“No,” I said. “This is a significant absence. Sometimes finding nothing can be finding something.”
“You’re starting to sound like Elodin,” Wilem said.
I frowned at him but decided not to rise to the bait. “No, listen for a minute. Why would there be so little factual information about the Amyr? There are only three possibilities.”
I held up fingers to mark them off. “One: nothing was written down. I think we can safely discard that. They were too important to be so entirely neglected by historians, clerks, and the obsessive documentation of the church.” I tucked that finger away.
“Two. By an odd chance, copies of the books that do have this information have simply never made their way here to the Archives. But that’s ridiculous. It’s impossible to think that over all the years nothing on the subject has ended up in the largest library in the world.” I folded down the second finger.
“Three.” I pointed with the remaining finger. “Someone has removed this information, altered it, or destroyed it.”
Wilem frowned. “Who would do that?”
“Who indeed?” I said, “Who would benefit most from the destruction of the information of the Amyr?” I hesitated, letting the tension build. “Who else but the Amyr themselves?”
I had expected him to dismiss my idea, but he didn’t. “An interesting thought,” Wilem said. “But why assume the Amyr are behind it? It is much more sensible to think the church itself is responsible. Certainly the Tehlins would like nothing better than to quietly erase the Amyr’s atrocities.”
“True,” I admitted. “But the church isn’t very strong here in the Commonwealth. And these books come from all over the world. A Cealdish historian wouldn’t have any compunctions about writing a history of the Amyr.”
“A Cealdish historian would have very little interest in writing the history of a heretic branch of a pagan church,” Wilem pointed out. “Besides, how could a discredited handful of Amyr do something the church itself could not achieve?”
I leaned forward. “I think the Amyr are far older than the Tehlin church,” I said. “During the time of the Aturan Empire, a great deal of their public strength was with the church, but they were more than just a group of wandering justices.”
“And what leads you to this belief?” Wil said. From his expression I could see I was losing Wilem’s support rather than gaining it.
I sighed and shook my head, knowing how crazy I would sound if I told the truth. That was why I scoured the Archives. I needed some tangible evidence to support my theory, something that wouldn’t make me a laughingstock.
“I found copies of the court documents from the time the Amyr were denounced,” I said. “Do you know how many Amyr they put on trial in Tarbean?”
Wil shrugged.
I held up a single finger. “One. One Amyr in all of Tarbean. And the clerk writing the transcript of the trial made it clear the man they put on trial was a simpleton who didn’t understand what was going on.”
I still saw doubt on Wilem’s face. “Just think on it,” I pleaded. “The scraps I’ve found suggest there were at least three thousand Amyr in the empire before they were disbanded. Three thousand highly trained, heavily armed, wealthy men and women
“Then one day the church denounces them, disbands their entire order, and confiscates their property.” I snapped my fingers. “And three thousand deadly, justice-obsessed fanatics just disappear? They roll over and decide to let someone else take care of the greater good for a while? No protest? No resistance? Nothing?”
I gave him a hard look and shook my head firmly. “No. That goes against human nature. Besides, I haven’t found one record of a member of the Amyr being brought before the church’s justice. Not one. Is it so outrageous to think they might have decided to go underground, to continue their work in a more secret way?
“And if that’s reasonable,” I continued before he could interrupt. “Doesn’t it also make sense they might try to preserve their secrecy by carefully pruning histories over the last three hundred years?”
There was a long pause.
Wilem didn’t dismiss it out of hand. “An interesting theory,” he said slowly. “But it leads me to one last question.” He eyed me seriously. “Have you been drinking?”
I slumped in my chair. “No.”
He came to his feet. “Then you should start. You have been spending too much time with all these books. You need to wash the dust from your brains.”
So we went for a drink, but I still harbored my suspicions. I bounced the idea off Simmon when I next had the chance. He accepted it more easily than Wilem had. Which isn’t to say he believed me, just that he accepted the possibility. He said I should mention it to Lorren.
I didn’t. The blank-faced Master Archivist still made me nervous, and I avoided him at every opportunity for fear I might give him some excuse to ban me from the Archives. The last thing I wanted to do was suggest his precious Archives had been slowly pruned over the last three hundred years.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
The Ignorant Edema
I saw Elxa Dal raise a hand in greeting from across the courtyard. “Kvothe!” He smiled warmly. “The very fellow I was hoping to see! Could I borrow a moment of your time?”
“Of course,” I said. While I liked Master Dal, we hadn’t had much contact together outside the lecture hall. “Could I buy you a drink, or a bite of lunch? I’ve been meaning to thank you more properly for speaking on my behalf at the trial, but I’ve been busy. . . .”
“As have I,” Dal said. “I’ve actually been meaning to talk to you for days, but time keeps getting away from me.” He looked around. “I wouldn’t turn down a bit of lunch, but I should probably forego the drink. I have admissions to oversee in less than an hour.”
We stepped into the White Hart. I’d barely even seen the inside of the place, as it was far too rich for the likes of me.
Elxa Dal was recognizable in his dark master’s robes, and the host fawned a bit as he led the two of us to a private table. Dal seemed perfectly at his ease as he took a seat, but I was increasingly nervous. I couldn’t imagine why the Master Sympathist would seek me out for a conversation.
“What can I bring you?” asked the tall, thin man as soon as we were in our chairs. “Drinks? A selection of cheeses? We have a delightful lemoned trout as well.”
“The trout and cheeses would do nicely,” Dal said.
The host turned to me. “And yourself?”
“I’ll try the trout as well,” I said.
“Wonderful,” he said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. “And to drink?”
“Cider,” I said.
“Do you have any Fallows red?” Dal asked hesitantly.
“We do,” said the host. “And it’s a lovely year, too, if I do say so myself.”
“I’ll have a cup,” Dal said, glancing at me. “One cup shouldn’t alter my judgment too badly.”
The host hurried away, leaving me alone at the table with Elxa Dal. It felt odd sitting across the table from him. I shifted nervously in my seat.
“So how are things with you?” Dal asked conversationally.
“Passing fair,” I said. “It was a good term with the exception of . . .” I made a gesture toward Imre.
Dal gave a humorless chuckle. “That was a brush with the old days, wasn’t it?” He shook his head. “Consortation with Demons. Good lord.”
The host returned with our drinks and left without a word.
Master Dal picked up his wide clay cup and held it in the air. “To not getting burned alive by superstitious
