"The Master Assassin of Mars-- Chapter 7: Climb to Freedom"
John Carter and Dejah Thoris are driven to escape the Kangaroo court of Gar Karus. You're not given the keys to the city after murdering the Jeddak. Not even a cruel, depraved and merciless one like Chan Tomar. By Orovar law, they have both been granted a death sentence.
John sees the chance to retrieve his Radium pistol, and its impact is dazzling and distracting to the winged warriors, not used to such advanced weaponry. There's now only one way to exit this crazy city. To scale the crater wall outside Karanthor - which is eight miles, straight up.
Carter assures his wife that the climb is entirely possible, but it's little more than braggadocio on John's part. It becomes an arduous ascent, and the pair take to the task with taciturn aplomb.
Helium's premium couple reach an outcropping ledge leading to a cave, but its inhabitant is instantly hostile. Have they survived deadly perils, the likes of Stara Kan, the Great One, Zhuvan D'Ark and Chan Tomar to be delivered up into the arms of.... a Great White Ape? As the feral, four-armed simian and fair-skinned Jasoomian both disappear over the edge, it's only John who re-surfaces.
Making cozy around a campfire, and maybe a combination of the high altitude, causes John to reminisce a "Secession Ball" just after the outbreak of the Civil War. John looked handsome and debonair wearing his Confederate uniform and Dejah, delectable as ever, in a flowing green ball gown. Pure fantasy, of course, which soon gives way to imminent reality.
Another day's climbing and the pair of fugitives finally reach the summit. Hallelujah! Mars is now only a Red Wreck of a world, but JC and Dejah have never been so keen to lay eyes on its plains once again. The Prince and Princess of Helium's joy is short-lived as they are hailed from the red sky by a colossal air-barge crewed by the Guild of Assassins.