The Chessmen of Mars (7 page)

At first Tara of Helium had hoped that she might dodge him, for
she could not but guess that she was not only more fleet but
infinitely more agile than these strange creatures; but soon
there came to her the realization that in the time consumed in an
attempt to elude his grasp his nearer fellows would be upon her
and escape then impossible, so she chose instead to charge
straight for him, and when he guessed her decision he stood, half
crouching and with outstretched arms, awaiting her. In one hand
was his sword, but a voice arose, crying in tones of authority.
"Take her alive! Do not harm her!" Instantly the fellow returned
his sword to its scabbard and then Tara of Helium was upon him.
Straight for that beautiful body she sprang and in the instant
that the arms closed to seize her her sharp blade drove deep into
the naked chest. The impact hurled them both to the ground and as
Tara of Helium sprang to her feet again she saw, to her horror,
that the loathsome head had rolled from the body and was now
crawling away from her on six short, spider-like legs. The body
struggled spasmodically and lay still. As brief as had been the
delay caused by the encounter, it still had been of sufficient
duration to undo her, for even as she rose two more of the things
fell upon her and instantly thereafter she was surrounded. Her
blade sank once more into naked flesh and once more a head rolled
free and crawled away. Then they overpowered her and in another
moment she was surrounded by fully a hundred of the creatures,
all seeking to lay hands upon her. At first she thought that they
wished to tear her to pieces in revenge for her having slain two
of their fellows, but presently she realized that they were
prompted more by curiosity than by any sinister motive.

"Come!" said one of her captors, both of whom had retained a hold
upon her. As he spoke he tried to lead her away with him toward
the nearest tower.

"She belongs to me," cried the other. "Did not I capture her? She
will come with me to the tower of Moak."

"Never!" insisted the first. "She is Luud's. To Luud I will take
her, and whosoever interferes may feel the keenness of my
sword—in the head!" He almost shouted the last three words.

"Come! Enough of this," cried one who spoke with some show of
authority. "She was captured in Luud's fields—she will go to
Luud."

"She was discovered in Moak's fields, at the very foot of the
tower of Moak," insisted he who had claimed her for Moak.

"You have heard the Nolach speak," cried the Luud. "It shall be
as he says."

"Not while this Moak holds a sword," replied the other. "Rather
will I cut her in twain and take my half to Moak than to
relinquish her all to Luud," and he drew his sword, or rather he
laid his hand upon its hilt in a threatening gesture; but before
ever he could draw it the Luud had whipped his out and with a
fearful blow cut deep into the head of his adversary. Instantly
the big, round head collapsed, almost as a punctured balloon
collapses, as a grayish, semi-fluid matter spurted from it. The
protruding eyes, apparently lidless, merely stared, the
sphincter-like muscle of the mouth opened and closed, and then
the head toppled from the body to the ground. The body stood
dully for a moment and then slowly started to wander aimlessly
about until one of the others seized it by the arm.

One of the two heads crawling about on the ground now approached.
"This rykor belongs to Moak," it said. "I am a Moak. I will take
it," and without further discussion it commenced to crawl up the
front of the headless body, using its six short, spiderlike legs
and two stout chelae which grew just in front of its legs and
strongly resembled those of an Earthly lobster, except that they
were both of the same size. The body in the meantime stood in
passive indifference, its arms hanging idly at its sides. The
head climbed to the shoulders and settled itself inside the
leather collar that now hid its chelae and legs. Almost
immediately the body gave evidence of intelligent animation. It
raised its hands and adjusted the collar more comfortably, it
took the head between its palms and settled it in place and when
it moved around it did not wander aimlessly, but instead its
steps were firm and to some purpose.

The girl watched all these things in growing wonder, and
presently, no other of the Moaks seeming inclined to dispute the
right of the Luud to her, she was led off by her captor toward
the nearest tower. Several accompanied them, including one who
carried the loose head under his arm. The head that was being
carried conversed with the head upon the shoulders of the thing
that carried it. Tara of Helium shivered. It was horrible! All
that she had seen of these frightful creatures was horrible. And
to be a prisoner, wholly in their power. Shadow of her first
ancestor! What had she done to deserve so cruel a fate?

At the wall enclosing the tower they paused while one opened the
gate and then they passed within the enclosure, which, to the
girl's horror, she found filled with headless bodies. The
creature who carried the bodiless head now set its burden upon
the ground and the latter immediately crawled toward one of the
bodies that was lying near by. Some wandered stupidly to and fro,
but this one lay still. It was a female. The head crawled to it
and made its way to the shoulders where it settled itself. At
once the body sprang lightly erect. Another of those who had
accompanied them from the fields approached with the harness and
collar that had been taken from the dead body that the head had
formerly topped. The new body now appropriated these and the
hands deftly adjusted them. The creature was now as good as
before Tara of Helium had struck down its former body with her
slim blade. But there was a difference. Before it had been
male—now it was female. That, however, seemed to make no
difference to the head. In fact, Tara of Helium had noticed
during the scramble and the fight about her that sex differences
seemed of little moment to her captors. Males and females had
taken equal part in her pursuit, both were identically harnessed
and both carried swords, and she had seen as many females as
males draw their weapons at the moment that a quarrel between the
two factions seemed imminent.

The girl was given but brief opportunity for further observation
of the pitiful creatures in the enclosure as her captor, after
having directed the others to return to the fields, led her
toward the tower, which they entered, passing into an apartment
about ten feet wide and twenty long, in one end of which was a
stairway leading to an upper level and in the other an opening to
a similar stairway leading downward. The chamber, though on a
level with the ground, was brilliantly lighted by windows in its
inner wall, the light coming from a circular court in the center
of the tower. The walls of this court appeared to be faced with
what resembled glazed, white tile and the whole interior of it
was flooded with dazzling light, a fact which immediately
explained to the girl the purpose of the glass prisms of which
the domes were constructed. The stairways themselves were
sufficient to cause remark, since in nearly all Barsoomian
architecture inclined runways are utilized for purposes of
communication between different levels, and especially is this
true of the more ancient forms and of those of remote districts
where fewer changes have come to alter the customs of antiquity.

Down the stairway her captor led Tara of Helium. Down and down
through chambers still lighted from the brilliant well.
Occasionally they passed others going in the opposite direction
and these always stopped to examine the girl and ask questions of
her captor.

"I know nothing but that she was found in the fields and that I
caught her after a fight in which she slew two rykors and in
which I slew a Moak, and that I take her to Luud, to whom, of
course, she belongs. If Luud wishes to question her that is for
Luud to do—not for me." Thus always he answered the curious.

Presently they reached a room from which a circular tunnel led
away from the tower, and into this the creature conducted her.
The tunnel was some seven feet in diameter and flattened on the
bottom to form a walk. For a hundred feet from the tower it was
lined with the same tile-like material of the light well and
amply illuminated by reflected light from that source. Beyond it
was faced with stone of various shapes and sizes, neatly cut and
fitted together—a very fine mosaic without a pattern. There were
branches, too, and other tunnels which crossed this, and
occasionally openings not more than a foot in diameter; these
latter being usually close to the floor. Above each of these
smaller openings was painted a different device, while upon the
walls of the larger tunnels at all intersections and points of
convergence hieroglyphics appeared. These the girl could not read
though she guessed that they were the names of the tunnels, or
notices indicating the points to which they led. She tried to
study some of them out, but there was not a character that was
familiar to her, which seemed strange, since, while the written
languages of the various nations of Barsoom differ, it still is
true that they have many characters and words in common.

She had tried to converse with her guard but he had not seemed
inclined to talk with her and she had finally desisted. She could
not but note that he had offered her no indignities, nor had he
been either unnecessarily rough or in any way cruel. The fact
that she had slain two of the bodies with her dagger had
apparently aroused no animosity or desire for revenge in the
minds of the strange heads that surmounted the bodies—even those
whose bodies had been killed. She did not try to understand it,
since she could not approach the peculiar relationship between
the heads and the bodies of these creatures from the basis of any
past knowledge or experience of her own. So far their treatment
of her seemed to augur naught that might arouse her fears.
Perhaps, after all, she had been fortunate to fall into the hands
of these strange people, who might not only protect her from
harm, but even aid her in returning to Helium. That they were
repulsive and uncanny she could not forget, but if they meant her
no harm she could, at least, overlook their repulsiveness.
Renewed hope aroused within her a spirit of greater cheerfulness,
and it was almost blithely now that she moved at the side of her
weird companion. She even caught herself humming a gay little
tune that was then popular in Helium. The creature at her side
turned its expressionless eyes upon her.

"What is that noise that you are making?" it asked.

"I was but humming an air," she replied.

"'Humming an air,'" he repeated. "I do not know what you mean;
but do it again, I like it."

This time she sang the words, while her companion listened
intently. His face gave no indication of what was passing in that
strange head. It was as devoid of expression as that of a spider.
It reminded her of a spider. When she had finished he turned
toward her again.

"That was different," he said. "I liked that better, even, than
the other. How do you do it?"

"Why," she said, "it is singing. Do you not know what song is?"

"No," he replied. "Tell me how you do it."

"It is difficult to explain," she told him, "since any
explanation of it presupposes some knowledge of melody and of
music, while your very question indicates that you have no
knowledge of either."

"No," he said, "I do not know what you are talking about; but
tell me how you do it."

"It is merely the melodious modulations of my voice," she
explained. "Listen!" and again she sang.

"I do not understand," he insisted; "but I like it. Could you
teach me to do it?"

"I do not know, but I shall be glad to try."

"We will see what Luud does with you," he said. "If he does not
want you I will keep you and you shall teach me to make sounds
like that."

At his request she sang again as they continued their way along
the winding tunnel, which was now lighted by occasional bulbs
which appeared to be similar to the radium bulbs with which she
was familiar and which were common to all the nations of Barsoom,
insofar as she knew, having been perfected at so remote a period
that their very origin was lost in antiquity. They consist,
usually, of a hemispherical bowl of heavy glass in which is
packed a compound containing what, according to John Carter, must
be radium. The bowl is then cemented into a metal plate with a
heavily insulated back and the whole affair set in the masonry of
wall or ceiling as desired, where it gives off light of greater
or less intensity, according to the composition of the filling
material, for an almost incalculable period of time.

As they proceeded they met a greater number of the inhabitants of
this underground world, and the girl noted that among many of
these the metal and harness were more ornate than had been those
of the workers in the fields above. The heads and bodies,
however, were similar, even identical, she thought. No one
offered her harm and she was now experiencing a feeling of relief
almost akin to happiness, when her guide turned suddenly into an
opening on the right side of the tunnel and she found herself in
a large, well lighted chamber.

The song that had been upon her lips as she entered died
there—frozen by the sight of horror that met her eyes. In the
center of the chamber a headless body lay upon the floor—a body
that had been partially devoured—while over and upon it crawled
a half a dozen heads upon their short, spider legs, and they tore
at the flesh of the woman with their chelae and carried the bits
to their awful mouths. They were eating human flesh—eating it
raw!

Tara of Helium gasped in horror and turning away covered her eyes
with her palms.