“Archers,” the gargoyle snorted. “I’m talking about real firepower. The kind my partner can give you.”
“Who is your partner?” I asked. “He isn’t short and blue by any chance, is he?”
“Naw,” Gus replied, pointing to the far corner. “That’s the Gremlin. He came in with the Archer.”
“A Gremlin?” I said, following his finger.
Sure enough, perched on a chair in the corner was a small, elfish character. Mischievous eyes danced in his soft blue face as he nodded to me in silent recognition. Reflexively, I smiled and nodded back. Apparently I owed Ajax an apology.
“I thought Gremlins didn’t exist,” I commented casually to Gus.
“A lot of folks think that,” the gargoyle agreed. “But you can see for yourself, they’re real.”
I wasn’t sure. In the split second I had taken my eyes off the Gremlin to speak with Gus, he had vanished without a trace. I was tempted to go looking for him, but Gus was talking again.
“Just a second and I’ll introduce you to my partner,” he was saying. “He’s here somewhere.”
As he spoke, the gargoyle began rummaging about his own body, feeling his armpits and peering into the wrinkles on his skin.
I watched curiously, until my attention was arrested by a small lizard that had crawled out of one of the gargoyle’s wing folds and was now regarding me fixedly from Gus’s right shoulder. It was only about three inches long, but glowed with a brilliant orange hue. There were blotchy red patterns which seemed to crawl about the lizard’s skin with a life of their own. The overall effect was startlingly beautiful.