Then she turned her back upon him and went to stand once more before the east window, gazing with sad eyes toward distant Ptarth.
Astok wheeled and left the room, returning after a short interval of time with food and drink.
“Here,” he said, “is sustenance until I return again. The next to enter this apartment will be your executioner. Commend yourself to your ancestors, Thuvia of Ptarth, for within a few days you shall be with them.”
Then he was gone.
Half an hour later he was interviewing an officer high in the navy of Dusar.
“Whither went Vas Kor?” he asked. “He is not at his palace.”
“South, to the great waterway that skirts Torquas,” replied the other. “His son, Hal Vas, is Dwar of the Road there, and thither has Vas Kor gone to enlist recruits among the workers on the farms.”
“Good,” said Astok, and a half-hour more found him rising above Dusar in his swiftest flier.
CHAPTER XIII.
TURJUN, THE PANTHAN
The face of Carthoris of Helium gave no token of the emotions that convulsed him inwardly as he heard from the lips of Hal Vas that Helium was at war with Dusar, and that fate had thrown him into the service of the enemy.