Page:Weird Tales Volume 6 Number 1 (1925-07).djvu/57

and secured the other end to the body of the chariot. Maleta was then fastened in the same manner.

Ware and Stillwell were commanded to follow the royal chariot as closely as possible. The march through the streets of tho city of the Corolans then began. As the march progressed, Mitsu called to the drivers of the horses attached to the royal chariot to speed their animals. The horses lunged forward, and Zema and Maleta were obliged to exert themselves to the utmost to keep up with the vehicle. Zema began to tire, and at a wild lunge of the animals attached to the chariot, she was pulled from her feet and dragged headlong after the royal carriage.

Mitsu laughed hysterically as she saw the form of her rival dragged in the dust of the street. She called again to the drivers of the chariot. "Not so fast now," she commanded. "We will spare the white she for the sports in the arena tomorrow."

Zema regained her feet with the aid of Maleta, who bad been able to keep pace with the rapidly moving car. The chariot slowed down as the horses came again to a prancing walk.

Ware and Stillwell had been angry observers of the actions of the black queen. Several times they were tempted to bring their rifles to bear upon the black queen and her consort. They were possessed with the additional fear, too, that the report of the rifles, strange noises to the animals hitched to the chariot, might precipitate a wild runaway and lead to the death of both Zema and Maleta.

The royal chariot finally halted before an enormous building. The four guards of the black queen stepped from the vehicle and released Zema and Maleta. They guarded the two until the approach of Ware and Stillwell. The two men, with Zema and Maleta, were led by the guards through one of the doorways in the base of the great rock structure.

When the guards receded, the outer door, which was a heavy wooden slab fashioned from a portion of the main trunk of one of the great trees of the distant jungles, was closed and Ware and Stillwell began taking an inventory of their surroundings.

"We are in the prison pits of the arena," Zema explained, her brown eyes meeting the gray ones of Captain Ware with an expression that depicted a fear of her present environment. "Above this place rise the tiers of seats, where the people of the Corolans sit and watch the games. In other parts under the seats are stationed the cages of the great animals. Tomorrow, Zema and her sister will be sent into the arena. A certain number of beasts will be let loose upon her. If she is powerful enough to kill them with the weapon she is permitted to select, then she may go free. She may also have the privilege of naming a champion to defend her. The champion must enter the arena and combat the beasts and keep them away both from Zema and himself."

"Is the champion permitted to name his own weapons?" queried Ware.

"He has that privilege," replied Zema. "A spear, or a bow with arrows, is of little effect against a half dozen hungry beasts. They starve the creatures to increase their ferocity."

The door of the prison chamber was opened, and Vespar, who had been retained outside when the four white people were placed in the room beneath the arena, was led into the

"Since you refuse to fight for the black queen against the Morians," said the chief of the party of guards who had brought Vespar into the place, "then you, too, must take your chance in the arena."