Latest / Classic Science Fiction Books / 07 - Thuvia, Maid of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Chapter seven, the Phantom Bowmen. As Jav leaped toward him,
- 0:07Speaker 1: Carthoris laid his hand upon the hilt of his long sword.
- 0:12Speaker 1: The Lotharian halted. The great apartment was empty save for
- 0:17Speaker 1: the four at the dais. Yet as Jav stepped back
- 0:20Speaker 1: from the menace of the Heliumite's threatening attitude, the latter
- 0:24Speaker 1: found himself surrounded by a score of bowmen. From whence
- 0:29Speaker 1: had they sprung. Both Carthoris and Thuvia looked their astonishment.
- 0:37Speaker 1: Now the former's sword leaped from its scabbard, and at
- 0:40Speaker 1: the same instant the bowmen drew back their slim shafts.
- 0:46Speaker 1: Tario had half raised himself upon one elbow. For the
- 0:50Speaker 1: first time he saw the full figure of Thuvia, who
- 0:54Speaker 1: had been concealed behind the person of Carthoris. Enough cried
- 0:59Speaker 1: the jk raising a protesting hand, but at that very instant,
- 1:04Speaker 1: the sword of the Heliumite cut viciously at its nearest antagonist.
- 1:09Speaker 1: As the keen edge reached its goal, Carthoris let the
- 1:12Speaker 1: point fall to the floor as with wide eyes. He
- 1:16Speaker 1: stepped backward in consternation, throwing the back of his left
- 1:20Speaker 1: hand across his brow. His steel had cut but empty air.
- 1:25Speaker 1: His antagonist had vanished. There were no bowmen in the room.
- 1:32Speaker 1: It is evident that these are strangers, said Tario to
- 1:36Speaker 1: jav let Us. First determine that they knowingly affronted us,
- 1:41Speaker 1: before we take measures for punishment. Then he turned to Carthoris,
- 1:48Speaker 1: But ever his gaze wandered to the perfect lines of
- 1:51Speaker 1: Thuvia's glorious figure, which the harness of a Barsoomian princess
- 1:56Speaker 1: accentuated rather than concealed. Who are you, he asked, who
- 2:03Speaker 1: knows not the etiquette of the court of the last
- 2:06Speaker 1: of Jeddaks. I am Carthoris, Prince of Helium, replied the Heliumite,
- 2:14Speaker 1: And this is Thuvia, Princess of Ptarth. In the courts
- 2:19Speaker 1: of our fathers, men do not prostrate themselves before royalty.
- 2:24Speaker 1: Not since the first born tore their immortal goddess Limb
- 2:27Speaker 1: from limb have men crawled upon their bellies to any
- 2:31Speaker 1: throne upon Barsoom. Now think you, the daughter of one
- 2:36Speaker 1: mighty Jeddak and the son of another, would so humiliate themselves.
- 2:43Speaker 1: Tario looked at Carthoris for a long time. At last
- 2:48Speaker 1: he spoke, there is no other Jeddak upon Barsoom Vnario,
- 2:54Speaker 1: he said, there is no other race than that of Lothar,
- 2:59Speaker 1: and the hordes of Torcas may be dignified by such
- 3:03Speaker 1: an appellation. Lotharians are white, your skins are red. There
- 3:10Speaker 1: are no women left upon Barsoom. Your companion is a woman.
- 3:17Speaker 1: He half rose from the couch, leaning far forward and
- 3:21Speaker 1: pointing an accusing finger at Carthoris. You are a lie,
- 3:27Speaker 1: he shrieked. You are both lies, and you dare to
- 3:31Speaker 1: come before Tario, last and mightiest of the Jeddaks of Barsoom,
- 3:36Speaker 1: and assert your reality. Someone shall pay well for this, Jav.
- 3:43Speaker 1: And unless I mistake, it is yourself who has dared
- 3:46Speaker 1: thus flippantly to trifle with the good nature of your Jeddak.
- 3:52Speaker 1: Remove the man, leave the woman. We shall see if
- 3:57Speaker 1: both be lies, and later, Jav, you shall suffer for
- 4:03Speaker 1: your temerity. There be few of us left, but comal
- 4:10Speaker 1: must be fed. Go. Carthoris could see that Jav trembled
- 4:17Speaker 1: as he prostrated himself once more before his ruler, and
- 4:21Speaker 1: then rising turned toward the Prince of Helium. Come, he said,
- 4:28Speaker 1: and leave the Princess of Ptarth here alone, cried Carthoris.
- 4:34Speaker 1: Jav brushed closely past him, whispering, follow me. He cannot
- 4:40Speaker 1: harm her except to kill, and that he can do
- 4:43Speaker 1: whether you remain or not. We had best go now,
- 4:48Speaker 1: trust me. Carthoris did not understand, but something in the
- 4:53Speaker 1: urgency of the other's tone assured him, and so he
- 4:57Speaker 1: turned away, but not without a glance toward Thuvia, in
- 5:01Speaker 1: which he attempted to make her understand that it was
- 5:03Speaker 1: in her own interest that he left her. For answer.
- 5:08Speaker 1: She turned her back full upon him, but not without
- 5:11Speaker 1: first throwing him such a look of contempt that brought
- 5:15Speaker 1: the scarlet to his cheek. Then he hesitated, but Jav
- 5:20Speaker 1: seized him by the rest. Come, he whispered, or he
- 5:24Speaker 1: will have the bowman upon you, and this time there
- 5:27Speaker 1: will be no escape. Did you not see how futile
- 5:31Speaker 1: is your steel against thin air? Carthoris turned unwillingly to follow.
- 5:38Speaker 1: As the two left the room, he turned to his companion.
- 5:42Speaker 1: If I may not kill thin Air, he asked, how
- 5:46Speaker 1: then shall I fear that thin Air may kill me?
- 5:50Speaker 1: You saw the Torquasians fall before the bowman, asked Jav.
- 5:56Speaker 1: Carthoris nodded, so would you fall before them? And without
- 6:01Speaker 1: one single chance for self defense or revenge. As they talked,
- 6:08Speaker 1: Jav led Carthoris to a small room in one of
- 6:11Speaker 1: the numerous towers of the palace. Here were couches, and
- 6:16Speaker 1: Jav bid the helium might be seated for several minutes.
- 6:20Speaker 1: The Lotharian eyed his prisoner for such. Carthoris now realized
- 6:25Speaker 1: himself to be I am half convinced that you are real,
- 6:30Speaker 1: he said. At last, Carthoris laughed, Of course I am real,
- 6:36Speaker 1: he said, what caused you to doubt it? Can you
- 6:40Speaker 1: not see me? Feel me? So? May I see and
- 6:44Speaker 1: feel the bowmen, replied Jav. And yet we all know
- 6:48Speaker 1: that they at least are not real. Carthoris showed by
- 6:53Speaker 1: the expression of his face his puzzlement at each new
- 6:56Speaker 1: reference to the mysterious bowmen, the vanishing soulery of Lothar.
- 7:03Speaker 1: What then, may they be, he asked, You really do
- 7:09Speaker 1: not know, asked Jav. Carthoris shook his head negatively. I
- 7:16Speaker 1: can almost believe that you have told us the truth,
- 7:20Speaker 1: and that you are really from another part of Barsoom,
- 7:24Speaker 1: or from another world. But tell me, in your own country,
- 7:28Speaker 1: have you no bowmen to strike terror to the hearts
- 7:31Speaker 1: of the Green hordesmen as they slay in company with
- 7:34Speaker 1: the fierce banths of war. We have soldiers, replied Carthoris.
- 7:41Speaker 1: We of the Red race are all soldiers, but we
- 7:44Speaker 1: have no bowmen to defend us, such as yours. We
- 7:48Speaker 1: defend ourselves. You go out and get killed by your enemies,
- 7:53Speaker 1: cried Jav incredulously certainly, replied Carthoris. How do the oarians
- 8:02Speaker 1: you have seen, replied the other. We send out our
- 8:06Speaker 1: deathless archers, deathless because they are lifeless, existing only in
- 8:12Speaker 1: the imaginations of our enemies. It is really our giant
- 8:16Speaker 1: minds that defend us, sending out legions of imaginary warriors
- 8:21Speaker 1: to materialize before the mind's eye of the foe. They
- 8:25Speaker 1: see them, They see their bows drawn back, They see
- 8:30Speaker 1: their slender arrows speed with unerring precision toward their hearts,
- 8:35Speaker 1: and they die, killed by the power of suggestion. But
- 8:42Speaker 1: the archers that are slain, exclaimed Carthoris. You call them deathless,
- 8:47Speaker 1: and yet I saw their dead bodies piled high upon
- 8:49Speaker 1: the battlefield. How may that be? It is but to
- 8:54Speaker 1: lend reality to the scene, replied Jav. We picture many
- 8:59Speaker 1: of our own defenders killed, that the Torquasians may not
- 9:03Speaker 1: guess that there are really no flesh and blood creatures
- 9:06Speaker 1: opposing them. Once that truth became implanted in their minds,
- 9:12Speaker 1: it is the theory of many of us. No longer
- 9:16Speaker 1: would they fall prey to the suggestion of the deadly arrows,
- 9:20Speaker 1: For greater would be the suggestion of the truth, and
- 9:23Speaker 1: the more powerful suggestion would prevail. It is law and
- 9:30Speaker 1: the banths, questioned Carthoris, They too were but creatures of suggestion.
- 9:38Speaker 1: Some of them were real, replied jav Those that accompanied
- 9:42Speaker 1: the archers in pursuit of the Torquasians were unreal. Like
- 9:47Speaker 1: the archers. They never returned, but, having served their purpose,
- 9:52Speaker 1: vanished with the bowmen when the rout of the enemy
- 9:55Speaker 1: was assured. Those that remain about the field, those we
- 10:02Speaker 1: loosed as scavengers to devour the bodies of the dead
- 10:06Speaker 1: of Torcas. This thing is demanded by the realists among us.
- 10:11Speaker 1: I am a realist. Tario is an etherealist. The etherealists
- 10:18Speaker 1: maintain that there is no such thing as matter, that
- 10:23Speaker 1: all is mind. They say that none of us exists
- 10:28Speaker 1: except in the imagination of his fellows, other than as
- 10:32Speaker 1: an intangible, invisible mentality. According to Tario, it is but
- 10:39Speaker 1: necessary that we all unite in imagining that there are
- 10:42Speaker 1: no dead Torquasians beneath our walls, and there will be
- 10:46Speaker 1: none nor any need of scavenging banths. You then, do
- 10:53Speaker 1: not hold Tario's beliefs, asked Carthoris in part only replied
- 11:00Speaker 1: the Lotharian. I believe. In fact, I know that there
- 11:06Speaker 1: are some truly ethereal creatures. Taria is one. I am
- 11:11Speaker 1: convinced he has no existence except in the imaginations of
- 11:16Speaker 1: his people. Of course, it is the contention of all
- 11:20Speaker 1: us realists that all etherialists are but figments of the imagination.
- 11:26Speaker 1: They contend that no food is necessary, nor do they eat.
- 11:32Speaker 1: But any one of the most rudimentary intelligence must realize
- 11:36Speaker 1: that food is a necessity to creatures having actual existence. Yes,
- 11:42Speaker 1: agreed Carthoris. Not having eaten to day, I can readily
- 11:47Speaker 1: agree with you. Ah pardon me, exclaimed the jab pray
- 11:52Speaker 1: be seated and satisfy your hunger. And with a wave
- 11:57Speaker 1: of his hand he indicated a bountifully laden table that
- 12:00Speaker 1: had not been there an instant before he spoke of that.
- 12:05Speaker 1: Carthoris was positive, for he had searched the room diligently
- 12:09Speaker 1: with his eyes several times. It is well, continued Jav,
- 12:14Speaker 1: that you did not fall into the hands of an etherealist. Then, indeed,
- 12:19Speaker 1: would you have gone hungry? But exclaimed Carthoris, this is
- 12:24Speaker 1: not real food. It was not here an instant since,
- 12:28Speaker 1: and real food does not materialize out of thin air.
- 12:34Speaker 1: Jav looked hurt. There is no real food or water
- 12:38Speaker 1: in Lothar, he said, nor has there been for countless
- 12:43Speaker 1: ages upon such as you now see before you. Have
- 12:47Speaker 1: we existed since the dawn of history? Upon such then
- 12:52Speaker 1: may you exist? But I thought you were a realist,
- 12:58Speaker 1: exclaimed Carthoris. Indeed, cried Jav, what more realistic than this
- 13:05Speaker 1: bounteous feast. It is just here that we differ most
- 13:09Speaker 1: from the etherealists. They claim that it is unnecessary to
- 13:14Speaker 1: imagine food. But we have found that for the maintenance
- 13:18Speaker 1: of life we must thrice daily sit down to hearty meals.
- 13:24Speaker 1: The food that one eats is supposed to undergo certain
- 13:27Speaker 1: chemical changes during the process of digestion and assimilation, the
- 13:33Speaker 1: result of course being their rebuilding of wasted tissue. Now
- 13:38Speaker 1: we all know that mind is all, though we may
- 13:41Speaker 1: differ in the interpretation of its various manifestations. Tario maintains
- 13:47Speaker 1: that there is no such thing as substance, all being
- 13:51Speaker 1: created from the substanceless matter of the brain. We realists, however,
- 13:57Speaker 1: know better. We know that as the power to maintain substance,
- 14:02Speaker 1: even though it may not be able to create substance.
- 14:06Speaker 1: The latter is still an open question, and so we
- 14:10Speaker 1: know that in order to maintain our physical bodies, we
- 14:14Speaker 1: must cause all our organs properly to function. This we
- 14:19Speaker 1: accomplish by materializing food thoughts, and by partaking of the
- 14:24Speaker 1: food thus created. We chew, we swallow, we digest. All
- 14:32Speaker 1: our organs function precisely as if we had partaken of
- 14:35Speaker 1: material food. And what is the result? What must be
- 14:40Speaker 1: the result? The chemical changes take place through the both
- 14:44Speaker 1: direct and indirect suggestion, and we live and thrive. Carthoris
- 14:52Speaker 1: eyed the food before him. It seemed real enough. He
- 14:57Speaker 1: lifted a morsel to his lips. There was substance, indeed,
- 15:02Speaker 1: and flavor as well. Yes, even his palate was deceived.
- 15:08Speaker 1: Jav watched him, smiling as he ate. Is it not
- 15:14Speaker 1: entirely satisfying, he asked, I must admit that it is,
- 15:19Speaker 1: replied Carthoris. But tell me how does Tario live and
- 15:25Speaker 1: the other etherealists who maintain that food is unnecessary. Jav
- 15:32Speaker 1: scratched his head. That is a question we often discuss,
- 15:37Speaker 1: he replied. It is the strongest evidence we have of
- 15:41Speaker 1: the non existence of the etherealists. But who may know
- 15:45Speaker 1: other than Comal? Who is comal? Asked Carthoris, I heard
- 15:51Speaker 1: your Jeddak speak of him. Jav bent low toward the
- 15:56Speaker 1: ear of the heliumite, looking fearfully about before he spoke.
- 16:01Speaker 1: Comal is the essence, he whispered. Even the etherealists admit
- 16:06Speaker 1: that mind itself must have substance in order to transmit
- 16:10Speaker 1: to imaginings the appearance of substance. For if there really
- 16:15Speaker 1: was no such thing as substance, it could not be suggested.
- 16:20Speaker 1: What never has been cannot be imagined. Do you follow me?
- 16:25Speaker 1: I am groping, replied Carthoris, drily, So the essence must
- 16:31Speaker 1: be substance, continued Jav. Comal is the essence of the all,
- 16:36Speaker 1: as it were. He is maintained by substance. He eats.
- 16:42Speaker 1: He eats the real to be explicit. He eats the realists.
- 16:48Speaker 1: That is Tario's work. He says that inasmuch as we
- 16:53Speaker 1: maintain that we alone are real. We should to be
- 16:57Speaker 1: consistent admit that we alone are proper food for Comal. Sometimes,
- 17:03Speaker 1: as to day, we find other food for him. He
- 17:06Speaker 1: is very fond of Torquasians, and Comal is a man,
- 17:12Speaker 1: asked Carthoris. He is all I told you, replied Jav,
- 17:18Speaker 1: I know not how to explain him in words that
- 17:20Speaker 1: you will understand. He is the beginning and the end.
- 17:25Speaker 1: All life emanates from Comal, since the substance which feeds
- 17:30Speaker 1: the brain with imaginings radiates from the body of Comal.
- 17:35Speaker 1: Should Comal cease to eat, all life upon barsoom would
- 17:39Speaker 1: cease to be. He cannot die, but he might cease
- 17:44Speaker 1: to eat, and thus to radiate, and he feeds upon
- 17:49Speaker 1: the man and women of your belief, cried Carthoris. Women
- 17:54Speaker 1: exclaimed Jav. There are no women in Lothar, The last
- 18:00Speaker 1: of the Lotharian females perished ages since upon that cruel
- 18:05Speaker 1: and terrible journey across the muddy plains that fringed the
- 18:09Speaker 1: half dried seas, when the green Hordes scourged us across
- 18:14Speaker 1: the world to this, our last hiding place, our impregnable
- 18:19Speaker 1: fortress of Lothar. Scarce twenty thousand men of all the
- 18:24Speaker 1: countless millions of our race lived to reach Lothar. Among
- 18:30Speaker 1: us were no women and no children. All these had
- 18:34Speaker 1: perished by the way. As time went on, we too
- 18:40Speaker 1: were dying, and the race fast approaching extinction when the
- 18:45Speaker 1: great truth was revealed to us, that mind is all.
- 18:50Speaker 1: Many more died before we perfected our powers, but at
- 18:55Speaker 1: least we were able to defy death when we fully
- 18:58Speaker 1: understood that death was merely a state of mind. Then
- 19:03Speaker 1: came the creation of mind people, or rather the materialization
- 19:08Speaker 1: of imaginings. We first put these to practical use when
- 19:13Speaker 1: the Torquasians discovered our retreat, and fortunate for us, it
- 19:18Speaker 1: was that they required ages of search upon their part
- 19:22Speaker 1: before they found the single, tiny entrance to the valley
- 19:25Speaker 1: of Lothar. That day we threw our first bowmen against them.
- 19:31Speaker 1: The intention was purely to frighten them away by the
- 19:34Speaker 1: vast numbers of bowmen which we could muster upon our walls.
- 19:39Speaker 1: All Lothar bristled with the bows and arrows of our
- 19:42Speaker 1: ethereal host. But the Torkasians did not frighten. They are
- 19:49Speaker 1: lower than the beasts. They know no fear. They rushed
- 19:54Speaker 1: upon our walls, and standing upon the shoulders of others,
- 19:59Speaker 1: they built human approaches to the wall tops, and were
- 20:02Speaker 1: on the very point of surging in upon us and
- 20:05Speaker 1: overwhelming us. Not an arrow had been discharged by our bowmen.
- 20:11Speaker 1: We did but cause them to run to and fro
- 20:14Speaker 1: along the wall top, screaming taunts and threats at the enemy.
- 20:19Speaker 1: Presently I thought to attempt the thing, the great thing.
- 20:25Speaker 1: I centered all my mighty intellect upon the bowmen of
- 20:29Speaker 1: my creation. Each of us produces and directs as many
- 20:33Speaker 1: bowmen as his mentality and imagination is capable of. I
- 20:38Speaker 1: caused them to fit arrows to their bows. For the
- 20:40Speaker 1: first time, I made them take aim at the hearts
- 20:44Speaker 1: of the green men. I made the green men see
- 20:47Speaker 1: all this, and then I made them see the arrows fly,
- 20:52Speaker 1: and I made them think that the points pierced their hearts.
- 20:57Speaker 1: It was all that was necessary. By hundreds they toppled
- 21:02Speaker 1: from our walls. And when my fellows saw what I
- 21:05Speaker 1: had done, they were quick to follow my example, so
- 21:09Speaker 1: that presently the hordes of Torquas had retreated beyond the
- 21:13Speaker 1: range of our arrows. We might have killed them at
- 21:17Speaker 1: any distance, But one rule of war. We have maintained
- 21:21Speaker 1: from the first the rule of realism. We do nothing,
- 21:26Speaker 1: or rather, we cause our bowmen to do nothing within
- 21:30Speaker 1: sight of the enemy, that is, beyond the understanding of
- 21:33Speaker 1: the foe. Otherwise they might guess the truth, and that
- 21:38Speaker 1: would be the end of us. But after the Torcasians
- 21:42Speaker 1: had retreated beyond bowshot, they turned upon us with their
- 21:45Speaker 1: terrible rifles, and by constant popping at us, made life
- 21:50Speaker 1: miserable within our walls. So then I bethought the scheme
- 21:55Speaker 1: to hurl our bowmen through the gates upon them. And
- 21:59Speaker 1: you have seen this day how well it works. For ages.
- 22:03Speaker 1: They have come down upon us at intervals, but always
- 22:06Speaker 1: with the same results. And all this is due to
- 22:12Speaker 1: your intellect, Jav asked Carthoris. I should think that you
- 22:17Speaker 1: would be high in the councils of your people. I am,
- 22:22Speaker 1: replied Jav proudly. I am next to Tario. But why then,
- 22:29Speaker 1: your cringing manner of approaching the throne? Tario demands it.
- 22:35Speaker 1: He is jealous of me. He only awaits the slightest
- 22:39Speaker 1: excuse to feed me to comal. He fears that I
- 22:43Speaker 1: may someday usurp his power Carthoris suddenly sprang from the table. Jav.
- 22:51Speaker 1: He exclaimed, I am a beast. Here I have been
- 22:55Speaker 1: eating my fill, while the Princess of Ptarth may perchance
- 22:59Speaker 1: be still without food. Let us return and find some
- 23:03Speaker 1: means of furnishing her with nourishment. The Lotharian shook his head.
- 23:09Speaker 1: Tario would not permit it, he said, he will doubtless
- 23:14Speaker 1: make an etherealist of her. But I must go to her,
- 23:19Speaker 1: insisted Carthoris. You say that there are no women in Lothar,
- 23:24Speaker 1: then she must be among men, and if this be so,
- 23:27Speaker 1: I intend to be near where I may defend her.
- 23:30Speaker 1: If the need arises, Tario will have his way, insisted Jav.
- 23:37Speaker 1: He sent you away, and you may not return until
- 23:39Speaker 1: he sends for you. Then I shall go without waiting
- 23:43Speaker 1: to be sent for. Do not forget the bowmen, cautioned Jav.
- 23:50Speaker 1: I do not forget them, replied Carthoris. But he did
- 23:55Speaker 1: not tell Jav that he remembered something else that the
- 23:58Speaker 1: Lotharian had let drop, Something that was but a conjecture,
- 24:02Speaker 1: possibly and yet one well worth pinning a forlorn hope
- 24:07Speaker 1: to should necessity arise. Carthoris started to leave the room,
- 24:13Speaker 1: jav stepped before him, barring his way. I have learned
- 24:18Speaker 1: to like you, red man, he said, But do not
- 24:22Speaker 1: forget that Tario is still my Jeddak, and that Tario
- 24:26Speaker 1: has commanded that you remain here. Carthoris was about to
- 24:31Speaker 1: reply when there came, faintly to the ears of both
- 24:35Speaker 1: a woman's cry for help. With a sweep of his arm,
- 24:40Speaker 1: the Prince of Helium brushed the Lotharian aside, and withdrawn sword,
- 24:45Speaker 1: sprang into the corridor without end of chapter seven