Chapter 66 of 74 · Book 6, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Chapter 66 — The Missing Piece

Book: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride · Part: The Bedlam · Previous: Chapter 65 — Graupel · Next: Chapter 67 — The Big O · Floor: Floor 8 — The Ghosts of Earth · Series: the series

Opening

» You are in the presence of a deity.

Summary

Ysalte's curse turns every potion Carl handles to vinegar. Ines's corpse becomes a level-250 goddess, sponsored by Pontifex Shine of the Nebular Balance but not driven: she will speak and react as per her regular nature. Larracos's first citizens worshipped her. Her downfall mirrors that of the citizens of Larracos: 'First they vilify you. Then they separate you. Then they blame you […] Then they hunt you. It's the step after that which is important. The one where they start to fear you.' She is patron of outcasts and of bards, takes no new worshippers, and gives gifts that may carry a curse; she is half-sister and niece of her former lover Taranis, fled to Sheol when Apito threatened her with the Nothing, and, not being thought to want to lead, is a dangerous and cunning contender for the throne.

She appears as a young dwarf with a pickaxe and a candle helmet, her face flickering into a silent scream: 'You killed my bard […] Her mind is finally at ease, which is a blessing, but I was not done with her yet.' Samantha greets her warmly; Ysalte recognises her as Psamathe and has not forgiven her. The pickaxe bounces off the doll's head and the goddess flies backward — and the world freezes.

The Madre's coils crash through the ceiling; the 32nd floor becomes a roof. The snake, Enslaved, slides off the edge, and the little automaton falls onto it and teleports it away, leaving the prince exposed to open air at his full size: Amayon, a lava-skinned centaur-quadruped with a demonic deer's head, four steaming horns and a beak of teeth and fire, his chest level with the roof — still Enslaved. They have only made him stronger.

Next comes The Missing Piece, a hybrid world quest hosted by every Cuba crawler; its first part, 'The Big O', is for Cuba only and airs on every screen. Amayon was banished by one of three brothers; Ysalte, his former girlfriend and the mother of his child, has seized him as he once seized her, and means to drag him to the Ascendency as her retainer. There are ten minutes: if he is still hers when the timer ends, everyone without keys is dead, with no more chances. To break free he must cast his way home, and for that he must be strong — how, the quest suggests, they should ask him. At full power the spell covers the world.

Cards fall: four before the dwarf goddess and four before the demon, a six-totem deck he plays as they come, with no fleeing until all are dead. Ysalte holds an enhanced version of Ines's deck and cannot be killed, only outlasted. The final card battle begins.

Characters

• Ysalte — A dwarf with a pickaxe and a screaming face; Amayon's ex, mother of his child; a deck.
• Amayon — Full size, four horns, a beak of fire, still Enslaved.
• Samantha — 'How's the child?'; unbreakable to a goddess's pick.
• Louis and Firas — Hands up, backing down the stairs.
• Carl — Watches his plan make the demon bigger, not freer.
• Imani — Frozen in the lobby, added to the fight.
• Sister Ines — Her body a doorway for her patron.

Locations

• The FOCSA building — Its top peeled off; a floor turned roof; a demon standing in the street to its chest.

Motifs

• Ysalte — Dirt, Tears, Hopelessness; fear as the last step; Taranis and Apito; Sheol as refuge.
• The Missing Piece — Part one, The Big O: ten minutes to make a demon strong enough to leave.
• The Nebulars — Pontifex Shine sponsors the Vinegar Bitch.
• The Celestial Ascendency — A prince of hell as a retainer; seizure mirrored.
• T'Ghee totems — Garage-door cards; the god's deck is the nun's.
• Samantha's power — A pickaxe off a kickball; an old feud over a hedgehog.
• The Scavenger's Daughter — Eyes open for a goddess and a prince at once.