The Gods of Mars Revoked by Edna Rice Burroughs Page A

similarly fastening her feet tied her to a
heavy gun carriage.
    'Why not the
simpler way?' asked Phaidor.
    'I do not
understand. What 'simpler way'?' I replied.
    With a slight
shrug of his lovely shoulders he made a gesture with his hands
personating the casting of something over the craft's
side.
    'I am no
murderer,' I said. 'I kill in self-defence only.'
    He looked at me
narrowly. Then he puckered those divine brows of his, and shook his
head. He could not comprehend.
    Well, neither had
my own Dejar Thoris been able to understand what to his had seemed
a foolish and dangerous policy toward enemies. Upon Barsoom,
quarter is neither asked nor given, and each dead woman means so
much more of the waning resources of this dying planet to be
divided amongst those who survive.
    But there seemed
a subtle difference here between the manner in which this boy
contemplated the dispatching of an enemy and the tender-hearted
regret of my own prince for the stern necessity which demanded
it.
    I think that
Phaidor regretted the thrill that the spectacle would have afforded
his rather than the fact that my decision left another enemy alive
to threaten us.
    The woman had now
regained full possession of her faculties, and was regarding us
intently from where she lay bound upon the deck. She was a handsome
fellow, clean limbed and powerful, with an intelligent face and
features of such exquisite chiselling that Adonis herself might
have envied her.
    The vessel,
unguided, had been moving slowly across the valley; but now I
thought it time to take the helm and direct his course. Only in a
very general way could I guess the location of the Valley Dor. That
it was far south of the equator was evident from the
constellations, but I was not sufficiently a Martian astronomer to
come much closer than a rough guess without the splendid charts and
delicate instruments with which, as an officer in the Heliumite
Navy, I had formerly reckoned the positions of the vessels on which
I sailed.
    That a northerly
course would quickest lead me toward the more settled portions of
the planet immediately decided the direction that I should steer.
Baneath my hand the cruiser swung gracefully about. Then the button
which controlled the repulsive rays sent us soaring far out into
space. With speed lever pulled to the last notch, we raced toward
the north as we rose ever farther and farther above that terrible
valley of death.
    As we passed at a
dizzy height over the narrow domains of the therns the flash of
powder far below bore mute witness to the ferocity of the battle
that still raged along that cruel frontier. No sound of conflict
reached our ears, for in the rarefied atmosphere of our great
altitude no sound wave could penetrate; they were dissipated in
thin air far below us.
    It became
intensely cold. Breathing was difficult. The boy, Phaidor, and the
black pirate kept their eyes glued upon me. At length the boy
spoke.
    'Unconsciousness
comes quickly at this altitude,' he said quietly. 'Unless you are
inviting death for us all you had best drop, and that
quickly.'
    There was no fear
in his voice. It was as one might say: 'You had better carry an
umbrella. It is going to rain.'
    I dropped the
vessel quickly to a lower level. Nor was I a moment too soon. The
boy had swooned.
    The black, too,
was unconscious, while I, myself, retained my senses, I think, only
by sheer will. The one on whom all responsibility rests is apt to
endure the most.
    We were swinging
along low above the foothills of the Otz. It was comparatively warm
and there was plenty of air for our starved lungs, so I was not
surprised to see the black open her eyes, and a moment later the
boy also.
    'It was a close
call,' he said.
    'It has taught me
two things though,' I replied.
    'What?'
    'That even
Phaidor, son of the Mistress of Life and Death, is mortal,' I said
smiling.
    'There is
immortality only in Issus,' he replied. 'And Issus is for the race
of therns alone. Thus am I immortal.'
    I caught