He was thinking of that other woman who,
forty years ago, had stood before this beast, and could I have
spoken a word into his ear at that moment the reign of Tal Hajus
would have been over; but finally he also strode from the room,
not knowing that he left his own daughter at the mercy of the
creature he most loathed.
Tal Hajus arose, and I, half fearing, half anticipating his
intentions, hurried to the winding runway which led to the floors
below. No one was near to intercept me, and I reached the main
floor of the chamber unobserved, taking my station in the shadow
of the same column that Tars Tarkas had but just deserted. As I
reached the floor Tal Hajus was speaking.
"Princess of Helium, I might wring a mighty ransom from your people
would I but return you to them unharmed, but a thousand times rather
would I watch that beautiful face writhe in the agony of torture; it
shall be long drawn out, that I promise you; ten days of pleasure
were all too short to show the love I harbor for your race. The
terrors of your death shall haunt the slumbers of the red men
through all the ages to come; they will shudder in the shadows of
the night as their fathers tell them of the awful vengeance of the
green men; of the power and might and hate and cruelty of Tal Hajus.
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