Part 2 (1/2)

”I wish you could too,” said Reith.

”Do that again,” said the girl. Just once more...” She gave a sudden gasp, looking over Reith's shoulder. He jerked around, to see a flicker of movement. There was a hiss, a thud, a heartrending sob of pain. The girl sagged to her knees, fell over on her side, clutching at the feathered bolt buried in her chest. Reith gave a hoa.r.s.e call, looked wildly here and there.

The skyline was clear; no one could be seen. Reith bent over the girl. Her lips moved, but he could not hear the words. She sighed and relaxed.

Reith stood looking down at the body, rage crowding all rational thought from his mind. He bent, lifted her-she weighed less than he expected-andcarried her back to camp, reeling and straining. He took her to the shed of Traz Onmale.

The boy sat on a stool, holding a rapier which he glumly twitched back and forth. Reith lay down the body of the girl as gently as he was able. Traz Onmale looked from the body to Reith with a flinty stare. Reith said, ”I met the girl picking fodder. We were talking-and the bolt hit her. It was murder. The bolt might have been meant for me.”

Traz Onmale glanced down at the bolt, touched the feathers. Already warriors were sauntering close. Traz Onmale looked from face to face.

”Where is Jad Piluna?”

There were mutters, a hoa.r.s.e voice, a summons. Jad Piluna approached: one whom Reith had noticed on previous occasions: a man of dash and flair, with a keen high-colored face, a curious V-shaped mouth, conveying, perhaps unintentionally, a continual insolent mirth. Reith stared at him in a fascination of loathing. Here was the murderer.

Traz Onmale held out his hand. ”Show me your catapult.”

Jad Piluna tossed it, an act of casual disrespect, and Traz Onmale turned up a glittering glance. He looked at the catapult, checked the claw release and the film of grease customarily applied by the warriors after using their weapons. He said: ”The grease is disturbed; you have fired this catapult today. The bolt”-he pointed down at the corpse-”has the three black bands of Piluna. You killed the girl.”

Jad Piluna's mouth twitched, the V broadened and narrowed. ”I meant to kill the man. He is a slave and a heretic. She was no better.”

”Who are you to decide? Do you carry Onmale?”

”No. But I maintain that the act was accidental. It is no crime to kill a heretic.”

The Chief Magician stepped forward. ”The matter of intentional heresy is crucial. This person”-he pointed toward Reith” is clearly a hybrid; I would suppose Dirdirman and Pnumekin. For reasons unknown he has joined the Emblem Men and now circulates heresy. Does he think we are too stupid to notice? How wrong he is! He suborned the young woman; he led her astray; she became worthless. Hence when-”

Traz Onmale, again displaying the decisiveness so astonis.h.i.+ng in a lad so young, cut him short. ”Enough. You talk nonsense. The Piluna is notoriously an emblem of dark deeds. Jad, the carrier, must be brought to account, and Piluna curbed.”

”I claim innocence,” said Jad Piluna indifferently. ”I give myself to the justice of the moons.”

Traz Onmale squinted in anger. ”Never mind the justice of the moons. I will give you justice.”

Jad Piluna gazed at him without concern. ”The Onmale is not permitted to fight.”Traz Onmale looked around the group. ”Is there no n.o.ble emblem to subdue the murderous Piluna?”

None of the warriors responded. Jad Piluna nodded in satisfaction. ”The emblems stand aloof. Your call has no effect. But you have laid a slur on Piluna; you have used the word 'murderer.' I demand vindication from the moons.”

In a controlled voice Traz Onmale said, ”Bring forth the disc.”

The Chief Magician departed, to return with a box carved from a single huge bone. He turned to Jad Piluna. ”To which moon do you call for justice?”

”I demand vindication from Az, moon of virtue and peace; I ask Az to demonstrate my right.”

”Very well,” said Traz Onmale. ”I beseech Braz, the h.e.l.lmoon, to claim you for her own.”

The Chief Magician reached into the box, brought forth a disc, on one side pink, on the other blue. ”Stand clear, all!” He spun the disc into the air. It tilted, wobbled, seemed to float and glide, and landed with the pink side on top. ”Az, moon of virtue, has decided innocence!” called the magician. ”Braz has seen no cause to act.”

Reith gave a snort of sour amus.e.m.e.nt. He turned to Traz Onmale. ”I call upon the moons for judgment.”

”Judgment in regard to what?” demanded the Chief Magician. ”Certainly not your heresy! That is demonstrable!”

”I ask that the moon Az concede me the emblem Vaduz, so that I may punish the murderer Jad.”

Traz Onmale gave Reith a startled glance.

The Chief Magician cried out in indignation. ”Impossible; how can a slave carry an emblem?”

Traz Onmale looked down at the pathetic corpse and gave a curt sign to the magician. ”I release him from bondage. Throw the disc to the moons.”

The Chief Magician stood curiously stiff and reluctant. ”Is this wise? The emblem Vaduz-”

”-is hardly the most n.o.ble of emblems. Throw.”

The magician glanced askance at Jad Piluna. ”Throw,” said Jad Piluna.

”Should the moons give him to the emblem I will cut him into small strips.

I have always despised the Vaduz trait.”

The magician hesitated, considering first the tall hard-muscled figure of Jad Piluna, then Reith, equally tall but thinner and looser, and still lacking his full vigor.

The Chief Magician, a cautious man, thought to temporize. ”The disc is drained of its force; we can have no more judgments.”

”Nonsense,” said Reith. ”The disc is controlled, so you claim, by the power of the moons. How can the disc be drained? Throw the disc!””Throw the disc!” ordered Traz Onmale.

”Then you must take Braz, for you are evil and a heretic.”

”I have called on Az, which can reject me if it chooses.”

The magician shrugged. ”As you wish. I will use a fresh disc.”

”No!” exclaimed Reith. ”The same disc.”

Traz Onmale sat erect and leaned forward, his attention once again engaged. ”Use the same disc. Throw!”

With an angry gesture the Chief Magician s.n.a.t.c.hed up the disc, spun it high and twinkling into the air. As before, it wobbled, seemed to float, drifted down with the pink face up.

”Az favors the stranger!” declared Traz Onmale. ”Fetch the emblem Vaduz!”

The Chief Magician stalked to his shed and brought it forth. Traz Onmale handed it to Reith. ”You now carry Vaduz: you are an Emblem Man. Do you then challenge Jad Piluna?”

”I do.”

Traz Onmale turned to Jad Piluna. ”Are you prepared to defend your emblem?”

”At once.” Jad Piluna whipped forth his rapier, flourished it whistling around his head.

”A sword and hand-foil for the new Vaduz,” said Traz Onmale.

Reith took the rapier which presently was tendered him. He hefted it, whipped the blade back and forth. Never had he handled so supple a sword, and he had handled many, for swordsmans.h.i.+p was an element of his training. An awkward weapon, in some respects, useless for close-range fighting. The warriors at practice held their distance from each other, swinging, slas.h.i.+ng, lunging, swerving the blade down and up, in and out, but using relatively little footwork. The triangular knife-foil for the left hand was also strange. He swung the blade back and forth, watching Jad Piluna from the corner of his eyes, who stood contemptuously at ease.