Chapter 13 of 78 · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

Chapter 13 — Elites in the trees

Book: The Butcher's Masquerade · Part: The Hunt · Previous: Chapter 12 — No matter what · Next: Chapter 14 — Were-castors · Floor: Floor 6 — The Hunting Grounds · Series: the series

Opening

We jogged back to the other side of town.

Summary

Rain. A funeral bell's missile has knocked a levitating hunter out of the sky — a Yenk, not a mantis: ridged foreheads, bony exoskeletons, three genders, males expelled at maturity to become mercenaries who cannot work with one another (Ikicha of the 11th edition was a castrated one) — and Donut can see his dot stuck in a tree across the river. Ping shows why: seven white dots and two elites hidden behind the tree, one of them long as a snake and wrapped around the hunter. A day sooner than Carl hoped, and what 'double-billed' means. The remembered end of the negotiation: Quasar's second ask was a secondary-program licence past the sixth floor for Sensation Entertainment's Vengeance of the Daughter, under subsection 674 of the amendment (showrunners running below profit may grant one emergency licence); Orren calls it an old rule; Borant agrees for twenty per cent, on condition nobody says it out loud. It buys the show a third season and Carl a producer with a reason to keep him alive — except that Sensation has not actually agreed, Quasar bluffed, and now his messages get an automated reply about being drunk or with the missus. Carl gives Donut the choice; 'Didn't we just have this conversation?' Donut leaves Miss Nance orders to carry Mordecai to a saferoom if attacked and not to kill the pink-feathered dinosaur. Mordecai: 'Don't put yourself in a position where it's either her or you.'

'There’s no need for all this hiding in the bushes bullshit.' Tsarina Signet, level 60 still — elites do not level — tattoos swirling, the three-headed ogre waving from her breast, dry in the rain under what Carl takes for a spell. With her: Areson the Wise, a level-45 ogre strongman who looks like Apollon; six three-foot warriors in studded leather and Rambo bandanas — Clint Smashgrab, level 50, Were-Kin, Light Recon Specialist, with a metal bar for a foot: what is left of the Chee, a peaceful carpenter people the High Elves destroyed one night, were-something until they tell you or bite you; and a waist-high caterpillar with six saddles on her back. Tied across the saddles is the hunter, Bravvo, a level-50 unaffiliated yenk, half burned. Signet offers Carl the kill. 'Heal him' 'You've grown in strength, Carl. But you're still soft.' 'Not anymore.' The ring goes on.

Characters

• Carl — Learns what double-billing means; puts the ring on in front of Signet.
• Princess Donut — Leaves Miss Nance her orders; 'Do you think it's a dog?'
• Tsarina Signet — Back, level 60, recruiting; 'You're still soft.'
• Clint Smashgrab — A three-foot were-kin recon specialist with a metal foot; a survivor of the Chee.
• Miss Nadine — A waist-high caterpillar with six saddles, a hunter tied across them.
• Areson the Wise — A level-45 ogre strongman elite who looks like Apollon.
• Bravvo — A yenk hunter shot from the sky, tied across a caterpillar.
• Quasar — Bluffed a deal with Sensation and is not answering.
• Orren — 'That's a pretty old rule.'
• Mordecai — Under a mushroom's bell in the rain; 'Remember what this is.'

Locations

• Point Mongo — The northern gate and the bridge in a downpour; the river rising.

Motifs

• The Vengeance of the Daughter — Double-billed, an achievement Carl starts to understand when he finds elites waiting for him; a licence past the sixth floor bought with a bluff.
• The lawsuits — Subsection 674, paragraph five or six; an automated reply.
• Elites — Elites do not level; two of them waiting behind a tree.
• The Chee — No Chee left, only survivors of the night the High Elves came; six were-kin.
• The Ring of Divine Suffering — 'Not anymore.'
• The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook — Ikicha the yenk of the 11th edition.