Read Online The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs - Free Book Online
Authors: Edgar Rice Burroughs
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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
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
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