2 - Blades of Mars (13 page)

 
          
 
In spite of his savage appearance, he bore
himself well. Although I dismissed the idea as a trick of the mind, I was sure
there was something about him very familiar to me. Since that seemed
impossible, I refused to waste my energy trying to puzzle out why I should feel
this, but I asked a passer-by if he knew who the prisoner was.

 
          
 
The man shook his head. 'Doubtless one of our
enemies - though that is not their normal appearance.'

 
          
 
I continued on to the harbour and found my
balloon still waiting for me, now moored to one of several iron rings in the Quayside.

 
          
 
I climbed into the cabin and started the
engine - that marvellous little unit which seemed to require no fuel.

 
          
 
Then I steered just above the roof-tops of the
sparkling City of
Jewels
towards the palace, a large building that was more magnificent than any
of the rest
It
seemed literally built of precious
gems!

 
          
 
I had learned that many kinds of jewels were
mined in Mishim Tep and, though they were useful trading commodities, no
special value was placed on them by the populace.

 
          
 
I reached the palace steps and dropped down a
little
to
where guards ran forward at my shouted
instructions to take my mooring lines and make them fast.

 
          
 
Vorum Saz Hazhi now appeared at the top of the
steps and greeted me as I mounted the steps.

 
          
 
'I have told the Bradhi of your offer,* he
said, 'and he would interview you now. He diinks that you have come at an
opportune moment - ships like this could be useful in fighting our enemies.'

 
          
 
As I joined him I noticed that he looked
worried.

 
          
 
'What troubles you?' I asked.

 
          
 
He took my arm as he led me into the palace.
'I do not know,' he said. 'Perhaps it is the cares of this terrible war we are
about to mount, but the Bradhi does not seem himself. There is something
strange going on and I cannot think what it can be.'

 
          
 
That was all he had a chance to say for then
the huge jewelled doors of the throne room were opened and I saw a vast hall,
lined with great, colourful banners and with tiers of galleries stretching up
to the roof, high above, and the walls flanked with nobles, men and women, all
looking towards me in polite curiosity.

 
          
 
On the throne dais at the far end were three
figures. The Bradhi was in the middle, a care-worn man with grey-streaked hair
and a massive, impressive head that seemed carved from rock.

 
          
 
On his left, his hands still bound, stood the
wild man I had seen earlier.

 
          
 
But it was the person who sat on a stool
beside the Bradhi whom I recognised - and recognised with loathing. Yet, at the
same time, that person's presence aroused in me a feeling of jubilation.

 
          
 
It was Horguhl, that evil woman who had, both
directly and indirectly, been the cause of most of my troubles on my first trip
to Mars.

 
          
 
Horghul!

 
          
 
This could only mean that my calculations
about tunc had been right, even if I had slipped up slightly on those about
space.

 
          
 
If Horguhl was here then, somewhere, so was
Shizala!

 
          
 
Both Horguhl and the wild man turned to look
at me. And they both spoke at once, saying the same two words:

 
          
 
'Michael Kane!'

 
          
 
Why had they both recognised me?

Horguhl's Treachery

 
          
 
I ADVANCED no further, aware that I was in
danger.

 
          
 
And then, suddenly, I recognised the wild
man's voice and knew why he had seemed so familiar to me. It was Damad -
Shizak's brother with whom I had parted what seemed years before in the Caverns
of Argzoon.

 
          
 
If he was a prisoner then it was my duty to
free him, for he was a close friend.

 
          
 
I drew my sword and instead of turning and
running for the hall ran towards Damad before the astonished courtiers could
act.

 
          
 
Horguhl was screaming and pointing to me.
'That is the one - that is he! He is the sole cause of this war!'

 
          
 
How I, in my absence in another time and
space, could have caused a war, I did not pause to work out. I cut Damad's
bonds and then wheeled as a courtier came at me with his sword.

 
          
 
Using a trick taught me as a boy by my old fencing
master, M. Clarchet, I hooked the tip of my sword in the basket-hilt of his,
flipped the weapon out of his hand and sent it spinning towards me. Then I
flung it to Damad - and we were both armed. The trick would not have worked on
anyone but a man taken off his guard - but it had worked and that was the
important thing.

 
          
 
The whole throne room was in confusion. I was
sure that there was some awful mistake and that Horguhl was responsible for it,
and I did not want to kill any of the folk who had treated me so hospitably. Damad
and I fought a defensive action from our corner of the throne dais and the
courtiers were cautious about attacking us too hard in case their Bradhi should
be wounded.

 
          
 
This gave me an idea for a bluff which would
prevent any blood being spilt - including ours.

 
          
 
I leapt behmd the Bradhi and seized the man by
his hamess.

 
          
 
Then I raised my sword above his head.

 
          
 
'Harm us - and you slay your Bradhi,' I said
in a loud, clear voice.

 
          
 
They paused and lowered their weapons.

 
          
 
‘Do not listen to him,' Horguhl screamed at
them. ‘He
lies,
he will not kill your Bradhi!'

 
          
 
I spoke as sternly as I could - though Horguhl,
knowing me better than they did, was perfectly right in what she had said - and
addressed the courtiers.

 
          
 
'I am a desperate man,' I said. 'I do not know
why you should hold the son of the ruler of your oldest ally a prisoner or why
you should allow this evil woman to occupy the throne-dais of your Bradhi. But,
since you do, I must protect myself and my friend. Do you not recognise him as
Damad of the Kamala, Bradhmak and Pukan-Nara?'

 
          
 
'We do!' one courtier shouted. 'And that is
why we hold him! We are at war with the Kamala!'

 
          
 
'At war?'
I could
hardly believe my ears.
'At war with your friends since the
ancient days?
Why?'

 
          
 
'I will tell you why,' screamed Horguhl. 'And
you should know, since you were partly the cause of all this. Your wanton Bradhinaka
Shizala had the Bradhi's, son, Telem Fas Ogdai, damned and murdered so that she
might marry - you!'

 
          
 
I was astounded at the enormity of the lie. It
was Horguhl who had been responsible for Telem Fas Ogdai turning traitor and
eventually being killed in fair fight.

 
          
 
'Surely it is common knowledge that Telem Fas
Ogdai betrayed Kamala?' I said, turning to the courtiers. But they groaned and
muttered, unconvinced by what I had said.

 
          
 
Their spokesman said: 'She had told us the
whole despicable plot that you and Shizala of the Kamala devised between you.
The honour of Mishim Tep has been affronted, her favourite son destroyed, the
Bradhi attacked and humiliated - these are things only blood can wipe out!'

 
          
 
'You speak nonsense!' I said. 'I know the
truth - Horguhl has hypnotised you as she has hypnotised so many before. You
believe a story that would not stand up to analysis for a moment if your minds
had not been dulled by her power.'

 
          
 
The Bradhi struggled in my grasp. 'If it had
not been for her we should never have known the truth,' he said. He spoke
mechanically and I was sure that he was totally in Horguhl's power.

 
          
 
'Your Bradhi has been mesmerised by her!' I
said desperately.

 
          
 
'You lie!' Horguhl screamed. ‘I am only a
simple woman who was deceived by Michael Kane just as he tries to deceive you.
Kill him! Kill him!’

 
          
 
'How can one woman have convinced a whole
nation of an enormous lie?' I shouted, turning to her.
'What
have you done, you evil creature?
You have set two great nations at each
other's throats. Have you no sense of shame for what you do?'

 
          
 
Although she continued to act her part, I saw
a glimmer of irony in her eyes as she replied. 'Have you no sense of shame?
You interloper who trampled on all the great customs and traditions
of the Southern nations in order to have the woman you loved.'

 
          
 
I could see that convincing them was
impossible.

 
          
 
'Very well,' I said. 'If I am the villain you
say I am,
then
you know that I will carry out my
threat and slay the Bradhi if you try to attack me.' I began to move forward
and she stepped reluctantly backward to let me pass.

 
          
 
Damad covered my back as we went through the
hall towards the doors and
thence
through the entrance
chamber to the palace steps and my airship.

 
          
 
I forced the Bradhi to climb the ladder and
Damad followed me. Once inside the cabin I turned to the old man.

 
          
 
'You must believe us when we deny what Horguhl
has said,' I told him urgently.

 
          
 
'Horguhl always speaks the truth,' he said in
a flat voice, his eyes glassy.

 
          
 
'Do you not realise that she has hypnotised
you?' I asked him. 'The Kamala and the men of Mishim Tep have been friends for
so long that a war between them could destroy everything that Southern culture
stands for!'

 
          
 
'She would not lie.'

 
          
 
'But she does lie!' Damad spoke now for the
first time. 'I do not understand everything of which you speak, but I do
understand that neither my sister nor Michael Kane would ever do the things of
which you accuse them.'

 
          
 
'Horguhl is good. She tells the truth.'

 
          
 
I shook my head sadly. Then I led him towards
the hatch and showed him the ladder.

 
          
 
‘You may go, you poor deluded thing,' I said.
'Is this that I see - the shadow of a once-great Bradhi?'

 
          
 
Something seemed to spark in his eyes for a
moment and I could see the kind of man he really was when not in Horguhl'is
hypnotic power. Grief for his son's treachery and death must have sapped his
powers for a time - and in that time Horguhl had managed to reach him and work
on his mind until his will was submerged.

 
          
 
I had underestimated her. I had thought her
defeated in the Caverns of Argzoon but instead she had immediately hit upon a
scheme to gain her ends and revenge herself on all her enemies - and one of
those enemies, though they did not realise it, was Mishim Tep!

 
          
 
We waited until the Bradhi had reached the
ground and then, as the courtiers and guards surged forward, drew in our
ladder, sliced our mooring lines and rose into the sky above the
Jewelled
City
.

 
          
 
Now that I knew the truth - that 1 was really
in the same time-period that I had been drawn away from earlier - I was
determined to return to Vamal, City of the Green Mists, and sec my Shizala.
Also we had to discover what the Bradhi, Camak, - Shizala's and Damad's father
- knew of this business and what he was preparing to do.

 
          
 
The great battle which had taken place at
Vamal between the Kamala and the Argzoon had badly depleted the Kar-nala force
and wearied them. I did not think they could stand a chance of winning a war
with the stronger Mishim Tep.

 
          
 
NeithCT, I thought, would their hearts be in
it, for while those of Mishim Tep were convinced that Horguhl spoke truth, the
Kamala knew otherwise and must feel more than sympathy for the delusions of
their friends.

 
          
 
It would take us some time, even at full
speed, to reach Vamal, but at least Damad would be able to guide me.

 
          
 
As we sped towards the City of the Green
Mists, Damad told me what had befallen him since we had parted at the Cavems of
Argzoon.*

           
 
*See the first volume in this series -
Warriors of Mars - which chronicles the earlier adventures of Michael Kane.

 
          
 
You will remember that Damad and I had decided
that one of us should retum to the South to get help to rescue Shizala, who was
Horguhl's prisoner in the Caves of Argzoon, if I was unsuccessful in my attempt.

 
          
 
He had left, riding as swiftly as he could
over the hundreds of miles we had crossed. But his mount had gone lame shortly
afterwards and he had found himself without a dahara in the heela-infested
forests.

 
          
 
Somehow he had fought off those heela which
had attacked him - though his.
beast
had not been so
lucky -but had lost his bearings a little and had stumbled on to a village of
primitives who had captured him with the intention of eating him.

 
          
 
He managed to escape by burrowing out of the
hut in which he was imprisoned but, weaponless and half
starved,
he had wandered for some time before meeting up with a band of nomadic herdsmen
who had helped him.

 
          
 
Many more adventures followed and at length he
was enslaved by brigands, who sold him to the representative of a Bradhi of a
small nation that had somehow managed to survive in the South, though it was
far behind most of the Southern nations in terms of civilisation.

 
          
 
He had seized his first opportunity to escape
from the working party and had headed for Mishim Tep, it being the nearest
friendly nation - or so he thought.

 
          
 
Reaching Mishim Tep and telling the villagers
of a small settlement near the border
who
he was, he
was driven off as an enemy! He could not believe what had happened and had
decided that a mistake had been perpetrated.