The Bronze Man of Mars

Slowly, I turned my airship back toward Gathol, giving the city of Horz a wide berth.

Cynthara continued to watch while the city that had once been hers so long before disappeared behind us. In turn, I watched her, realizing that while my quest had begun to impress Jasras Kan, I had found much more than strange devices or riches. I had found someone who offered far more than the lovely face and sharp and polished words of Jasras Kan. Yet I did not know what Cynthara might feel.

Finally, she turned and stepped forward, beside me.

“The Horz I knew is gone, so far in the past that not even legends remain. So are my people. Is that not true, Dan Lan Chee?”

“It is.”

“You did not soothe me with pleasant falsehoods.”

“No.”

“Nor did you attempt to take advantage of me.”

“I doubt any man would have much success in that.” I could not help but smile at her words.

“You respect me.”

I nodded. How could I not? Could I have awakened after eons with strange machines keeping me uncorrupted and acted as decisively as she had?

Abruptly, she knelt and laid that deadly black blade at my feet. I’d never seen a woman do that. In my Barsoom, only men offered their blades and lifetime loyalty. I could not reject the gesture . . . and yet. . . . Quickly, I unbuckled my own blade and scabbard and laid it at her feet.

“You mock me. . . .” Her green eyes flashed.

“I would never mock you, Cynthara Dulchis. But I cannot accept what you offer, unless you accept what I offer in return.”

The smile on her face was confirmation enough that I had found a great treasure in Horz . . . if not exactly the one I had sought. But this treasure was not one I could have bought with devices and riches, just as my father could not have bought my mother with such. And so we stood together, at the beginning of another journey.