Book 3. Chapter 55
Since it was still well before dawn, Brin and Hogg stepped away from the camp so that they could talk in private. Marksi had come too, and Hogg had picked him up and hugged him tight while stroking the spines along his back.
“Tentacles,” said Hogg. “Got it. I think that’s enough. It’s got to be. I’ll make it be enough.”
“What? Really? How could that possibly be enough?” said Brin.
“It just is. Don’t worry about it.” Hogg hesitated for a moment, looking pained.
“What is it?” Brin asked.
“I think I need to go. I need to do something,” said Hogg.
“You’re going to find her. Somehow me saying the word ‘tentacles’ means that you can find her. You’re going to k-kill her.”
For some reason he found it hard to say that last part. He’d always known that this was how it would end. That was the point of all this, of ingratiating himself with her, of letting her close the distance between them with the Wyrd. They were going to kill her.
He didn’t want that. He wondered if there was a way to capture her. Surely she would be more useful alive. They still hadn’t learned all they could about Arcaena from her, for one. They needed to capture her and interrogate her for the good of the kingdom.