Back firmly against the fraying wood below the sill, Leonardo spun the chamber of his revolver with a snarl.

“‘Here there be monsters,’ they say… Aye, we’re beyond the edge ‘o the map we are.”

Snow fell in drifting gusts. The midday sun just reached the forest floor’s whitening blanket. Two men grunted toward a clearing.

The more words gathered before He started talking off her ear again, the better.