Free The Swordsman of Mars by Otis Adelbert Kline Page A

he said.
     

CHAPTER 10
     
    When Thorne, escorted by the palace officer, reached the apartments of Neva, the sun had set, and the luxuriously furnished rooms were lighted by the soft amber radiance of the half-hooded baridium globes which hung from the ceiling on golden chains. The size and magnificence of the suite reserved for the daughter of this apostle of simplicity who would make all citizens equal, was astounding.
     
    The chamber in which he found himself opened onto a broad terrace which led to a private garden, separated from the rest of the palace grounds by a high wall. Kov Lutas, standing in the circular doorway, smiled at their approach.
     
    "Greetings, Sheb Takkor," he said, after exchanging salutes with the two officers. "She whom we guard is resting on the terrace. The orders are to stay always within sight and call, and when she sleeps to stand guard just outside her chamber door."
     
    Thorne took up Kov Lutas's position in the doorway. "I'll try to carry out orders. A good dinner and a sound rest to you."
     
    "And to you a pleasant vigil," replied Kov Lutas.
     
    Not until both officers had gone out did Thorne steal a glance at the girl he was to guard. He was unable to suppress a gasp.
     
    Her eyes, languorous beneath the fringed curtains of their sleepy lids, were liquid pools of lapis lazuli. Her small nose was a most exquisitely chiseled bit of sculpture. Her red lips, sightly parted, revealed teeth that were matched pearls. And her hair was spun gold and sunbeams.
     
    For some time she was motionless, gazing pensively out over the garden. Presently she crossed the terrace and descended to the garden. Watching her, Thorne stood bemused, wondering if it were possible that the scrawny, rat-faced Dixtar could be the father of so beautiful a daughter.
     
    So potent was the spell cast over his senses that he lost sight of her in the shrubbery before he remembered his orders, and ran down the steps into the garden.
     
    For some time Thorne hurried blindly about in the garden. Then the nearer moon, suddenly blinking above the rooftops to the west, came to his assistance. By its pale light he saw Neva not fifty feet from him, seated on the rim of a limpid pool in the center of which a fountain babbled.
     
    Slowly he moved closer and halted at a distance of about twenty feet. As he stood there he was recalled to mundane considerations by a burning sensation in the region of his knees. Lowering his hand to investigate the cause, he discovered that heat rays were emanating from an ornate globe about two feet high which stood beside the path.
     
    He had seen many such globes at various points around the garden and on the terrace. Although it had not occurred to him to wonder why the garden had not grown cold after nightfall, he now understood the reason.
     
    In order to escape the discomfort caused by the proximity of the heating globe, he moved a few steps nearer the fountain. A dry twig snapped beneath his foot, and the girl looked up, a startled expression on her face.
     
    "Have no fear," said Thorne. "I am Sheb Takkor, your new guard."
     
    "I know," she replied. "It was the noise that startled me. You see, I am expecting some one I am not at all anxious to meet."
     
    Though he felt quite sure he knew who that some one was, Thorne did not venture to say so.
     
    Heavy footsteps sounded on the garden path. A shadow fell athwart the pool. Thorne glanced across to where the shadow began. Behind Neva stood Sel Han. "The Dixtar's deputy salutes his fair daughter," he said.
     
    Without replying or even turning her head, Neva called to Thorne, "A trespasser has intruded upon my privacy, guardsman. Remove him."
     
    The Earthman strode forward and stood facing his enemy. "It seems you are not wanted," he said quietly. "I trust that, under the circumstances, you will not have the bad taste to remain."
     
    Sel Han laughed contemptuously. "Out of my way, worm," he ordered. "You dare not raise a hand against