Second Wave

Anna nearly collapses as Cole becomes dead weight. Catching herself (and him), she slowly gets them both into the kitchen. Knowing there is no way she can get him on the counter without help she settles for propping him in a chair by the fireplace.

Sticking her head into the tap room Anna Maria’s nose wrinkles as the smell of burnt flesh reaches her. Her eyes catch up to the smell as she spots the little flames almost panicking until she realizes the wood underneath is unharmed. She’ll ask later. Right now, she does not want to know. Spotting the two sitting on the stairs the breath she didn’t realize she was holding is expelled. “If you are capable of moving I need help in the kitchen.”

Returning to her drawer of concoctions she had dug into the previous evening, she once again opens it. Without knowing exactly what the properties of the poison the thing outside produced, the antidote is a guessing game. Settling on one similar to what she used on herself the previous evening Anna rips open the bag containing the syringe already filled with the concoction and injects it into his arm. “I really need to start keeping a doctor or healer on staff.”

The burning sensation and blood still seeping down her back solidify Anna’s thought as she starts assessing Coles more serious wounds.

Stepping into the room she pauses looking at the very injured man as well as Anna Maria's back.

Not sure really what to do Hetty figures water and bandages are a safe thing to grab and begins rummaging around for those items. Having never spent any time in this room she is not familiar with where anything is, she fumbles around grabbing out anything else she finds that looks useful in the process. Seeing all the little bottles in the drawer that are unmarked she raises an eyebrow and leaves them alone. Unmarked substances in bottles in her experience tend to be dangerous.

"Who is he?"

"Maker me," Shard exclaims at the sight of the man, "What happened to him, he looked he went ten rounds with an army....by himself..." then noticing the prickly bits poking out of his stomach and leg, "and tangled with one of our monsters....how quaint." He says giving Hetty a sideways glance. "Well let's remove those first."

Stepping over to the man, he shrugs, "I too am curious about his identity and how he was out in the garden, didn't you say the Garden was almost impossible to gain entry too?"

Reaching into a pouch on his belt he pulls out a small ball of herbs wrapped in in cloth, which he careful unwraps before grabbing the spike protruding from his gut and carefully pulls it free, making sure to not cause any additional damage to the man, grateful that the spike wasn't barbed. Furrowing his brow at the ugly wound, he quickly packs the hole with the herbs he had brought, and lifts Cole just enough from the chair to wrap the cloth around his waist to hold the herbs in place.

"This should help him heal several times faster than normal. I was kinda hoping to save them for when I've been mortally wounded, but having a stranger in my debt may come in handy."

Wiping her brow with the back of her hand Anna gives Shard a sideways look. "I was just going to ask you to move him on the counter for me but this works too. You're not looking too good yourself."

Taking the water and bandages from Hetty she begins tending to the other wounds. Cole's color seems to be slightly better which is a good indication that the antidote for the poison is doing something positive.

Pondering Shard's question about how Cole even got into the yard she admits to herself that it is odd. "I never said impossible, just difficult. It's possible that he could have climbed the wall which is where some of the cuts would have come from. From what I saw he is certainly athletic enough. But why go through the trouble when it's broad daylight and you can just use the front door? I guess we will have to ask when he wakes up. Hetty I have no idea who he is."

As she finishes she motions Shard to sit on the counter so she can start patching him up. "If you're up to it I'd appreciate help getting this one to a room. Healing is done better when in a comfortable bed."

"To be fair, once I actually have the energy and we are not being attacked, I am placing wards on the surrounding wall which will greatly increase those defenses. Currently I am a bit tapped out."

Watching them work together to bandage the stranger Hetty feels a bit on the useless side just handing things back and fourth. "Someone should probably do something about your wounds as well Anna. I think you're smouldering a bit."

"Before we move him, I would like to remove the spike from his leg, I don't trust leaving it there," he says glancing up from his work and seeing Anna, "you should let her take a look at you, I'm a ranger and not a doctor, would prefer fewer patients as possible."

Then returning his attention to Cole's leg, he cautiously, and weirily removes the spike from Cole's leg, making sure legs young man wouldn't wake up and suddenly attack him from confusion..
Once clear of the leg he lays the spike on the counter and repeats his ministrations of Cole's leg. Wrapping it tightly,
"You should have scene her, Hetty saves us both, it was brilliant."

"I'm fine." Watching Shard remove the spike she's glad she doesn't have to do it. While Anna is very competent in emergency situations, she's not exactly a surgeon herself. Glancing back towards Hetty she notices the chaos of medical and kitchen supplies left in the girl's wake from her search for useful items. There is a mental sigh.

"Running by I caught a glimpse. Your help is appreciated. Defense of the inn in this type of situation is not something I typically ask of my guests or consultants... not that I have ever had this particular type of problem."

Hetty blushes at the compliment. "The area of protection is my specialty. I should be good at it at this point. Though I had never really considered my skills utilized in that particular way I demonstrated earlier."

Catching Anna looking at the counters she begins attempting to put anything that was not deemed particularly useful back where she found it.

"Speaking of above-and-beyond measures, this may be a bad time to ask... never mind. It can wait." In a kitchen full of knives it is probably not the best time to ask about hazard pay. Anna doesn't seem to be in the best mood at the moment.

Finishing with Cole's leg, Shard mumbles "oh you're one of the last of your kind, go to this quaint little inn, meet beautiful women', get maimed by monsters...daily, on and while you're trying to not get killed investigate the veil." Shaking his head he pats the unconscious Cole on the shoulder.

"that'll do, but before I take him to his room I'm going to ask to see your wound as well Miss Annie Okely, and I'm not going to going to accept no as readily as our hero and savior here, who risked life and limb for this town."

Her jaw tenses when he calls her Annie. Taking a bottle of rubbing alcohol she dampens a cloth with it and pushes the cloth against Shards wounded shoulder with a little more force than is probably necessary. She gives him a sweet smile though her blue eyes are a fairly frigid shade of icy.

"Your injuries are more severe." In truth their wounds from today's little adventure are about equal, however she is also considering the stress put on his wounds from the prior evening.

"I will take care of mine later." Anna's tone leaves little room for argument.

Laughing at her comment and the ice in her words, "I'm almost always wounded, and I've grown accustom to bleeding a little, and to rough foreplay. Hell have you ever had to have a wound cleaned and closed on the open sea by a piss drunk second mate? Now that's pain."

Then shaking his head he sighs, "you're human and that creature got you in the back and we've seen and heard of it multiplying from pieces of itself and if the claw was a part of it's body it could very well possess the same properties of our friend from before." Then leveling his eyes with hers,

"So tell me, how certain are you that you got all of it out of your wound, and that a little piece didn't break off and is now slowly feeding on your blood, growing, mutating, adapting?"

Then leaning closer to her ear and in a quiet whisper, says "And thirdly, some of us have never taken a life, but came through in the pinch, and stuff is just stuff, people I find are harder to replace."

As if to prove his point, the spikes he had laid on the counter begin to move, twitch and slowly a little mouth appears, and tiny insect arms begin to sprout forth.

Counting backwards from ten slowly she struggles to resist the urge to pull out one of her knives and give this infuriating man a real reason to be irritated with her. As he leans towards her she feels as though he's trying to back her in a corner but is unsure why doing so is so important to him, her brain more focused on his stance and focus on her than his words.

"I have no interest in getting in a pissing contest with you. As I have said. I. will. take. care. of. it."

Out of the corner of her eye Anna sees movement. Turning her head her lip purse. "It appears you have friends." Oddly thankful for the distraction of the baby creatures, she retreats up the stairs to the sanctuary of her room.

Groaning, he turns to look tiredly at Hetty. "How long do you think it'll take her to realize she forgot her new friend here, as well as where she expected us to put him, and the keys to actually put him there."

Sighing he turns to the baby monsters. "Why am I not surprised," Pulling out two daggers, which he quickly enchants with flames, he brings the dagger down on the mini monster closest to him, and throws the other into the one further away. Pausing to watch and ensure both are burning, he turns to Cole. "Alright now what to do about you? Besides a bath...which he needs and I do not want to do."

Watching the exchange, her eyes wide with shock, Hetty stays out of it not wanting to fan the flames. "I have keys to the unoccupied rooms so that I could see if they had any special wards... And new bandages mixed with water may not be a good idea anyway."

As he kills the baby monsters Hetty chooses her words carefully. "What do cornered animals do when they are scared?"

"Depends on the animal." He answers, "Some play possum, others fight.... let us pray this gentleman doesn't scare easy, he looks kinda big and very well trained, so lets hope stays out to we square him away." Walking over to Cole and picking up from the chair and feeling a bit ridiculous for having to carry him like a child, as he turns to look at Hetty. "Tell no one," and sighs, "Help me take him to the room, I'll need someone to show me the way, get the doors. We'll let him undress himself when he awakens."

Helping Shard, she guides him up the stairs to the 5th bedroom. "I was referring to Miss. Barton. My impression was that of a cornered wolf."

Reaching the door she pulls out a ring of keys and starts looking for the correct one. Finding it she takes it off the ring and unlocks the door, holding it open for Shard.

Groans and head lolls slightly side to side, but he remains unconscious.

Returning to the kitchen, Shard looks around rolling his eyes at the mess. But turns his attention to the small matter of the small mess Hetty made when trying to aid them in them in first aid, he closes his eyes, recalling the order he had previously seen in his first few trips to the Kitchen and proceeds to put everything back in order.

Finished, he retrieves his daggers and discarded bow, and returns upstairs to his room.

Coming in from the backyard Anna lock's the door to the outside behind her not wishing Mr. Cain to visit the areas reserved for staff (and her sanity away from customers when needed). Though she supposes judging by what she has observed from him, the man would not dare lower himself to brush shoulders with 'the help.'

Anna sits heavily in the chair by the fire, catching her breath. Though the feeling of reeling dissipated as she moved away from the remains and Allyster, she was still feeling a bit on the weak side. It is not a feeling she is often faced with and she does not like it.

Glad nobody is in the room and feeling a bit on the petulant side, she contemplates throwing one of the decorative plates hanging on the wall behind her across the room. Knowing she would be the one who would have to clean it up Anna settles on throwing one of her knives at the scarred wall by the door to the tap room.

Figuring she's wasted enough time sitting around Anna pushes herself out of the chair, using the mantle of the fireplace to steady herself. "I am too young to feel this damn old."

Walking across the room she pulls the knife out of the wall, tucking it back in it's sheath and joins the small crowd in the tap room.