CHAPTER X

ENTRAPPED

Turan the panthan approached the strange city under cover of the

darkness. He entertained little hope of finding either food or water

outside the wall, but he would try and then, if he failed, he would

attempt to make his way into the city, for Tara of Helium must have

sustenance and have it soon. He saw that the walls were poorly

sentineled, but they were sufficiently high to render an attempt to

scale them foredoomed to failure. Taking advantage of underbrush and

trees, Turan managed to reach the base of the wall without detection.

Silently he moved north past the gateway which was closed by a massive

gate which effectively barred even the slightest glimpse within the

city beyond. It was Turan's hope to find upon the north side of the

city away from the hills a level plain where grew the crops of the

inhabitants, and here too water from their irrigating system, but

though he traveled far along that seemingly interminable wall he found

no fields nor any water. He searched also for some means of ingress to

the city, yet here, too, failure was his only reward, and now as he

went keen eyes watched him from above and a silent stalker kept pace

with him for a time upon the summit of the wall; but presently the

shadower descended to the pavement within and hurrying swiftly raced

ahead of the stranger without.

He came presently to a small gate beside which was a low building and

before the doorway of the building a warrior standing guard. He spoke a

few quick words to the warrior and then entered the building only to

return almost immediately to the street, followed by fully forty

warriors. Cautiously opening the gate the fellow peered carefully along

the wall upon the outside in the direction from which he had come.

Evidently satisfied, he issued a few words of instruction to those

behind him, whereupon half the warriors returned to the interior of the

building, while the other half followed the man stealthily through the

gateway where they crouched low among the shrubbery in a half circle

just north of the gateway which they had left open. Here they waited in

utter silence, nor had they long to wait before Turan the panthan came

cautiously along the base of the wall. To the very gate he came and

when he found it and that it was open he paused for a moment,

listening; then he approached and looked within. Assured that there was

none within sight to apprehend him he stepped through the gateway into

the city.

He found himself in a narrow street that paralleled the wall. Upon the

opposite side rose buildings of an architecture unknown to him, yet

strangely beautiful. While the buildings were packed closely together

there seemed to be no two alike and their fronts were of all shapes and

heights and of many hues. The skyline was broken by spire and dome and

minaret and tall, slender towers, while the walls supported many a

balcony and in the soft light of Cluros, the farther moon, now low in

the west, he saw, to his surprise and consternation, the figures of

people upon the balconies. Directly opposite him were two women and a

man. They sat leaning upon the rail of the balcony looking, apparently,

directly at him; but if they saw him they gave no sign.

Turan hesitated a moment in the face of almost certain discovery and

then, assured that they must take him for one of their own people, he

moved boldly into the avenue. Having no idea of the direction in which

he might best hope to find what he sought, and not wishing to arouse

suspicion by further hesitation, he turned to the left and stepped

briskly along the pavement with the intention of placing himself as

quickly as possible beyond the observation of those nocturnal watchers.

He knew that the night must be far spent; and so he could not but

wonder why people should sit upon their balconies when they should have

been asleep among their silks and furs. At first he had thought them

the late guests of some convivial host; but the windows behind them

were shrouded in darkness and utter quiet prevailed, quite upsetting

such a theory. And as he proceeded he passed many another group sitting

silently upon other balconies. They paid no attention to him, seeming

not even to note his passing. Some leaned with a single elbow upon the

rail, their chins resting in their palms; others leaned upon both arms

across the balcony, looking down into the street, while several that he

saw held musical instruments in their hands, but their fingers moved

not upon the strings.

And then Turan came to a point where the avenue turned to the right, to

skirt a building that jutted from the inside of the city wall, and as

he rounded the corner he came full upon two warriors standing upon

either side of the entrance to a building upon his right. It was

impossible for them not to be aware of his presence, yet neither moved,

nor gave other evidence that they had seen him. He stood there waiting,

his hand upon the hilt of his long-sword, but they neither challenged

nor halted him. Could it be that these also thought him one of their

own kind? Indeed upon no other grounds could he explain their inaction.

As Turan had passed through the gateway into the city and taken his

unhindered way along the avenue, twenty warriors had entered the city

and closed the gate behind them, and then one had taken to the wall and

followed along its summit in the rear of Turan, and another had

followed him along the avenue, while a third had crossed the street and

entered one of the buildings upon the opposite side.

The balance of them, with the exception of a single sentinel beside the

gate, had re-entered the building from which they had been summoned.

They were well built, strapping, painted fellows, their naked figures

covered now by gorgeous robes against the chill of night. As they spoke

of the stranger they laughed at the ease with which they had tricked

him, and were still laughing as they threw themselves upon their

sleeping silks and furs to resume their broken slumber. It was evident

that they constituted a guard detailed for the gate beside which they

slept, and it was equally evident that the gates were guarded and the

city watched much more carefully than Turan had believed. Chagrined

indeed had been the Jed of Gathol had he dreamed that he was being so

neatly tricked.

As Turan proceeded along the avenue he passed other sentries beside

other doors but now he gave them small heed, since they neither

challenged nor otherwise outwardly noted his passing; but while at

nearly every turn of the erratic avenue he passed one or more of these

silent sentinels he could not guess that he had passed one of them many

times and that his every move was watched by silent, clever stalkers.

Scarce had he passed a certain one of these rigid guardsmen before the

fellow awoke to sudden life, bounded across the avenue, entered a

narrow opening in the outer wall where he swiftly followed a corridor

built within the wall itself until presently he emerged a little

distance ahead of Turan, where he assumed the stiff and silent attitude

of a soldier upon guard. Nor did Turan know that a second followed in

the shadows of the buildings behind him, nor of the third who hastened

ahead of him upon some urgent mission.

And so the panthan moved through the silent streets of the strange city

in search of food and drink for the woman he loved. Men and women

looked down upon him from shadowy balconies, but spoke not; and

sentinels saw him pass and did not challenge. Presently from along the

avenue before him came the familiar sound of clanking accouterments,

the herald of marching warriors, and almost simultaneously he saw upon

his right an open doorway dimly lighted from within. It was the only

available place where he might seek to hide from the approaching

company, and while he had passed several sentries unquestioned he could

scarce hope to escape scrutiny and questioning from a patrol, as he

naturally assumed this body of men to be.

Inside the doorway he discovered a passage turning abruptly to the

right and almost immediately thereafter to the left. There was none in

sight within and so he stepped cautiously around the second turn the

more effectually to be hidden from the street. Before him stretched a

long corridor, dimly lighted like the entrance. Waiting there he heard

the party approach the building, he heard someone at the entrance to

his hiding place, and then he heard the door past which he had come

slam to. He laid his hand upon his sword, expecting momentarily to hear

footsteps approaching along the corridor; but none came. He approached

the turn and looked around it; the corridor was empty to the closed

door. Whoever had closed it had remained upon the outside.

Turan waited, listening. He heard no sound. Then he advanced to the

door and placed an ear against it. All was silence in the street

beyond. A sudden draft must have closed the door, or perhaps it was the

duty of the patrol to see to such things. It was immaterial. They had

evidently passed on and now he would return to the street and continue

upon his way. Somewhere there would be a public fountain where he could

obtain water, and the chance of food lay in the strings of dried

vegetables and meat which hung before the doorways of nearly every

Barsoomian home of the poorer classes that he had ever seen. It was

this district he was seeking, and it was for this reason his search had

led him away from the main gate of the city which he knew would not be

located in a poor district.

He attempted to open the door only to find that it resisted his every

effort--it was locked upon the outside. Here indeed was a sorry

contretemps. Turan the panthan scratched his head. "Fortune frowns upon

me," he murmured; but beyond the door, Fate, in the form of a painted

warrior, stood smiling. Neatly had he tricked the unwary stranger. The

lighted doorway, the marching patrol--these had been planned and timed

to a nicety by the third warrior who had sped ahead of Turan along

another avenue, and the stranger had done precisely what the fellow had

thought he would do--no wonder, then, that he smiled.

This exit barred to him Turan turned back into the corridor. He

followed it cautiously and silently. Occasionally there was a door on

one side or the other. These he tried only to find each securely

locked. The corridor wound more erratically the farther he advanced. A

locked door barred his way at its end, but a door upon his right opened

and he stepped into a dimly-lighted chamber, about the walls of which

were three other doors, each of which he tried in turn. Two were

locked; the other opened upon a runway leading downward. It was spiral

and he could see no farther than the first turn. A door in the corridor

he had quitted opened after he had passed, and the third warrior

stepped out and followed after him. A faint smile still lingered upon

the fellow's grim lips.

Turan drew his short-sword and cautiously descended. At the bottom was

a short corridor with a closed door at the end. He approached the

single heavy panel and listened. No sound came to him from beyond the

mysterious portal. Gently he tried the door, which swung easily toward

him at his touch. Before him was a low-ceiled chamber with a dirt

floor. Set in its walls were several other doors and all were closed.

As Turan stepped cautiously within, the third warrior descended the

spiral runway behind him. The panthan crossed the room quickly and

tried a door. It was locked. He heard a muffled click behind him and

turned about with ready sword. He was alone; but the door through which

he had entered was closed--it was the click of its lock that he had

heard.

With a bound he crossed the room and attempted to open it; but to no

avail. No longer did he seek silence, for he knew now that the thing

had gone beyond the sphere of chance. He threw his weight against the

wooden panel; but the thick skeel of which it was constructed would

have withstood a battering ram. From beyond came a low laugh.

Rapidly Turan examined each of the other doors. They were all locked. A

glance about the chamber revealed a wooden table and a bench. Set in

the walls were several heavy rings to which rusty chains were

attached--all too significant of the purpose to which the room was

dedicated. In the dirt floor near the wall were two or three holes

resembling the mouths of burrows--doubtless the habitat of the giant

Martian rat. He had observed this much when suddenly the dim light was

extinguished, leaving him in darkness utter and complete. Turan,

groping about, sought the table and the bench. Placing the latter

against the wall he drew the table in front of him and sat down upon

the bench, his long-sword gripped in readiness before him. At least

they should fight before they took him.

For some time he sat there waiting for he knew not what. No sound

penetrated to his subterranean dungeon. He slowly revolved in his mind

the incidents of the evening--the open, unguarded gate; the lighted

doorway--the only one he had seen thus open and lighted along the

avenue he had followed; the advance of the warriors at precisely the

moment that he could find no other avenue of escape or concealment; the

corridors and chambers that led past many locked doors to this

underground prison leaving no other path for him to pursue.

"By my first ancestor!" he swore; "but it was simple and I a simpleton.

They tricked me neatly and have taken me without exposing themselves to

a scratch; but for what purpose?"

He wished that he might answer that question and then his thoughts

turned to the girl waiting there on the hill beyond the city for

him--and he would never come. He knew the ways of the more savage

peoples of Barsoom. No, he would never come, now. He had disobeyed her.

He smiled at the sweet recollection of those words of command that had

fallen from her dear lips. He had disobeyed her and now he had lost the

reward.

But what of her? What now would be her fate--starving before a hostile

city with only an inhuman kaldane for company? Another thought--a

horrid thought--obtruded itself upon him. She had told him of the

hideous sights she had witnessed in the burrows of the kaldanes and he

knew that they ate human flesh. Ghek was starving. Should he eat his

rykor he would be helpless; but--there was sustenance there for them

both, for the rykor and the kaldane. Turan cursed himself for a fool.

Why had he left her? Far better to have remained and died with her,

ready always to protect her, than to have left her at the mercy of the

hideous Bantoomian.

Now Turan detected a heavy odor in the air. It oppressed him with a

feeling of drowsiness. He would have risen to fight off the creeping

lethargy, but his legs seemed weak, so that he sank again to the bench.

Presently his sword slipped from his fingers and he sprawled forward

upon the table his head resting upon his arms.

* * * * *

Tara of Helium, as the night wore on and Turan did not return, became

more and more uneasy, and when dawn broke with no sign of him she

guessed that he had failed. Something more than her own unhappy

predicament brought a feeling of sorrow to her heart--of sorrow and

loneliness. She realized now how she had come to depend upon this

panthan not only for protection but for companionship as well. She

missed him, and in missing him realized suddenly that he had meant more

to her than a mere hired warrior. It was as though a friend had been

taken from her--an old and valued friend. She rose from her place of

concealment that she might have a better view of the city.

U-Dor, dwar of the 8th Utan of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, rode back in

the early dawn toward Manator from a brief excursion to a neighboring

village. As he was rounding the hills south of the city, his keen eyes

were attracted by a slight movement among the shrubbery close to the

summit of the nearest hill. He halted his vicious mount and watched

more closely. He saw a figure rise facing away from him and peer down

toward Manator beyond the hill.

"Come!" he signalled to his followers, and with a word to his thoat

turned the beast at a rapid gallop up the hillside. In his wake swept

his twenty savage warriors, the padded feet of their mounts soundless

upon the soft turf. It was the rattle of sidearms and harness that

brought Tara of Helium suddenly about, facing them. She saw a score of

warriors with couched lances bearing down upon her.

She glanced at Ghek. What would the spiderman do in this emergency? She

saw him crawl to his rykor and attach himself. Then he arose, the

beautiful body once again animated and alert. She thought that the

creature was preparing for flight. Well, it made little difference to

her. Against such as were streaming up the hill toward them a single

mediocre swordsman such as Ghek was worse than no defense at all.

"Hurry, Ghek!" she admonished him. "Back into the hills! You may find

there a hiding-place;" but the creature only stepped between her and

the oncoming riders, drawing his long-sword.

"It is useless, Ghek," she said, when she saw that he intended to

defend her. "What can a single sword accomplish against such odds?"

"I can die but once," replied the kaldane. "You and your panthan saved

me from Luud and I but do what your panthan would do were he here to

protect you."

"It is brave, but it is useless," she replied. "Sheathe your sword.

They may not intend us harm."

Ghek let the point of his weapon drop to the ground, but he did not

sheathe it, and thus the two stood waiting as U-Dor the dwar stopped

his thoat before them while his twenty warriors formed a rough circle

about. For a long minute U-Dor sat his mount in silence, looking

searchingly first at Tara of Helium and then at her hideous companion.

"What manner of creature are you?" he asked presently. "And what do you

before the gates of Manator?"

"We are from far countries," replied the girl, "and we are lost and

starving. We ask only food and rest and the privilege to go our way

seeking our own homes."

U-Dor smiled a grim smile. "Manator and the hills which guard it alone

know the age of Manator," he said; "yet in all the ages that have

rolled by since Manator first was, there be no record in the annals of

Manator of a stranger departing from Manator."

"But I am a princess," cried the girl haughtily, "and my country is not

at war with yours. You must give me and my companions aid and assist us

to return to our own land. It is the law of Barsoom."

"Manator knows only the laws of Manator," replied U-Dor; "but come. You

shall go with us to the city, where you, being beautiful, need have no

fear. I, myself, will protect you if O-Tar so decrees. And as for your

companion--but hold! You said 'companions'--there are others of your

party then?"

"You see what you see," replied Tara haughtily.

"Be that as it may," said U-Dor. "If there be more they shall not

escape Manator; but as I was saying, if your companion fights well he

too may live, for O-Tar is just, and just are the laws of Manator.

Come!"

Ghek demurred.

"It is useless," said the girl, seeing that he would have stood his

ground and fought them. "Let us go with them. Why pit your puny blade

against their mighty ones when there should lie in your great brain the

means to outwit them?" She spoke in a low whisper, rapidly.

"You are right, Tara of Helium," he replied and sheathed his sword.

And so they moved down the hillside toward the gates of Manator--Tara,

Princess of Helium, and Ghek, the kaldane of Bantoom--and surrounding

them rode the savage, painted warriors of U-Dor, dwar of the 8th Utan

of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator.