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remained unchanged in hers.
The people of Helium were enchanted by the mere sight of Shis-Inday's white
hair and crinkled skin. They loved my aging princess more dearly than I can
explain.
And so did I.
The steady cadence of her deliberate walk brought calmness and reflection to
the most anxious of young warriors. They, and Helium, were stronger for it.
Only now, since the coming of John Carter and the fall of Issus, has age begun
to show in the population of our ancient planet. But in those days, it was
virtually unheard of. If we did not die young, in war, we journeyed to Dor
just before the change overtook our strong bodies.
It is perhaps the greatest of ironies that John Carter himself appears to
possess eternal youth.
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A Princess of Jasoom: The House of Spirits
Will his princess age, while the Warlord remains unchanged? Only time will
divulge.
It is not a fate I would wish upon anyone.
***
Thuvan Dihn's face told me ere he spoke how grave the situation was in Ptarth.
He'd come to Helium to discuss possible solutions to the planet-wide drought,
which had grown worse -- impossible as that seemed.
Dozens of full-scale wars raged over great portions of Barsoom. Helium itself
fought battles on several fronts, against red men and green who would have
raided what precious stores of water we'd been able to horde.
Scattered pockets of water throughout the empire and beyond had been located
at the guidance of Shis-Inday, whose Power was more valuable upon
Barsoom, now, than it had ever been in the relatively fruitful deserts of The
World.
After prayers and consultations with Kliji-Litzogue, Shis-Inday would fly over
some foresaken stretch of dead sea bottom. When a familiar scent or other
vague sign became known to her by some means no one but she could fathom, the
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Be-don-ko-he princess would lean forward, wind whipping her hair straight back
from her brow. Then she'd point from the deck of the flier to the area where
water could be found.
At first, engineers assigned to these reconaissance missions doubted the
accuracy of my Shis-Inday's uncanny sense. But in time, they came to trust her
instincts more readily than the most precise mechanisms of science they could
devise.
Shis-Inday, meanwhile, seemed increasingly worried by the growing dryness of
the dying planet she'd adopted as her own. It became difficult for her to
locate even the smallest of reservoirs.
She was upon one such errand when Thuvan Dihn appeared at my court. I
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A Princess of Jasoom: The House of Spirits would be glad of that, for
Shis-Inday had come to love the princess of Ptarth as a daughter.
"Thousands have departed upon the Final Pilgrimage," said Thuvan Dihn,
stroking the head of young Sovan, his son. "And thousands more would follow,
did they not fear dying alone upon the parched wastelands before reaching
Dor."
His voice trembled, and I could tell there was more.
"Thuvia has gone," Thuvan Dihn said. "She thought to inspire hope among those
who feared the Pilgrimage. Hundreds followed her; and I believe many more will
within the week."
"I'm thirsty," said the boy, weakly, in a voice that spoke for an entire
world.
The Jeddak of Ptarth looked at me, blankly. Thuvan Dihn was among the greatest
warriors I'd ever known on a planet of great warriors. But now he was forlorn.
Alone.
On the verge of dry tears.
"My daughter is gone, Tardos Mors," he said. "She seeks the knee of Issus.
Her love for our people must be greater than her love, even, for me. She leads
them to salvation."
***
"We are saved, father!"
The urgency in the voice of Mors Kajak made me turn from the balcony, where
Thuvan Dihn and I stood in contemplation of a subdued, silent Helium.
"Saved?" I said quietly, turning to face my son.
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A Princess of Jasoom: The House of Spirits
"Mother has saved us!" he cried.
***
The reports came in by wireless. Rain was falling throughout Barsoom. Canals
that had been dry for years were filling to capacity. New reservoirs had been
located. Even the Iss, whose waters were sacred, had regained something of its
former majesty.
Battle fleets stopped fighting, as their crews marveled at the unimagined
sight of water from the sky.
My world was saved.
To you, of Jasoom, the precipitation that fell upon Barsoom that day would be
barely a drop in those depthless oceans of yours. But to us, it was life. Give
a
Barsoomian one grasping chance at that, and he'll cling to it with the
tenacity of a white ape.
With Thuvan Dihn and Mors Kajak, I hastily outfitted an expedition to join
Shis-Inday at the site of her greatest triumph.
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When we arrived, my Be-don-ko-he princess was dancing at the edge of the
Great Canal, leaping like the Girl of the Woods that she'd been when first I'd
laid eyes upon her that long-ago night in the marsh. With a whoop unbecoming a
jeddak, I joined her.
She fell into my arms, laughing as I held her close.
"The Spirits heard!" she cried. "Usen was pleased with my dance, and He
granted my prayer!"
The deluge soaked us both. I could hear the shouts of those all about us,
who'd taken up the wild dance begun by my princess.
Shis-Inday kissed me tenderly, and then walked peacefully to the edge of the
canal. The rain slowed to a light mist, but the rushing water before us had
not diminished.
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A Princess of Jasoom: The House of Spirits
On tired legs, she clambered to the top of the concrete wall, contentedly
studying the miracle. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]