CHAPTER 42: "HEIGHTS OF PERIL"
Novelization of the JCB strip by Dale R. Broadhurst
John Carter had drawn his long-sword when the bird-man's
arm went back to hurl his hand-ax. By the time the flying weapon reached
the princess, the warrior from another world was only able to raise the
thin blade in feeble defense against an object the size of an earthman's
four-horse farm wagon. The Virginia Captain was knocked back by the impact
so violently that his hair-entwined legs pulled dozens of strands from
the maiden's head. The flying ax bent John Carter's Orovarian in half,
but like a clockwork spring the wondrous steel returned at once to its
proper shape. Carter's sword-arm was nearly torn from his shoulder and
he held onto the blade only because his fingers were trapped in the slender
hand-guard. But, despite these painful injuries, the man held on and he
lived to rejoice over Cro-Yat's near miss. His antique long-sword deflected
the bird-man's hurled weapon by a hair-breadth and Dejah Thoris was saved!.
The leader of the bird-men stopped his vigorous chase
long enough to search for and retrieve his hatchet. The incident with the
ax only lasted a couple of minutes but it allowed the princess to gain
a little distance on her lead pursuer. When the leader resumed the hunting
race he had four other bird-men shoulder-to shoulder with him. The giants
were experienced hunters who practiced their running every day, while the
Princess of Helium had no training in this kind of strenuous exertion.
Volvo had tailored her transformed muscles for beauty not for strength
-- and what little strength and endurance the red girl possessed was rapidly
becoming depleted.
The slope of the ascent back up to the rim of the mesa
rim growing ever more precipitous under the girl's racing feet and the
her forward progress slowed almost to a crawl. A few dozen yards ahead
of her the incline grew even steeper, turning abruptly into sheer cliffs
ten times her own height. Dejah Thoris' heart was pounding. She could barely
breathe. This was not the way she had come down from the Plateau of Eo
-- she was far off her intended path of return, terribly exhausted and
scarcely able to continue. Yet she pushed on with both her feet and her
hands now pushing her up the rocky slope, and all the while she was carrying
the Earthman with her, half buried in the tangles of her long hair.
Cro-Yat picked up his hatchet, placed it in his belt and
bounded off once more in hopes of catching his intended victim. Within
a few minutes his swift legs had once again outdistanced his feathered
comrades by many paces. Leading the others, the bird-man chief scrambled
up the rocks in agile bounds, his feathered arms outstretched for the red
princess.
From his position in the maiden's hair John Carter could
see the ugly Chicken Man coming ever nearer. The monster's body was shaped
much like that of a human being. His supply of limbs was limited to a pair
of legs and a pair of arms, which was rather unusual on a planet where
six-limbed creatures are the rule and eight-limbed animals are by no means
a rarity. From his clawed toes to his broad shoulders the bird-man was
a mass of short red feathers. This plumage increased substantially in density
and length along the creatures lower arms. The bird-man almost looked as
if he might use his feathered arms for flight and more than likely his
remote ancestors possessed the ability for that mode of movement. The thing's
hands were much like human hands, albeit of gigantic size; likewise its
feet, save for the fact that they ended in three clawed toes. It was in
the bird-man's head that his avian features were most developed. This,
as has been stated, bore similarities both to the head of a hawk and that
of a chicken. The bird-man's head was yellow, framed by green and blue
plumes.
