restored his courage marvelously. Bullies always got brave when the odds were loaded on their side. He got up, strode toward Smash, and punched him in the gut. It was a good, hard blow-but now Smash shrugged it off as the trifle it was and countered with a sweep of his arm that was so swift and fierce it caused a contrail behind it.
But this blow, too, passed through the demon without effect.
'He's dematerializing!' Tandy cried. 'You can't hit him!'
Unconvinced, Smash plunged his fist at the demon's head from above. This blow should have driven the demon halfway into the ground. Instead, it passed the entire length of Fiant's body without impediment and struck the bare rock beneath, where the rug of turf had been removed. The rock cracked apart and powdered into sand, naturally. Then Smash rammed a straight punch at Fiant's belly-and only succeeded in sundering the tree behind him. Smash was tearing up the landscape to no avail.
But the demon could hit Smash, by rematerializing his fists just before they struck. The blows didn't really hurt, but Smash was annoyed. How could he pulverize a creature who could not be hit back?
He tried to grab Fiant. This worked slightly better. The demon's body was as diffuse as smoke to his touch, but Smash's spread hamhands had more purchase, and he was able to guide the smoke as long as he handled it carefully. Unfortunately, the demon's fists remained material, and they now beat a brutal tattoo on Smash's face. His nose and eyes were hurting anew.
'Use your mind. Smash!' Tandy called.
Smash held the demon in place, enduring the facial battering while he put his natural Eye Queue intellect to work What would deal with such a demon once and for all? It would not be enough merely to drive Fiant off; he had to fix it so the demon could never again bother Tandy. If Tandy had a notion how he should proceed, why hadn't she simply screamed it out?
Because if the demon heard, he would act to negate it. Smash had to do whatever it was by surprise.
He glanced at Tandy-and saw her sitting on the gourd he had carried. Suddenly he understood.
He snapped at the demon's fists, using his big ogre teeth. 'Oh, no, you don't, monster!' Fiant exclaimed.
'You can't get me that way!' Sure enough, he punched Smash on the tongue, and when Smash's teeth closed on the fist, it dematerialized and withdrew unhurt.
But meanwhile, Smash was carrying the demon toward the gourd. When he got there, he slowly tilted Fiant down toward the peephole Tandy had been sitting on. The demon was about to face the gourd. If Fiant saw it too soon, he would strike it and shatter it, ruining the ploy.
Fiant, intent on punching Smash's snout into a pulp, did not spy the gourd until he was abruptly face to face with it. 'No!' he cried, realizing what it was. He jammed his eyes closed so he could not look, and dematerialized.
'Yes!' Smash grunted. He shoved the demon headfirst at the gourd. Because Fiant was dematerialized, he passed right through the peephole, headfirst. Suddenly Smash remembered the bottle ifrit inside this same gourd. Wasn't the gourd another kind of container? 'You want to force your way into something?
This is a good place.' Smash fed the rest of the demon through, arms, torso, legs, and feet, until all of him was gone.
'Let him find his way out of that,' Tandy cried jubilantly. 'Oh, this really serves him right!'
Smash put his ear to the peephole. He heard a faint, angry neighing, as of an aroused stallion, and a startled scream. It seemed the demon could not dematerialize very effectively in a world where everything was already immaterial. Then the beat of hooves faded away in the internal distance.
Smash smiled. As Tandy had suggested, it would be long before the demon found his way out of that situation!
He drew forth Tandy's fillet of soul and handed it back to her. Suddenly he felt his full strength return, and saw Tandy brightening similarly. Their two half souls had been returned!
Smash realized what it was. The nightmares had made a fair exchange for the two halves of Fiant.
Smash straightened up, keeping his eye averted from the peephole. He squinted at Tandy, perceiving her disheveled but pert nudity. 'Ogre confess, like she dress,' he said.
'Oh, you're a sight for sore eyes yourself!' Tandy said in nurselike fashion, wiping Smash's battered face. 'And sore nose, too! But do you know something? I love you just as much in the ogre view.'
He kissed her then, using his sore lips, not caring what point of view it might be. Love was, after all, blind.
Copyright © Piers Anthony
