Peace he hurried directly to the palace of the Dusarian minister.

That night two swift fliers left the same palace top. One sped
its rapid course toward Helium; the other--


Thuvia of Ptarth strolled in the gardens of her father's palace, as
was her nightly custom before retiring. Her silks and furs were
drawn about her, for the air of Mars is chill after the sun has
taken his quick plunge beneath the planet's western verge.

The girl's thoughts wandered from her impending nuptials, that
would make her empress of Kaol, to the person of the trim young
Heliumite who had laid his heart at her feet the preceding day.

Whether it was pity or regret that saddened her expression as she
gazed toward the southern heavens where she had watched the lights
of his flier disappear the previous night, it would be difficult
to say.

So, too, is it impossible to conjecture just what her emotions may
have been as she discerned the lights of a flier speeding rapidly
out of the distance from that very direction, as though impelled
toward her garden by the very intensity of the princess' thoughts.

She saw it circle lower above the palace until she was positive
that it but hovered in preparation for a landing.

Presently the powerful rays of its searchlight shot downward from
the bow. They fell upon the landing-stage for a brief instant,