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(Scars do not appear to be cause of death –shock ... - Bad Request

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the Pillar <strong>of</strong> Skulls, but it's more like the pillar <strong>of</strong> heads."<br />

His eyes <strong>to</strong>ok on a distant look, as if he were seeing something from long<br />

ago, a thousand miles away, and several realms apart from ours, "To hear<br />

some bashers tell it, it's supposedly made <strong>of</strong> the heads <strong>of</strong> <strong>be</strong>rks, mostly<br />

sages and scholars, who used their knowing <strong>of</strong> this and knowing <strong>of</strong> that<br />

when they were alive <strong>to</strong> stretch the truth a little... so much they might have<br />

hurt, or uh, killed someone by <strong>do</strong>ing it. Well, when I died, I ended up there.<br />

Funny, huh?"<br />

"Not really."<br />

"Eh..." Morte fell silent for a moment. He didn't even give a mirthless<br />

chuckle. "Yeah, you're right; it's <strong>not</strong> funny at all. You see, I think I knew a lot<br />

<strong>of</strong> things when I was alive. And may<strong>be</strong> when I did know something, I didn't<br />

always tell the truth about it. I'm thinking that when I <strong>be</strong>nt the truth once or<br />

twice, I may have led <strong>to</strong> someone getting penned in the dead-book sooner<br />

than they should have."<br />

"It was me, wasn't it?"<br />

Morte looked at me for a moment, and with the way the silence stretched I<br />

thought it might snap. "Yeah. I can't say how I know it, chief, but I think so. I<br />

think you were the one that got me sent there; the last twig in the bundle<br />

<strong>be</strong>fore the whole load snaps. Thing is, I can't remem<strong>be</strong>r what happened - I<br />

<strong>do</strong>n't even remem<strong>be</strong>r <strong>be</strong>ing human, or what my life was even like <strong>be</strong>fore I<br />

woke up on the Pillar."<br />

"Why did you forget?"<br />

"That's pretty much the way <strong>of</strong> things when you die, as I'm sure you're no<br />

stranger <strong>to</strong>. You just... forget. I figure I wasn't a sterling mem<strong>be</strong>r <strong>of</strong> the<br />

community when I was alive... but hells, who is?" Morte sighed. "It's just<br />

that I can't help it. Nothing's worse than <strong>be</strong>ing honest all the time."<br />

"Except <strong>be</strong>ing sentenced <strong>to</strong> the hells. That sounds a lot worse than telling<br />

the truth."<br />

"Yeah... you're right. Again." Morte clicked his teeth; the way he did it<br />

reminded me <strong>of</strong> someone drumming their fingers. "I guess just all that good<br />

and evil and lying and cheating catches up with you - and when I got penned<br />

704

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