The granary loomed before them like a corpse left out too long-bloated, sagging, and still somehow full of secrets.
Gavril stepped through the splintered side door first, axes in hand, boots cracking over spilled grain. Behind him, Liran swept low, checking corners, while Corren and Tannic fanned out, silent and fluid.
"Clear east," Corren said.
Tannic gave a single nod from the wooden scaffolding above, his bow already nocked.
Gavril raised a hand. "Looks like these bastards didn't build this place just to store wheat."
The stench confirmed it.
Not just rot, but something chemical. Sharp. Burned.
Inside, the granary was too clean in parts. Crates stacked neatly. Floor swept. Ropes bundled along the wall. But then, darker details…stray gears.
Liran moved to a barrel and pried it open.
Inside: limbs…too gruesome to ignore.
Wood and flesh fused with surgical staples. Human body parts.
Corren crouched beside another stack, brushing aside a tarp. "Not just storage," he muttered. "This place was used."
Tannic called down from above. "No movement on the street either. No one's guarding this building."
"Maybe because whatever they wanted hidden," Gavril said, scanning the far wall, "is inside."
He found it behind two grain sacks and a false crate…iron-ringed, sealed with dust.
A trapdoor.
Liran gave a low whistle. "Nothing like this was on the city maps."
"Means it's worth dying for," Gavril muttered. "Tannic, you hold position. If you don't hear anything in five minutes, go to Kaavi."
Tannic smirked. "And if I hear swearing?"
Gavril snorted. "Then you'll know I'm still alive."
Gavril pulled open the hatch, releasing a breath of air so cold it seemed to come from a deeper place than earth.
He hated cold.
"Let's move."
The three descended in silence, footsteps echoing off stone and rusted pipework.
The tunnel opened just enough to stand upright and not too wide.
Built deliberately. Reinforced with iron mesh and root-stone. This wasn't a mistake. Someone made this on purpose and fast.
Corren crouched. "These are heavy cart tracks"
Liran checked, "Recent, maybe three days old."
They turned a corner and inside were open containers, some filled with human torsos, others with half-assembled arms, leather-bound ledgers, glass jars of fluid.
On one crate bore a faded stencil:
"S-RUNNER / EXPERIMENTAL"
Gavril exhaled through his nose. "They weren't just building puppets here. They were experimenting on them, perfecting them."
"Or learning how to," Corren said. "And fast. These looks unstable."
Liran peeled a page from the ledger. "Testing notes. Mind-link failed. Spine rejection. Voice loop misfire."
"Voice loop?" Gavril echoed.
He didn't have to wait long.
The corridor widened again, opening into a low, central chamber with a second steel door…heavy, half-rusted, recently disturbed. Several barrels were stacked beside it, each labelled with alchemical runes. Another exit sat behind a set of grates, likely leading past the wall.
Corren paused, frowning. "If they're moving these parts outward…"
"They've been planting them in the city," Gavril said. "Distributing. Quietly."
Liran added, "Maybe all of that outside, was distraction …it's all to keep eyes off this."
A mechanical hiss cut through the silence.
The steel door creaked open.
And from the dark stepped a man.
Broad-shouldered, with a coat too scorched. His jaw twitched as if some internal gear failed to catch. Soot stained the right side of his face. His eyes were bloodshot…but sharp. Mad, but not stupid.
Two puppets stepped out behind him.
The man cracked his neck.
"Well," he rasped, voice like rust scraping metal. "That coward was right, we have guests."
Gavril levelled both axes, breath fogging. "Oh, look it is one of the twin bastards. You looked taller from a distance."
Corren muttered, "Just great."
The twin gave a small bow. "You've found my little hallway of horrors. I'd say congratulations, but…"
One of the puppets beside him turned interrupting him, its voice awkward and metallic. "Why are you wasting time talking with them…"
The twin spun and drove his fist through its head. Flesh, and grey matter splattered the tunnel wall.
He turned back to them, shaking blood from his knuckles. "I don't need you to tell me what to do."
He came forward without pause.
Fast.
Liran parried the first strike with crossed blades but was driven back. The twin moved like a blunt weapon: direct, overwhelming, messy.
Corren stepped in with a clean stab…but the twin grabbed his arm mid-motion and flung him across the chamber into a pile of crates.
Gavril intercepted next. His axe met the twin's bracer in a crash of sparks.
"Careful," the twin hissed. "You'll make me try."
Gavril ducked low, sweeping the second axe toward the twin's legs. Missed by inches.
Liran struck from the side, his blades aimed for the ribs, but the twin twisted and drove a knee into his gut.
Corren was back on his feet, breathless but mobile. "We're not outmatching him here; it's like he's built for this damn crawlspace."
"Tunnel's too tight, and this little midget fucker's got room to jump." Gavril said.
The twin threw a crate at Corren. It shattered across the floor.
"Tunnel's too tight to outmanoeuvre him," Liran said, parrying. "We need space."
Gavril took a hard elbow to the shoulder. He stumbled.
"Yeah, thanks for repeating it."
Corren rolled forward and grabbed one of the alchemical barrels, twisted the spigot, and hurled it toward the floor. The fluid burst across the stone with a hissing spray.
The twin paused, eyes narrowing.
Gavril pointed with his axe. "You want a proper fight? Meet us topside."
The twin tilted his head, sneering. "You don't get to leave without my permission."
Gavril blocked a kick that landed hard anyway.
"Come outside, midget." Gavril said.
And with that, he flung one of the flaming shards into the spilled liquid.
The floor ignited in a sudden bloom of fire…not wide enough to stop the twin, but hot enough to buy a heartbeat of space.
They ran.
Through the grating. Up the old stair. Crates clattered around them. Behind, a howl of rage echoed in the smoke.
Corren was up first, then Liran, then Gavril slammed the hatch shut behind him.
Tannic was already there, crouched by the window, bow in hand.
""How are things out there?" Gavril asked.
"It is weird" Tannic said, eyes narrowed at the distant edge. "Forty, maybe more puppets suddenly gathered outside then started moving towards east.
"And down there…" Gavril's voice went flat. "Failed puppets hung like butcher's meat, all that alchemy... caked in frost already. Bodies half-built and leaking fluid. Worst hellhole I've ever crawled through."
"Son of a..." Gavril swore.
Corren staggered upright. "Looks like all this time we were the bait."
Gavril looked toward the city skyline, where faint flickers of movement danced beyond the rooftops.
"They'll reach Kaavi's location in 10-15 minutes."
Tannic glanced at him. "Do you have a plan?"
Gavril smirked.
"Yes."
"And what is your genius plan?" Asked Tannic.
"We attack." Said Gavril with a smile on his face.
"That's something only you can come up with." Said Corren, with an annoyed face.
They fell silent, processing the events that has happened. Then…a crack like thunder behind them.
The hatch exploded. Splinters flew. The twin swaggered up the stone stairs, chest heaving, soot and frost on his coat.
"You're not escaping me," he rasped, voice low and angry.
Gavril slung both axes in one fluid motion. Snow scattered at his feet.
"Let's see you catch us first," Gavril said.