"Incredible!" exclaimed Mentheb. "If he survives, the girl may live."
"And if he survives, I swear that he shall have his freedom," cried Herat, "but I'm afraid there's no hope for him. They'll both be at him in a moment."
In her excitement, Mentheb had risen and was leaning over the parapet. "Look! They are fighting one another!"
It was as Tarzan had believed that it would be. One lion, thinking that the other had attacked him, tore into his fellow; and with hideous roars and growls, the two fell upon one another, rending with powerful talons and giant fangs.
"The man has not only marvelous strength but great cunning," said Herat.
"He is superb," exclaimed the Queen.
As the two lions fought, they moved nearer and nearer to the royal box, until its occupants had to lean far over the parapet to watch them. Tarzan, too, had moved back; and was standing just below the box. In her excitement, Mentheb lost her balance and toppled over the parapet. At her frightened scream, the ape-man looked up just in time to catch her in his arms as she dropped toward him. Realizing the woman's danger in the event that one of the lions dispatched the other or the two should cease fighting and turn their savage attention upon their natural enemies, Tarzan started toward the doorway through which he had entered the arena, shouting to Herat to order it opened.
All was confusion and chaos in the royal box. Herat was shouting commands and warriors were rushing down toward the entrance to the arena, but they were to be too late. With a final shake of the dead body of his weaker antagonist, the victorious lion turned with a savage roar and charged after Tarzan and the Queen. There was no time now in which to reach the doorway; and the ape-man, lowering Mentheb to her feet, turned with drawn knife to meet the oncoming carnivore. Growling, he crouched; and Mentheb felt her flesh turn cold in horror.
"That lion will kill them both!" cried Herat—"he is a devil."
"So is the man," said Thetan.
Mentheb stood paralyzed by the bestial ferocity of the scene; and before the warriors had reached the doorway to rescue her, the lion was upon Tarzan. Eluding the flailing talons, the ape-man seized the black mane and swung to the beast's back, driving his knife into the tawny side. Roaring horribly, the lion threw itself about in an endeavor to dislodge the man-thing from its back; and the growls of the ape-man mingled with those of the carnivore, until Mentheb scarcely knew which one to fear the most.
At last the knife found the savage heart, the beast rolled over upon its side, and with a final convulsive shudder, died; then Tarzan placed a foot upon the body of his kill; and, raising his face to the sky, voiced the weird victory cry of the bull ape; and Mentheb, the Queen, stood in helpless fascination as her warrior nobles rushed to her rescue.
"He is a demon," exclaimed Herat, "—or a god!"
Mentheb commanded Tarzan to accompany her before Herat. She was still too shaken to do more than thank him feebly; and when she reached the box, she sank into a chair.
"You have saved my Queen," said the King, "and thus won your freedom doubly. You may remain in Thobos or you may go, as you wish."
"There is still another condition to be fulfilled," Tarzan reminded the King.
"What is that?" asked Herat.
"I must go to Ashair and bring you Brulor and his casket," replied Tarzan.
"You have done enough," said Herat; "let your friends do that."
"No," replied Tarzan. "I shall have to go. Neither of the others could accomplish anything. Perhaps I cannot; but I shall have a better chance, and Gregory's daughter and my best friend are there."
"Very well," assented Herat, "but we'll give you any assistance you wish. It's a task that one man cannot accomplish alone."
"Nor a hundred," said Mentheb. "We should know, who have tried it so often."
"I shall go alone," said Tarzan. "If I need help, I'll come back for it."
CHAPTER 22
Self-satisfied, contented, Atan Thome lounged at his ease in an apartment in the palace of Queen Atka at Ashair, while Lal Taask paced the floor nervously.
"I do not like it," grumbled the latter. "We shall all die for it."
"It is perfectly safe," Atan Thome assured him. "Everything is arranged, and when it is over we shall be safe, favorites of the ruler of Ashair —and that much nearer The Father of Diamonds."
"I have a presentiment," said Lal Taask, "that we shall not be safe."
"Put your trust in Akamen," urged Thorne. "He will lead you to the Queen's bedroom; then you will know what to do."
"Why not you?" demanded Lal Taask. "It is you who wants The Father of Diamonds so badly, not I."
"I do not do it, because you are more experienced with a dagger," replied Thorne, smiling. "Come! Have you lost your nerve?"
"I do not wish to do it," said Lal Taask, emphatically.
"You will do as I command!" snapped Thorne.
Lal Taask's eyes fell before those of his master. "Just this once," he said. "Promise that you will not ask such a thing of me again."
"I promise that after tonight I shall ask nothing more of you," agreed Thorne. "S-s-h! Some one is coming!"
As he ceased speaking, the door opened and Akamen entered the room. He was pale and nervous. He looked at Atan Thome questioningly. The latter nodded.
"It is all understood," he said. "Lal Taask will do his duty."
"Very well," said Akamen. "I have arranged everything. The Queen has retired. There are no guards before her door. It will be over in five minutes. Suspicion will be directed against the noble in command of the guard. The Queen disciplined him severely a short time ago, and it is known that he was very bitter. Come with me, Lal Taask."
Akamen led the way through silent corridors to the Queen's bedroom. Without noise, he opened the door; and as the assassin, dagger in hand, slunk stealthily toward his victim, Akamen, flattened against the wall of the corridor, awaited the blow that would make him King of Ashair. Seconds seemed as hours to him as he waited for Lal Taask to reach the side of the Queen's bed and strike.
He was almost there! The dagger hand was rising! And then there was sudden commotion in the room as warriors leaped from behind hangings and fell upon the would-be assassin and his accomplice; and Queen Atka sat up in bed, a bitter smile of triumph on her lips.
"Summon my nobles to the throne room," she directed, "and take these two and the man Thorne there, also, that justice may be done."
When a warrior came to Atan Thome's apartments and summoned him to the throne room in the Queen's name, the Eurasian could scarcely restrain an expression of exultation, though he simulated surprise that Atka should wish to see him at so late an hour.
"Akamen," said the Queen, as the three men were lined up before the throne, "you conspired with these two strangers to assassinate me, that you might be king. One of your accomplices, hoping to curry favor with me, informed upon you. To my mind, he is even more vile than you, if that be possible; and his punishment shall be the same as yours. I sentence all three of you to the cages of the temple for life—a far greater punishment than a quick and merciful death. As added punishment, you shall all be half starved all of the time and tortured periodically, at each full moon. At the first, you shall each have one eye burned out; at the next, another; after that, you shall lose, first your right hands; then your left hands; your feet shall follow, one by one; and after that I am sure that I can devise other means whereby you may be reminded that treachery is a dangerous avocation." She turned to one of her nobles. "Take them away!"
Atan Thome, Lal Taask, and Akamen in adjoining cages were the only prisoners now in the Temple of Brulor, Father of Diamonds. Lal Taask and Akamen glared at Atan Thome, cursing him; but he seemed oblivious to everything except the casket on the altar before the throne.