"Now," he said, "what is the favor you wish to ask?"
"I am going to ask two," I replied. "I should like to be placed in full charge of the laboratory building."
"I see no objection to that," he interrupted. "But why such a strange request?"
"There is the body of a red man there to which I should like to have my brain transferred if Ras Thavas is ever found," I explained, "and if I am in full charge of the laboratory building I can protect the body and make sure that Ras Thavas performs the operation."
"Very well," he said, "your request is granted. What is the other?"
"I want you to give me the girl, Janai."
His face clouded at that. "What do you want of a girl?" he demanded. "You are only a hormad."
"Some day I may be a red man."
"But why the girl, Janai? What do you know of her? I didn't know you had ever seen her."
"I was with the party that captured her. She is the only woman I have ever seen that I wanted."
"I couldn't give her to you if I had a mind to," he said. "She, too, has disappeared. While I was fighting with the First Jed she must have escaped from the room-we were fighting in the apartment in which the women were being held-and she has not been seen since."
"Will you give her to me if she is found?"
"I want her myself."
"But you have the pick of many others. I have seen beautiful women in the palace; and among them there must be one who would make you a splendid wife, a suitable consort for a jeddak. This, of all the favors I might ask, I wish the most."
"She would rather die than belong to a hideous monster like you," he said.
"Well, grant me this, then: that if she is found the decision be left to her."
He laughed. "That I agree to willingly. You don't think, do you, that she would choose you in preference to a jeddak, a monster in preference to a man?"
"I have been told that women are unpredictable. I am willing to take the chance and abide by her decision, if you are."
"Then it is agreed," he said, and he was quite good-natured about it, so certain was he of the outcome; "but you are not getting much in the way of reward for the services you have rendered me. I thought you would at least ask for a palace of your own and many servants."
"I asked for the two things I wish most," I said, "and I am content."
"Well, you may have the palace and the servants whenever you wish them, for by your own proposition you will never have the girl, even if she be found."
As soon as he dismissed me I hurried to the apartment where I had left Janai, and my heart was in my mouth for fear that I should not find her there. I had to be careful that no one saw me enter the storeroom that led to her hiding place, for I did not want Ay-mad ever to discover that I had known all along where she was hidden. Fortunately the corridor was empty, and I entered the storeroom unseen. Going to the door of Janai's room, I knocked. There was no answer.
"Janai!" I called. "It is I, Tor-dur-bar. Are you there?"
Then I heard the bolt being withdrawn, and the door swung open. There she stood!
My heart almost stopped for very relief. And she was so beautiful! It seemed that each new time I saw her she had become more beautiful.
"You are back," she said. "I began to fear that you would never come. Do you bring word from Vor Daj?"
So she was thinking of Vor Daj! On such slight sustenance does love thrive. I entered the room and closed the door.
"Vor Daj sends greetings," I said. "He thinks of nothing but you and your welfare."
"But he cannot come to me?"
"No. He is a prisoner in the laboratory building, but he has charged me to look after you. Now I can do so better than before for many changes have taken place in Morbus since I last saw you. I am an odwar now, and my influence with the new jeddak is considerable."
"I have been hearing sounds of fighting," she said. "Tell me what has happened."
I told her briefly and that the Third Jed was now jeddak. "Then I am lost," she said, "for he is all powerful."
"Perhaps that is your salvation," I told her. "To reward me for the services I had rendered him, the new jeddak made me an odwar and promised to grant me any favor I asked."
"And what did you ask of him?"
"You."
I could almost feel the shudder that ran through her frame as she looked at my hideous face and deformed body. "Please!" she begged. "You said you were my friend, that you were the friend of Vor Daj. He would not wish you to have me, I am sure."
"I only asked for you that I might protect you for Vor Daj," I said.
"How does Vor Daj know that I would have him?" she demanded.
"He doesn't know. He only hopes that I may protect you from others. I have not said, have I, that Vor Daj wishes you for himself?" I could not resist saying that just to match her seeming indifference to Vor Daj. Her chin went up a little, and that pleased me. I know something of women and their reactions.
"What did the Third Jed say when you asked for me?" she inquired.
"He is jeddak now, and he calls himself Ay-mad," I explained, "He said that you would not have me; so I have come to lay the whole matter before you. It is for you to decide. I think that Vor Daj loves you. You must choose between him and Ay-mad. Ay-mad will ask you to make the choice between him and me; but the choice will really be between him and Vor Daj, only Ay-mad won't know that. If you choose me, Ay-mad will be insulted and angry; but I believe that he will keep his bargain. Then I shall take you to quarters near my own and protect you until such time as you and Vor Daj can escape from Morbus. I can also assure you that Vor Daj will hold you to no promise afterward. His only thought now is to help you."
"I was sure that he would be like that," she said, "and you may be sure that when the choice is given me I shall choose you rather than Ay-mad."
"Even though by choosing him you could become a jeddara?" I asked.
"Even so," she said.
CHAPTER XIII. JOHN CARTER DISAPPEARS
After leaving Janai I went at once to the laboratory building to find John Carter and learn what he knew of the disappearance of Ras Thavas. Janai and I had decided that she should remain where she was for a few days so that Ay-mad's suspicions would not be aroused by my finding her too easily. I had determined to institute a search during which she should be found by someone else, though I would be close at hand to prevent any miscarriage of our plans.
One of the first persons I met on entering the laboratory building was Tun Gan.
At sight of me he flew into a rage. "I thought I told you to keep out of my sight," he blustered. "Do you want to go to the incinerator?"
I pointed to my badge of office, which he evidently had not noticed. "You wouldn't send one of the jeddak's odwars to the incinerator, would you?" I inquired.
He was dumfounded. "You an odwar?" he demanded.
"Why not?" I asked.
"But you are only a hormad."
"Perhaps, but I am also an odwar. I could have you sent to the incinerator or the vats, but I don't intend to. I have your body; so we should be friends. What do you say?"
"All right," he agreed. What else could he do? "But I don't understand how you got to be an odwar with that awful-looking face and your deformed body."