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CHAPTER ONE

SOLDIER’S END

I never spoke up for myself at my court-martial

I stood in the box where they putirons around my calves They were too small for a man of s, burning and nu at the same time At the moment, the painI already kneould end

That pain is chiefly what I remember of my trial It hazes ainst hteous voices as they detailed es Rape Murder Necrophilia Desecration of a graveyard My outrage and horror at being accused of such things had been eroded by the utter hopelessness of ainst me Threads of rumor, hearsay from a dead man’s lips, suspicions and circuether into a rope of evidence, stout enough to hang me

I think I knohy Spink never addressed any questions directly to me Lieutenant Spinrek, my friend since our Cavalla Acade et it over with That had angered him Perhaps that hy he didn’t ask me to testify on my own behalf He didn’t trust es He feared I’d take the easy way out

I would have

CHAPTER ONE

SOLDIER’S END

I never spoke up for myself at my court-martial

I stood in the box where they putirons around my calves They were too small for a man of s, burning and nu at the same time At the moment, the painI already kneould end