Chapter 16 of 78 · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

Chapter 16 — Clint and Holger

Book: The Butcher's Masquerade · Part: The Vengeance of the Daughter · Previous: Chapter 15 — The kids' menu · Next: Chapter 17 — The security checkpoint · Floor: Floor 6 — The Hunting Grounds · Series: the series

Opening

Two of the were-castors accompanied us on our trek back to Point Mongo.

Summary

Part Two opens with two were-castors walking Carl and Donut back to Point Mongo: Clint, bald and one-legged, and Holger, the one with the mullet ('a sign of my dominance'). They are insistent on a saferoom because Signet was, because the showrunners were — a reminder that elites are not autonomous and take 'suggestions'; Carl wonders whether an elite can be made self-aware. Holger's history: Signet lived in their village after she was cursed, an elder introduced her to Grimaldi, and soon after Imogen came and killed nearly everyone; when Scolopendra's cloud came years later, the survivors of Imogen's attack were mostly unaffected — perhaps because the transfiguration spell in the nine-tier attack was Imogen's own, reflected back. Clint on the high elves: they 'cowered, deep in their castle, protected by what they took' — rumour says they went down to Scolopendra while she slept to collect their soul gems and stole something that shielded the royal court; Holger says Imogen tried her spell on the centipede and it failed, which is why it came back in the cloud ('like a damage reflect, but one that took a long time'). Clint: Imogen is Signet's age and not that old; the argument ends with the two of them beating each other bloody in the mud, Donut fascinated ('This is just like you and your Monobrow Sam friend'). Wild night weasels attack from three sides; the two little men go back to back, hunt the invisible by sound and smell, are immune to the paralysis, and tear the pack apart; Mongo's Earthquake makes the rest visible; Donut's Standing Ovation fails for want of a key. Holger, kindly: 'You can't sing well […] You need lessons.' Point Mongo's approaches are ringed with Mordecai's alarms, tuned to pets, hunters and naiads. Then the third and final sponsor, for both of them and for Prepotente, Miriam, Lucia Mar, Katia, the Popovs, Elle and Imani: the Apothecary — the name the fourth floor's card gave the real Krakaren, the collective mind rumoured to be the Plenty's silent partner. 'YOUR LAST SPONSOR GAVE YOU A VEGETABLE.'

Characters

• Carl — Thinks about making elites self-aware; a third sponsor he suspects is the Krakaren.
• Princess Donut — Compliments a mullet; tries to sing through a weasel fight.
• Clint Smashgrab — Bald when he is not turned; the elves' stolen protection; fists in the mud.
• Holger — A mullet, a sickle sword, and the kindest thing anyone has said about Donut's singing.
• Mongo — Earthquake.
• Mordecai — Has trapped the bridge and the slopes.
• Tsarina Signet — Sent them to a saferoom because the showrunners sent her.
• Queen Imogen — Came to the Chee village after Signet left and killed almost everyone.

Locations

• Point Mongo — Guards at both ends of the bridge; alarms for pets, hunters and naiads.

Motifs

• Scolopendra — Holger's rumour: the nine-tier attack as everything ever fired at her, reflected at once.
• The high elves — Soul gems from a sleeping worm; a stolen shield for the royal court.
• The Krakaren — The Apothecary sponsors most of the top ten.
• Sponsorship — Third and final: the Apothecary.
• Elites — Not autonomous; the showrunners' suggestions.
• The Chee — Survivors of Imogen were spared by Scolopendra.