The cold wind carried snow particles and howled in through the broken window lattice. There was no charcoal fire in the hall, only the damp musty smell and the thick smell of blood filled the air. On the ground, a woman in ragged clothes and unkempt hair was discarded like a rag on the cold bricks. On her wrists and ankles, there were wounds that were deep enough to see the bones and had already festered and rolled over - her tendons and hamstrings had long been torn apart by life and death. The dark red and black blood soaked into the thin straw under her body, and also flowed all over the ground beside her.
