"Hurry!" whispered the slave girl."If they come we are lost.""It may serve us well to know how to open this place again,"replied Tara of Helium, and then suddenly she pressed a foot against a section of the carved base at the right of the open panel."Ah!" she breathed, a note of satisfaction in her tone, and closed the panel until it fitted snugly in its place."Come!"she said and turned toward the outer doorway of the chamber.
They reached their own cell without detection, and closing the door Tara locked it from the inside and placed the key in a secret pocket in her harness.
"Let them come," she said."Let them question us! What could two poor prisoners know of the whereabouts of their noble jailer? Iask you, Lan-O, what could they?"
"Nothing," admitted Lan-O, smiling with her companion.
"Tell me of these men of Manator," said Tara presently."Are they all like E-Med, or are some of them like A-Kor, who seemed a brave and chivalrous character?""They are not unlike the peoples of other countries," replied Lan-O."There be among them both good and bad.They are brave warriors and mighty.Among themselves they are not without chivalry and honor, but in their dealings with strangers they know but one law--the law of might.The weak and unfortunate of other lands fill them with contempt and arouse all that is worst in their natures, which doubtless accounts for their treatment of us, their slaves.""But why should they feel contempt for those who have suffered the misfortune of falling into their hands?" queried Tara.
"I do not know," said Lan-O; "A-Kor says that he believes that it is because their country has never been invaded by a victorious foe.In their stealthy raids never have they been defeated, because they have never waited to face a powerful force; and so they have come to believe themselves invincible, and the other peoples are held in contempt as inferior in valor and the practice of arms.""Yet A-Kor is one of them," said Tara.
"He is a son of O-Tar, the jeddak," replied Lan-O; "but his mother was a high born Gatholian, captured and made slave by O-Tar, and A-Kor boasts that in his veins runs only the blood of his mother, and indeed is he different from the others.His chivalry is of a gentler form, though not even his worst enemy has dared question his courage, while his skill with the sword, and the spear, and the thoat is famous throughout the length and breadth of Manator.""What think you they will do with him?" asked Tara of Helium.
"Sentence him to the games," replied Lan-O."If O-Tar be not greatly angered he may be sentenced to but a single game, in which case he may come out alive; but if O-Tar wishes really to dispose of him he will be sentenced to the entire series, and no warrior has ever survived the full ten, or rather none who was under a sentence from O-Tar.""What are the games? I do not understand," said Tara "I have heard them speak of playing at jetan, but surely no one can be killed at jetan.We play it often at home.""But not as they play it in the arena at Manator," replied Lan-O.
"Come to the window," and together the two approached an aperture facing toward the east.
Below her Tara of Helium saw a great field entirely surrounded by the low building, and the lofty towers of which that in which she was imprisoned was but a unit.About the arena were tiers of seats; but the a thing that caught her attention was a gigantic jetan board laid out upon the floor of the arena in great squares of alternate orange and black.
"Here they play at jetan with living pieces.They play for great stakes and usually for a woman--some slave of exceptional beauty.
O-Tar himself might have played for you had you not angered him, but now you will be played for in an open game by slaves and criminals, and you will belong to the side that wins--not to a single warrior, but to all who survive the game."The eyes of Tara of Helium flashed, but she made no comment.
"Those who direct the play do not necessarily take part in it,"continued the slave girl, "but sit in those two great thrones which you see at either end of the board and direct their pieces from square to square.""But where lies the danger?" asked Tara of Helium."If a piece be taken it is merely removed from the board--this is a rule of jetan as old almost as the civilization of Barsoom.""But here in Manator, when they play in the great arena with living men, that rule is altered," explained Lan-O."When a warrior is moved to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the two battle to the death for possession of the square and the one that is successful advantages by the move.Each is caparisoned to simulate the piece he represents and in addition he wears that which indicates whether he be slave, a warrior serving a sentence, or a volunteer.If serving a sentence the number of games he must play is also indicated, and thus the one directing the moves knows which pieces to risk and which to conserve, and further than this, a man's chances are affected by the position that is assigned him for the game.Those whom they wish to die are always Panthans in the game, for the Panthan has the least chance of surviving.""Do those who direct the play ever actually take part in it?"asked Tara.
"Oh, yes," said Lan-O."Often when two warriors, even of the highest class, hold a grievance against one another O-Tar compels them to settle it upon the arena.Then it is that they take active part and with drawn swords direct their own players from the position of Chief.They pick their own players, usually the best of their own warriors and slaves, if they be powerful men who possess such, or their friends may volunteer, or they may obtain prisoners from the pits.These are games indeed--the very best that are seen.Often the great chiefs themselves are slain.""It is within this amphitheater that the justice of Manator is meted, then?" asked Tara.
"Very largely," replied Lan-O.
"How, then, through such justice, could a prisoner win his liberty?" continued the girl from Helium.