Well, she was plucky, he'd have to grant her that. Not that it would do either of them much good if she persisted in sticking around long enough to get attacked by the nearest creature. The best case scenario was that she caused him a significant delay while he untangled her; worst case, she would end up maimed or dead. Ugh, what a nightmare the paperwork on this little incident was going to be. Anything that involved fatalities invariably was. Maybe he could talk Urquart into finding the responsible party and having them file the report, as a sort of punishment.

"That won't be necessary," Ernest said sharply as the girl dodged out of the way. "The most useful thing you can do at the moment would be to stay out of the way."