“Eggs,” Bixie said. “You’re for stealin’ Ten Leg eggs. Dey be followin’ us for certain, we do the thievin’.”
Ekka smiled.
“Well, what we be waitin’ for?” Bixie stood.
[ 87 ]
“The cannon are in place, and Ian says he’s ready to fire on your command,” Dejah said to John Carter. They stood on the second from the lowest wall of the Atmosphere Factory facing the high dust cloud with its strange crackles of blue lightning and the waves of roaring footsteps. “I will join my warriors. The horses are fitted for battle, and today I shall ride, possibly to my death.”
“We spoke about this.” Carter said. “The cavalry cannot engage the enemy until we have softened them with a repeated cannonade. Ian’s cannoneers do now understand what they are to do?”
“I am a Princess of Barsoom. I understand warfare, as does each of my warriors.”
Carter lifted the spyglass and peered intently. “This is a different kind of warfare. But it’s all right. Ian knows what to do. Tell him to commence firing when the first column clears the rock beside the well. It will be long-range.”
“Yes,” Dejah Thoris said, and then laughed.
Carter lowered the spyglass. “What’s so funny?”
“That an...an offworlder should command me.”
“I merely advise you, my Princess.”
Dejah peered closely into John Carter’s eyes. Somehow, the space between them had lessened.
“When did I become your Princess, John Carter?” Dejah asked.
“The first moment I laid eyes on you,” he said.
At that moment the wall beneath them splintered and cracked. Chips of stone and mortar exploded outward from the wall and Carter instinctively threw his arms around Dejah and crushed her beneath him to the stone floor. A loud peal of thunder washed over them.
“Are you all right?” he asked her. Their eyes were inches apart.
Dejah nodded, then crushed her lips against his own. The kiss lasted for no more than a few seconds before there was another resounding crash.
Carter got to his feet in a crouch and peered over the wall. Dejah came up beside him.
On the level below them Ian’s cannon began firing one by one.
“Give ‘em hell, Ian!” Carter shouted.
“The battle begins,” Dejah said.
“Yeah. And soon they’ll have range on us. I think...I think you were right. Let’s get to the horses.”
“Yes, my General,” Dejah said, and smiled.
[ 88 ]
Ekka and Bixie stopped briefly at the Argent. The ride from the cavern had been slow as they picked their way along the meandering path on the canal floor. Dejah Thoris had admonished them not to touch any of the golden plants. The golden plants were life for the Martians. There were so few of them on the Martian surface, and the air was so thin that to destroy one was on a par with poisoning a water well in the high desert.
At the Argent, Edgar was eager to hear news of Dejah and her plans. Ekka drew the young man aside while Bixie and Pat Garrett watered their horses.
“I will tell you the news, Eddie, but it’s hard news. If you want to help the Princess, you’ll do all you can as quickly as humanly possible to get the Argent flying. Dejah will need us before this is over.”
“My God,” Edgar stated. “What’s she gone and done?”
“The war is starting, even as we speak. You see the dust cloud drifting up there?” Ekka pointed.