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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twelve to save Dusar. Thuvia of Ptarth, battling for
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  Speaker 1: more than life against the lust of Jav, cast a
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  Speaker 1: quick glance over her shoulder toward the forest from which
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  Speaker 1: had rumbled the fierce growl. Jav looked too. What they
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  Speaker 1: saw filled each with apprehension. It was Komal, the Banth god,
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  Speaker 1: rushing wide jawed upon them. Which had he chosen for
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  Speaker 1: his prey or was it to be both? They had
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  Speaker 1: not long to wait for. Though the Lotharian attempted to
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  Speaker 1: hold the girl between himself and the terrible fangs, the
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  Speaker 1: great beast found him at last. Then shrieking, he attempted
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  Speaker 1: to fly toward Lothar, after pushing Thuvia bodily into the
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  Speaker 1: face of the man eater, but his fight was of
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  Speaker 1: short duration. In a moment, Komale was upon him, rending
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  Speaker 1: his throat and chest with demoniah fury. The girl reached
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  Speaker 1: their side a moment later, but it was with difficulty
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  Speaker 1: that she tore the mad beast from its prey. Still
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  Speaker 1: growling and casting hungry glances back upon Jav, the Banth
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  Speaker 1: at last permitted itself to be led away into the
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  Speaker 1: wood with her giant protector by her side, Thuvius set
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  Speaker 1: forth to find the passage through the cliffs that she
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  Speaker 1: might attempt the seemingly impossible feat of reaching far distant
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  Speaker 1: Ptarth across the more than seventeen thousand haads of savage Barsoom.
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  Speaker 1: She could not believe that Carthoris had deliberately deserted her,
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  Speaker 1: and so she kept a constant watch for him. But
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  Speaker 1: as she bore too far to the north in her
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  Speaker 1: search for the tunnel, she passed the heliumte as he
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  Speaker 1: was returning to Lothar in search of her. Thuvia of
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  Speaker 1: Ptarth was having difficulty in determining the exact status of
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  Speaker 1: the Prince of Helium in her heart. She could not
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  Speaker 1: admit even to herself that she loved him, and yet
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  Speaker 1: she had permitted him to apply to her that term
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  Speaker 1: of endearment and possession to which a Barsoomian maid should
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  Speaker 1: turn deaf ears when voiced by other lips than those
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  Speaker 1: of her husband or fiancee. My Princess Culan tiff Jeddak
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  Speaker 1: of Cowl, to whom she was affianced, commanded her respect
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  Speaker 1: and admiration. Had it been that she had surrendered to
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  Speaker 1: her father's wishes because of pique that the handsome Heliumite
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  Speaker 1: had not taken advantage of his visits to her father's
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  Speaker 1: court to push the suit for her hand, that she
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  Speaker 1: had been quite sure he had contemplated since that distant
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  Speaker 1: day the two had sat together upon the carved seat
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  Speaker 1: within the gorgeous garden of the Jeddaks that graced the
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  Speaker 1: inner courtyard of the Palace of salensus Oll at Cadabra.
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  Speaker 1: Did she love Culan tiff bravely? She tried to believe
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  Speaker 1: that she did, But all the while her eyes wandered
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  Speaker 1: through the coming darkness for the figure of a clean
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  Speaker 1: limbed fighting man, black haired and gray eyed. Black was
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  Speaker 1: the hair of Kulan Tith, but his eyes were brown.
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  Speaker 1: It was almost dark when she found the entrance to
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  Speaker 1: the tunnel Safely, she passed through to the hills beyond,
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  Speaker 1: and here, under the bright light of Mars's two moons,
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  Speaker 1: she halted to play in her future action. Should she
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  Speaker 1: wait here in the hope that Carthoris would return in
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  Speaker 1: search of her, or should she continue her way northeast
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  Speaker 1: toward Ptarth, where first would Carthoris have gone after leaving
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  Speaker 1: the valley of Lothar. Her parched throat and dry tongue
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  Speaker 1: gave her the answer toward Anthor and water well, She
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  Speaker 1: too would go first to Anthor, where she might find
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  Speaker 1: more than the water she needed. With Comal by her side,
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  Speaker 1: she felt little fear, for he would protect her from
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  Speaker 1: all other savage beasts. Even the great white apes would
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  Speaker 1: flee the mighty banth in terror. Men only need she fear.
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  Speaker 1: But she must take this and many other chances before
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  Speaker 1: she could hope to reach her father's court again. When
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  Speaker 1: at last Carthoris found her only to be struck down
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  Speaker 1: by the long sword of a green man, Thuvia prayed
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  Speaker 1: that the same fate might overtake her. The sight of
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  Speaker 1: the Red warriors leaping from their fliers had, for a
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  Speaker 1: moment filled her with renewed hope, hope that Carthoris of
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  Speaker 1: Helium might be only stunned, and that they would rescue him.
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  Speaker 1: But when she saw the Dusarian metal upon their harness,
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  Speaker 1: and that they sought only to escape with her alone
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  Speaker 1: from the charging Torquasians, she gave up. Comal too was dead,
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  Speaker 1: dead across the body of the Heliumite. She was indeed alone.
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  Speaker 1: Now there was none to pret the Dusarian warriors dragged
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  Speaker 1: her to the deck of the nearest flier. All about
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  Speaker 1: them the Green warriors surged in an attempt to arrest
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  Speaker 1: her from the red. At last, those who had not
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  Speaker 1: died in the conflict gained the decks of the two craft.
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  Speaker 1: The engines throbbed and purred, the propeller's whirred Quickly the
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  Speaker 1: swift boats shot heavenward. Thuvia of Ptarth glanced about her.
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  Speaker 1: A man stood near, smiling down into her face. With
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  Speaker 1: a gasp of recognition, she looked full into his eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and then, with a little moan of terror and understanding,
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  Speaker 1: she buried her face in her hands and sank to
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  Speaker 1: the polished skeel wood deck. It was Astok, Prince of Dusar,
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  Speaker 1: who bent above her. Swift were the fliers of Astok
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  Speaker 1: of Dusar, and great the need for reaching his father's
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  Speaker 1: court as quickly as possible. For the fleets of war
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  Speaker 1: of Helium and Ptarth and Cowol were scattered far and
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  Speaker 1: wide above Barsoom. Nor would it go well with Astok
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  Speaker 1: or Dusar should any of them discover Thuvia of Ptarth,
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  Speaker 1: a prisoner upon his own vessel. Anthor lies in fifty
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  Speaker 1: south latitude and forty east of Whores, the deserted seat
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  Speaker 1: of ancient Barsoomian culture and learning, while Dusar lies fifteen
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  Speaker 1: degrees north of the equator and twenty degrees east of Whores.
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  Speaker 1: Great though the distance is, the fliers covered it without
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  Speaker 1: a stop. Long before they had reached their destination, Thuvia
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  Speaker 1: of Ptarth had learned several things that cleared up the
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  Speaker 1: doubts that had assailed her mind for many days. Scarce
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  Speaker 1: had they risen above Anthor than she recognized one of
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  Speaker 1: the crew as a member of the crew of that
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  Speaker 1: other flier that had borne her from her father's gardens
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  Speaker 1: to Anthor. The presence of asten Stock upon the craft
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  Speaker 1: settled the whole question. She had been stolen by emissaries
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  Speaker 1: of the Dustarian Prince Carthoris of Helium had had nothing
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  Speaker 1: to do with it, nor did Astok deny the charge.
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  Speaker 1: When she accused him, he only smiled and pleaded his
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  Speaker 1: love for her. I would sooner mate with a white ape,
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  Speaker 1: she cried, when he would have urged his suit, Astok
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  Speaker 1: glowered sullenly upon her. You shall mate with me, Thuvia
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  Speaker 1: of Ptarth, he growled. Or by your first ancestor, you
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  Speaker 1: shall have your preference and mate with a white ape.
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  Speaker 1: The girl made no reply, nor could he draw her
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  Speaker 1: into conversation during the balance of the journey. As a
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  Speaker 1: matter of fact, Astok was a trifle awed by the
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  Speaker 1: proportions of the conflict which his abduction of the Parthian
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  Speaker 1: princess had induced, nor was he over comfortable with the
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  Speaker 1: weight of responsibility which the possession of such a prisoner
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  Speaker 1: in entailed. His one thought was to get her to Dusar,
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  Speaker 1: and there let his father assume the responsibility. In the meantime,
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  Speaker 1: he would be as careful as possible to do nothing
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  Speaker 1: to affront her, lest they all might be captured and
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  Speaker 1: have to account for his treatment of the girl to
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  Speaker 1: one of the great Jeddaks whose interests centered on her.
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  Speaker 1: And so at last they came to Dusar, where Astok
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  Speaker 1: hid his prisoner in a secret room high in the
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  Speaker 1: east tower of his own palace. He had sworn his
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  Speaker 1: men to silence in the matter of the true identity
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  Speaker 1: of the girl, for until he had seen his father, Nudas,
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  Speaker 1: Jeddak of Dusar, he dared not let any one know
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  Speaker 1: whom he had brought with him from the south. But
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  Speaker 1: when he appeared in the Great audience chamber before the
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  Speaker 1: cruel lipped man who was his sire, he found his
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  Speaker 1: courage oozing, and he dared not speak of the princess
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  Speaker 1: hid within his palace. It occurred to him to test
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  Speaker 1: his father's sentiments upon the subject, and so he told
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  Speaker 1: a tale of capturing one who claimed to know the
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  Speaker 1: whereabouts of Thuvia of Ptarth. And if you command it, sire,
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  Speaker 1: he said, I will go and capture her. Fetching her
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  Speaker 1: here to Dusar. Nudus frowned and shook his head. You
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  Speaker 1: have done enough already to set Ptarth in Cowl and
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  Speaker 1: Helium all three upon us at once should they learn
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  Speaker 1: your part in the theft of the Ptarth princess. That
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  Speaker 1: you succeeded in shifting the guilt upon the Prince of
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  Speaker 1: Helium was fortunate and a masterly move of strategy. But
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  Speaker 1: were the girl to know the truth and ever return
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  Speaker 1: to her father's court, all Dusar would have to pay
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  Speaker 1: the penalty, and to have her here a prisoner amongst
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  Speaker 1: us would be an admission of guilt for the consequences
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  Speaker 1: of which naught could save us. It would cost me
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  Speaker 1: my throne, asked Oc, and that I have no mind
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  Speaker 1: to lose. If we had her here, the elder man
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  Speaker 1: suddenly commenced to muse, repeating the phrase again and again.
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  Speaker 1: If we had her here, Askedoc. He exclaimed fiercely, Ah,
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  Speaker 1: if but we had her here, and none knew that
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  Speaker 1: she was here, Can you not guess, man, the guilt
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  Speaker 1: of Dusar might be forever buried with her bones? He
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  Speaker 1: concluded in a low, savage whisper. Astoc, Prince of Dusar,
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  Speaker 1: shuddered weak. He was, yes, and wicked too, but the
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  Speaker 1: suggestion that his father's words implied turned him cold with horror.
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  Speaker 1: Cruel to their enemies are the men of Mars. But
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  Speaker 1: the word enemies is commonly interpreted to mean men only
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  Speaker 1: Assassination runs riot in the great Barsoomian city. Yet to
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  Speaker 1: murder a woman is a crime so unthinkable that even
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  Speaker 1: the most hardened of the paid assassins would shrink from
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  Speaker 1: you in horror. Should you suggest such a thing to him?
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  Speaker 1: Nudus was apparently oblivious to his son's all too patent
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  Speaker 1: terror at his suggestion. Presently, he continued, you say that
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  Speaker 1: you know where the girl lies hid? Since she was
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  Speaker 1: stolen from your people at anthor should she be found
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  Speaker 1: by any one of the three powers, her unsupported story
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  Speaker 1: would be sufficient to turn them all against us. There
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  Speaker 1: is but one way, Astoc cried the older man. You
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  Speaker 1: must return at once to her hiding place and fetch
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  Speaker 1: her hither in all secrecy, and look you here, return
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  Speaker 1: not to Dusar without her upon pain of death, asked Oc,
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  Speaker 1: Prince of Dusar. Well knew his royal father's temper. He
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  Speaker 1: knew that in the tyrant's heart there pulsed no single
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  Speaker 1: throb of love for any creature. Astok's mother had been
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  Speaker 1: a slave woman. Nudus had never loved her. He had
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  Speaker 1: never loved another. In youth, he had tried to find
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  Speaker 1: a bride at the courts of several of his powerful neighbors,
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  Speaker 1: but their women would have none of him. After a
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  Speaker 1: dozen daughters of his own nobility had sought self destruction
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  Speaker 1: rather than wed him, he had given up. And then
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  Speaker 1: it had been that he had legally wed one of
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  Speaker 1: his slaves, that he might have a son to stand
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  Speaker 1: among the Jeds. When Nudus died and a new Jeddak
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  Speaker 1: was chosen slowly, Astok withdrew from the presence of his father.
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  Speaker 1: With white face and shaking limbs, he made his way
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  Speaker 1: to his own palace. As he crossed the courtyard, his
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  Speaker 1: glance chanced to wander to the great East Tower, looming
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  Speaker 1: high against the azure of the sky. At sight of it,
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  Speaker 1: beades of so wet broke out upon his brow. Isis
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  Speaker 1: no other hand than his could be trusted to do
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  Speaker 1: the horrid thing with his own fingers. He must crush
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  Speaker 1: the life from that perfect throat, or plunge the silent
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  Speaker 1: blade into the red, red heart, her heart, the heart
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  Speaker 1: that he had hoped would brim with love for him.
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  Speaker 1: But had it done so, he recalled the haughty contempt
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  Speaker 1: with which his protestations of love had been received. He
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  Speaker 1: went cold, and then hot to the memory of it.
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  Speaker 1: His compunctions cooled as the self satisfaction of a near
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  Speaker 1: revenge crowded out the finer instincts that had for a
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  Speaker 1: moment asserted themselves. The good that he had inherited from
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  Speaker 1: the slave woman was once again submerged in the bad
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  Speaker 1: blood that had come down to him from his royal sire.
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  Speaker 1: As in the end, it always was a cold smile
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  Speaker 1: supplanted the terror that had dilated his eyes. He turned
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  Speaker 1: his steps toward the tower. He would see her before
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  Speaker 1: he set out upon the journey that was to blind
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  Speaker 1: his father to the fact that the girl was already
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  Speaker 1: in Dusar. Quietly he passed in through the secret way,
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  Speaker 1: ascending a spiral runway to the apartment in which the
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  Speaker 1: Princess of Ptarth was immured. As he entered the room,
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  Speaker 1: he saw the girl leaning upon the sill of the
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  Speaker 1: east casement, gazing out across the roofs of Dusar toward
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  Speaker 1: distant Ptarth. He hated Ptarth. The thought of it filled
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  Speaker 1: him with rage. Why not finish her now and have
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  Speaker 1: done with it? At the sound of his steps, she
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  Speaker 1: turned quickly toward him. Ah, how beautiful she was. His
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  Speaker 1: sudden determination faded beneath the glorious light of her wondrous beauty.
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  Speaker 1: He would wait until he had returned from his little
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  Speaker 1: journey of deception. Maybe there might be some other way, then,
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  Speaker 1: some other hand, to strike the blow with that face,
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  Speaker 1: with those eyes before him. He could never do it.
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  Speaker 1: Of that, he was positive he had always gloried in
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  Speaker 1: the cruelty of his nature. But isis he was not
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  Speaker 1: that cruel. No, another must be found, one whom he
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  Speaker 1: could trust. He was still looking at her as she
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  Speaker 1: stood there before him, meeting his gaze steadily and unafraid.
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  Speaker 1: He felt the hot passion of his love mounting higher
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  Speaker 1: and higher. Why not sue once more? If she would relent,
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  Speaker 1: all might yet be well. Even if his father could
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  Speaker 1: not be persuaded, They could fly to Ptarth, laying all
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  Speaker 1: the blame of the knavery and intrigue that had thrown
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  Speaker 1: four great nations into war upon the shoulders of Nudus.
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  Speaker 1: And who was there that would doubt the justice of
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  Speaker 1: the charge Thuvia, He said, I come once again for
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  Speaker 1: the last time, to lay my heart at your feet. Ptarth,
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  Speaker 1: and Cowul and Dusar are battling with helium because of you,
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  Speaker 1: wed me Thuvia, and all may yet be as it
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  Speaker 1: should be. The girl shook her head. Wait, he commanded,
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  Speaker 1: before she could speak, Know the truth. Before you speak
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  Speaker 1: words that may seal not only your own fate, but
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  Speaker 1: that of thousands of warriors who battle because of you.
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  Speaker 1: Refuse to wed me willingly, and Dusar would be laid
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  Speaker 1: waste should ever the truth be known to Ptarth and
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  Speaker 1: cowl and helium. They would raise our cities, leaving not
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  Speaker 1: one stone upon another. They would scatter our peoples across
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  Speaker 1: the face of Barsoom, from the frozen north to the
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  Speaker 1: frozen south, hunting them down and slaying them, until this
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  Speaker 1: great nation remained only as a hated memory in the
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  Speaker 1: minds of men. But while they are exterminating the Dusarians,
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  Speaker 1: countless thousands of their own warriors must perish, and all
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  Speaker 1: because of the stubbornness of a single woman who would
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  Speaker 1: not wed the prince who loves her. Refuse Thuvia of Ptarth,
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  Speaker 1: and there remains but a single alternative. No man must
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  Speaker 1: ever know your fate. Only a handful of loyal servitors
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  Speaker 1: beside my royal father and myself know that you were
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  Speaker 1: stolen from the gardens of thuvan Din by Astok, Prince
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  Speaker 1: of Dusar, or that to day you be imprisoned in
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  Speaker 1: my palace. Refuse Thuvia of Ptarth, and you must die
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  Speaker 1: to save Dusar. There is no other way, nudas the
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  Speaker 1: Jeddak has so decreed, I have spoken for a long moment.
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  Speaker 1: The girl at her level gaze rest full upon the
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  Speaker 1: face of Astok of Dussar. Then she spoke, and though
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  Speaker 1: the words were few, the unimpassioned tone carried unfathomable depths
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  Speaker 1: of cold contempt. Better all that you have threatened, she said,
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  Speaker 1: then you. Then she turned her back upon him and
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  Speaker 1: went to stand once more before the east window, gazing
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  Speaker 1: with sad eyes toward distant Ptarth. Astok wheeled and left
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  Speaker 1: the room, returning after a short interval of time with
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  Speaker 1: food and drink. Here, he said, is sustenance until I
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  Speaker 1: return again. The next to enter this apartment will be
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  Speaker 1: your executioner. Commend yourself to your ancestors Thuvia of Ptarth,
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  Speaker 1: for within a few days you shall be with them.
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  Speaker 1: Then he was gone. Half an hour later he was
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  Speaker 1: interviewing an officer high in the navy of Dusar. Whither
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  Speaker 1: went Vaskor? He asked, He is not at his palace
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  Speaker 1: south to the great waterway that skirts Torcass replied the other,
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  Speaker 1: His son hal Vas is dwar of the road there,
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  Speaker 1: and thither has Vaskor gone to enlist recruits among the
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  Speaker 1: workers on the farms, Good, said Astok, and a half
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  Speaker 1: hour more found him rising above Dusar in his swiftest flier.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter twelve,