Cat saved the royal relatives of Zandaka

John Carter’s rescue of a Zodangan royal cousin is the decisive action that converts his first aerial patrol into public military distinction. Spotting the cousin under attack far from the city, Carter intervenes first with his fragile one-man flier and then with his sword; the survivor’s identity makes the rescue legible to the court as a service to the ruling house, earning Carter a decoration and appointment to Than Kosis’s personal guard.

Circumstances and Stakes

The rescue follows Carter’s arrival in Zodanga, where Red Martian benefactors have advised him to disguise himself as one of their people and seek military employment. They warn that his account of his extraordinary experiences is unlikely to be believed until he proves trustworthy and gains friends among the nobles; in a warlike society, military service is the most direct route to favor. His first flight comes on his fourth day in the city, after Kantos Kan has taught him to pilot and repair the small aircraft used by Martian airmen.

Carter’s new role places him amid the conflict between Green and Red Martians. The Zodangan royal cousin is a member of the air-scout squadron, not an anonymous civilian: his machine has been damaged while he was working on it, leaving him on foot as three Green warriors pursue him. Carter is travelling at speed above the waterways south of Zodanga when he sees the chase. The distance he has covered—about two hundred miles in less than an hour—underscores how rapidly his unfamiliar aircraft has carried him from the city into a dangerous encounter.

The Intervention

The three attackers ride down on the stranded scout with long spears, each apparently trying to reach him first. Carter closes from behind without slowing, driving the prow of his aircraft into the nearest warrior. The collision kills him and throws his body from his mount; the other two warriors’ thoats panic and bolt in opposite directions. Carter’s intervention is immediate and forceful, using the aircraft itself as a weapon rather than attempting a conventional approach on foot.

The surviving attackers regain control of their mounts and return, but their animals again refuse to approach the frightening aircraft. The warriors dismount and advance with drawn swords. Carter meets the larger opponent while telling the Zodangan to defend himself against the other. He dispatches his own adversary with little effort, a result the narrator connects to his growing practice in combat, then turns back to find the royal cousin in grave danger: wounded and pinned beneath his opponent’s foot, with a sword raised for the final blow.

Carter crosses the fifty feet between them in a bound and thrusts his sword through the Green warrior. The attacker’s weapon drops harmlessly, and his body falls across the Zodangan. A brief examination shows that the cousin has suffered no mortal injury. The action has reversed an imminent execution into a rescue, but the two men cannot linger: they expect the Green warriors to return as soon as they have controlled their mounts. They finish repairing the damaged flier, and the cousin pilots his own craft because the small vehicles are designed for only one passenger.

Return and Recognition

The two scouts fly back to Zodanga together, reaching the city without further mishap. Near the city they find a large assembly of civilians and troops on the plain, with naval vessels and private and public craft filling the sky. The cousin explains that honors are being awarded to officers and soldiers for bravery and distinguished service. He identifies himself to the gathering by unfurling the small ensign that marks his craft as carrying a member of Zodanga’s royal family.

Carter is called forward before the assembled spectators and military. Than Kosis publicly cites his courage and skill in defending the jeddak’s cousin and defeating three Green warriors single-handed. The rescued man’s testimony has turned a remote skirmish into an officially recognized deed. Than Kosis places an ornament on Carter and appoints him a padwar of the Guards, ordering that he be quartered in the palace thereafter. Carter’s initial advancement as an air scout thus gives way to a closer position in the ruling household.

Significance

The episode makes military action the proof of credibility that Carter’s Zodangan hosts had predicted. He had been advised to win trust through service because the court would not simply accept his story; the rescue supplies an immediately verifiable achievement, witnessed by a royal relative who can testify to it. The reward is both material and political: public honor, a new rank, and residence in Than Kosis’s palace.

The rescue also establishes the pattern by which Carter’s unfamiliarity becomes an advantage. He has only recently learned to fly, yet the speed and physical force of his aircraft let him break the attack before the stranded scout can be killed. When the fight moves to the ground, Carter’s accumulated combat practice enables him to defeat one warrior and save the cousin from the other. The episode binds technological competence to physical prowess, making his transition into Zodangan military life depend on both.

Its public conclusion contrasts with the violence that produces it. The three Green warriors are treated as enemies to be killed, while the court converts their deaths into an occasion for rewarding bravery and advancing a newcomer. Carter’s rise is therefore not an escape from Barsoom’s warfare but an entry into its structures of rank and patronage: the same act that saves an individual also earns him access to the palace and the power surrounding the Zodangan jeddak.