"Just grip with your thighs," Tony told Kira, "and hang on to my mane."

"Just grip with your thighs," Tony told Kira, "and hang on to my mane."

"It won't bother me a bit," said Tony with an amused whicker. "So long as you're not wearing spurs,

we'll get along just fine."

There was a loud screech above them and the tinkling beating of a pair of metallic wings as a large

paragriffin swooped down to land beside Gomez. It had the body of a large house cat, with the head and

wings of a mackaw. The exquisite creature appeared to be made entirely of articulated metal and its

silvery wings gleamed in the evening light. It was a masterpiece of thaumaturgic art, not a thaumagene, but

a sculpture of precious stone and metal, animated by enchantment. Its eyes were faceted diamonds and

its claws were cut from rubies. The scales along its head and neck were alternating rows of gold and

silver, as were its wings, and its tail ended in a tuft of fine platinum wires. Kira caught her breath when

she saw it. As a simple sculpture, it would have been worth well over a million dollars, easily. As an

enchanted, living work of art, it had to be nearly priceless.

"Gomez, I'm glad I caught you," it said, its voice eerie, with a metallic, electronic quality.

"Ramses!" Gomez said. "What are you doing out?"

"Bast said you could use some help."

"Your mistress is liable to have a heart attack when she finds out you're gone," said Gomez.

"She'll understand," said Ramses. "This is important. I'd like to help, Gomez. Please? I've never done

anything important."

"Guys, this is Ramses," Gomez said, "pride of Santa Fe's most famous thaumaturgic sculptress, Lady

Rhiannon. And if she finds out he's gone, we're all liable to get hit with a charge of grand larceny."

"Oh, no, I left a note," said Ramses, "so she wouldn't think that I'd been stolen. Besides, I'll be back in

the morning."

"I don't know, Ramses . . ."

"Please, Gomez? Bast got to help. And I never get to do anything except sit in the gallery all day and

have people look at me."

"Bast is a thaumagene like me and he can take care of himself," said Gomez. "If anything happened to

you, Rhiannon would never forgive me. And I don't want to be the cause of any trouble between her and

Paul."

"Nothing will happen to me, Gomez," Ramses said. "I can take care of myself, too, you know. I'm more

than just a pretty thing. I can fly. I can help out with all the cats on the ground, provide aerial

reconnaissance . . ."

"Aerial reconnaissance, huh?" said Gomez. "Well, I guess you could, at that. What do you think, guys?

It's up to you."