“Are the Priests Gyrms, then?” I asked. If they were no longer truly alive, it explained how they survived with their mouths sewn closed. It also explained their innate creepiness. He nodded. “The Primals stitch the Priests’ lips shut?” The skin around his mouth tightened. “What happens to them when they die was established a very, very long time ago. It has become an expected act.” Expected or not, it seemed unnaturally cruel to do such a thing. “And the serpents…” He spoke again, drawing me from my thoughts. “That is what replaced their insides.”
