Erend followed them through the narrow passage into another chamber hidden deeper inside the woman's house.
The moment he stepped through the doorway the air grew denser, colder, and filled with the stench of dried blood.
His eyes adjusted to the dim light and what he saw made his stomach tighten a little.
The room looked like a cross between an operating room and a slaughterhouse.
The stone floor was stained with dark patches of blood that had long since dried, but fresher smears ran in streaks toward a drain in the center.
The walls bore splashes faint of red and brown.
Iron hooks hung from chains along the ceiling beams. Some of them looked empty but others bearing old ropes that had cut deep into the flesh.
Knives, cleavers, bone saws, and other tools of dissection hung in neat rows on wooden racks, each polished clean but glinting coldly in the lantern light.
A thick metallic tang clung to the air, layered with something sour and rotting beneath.
