Chapter 12 of 78 · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

Chapter 12 — No matter what

Book: The Butcher's Masquerade · Part: The Hunt · Previous: Chapter 11 — The Recital · Next: Chapter 13 — Elites in the trees · Floor: Floor 6 — The Hunting Grounds · Series: the series

Opening

I pulled Donut into the first pub we passed.

Summary

In an Eegees sandwich shop Donut shakes on a booth table, pupils blown, and Carl finally asks what is wrong. Not the dinosaurs. 'I'm supposed to pretend like I don't know. And I was doing good.' Everybody leaves her — Katia has, Carl is trying to get himself killed, Mongo has found a hussy — and she stops before the rest. Carl works out that she was reading the social board before the guards, and that something there did this; her eyes shine; and Zev interrupts with a schedule change and a pointed 'you're both really strong and brave. Especially you, Donut' — a warning to drop it, from someone who talks to Donut through the board by a channel Carl cannot safely ask about. What Donut can say is the symptom: 'But what about the ninth floor?' The Crown of the Sepsis Whore, which she no longer even owns, binds her to the Blood Sultanate's line of succession: she may not leave the ninth floor until the Sultan and every royal naga is dead. 'We'll deal with it when we get there' has been the answer every time, and it is not good enough any more. The river in Carl's head roars, and something breaks — his mother's hand at the edge of the Grand Canyon, his father waiting in the car, a moment he recognises as the same shape. He cups her face: 'I will not leave you behind on the ninth or any other floor […] We are a team, and nothing is going to break us up. No matter what.' 'No matter what?' 'No matter what.' Then she recovers — 'I don't know why you're being so dramatic, Carl' — and Mongo stumbles back into town and collapses, health full. Kiwi's pack watches from the treeline, dots white for Donut and red for Carl ('you're her mother-in-law now'); a bigger dinosaur deeper in turns away; as the pack melts into the jungle, a glint like a prism in the trees, then rain. 'I'm too young and pretty to be a grandmother.' An achievement, Double-Billed! — one of the first five crawlers to receive it, 'similar to switch-overs, but this time it's on purpose' — and a Platinum Fan Box, with the view counter buried at the right. Behind them, a missile launches.

Characters

• Carl — Recognises a moment and makes the promise: no matter what.
• Princess Donut — 'Everybody always leaves me'; something read on the board she cannot say; the ninth floor.
• Mongo — Comes home drunk and collapses; the pack's dots turn white for Donut.
• Zev — Interrupts at the exact moment, which is the message.
• Kiwi — Watches from the treeline and barks once; something bigger behind her.
• Katia Grim — Her leaving is what Donut names first.

Locations

• Point Mongo — An Eegees with a Bopca named Marta; the southern treeline full of raptors.

Motifs

• The Blood Sultanate — The Crown's clause: no leaving the ninth floor while a royal naga lives.
• The river in Carl's head — 'The water is running.' A decision made, the same moment as his mother's hand at the edge of the Grand Canyon.
• Achievements — Double-Billed! — switch-overs on purpose; a Platinum Fan Box.
• The show — A social board that told Donut something; Zev's warning to drop it.
• Staying human — 'No matter what.'