CHAPTER XI – Thu­via, Maid of Mars opens with Cartho­ris awak­en­ing on a blood-soaked bat­tle­field, left uncon­scious amid the life­less bod­ies of fall­en foes. Dis­ori­ent­ed and weak, he finds Thu­via and Kar Komak gone, with no sign of where or how they van­ished. Though wound­ed and drained, Cartho­ris ris­es with unwa­ver­ing resolve, set­ting his course for Aaan­thor, where water and pos­si­ble clues await, his thoughts con­sumed by Thuvia’s safe­ty.

Reach­ing the crum­bling city of Aaan­thor, Cartho­ris encoun­ters a haunt­ing silence that cloaks the ruins, relics of a civ­i­liza­tion now aban­doned. As he explores its shad­owy cor­ri­dors, he’s attacked by sav­age green Mar­tians and ambushed by tow­er­ing white apes, whose feroc­i­ty push­es him to his lim­it. Over­pow­ered, he is cap­tured and thrown into a light­less cell deep beneath the city, uncer­tain of what fate might await him in the bow­els of this for­got­ten place.

In the pitch-black depths, a famil­iar voice cuts through the silence—Kar Komak has returned. The Lothar­i­an war­rior uses the men­tal prowess of his peo­ple, con­jur­ing spec­tral bow­men with ter­ri­fy­ing pre­ci­sion to com­bat their cap­tors. The illu­sion proves so life­like that pan­ic sweeps through their ene­mies, allow­ing Cartho­ris and Kar Komak to fight their way to free­dom amid the con­fu­sion and fear wrought by this oth­er­world­ly force.

Once free of the city’s ruins, the pair press­es on across the rugged ter­rain of Bar­soom, know­ing that their mis­sion is far from over. With­out the safe­ty of an air­ship, they trav­el on foot, mak­ing slow but delib­er­ate progress, all the while remain­ing wary of ene­mies who might still pur­sue them. To avoid draw­ing atten­tion, they assume the roles of com­mon trav­el­ers, con­ceal­ing their true iden­ti­ties as they seek shel­ter and sup­port.

Their jour­ney takes them into the fringes of cul­ti­vat­ed land, where the bor­der between wilder­ness and civ­i­liza­tion is sharply drawn. Here, for­ti­fied com­pounds are main­tained to guard against threats from green Mar­tians and preda­to­ry beasts that still roam Mars. Cartho­ris and Kar Komak are wel­comed into one such com­pound by Hal Vas, a young noble who offers them rest with­out real­iz­ing the sta­tus of his guests.

Though grate­ful for the hos­pi­tal­i­ty, Cartho­ris remains cau­tious, know­ing polit­i­cal ten­sions across Bar­soom are frag­ile and one mis­step could jeop­ar­dize their plans. Hal Vas unknow­ing­ly belongs to a fac­tion unfriend­ly to Heli­um, forc­ing Cartho­ris to hide not only his iden­ti­ty but also the urgency of his quest. Their con­ver­sa­tions are lay­ered with sub­tle ten­sion, each word mea­sured care­ful­ly to main­tain the illu­sion of neu­tral­i­ty while glean­ing what­ev­er infor­ma­tion they can.

Through­out these tri­als, Cartho­ris demon­strates unwa­ver­ing ded­i­ca­tion and inher­it­ed strate­gic bril­liance. Whether nav­i­gat­ing the ruins of war-torn cities or exchang­ing guard­ed pleas­antries in ene­my ter­ri­to­ry, he nev­er los­es sight of his goal—to find Thu­via and pro­tect her from the dan­ger­ous schemes that threat­en not only her but the peace of Bar­soom. Every choice he makes is cal­cu­lat­ed, reveal­ing the strength of his char­ac­ter and the depth of his love.

Kar Komak, too, emerges as more than just a com­pan­ion. His loy­al­ty, courage, and rare abil­i­ties enrich the jour­ney, offer­ing Cartho­ris not just sup­port, but a reminder of the pow­er of belief and broth­er­hood. Togeth­er, they form a for­mi­da­ble part­ner­ship, their alliance a tes­ta­ment to the unex­pect­ed friend­ships forged in the fire of shared tri­als.

This chap­ter deep­ens the story’s themes of per­se­ver­ance, sac­ri­fice, and loy­al­ty. Set against the back­drop of a world tee­ter­ing between the ruins of its past and the con­flicts of its present, Carthoris’s mis­sion reflects the endur­ing strug­gle between duty and love. As they move for­ward, each mile brings new per­il, but also the unshak­able hope that their courage will be enough to res­cue Thu­via and alter the course of Barsoom’s des­tiny.