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eye-clouds and a huge round mouth which blew out icy drafts.  “Iiiii've gooot yoooou!” he howled, blowing smoke at her.
    Rain splatted on the cliff, and water coursed down past her.  It was cold, and soon would turn icy.  Her sucker hold was firm, but how would she be able to make any progress up the slippery rest of it?
    Now Fracto huffed and puffed, and blew a gale at her.  It was tinged with sleet.  She pulled in her head so as to protect it, but then couldn't see where to go.
    This was no good.  Before long Fracto would succeed in dislodging her, and then she'd be falling, and she would either have to fly or crash.  She couldn't actually be physically hurt by a fall, but it would be an embarrassment that would hardly be kind to her pride.  She had to find a way to nullify the ill wind.
    She glanced again at the inky depths of the center of the storm, and got a notion.  What she needed was a light—a night light.  The kind that folk used when they wanted to conceal their nefarious activities.
    She extended her head and formed it into a lamp with a dark bulb.  She turned on the bulb, and darkness radiated out from it.  Her night light was in operation.
    She turned up the power.  The darkness expanded.  Soon it covered the entire facet of the mountain she was on.  She was hidden within its obscurity.
    Fracto realized what was happening.  The storm turned furious.  But Fracto could no longer see her, so didn't know precisely where to blow most fiercely.  Oh, he was getting frustrated!
    The cloud tried another ploy.  He turned the draft so cold that the coursing water became a sheet of ice, overlaid by slush.  But under the cover of her night light she formed her nose into a prehensile snout similar to that of the mythical Mundane elephant monster and made a hard hammer at its end.  She tapped at the ice and cracked it away, making a clear place for her sucker foot.  Now the wetness didn't hurt, in fact, it made the seal secure.  The cloud couldn't hear her tapping, because of the almost continuous rumble of thunder.
    She made it to the edge of the facet and crossed the slight bend to the next.  The storm still raged, but her night light protected her.  When a gust of wind touched her she hunkered down and waited for it to pass, then resumed her tapping and moving.  Fracto could not stop her.
    At last the evil cloud got disgusted and stormed away.  She had beaten him, again, and it was just as much of a pleasure as ever.  She dissolved her night light into smoke, and resumed better progress.
    The sun ventured to show its face again, no longer fearing the wrath of the storm.  The emerald mountain dried, forming pretty mists all around it.  They rose like unicorn tails, shining in the slanting sunlight of the closing day.  She paused to appreciate the beauty of the scene, and realized that before she got half-souled, she had never had that experience.  Now she could enjoy things for their art, instead of for what she could use them for.  “If I could get rid of my soul right now,” she said aloud, “I wouldn't do it.” And that was one remarkable confession, for a demoness.  She felt wonderful.
    'Disgusting,' Mentia muttered, awakened by the feeling coursing through her.  Then she tuned out again.
    The peak turned out to be a mere foothill, part of a larger mountain.  And, amazingly, the larger inner segment of the mountain wasn't green.  It was light blue, definitely a distinct shade, beautifully complementing the green rim.  She had understood that the whole thing was emerald, but either she had misunderstood, or those who said it was all emerald hadn't seen the inner mountain.  Aesthetically, this was even better, so she wasn't complaining.
    Metria had to work her way down into the cleft-valley between peaks before starting up the next.  And there she paused.  She had heard something.  More mischief?
    No, it was a woman or a girl, a human being, lying between the slanting