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06 - Thuvia, Maid of Mars (version 3) by Edgar Rice Burroughs · Thuvia, Maid of Mars (version 3)

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  Speaker 1: Chapter six of Thuvia Made of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Thuvia Made
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  Speaker 1: of Mars, Chapter six, The Jeddak of Lothar. The girl
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  Speaker 1: looked her incredulity. They lay in piles. She murmured, there
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  Speaker 1: were thousands of them but a minute ago, and now
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  Speaker 1: continued Carthoris, there remained but the bans and the carcasses
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  Speaker 1: of the green men. They must have set forth and
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  Speaker 1: carried the dead bowmen away while we were talking, said
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  Speaker 1: the girl. It is impossible, replied Carthoris. Thousands of dead
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  Speaker 1: lay there upon the field but a moment, since it
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  Speaker 1: would have required many hours to have removed them. The
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  Speaker 1: thing is uncanny. I had hoped, said Thuvia, that we
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  Speaker 1: might find an asylum with these fair skinned people. Notwithstanding
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  Speaker 1: their valor upon the field field of battle, they did
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  Speaker 1: not strike me as a ferocious or warlike people. I
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  Speaker 1: had been about to suggest that we seek entrance to
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  Speaker 1: the city, But now I scarce know if I care
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  Speaker 1: to venture among people whose dead vanish into thin air.
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  Speaker 1: Let us chance, it, replied Carthoris. We can be no
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  Speaker 1: worse off within their walls than without here we may
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  Speaker 1: fall prey to the banths or the no less fierce Torquassians.
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  Speaker 1: There at least we shall find beings molded after our
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  Speaker 1: own images. All that causes me to hesitate, he added,
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  Speaker 1: is the danger of taking you past so many banths
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  Speaker 1: a single sword, which scarce prevail, were even a couple
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  Speaker 1: of them to charge simultaneously. Do not fear on that score,
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  Speaker 1: replied the girl, smiling, The bans will not harm us.
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  Speaker 1: As she spoke, she descended from the platform, and, with
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  Speaker 1: Carthoris at her side, stepped fearlessly out upon the bloody
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  Speaker 1: field in the direction of the war city of Mystery.
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  Speaker 1: They had advanced but a short distance when a banth,
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  Speaker 1: looking up from its gory feast, descried them with an
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  Speaker 1: angry roar. The beast walked quickly in their direction, and
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  Speaker 1: at the sound of its voice, a score of others
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  Speaker 1: followed its example. Carthoris drew his long sword. The girl
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  Speaker 1: stole a quick glance at his face. She saw the
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  Speaker 1: smile upon his lips, and it was as wine to
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  Speaker 1: sick nerves. For even upon warlike barsoom, where all men
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  Speaker 1: are brave, woman reacts quickly to quiet indifference to danger.
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  Speaker 1: To dare deviltry, that is, without bombast. You may return
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  Speaker 1: your sword, she said, I told you that the bance
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  Speaker 1: would not harm us. Look, and as she spoke, she
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  Speaker 1: stepped quickly toward the nearest animal. Carthoris would have leapt
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  Speaker 1: after her to protect her, but with a gesture she
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  Speaker 1: motioned him back. He heard her calling to the bans
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  Speaker 1: in a low sing song voe that was half per Instantly,
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  Speaker 1: the great heads went up, and all the wicked eyes
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  Speaker 1: were riveted upon the figure of the girl. Then, stealthily
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  Speaker 1: they commenced moving toward her. She had stopped now and
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  Speaker 1: was standing waiting them. One closer to her than the others. Hesitated,
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  Speaker 1: She spoke to him imperiously, as a master might speak
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  Speaker 1: to a refractory hound. The great carnivore let its head droop, and,
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  Speaker 1: with tail between its legs, came slinking to the girl's feet,
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  Speaker 1: and after it came the others, until she was entirely
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  Speaker 1: surrounded by the savage man eaters. Turning, she led them
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  Speaker 1: to where Carthoris stood. They growled a little as they
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  Speaker 1: neared the man, but a few sharp words of command
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  Speaker 1: put them in their places. How do you do it?
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  Speaker 1: Exclaimed Carthoris, your father once asked me that same question
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  Speaker 1: in the galleries of the Golden Cliffs, within the Ots Mountains,
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  Speaker 1: beneath the temples of the Thurns. I could not answer him,
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  Speaker 1: nor can I answer you. I do not know whence
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  Speaker 1: comes my power over them. But ever since the day
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  Speaker 1: that sat to our throg threw me among them in
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  Speaker 1: the bath pit of the Holy Therns, and the great
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  Speaker 1: creatures fawned upon instead of devouring me, I ever have
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  Speaker 1: had the same strange power over them. They come at
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  Speaker 1: my call and do my bidding, even as the faithful
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  Speaker 1: Woolah does the bidding of your mighty sire. With a word,
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  Speaker 1: the girl dispersed the fierce pack roaring. They returned to
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  Speaker 1: their interrupted feast, while Carthoris and Thuvia passed among them
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  Speaker 1: toward the walled city. As they advanced, the man looked
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  Speaker 1: with wonder upon the dead bodies of those of the
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  Speaker 1: green men that had not been devoured or mauled by
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  Speaker 1: the banths. He called the girl's attention to them. No
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  Speaker 1: arrows protruded from the great carcasses. Nowhere upon any of
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  Speaker 1: them was the sign of mortal wound, nor even slightest
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  Speaker 1: scratch or abrasion. Before the Bowman's dead had disappeared, The
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  Speaker 1: corpses of the Torquasians had bristled with the deadly arrows
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  Speaker 1: of their foes. Where had the slender messengers of death departed?
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  Speaker 1: What unseen hand had plucked them from the bodies of
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  Speaker 1: the slain? Despite himself, Carthoris could scarce repress a shudder
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  Speaker 1: of apprehension as he glanced toward the silent city before them.
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  Speaker 1: No longer was sign of life visible upon wall or
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  Speaker 1: roof top. All was quiet, brooding, ominous quiet. Yet he
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  Speaker 1: was sure that eyes watched them from somewhere behind that
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  Speaker 1: blank wall. He glanced at Thuvia. She was advancing with
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  Speaker 1: wide eyes fixed upon the city gate. He looked in
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  Speaker 1: the direction of her gaze, but saw nothing. His gaze
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  Speaker 1: upon her seemed to arouse her as from a lethargy.
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  Speaker 1: She glanced up at him, a quick, brave smile, touching
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  Speaker 1: her lips, and then, as though the act was involuntary,
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  Speaker 1: she came close to his side and placed one of
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  Speaker 1: her hands in his. He guessed that something within her
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  Speaker 1: that was beyond her conscious control, was appealing to him
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  Speaker 1: for protection. He threw an arm about her, and thus
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  Speaker 1: they crossed the field. She did not draw away from him.
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  Speaker 1: It is doubtful that she realized that his arm was there.
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  Speaker 1: So engrossed was she in the mystery of the strange
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  Speaker 1: city before them. They stopped before the gate. It was
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  Speaker 1: a mighty thing. From its construction, Carthoris could but dimly
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  Speaker 1: speculate upon its unthinkable antiquity. It was circular closing a
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  Speaker 1: circular aperture, and the Heliumite knew from his study of
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  Speaker 1: ancient Barsoomian architecture, that it rolled to one side, like
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  Speaker 1: a huge wheel, into an aperture in the wall. Even
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  Speaker 1: such world old cities as ancient on Thor were as
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  Speaker 1: yet undreamed of when the races lived that built such
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  Speaker 1: gates as these. As he stood speculating upon the identity
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  Speaker 1: of this forgotten city, a voice spoke to them from above.
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  Speaker 1: Both looked up. There, leaning over the edge of the
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  Speaker 1: high wall was a man. His hair was auburn, his
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  Speaker 1: skin fair, fairer even than that of John Carter the Virginian.
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  Speaker 1: His forehead was high, his eyes large and intelligent. The
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  Speaker 1: language that he used was intelligible to the two below,
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  Speaker 1: Yet there was a marked difference between it and their
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  Speaker 1: Barsoomian tongue. Who are you, he asked, and what do
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  Speaker 1: you hear before the gate of Lothar. We are friends,
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  Speaker 1: replied Carthoris. This be the princess Thuvia of Ptarth, who
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  Speaker 1: was captured by the Torquasian horde. I am Carthoris of Helium,
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  Speaker 1: Prince of the house of Tardos Mors Jeddak of Helium,
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  Speaker 1: and son of John Carter Wore, Lord of Mars, and
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  Speaker 1: of his wife dejah Thoris Ptarth, repeated the man Helium.
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  Speaker 1: He shook his head. I never have heard of these places,
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  Speaker 1: nor did I know that there dwelt upon Barsoom a
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  Speaker 1: race of thy strange color. Where may these cities lie?
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  Speaker 1: Of which you speak? From our loftiest tower, we have
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  Speaker 1: never seen another city than Lothar. Carthoris pointed toward the northeast.
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  Speaker 1: In that direction lie Helium and Tarth. He said. Helium
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  Speaker 1: is over eight thousand hods from Lothar, while Tarth lies
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  Speaker 1: nine thousand, five hundred hods northeast of Helium. Footnote on Barsoom.
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  Speaker 1: The ad is the basis of linear measurement. It is
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  Speaker 1: the equivalent of an earthly foot measuring about eleven point
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  Speaker 1: sixty nine four earth inches. As has been my custom
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  Speaker 1: in the past, I have generally translated Barsoomian symbols of time, distance,
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  Speaker 1: et cetera, into their Earthly equivalent, as being more easily
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  Speaker 1: understood by Earth readers. For those of a more studious
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  Speaker 1: turn of mine, it may be interesting to know the
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  Speaker 1: Martian table of linear measurement, and so I give it here.
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  Speaker 1: Ten sofads equals one ad, two hundred ads equals one hod,
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  Speaker 1: one hundred hods equals one karad. Three hundred sixty karads
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  Speaker 1: equals one circumference of mars at equator. A hod or
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  Speaker 1: Barsoomian mile contains about two thousand, three hundred thirty nine
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  Speaker 1: earth feet. A karad is one degree a sofad about
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  Speaker 1: one point one seven earth inches. Still, the man shook
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  Speaker 1: his head. I know nothing beyond the Lotharian hills, he said,
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  Speaker 1: naught may live there, beside the hideous green hordes of Torquas.
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  Speaker 1: They have conquered all Barsoom except this single valley and
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  Speaker 1: the city of Lothar. Here we have defied them for
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  Speaker 1: countless ages, though periodically they renew their attempts to destroy
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  Speaker 1: us from whence you come, I cannot guess unless you
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  Speaker 1: be descended from the slaves of the Torquasians, captured in
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  Speaker 1: early times when they reduced the outer world to their vassalage.
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  Speaker 1: But we had heard they had destroyed all other races
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  Speaker 1: but their own. Carthoris tried to explain that the Torquasians
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  Speaker 1: ruled but a relatively tiny part of the surface of Barsoom,
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  Speaker 1: and even this only because their domain held nothing to
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  Speaker 1: attract the Red race. But the Lotharian could not seem
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  Speaker 1: to conceive of anything beyond the Valley of Lothar other
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  Speaker 1: than a trackless waste peopled by the ferocious green hordes
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  Speaker 1: of torquas. After considerable parleying, he consented to admit them
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  Speaker 1: to the city, and a moment later the Wheelike gate
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  Speaker 1: rolled back within its niche, and Thuvia and Carthoris entered
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  Speaker 1: the city of Lothar. All about them were evidences of
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  Speaker 1: fabulous wealth. The facades of the buildings fronting upon the
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  Speaker 1: avenue within the wall were richly carven, and about the
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  Speaker 1: windows and doors were ofttimes set foot wide borders of
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  Speaker 1: precious stones, intricate mosaics, or tablets of beaten gold, bearing
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  Speaker 1: bas reliefs depicting what may have been bits of the
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  Speaker 1: history of this forgotten people. He with whom they had
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  Speaker 1: conversed across the wall, was in the avenue to receive them.
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  Speaker 1: About him were a hundred or more men of the
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  Speaker 1: same race. All were clothed in flowing robes, and all
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  Speaker 1: were beardless. Their attitude was more of fearful suspicion than antagonism.
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  Speaker 1: They followed the newcomers with their eyes, but spoke no
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  Speaker 1: word to them. Carthoris could not but notice the fact that,
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  Speaker 1: though the city had been but a short time before
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  Speaker 1: surrounded by a horde of bloodthirsty demons, yet none of
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  Speaker 1: the citizens appeared to be armed, nor was there sign
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  Speaker 1: of soldiery about. He wondered if all the fighting men
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  Speaker 1: had sallied forth in one supreme effort to rout the foe,
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  Speaker 1: leaving the city all unguarded. He asked their host. The
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  Speaker 1: man smiled, no creature other than a score or so
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  Speaker 1: of our sacred banths has left Lothar to day, he replied,
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  Speaker 1: But the soldiers, the bowmen, exclaimed Carthoris, we saw thousands
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  Speaker 1: emerge from this very gate, overwhelming the hordes of Torquas
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  Speaker 1: and putting them to rout with their deadly arrows and
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  Speaker 1: their fierce bans. Still, the man smiled his knowing smile. Look,
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  Speaker 1: he cried, and pointed down a broad avenue before him.
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  Speaker 1: Carthoris and Thuvia followed the direction indicated, and there, marching
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  Speaker 1: bravely in the sunlight, they saw advancing toward them a
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  Speaker 1: great army of bowmen. Ah, exclaimed Thuvia, they have returned
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  Speaker 1: through another gate. Or perchance these be the troops that
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  Speaker 1: remain to defend the city. Again, the fellow smiled his
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  Speaker 1: uncanny smile. There are no soldiers in Lothar, he said. Look.
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  Speaker 1: Both Carthoris and Thuvia had turned toward him while he spoke,
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  Speaker 1: and now as they turned back again toward the advancing regiments,
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  Speaker 1: their eyes went wide in astonishment, for the broad avenue
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  Speaker 1: before them was as deserted as the tomb, and those
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  Speaker 1: who marched out upon the horse to day, whispered Carthoris,
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  Speaker 1: they too were unreal. The man nodded, but their arrows slew.
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  Speaker 1: The green warriors insisted Thuvia. Let us go before Tario
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  Speaker 1: replied the Lotharian, he will tell you that which he
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  Speaker 1: deems it best. You know I might tell you too much.
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  Speaker 1: Who is Tario, asked Carthoris. Jeddak of Lothar, replied the guide,
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  Speaker 1: leading them up the broad avenue, done which they had
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  Speaker 1: but a moment since seen the phantom army marching for
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  Speaker 1: half an hour, they walked along lovely avenues, between the
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  Speaker 1: most gorgeous buildings that the two had ever seen. Few
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  Speaker 1: people were in evidence. Carthoris could not but note the
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  Speaker 1: deserted appearance of the mighty city. At last they came
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  Speaker 1: to the royal Palace. Carthoris saw it from a distance, and,
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  Speaker 1: guessing the nature of the magnificent pile, wondered that even
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  Speaker 1: here there should be so little sign of activity and life.
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  Speaker 1: Not even a single guard was visible before the great
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  Speaker 1: entrance gate, nor in the gardens beyond, into which he
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  Speaker 1: could see, was their sign of the myriad life that
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  Speaker 1: pulses within the precincts of the royal estates of the
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  Speaker 1: Red Jeddaks. Here said their guide is the Palace of Tario.
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  Speaker 1: As he spoke, Carthoris again let his gaze rest upon
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  Speaker 1: the wondrous palace with a startled exclamation. He rubbed his
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  Speaker 1: eyes and looked. Again. No, he could not be mistaken
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  Speaker 1: before the massive gate stood a score of sentries. Within.
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  Speaker 1: The avenue leading to the main building was lined on
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  Speaker 1: either side by ranks of bowmen. The gardens were dotted
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  Speaker 1: with officers and soldiers, moving quickly to and fro, as
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  Speaker 1: though bent upon the duties of the minute. What manner
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  Speaker 1: of people were these? Who could conjure an army out
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  Speaker 1: of thin air? He glanced toward Duvia, She too, evidently
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  Speaker 1: had witnessed the transformation. With a little shudder, she pressed
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  Speaker 1: more closely toward him. What do you make of it,
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  Speaker 1: she whispered. It is most uncanny. I cannot account for it,
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  Speaker 1: replied Carthoris, unless we have gone mad. Carthoris turned quickly
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  Speaker 1: toward the Lotharian. The fellow was smiling broadly. I thought
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  Speaker 1: that you just said that there were no soldiers in Lothar,
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  Speaker 1: said the Heliumite, with a gesture toward the guardsman. What
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  Speaker 1: are these, ask Tario, replied the other. We shall soon
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  Speaker 1: be before him. Nor was it long before they entered
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  Speaker 1: a lofty chamber, at one end of which a man
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  Speaker 1: reclined upon a rich couch that stood upon a high dais.
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  Speaker 1: As the trio approached, the man turned dreamy eyes sleepily
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  Speaker 1: upon them, twenty feet from the dais. Their conductor halted
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  Speaker 1: and whispering to Thuvia and Carthoris to follow his example,
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  Speaker 1: threw himself headlong to the floor. Then rising to hands
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  Speaker 1: and knees, he commenced crawling toward the foot of the throne,
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  Speaker 1: swinging his head to and fro, and wiggling his body
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  Speaker 1: as you have seen a hound do when approaching its master.
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  Speaker 1: Thuvia glanced quickly toward Carthoris. He was standing erect with
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  Speaker 1: high held head and arms folded across his broad chest.
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  Speaker 1: A haughty smile curved his lips. The man upon the
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  Speaker 1: dais was eyeing him intently, and Carthoris of Helium was
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  Speaker 1: looking straight in the other's face. Who be these Jav
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  Speaker 1: asked the man of him who crawled upon his belly
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  Speaker 1: along the floor. Oh, Tario, most glorious, Jeddak, replied Jav.
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  Speaker 1: These be strangers who came with the hordes of Torquas
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  Speaker 1: to our gates, saying that they were prisoners of the
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  Speaker 1: green Men. They tell strange tales of cities far beyond
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  Speaker 1: Lothar Arise. Jav commanded Tario and ask these two why
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  Speaker 1: they showed not to Tario the respect that his his due.
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  Speaker 1: Jav arose and faced the strangers. At sight of their
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  Speaker 1: erect positions, his face went livid. He leaped toward them creatures.
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  Speaker 1: He screamed, down down upon your bellies before the last
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  Speaker 1: of the Jeddaks of Barsoom. End of chapter six