With the back of his hand, Kortha wiped his mouth, his eyes on the blood red sun dying in the desert a darker crimson on the horizon.
"We'll stay here for the night."
Kortha lay down and locked his hands behind his head. His golden hair spilled in a flood across the red sand. Xax rolled close to him.
"Two hundred years ago," said Kortha slowly, "the first Earthmen set foot on Mars. Those first colonists settled among us. Some of them married Martian girls. One of them wedded my great-great-grandmother. Mixed blood flows in my veins. I am brood of Earth and brood of Mars."
Xax said, "You keep me in suspense, Kortha. What one thing is there that will make Guantra confident?"
"A weapon, Xax. He needs a weapon. I think I know where he can find it. But to get back—
"They say that Earth ancestor of mine was a big man, and strong. He must have been, for it was he who whipped the clans into semblance of order, who established the Confederacy, who placed Hurlgut's ancestor on the throne.
"Earth made Mars rich in those early days, with demands for the metals of its mines and the stellus-ore to power their rocket ships. Earth was not strong enough to conquer us, then. It extended friendship, and traded. Fortunately, the Confederacy was ruled by wise men. They used their new riches to make the Confederacy strong, too."
Kortha sighed and watched Phobos roll on upward into the vault of sky above him.
"Those early leaders left the Confederacy strong. I made it weak."