CHAPTER III – Thu­via, Maid of Mars opens with mount­ing ten­sion as Thu­vi­a’s mys­te­ri­ous dis­ap­pear­ance ignites polit­i­cal unrest across Bar­soom. The abduc­tion casts a shad­ow over Helium’s prince, Cartho­ris, whose pre­vi­ous admi­ra­tion for the princess now threat­ens to entan­gle him in accu­sa­tions of betray­al. With­in Heli­um’s roy­al halls, Tar­dos Mors and the leg­endary John Carter con­vene with urgency, deter­mined to avoid con­flict with Ptarth by demon­strat­ing good­will. Cartho­ris is entrust­ed with a del­i­cate mis­sion: to jour­ney to Ptarth and per­son­al­ly affirm Helium’s com­mit­ment to jus­tice, bear­ing both apolo­gies and sup­port for Thuvia’s safe return. Though hon­ored by the task, Cartho­ris can­not shake the weight of unspo­ken doubts—wondering whether Thu­via had left will­ing­ly with anoth­er suit­or.

While his prepa­ra­tions are car­ried out swift­ly, an unseen dan­ger slips past his vig­i­lance. A seem­ing­ly loy­al guard tam­pers with the direc­tion­al con­trols of Carthoris’s fli­er, sub­tly alter­ing its com­pass set­tings. The prince, momen­tar­i­ly trou­bled by a strange famil­iar­i­ty in the man’s fea­tures, brush­es the thought aside and boards his ship. As the sleek craft glides into Barsoom’s thin skies, Cartho­ris grap­ples with storm­ing thoughts—of hon­or, of rival­ry, and of Thuvia’s inten­tions. Exhaust­ed from emo­tion­al strain, he falls into uneasy sleep, unaware that the ship veers fur­ther from his intend­ed path with every pass­ing haad.

When he awak­ens, the hori­zon that greets him is not the green-swept ter­rain of Ptarth but the somber out­line of an aban­doned city, ancient and eerie beneath Barsoom’s red sky. Real­iza­tion strikes with sharp clarity—he has been mis­led by sab­o­tage. As he wres­tles with the impli­ca­tions, a sud­den com­mo­tion below catch­es his eye: a green Mar­t­ian war­rior is drag­ging a red-skinned woman across the sands. With­out hes­i­ta­tion, Cartho­ris descends in pur­suit, his sense of duty and des­per­a­tion inter­wo­ven in a swift and dan­ger­ous dive. Though uncer­tain of the wom­an’s iden­ti­ty, his instincts dri­ve him to pro­tect and con­front the chaos unfold­ing in the ruins below.

The chase that fol­lows takes Cartho­ris into the heart of a long-for­got­ten city, its silence thick with mem­o­ry and men­ace. The wind­ing streets and crum­bling arch­es offer no answers, only the chill of iso­la­tion and the threat of lurk­ing ene­mies. As he nav­i­gates its maze-like ruins, he can­not shake the sus­pi­cion that this place was cho­sen not by acci­dent but by design. In this city of ghosts, he is not mere­ly lost in space, but also thrown into a deep­er plot—one that aims not just to derail his mis­sion but to entrap him in a larg­er con­flict. The archi­tec­ture itself seems to echo treach­ery, bear­ing wit­ness to schemes long in motion.

Mean­while, his mind returns again and again to Thuvia—her sharp words, her elu­sive gaze, her pride that burns as fierce­ly as her beau­ty. He can­not believe she would will­ing­ly leave with­out word, yet the pos­si­bil­i­ty gnaws at him. He is not just chas­ing down a kid­napped noble; he is con­fronting the bound­aries between love, loy­al­ty, and sus­pi­cion. As he search­es for signs of either Thu­via or his unknown sabo­teurs, he reflects on the frag­ile bal­ance of alliances across Barsoom’s frac­tured cities—knowing full well that even a whis­per of his fail­ure could ignite war.

This chap­ter seam­less­ly com­bines polit­i­cal dan­ger with per­son­al stakes, weav­ing Carthoris’s emo­tion­al uncer­tain­ty into the larg­er game of Mar­t­ian diplo­ma­cy. The unknown city becomes more than a detour; it is a cru­cible where his char­ac­ter, judg­ment, and courage must all be test­ed. The ten­sion between heart and hon­or, between mis­tak­en appear­ances and hid­den truths, keeps the pace tight and the read­er alert. Cartho­ris’s path now veers not just from its course but toward some­thing greater—an unchart­ed inter­sec­tion of con­spir­a­cy, redemp­tion, and pos­si­bly, love redis­cov­ered through per­il.