Chapter 239 - Dragon Wounds

Miles immediately dropped his sword and hurried to his brother, a stream of curses coming from his lips.

Delaney ran forward as well, lifting her skirts and rushing to her husband.  "Miles!  What did you do?  How could you!"

"God!  Oh God Vince I'm sorry!  I'm so sorry!"

They both reached him at the same time but Delaney put her hands against Miles's chest and shoved him backward.  He stumbled back but didn't fight it, his expression showing clearly how sorry he was.

"It's alright," Vincent tried, "I'm alright.  It's just..."

"There's so much blood," Delaney said in concern, reaching toward Vincent but not sure what to do.

"I-I can go get the doctor," Miles said quickly, "I can ride into town and..."

"This is all your fault!" Delaney shouted at him.

"Enough!" Vincent said loudly over their bickering, bringing it to an end.  He looked between them with a deathly serious and unamused expression.  Looking down at his good arm, he moved his fingers and was relieved to see them all react.  He was holding onto the upper part of his arm with his other hand, trying to slow the flow of blood from the long, deep slice the blade had left there.  It continued to pour out through his fingers however, coating his hand, both his arms and dripping to the ground.

"It's just a cut," he spoke calmly, looking at his panicked younger brother, "It didn't sever the muscle.  My fingers are all working."

"A-Alright," Miles swallowed hard and nodded although his worried expression remained in place.

Vincent turned a serious gaze on his wife then, "It was an accident, Delaney.  Any other time in our entire lives I would have blocked that.  You saw yourself that I tried to block it.  I just didn't and then there was nothing Miles could do.  We were lucky he managed to pull back or the blade might have gone to my throat instead of my arm."

Delaney nodded but gave no sign she forgave her brother-in-law.  Instead, she moved and snatched his abandoned shirt up from the ground.

"Move your hand," she said quietly to her husband and when he did she wrapped the shirt tightly around the wound.

"Vince, why didn't you block it?" Miles asked, shaking his head as he tried to understand, "You were supposed to block.  I... I wasn't expecting you not to."

"I tried," Vincent said as he took ahold of the wound on his arm again, holding the shirt to it, "But my arm gave out."

"What?" Delaney and Miles asked in unison.

"My arm!" he said louder in annoyance, "My arm gave out.  I moved to try to block but the wound on my shoulder shot pain up my arm and it just gave out and I dropped my sword."

"Your arm gave out," Delaney repeated quietly, looking at the arm in question and the fist-sized dark red scar by his shoulder from where the dragon's tooth had punctured his skin.  Her eyes moved down to the even larger puncture scar on his abdomen.

Vincent saw her looking and his scars darkened in his embarrassment.

"I'll be fine," he said gruffly, turning away from them, "Harris can stitch it up."

"Harris?" Miles questioned, "Are you sure Vince?  It's pretty deep..."

"Of course I'm sure," Vincent snapped over his shoulder at his younger brother, his eyes cold.

Delaney was surprised to hear him talk to Miles like that and wondered if he was angrier with the man than he was letting on.

"I'll go with you," she said quietly and moved to follow him.

"No!"  Vincent snapped again, turning to look at her, "It's just a cut.  I don't need either of you to coddle me.  I'm not a damned invalid.  I can take care of it."

Delaney shook her head in confusion, "Vincent we-we're not trying to coddle you.  We're just worried..."

"Well don't be!" he shouted, louder now, "The two of you just stay here.  Leave me be."

Delaney and Miles stood frozen in place as they watched him storm off towards the manor.  His limp was bad enough now Delaney knew the medicine must have worn off.  Sweat was glistening on his back just from the effort of pushing himself forward through the pain.

"I... I don't know what I said," Delaney whispered as tears gathered in her eyes from her husband's unexpected and harsh words.

"You didn't say anything," Miles sighed, and bent down to retrieve his sword, "He's just being cold."

"But why?"

The man shook his head and stared in the direction his brother had gone, "I don't know."

-

Vincent pushed himself to get inside and get up the stairs to his room.  He just needed to get somewhere he could close the door and be alone.  The servants looked at him in horror and asked if they could help him but he shouted at them to go away.  At the top of the stairs, he met Cora and she was immediately worried.  She asked him things but the pain was overwhelming him so he shouted at her as he managed to get himself into his bedroom by leaning against the wall.  He slammed the door behind him, nearly catching her fingers in it.

Alone at last, Vincent used anything within reach to support him as he fought his way over to his bed.  When he finally reached it he collapsed, a choked cry of pain ripping from inside him.  He smashed his eyes closed against it and felt tears hot in his eyes.

With a shaking hand, he reached into his pocket and found the bottle of medicine inside.  As he tried to pull it out his hand, weak from the injury to his upper arm, couldn't keep a grip on it and it fell to the floor.  Vincent pressed his face into the bed and cried out a pained sob so it wouldn't be overheard.

He pushed himself to the edge of the bed and looked down, seeing the bottle sitting on the floor.  The pain from the dragon's wounds was making his vision blurry as he continued to push himself.  Leaning over the edge of the bed, he stretched his wounded arm out towards the bottle, the effort making the gash pull apart wider and the pain radiating from it increase.  Closing his eyes against it, he at last felt his fingertips brush against the cool glass.

With too much weight over the side, he crashed to the ground, sending blinding pain throughout his body and the bottle of medicine rolling away into the darkness under his bed.  Defeated, a sob escaped him and he closed his eyes as a tear escaped and slid over his cheek.

Just then the door to his bedroom opened and closed but his back was to it so he couldn't see who had come in.  He felt someone reach under his arms and pull him up, despite the heat now radiating from his skin.

"It's alright Vince," Harris assured him, "Don't worry.  I'll get you fixed up here.  Just hold on."

"The medicine," he managed through his teeth, his jaw locked against the pain, "Under the bed...  The medicine..."

Harris dropped to his hands and knees, peering under the bed to try to find the round bottle.  It only took him a moment to spot it so he stretched under the bed and grabbed it.

"Here," he said, pulling the stopper from the bottle and moving it to his master's lips, "Here I've got it.  Take a drink.  Here it is."

Vincent felt the cool glass against his lips and a moment later the sickly sweet medicine touched his tongue.  He took a bigger drink of it than he ever had and coughed as it made its way down his throat.

"There you go," Harris sounded relieved, "That will start to help things.  Now let me see this arm.  Penelope said she saw you were injured when you came in so she came and got me."

Vincent didn't reply.  He held his eyes shut as wave after wave of pain crashed over him.  He forced himself to keep breathing as he waited for the medicine to start working.

Harris pulled the shirt away and examined the wound before immediately pressing the cloth back to it to slow the bleeding.  He grabbed a chair and he brought his little medical kit over with him.

"How is the pain now Vince?" he asked quietly, "Because... Because this is going to need stitches."

Vincent's breathing had slowed now and after a moment he opened his eyes.  The bigger dose of medicine had been just enough to handle the bigger amount of pain.  It was as if a wet blanket had been laid over the fire.  It put out the flames but the red hot coals were still there smoldering beneath it.

"My skin is very hot," he said to Harris now, calm again, "Are you sure you can stitch it with the heat?"

"It won't bother me," the red-headed man assured him, "And I need to do it before you lose much more blood."

"Alright," Vincent said quietly and closed his eyes again.

A moment later he felt the stabbing pain of the needle as it bit into his skin.

-

Delaney and Miles walked slowly inside and met Cora when they were at the door.  They knew immediately by the worried look on her face that she must have seen Vincent.

"What happened?" she asked looking between them, "Miles he said you cut him?"

"It was just an accident," Delaney answered before he could, seeing the guilt on his face, "He thought Vincent was going to block it but... but he didn't."

"He said his arm gave out," Cora frowned, "And he told me to just leave him be.  He wouldn't even let me look at it even though he knows I helped take care of the injured soldiers during the war.  He said he was fine and then he slammed the door in my face."

"I'm sorry," Delaney apologized for her husband, "He's just in pain and... and angry."

"Why is he angry?  Does he know it was an accident?"

"Yes," Miles sighed, "I don't think he's angry with us.  But Cora my darling I think it might be best if we leave."

"What?" Delaney asked in surprise, "You don't have to do that!  I'm sure he'll be fine by dinner and he'll apologize and..."

"I think he needs rest, Delaney.  As long as we're here he's not going to take it.  He won't want to look weak or let on that anything's wrong.  If we go now you may be able to convince him to take some time to recover from all that's happened."

Delaney hesitated for a moment but then nodded.  She knew he was right.  After his outburst though she found herself suddenly nervous about being alone here with her husband.

She went with Cora and Miles to their room and sat with her friend as their things were packed and their carriage was made ready.  It was only about an hour before they were ready to leave.

"Are you sure you won't wait and talk to Vincent?" she asked Miles sadly.

"I can't," he sighed, "He'll talk me out of leaving, and then he won't get better.  Tell him goodbye for us though."

Delaney nodded and hugged him tightly as tears slipped down her cheeks.  When she hugged Cora they both laughed through their tears at her round belly keeping them apart.  Delaney stood at the top of the stone steps and waived as they drove away.

At last, she was alone here again with Vincent.