"Sanoma Tora!" I said in a low voice.
Startled, she turned toward me. "Hadron of Hastor!" she exclaimed; "or am I dreaming?"
"You are not dreaming, Sanoma Tora. It is Hadron of Hastor."
"Why are you here? How did you get here? It is impossible. No men but Tul Axtar are permitted upon this level."
"Here I am, Sanoma Tora, and I have come to take you back to Helium- if you wish to return."
"Oh name of my first ancestor, if I could but hope," she cried.
"You may hope, Sanoma Tora," I assured her. "I am here and I can take you back."
"I cannot believe it," she said. "I cannot imagine how you gained entrance here. It is madness to think that two of us could leave without being detected."
I threw the cloak about me. "Where are you, Tan Hadron? What has become of you? What has happened?" cried Sanoma Tora.
"This is how I gained entrance," I explained. "This is how we shall escape." I removed the cloak from about me.
"What forbidden magic is this?" she demanded, and, as best I might in few words, I explained to her the compound of invisibility and how I had come by it.
"How have you fared here, Sanoma Tora?" I asked her. "How have they treated you?"
"I have not been ill treated," she replied; "no one has paid any attention to me." I could scent the wounded vanity in her tone. "Until tonight I had not seen Tul Axtar. I have just come from the hall where he holds court among his women."
"Yes," I said, "I know. I was there. It was from there that I followed you here."
"When can you take me away?" she asked.
"Very quickly now," I replied.
"I am afraid that it will have to be quickly," she said.
"Why?" I asked.
"When I passed Tul Axtar he stopped me for a moment and I heard him speak to one of the courtiers at his side. He told her to ascertain my name and where I was quartered. The women have told me what happens after Tul Axtar has noticed one of us, and I am afraid; but what difference does it make, I am only a slave."
What a change had come over the haughty Sanoma Tora! Was this the same arrogant beauty who had refused my hand? Was this the Sanoma Tora who had aspired to be a jeddara? She was humbled now-I read it in the droop of her shoulders, in the trembling of her lips, in the fear-haunted light that shone from her eyes.
My heart was filled with compassion for her, but I was astonished and dismayed to discover that no other emotion overwhelmed me. The last time that I had seen Sanoma Tora I would have given my soul to have been able to take her into my arms. Had the hardships that I had undergone so changed me? Was Sanoma Tora, a slave, less desirable to me than Sanoma Tora, daughter of the rich Tor Hatan? No; I knew that that could not be true. I had changed, but doubtless it was only a temporary metamorphosis induced by the nervous strain which I was undergoing consequent upon the responsibility imposed upon me by the necessity for carrying word to Helium in time to save her from destruction at the hands of Tul Axtar-to save not only Helium, but a world. It was a grave responsibility. How might one thus burdened have time for thoughts of love? No, I was not myself; yet I knew that I still loved Sanoma Tora.
Realizing the necessity for haste, I made a speedy examination of the room and discovered that I could easily effect Sanoma Tora's rescue by taking her through the window, just as I had taken Tavia and Phao from the east tower at Tjanath.
Briefly, but carefully, I explained my plan to her and bid her prepare herself while I was gone that there might be no delay when I was ready to take her aboard the Jhama.
"And now, Sanoma Tora," I said, "for a few moments, good-bye! The next that you will hear will be a voice at your window, but you will see no one nor any ship. Extinguish the light in your room and step to the sill. I will take your hand. Put your trust in me then and do as I bid."
"Good-bye, Hadron!" she said. "I cannot express now in adequate words the gratitude that I feel, but when we are returned to Helium there is nothing you can demand of me that I shall not grant you, not only willingly, but gladly."
I raised her fingers to my lips and had turned toward the door when Sanoma Tora laid a detaining hand upon my arm. "Wait!" she said. "Someone is coming."
Hastily I resumed my cloak of invisibility and stepped to one side of the room as the door, leading into the corridor, was thrown open, revealing one of the female courtiers of Tul Axtar in gorgeous harness. The woman entered the room and stepped to one side of the doorway which remained opened.
"The Jeddak! Tul Axtar, Jeddak of Jahar!" she announced.
A moment later Tul Axtar entered the room, followed by half a dozen of his female courtiers. He was a gross man with repulsive features, which reflected a combination of strength and weakness, of haughty arrogance, of pride and of doubt-an innate questioning of his own ability.
As he faced Sanoma Tora his courtiers formed behind him.
They were masculine-looking women, who had evidently been selected because of this very characteristic. They were good-looking in a masculine way and their physiques suggested that they might prove a very effective body guard for the Jeddak.
For several minutes Tul Axtar examined Sanoma Tora with appraising eyes. He came closer to her and there was that in his attitude which I did not like, and when he laid a hand upon her shoulder, I could scarce retrain myself.
"I was not wrong," he said. "You are gorgeous. How long have you been here?"
She shuddered, but did not reply.
"You are from Helium?"
No answer.
"The ships of Helium are on their way to Jahar." He laughed. "My scouts bring word that they will soon be here. They will meet with a warm welcome from the great fleet of Tul Axtar." He turned to his courtiers. "Go!" he said, "and let none return until I summon her."
They bowed and retired, closing the door after them, and then Tul Axtar laid his hand again upon the bare flesh of Sanoma Tora's shoulder.
"Come!" he said. "I shall not war with all of Helium-with you I shall love-by my first ancestor, but you are worthy the love of a jeddak."
He drew her toward him. My blood boiled-so hot was my anger that it boiled over and without thought of the consequences I let the cloak fall from me.
Fourteen. THE CANNIBALS OF U-GOR
As I dropped the cloak of invisibility aside I drew my long sword and as it slithered from its sheath, Tul Axtar heard and faced me. His craven blood rushed to his heart and left his face pale at the sight of me. A scream was in his throat when my point touched him in warning.
"Silence!" I hissed.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
"Silence!"
Even in the instant my plans were formed. I made him turn with his back toward me and then I disarmed him, after which I bound him securely and gagged him.
"Where can I hide him, Sanoma Tora?" I asked.
"There is a little closet here," she said, pointing toward a small door in one side of the room, and then she crossed to it and opened it, while I dragged Tul Axtar behind her and cast him into the closet- none too gently I can assure you.
As I closed the closet door I turned to find Sanoma Tora white and trembling. "I am afraid," she said. "If they come back and find him thus, they will kill me."
"His courtiers will not return until he summons them," I reminded her. "You heard him tell them that such were his wishes-his command."
She nodded.
"Here is his dagger," I told her. "If worse comes to worst you can hold them off by threatening to kill Tul Axtar," but the girl seemed terrified, she trembled in every limb and I feared that she might fail if put to the test. How I wished that Tavia were here. I knew that she would not fail, and, in the name of my first ancestor, how much depended upon success!