"
"Be that as it may, Xodar, he is a great fighter. I think that
we will make a trio difficult to overcome, and if my friend Tars
Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, were but one of us we could fight our way
from one end of Barsoom to the other even though the whole world
were pitted against us."
"It will be," said Xodar, "when they find from whence you have come.
That is but one of the superstitions which Issus has foisted upon
a credulous humanity. She works through the Holy Therns who are
as ignorant of her real self as are the Barsoomians of the outer
world. Her decrees are borne to the therns written in blood upon
a strange parchment. The poor deluded fools think that they are
receiving the revelations of a goddess through some supernatural
agency, since they find these messages upon their guarded altars
to which none could have access without detection. I myself have
borne these messages for Issus for many years. There is a long
tunnel from the temple of Issus to the principal temple of Matai
Shang. It was dug ages ago by the slaves of the First Born in such
utter secrecy that no thern ever guessed its existence.
"The therns for their part have temples dotted about the entire
civilized world. Here priests whom the people never see communicate
the doctrine of the Mysterious River Iss, the Valley Dor, and the
Lost Sea of Korus to persuade the poor deluded creatures to take
the voluntary pilgrimage that swells the wealth of the Holy Therns
and adds to the numbers of their slaves.
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