The boy had turned his head upward and to the left, addressing a woman who had once been whole.
Now only fragments of her remained. Most of her torso had been carefully, methodically removed, leaving a ragged cavity held together by crude metal clamps and strips of treated leather.
One hand and one leg were missing entirely; the stumps had been sealed with thick metal plates that looked more like the work of a blacksmith.
Somehow she was still alive. Her chest rose and fell in slow, shallow gasps. Her eyes were wide and staring, fixed on nothing, while saliva and mucus ran freely down her ruined face in long, glistening strands.
A second voice chuckled from somewhere among the group of six standing in a loose semicircle around the boy and what was left of his mother.
