Chapter 82 of 89 · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin

Chapter 82 — Ursensus

Book: This Inevitable Ruin · Part: The Peeling of Larracos · Previous: Chapter 81 — Executive Order 11905 · Next: Chapter 83 — Psamathe confesses · Floor: Floor 9 — Faction Wars · Series: the series

Opening

We all pulled to a stop at the saferoom entrance, which was one we’d never used before.

Summary

An ash-buried espresso-stand saferoom in Reaver country; Prepotente lends Dong a mount carrier ('I know nothing is ever free,' Dong tells the sock). Li Na floats twenty feet up, chains swirling like wings, glowing black and purple, three-quarters health, silent — 'Good talk,' says Elle. Bigs: 'she's a bad guy' — she tied a potion to Sneaky Tyler C and ran him into the god. Prepotente, drinking more vials than his allotment: of King Rust's harem of eighteen, three escaped Li Na's marks — brought in under a private deal as unconscriptable non-combatants (a naga, a tripod: 'sexual congress with the Sputnik satellite'), fled through the Desperado Club's Cosmic Lounge to the eighteenth floor; Li Na can never heal again. 'I TOLD YOU THE RING WAS BAD NEWS.' Tipid: 'Who the fuck are you? And where the hell are we?' — his brain, mush after his crawl, repaired on Viceroy debt, undone by the blast; his last memory is his last day as a game guide; 'I lost my key.' Rosetta sits with him: 'Let me tell you a story about the bravest Crest I have ever met.' Semeru piece the fallen statue back together; Milk lectures a crowd of crawlers on the third ring. The hospital tent: Florin holding Kiwi's hand, Bucket Boy between her legs looking ill, Britney with a cloth, Edgar hauling bloody water; Samantha: 'It's hairy!' Edgar: in ursine culture the father's presence lends strength. Juice Box kisses Louis's forehead; Mordecai deepens his sleep — 'There aren't really receptors in the heart or lungs.' 'You really love him.' Their first time she was a blue woman out of Earth's myth, then a Dewi, a creature that sees into hearts: 'so free of the rot of cynicism […] He is to me like Donut is to you.' But she wishes she had not become a Hunter Wraith: the Inevitable Ruin — a phrase Carl knows in his bones without knowing from where ('Do you remember the circus?') — is the wraith's curse; possession 'just tells you the truth', and the truth is Louis is terrified of her, believes his NPC-charm ability, and will never trust her love. 'I have something inside me, Carl. Something very, very powerful.' Carl: 'It’s hopelessness, just in another form.' Two cries; two girls; Mongo squawks with fear and a little joy. Juice Box grins: 'Just wait until you see what Justice Light has cooked up.' The twins: four legs, wing stubs, wet brown fur, beaked Mongo heads with rotating, uneven pug eyes, mammal-almost-human cries — 'goddamn abominations'. 'Part raptor, part bear, part Scolopendra magic'; too intelligent to be pets. Florin: 'we'd be drowning them both in the bath'; Imani: 'Not a word.' Samantha wants one; Buster is dead. 'If I had a cigar, I'd give it to you, buddy.'

Characters

• Juice Box — A Dewi, a Hunter Wraith, and the truth about Louis; 'something very, very powerful'.
• Kiwi — Twins, and an eye of love.
• Mongo — A father of legendary creatures.
• Tipid — 'Who the fuck are you?' A game guide's last day.
• Li Na — Flying, glowing, unhealable, silent.
• Prepotente — Too many potions; the harem's escape.
• Samantha — 'It's hairy!'
• Edgar — Ursine custom; a pail of bloody water.
• Mongo — Ursensus: raptor, bear and Scolopendra magic.
• King Rust — A harem entered under a private deal.

Locations

• Larracos — The field hospital by the castle; Milk lecturing on the third ring.

Motifs

• The Inevitable Ruin — A wraith's curse; a phrase Carl knows without knowing why; the circus.
• Juice Box and Louis — 'He is to me like Donut is to you'; he is terrified of her.
• The Ring of Divine Suffering — Three marks on the eighteenth; Li Na never heals.