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11 - At The Earth's Core - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Adventure Books Library

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  Chapter eleven, four dead Mahars. A moment later, I was standing before
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  a dozen Mahars, the social investigators of Phutra. They asked me many questions
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  through a Sagoth interpreter. I answered them all truthfully. They seemed particularly interested
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  in my account of the outer Earth and the strange vehicle which had brought Perry
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  and me to Pellucidar. I thought that I had convinced them, and after
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  they had sat in silence for a long time following my examination, I expected
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  to be ordered returned to my quarters. During this apparent silence, they were
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  debating, through the medium of strange unspoken language, the merits of my tale.
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  At last, the head of the tribunal communicated the result of their conference
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  to the officer in charge of the Sagoth guard. Come, he said to
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  me, you are sentenced to the experimental pits for having dared to insult the
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  intelligence of the mighty ones with the ridiculous tale you have had the temerity to
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  unfold to them. Do you mean that they do not believe me, I
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  asked, totally astonished, believe you? He laughed. Do you mean to
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  say that you expected any one to believe so impossible? A lie. It
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  was hopeless, and so I walked in silence beside my guard down through the
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  dark corridors and runways toward my awful doom. At a low level, we
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  came upon a number of lighted chambers in which we saw many Mahars engaged in
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  various occupations. To one of these chambers, my guard escorted me, and
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  before leaving, they chained me to a side wall. There were other humans
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  similarly chained. Upon a long table lay a victim. Even as I was
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  ushered into the room, several Mahars stood about the poor creature, holding him
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  down so that he could not move. Another, grasping a sharp knife with
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  her three toed fore foot, was laying open the victim's chest and abdomen.
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  No anesthetic had been administered, and the shrieks and groans of the tortured man
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  were terrible to hear. This, indeed, was vivisection with a vengeance.
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  Cold sweat broke out upon me as I realized that soon my turn would come,
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  and to think that, where there was no such thing as time,
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  I might easily imagined that my suffering was enduring for months before my death finally
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  released me. The Mahars had paid not the slightest attention to me as I
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  had been brought into the room. So deeply immersed were they in their work
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  that I am sure they did not even know that the Sagoths had entered with
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  me. The door was close by, would that I could reach it,
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  but those heavy chains precluded any such possibility. I looked about for some means
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  of escape from my bonds. Upon the floor between me and the Mahars lay
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  a tiny surgical instrument, which one of them must have dropped. It looked
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  not unlike a button hook, but was much smaller, and its point was
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  sharpened A hundred times. In my boyhood days I had picked locks with a
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  button hook. Could I but reach that little bit of polished steel, I
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  might yet effect at least a temporary escape. Crawling to the limit of my
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  chain, I found that by reaching one hand as far out as I could,
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  my fingers still fell an inch short of the coveted instrument. It was
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  tantalizing. Stretch every fiber of my being as I would, I could not
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  quite make it. At last, I turned about and extended one foot toward
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  the object. My heart came to my throat. I could just touch the
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  thing. But suppose that in my effort to drag it toward me, I
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  should accidentally shove it still farther away, and thus entirely out of reach.
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  Cold sweat broke out upon me from every pore. Slowly and cautiously, I
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  made the effort. My toes dropped upon the cold metal. Gradually I worked
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  it toward me until I felt that it was within reach of my hand,
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  and a moment later I had turned about and the precious thing was within my
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  grasp. Assiduously I felt to work upon the mahar lock that held my chain.
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  It was pitifully simple. A child might depict it, and a moment
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  later I was free. The mahars were now evidently completing their work at the
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  table. One already turned away and was examining other victims, evidently with the
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  intention of selecting the next subject. Those at the table had their backs toward
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  me. But for the creature walking toward us, I might have escaped that
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  moment. Slowly, the thing approached me when its attention was attracted by a
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  huge slave chained a few yards to my right. Here the reptile stopped and
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  commenced to go over the poor devil carefully and as it did so, its
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  back turned toward toward me for an instant, And in that instant I gave
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  two mighty leaps that carried me out of the chamber into the corridor beyond,
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  down which I raced with all the speed I could command. Where I was
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  or whither I was going, I knew not. My only thought was to
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  place as much distance as possible between me and that frightful chamber of torture.
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  Presently I reduced my speed to a brisk walk, and, later, realizing
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  the danger of running into some new predictment were I not careful, I moved
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  still more slowly and cautiously. After a time I came to a passage that
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  seemed, in some mysterious way familiar to me, And presently, chancing to
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  glance within a chamber which led from the corridor, I saw three mahars curled
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  up in slumber upon a bed of skins. I could have shouted aloud in
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  joy and relief. It was the same corridor and the same mahars that I
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  had intended to have lead so important a role in our escape from Phutra.
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  Providence had indeed been kind to me, For the reptiles still slept My one
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  great danger now lay in returning to the upper levels in search of Perry and
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  Ghak. But there was nothing else to be done, and so I hastened
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  upward. When I came to the frequented portions of the building, I found
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  a large burden of skins in a corner, and these I lifted to my
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  head, carrying them in such a way that ends and corners fell down about
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  my shoulders, completely hiding my face. Thus disguised, I found Perry and
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  Ghak together in the chamber where we had been wont to eat and sleep.
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  Both were glad to see me, it was needless to say, though of
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  course they had known nothing of the fate that had been meted out to me
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  by my judges. It was decided that no time should now be lost before
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  attempting to put our plan of escape to the test, as I could not
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  hope to remain hidden from the Sagoths long, nor could I forever carry that
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  bale of skins about upon my head without arousing suspicion. However, it seemed
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  likely that it would carry me once more safely through the crowded passages and chambers
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  of the upper levels, and so I set out with Perry and Ghak.
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  The stench of the illy cured pelts fairly choking me. Together we were paired
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  to the first tier of corridors beneath the main floor of the buildings, and
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  here Perry and Ghak halted to await me. The buildings are cut out of
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  the solid limestone formation. There is nothing at all remarkable about their architecture.
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  The rooms are sometimes rectangular, sometimes circular, and again oval in shape.
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  The corridors which connect them are narrow and not always straight. The chambers are
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  lighted by diffused sunlight reflected through tubes similar to those by which the avenues are
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  lighted. The lower the tiers of chambers, the darker. Most of the
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  corridors are entirely unlighted. The Mahars can see quite well in semi darkness.
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  Down to the main floor, we encountered many Mahars, Sagoths and slaves,
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  but no attention was paid to us, as we had become a part of
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  the domestic life of the building. There was but a single entrance leading from
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  the place into the avenue, and this was well guarded by sagoths. This
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  doorway alone were we forbidden to pass. It is true that we were not
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  supposed to enter the deeper corridors and apartments, except on special occasions when we
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  were instructed to do so. But as we were considered a lower order without
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  intelligence, there was little reason and to fear that we could accomplish any harm
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  by so doing, and so we were not hindered as we entered the corridor
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  which led below. Wrapped in a skin, I carried three swords, and
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  the two bows, and the arrows which Perry and I had fashioned. As
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  many slaves bore skin wrapped burdens to and fro. My load attracted no comment.
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  Where I left Ghak and Perry, there were no other creatures in sight,
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  and so I withdrew one sword from the package, and, leaving the
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  balance of the weapons with Perry, started on alone towards the lower levels.
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  Having come to the apartment in which the three Mahars slept, I entered silently
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  on tiptoe, forgetting that the creatures were without the sense of hearing. With
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  a quick thrust through the heart, I disposed of the first. But my
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  second thrust was not so fortunate, so that before I could kill the next
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  of my victims, it had hurled itself against the third who sprang quickly up,
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  facing me with wide distended jaws. But fighting is not the occupation which
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  the race of Mahar's loves. And when the things saw that I had already
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  dispatched two of its companions, and that my sword was red with their blood,
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  it made a dash to uscap me. But I was too quick for
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  it, and so half hopping, half flying, it scurried down another corridor,
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  with me close upon its heels. Its escape meant the utter ruin of
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  our plan, and in all probability, my instant death. This thought lent
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  wings to my feet, but even at my best I could do no more
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  than hold my own with the leaping thing before me. Of a sudden it
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  turned into an apartment on the right of the corridor, and an instant later,
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  as I rushed in, I found myself facing two of the Mahars.
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  The one who had been there when we entered had been occupied with a number
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  of metal vessels into which had been put powders and liquids, as I judged
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  from the array of flasks standing about upon the bench where it had been working.
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  In an instant I realized what I had stumbled upon. It was the
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  very room for the finding of which Perry had given me minute directions. It
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  was the buried chamber in which was hidden the great secret of the race of
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  Mahars. And on the bench beside the flasks lay the skin bound book which
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  held the only copy of the thing I was to have sought. After dispatching
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  the three Mahars in their sleep, there was no exit from the room other
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  than the doorway in which I now stid. Facing the two frightful reptiles cornered.
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  I knew that they would fight like demons, and that they were well
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  equipped to fight if they must. Together, they launched themselves upon me,
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  and though I ran one of them through the heart on the instant, the
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  other fastened its gleaming fangs about my sword arm above the elbow, and then,
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  with her sharp talons, commenced to rake me about the body, evidently
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  intent upon disemboweling me. I saw that it was useless to hope that I
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  might release my arm from that powerful vicelike grip which seemed to be severing my
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  arm from my body. The pain I suffered was intense, but it only
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  served to spur me to greater efforts to overcome my antagonist back and forth across
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  the floor. We struggled, the Mahar dealing me terrific cutting blows with her
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  fore feet, while I attempted to protect my body with my left hand,
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  at the same time watching for an opportunity to transfer my blade from my now
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  useless sword hand to its rapidly weakening mate. At last I was successful,
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  and with what seemed to be my last ounce of strength, that ran the
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  blade through the ugly body of my foe. Soundless as it had fought,
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  it died, and though weak from pain and loss of blood, it was
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  with an emotion of triumphant pride that I stepped across its convulsively stiffening corpse to
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  snatch up the most potent secret of a world. A single glance assured me
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  that it was the very thing that Perry had described to me. And as
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  I grasped it, did I think of what it meant to the human race
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  of Pellucidar? Did there flash through my mind the thought that countless generations of
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  my own kind, yet unborn, would have reason to worship me for the
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  thing that I had accomplished for them. I did not. I thought of
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  a beautiful oval face gazing out of limpid eyes through a waving mass of jet
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  black hair. I thought of red, red lips, God made for kissing,
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  and of a sudden apropos of nothing. Standing there alone in the secret
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  chamber of the Mahars of Llucidar, I realized that I loved Diane. The
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  beautiful end of chapter eleven