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CHAPTER I - TARA IN A TANTRUM
Tara of Helium rose from the pile of silks and soft furs upon which she had been
reclining, stretched her lithe body languidly, and crossed toward the center of the
room, where, above a large table, a bronze disc depended from the low ceiling.
Her carriage was that of health and physical perfection--the effortless harmony of
faultless coordination. A scarf of silken gossamer crossing over one shoulder was
wrapped about her body; her black hair was piled high upon her head. With a
wooden stick she tapped upon the bronze disc, lightly, and presently the
summons was answered by a slave girl, who entered, smiling, to be greeted
similarly by her mistress.
"Are my father's guests arriving?" asked the princess.
"Yes, Tara of Helium, they come," replied the slave. "I have seen Kantos Kan,
Overlord of the Navy, and Prince Soran of Ptarth, and Djor Kantos, son of Kantos
Kan," she shot a roguish glance at her mistress as she mentioned Djor Kantos'
name, "and--oh, there were others, many have come."
"
The bath, then, Uthia," said her mistress. "And why, Uthia," she added, "do you
look thus and smile when you mention the name of Djor Kantos?"
The slave girl laughed gaily. "It is so plain to all that he worships you," she
replied.
"It is not plain to me," said Tara of Helium. "He is the friend of my brother,
Carthoris, and so he is here much; but not to see me. It is his friendship for
Carthoris that brings him thus often to the palace of my father."
"But Carthoris is hunting in the north with Talu, Jeddak of Okar," Uthia
reminded her.
"My bath, Uthia!" cried Tara of Helium. "That tongue of yours will bring you to
some misadventure yet."
"
The bath is ready, Tara of Helium," the girl responded, her eyes still twinkling
with merriment, for she well knew that in the heart of her mistress was no anger
that could displace the love of the princess for her slave. Preceding the daughter
of The Warlord she opened the door of an adjoining room where lay the bath--a
gleaming pool of scented water in a marble basin. Golden stanchions supported a
chain of gold encircling it and leading down into the water on either side of
marble steps. A glass dome let in the sun-light, which flooded the interior,
glancing from the polished white of the marble walls and the procession of
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