| The Sun or the Moon by Cheryl Peugh |
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Anala paused on the threshold and studied the room before her with a narrowed gaze. Shelves of
folded fabric lined the walls. The cloth merchant, Doban, had already shown her the moth damage on
several skeins of wool. She considered. The Right-Hand Path spells were those of revelation, of truth,
of guidance. Since she wanted to know how the moths managed to get into the room, Sun magic
seemed appropriate.
Picturing the spell she wanted in her mind, and what she needed it to accomplish, Anala built the power
between the fingers of each hand as if she shaped an invisible sphere. The image of the sun on her
forehead flared to brilliant life. She tossed the sphere into the air, and the spell unraveled and covered
the room like a net.
"What's she doing?" Doban asked, restless.
"You asked us to find what brings the moths into your goods. She searches," Enera said.
"I'm paying good money for results, Sunmaster."
"And you'll get them, Merchant Doban. Please be patient."
Anala blocked out the intrusive voices and concentrated on what the spell told her.
A deep sparkle in one corner of the room caught her eye. She let her spell unwind and reveal the secret
of the moths in the cloth goods. The blurry, indistinct image of someone stood in the corner and
released sparks of light that flittered around the room. The image remained dark and shadowy, but the
moths had no magic but that of their own lives, and the trails of light essence each and every one had
left behind shone in Anala’s eyes.
"Every few weeks, during the evening hours, moths are brought here and released in this corner. The
person who brings them is disguised as someone you know,” Anala said. “A tall lad with a scar on one
cheek.”
“Terzil,” Doban said, disgusted. “I trusted him.”
“Merchant Doban, did you not hear her?” Enera said. “Terzil did not do this. Someone disguised as
Terzil releases the moths.”
“I’ll fire Terzil! When this person comes to release the moths, I’ll have the constable waiting for him.”
“Can you handle the shop on your own?”
“No. I would have to bring in another worker,” Doban admitted.
“Whoever is doing this would adjust the spell to appear as your new worker,” Enera pointed out.
He scowled. “How do I stop this?”
Enera looked at Anala. “Child?”
Anala considered the Left Hand Path. Its spells were those of concealment, of subterfuge, of
misdirection. She felt the Sun sign on her forehead grow cold, and the Sun magic she had been using
wavered and died. She felt the slightest twinge of sadness at the demise of the warmly brilliant spell,
but she shrugged off the feeling.
The crescent moon on the left side of the sun on her forehead gleamed to life. Anala traced the
outlines of the inside of the doorway with her finger. The cool blue gleam her finger left behind sank
into the wood and disappeared. Anala looked at Enera.
“Moon magic. I have set a spell of misdirection on this doorway, Sunmaster. Once he enters, he
shouldn’t be able to find his way out again. The spell will trigger at nightfall and will hold until light
penetrates the room.”
“A simple and elegant solution, child. Merchant Doban, I suggest you rise with the dawn every day until
you have caught the perpetrator.”
“You may be sure that I will,” Doban said grimly. “I will send the agreed upon silks to the school as soon
as I can gather the requested amount. I thank you, Sunmaster. This means much to my business and
my reputation.”
“Do not thank me, Merchant Doban. Thank the Undecided,” Enera said.
Doban gave Anala a stiff nod. She gave an inner sigh, knowing what he thought, what most
Varchenians thought, of the Undecided. The Sungod Zi featured large in the lives of Varchenians, and
the Emperor held to an official stance of sun worship. Sunmasters were favored. Varchenia
discouraged Moonmasters from living anywhere within its borders. The only Moonmasters Anala knew
dwelled within the walls of her school. Oh, not that Moon magic wasn’t practiced in Varchenia---but not
openly. Varchenians tolerated the Undecided up to the point of Decision because they were useful, and
some would eventually become Sunmasters.
Anala followed Enera from Doban’s shop. The noise and bustle of the crowded street outside hit her in
the face like a slap, and the heat of the afternoon sun pressed down on her. People parted in a wave
before the Sunmaster’s progress, and Anala walked in the lee of the woman’s wake, a smaller vessel
behind a greater ship.
The rich red and gold of the Sunmaster’s headdress belonged in this city of thick stone and deep earth,
Anala thought. Not like the cool greens and blues of the country farm where she had spent the first ten
years of her life. Anala realized she hadn’t thought of home for a long time. Five years. A sudden
longing to walk the green hills of her father’s farm rose in her. Maybe she could figure out which Path
she wanted to take while walking among the flowering meadows and whispering trees, and listening to
the wisdom of her parents. She would turn fifteen this summer, and that made her one of the oldest
Undecided at the school. Others who had started with her had already Decided.
Eventually, they turned onto narrower, less crowded, streets, and Anala walked at her teacher’s side.
“Sunmaster, has anyone ever not Decided?” she asked in a brooding tone of voice.
Enera turned to look at Anala with bright blue eyes. “Orlen,” she said. “And even he Decided at the
end of his life; he chose the Right-Hand Path.”
“Did he live long?” Anala asked, interested.
“No,” Enera said, blue eyes sad. “Orlen lived his twenty years with the mind of a very young child. A
horse kicked him in the head early in his childhood. Quite a waste of talent—he would have been a
strong Sunmaster had his mind been right.”
The two walked in silence while Anala thought.
“I don’t really want to Decide, Sunmaster. I like being able to draw on both Paths.”
Enera smiled at her. “Of course you do,” she told Anala. “That is because your point of Decision has
not yet happened. Once you reach that place, you will know which Path it is that you are destined to
take. That Path will become yours, and you will not wish to follow or draw upon the other Path. Once
you Decide, all your power will be directed into one path and you will reach your fullness of strength.
We all have to Decide sooner or later. You will choose--the Sun or the Moon. That’s the way it’s always
been.”
They had reached the gates of the school. Thick walls surrounded the great structure. Anala thought
of the echoing, cavernous rooms and wandering hallways that had become her second home. Leaving
it would be a wrench. If—when—she Decided, she would be expected to utilize her talent to support
herself in whatever Path she chose.
Just inside the gate, Enera went on to her quarters, and Anala walked to her next class in a leisurely
manner.
She paused in front of the door of an occupied classroom. The intent attitude of a circle of students
caught her attention, and the tickle from her Moon sign heralded the presence of Moon magic. Inside
the circle, she saw that one of the Moonmasters had two students giving a demonstration of binding
magic. Anala recognized the Moonmaster. Cobor, dour and stern, who taught fourth level Moon magic
since Stilin died last spring of a lingering illness.
He had two of the fourth level Undecided facing each other, Tania and Horic. Anala frowned. She
thought that at uneven match. Horic, thin and dreamy, tended to avoid confrontations. Tania sought
them out. She had an amazing talent for spells of offense and knew it. Anala found her sullen and
abrasive, but their paths did not often cross.
“In any magical confrontation, you must focus on the spells you will use for defense and offense,” he
said. “You must hold both in your mind and let nothing distract you. Now let’s see what you’ve got.”
Tania called up a sphere of power that she tossed at Horic before he could ready his spell. The sphere
unwound around him in an almost lazy manner and enclosed Horic in shadowy ropes, binding his hands
to his sides. Horic fell over and looked up at her helplessly.
Anala’s frown deepened as she saw that Tania did not release Horic once she had demonstrated the
binding spell. Her hand crooked and the bonds around Horic tightened. He gave a grunt of fear and
struggled against the spell.
“I don’t think that’s fair, Tania,” another student said. “At least give him a chance to defend himself.”
Anala identified him as Rasy.
Cobor waved at him, concentrating on Tania. Anala didn’t like the avid look in his eyes, or the intent,
set look in Tania’s. “Mercy is a weakness you can’t afford,” he said to her in a low voice. “Do what is
necessary to win.”
Horic squeaked as the bonds tightened again, his mouth opening and closing, trying to draw enough air
to breathe. His lips had a tinge of blue.
Anala called up a simple spell of light and tossed it into the room between Tania and Horic. The spell
exploded with a blast of light that rocked everyone back on their heels. Tania screamed and threw her
hands in front of her face. The bonds around Horic disappeared and he drew in a whooping breath.
Cobor turned, mouth snarling, eyes tearing, and blinked at Anala standing in the doorway.
“What do you think you’re doing, girl?” he said. “How dare you interfere!”
“He couldn’t breathe! Couldn’t you see that?”
“He needs to learn to defend himself,” Cobor said tersely.
Anala stared at him. “How is letting Tania squeeze the life out of him teaching him to defend himself?”
“It wasn’t fair!” Rasy interjected.
“Do you think an enemy is going to give him a chance?” Cobor shouted. “Do you think an attacker
would stop just because he’s on the floor? Life isn’t fair! It’s time you all knew that!”
The students stared, not used to seeing a teacher shouting.
“I don’t think the Superiors would consider suffocating Horic to prove your point the right thing to do,”
Anala said.
Mention of the Superiors brought Cobor up short. She watched him control his anger. He glanced at
Horic. Rasy helped him stand as he shook and shuddered, drawing in great gasps of air. Tears from
the light spell and from fright ran down Horic’s thin face.
“He’ll be all right,” Cobor said.
Anala turned to leave. Rushing footsteps and the tingle in her Moon sign gave her a moment’s
warning. She whirled, the spell already leaving her hands. Tania’s binding spell met the edge of
Anala’s shield wall and bounced off harmlessly.
“I challenge you to a duel, Anala!” Tania said in a high voice. “A duel of arcanum!”
Anala gave her a look of disgust. Tania’s eyes were bloodshot and tearing, but the fury in them burned
high.
“I’m fifth level, you’re fourth. That would be about as well-matched as you and Horic.”
“I gave you a challenge, clodfoot!”
The other students gasped. Anala narrowed her eyes at the insult to her country upbringing.
“Have a care, Tania,” she growled.
“Challenge is given and witnessed,” Cobor said in a smooth voice. “Do you accept?”
Anala looked at him. He could keep his face immobile but his eyes gave him away.
“Don’t do it, Anala,” Rasy said suddenly. “He--” Rasy snapped his mouth shut under Cobor’s glare.
“I challenge!” Tania shouted.
Anala looked at her, then Cobor, and her mouth tightened. She’d fallen neatly into their little trap.
They’d been looking for someone to challenge worthy of Tania’s skills, and she’d given them the excuse
they needed. Well, maybe Tania deserved a taste of her own medicine.
“Fine!” Anala snapped. “Challenge accepted.”
Tania smirked. A flare of satisfaction lit Cobor’s eyes.
“As the one being challenged, I choose the time and place,” Anala continued. “Dawn, at the Pit.”
Tania lost some of her smirk. “Dawn! Couldn’t you choose a decent--”
“Those are the terms,” Anala said. “Take them or leave them.”
She turned and stalked away, angry with Cobor, angry with Tania, and angry with herself.
#
“Are you out of your mind!” Enera said. “Duels are frowned on by the Superiors, you know that.”
“She challenged me,” Anala said, “and she half-killed Horic. I’m sure Rasy told you about the duel. If he
did, he surely told you how it happened. I had no choice.”
“There are always choices, Anala.”
“Will you tell the Superiors?”
Enera had found Anala in her quarters, meditating in preparation for tomorrow’s duel. The Sunmaster
paced the center of Anala’s small room. She didn’t answer the question directly.
“Did you ever wonder why certain personalities seem to be attracted to Moon magic, and others to Sun
magic, child?”
Anala shook her head, wondering what Enera hoped to accomplish. The challenge had been given and
accepted. She couldn’t withdraw now.
“The Left Hand Path attracts the secretive, arrogant, less empathic of us—those who like illusion and
cold power for power’s sake.”
Anala stared at her teacher from underneath her brows. “Are you saying that the Left Hand Path is
evil? I can’t believe that. Moonmaster Diavar is not evil. I don’t feel evil when I use Moon magic.”
“No, child, the Left Hand Path is not inherently evil, nor are the people who use it. What I’m telling you is
that it attracts the dark among us. I have heard—rumors—about Cobor and Tania. I do not trust either
one of them. I fear for you.”
Enera reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out something she cradled in her hands. Her blue
eyes reflected uncertainty, uncharacteristic for her.
“I have come to look upon you as a daughter, Anala. I wish to give you this.”
Anala reached out her hand and accepted what Enera handed her. She looked at a sphere of crystal.
Embedded inside the crystal were the dual signs of the Undecided. The sliver of moon gleamed with a
pale light, nearly eclipsed by the warm amber glow of the sun.
“It’s beautiful,” Anala said.
“Teliac shaped this crystal when he was Undecided.”
“Teliac?” Anala said, astonishment in her face. “But he Decided when he was ten years old! That
would mean he shaped this--”
“When he was nine years old. Yes. Teliac had many talents besides being the greatest Sunmaster that
Varchena has ever seen.”
“You’re giving this to me?” Anala asked in wonder.
“I am. Teliac made it to help him focus his magic. It has lain in the artifact room for a good number of
years. As you can see, a residue of magic remains in the crystal. It should help you tomorrow.”
Anala stared deep into the crystal and saw the slumbering magic needing only the slightest touch to
awaken….
When she looked up, Enera had gone.
#
The Pit lay in deep shadow, early morning sunlight not yet reaching an angle to shine inside it.
Anala paused. People waited on the edge of the Pit, backlit by the light of the rising sun. The story of
the duel had spread. She spotted Enera and a few other Sunmasters. Cobor watched as well, standing
at a distance from the knot of Sunmasters. Undecided lined the Pit.
She brought her eyes back into the Pit to let them adjust to the dimmer light. In the past, the Pit had
been dug to contain magical duels, both Undecided and Master alike. Earlier eras had been more
ready to duel, evidently. The earthen walls of the Pit had been spelled to contain and nullify any stray
magic that might escape.
Anala saw Tania approach across the stamped-earth floor and stop a few feet away, facing her. Anala
gave her a bow. Tania responded with a slight inclination of her head.
Anala reached in her pocket to give the crystal sphere a reassuring touch, just as sunlight touched the
rim of the Pit. A jolt of magic from the crystal transfixed her. Her awareness seemed to expand—to
grow larger than the Pit, to grow as large as the city—and she knew what awaited Merchant Doban in
the cloth room of his shop.
No! She breathed out the denial in her mind, unable to scream out the word.
She came to herself and gasped out, “Tania! We must stop! There’s a kobol in Merchant Doban’s
shop. He must be warned!”
Tania gave her a slow smile. “When I am through with you, the constable will come arrest you for the
murder of the cloth merchant. I will pretend to be as shocked as the rest of the school that a fifth level
could be so negligent, so sloppy in her magic as to trap a kobol where it could harm the non-magical.”
The Moon sign on Anala’s forehead hurt so much she could barely speak through the pain. “But why?”
“Because you made a fool of me, that’s why!” Tania said through her teeth. “And you diminished me in
his eyes! For that, you’re going to pay.”
Stunned and horrified, Anala jerked her gaze from Tania to Cobor and back again. She suddenly
realized what kind of rumors Enera had been hearing.
“How did you know about the spell I set?” Anala asked. “That was not common knowledge.”
“My dear Anala, who did you think the other cloth merchants would hire to release the moths in
Merchant Doban’s cloth room? A trickster off the street? They came to the school, dolt! Moonmaster
Cobor took their money and entrusted me to do the magic.”
Anala looked up and locked eyes with Cobor. By some trick of the sun, he stood out clearly. The
satisfaction on his face gave her all the answer she needed.
“He said I’m going to be the best that ever was. Better than Stilin. Better than him, even. Far better
than a clodfoot like you! I’m going to be the greatest Moonmaster since the rise of Fancor.”
Anala winced at the mention of Fancor’s notorious name—a name written into history with blood and
terror. She looked at Tania and noticed for the first time that only the Moon sign shone on her
challenger’s forehead and grew cold to the tips of her fingers.
“You’ve Decided,” she whispered.
Tania’s smile widened, and Anala noted the black sphere of power growing between her fingers. She
only had time to close her hand about the crystal again before the spell of pain hit her.
Waves of agony locked her muscles. Her hand gave a spasm but retained the crystal.
Her mind remained clear under the pain. She realized that Enera had been right. There were always
choices. She could choose to remain Undecided, and perhaps win this duel even yet, letting Merchant
Doban pay the price for her staying Undecided a few more days or weeks—or she could Decide now,
and forfeit the duel, saving Merchant Doban’s life. Maybe it wasn’t a choice after all.
Pain itself was a form of power. A small amount of pain refined and focused the faculties. Agonizing
pain sometimes gave strength beyond normal limits. Anala opened herself up to the pain that seared
her body. She tapped its energy, the energy she felt in the crystal, the energy she soaked up from the
sun, and reached out to Merchant Doban’s shop. The nullifying spells in the walls of the Pit hindered
her until her combined energies overcame their influence.
The rage of the kobol struck at her senses. It wanted to hurt, to rend, to kill. It especially wanted to hurt
the one who had summoned it.
She could dismiss the kobol to the Underworld even from this distance, but if Anala could bring the
kobol to Tania, the creature would expose her as its summoner to the watching people.
The kobol appeared in the Pit between Tania and Anala. The scaly, horned, and tailed creature of the
Underworld bellowed out its challenge to Tania.
Tania gasped in fear, and the pain in Anala’s body abruptly ceased.
Now here was evil in all its ugliness, Anala thought hazily as the creature bellowed again. Ridges of
bone down its upper arms and on its tail made it formidable. As if the six-inch claws weren’t impressive
enough.
The creature’s red eyes fixed on Tania. Her courage broke and she ran, but fell before she could reach
the stairs. The kobol snaked after her, snarling.
Anala could hear the shouts and screams from the rim of the Pit, but no one could help them. The walls
of the Pit stopped the spells each one tried to make, and none had time to combine efforts.
She deserves everything she gets, a tiny part of Anala said. She frowned. That sounded too much like
someone else.
Mercy is a weakness you can’t afford. Anala heard Cobor’s voice in her mind. She knew that wasn’t
true. Mercy separated man from beast. Her parents had demonstrated that every day through
decisions made on the farm for the benefit of both people and animals under their care. That firm
standard had been instilled in her for the first ten years of her life, and five years away from her parents
had done little to shake their influence.
She raised the crystal sphere above her head. Anala felt the sun blaze through the crystal and burn
through her mind. Golden light streamed from between her fingers and washed over the kobol.
The creature screamed in high-pitched agony, twisting and turning, but the beam of light followed. The
kobol faded away, banished back to the Underworld. The beam of light continued until it bathed Tania
in its glow. Tania threw up her hands to protect her eyes and screamed like a madwoman, trying to roll
away from the light and the eyes of everyone watching.
At the rim of the Pit, Anala saw Cobor turn and walk away. Later, she promised him in her mind.
Anala sighed, dropping her hands. The Sun sign on her forehead felt warm and comforting. She
stared up at Enera.
The Sunmaster looked both stunned and pleased. You’ve Decided, she mouthed.
“Everyone Decides sooner or later,” Anala whispered. “The Sun or the Moon. That’s the way it’s
always been.”
end
This story was bought by Prism Quarterly, which is now out of print.
folded fabric lined the walls. The cloth merchant, Doban, had already shown her the moth damage on
several skeins of wool. She considered. The Right-Hand Path spells were those of revelation, of truth,
of guidance. Since she wanted to know how the moths managed to get into the room, Sun magic
seemed appropriate.
Picturing the spell she wanted in her mind, and what she needed it to accomplish, Anala built the power
between the fingers of each hand as if she shaped an invisible sphere. The image of the sun on her
forehead flared to brilliant life. She tossed the sphere into the air, and the spell unraveled and covered
the room like a net.
"What's she doing?" Doban asked, restless.
"You asked us to find what brings the moths into your goods. She searches," Enera said.
"I'm paying good money for results, Sunmaster."
"And you'll get them, Merchant Doban. Please be patient."
Anala blocked out the intrusive voices and concentrated on what the spell told her.
A deep sparkle in one corner of the room caught her eye. She let her spell unwind and reveal the secret
of the moths in the cloth goods. The blurry, indistinct image of someone stood in the corner and
released sparks of light that flittered around the room. The image remained dark and shadowy, but the
moths had no magic but that of their own lives, and the trails of light essence each and every one had
left behind shone in Anala’s eyes.
"Every few weeks, during the evening hours, moths are brought here and released in this corner. The
person who brings them is disguised as someone you know,” Anala said. “A tall lad with a scar on one
cheek.”
“Terzil,” Doban said, disgusted. “I trusted him.”
“Merchant Doban, did you not hear her?” Enera said. “Terzil did not do this. Someone disguised as
Terzil releases the moths.”
“I’ll fire Terzil! When this person comes to release the moths, I’ll have the constable waiting for him.”
“Can you handle the shop on your own?”
“No. I would have to bring in another worker,” Doban admitted.
“Whoever is doing this would adjust the spell to appear as your new worker,” Enera pointed out.
He scowled. “How do I stop this?”
Enera looked at Anala. “Child?”
Anala considered the Left Hand Path. Its spells were those of concealment, of subterfuge, of
misdirection. She felt the Sun sign on her forehead grow cold, and the Sun magic she had been using
wavered and died. She felt the slightest twinge of sadness at the demise of the warmly brilliant spell,
but she shrugged off the feeling.
The crescent moon on the left side of the sun on her forehead gleamed to life. Anala traced the
outlines of the inside of the doorway with her finger. The cool blue gleam her finger left behind sank
into the wood and disappeared. Anala looked at Enera.
“Moon magic. I have set a spell of misdirection on this doorway, Sunmaster. Once he enters, he
shouldn’t be able to find his way out again. The spell will trigger at nightfall and will hold until light
penetrates the room.”
“A simple and elegant solution, child. Merchant Doban, I suggest you rise with the dawn every day until
you have caught the perpetrator.”
“You may be sure that I will,” Doban said grimly. “I will send the agreed upon silks to the school as soon
as I can gather the requested amount. I thank you, Sunmaster. This means much to my business and
my reputation.”
“Do not thank me, Merchant Doban. Thank the Undecided,” Enera said.
Doban gave Anala a stiff nod. She gave an inner sigh, knowing what he thought, what most
Varchenians thought, of the Undecided. The Sungod Zi featured large in the lives of Varchenians, and
the Emperor held to an official stance of sun worship. Sunmasters were favored. Varchenia
discouraged Moonmasters from living anywhere within its borders. The only Moonmasters Anala knew
dwelled within the walls of her school. Oh, not that Moon magic wasn’t practiced in Varchenia---but not
openly. Varchenians tolerated the Undecided up to the point of Decision because they were useful, and
some would eventually become Sunmasters.
Anala followed Enera from Doban’s shop. The noise and bustle of the crowded street outside hit her in
the face like a slap, and the heat of the afternoon sun pressed down on her. People parted in a wave
before the Sunmaster’s progress, and Anala walked in the lee of the woman’s wake, a smaller vessel
behind a greater ship.
The rich red and gold of the Sunmaster’s headdress belonged in this city of thick stone and deep earth,
Anala thought. Not like the cool greens and blues of the country farm where she had spent the first ten
years of her life. Anala realized she hadn’t thought of home for a long time. Five years. A sudden
longing to walk the green hills of her father’s farm rose in her. Maybe she could figure out which Path
she wanted to take while walking among the flowering meadows and whispering trees, and listening to
the wisdom of her parents. She would turn fifteen this summer, and that made her one of the oldest
Undecided at the school. Others who had started with her had already Decided.
Eventually, they turned onto narrower, less crowded, streets, and Anala walked at her teacher’s side.
“Sunmaster, has anyone ever not Decided?” she asked in a brooding tone of voice.
Enera turned to look at Anala with bright blue eyes. “Orlen,” she said. “And even he Decided at the
end of his life; he chose the Right-Hand Path.”
“Did he live long?” Anala asked, interested.
“No,” Enera said, blue eyes sad. “Orlen lived his twenty years with the mind of a very young child. A
horse kicked him in the head early in his childhood. Quite a waste of talent—he would have been a
strong Sunmaster had his mind been right.”
The two walked in silence while Anala thought.
“I don’t really want to Decide, Sunmaster. I like being able to draw on both Paths.”
Enera smiled at her. “Of course you do,” she told Anala. “That is because your point of Decision has
not yet happened. Once you reach that place, you will know which Path it is that you are destined to
take. That Path will become yours, and you will not wish to follow or draw upon the other Path. Once
you Decide, all your power will be directed into one path and you will reach your fullness of strength.
We all have to Decide sooner or later. You will choose--the Sun or the Moon. That’s the way it’s always
been.”
They had reached the gates of the school. Thick walls surrounded the great structure. Anala thought
of the echoing, cavernous rooms and wandering hallways that had become her second home. Leaving
it would be a wrench. If—when—she Decided, she would be expected to utilize her talent to support
herself in whatever Path she chose.
Just inside the gate, Enera went on to her quarters, and Anala walked to her next class in a leisurely
manner.
She paused in front of the door of an occupied classroom. The intent attitude of a circle of students
caught her attention, and the tickle from her Moon sign heralded the presence of Moon magic. Inside
the circle, she saw that one of the Moonmasters had two students giving a demonstration of binding
magic. Anala recognized the Moonmaster. Cobor, dour and stern, who taught fourth level Moon magic
since Stilin died last spring of a lingering illness.
He had two of the fourth level Undecided facing each other, Tania and Horic. Anala frowned. She
thought that at uneven match. Horic, thin and dreamy, tended to avoid confrontations. Tania sought
them out. She had an amazing talent for spells of offense and knew it. Anala found her sullen and
abrasive, but their paths did not often cross.
“In any magical confrontation, you must focus on the spells you will use for defense and offense,” he
said. “You must hold both in your mind and let nothing distract you. Now let’s see what you’ve got.”
Tania called up a sphere of power that she tossed at Horic before he could ready his spell. The sphere
unwound around him in an almost lazy manner and enclosed Horic in shadowy ropes, binding his hands
to his sides. Horic fell over and looked up at her helplessly.
Anala’s frown deepened as she saw that Tania did not release Horic once she had demonstrated the
binding spell. Her hand crooked and the bonds around Horic tightened. He gave a grunt of fear and
struggled against the spell.
“I don’t think that’s fair, Tania,” another student said. “At least give him a chance to defend himself.”
Anala identified him as Rasy.
Cobor waved at him, concentrating on Tania. Anala didn’t like the avid look in his eyes, or the intent,
set look in Tania’s. “Mercy is a weakness you can’t afford,” he said to her in a low voice. “Do what is
necessary to win.”
Horic squeaked as the bonds tightened again, his mouth opening and closing, trying to draw enough air
to breathe. His lips had a tinge of blue.
Anala called up a simple spell of light and tossed it into the room between Tania and Horic. The spell
exploded with a blast of light that rocked everyone back on their heels. Tania screamed and threw her
hands in front of her face. The bonds around Horic disappeared and he drew in a whooping breath.
Cobor turned, mouth snarling, eyes tearing, and blinked at Anala standing in the doorway.
“What do you think you’re doing, girl?” he said. “How dare you interfere!”
“He couldn’t breathe! Couldn’t you see that?”
“He needs to learn to defend himself,” Cobor said tersely.
Anala stared at him. “How is letting Tania squeeze the life out of him teaching him to defend himself?”
“It wasn’t fair!” Rasy interjected.
“Do you think an enemy is going to give him a chance?” Cobor shouted. “Do you think an attacker
would stop just because he’s on the floor? Life isn’t fair! It’s time you all knew that!”
The students stared, not used to seeing a teacher shouting.
“I don’t think the Superiors would consider suffocating Horic to prove your point the right thing to do,”
Anala said.
Mention of the Superiors brought Cobor up short. She watched him control his anger. He glanced at
Horic. Rasy helped him stand as he shook and shuddered, drawing in great gasps of air. Tears from
the light spell and from fright ran down Horic’s thin face.
“He’ll be all right,” Cobor said.
Anala turned to leave. Rushing footsteps and the tingle in her Moon sign gave her a moment’s
warning. She whirled, the spell already leaving her hands. Tania’s binding spell met the edge of
Anala’s shield wall and bounced off harmlessly.
“I challenge you to a duel, Anala!” Tania said in a high voice. “A duel of arcanum!”
Anala gave her a look of disgust. Tania’s eyes were bloodshot and tearing, but the fury in them burned
high.
“I’m fifth level, you’re fourth. That would be about as well-matched as you and Horic.”
“I gave you a challenge, clodfoot!”
The other students gasped. Anala narrowed her eyes at the insult to her country upbringing.
“Have a care, Tania,” she growled.
“Challenge is given and witnessed,” Cobor said in a smooth voice. “Do you accept?”
Anala looked at him. He could keep his face immobile but his eyes gave him away.
“Don’t do it, Anala,” Rasy said suddenly. “He--” Rasy snapped his mouth shut under Cobor’s glare.
“I challenge!” Tania shouted.
Anala looked at her, then Cobor, and her mouth tightened. She’d fallen neatly into their little trap.
They’d been looking for someone to challenge worthy of Tania’s skills, and she’d given them the excuse
they needed. Well, maybe Tania deserved a taste of her own medicine.
“Fine!” Anala snapped. “Challenge accepted.”
Tania smirked. A flare of satisfaction lit Cobor’s eyes.
“As the one being challenged, I choose the time and place,” Anala continued. “Dawn, at the Pit.”
Tania lost some of her smirk. “Dawn! Couldn’t you choose a decent--”
“Those are the terms,” Anala said. “Take them or leave them.”
She turned and stalked away, angry with Cobor, angry with Tania, and angry with herself.
#
“Are you out of your mind!” Enera said. “Duels are frowned on by the Superiors, you know that.”
“She challenged me,” Anala said, “and she half-killed Horic. I’m sure Rasy told you about the duel. If he
did, he surely told you how it happened. I had no choice.”
“There are always choices, Anala.”
“Will you tell the Superiors?”
Enera had found Anala in her quarters, meditating in preparation for tomorrow’s duel. The Sunmaster
paced the center of Anala’s small room. She didn’t answer the question directly.
“Did you ever wonder why certain personalities seem to be attracted to Moon magic, and others to Sun
magic, child?”
Anala shook her head, wondering what Enera hoped to accomplish. The challenge had been given and
accepted. She couldn’t withdraw now.
“The Left Hand Path attracts the secretive, arrogant, less empathic of us—those who like illusion and
cold power for power’s sake.”
Anala stared at her teacher from underneath her brows. “Are you saying that the Left Hand Path is
evil? I can’t believe that. Moonmaster Diavar is not evil. I don’t feel evil when I use Moon magic.”
“No, child, the Left Hand Path is not inherently evil, nor are the people who use it. What I’m telling you is
that it attracts the dark among us. I have heard—rumors—about Cobor and Tania. I do not trust either
one of them. I fear for you.”
Enera reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out something she cradled in her hands. Her blue
eyes reflected uncertainty, uncharacteristic for her.
“I have come to look upon you as a daughter, Anala. I wish to give you this.”
Anala reached out her hand and accepted what Enera handed her. She looked at a sphere of crystal.
Embedded inside the crystal were the dual signs of the Undecided. The sliver of moon gleamed with a
pale light, nearly eclipsed by the warm amber glow of the sun.
“It’s beautiful,” Anala said.
“Teliac shaped this crystal when he was Undecided.”
“Teliac?” Anala said, astonishment in her face. “But he Decided when he was ten years old! That
would mean he shaped this--”
“When he was nine years old. Yes. Teliac had many talents besides being the greatest Sunmaster that
Varchena has ever seen.”
“You’re giving this to me?” Anala asked in wonder.
“I am. Teliac made it to help him focus his magic. It has lain in the artifact room for a good number of
years. As you can see, a residue of magic remains in the crystal. It should help you tomorrow.”
Anala stared deep into the crystal and saw the slumbering magic needing only the slightest touch to
awaken….
When she looked up, Enera had gone.
#
The Pit lay in deep shadow, early morning sunlight not yet reaching an angle to shine inside it.
Anala paused. People waited on the edge of the Pit, backlit by the light of the rising sun. The story of
the duel had spread. She spotted Enera and a few other Sunmasters. Cobor watched as well, standing
at a distance from the knot of Sunmasters. Undecided lined the Pit.
She brought her eyes back into the Pit to let them adjust to the dimmer light. In the past, the Pit had
been dug to contain magical duels, both Undecided and Master alike. Earlier eras had been more
ready to duel, evidently. The earthen walls of the Pit had been spelled to contain and nullify any stray
magic that might escape.
Anala saw Tania approach across the stamped-earth floor and stop a few feet away, facing her. Anala
gave her a bow. Tania responded with a slight inclination of her head.
Anala reached in her pocket to give the crystal sphere a reassuring touch, just as sunlight touched the
rim of the Pit. A jolt of magic from the crystal transfixed her. Her awareness seemed to expand—to
grow larger than the Pit, to grow as large as the city—and she knew what awaited Merchant Doban in
the cloth room of his shop.
No! She breathed out the denial in her mind, unable to scream out the word.
She came to herself and gasped out, “Tania! We must stop! There’s a kobol in Merchant Doban’s
shop. He must be warned!”
Tania gave her a slow smile. “When I am through with you, the constable will come arrest you for the
murder of the cloth merchant. I will pretend to be as shocked as the rest of the school that a fifth level
could be so negligent, so sloppy in her magic as to trap a kobol where it could harm the non-magical.”
The Moon sign on Anala’s forehead hurt so much she could barely speak through the pain. “But why?”
“Because you made a fool of me, that’s why!” Tania said through her teeth. “And you diminished me in
his eyes! For that, you’re going to pay.”
Stunned and horrified, Anala jerked her gaze from Tania to Cobor and back again. She suddenly
realized what kind of rumors Enera had been hearing.
“How did you know about the spell I set?” Anala asked. “That was not common knowledge.”
“My dear Anala, who did you think the other cloth merchants would hire to release the moths in
Merchant Doban’s cloth room? A trickster off the street? They came to the school, dolt! Moonmaster
Cobor took their money and entrusted me to do the magic.”
Anala looked up and locked eyes with Cobor. By some trick of the sun, he stood out clearly. The
satisfaction on his face gave her all the answer she needed.
“He said I’m going to be the best that ever was. Better than Stilin. Better than him, even. Far better
than a clodfoot like you! I’m going to be the greatest Moonmaster since the rise of Fancor.”
Anala winced at the mention of Fancor’s notorious name—a name written into history with blood and
terror. She looked at Tania and noticed for the first time that only the Moon sign shone on her
challenger’s forehead and grew cold to the tips of her fingers.
“You’ve Decided,” she whispered.
Tania’s smile widened, and Anala noted the black sphere of power growing between her fingers. She
only had time to close her hand about the crystal again before the spell of pain hit her.
Waves of agony locked her muscles. Her hand gave a spasm but retained the crystal.
Her mind remained clear under the pain. She realized that Enera had been right. There were always
choices. She could choose to remain Undecided, and perhaps win this duel even yet, letting Merchant
Doban pay the price for her staying Undecided a few more days or weeks—or she could Decide now,
and forfeit the duel, saving Merchant Doban’s life. Maybe it wasn’t a choice after all.
Pain itself was a form of power. A small amount of pain refined and focused the faculties. Agonizing
pain sometimes gave strength beyond normal limits. Anala opened herself up to the pain that seared
her body. She tapped its energy, the energy she felt in the crystal, the energy she soaked up from the
sun, and reached out to Merchant Doban’s shop. The nullifying spells in the walls of the Pit hindered
her until her combined energies overcame their influence.
The rage of the kobol struck at her senses. It wanted to hurt, to rend, to kill. It especially wanted to hurt
the one who had summoned it.
She could dismiss the kobol to the Underworld even from this distance, but if Anala could bring the
kobol to Tania, the creature would expose her as its summoner to the watching people.
The kobol appeared in the Pit between Tania and Anala. The scaly, horned, and tailed creature of the
Underworld bellowed out its challenge to Tania.
Tania gasped in fear, and the pain in Anala’s body abruptly ceased.
Now here was evil in all its ugliness, Anala thought hazily as the creature bellowed again. Ridges of
bone down its upper arms and on its tail made it formidable. As if the six-inch claws weren’t impressive
enough.
The creature’s red eyes fixed on Tania. Her courage broke and she ran, but fell before she could reach
the stairs. The kobol snaked after her, snarling.
Anala could hear the shouts and screams from the rim of the Pit, but no one could help them. The walls
of the Pit stopped the spells each one tried to make, and none had time to combine efforts.
She deserves everything she gets, a tiny part of Anala said. She frowned. That sounded too much like
someone else.
Mercy is a weakness you can’t afford. Anala heard Cobor’s voice in her mind. She knew that wasn’t
true. Mercy separated man from beast. Her parents had demonstrated that every day through
decisions made on the farm for the benefit of both people and animals under their care. That firm
standard had been instilled in her for the first ten years of her life, and five years away from her parents
had done little to shake their influence.
She raised the crystal sphere above her head. Anala felt the sun blaze through the crystal and burn
through her mind. Golden light streamed from between her fingers and washed over the kobol.
The creature screamed in high-pitched agony, twisting and turning, but the beam of light followed. The
kobol faded away, banished back to the Underworld. The beam of light continued until it bathed Tania
in its glow. Tania threw up her hands to protect her eyes and screamed like a madwoman, trying to roll
away from the light and the eyes of everyone watching.
At the rim of the Pit, Anala saw Cobor turn and walk away. Later, she promised him in her mind.
Anala sighed, dropping her hands. The Sun sign on her forehead felt warm and comforting. She
stared up at Enera.
The Sunmaster looked both stunned and pleased. You’ve Decided, she mouthed.
“Everyone Decides sooner or later,” Anala whispered. “The Sun or the Moon. That’s the way it’s
always been.”
end
This story was bought by Prism Quarterly, which is now out of print.