Carthoris. Hurl your own bowmen against Tario's,
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he cried to Jav. Let us see a materialized battle between two mentalities.
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The suggestion seemed to hearten the Lotharian, and in another moment, the three
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stood behind solid ranks of huge bowmen who hurled taunts and menaces at the advancing
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company emerging from the walled city. Jav was a new man. The moment
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his battalions stood between him and Tario, one could almost have sworn the man
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believed these creatures of his strange hypnotic power to be real flesh and blood.
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With hoarse battle cries, they charged the bowmen of Tario. Barbed shafts flew,
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thick and fast men fell, and the ground was red with gore.
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Carthoris and Thuvia had difficulty in reconciling the reality of it all with their knowledge
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of the truth. They saw Utan after Utan march from the gate in perfect
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step to reinforce the outnumbered company which Tario had first sent forth to arrest them.
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They saw Jav's forces grow correspondingly, until all about them rolled a sea
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of fighting, cursing warriors, and the dead lay in heaps about the field.
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Jav and Tario seemed to have forgotten all else, beside the struggling bowmen
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that surged to and fro filling the broad field between the forest and the city.
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The wood loomed close behind Thuvia and Carthoris. The latter cast a glance
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toward Jav. Come, he whispered to the girl. Let them fight out
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their empty battle. Neither evidently has power to harm the other. They are
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like two controversialists hurling words at one another. While they are engaged, we
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may as well be devoting our energies to an attempt to find the passage through
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the cliffs to the plane beyond. As he spoke, Jav, turning from
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the battle, for an instant, caught his words. He saw the girl
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move to accompany the Heliumite. A cunning look leaped to the Lotharian's eyes.
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The thing that lay beyond that look had been deep in his heart since first
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he had lain eyes upon Thuvia of Ptarth. He had not recognized it,
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however, until now that she seemed about to pass out of his existence.
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He centered his mind upon the Heliumite and the girl. For an instant,
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Carthoris saw Thuvia of Ptarth step forward with outstriking hand. He was surprised at
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this sudden softening toward him, and it was with a full heart that he
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let his fingers close upon hers. As together they turned away from Forgotten Lothar
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into the woods and bent their steps toward the distant mountains. As the Lotharian
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had turned toward them, Thuvia had been surprised to hear Carthoris suddenly voice a
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new plan. Remain here with Jav. She had heard him say, while
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I go to search for the passage through the cliffs. She had dropped back
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in surprise and disappointment, for she knew that there was no reason why she
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should not have accompanied him. Certainly, she should have been safer with him
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than left here alone with the Lotharian, and Jav watched the two and smiled
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his cunning smile. When Carthoris had disappeared within the wood, Thuvia seated herself
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apathetically upon the scarlet sward to watch the seemingly interminable struggles of the bowmen.
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The long afternoon dragged its weary way toward darkness, and still the imaginary legions
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charged and retreated. The sun was about to set when Tario commenced to withdraw
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his troops slowly toward the city. His plan for cessation of hostilities through the
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night evidently met with Jav's entire approval, for he caused his forces to form
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themselves in orderly utons and marched just within the edge of the wood, where
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they were soon busily engaged in preparing their evening meal and spreading down their sleeping
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silks and furs for the night. Thuvia could scarce repress a smile as she
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noted the scrupulous care with which Jav's imaginary men attended to each tiny detail of
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deportment as truly as if they had been flesh and blood. Centuries were posted
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between the camp and the city. Officers clanked hither and thither, issuing commands
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and seeing to it that they were properly carried out. Thuvia turned toward Jav.
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Why is it, she asked, that you observe such careful nicety in
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the regulation of your creatures, when Tario knows quite as well as you that
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they are but figments of your brain? Why not prevent them simply to dissolve
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into thin air until you again require their futile service. You do not understand
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them, replied Jav. While they exist, they are real. I do
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but call them into being now and in a way direct their general actions.
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But thereafter, until I dissolve them, they are as actual as you or
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I. Their officers command them under my guidance. I am the general,
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that is all, And the psychological effect upon the enemy is far greater than
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were I to treat them merely as substanceless vagaries. Then, too, continued
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the Letharian, there is always the hope, which with us is little short
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of belief, that some day these materializations will merge into the real that they
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will remain some of them after we have dissolved their fellows, and that thus
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we shall have discovered a means for perpetuating our dying race. Some there are
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who claim already to have accomplished the thing. It is generally supposed that the
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etherealists have quite a few among their number who are permanent materializations. It is
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even said that such is Tario, but that cannot be, for he existed
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before we have discovered the full possibilities of suggestion. There are others among us
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who insist that none of us is real, though we could not have existed
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all these ages without material food and water, had we ourselves been material.
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Although I am a realist, I rather incline towards this belief myself. It
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seems well and sensibly based upon the belief that our ancient forebears developed before their
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extinction such wondrous mentalities, that some of the stronger minds among them lived after
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the death of their bodies. That we are but the deathless minds of individuals
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long dead, it would appear possible. And yet, in so far as
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I am concerned, I have all the attributes of corporeal existence. I sleep,
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I eat, He paused, casting a meaning look upon the girl I
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love. Thuvia could not mistake the palpable meaning of his words and expression.
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She turned away with a little shrug of disgust that was not lost upon the
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Lotharian. He came close to her and seized her arm. Why not,
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Jev, he cried, cood, more honorable than the second of the world's
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most ancient race, Your Heliumite, he is gone. He has deserted you
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to your fate to save himself. Come be, Javs. Thuvia of Ptarth
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rose to her full height, her lifted shoulders turned toward the man. Her
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haughty chin upraised a scornful twist to her lips. You lie, she said
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quietly. The Heliumite knows less of disloyalty than he knows of fear, and
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of fear, he is as ignorant as the unhatched young. Then where is
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he? Taunted the Lotharian, I tell you, he has fled the valley.
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He has left you to your fate. But Jev will see that it
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is a pleasant one. Tomorrow we shall return into Lothar, the head of
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my victorious army, and I shall be Jeddak, and you shall be my
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consort. Come, and he attempted to crush her to his breast. The
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girl struggled to free herself, striking at the man with her metal armlets.
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Yet still he drew her toward him, until both were suddenly startled by a
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hideous growl that rumbled from the dark woods close behind them. End of chapter nine.