Swords of Mars bs-8 Read online

  She looked at me in surprise and was about to reply when suddenly she cocked her head on one side and listened. "Someone is coming," she said; "they are searching for me."

  I took her by the hand and drew her toward the doorway to my sleeping apartment.

  "Come in here," I said. "Let's see if we can't hide you."

  "No, no," she demurred; "they would kill us both then, if they found me. You have been kind to me. I do not want them to kill you."

  "Don't worry about me," I replied; "I can take care of myself. Do as I tell you."

  I took her into my room and made her lie down on the little platform that serves in Barsoom as a bed. Then I threw the sleeping silks and furs over her in a jumbled heap. Only by close examination could anyone have discovered that her little form lay hidden beneath them.

  Stepping into the living room, I took a book at random from the shelf; and seating myself in a chair, opened it. I had scarcely done so, when I heard a scratching on the outside of the door leading to the corridor.

  "Come in," I called.

  The door opened, and Fal Sivas stepped into the room.

  CHAPTER III. TRAPPED

  Lowering my book, I looked up as Fal Sivas entered. He glanced quickly and suspiciously about the apartment. I had purposely left the door to my sleeping room open, so as not to arouse suspicion should anyone come in to investigate.

  The doors to the other sleeping room and bath were also open. Fal Sivas glanced at the book in my hand. "Rather heavy reading for a panthan," he remarked.

  I smiled. "I recently read his Theoretical Mechanics. This is an earlier work, I believe, and not quite so authoritative. I was merely glancing through it."

  Fal Sivas studied me intently for a moment. "Are you not a little too well educated for your calling?" he asked.

  "One may never know too much," I replied.

  "One may know too much here," he said, and I recalled what the girl had told me.

  His tone changed. "I stopped in to see if everything was all right with you, if you were comfortable."

  "Very," I replied.

  "You have not been disturbed? No one has been here?"

  "The house seems very quiet," I replied. "I heard someone laughing a short time ago, but that was all. It did not disturb me."

  "Has anyone come to your quarters?" he asked.

  "Why, was someone supposed to come?"

  "No one, of course," he said shortly, and then he commenced to question me in an evident effort to ascertain the extent of my mechanical and chemical knowledge.

  "I really know little of either subject," I told him. "I am a fighting man by profession, not a scientist. Of course, familiarity with fliers connotes some mechanical knowledge, but after all I am only a tyro."

  He was studying me quizzically. "I wish that I knew you better," he said at last; "I wish that I knew that I could trust you. You are an intelligent man. In the matter of brains, I am entirely alone here. I need an assistant. I need such a man as you." He shook his head, rather disgustedly. "But what is the use? I can trust no one."

  "You employed me as your bodyguard. For that work I am fitted. Let it go at that."

  "You are right," he agreed. "Time will tell what else you are fitted for."

  "And if I am to protect you," I continued, "I must know more about your enemies. I must know who they are, and I must learn their plans."

  "There are many who would like to see me destroyed, or destroy me themselves; but there is one who, above all others, would profit by my death. He is Gar Nal, the inventor." He looked up at me questioningly.

  "I have never heard of him," I said. "You must remember that I have been absent from Zodanga for many years."

  He nodded. "I am perfecting a ship that will traverse space. So is Gar Nal. He would like not only to have me destroyed, but also to steal the secrets of my invention that would permit him to perfect his; but Ur Jan is the one I most fear, because Gar Nal has employed him to destroy me."

  "I am unknown in Zodanga. I will hunt out this Ur Jan and see what I can learn."

  There was one thing that I wanted to learn right then, and that was whether or not Fal Sivas would permit me to leave his house on any pretext.

  "You could learn nothing," he said; "their meetings are secret. Even if you could gain admission, which is doubtful, you would be killed before you could get out again."

  "Perhaps not," I said; "it is worth trying, anyway. Do you know where they hold their meetings?"

  "Yes, but if you want to try that, I will have Rapas guide you to the building."

  "If I am to go, I do not want Rapas to know anything about it," I said.

  "Why?" he demanded.

  "Because I do not trust him," I replied. "I would not trust anyone with knowledge of my plans."

  "You are quite right. When you are ready to go, I can give you directions so that you can find their meeting place."

  "I will go tomorrow," I said, "after dark."

  He nodded his approval. He was standing where he could look directly into the bedroom where the girt was hidden. "Have you plenty of sleeping silks and furs?" he asked.

  "Plenty," I replied, "but I will bring my own tomorrow."

  "That will not be necessary. I will furnish you all that you require." He still stood staring into that other room. I wondered if he suspected the truth, or if the girl had moved or her breathing were noticeable under the pile of materials beneath which she was hidden.

  I did not dare to turn and look for myself for fear of arousing his suspicions further. I just sat there waiting, my hands close to the hilt of my short sword.

  Perhaps the girl was near discovery; but, if so, Fal Sivas was also near death that moment.

  At last he turned toward the outer doorway. "I will give you directions tomorrow for reaching the headquarters of the gorthans, and also tomorrow I will send you a slave. Do you wish a man or a woman?"

  I preferred a man, but I thought that I detected here a possible opportunity for protecting the girl. "A woman," I said.

  He smiled. "And a pretty one, eh?"

  "I should like to select her myself, if I may."

  "As you wish," he replied. "I shall let you look them over tomorrow. May you sleep well."

  He left the room and closed the door behind him; but I knew that he stood outside for a long time, listening.

  I picked I up the book once more and commenced to read it; but not a word registered on my consciousness, for all my faculties were centered on listening.

  After what seemed a long time, I heard him move away; and shortly after I distinctly heard a door close on the level above me. Not until then did I move, but now I arose and went to the door. It was equipped with a heavy bar on the inside, and this I slid silently into its keeper.

  Crossing the room, I entered the chamber where the girl lay and threw back the covers that concealed her. She had not moved. As she looked up at me, I placed a finger across my lips.

  "You heard?" I asked in a low whisper.

  She nodded.

  "Tomorrow I will select you as my slave. Perhaps later I shall find a way to liberate you."

  "You are kind," she said.

  I reached down and took her by the hand. "Come," I said, "into the other room. You can sleep there safely tonight, and in the morning we will plan how we may carry out the rest of our scheme."

  "I think that will not be difficult," she said. "Early in the morning everyone but Fal Sivas goes to a large dining room on this level. Many of them will pass along this corridor. I can slip out, unseen, and join them. At breakfast you will have an opportunity of seeing all the slaves. Then you may select me if you still wish to do so."

  There were sleeping silks and furs in the room that I had assigned to her, and I knew that she would be comfortable; so I left her, and returning to my own room completed my preparations for the night that had been so strangely interrupted.

  Early the next morning Zanda awoke me. "It will soon be time for them to go to b
reakfast," she said. "You must go before I do, leaving the door open. Then when there is no one in the corridor, I will slip out."

  As I left my quarters, I saw two or three people moving along the corridor in the direction that Zanda had told me the dining room lay; and so I followed them, finally entering a large room in which there was a table that would seat about twenty. It was already over half filled. Most of the slaves were women-young women, and many of them were beautiful.

  With the exception of two men, one sitting at either end of the table, all the occupants of the room were without weapons.

  The man sitting at the head of the table was the same who had admitted Rapas and me the evening before. I learned later that his name was Hamas, and that he was the major-domo of the establishment.

  The other armed man was Phystal. He was in charge of the slaves in the establishment. He also, as I was to learn later, attended to the procuring of many of them, usually by bribery or abduction.

  As I entered the room, Hamas discovered me and motioned me to come to him. "You will sit here, next to me, Vandor," he said.

  I could not but note the difference in his manner from the night before, when he had seemed more or less an obsequious slave. I gathered that he played two roles for purposes known best to himself or his master. In his present role, he was obviously a person of importance.

  "You slept well?" he asked.

  "Quite," I replied; "the house seems very quiet and peaceful at night."

  He grunted. "If you should hear any unusual sounds at night," he said, "you will not investigate, unless the master or I call you." And then, as though he felt that that needed some explanation, he added, "Fal Sivas sometimes works upon his experiments late at night. You must not disturb him no matter what you may hear."

  Some more slaves were entering the room now, and just behind them came Zanda. I glanced at Hamas and saw his eyes narrow as they alighted upon her.

  "Here she is now, Phystal," he said.

  The man at the far end of the table turned in his seat and looked at the girl approaching from behind him. He was scowling angrily.

  "Where were you last night, Zanda?" he demanded, as the girl approached the table.

  "I was frightened, and I hid," she replied.

  "Where did you hide?" demanded Phystal.

  "Ask Hamas," she replied.

  Phystal glanced at Hamas. "How should I know where you were?" demanded the latter.

  Zanda elevated her arched brows. "Oh, I am sorry," she exclaimed; "I did not know that you cared who knew."

  Hamas scowled angrily. "What do you mean by that?" he demanded; "what are you driving at?"

  "Oh," she said, "I wouldn't have said anything about it at all but I thought, of course, that Fal Sivas knew."

  Phystal was eyeing Hamas suspiciously. All the slaves were looking at him, and you could almost read their thoughts in the expressions on their faces.

  Hamas was furious, Phystal suspicious; and all the time the girl stood there with the most innocent and angelic expression on her face.

  "What do you mean by saying such a thing?" shouted Hamas.

  "What did I say?" she asked, innocently.

  "You said-you said-"

  "I just said, 'ask Hamas.' Is there anything wrong in that?"

  "But what do I know about it?" demanded the major-domo.

  Zanda shrugged her slim shoulders. "I am afraid to say anything more. I do not want to get you in trouble."

  "Perhaps the less said about it, the better," said Phystal.

  Hamas started to speak, but evidently thought better of it. He glowered at Zanda for a moment and then fell to eating his breakfast.

  Just before the meal was over, I told Hamas that Fal Sivas had instructed me to select a slave.

  "Yes, he told me," replied the major-domo. "See Phystal about it; he is in charge of the slaves."

  "But does he know that Fal Sivas gave me permission to select anyone that I chose?"

  "I will tell him."

  A moment later he finished his breakfast; and as he was leaving the dining room, he paused and spoke to Phystal.

  Seeing that Phystal also was about ready to leave the table, I went to him and told him that I would like to select a slave.

  "Which one do you want?" he asked.

  I glanced around the table, apparently examining each of the slaves carefully until at last my eyes rested upon Zanda.

  "I will take this one," I said.

  Phystal's brows contracted, and he hesitated.

  "Fal Sivas said that I might select whomever I wished," I reminded him.

  "But why do you want this one?" he demanded.

  "She seems intelligent, and she is good-looking," I replied. "She will do as well as another until I am better acquainted here." And so it was that Zanda was appointed to serve me. Her duties would consist of keeping my apartments clean, running errands for me, cleaning my harness, shining my metal, sharpening my swords and daggers, and otherwise making herself useful.

  I would much rather have had a man slave, but events had so ordered themselves that I had been forced into the role of the girl's protector, and this seemed the only plan by which I could accomplish anything along that line; but whether or not Fal Sivas would permit me to keep her, I did not know. That was a contingency which remained for future solution when, and if, it eventuated.

  I took Zanda back to my quarters; and while she was busying herself with her duties there, I received a call summoning me to Fal Sivas.

  A slave led me to the same room in which Fal Sivas had received Rapas and me the night before, and as I entered the old inventor greeted me with a nod. I expected him to immediately question me concerning Zanda, for both Hamas and Phystal were with him; and I had no doubt but that they had reported all that had occurred at the breakfast table.

  However, I was agreeably disappointed, for he did not mention the incident at all, but merely gave me instructions as to my duties.

  I was to remain on duty in the corridor outside his door and accompany him when he left the room. I was to permit no one to enter the room, other than Hamas or Phystal, without obtaining permission from Fal Sivas. When he left the room, I was to accompany him. Under no circumstances was I ever to go to the level above, except with his permission or by his express command. He was very insistent in impressing this point upon my mind; and though I am not overly curious, I must admit that now that I had been forbidden to go to any of the levels above, I wanted to do so.

  "When you have been in my service longer and I know you better," explained Fal Sivas, "I hope to be able to trust you; but for the present you are on probation."

  That was the longest day I have ever spent, just standing around outside that door, doing nothing; but at last it drew to a close, and when I had the opportunity, I reminded Fal Sivas that he had promised to direct me to Ur Jan's headquarters, so that I might try to gain entrance to them that night.

  He gave me very accurate directions to a building in another quarter of the city.

  "You are free to start whenever you wish," he said, in conclusion; "I have given Hamas instructions that you may come and go as you please. He will furnish you with a pass signal whereby you may gain admission to the house. I wish you luck," he said, "but I think that the best you will get will be a sword through your heart. You are pitting yourself against the fiercest and most unscrupulous gang of men in Zodanga."

  "It is a chance that I shall have to take," I said. "Good night."

  I went to my quarters and told Zanda to lock herself in after I had left and to open the door only in answer to a certain signal which I imparted to her. She was only too glad to obey my injunction.

  When I was ready to leave the building, Hamas conducted me to the outer doorway.

  Here he showed me a hidden button set in the masonry and explained to me how I might use it to announce my return.

  I had gone but a short distance from the house of Fal Sivas when I met Rapas the Ulsio. He seemed to have fo
rgotten his anger toward me, or else he was dissimulating, for he greeted me cordially.

  "Where to?" he asked.

  "Off for the evening," I replied.

  "Where are you going, and what are you going to do?"

  "I am going to the public house to get my things together and store them, and then I shall look around for a little entertainment."

  "Suppose we get together later in the evening," he suggested.

  "All right," I replied; "when and where?"

  "I will be through with my business about half after the eighth zode. Suppose we meet at the eating-place I took you to yesterday."

  "All right," I said, "but do not wait long for me. I may get tired of looking for pleasure and return to my quarters long before that."

  After leaving Rapas, I went to the public house where I had left my things; and gathering them up I took them to the hangar on the roof and stored them in my flier. This done, I returned to the street and made my way toward the address that Fal Sivas had given me.

  The way led me through a brilliantly lighted shopping district and into a gloomy section of the old town. It was a residential district, but of the meaner sort.

  Some of the houses still rested upon the ground, but most of them were elevated on their steel shafts twenty or thirty feet above the pavement.

  I heard laughter and song and occasional brawling-the sounds of the night life of a great Martian city, and then I passed on into another and seemingly deserted quarter.

  I was approaching the headquarters of the assassins. I kept in the shadows of the buildings, and I avoided the few people that were upon the avenue by slipping into doorways and alleys. I did not wish anyone to see me here who might be able afterward to recognize or identify me. I was playing a game with Death, and I must give him no advantage.

  When finally I reached the building for which I was seeking, I found a doorway on the opposite side of the avenue from which I could observe my goal without being seen.

  The farther moon cast a faint light upon the face of the building but revealed to me nothing of importance.

  At first, I could discern no lights in the building; but after closer observation I saw a dim reflection behind the windows of the upper floor. There, doubtless, was the meeting-place of the assassins; but how was I to reach it?