Edgar Rice Burroughs

The Chessmen of Mars Edgar Rice Burroughs

Tara of Helium rose from the pile of silks and soft furs upon which she had been reclining, stretched her lithe body languidly, and crossed toward the center of the room, where, above a largetable, a bronze disc depended from the low ceiling. Her carriage was that of health and physicalperfection-the effortless harmony of faultless coordination. A scarf of silken gossamer crossingover one shoulder was wrapped about her body; her black hair was piled high upon her head. With awooden stick she tapped upon the bronze disc, lightly, and presently the summons was answered bya slave girl, who entered, smiling, to be greeted similarly by her mistress."Are my father's guests arriving?" asked the princess."Yes, Tara of Helium, they come," replied the slave. "I have seen Kantos Kan, Overlord of theNavy, and Prince Soran of Ptarth, and Djor Kantos, son of Kantos Kan," she shot a roguish glanceat her mistress as she mentioned Djor Kantos' name, "and-oh, there were others, many havecome.""The bath, then, Uthia," said her mistress. "And why, Uthia," she added, "do you look thus andsmile when you mention the name of Djor Kantos?"The slave girl laughed gaily. "It is so plain to all that he worships you," she replied."It is not plain to me," said Tara of Helium. "He is the friend of my brother, Carthoris, and sohe is here much; but not to see me. It is his friendship for Carthoris that brings him thus often tothe palace of my father.""But Carthoris is hunting in the north with Talu, Jeddak of Okar," Uthia reminded her."My bath, Uthia!" cried Tara of Helium. "That tongue of yours will bring you to somemisadventure yet.""The bath is ready, Tara of Helium," the girl responded, her eyes still twinkling with merriment, for she well knew that in the heart of her mistress was no anger that could displace the love of theprincess for her slave. Preceding the daughter of The Warlord she opened the door of an adjoiningroom where lay the bath-a gleaming pool of scented water in a marble basin. Golden stanchionssupported a chain of gold encircling it and leading down into the water on either side of marblesteps. A glass dome let in the sun-light, which flooded the interior, glancing from the polished whiteof the marble walls and the procession of bathers and fishes, which, in conventional design, wereinlaid with gold in a broad band that circled the roo