“We were just talking about Ajax,” Brockhurst informed me, squatting down to join our conference. The gargoyle followed suit.
“Yeah,” Gus confirmed. “The three of us wanted to make a suggestion to you.”
“Right,” Brockhurst nodded. “Gus and me and the Gremlin.”
“The Gremlin?” I asked.
The Imp craned his neck to peer around him.
“He must have stayed back at camp,” he shrugged.
“About Ajax,” Tanda prompted.
“We think you should pull him from the team,” Gus announced. “Send him back to Deva and out of the line of fire.”
“It’s not for us,” Brockhurst hastened to clarify. “It’s for him. He’s a nice old guy, and we’d hate to see anything happen to him.”
“He is pretty old,” I murmured.
“Old!” Gus exclaimed. “Boss, the Gremlin says he’s tailed him for over two hundred years . . . two hundred! According to him, Ajax was old when their paths first crossed. It won’t kill him to miss this one war, but it might kill him to fight in it.”
“Why is the Gremlin tailing him, anyway?” I asked.
“I’ve told you before, kid,” a voice boomed in my ear, “gremlins don’t exist.”
With that pronouncement, Aahz sank down at my side, between me and Tanda. As I attempted to restore my heartbeat to normal, it occurred to me I knew an awful lot of light-footed people.
“Hi, Aahz,” I said, forcing a smile. “We were just talking about-“
“I know, I heard,” Aahz interrupted. “And for a change I agree.”
“You do? “I blinked.
“Sure,” he yawned. “It’s a clear-cut breach of contract. He hired out his services as a bowman, and the first assignment you give him, he literally lies down on the job.”