"The king is not yet dead!" cried Ko-tan, rising to his feet;
"nor is Bu-lot yet married to his daughter--and there is yet time to save Pal-ul-don from the spawn of the rabbit breed."
The king's angry tone and his insulting reference to Bu-lot's well-known cowardice brought a sudden, sobering silence upon the roistering company.Every eye turned upon Bu-lot and Mo-sar, who sat together directly opposite the king.The first was very drunk though suddenly he seemed quite sober.He was so drunk that for an instant he forgot to be a coward, since his reasoning powers were so effectually paralyzed by the fumes of liquor that he could not intelligently weigh the consequences of his acts.It is reasonably conceivable that a drunk and angry rabbit might commit a rash deed.Upon no other hypothesis is the thing that Bu-lot now did explicable.He rose suddenly from the seat to which he had sunk after delivering his toast and seizing the knife from the sheath of the warrior upon his right hurled it with terrific force at Ko-tan.Skilled in the art of throwing both their knives and their clubs are the warriors of Pal-ul-don and at this short distance and coming as it did without warning there was no defense and but one possible result--Ko-tan, the king, lunged forward across the table, the blade buried in his heart.
A brief silence followed the assassin's cowardly act.White with terror, now, Bu-lot fell slowly back toward the doorway at his rear, when suddenly angry warriors leaped with drawn knives to prevent his escape and to avenge their king.But Mo-sar now took his stand beside his son.
"Ko-tan is dead!" he cried."Mo-sar is king! Let the loyal warriors of Pal-ul-don protect their ruler!"
Mo-sar commanded a goodly following and these quickly surrounded him and Bu-lot, but there were many knives against them and now Ja-don pressed forward through those who confronted the pretender.
"Take them both!" he shouted."The warriors of Pal-ul-don will choose their own king after the assassin of Ko-tan has paid the penalty of his treachery."
Directed now by a leader whom they both respected and admired those who had been loyal to Ko-tan rushed forward upon the faction that had surrounded Mo-sar.Fierce and terrible was the fighting, devoid, apparently, of all else than the ferocious lust to kill and while it was at its height Mo-sar and Bu-lot slipped unnoticed from the banquet hall.
To that part of the palace assigned to them during their visit to A-lur they hastened.Here were their servants and the lesser warriors of their party who had not been bidden to the feast of Ko-tan.These were directed quickly to gather together their belongings for immediate departure.When all was ready, and it did not take long, since the warriors of Pal-ul-don require but little impedimenta on the march, they moved toward the palace gate.
Suddenly Mo-sar approached his son."The princess," he whispered.
"We must not leave the city without her--she is half the battle for the throne."
Bu-lot, now entirely sober, demurred.He had had enough of fighting and of risk."Let us get out of A-lur quickly," he urged, "or we shall have the whole city upon us.She would not come without a struggle and that would delay us too long."
"There is plenty of time," insisted Mo-sar."They are still fighting in the pal-e-don-so.It will be long before they miss us and, with Ko-tan dead, long before any will think to look to the safety of the princess.Our time is now--it was made for us by Jad-ben-Otho.Come!"
Reluctantly Bu-lot followed his father, who first instructed the warriors to await them just inside the gateway of the palace.
Rapidly the two approached the quarters of the princess.Within the entrance-way only a handful of warriors were on guard.The eunuchs had retired.
"There is fighting in the pal-e-don-so," Mo-sar announced in feigned excitement as they entered the presence of the guards.
"The king desires you to come at once and has sent us to guard the apartments of the princess.Make haste!" he commanded as the men hesitated.
The warriors knew him and that on the morrow the princess was to be betrothed to Bu-lot, his son.If there was trouble what more natural than that Mo-sar and Bu-lot should be intrusted with the safety of the princess.And then, too, was not Mo-sar a powerful chief to whose orders disobedience might prove a dangerous thing?
They were but common fighting men disciplined in the rough school of tribal warfare, but they had learned to obey a superior and so they departed for the banquet hall--the place-where-men-eat.
Barely waiting until they had disappeared Mo-sar crossed to the hangings at the opposite end of the entrance-hall and followed by Bu-lot made his way toward the sleeping apartment of O-lo-a and a moment later, without warning, the two men burst in upon the three occupants of the room.At sight of them O-lo-a sprang to her feet.
"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded angrily.
Mo-sar advanced and halted before her.Into his cunning mind had entered a plan to trick her.If it succeeded it would prove easier than taking her by force, and then his eyes fell upon Jane Clayton and he almost gasped in astonishment and admiration, but he caught himself and returned to the business of the moment.
"O-lo-a," he cried, "when you know the urgency of our mission you will forgive us.We have sad news for you.There has been an uprising in the palace and Ko-tan, the king, has been slain.The rebels are drunk with liquor and now on their way here.We must get you out of A-lur at once--there is not a moment to lose.
Come, and quickly!"
"My father dead?" cried O-lo-a, and suddenly her eyes went wide.
"Then my place is here with my people," she cried."If Ko-tan is dead I am queen until the warriors choose a new ruler--that is the law of Pal-ul-don.And if I am queen none can make me wed whom I do not wish to wed--and Jad-ben-Otho knows I never wished to wed thy cowardly son.Go!" She pointed a slim forefinger imperiously toward the doorway.
