Kvothe - Chapter 16

Chapter 16 – Hope

This is likely one of the darkest chapters in the book. It gave me the goose bumps the first time I read it and still doesn’t sit well the second time around. Here, Kvothe looses his parents and his troupe to a group of unknown assailants. He goes out in search of firewood and wanders as any kid would. Upon returning to the camp, he finds everything in ruin, smoke rolling across the camp, people dead, and iron rusted.

As to the attackers? Well, it’s a bit like the scene from Star Wars when Luke returns to the moisture farm and sees his aunt and uncle laying there like charred meat. Kvothe stumbles upon the attackers and sees that they don’t quite appear to be human. One being called Lord Haliax and another called Cinder. Neither are nice, but Lord Haliax is clearly in charge. They scamper off without killing Kvothe as something comes to scare them away. Exactly what, it’s still unclear.

Kvothe finds his parents wagon and stays the night inside. He nearly burns with the wagon but manages to save the book from Ben and his father’s lute, which he plays to block the pain.

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