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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 astonishing 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 noble 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 Hellmoon, 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 amusement. 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 noble 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