“I was invited,” Basil offered.
“Apparently Basil has been watching me for a while,” I noted. “Deciding whether he wanted to, ah, offer his services.”
“And you let him in through the defenses without even calling me or knowing if…” Bear closed her eyes for a second and then let out a slow breath through her teeth. “Dammit, Dresden. I was eating potpie.”
“Hey, I sent for you the second he got here,” I said. Then added, “Sorry.”
She grimaced and stepped back, relaxing, draping the four-bore over her shoulder more casually. “Basil, eh?” she asked.
He inclined his head to her and turned to face me, his eyes and voice intent. “The world grows darker. Pain and fear spread. Chaos and war have gone running through the earth. A Titan’s screams of despair have shaken the firmament. Ancient things stir in their dark lairs. Grand events are gathering speed. The storm is coming. And I, and my brothers, have come to offer our allegiance to you, wizard.”
And the gargoyle dropped smoothly to one knee in front of me.
I blinked. I looked at Bear.
The Valkyrie traded a look at me and whistled silently. She stepped close and murmured, “One-Eye tried to recruit them after Etienne passed. They refused him. They’ve gotten involved here and there over the years.”
“He what he says he is?” I asked.
Bear tilted her head and stared hard at the gargoyle, eyes glittering with flecks of color from across the spectrum.
“He’s an original,” she confirmed, nodding.
“Tell them to pound sand!” Bob snapped. “They’re a pain! All they do is stand around and guard all the time and fail to understand jokes!”
“Them?” I asked.
“With your permission, wizard,” Basil said calmly.
I frowned and nodded.
Basil lifted his head and let out something that very much sounded like a lion’s coughing roar.
In a moment, there was the leathery rustle of membranous wings, and half a dozen more of the things came swooping down, landing on merlons with almost dainty crunching sounds. Apart from the wings, none of them looked alike, and none of them looked like anything natural. Basil was the largest. The others were like stairsteps down, and the smallest, with a bizarre, asymmetrical monkey-like face, was made of some kind of smooth, red-orange living stone and wasn’t much larger than Maggie in the body, though it was wiry with muscle. The rest were a menagerie of strange faces, bodies that varied between apelike, birdlike, and anthropomorphic, and were covered in pebbly texture or stony scales. All had eyes that were various colors and almost disturbingly human.
“Basil,” Basil said touching his own chest, and then went down the stairsteps in order of height. “Bay. Thyme. Cardamom. Sage. Parsley. And Cinnamon.”
“Etienne liked to cook,” Bob said sourly.
“The Spice ’Goyles,” I said with a straight face.
Bob groaned.
Basil tilted his head to one side like a dog that had heard a new sound. The other gargoyles mirrored him.
“Uh,” I said. “You hungry? I mean, what do you guys eat?”
“Stories,” Cinnamon piped up in a wobbly, tinny voice. “A new story. Every day.”
“Ugh,” Bob said, disgusted. “It’s less food than maintenance for their limited intellect, Harry. Keeps them centered.”
“I suppose I can afford it at least,” I said. “And we have the room. Bob, you’re sure you know these guys?”
“Yes,” Bob said glumly. “Doesn’t mean you need to put up with them.”
“But they could be useful,” I pressed. “Protecting the place?”
Bear nodded firmly.
