Chapter 67 of 78 · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

Chapter 67 — Slate Butterflies

Book: The Butcher's Masquerade · Part: The Butchering · Previous: Chapter 66 — The Sugar Cube · Next: Chapter 68 — Off-worlders · Floor: Floor 6 — The Hunting Grounds · Series: the series

Opening

The giant mantis barreled toward me like she was going to bowl me over.

Summary

Vrah stops an inch from Carl's face, smelling of burned plastic. 'How was your visit with your mother?' D'Nadia trumpets; 'Stay out of this, Princess.' 'Empress.' 'I have a present for you, Carl' Carl pats the carapace where Langley's head bit her. Meanwhile Britney giggles at the spear guard, drops something, and pulls a tag on her jacket — stuffed Slate Butterflies, non-violent, an ability that Mordecai says does not count as magic — and one flies to the warning light, wraps it in its wings, and the glow pales and dies; the toy falls off the spear tip into her hand. It is done. 'You and your soft-shelled friends will soon learn what it means to make an enemy of the Dark Hive.' 'Ban them from the bumper boats?' 'You did give her gonorrhea, Carl.' D'Nadia drinks through a tentacle like a trunk. Vrah: 'I will have your decapitated head on my back. Yours and all your friends.' 'No violence, remember?' Shouting: not Florin at Lucia — the Lajabless stands against the wall chewing a nail, a kid in an adult's body — but Florin and Bautista holding Katia back from Eva: Nimblefoot Enforcer, level 55, her top-left hand a stump (a switchblade rapier confiscated), a jewelled museum breastplate with purple gems, over fifty PK skulls and four hunter-killer marks. 'These are your people, too. You're a traitorous bitch.' Eva: 'This is why Fannar couldn't stand you […] What kind of mother could you have possibly been?' Carl steps between; Katia's arm is metal, a locker of potions. Donut: 'I thought I smelled vermin […] I need my litter box changed. Carl.' The hunters scatter from Eva like the boys and girls at a middle-school dance. Donut's review of the theatre: no thrust, no wings ('None, Carl. I can't even with that'), an elf with a magic microphone who cannot work the boombox, one catwalk and her request for access to it ignored, 'a stage version of a cocker spaniel'. Florin marches on Lucia; Carl gets through by chat — 'I need you to stay focused' — and Florin's pinprick eyes soften: 'Something's off with her anyway.' Lucia bolts to the corner by the stage and sits hugging herself. No Quan Ch, a relief. Prepotente, sleepless: 'I must insist that I join your party' — he has been collecting the clues and Katia told him about the hammer and stick; bookmarked. Theobold in a white dress tuxedo: gold trays and black, dancing after the performances, the queen soon, hands and scalps to the prize booth, 'Violence is blasphemy […] Apito wishes for us to mingle with our enemies.' No hunters enter the pet show. Under way outside: the Sledge and half the changelings to the secret entrance held by Signet's crew, to pass as elves and take the four towers as a dock for the Twister; Gideon in the woods; Bomo looting. The old plan — rat Signet out to pull the queen from the ballroom — is dead now that the host cannot leave. Zev: 'I don't know what you did, but they're going to be pissed […] She's not supposed to be in here.' Signet walks in, tattoos swimming on her bare chest, and takes Carl's hands, warm and solid: Apito appeared in her damp dungeon and invited her. 'Hey, Zev. This wasn't me. This one is on the AI.'

Characters

• Vrah — Threatens the Dark Hive's vengeance and Carl's head on her back.
• Britney Proskurina — Kills the warning light with a stuffed butterfly.
• Carl — Peacekeeper, planner, blamed by Zev for the AI's move.
• Eva Sigrid — Level 55, fifty-plus skulls, four hunter marks, a stump; needles Katia about Fannar.
• Katia Grim — Lunges at Eva; a locker of potions.
• Princess Donut — Litter box; a scathing review of the stage.
• Florin — Nearly confronts Lucia; sees something is wrong with her.
• Lucia Mar — Frightened, frozen, huddled in the corner.
• Prepotente — Asks to join the party; collecting clues.
• Princess D'nadia — Amused, drinking through a tentacle.
• Theobold — Master of ceremonies in dress whites.
• Tsarina Signet — Invited by Apito herself; walks in bare-chested.
• Daniel Bautista — Restrains Katia; 'on it' for Eva.
• Zev — 'They're going to be pissed.'
• The Sledge — Leading changelings to the towers.
• Gideon — In the woods.
• Bomo — Looting.

Locations

• The high elf castle — Ballroom A filling; the four sentinel towers as a Twister dock.

Motifs

• The Butcher's Masquerade — 'Violence is blasphemy'; the warning light dark.
• The System AI — Apito's guest list brings in the queen's enemy; 'This one is on the AI.'
• The hunters — Sullen at the buffet; none in the pet show.
• Faces of the dead — Langley's bite on Vrah's neck.