The Chessmen of Mars (35 page)

"Oh, foolish man!" cried Tara. "Nothing you could have done could
have pleased me more. Djor Kantos, I could kiss you!"

"I do not think that Olvia Marthis would mind," he said, his face
now wreathed with smiles. As they spoke a body of men had entered
the throne room and approached the dais. They were tall men
trapped in plain harness, absolutely without ornamentation. Just
as their leader reached the dais Tara had turned to Gahan,
motioning him to join them.

"Djor Kantos," she said, "I bring you Turan the panthan, whose
loyalty and bravery have won my love."

John Carter and the leader of the new come warriors, who were
standing near, looked quickly at the little group. The former
smiled an inscrutable smile, the latter addressed the Princess of
Helium. "'Turan the panthan!'" he cried. "Know you not, fair
daughter of Helium, that this man you call panthan is Gahan, Jed
of Gathol?"

For just a moment Tara of Helium looked her surprise; and then
she shrugged her beautiful shoulders as she turned her head to
cast her eyes over one of them at Gahan of Gathol.

"Jed or panthan," she said; "what difference does it make what
one's slave has been?" and she laughed roguishly into the smiling
face of her lover.

His story finished, John Carter rose from the chair opposite me,
stretching his giant frame like some great forest-bred lion.

"You must go?" I cried, for I hated to see him leave and it
seemed that he had been with me but a moment.

"The sky is already red beyond those beautiful hills of yours,"
he replied, "and it will soon be day."

"Just one question before you go," I begged.

"Well?" he assented, good-naturedly.

"How was Gahan able to enter the throne room garbed in O-Tar's
trappings?" I asked.

"It was simple—for Gahan of Gathol," replied The Warlord. "With
the assistance of I-Gos he crept into The Hall of Chiefs before
the ceremony, while the throne room and Hall of Chiefs were
vacated to receive the bride. He came from the pits through the
corridor that opened behind the arras at the rear of the throne,
and passing into The Hall of Chiefs took his place upon the back
of a riderless thoat, whose warrior was in I-Gos' repair room.
When O-Tar entered and came near him Gahan fell upon him and
struck him with the butt of a heavy spear. He thought that he had
killed him and was surprised when O-Tar appeared to denounce
him."

"And Ghek? What became of Ghek?" I insisted.

"After leading Val Dor and Floran to Tara's disabled flier which
they repaired, he accompanied them to Gathol from where a message
was sent to me in Helium. He then led a large party including
A-Kor and U-Thor from the roof, where our ships landed them, down
a spiral runway into the palace and guided them to the throne
room. We took him back to Helium with us, where he still lives,
with his single rykor which we found all but starved to death in
the pits of Manator. But come! No more questions now."

I accompanied him to the east arcade where the red dawn was
glowing beyond the arches.

"Good-bye!" he said.

"I can scarce believe that it is really you," I exclaimed.
"Tomorrow I will be sure that I have dreamed all this."

He laughed and drawing his sword scratched a rude cross upon the
concrete of one of the arches.

"If you are in doubt tomorrow," he said, "come and see if you
dreamed this."

A moment later he was gone.

For those who care for such things, and would like to try the
game, I give the rules of Jetan as they were given me by John
Carter. By writing the names and moves of the various pieces on
bits of paper and pasting them on ordinary checkermen the game
may be played quite as well as with the ornate pieces used upon
Mars.

THE BOARD: Square board consisting of one hundred alternate black
and orange squares.

THE PIECES: In order, as they stand upon the board in the first
row, from left to right of each player.

Warrior: 2 feathers; 2 spaces straight in any direction or
combination.

Padwar: 2 feathers; 2 spaces diagonal in any direction or
combination.

Dwar: 3 feathers; 3 spaces straight in any direction or
combination.

Flier: 3 bladed propellor; 3 spaces diagonal in any direction or
combination; and may jump intervening pieces.

Chief: Diadem with ten jewels; 3 spaces in any direction;
straight or diagonal or combination.

Princess: Diadem with one jewel; same as Chief, except may jump
intervening pieces.

Flier: See above.

Dwar: See above.

Padwar: See above.

Warrior: See above.

And in the second row from left to right:

Thoat: Mounted warrior 2 feathers; 2 spaces, one straight and one
diagonal in any direction.

Panthans: (8 of them): 1 feather; 1 space, forward, side, or
diagonal, but not backward.

Thoat: See above.

The game is played with twenty black pieces by one player and
twenty orange by his opponent, and is presumed to have originally
represented a battle between the Black race of the south and the
Yellow race of the north. On Mars the board is usually arranged
so that the Black pieces are played from the south and the Orange
from the north.

The game is won when any piece is placed on same square with
opponent's Princess, or a Chief takes a Chief.

The game is drawn when either Chief is taken by a piece other
than the opposing Chief, or when both sides are reduced to three
pieces, or less, of equal value and the game is not won in the
ensuing ten moves, five apiece.

The Princess may not move onto a threatened square, nor may she
take an opposing piece. She is entitled to one ten-space move at
any time during the game. This move is called the escape.

Two pieces may not occupy the same square except in the final
move of a game where the Princess is taken.

When a player, moving properly and in order, places one of his
pieces upon a square occupied by an opponent piece, the opponent
piece is considered to have been killed and is removed from the
game.

The moves explained. Straight moves mean due north, south, east,
or west; diagonal moves mean northeast, southeast, southwest, or
northwest. A Dwar might move straight north three spaces, or
north one space and east two spaces, or any similar combination
of straight moves, so long as he did not cross the same square
twice in a single move. This example explains combination moves.

The first move may be decided in any way that is agreeable to
both players; after the first game the winner of the preceding
game moves first if he chooses, or may instruct his opponent to
make the first move.

Gambling: The Martians gamble at Jetan in several ways. Of course
the outcome of the game indicates to whom the main stake belongs;
but they also put a price upon the head of each piece, according
to its value, and for each piece that a player loses he pays its
value to his opponent.

[1]
I have used the word king in describing the rulers or chiefs of
the Bantoomian swarms, since the word itself is unpronounceable
in English, nor does jed or jeddak of the red Martian tongue have
quite the same meaning as the Bantoomian word, which has
practically the same significance as the English word queen as
applied to the leader of a swarm of bees.—J. C.

[2]
Soldier of Fortune; free-lance warrior.

[3]
Approximately 814 Earth Miles.

[4]
Those who have read John Carter's description of the Green
Martians in A Princess of Mars will recall that these strange
people could exist for considerable periods of time without food
or water, and to a lesser degree is the same true of all
Martians.

[5]
About 8:30 P. M. Earth Time.

[6]
About 1:00 A. M. Earth Time.