John Carter by Stuart Moore Read Free Book Online

again.
    â€œEnough!”
    All eyes followed Tars Tarkas as he pulled Sarkoja away from her captive. Sarkoja snarled and waved the iron in the air, but Tars ignored her. He raised his knife and cut Sola loose.
    Sola’s arms were covered with welts. “There is no room for another mark, Sola,” Tars said. “Your next offense will be your last.”
    Something in the Thark’s tone made Carter look away. Then he felt a tugging and turned to see Tars holding his chain like a leash.
    â€œJump, Virginia.”
    Carter glared at Tars briefly. He wanted nothing more to do with these savages…whoever they were, wherever they came from.
    â€œYou will jump, Virginia. Now .”
    From behind Tars Tarkas, Sola fixed pleading eyes on Carter.
    â€œFliers!”
    Everyone looked up. High on a battered rooftop was a Thark scout pointing wildly at the sky.
    â€œYou are the stones,” Tars Tarkas said. “The sand!”
    The Tharks scattered silently, slipping like ghosts into the doorways and arcades, the holes and windows and hiding places they’d carved out in the ruins. A few burrowed into drifts of sand, leaving only the nostrils on top of their heads exposed.
    Tars yanked sharply on Carter’s chain, pulling him toward a collapsed outpost tower. Carter glanced skyward again and heard the first faint rumbling from above. Hurriedly, he turned to follow the Thark leader.
    Tharks crowded the collapsed battlements, staring at the sky. A bookmaker moved among them collecting armbands, torques, and other valuables into a bowl. “Helium,” a Thark said. Another sneered at him. “Zodanga!” A third dropped a necklace into the bowl. “Helium.”
    Carter stretched his limbs, struggling to peer up into the sky. Tars had loosened his chains, but his muscles still ached. Up above, three vicious looking, red-colored airships pursued a single, ornate one flying a blue flag.
    â€œZodanga are the red flag,” Tars said. “Helium, the blue.”
    Carter pointed at the lead Zodangan ship. A deadly looking black weapon gripped its side, tendrils reaching into the hull. The weapon looked out of place, like a living creature stitched to a machine. “What is that?”
    Tars peered through a spyglass for a moment, then shrugged.
    â€œFlying ships,” Carter whispered.
    The lead Zodangan ship pulled almost directly overhead. Its eerie blue weapon began to glow bright, then fired a bolt of blue energy directly at the Helium vessel. When it struck, the Helium ship glowed, listed, and sparked. Carter thought he saw a man on the side stiffen, cry out, and vanish in the blue light.
    The Helium ship stopped dead in the air, hovering just above the ruins. The Tharks cheered.
    Carter turned to Tars. “Your people root for Zodanga?”
    â€œZodanga is winning the war. But it makes no difference to us. I say let red men kill red men until only Tharks remain.”
    Above, the blue beam flashed out again. “That don’t look like a fair fight,” Carter said.
    Tars stared grimly through the spyglass. “Zodanga never fights fair.”
    Sab Than watched with satisfaction as his crew marched the last of the Helium prisoners onto the deck of his airship. A prisoner stumbled as he stepped off the gangplank, almost falling into the open air between the two ships.
    The Heliumites fell passively into a line, facing their captors. Their faces were hidden by protective helmets, but Sab Than could almost smell their fear. They’d just seen dozens of their fellow crewmen disintegrate, wiped from existence by the blue ray. And now they were prisoners of Zodanga.
    Sab Than smiled. Encasing his hand, the Thern pistol pulsed like a living thing.
    He strode down the line, flipping open the first prisoner’s helmet. Sab scanned the young face and frowned. He moved to the second prisoner, then the third.
    He stopped at the fourth, an older man with slate-dark eyes set