READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

Tarzan on Mars
whose thought, intentions and motivations were as alien to
his own as were those of the pithecanthropus at his side.
Indeed, even more so.
For what could the ape-man have known then of Issus, of
the subterranean Sea of Omean and the dark-skinned First
Born, of the disgruntled race of Therns who licked their
wounds and plotted together with the greatest mental wizard
of all time to lay the torch of fanaticism to the pillars of an
empire which a soldier from Virginia had erected upon an
alien world?
Nothing then, to be sure. But the years were to weave a
tapestry of fate which included him, and inexorably the distant
and seemingly incompatible threads of causation and effect
drew together..
* * *
Zithad, black Dator, or Prince, of the First Born, laughed
aloud. A magnificent specimen of powerful, finely knit fighting
man, chiseled in gleaming ebony, resplendent in white,
jeweled harness, he threw his head back and laughed, flashing
clean, white teeth as he did.
"By sacred Issus!" he exclaimed almost breathlessly.
"John Carter himself would never have been so foolhardy!
The two of you, a Thern and a Lotharian—and of Lothar I
have heard nought in three hundred years of life! The tow of
you—come here into Omean, to the palace of the Dator,
himself, alone, seeking me as an ally in a mad plan to overthrow
the Warlord of all Barsoom— to reestablish the
forbidden religion in the very teeth of armed forces and
navies which could obliterate us all in a single day!"
He struggled to control himself, using the back of his
hand to wipe tears of merriment from his eyes. "But on top of
it all, this—this madman, you!" He pointed an accusing finger
at Tario. "You proclaim yourself dictator of the world!—master
of us all!—before a single sword has been raised to strike
a blow of conquest!"
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