"Give me the fish!" screamed Lal Taask; "and let him starve, but not too much—he must be saved for my dagger."
"It is I who should have the right to kill him," growled Akamen— "he who kept me from being a king."
"You are both fools," cried Atan Thome. "Nothing matters but The Father of Diamonds. Help me get that, and I shall make us all rich. Think, Taask, what it would buy in the capitals of Europe! I would give my soul for it."
"You have no soul, you beast!" screamed Taask. "Only let me get my dagger into you!"
Tarzan and Thetan came with a warrior to the cell where Gregory and Lavac were chained. "Herat has reprieved you," explained Tarzan, while the warrior removed their chains. "You are to have freedom within the city until I return from Ashair."
"Why are you going to Ashair?" asked Gregory.
"I want to find out if your daughter and d'Arnot are there, and ascertain if there is any way in which they may be rescued, if they are there; then there is the matter of Brulor and The Father of Diamonds. To win freedom for all of us, they must be brought to Herat."
"The other conditions have been fulfilled?" asked Lavac. "You have killed the lions?"
"They are both dead," replied Tarzan.
"I shall go to Ashair with you." said Lavac.
"And I," said Gregory.
"It is better that I go alone," said Tarzan.
"But I must go," insisted Lavac. "I must do something to atone for my beastliness to d'Arnot. Please let me go with you."
"I must go, too," insisted Gregory.
"I can take one of you," replied Tarzan. "Herat insists that one of us remain here as a hostage. You may come, Lavac."
The morning was still young as Thetan bid Tarzan and Lavac farewell as they were setting out for Ashair. "I have told you all that I know of Ashair and the Temple of Brulor at the bottom of Lake Horus," said the Thobotian. "May the gods be with you!"
"I need no gods," said Tarzan.
"Tarzan is enough," added Lavac.
All night the nine fugitives had tramped from their last hiding place, and they were foot sore and weary. There had been no indication of pursuit, but Herkuf knew his own people well enough to know that they would not be allowed to escape so easily.
"Now that it is light," he said, "it is time that we found another hiding place."
"We are only a few hours from Thobos," said the Thobotian, "and before that I can show you the trail out of Tuen-Baka."
"Nevertheless, I think it better that we hide through the day," insisted Herkuf. "I have no wish to be caught and taken back to the cages."
"What is another day, if by hiding we can escape?" asked Brian.
"I think Herkuf is right," said d'Arnot. "We should not take a single risk, however small it may seem."
"Listen!" whispered Helen. "I hear voices. Some one is coming behind us."
"It can be no one but the Asharians who are looking for us," said Herkuf. "Quick! We'll turn off the trail here, and hide. Make no noise—just follow me. I know this place."
They moved silently along a narrow trail for a quarter of a mile, coming at last to a little clearing. "This is the place," said Herkuf. "I do not think they will look here for us. They will think that we kept on straight up the valley."
"I don't hear them any more," said Helen.
"The trouble with this," said d'Arnot, "is that now they'll be between us and where we want to go."
"I don't think so," replied Herkuf. "They won't dare go too near Thobos; so, if they don't find us, they'll have to turn around and come back. They'll pass us again later in the day, and tonight we can go on in safety."
"I hope you're right," said Brian.
Six Asharian warriors, following the trail of the fugitives, came to the place at which they had turned off. "Their tracks are plain here," said the leader. "Here's where they turned off the main trail, and not so long ago. We should soon have them—remember to take the woman and the strange men alive."
Half crouching, the six crept along the trail of their quarry—a trail as plain as a board walk. They did not speak now, for they felt that the fugitives were not far ahead; but moved with the utmost quiet and stealth. Each was thinking of what Atka would do to them if they failed.
As Tarzan and Lavac followed a forest trail toward Ashair, the ape-man suddenly stopped and tested the air with his keen nostrils. "There are men ahead," he said. "You stay here; I'll take to the trees and investigate."
"They must be men from Ashair," said Lavac, and Tarzan nodded and was off into the trees.
Lavac watched him until he disappeared among the foliage, marvelling at his strength and agility. Though he had seen him take to the trees many times, it never ceased to thrill him; but when Tarzan was gone, he felt strangely alone and helpless.
As the ape-man swung through the trees, the scent spoor became plainer; and among that of many men he detected the delicate aroma of a white woman. It was faintly familiar but still too tenuous to identify—just a suggestion of familiarity, but it spurred him to greater speed; and while he swung silently through the lower terrace of the forest, the six Asharian warriors broke into the clearing upon the fugitives with shouts of triumph. Some of the nine started to run, bringing a shower of spears upon them; but d'Arnot, Helen, Brian, and Herkuf stood still, knowing that there could be no escape now. A spear drove through one of the fleeing men; and, as he fell, screaming, the others gave up hope and stopped.
Tarzan heard the shouts of the Asharians as they broke into the clearing and the scream of him who had received the spear. The sounds were close, now. In another moment he would be on the scene.
The Asharians, having recovered their spears, rounded up the fugitives and commenced to belabor them with the hafts of their weapons. They struck indiscriminately, venting their hatred on all; but when one of them threatened Helen, d'Arnot knocked him down; and instantly another raised his spear to drive it through the Frenchman's back. It was this scene upon which Tarzan looked as he reached the edge of the clearing.
As Helen screamed in horror and warning, an arrow pierced the warrior's heart; and, shrieking, he fell dead. Instantly the other Asharians looked about, but they saw no one who could have sped the missile. They knew that it could not have come from any of the unarmed prisoners, and they were frightened and mystified. Only d'Arnot could even hazard a guess as to the identity of the bowman.
"It seems incredible," he whispered to Helen, "but who in the world but Tarzan could have shot that arrow?"
"Oh, if it only were!" she exclaimed.
None knew better than Tarzan of the Apes how to harass and mystify an enemy. He had seen the surprise that the mysterious messenger of death had caused in the clearing below. A grim half- smile touched his lips as he drew his bow again and selected another victim; then he sped the arrow.
Once again the mysterious killer had struck, and as another Asharian screamed and fell the others looked about in consternation.
"Who is it?" cried one. "I see nobody."
"Where is he?" demanded another. "Why doesn't he show himself?"
"It is the god of us outside people," said d'Arnot. "He will kill you all."
"If he doesn't kill us, Atka will," said a warrior, "if we don't bring you back to Ashair;" then the four remaining warriors sought to herd their prisoners onto the back trail toward the city.
"Let's make a break for it," suggested Brian. "They're confused and frightened."
"No," counselled d'Arnot; "they'd get some of us with their spears. We can't take the chance now."
Suddenly there burst upon the surprised ears of the Asharians a deep voice that spoke the Swahili they all understood. "I am Tarzan of the Apes," it boomed. "Go, and leave my friends!"
"We might as well die here as in Ashair," a warrior shouted back, "for the Queen will have us killed if we come back empty handed; so we are going to take our prisoners with us, or kill them here."
"Kill them now!" cried another, and turned upon Brian, who was clo
sest to him; but as he raised his spear an arrow passed through his heart; and then, with the rapidity of machine gun fire, three more arrows brought down the remaining Asharians, while the surviving fugitives looked on in amazement.
"There is only one man in the world who could have done that," said d'Arnot, "and we are very fortunate that he is our friend."
As Tarzan dropped to the ground among them, they surrounded him, voicing their thanks; but he silenced them with a gesture. "What are your plans?" he asked.
"There is a Thobotian with us who is going to show us a secret trail out of Tuen-Baka," explained d'Arnot. "We didn't know that anyone but us was left alive."
"Have you seen anything of Dad?" interrupted Helen. "Was he drowned?"
"No," replied Tarzan; "he and Magra are in Thobos and safe for the moment. Lavac is back there on the trail waiting for me. He and I were on our way to Ashair to look for you."
"Then we can all turn back to Thobos," said Brian.
"It is not as simple as that," replied Tarzan. "I shall have to go to Ashair and bring back a god and a diamond to Herat before he will release your father and Magra."
"It looks like a man-size job," commented d'Arnot, with a rueful smile. "I shall go with you."
"And I," said Helen.
Tarzan shrugged. "You'd be little better off in Thobos," he said, "and I doubt very much that you could ever make it back to Bonga if you succeeded in getting out of Tuen-Baka alive."
"I think we should all stick together," said Brian. "I'm going along with you."
"My duty lies near Ashair," said Herkuf. "I shall go with you. Perhaps, of all of us, I can be of the most help in getting what you want."
"Very well," agreed the ape-man. "I'll go back and bring Lavac."
A half hour later the little party was on its way back to Ashair, the Forbidden City of Tuen-Baka.
CHAPTER 23
As Magra sat in her apartment in the palace of Herat musing over the strange series of adventures that had brought her to this half civilized, half barbaric city, and dreaming of the godlike man she had come to love, the door opened; and the King entered.
Magra rose and faced him. "You should not come here," she said. "It will do you no good and only endanger my life. The Queen knew of the other time. She will know of this, and she will have me killed."
"Have no fear," said Herat, "for I am king."
"You only think you are," snapped Magra contemptuously.
"I am Herat, the King!" cried the monarch. "No one speaks to me like that, woman."
"Oh, they don't, don't they?" demanded an angry voice behind him; and, turning, he saw the Queen standing in the doorway. "So I have caught you at last!" she cried. "So no one speaks to you like that, eh? You haven't heard anything yet; wait 'til I get you alone!" She turned her blazing eyes on Magra. "And as for you, trollop; you die tomorrow!"
"But, my dear," expostulated Herat. "'But' me nothing!" snapped Mentheb. "Get out of here!"
"I thought that you said you were king," taunted Magra; then they were both gone, and the girl was left alone. Never in her life had she felt so much alone, so helpless and so hopeless. She threw herself upon a couch; and, had she been another woman, she would have burst into tears; but Magra had never cried for herself. Self-pity was not for her. She had said once that it was like cheating at solitaire, for nobody else knew about it and nobody cared and no one was hurt but herself. How she wished that Tarzan were here! He would have helped her—not with useless commiseration, but with action. He would have found a way to save her. She wondered if he would grieve for her; and then she smiled, for she knew that the philosophy of the wild beast had little place for grief. It was too accustomed to death, held life in such low esteem. But she must do something. She struck a gong that summoned a slave girl.
"Do you know where the prisoners, Gregory and Lavac, are quartered?" she asked.
"Yes, my mistress."
"Take me to them!"
When she entered Gregory's apartment, she found Thetan with him. At first she hesitated to talk before the Thobotian, but she recalled that he had befriended them; so she told them all that had just happened.
"I must escape tonight," she said. "Will you help me?"
"Mentheb is rather a decent sort," said Thetan. "She may come to realize that the fault is not yours, and of course she knows that it is not, and alter her decision to have you killed; but it would be dangerous to depend on that. I know you are guiltless, and I know that you are a friend of Tarzan; so I am going to help you to escape."
"Will you help me to go with her?" asked Gregory.
"Yes," said Thetan. "I got you into this, and I should get you out of it. I shall help you because you are Tarzan's friends, and Tarzan saved my life. But never return to Thobos, for if you escape her now, Mentheb will never forget. Follow the trail on the west side of the lake south; it will bring you to Ashair and probably to death there—it is the law of Tuen-Baka."
A half hour later Thetan led Magra and Gregory to a small gate in the city wall and wished them luck as they went out into the night and set their faces toward The Forbidden City.
"Well," said d'Arnot, "here we are right back where we started from," as the party of six reached the entrance to the secret passage to the Temple of Brulor on the rocky hillside above Ashair.
"I spent two years trying to get out of that hole," said Brian, "and now here I am trying to get back in again. That Herat certainly gave you a tough job, Tarzan."
"It was merely the old boy's way of condemning us all to death," said Lavac, "—an example of Thobotian humor. At least it was at first; but after Tarzan disposed of the bad man from Ashair and the two lions, I really believe that Herat came to the conclusion that he might actually bring back Brulor and The Father of Diamonds."
"Why does he want them so badly?" asked Helen.
"The Father of Diamonds belongs in Thobos," explained Herkuf, "where the temple of the true god, Chon, is located. It was stolen by Atka's warriors years ago when they attacked and sank Chon's galley in which it was being carried during a solemn religious rite. Brulor is a false god. Herat wishes to destroy him."
"Do you think that there is any possibility that we may be able to recover The Father of Diamonds and kidnap Brulor?" asked d'Arnot.
"Yes," replied Herkuf, "I do. We have the temple keys that Helen took from Zytheb; and I know where Brulor sleeps and the hours of the day that are supposedly set apart for meditation; but which, in reality, Brulor devotes to sleeping off the effects of the strong drink to which he is addicted. During these periods the throne room is deserted, and all the inmates of the temple are compelled to remain in their own quarters. We can go directly to the throne room and get the casket, and then to Brulor's room. If we threaten him with death, he will come with us without making any outcry."
"It all sounds very easy," said Brian, "—almost too easy."
"I shall keep my fingers crossed all the time," said Helen.
"When can we make the attempt?" asked d'Arnot.
Herkuf looked up at the sun. "Now," he said, "would be a good time."
"Well, how about getting started, Tarzan?" asked Brian.
"Herkuf and I shall go in," said the ape-man. "The rest of you hide near here and wait for us. If we are not out within an hour, you will know that we have failed; then you must try to save yourselves. Find the trail over the rim. It lies somewhere near Thobos. Get out of Tuen-Baka. It will be useless for you to try to do anything for Herkuf or me or to rescue Magra and Gregory."
"Am I not to go in with you, Tarzan?" asked d'Arnot.
"No. Too many of us might result in confusion and discovery; and, anyway, your place is with Helen. Come, Herkuf, let's get started."
As the two entered the secret passage, a sentinel priest who had been crouching behind a boulder watching the party, turned and ran as fast as he could toward the nearest city gate; while, miles away, the objects of all this now useless risk and sacrifice trudged doggedly along the trail
to Ashair in an effort to avert it.
Ignorant of anything that has transpired in Ashair, not knowing that his son and daughter lived and were free, Gregory accompanied Magra rather hopelessly, his only inspiration loyalty to Tarzan and Lavac, whom he knew to be risking their lives in an effort to save his and Magra's. Magra was inspired by this same loyalty and by love—a love that had done much to change and ennoble her.
"It all seems so utterly hopeless," said Gregory. "Only four of us left, pitting our puny efforts against two cities filled with enemies. If one of them doesn't get us, the other will."
"I suppose you are right," agreed Magra. "Even the forces of nature are against us. Look up at that towering escarpment of lava, always frowning down upon us, threatening, challenging; and yet how different it would all seem if Tarzan were with us."
"Yes, I know," said Gregory. "He inspires confidence. Even the walls of Tuen-Baka would seem less insurmountable if he were here. I think he has spoiled us all. We have come to depend upon him to such an extent that we are really quite helpless without him."
"And he is going to almost certain death for us," said Magra. "Thetan told me that it would be impossible for him to escape alive from Ashair, if he succeeded in getting in; and, knowing Tarzan, we know that he will get in. Oh, if we could only reach him before he does!"
"Look!" exclaimed Gregory. "Here come some men!"
"They have seen us," said Magra. "We can't escape them."
"They look very old and weak," said Gregory.
"But they carry spears."
The three surviving fugitives from the cages of the Temple of Brulor who had chosen to go on in search of freedom rather than return to Ashair with Tarzan's party halted in the trail.
"Who are you?" they demanded.
"Strangers looking for a way out of Tuen-Baka," replied Gregory.
The three whispered among themselves for a moment; then one of them said, "We, too, are looking for a way out of Tuen-Baka. Perhaps we should go together, for in numbers there is strength."
"We can't go until we find our friends," replied Magra. "They were on their way to Ashair."
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