Contents
Chapter 132: The Broken Circle
Overview
Kvothe brands the slain impostor troupe with the broken circle, publicly severing them from the Edema Ruh and reclaiming his people’s honor. Interrogating Alleg reveals the impostors learned Ruh customs from a survivor of a real troupe. Krin, from near Levinshir, confirms their method of luring and drugging victims. Kvothe prepares to return the girls home and departs the false troupe’s camp.
Summary
At dawn, Kvothe finishes reshaping a horseshoe, tends oats, and checks his wound, realizing Felurian’s cloak turned a gutting into a shallow cut. Krin wakes, sees the slain false troupe, and asks if he is alright. Kvothe begins branding each corpse with a broken circle to mark them as not Ruh.
He explains the Edema Ruh’s closed-circle law and why the brand matters: to show the world these men were impostors who committed unforgivable acts. When Kvothe brands Alleg, Alleg awakens. Pressed, Alleg admits he once traveled with a real Ruh troupe, learned their ways, and after an attack left him alive, he taught the killers to pose as troupers.
Kvothe offers the brand to Krin, who burns Alleg’s chest through angry tears. Kvothe silences Alleg’s attempt to manipulate her and resumes the grim work. He questions Krin: she and Ellie are from near Levinshir; the false troupe arrived five days earlier, charmed the town, and drugged Krin during a “fortune” visit. Krin infers Ellie was similarly lured.
Exhausted and numbed as his anger fades, Kvothe stops after branding their hands. He suggests waking Ellie so he can take them home. After Krin goes to the tent, Kvothe addresses the bodies with bitter irony, then leaves the fallen “troupe” behind.
Who Appears
- KvotheBrands the impostors with the broken circle, interrogates Alleg, comforts Krin, and prepares to return the girls home.
- KrinRescued captive; watches the branding, burns Alleg herself, recounts how the troupe lured and drugged her.
- AllegWounded impostor; admits learning Ruh ways from a real troupe, tries to needle Krin before being silenced.
- EllieKrin’s friend, the mayor’s daughter; traumatized and asleep, implied victim of the impostors’ lure.
- TimDead impostor; first body Kvothe brands with the broken circle.
- OttoDead impostor; another body Kvothe brands to mark them as not Ruh.