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Updated: June 26, 2025
As if it were yesterday, I still saw the beautiful face of Phaidor, daughter of Matai Shang, distorted with jealous rage and hatred as she sprang forward with raised dagger upon the woman I loved. I saw the red girl, Thuvia of Ptarth, leap forward to prevent the hideous deed.
Thuvia of Ptarth caught her breath quickly, glancing at Carthoris. The device was that of Kulan Tith, Jeddak of Kaol the man to whom the Princess of Ptarth was betrothed! How easy for the Heliumite to pass on, leaving his rival to the fate that could not for long be averted!
Our destination, Thuvia said, was a distant storeroom where arms and ammunition in plenty might be found. From there she was to lead us to the summit of the cliffs, from where it would require both wondrous wit and mighty fighting to win our way through the very heart of the stronghold of the Holy Therns to the world without.
"As you say, Thuvia," replied the Heliumite. "But afterward he shall account to Carthoris, Prince of Helium, for this affront to the daughter of my father's friend." As he spoke, though, there burned in his eyes a fire that proclaimed a nearer, dearer cause for his championship of this glorious daughter of Barsoom.
Presently I mustered the courage to return to the window, for even though she spurned me I loved her, and could not keep my eyes from feasting upon her divine face and figure, but when she saw me looking she again turned away. I was at my wit's end to account for her strange actions, and that Thuvia, too, had turned against her father seemed incredible.
The awful creature in my grasp mumbled inarticulately for a moment, then a sudden gleam of cunning shot into those hideous, close-set eyes. "Dejah Thoris? Dejah Thoris?" and then that shrill, unearthly laugh pierced our ears once more. "Yes, Dejah Thoris I know. And Thuvia, and Phaidor, daughter of Matai Shang. They each love John Carter. Ha-ah! but it is droll.
As the Heliumite watched he saw another green warrior push his way forward toward the rostrum. Beside him he dragged a captive, and as the surrounding warriors parted to let the two pass, Carthoris caught a fleeting glimpse of the prisoner. His heart leaped in rejoicing. Thuvia of Ptarth still lived!
As the fighting receded from our position for a moment, Thuvia turned toward me with a question. "Do you understand now, O Prince," she said, "why a million warriors guard the domains of the Holy Therns by day and by night?" "The scene you are witnessing now is but a repetition of what I have seen enacted a score of times during the fifteen years I have been a prisoner here.
As Thuvia of Ptarth saw Carthoris depart from the presence of Tario, leaving her alone with the man, a sudden qualm of terror seized her. There was an air of mystery pervading the stately chamber. Its furnishings and appointments bespoke wealth and culture, and carried the suggestion that the room was often the scene of royal functions which filled it to its capacity.
"And later here at your father's court, what did you do, Thuvia of Ptarth, that might have warned me that you could not return my love?" "And what did I do, Carthoris of Helium," she returned, "that might lead you to believe that I DID return it?" He paused in thought, and then shook his head. "Nothing, Thuvia, that is true; yet I could have sworn you loved me.
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