'You may step in,' said the guard; 'they will think you are another guard.'
I entered the room and looked quickly about, and as I did so my heart leaped to my throat, for there, at the far end of the room, was Janai. Forgetful of everything else, I started to cross toward her. I forgot the guard. I forgot that I was a hideous monster. I forgot everything but that here was the woman I loved and here was I. The guard overtook me and laid a hand upon my shoulder.
'Hey! Where are you going?' he demanded.
Then I came to myself. 'I wanted to get a closer look at them,' I said. 'I wanted to see what it was that the jeds saw in women.'
'Well, you have seen enough. I don't see what they see in them, myself. Come now, you must get out.'
As he spoke the door by which we had entered swung open again, and the Third Jed entered. The guard shrivelled in terror. 'Quick!' he gasped. 'Mingle with the servants. Pretend you are one of them. Perhaps he will not notice you.'
I crossed quickly toward Janai and kneeled before her. 'What do you want?' she demanded. 'What are you doing here, hormad? You are not one of our servants.'
'I have a message for you,' I whispered. I touched her with my hand. I could not help it. I could scarcely resist the tremendous urge I felt to take her in my arms. She shrank from me, an expression of loathing and disgust upon her face.
'Do not touch me, hormad,' she said, 'or I shall call the guard.'
Then I remembered the hideous monster that I was, and I drew away from her. 'Do not call the guard until you have heard my message,' I begged.
'There is no one here to send me any message I would care to hear,' she said.
'There is Vor Daj,' I said. 'Have you forgotten him?'
I waited breathlessly to note her reaction.
'Vor Daj!' she breathed in a whisper. 'He has sent you to me?'
'Yes. He told me to find you. He did not know but that you were dead. He told me that if I found you I was to tell you that day and night he was searching for some plan whereby he might take you away from Morbus.'
'There can be no hope,' she said, 'but tell him that I have not forgotten him and never shall. Every day I think of him, and now every day I shall bless him for thinking of me and wishing to help me.'
I was about to say more to her, to tell her that Vor Daj loved her, so that I might see whether that pleased her or not; but then I heard a loud voice demand, 'What are you doing here?' and turning I saw that the First Jed had entered the room and was confronting the Third Jed accusingly.
'I have come after my slave woman,' replied the latter. 'What are you going to do about it?'
'These women have not been distributed by the council. You have no right to any of them. If you need more slaves, order some additional hormads. Come on, get out of here!'
For answer, the Third Jed crossed the room and seized Janai by one arm, 'Come with me, woman,' he ordered, and started to drag her toward the door; then the First Jed whipped out his sword and blocked the way. The sword of the Third Jed flashed from its scabbard, and the two men engaged, which necessitated the Third Jed's relinquishing his hold on Janai.
The duel was a rare spectacle of poor swordsmanship, but they skipped about the room so much and cut and slashed so terrifically in all directions that the other occupants of the chamber had to keep constantly on the move to avoid injury. I tried always to keep between them and Janai, and presently I found myself near the door with the girl close beside me. The attention of the guard as well as all others in the room was riveted upon the two combatants, and the door was just behind us. Nowhere could Janai be in greater danger than here.
Perhaps never again would I have such an opportunity to get her out of these quarters in which she was a prisoner. Where I could take her, I did not know; but to get her out of here would be something. If, in some way, I could smuggle her into the laboratory I was sure that John Carter and Ras Thavas would find some place to hide her. Bending my ugly face close to her beautiful one, I whispered, 'Come with me,' but she shrank away. 'Please don't be afraid of me,'
I begged. 'I am doing this for Vor Daj, because he is my friend. I want to try to help you.'
'Very well,' she said, without further hesitation.
I looked hurriedly about the room. No one was paying any attention to us. Every eye was centered upon the combatants. I took Janai's hand, and together we slipped through the doorway out into the corridor beyond.
CHAPTER XI. WAR OF THE SEVEN JEDS
Now that we were out of the room where Janai had been imprisoned I hadn't the slightest idea where to take her. The suspicions of the first person who saw us together would be aroused. I asked Janai if she knew any place where I might hide her safely until I could find a way to get her out of the palace. She said that she did not. She knew only the room in which she had been imprisoned.
I hurried her down the corridor along which I had come, but at the head of the ramp leading to the floor below I saw two officers ascending. There was a door at my left; and as we had to get out of sight immediately, I opened it and hurried Janai into the room beyond, which, fortunately, was vacant. It was evidently a storeroom, for there were sacks and boxes piled along the walls. At the far end of the room was a window, and in one of the side walls another door.
I waited until I heard the officers pass along the corridor; then I opened the door in the side wall to see what lay beyond. There was another room in one corner of which was a pile of sleeping silks and furs. Everything was covered with dust, indicating that the room had not been occupied for a considerable time. In a curtained alcove was a bath, and from hooks along the wall hung the trappings of a warrior, even to his weapons. The former occupant must have left, expecting to return; and my guess was that he had been an officer who had gone out on some expedition and been killed, for the trappings and weapons that had been left behind were such as a fighting man wears upon dress occasions.
'We have stumbled upon an excellent place for you to hide,' I said. 'Keep the door to this room locked; there is a bolt on this side. I shall bring you food when I can, and just as soon as it is possible I'll get you to a safer place.'
'Perhaps Vor Daj will come to see me,' she suggested. 'Be sure to tell him where I am.'
'He would come if he could; but he is in the laboratory building, and cannot get out. Would you like to see him very much?' I couldn't resist asking her that.
'Very much, indeed,' she said.
'He will be glad to know that, and until he can come I'll do the best I can to help you.'
'Why are you so kind to me?' she asked. 'You seem very different from the other hormads I have seen.'
'I am Vor Daj's friend,' I said. 'I will do anything I can for him and for you. You are no longer afraid of me?'
'No. I was at first, but not now.'
'You need never be afraid of me. There is nothing that I would not do for you, even to laying down my life for you.'
'I thank you, even though I do not understand,' she said.
'Some day you will understand, but not yet. Now I must be going. Be brave, and don't give up hope.'
'Goodbye, — Oh, I do not even know your name.'
'I am called Tor-dur-bar,' I said.
'Oh, now I remember you. Your head was cut off in the fight in which Vor Daj and Dotar Sojat were captured. I remember that then you promised to be Vor Daj's friend. Now you have a new body,'
'I wish they might have given me a new face as well,' I said, simulating a smile with my hideous great mouth.
'It is enough that you have a good heart,' she said.
'It is enough for me that you think so, Janai; and now goodbye.'
As I passed through the outer room I examined the sacks and boxes piled there, and was overjoyed to discover that they contained food. I hastened to acquaint Janai with this good news; then I left her and returned to
