READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

Tarzan on Mars
"We must hurry!" exclaimed Talu.
"Our own bombardment should begin," shouted John
Carter. "It will distract attention from us!"
No sooner had he made this observation than the rumble
of explosions overtook them, and they saw the advancing
vanguard of the Tarnathian hordes scatter before the Heliumitic
bombardment. At the same time, as they looked back,
they say the main ground forces charging forward from the
grounded ships, and faintly above the sound of shellfire and
explosions they heard their roaring battle cry like the thunder
of an advancing hurricane.
Meanwhile, units of the Holy Alliance air force now
centered in upon the grounded ships and resumed their own
bombardment even in the face of withering fire from below.
Many a ship of Omean or of the vaunted Thern Empire
blasted into ruin before the allied guns of Helium, but the
battle raged on relentlessly.
Singly and in widespread deployment, the commandoes
flew onward, toward Zumor, harly noticed by the great armies
and airships thus engaged in mortal combat. John Carter and
Talu were somewhat in the lead of the others and were the
first to draw in upon the towering battlements of the ancient
city atop the Escarpment. As they did so, the Warlord drew
his long-sword in preparation for battle.
However, when they had arrived at a distance of several
hundred yards from the outer walls, a great, solid phalanx of
white-skinned, bowmen raised up along the battlements and
drew their bowstrings, aiming ten thousand deadly arrows at
them.
"The Lotharian phantoms!" shouted John Carter. "You
know what to do! Remember Kar Komak's training!"
"Yes!' shouted Talu. "But the malagors think they are
real!"
"Let us hope that they take aim only at us!"
When they drew within easy range of the bowmen,
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