Chapter 10 of 89 · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin

Chapter 10 — Hamed's club; the small wedding

Book: This Inevitable Ruin · Part: The Ceasefire · Previous: Chapter 9 — Juice Box's war room · Next: Chapter 11 — Tipid; fifty thousand · Floor: Floor 9 — Faction Wars · Series: the series

Opening

“Thank god,” I said, coming into the entrance vestibule for the Desperado Club.

Summary

Clarabelle is alive in her chair at the Desperado Club's vestibule and bans all four crawlers: the new management wants his first days to go smoothly, has banned every crawler, has airlocked the surviving cretins and sai to the mercenary markets, and keeps bodyguards who are 'Not exactly NPCs. Not exactly former crawlers.' His name is Hamed. Carl's elbow throbs: Hamed is the Night Wyrm, head of the Guild of Suffering, Astrid's husband, the father Damascus Steel and Anaconda are hunting somewhere inside. Drick — Adjutant for Team Retribution, a non-combatant observer with a tablet and a drink — comes out with Warlord on High, Sir Ferdinand, cat, level 100, sitting on his bald head in a gold chain and a turban of toilet paper. 'Hey, baby girl.' Donut makes him admit he is not her fiancé ('Not yet at least'), and would rather 'a sexual affair with the bloating corpse of a syphilis-infested cocker spaniel'. He wants his hat and Simoom, his rhinoceros, which Kibben the stablemaster kept from him when the castle landed; Donut has had the hat since the Masquerade. Carl trades him Quan's black bowler — the one that decapitates and boomerangs — as a loan against the turban, with a promise about the rhino, for the mayorship of Shanty Town, which Juice Box has already agreed to in chat with Drick; the cat accepts once the hat is on his head and gold changes hands, and the truce is renamed The Good Guys. 'I'm a very handsome boy.' Drick's face is annoyance, exasperation and panic. Changeling weddings come in two parts. The small wedding is now, in the entrance bar: Juice Box in her blank form (undamaged, and level 120), Louis, whispered vows nobody else hears, no rings or singing, divorce papers signed at the same time that expire in a month, after which comes the Confirmation with guests and food. Every view counter spikes. 'I wish my mom was here,' Louis whispers. Zev: 'Well, that was a first.' Then recruit notifications flood in faster than Carl can read them, and Florin says to come to the headquarters, where a large group would like to meet him.

Characters

• Clarabelle — Alive, and under orders to ban every crawler.
• Ferdinand — A toilet-paper turban, a bowler hat, and a town given away for it.
• Drick — Team Retribution's adjutant, with a cat on his head.
• The Night Wyrm — Hamed, new manager of the Desperado Club, with bodyguards of no known kind.
• Juice Box — Married in her blank form at level 120.
• Louis and Firas — Louis marries; 'I wish my mom was here.'
• Princess Donut — Holds Ferdinand's hat hostage; furious there is no singing.
• Carl — Trades a hat for a town.

Locations

• The Desperado Club — Reopened, crawler-free, under Hamed.
• Shanty Town — Its mayorship passes to the Princess Posse for a bowler hat and some gold.

Motifs

• The Guild of Suffering — Its leader, Hamed, runs the club now; his sons are inside hunting him.
• The changelings — A two-part wedding with divorce papers signed at the altar.
• Faction Wars — A trade request accepted mid-pose; a truce renamed.