17 Cora's Horror

Delaney had only been home a few days when Cora came to see her. In the short time they'd been apart Cora had grown thinner and was paler. She looked tired and Delaney worried for her. There was also something different about Cora's attitude that Delaney couldn't quite put her finger on.

"I heard about Constance's father," Cora said as they sat in Aunt Flora's parlor with cups of tea, "It was sweet of Olive's parents to let her stay. And Olive sounds like she's determined to have her live with her and Bernard too if Constance needs to. I wonder what he'll think about that."

"I think he'll be understanding actually. He's seen how close they are."

"Constance can be a pain though. Not as much as Selina but definitely not easy either. I think she might need to try harder for a husband of her own as soon as she can."

Delaney looked at her with disapproval at Cora's words against Selina but Cora ignored it. "I suppose we just have to wait until the men return to see how things will go," Delaney sighed.

They sat quietly for a while, both lost in thought. Delaney studied the girl and how weary she looked and how she seemed different and finally decided to come out and say something to her.

"Cora, have you been well? You look so tired."

Cora smiled weakly, "I've been keeping very busy. Miles is trying to help run all the estates and then also going back and forth to the front. My parent's house just reminds me of my brother so I haven't wanted to be there. I was starting to feel very helpless and useless until I found something recently that's helped."

"Really?" Delaney asked curiously, "What is it?"

"I think it would be best if I showed you. You won't want to wear anything that can't get dirty though." Cora's blue eyes sparkled with mischief so Delaney knew she would have to see for herself what was going on.

An hour later they were in one of Delaney's Uncle's carriages arriving at an estate Delaney had never seen before. Cora told her was called Briarwood and the Earl had recently passed away. Now his wife lived there with her son and grandson who would inherit it.

Her son, the current Earl of Briarwood had gone to fight the dragons and had been wounded terribly. He had returned home to the large manor house and the care of his mother and young son. Once home though they had decided to let their home be used as a place for the injured men to come to be cared for until they were healthy again. Any man wounded in the dragon war was welcome.

The carriage came to a stop in front of the stables and Delaney looked at Cora in confusion.

"The horses have all been taken to Miles' estate, Greythorn so that the stables here could be used for the wounded men once there was no more room inside the house. I came here with Miles one day while he was seeing if there were any men well enough and who wanted to return to the front. I've been here to volunteer almost every day since."

Delaney looked at her in shock, "Volunteer? Volunteer for what? Surely you're not... you're not nursing these wounded men!"

Cora frowned at her, her old attitude coming back, "It's not an easy sight at first I'll admit and the work is even less so... but Delaney these men have all risked their lives and been injured, some gravely, to try to stop the dragons before they are out of control and spread here and we're all in danger. How would we all survive if we weren't safe to leave our homes?"

Delaney stared, open-mouthed. Unable to think of what to say.

"Just come in with me," Cora sighed in exasperation, "This is why I didn't tell you before. I knew you would act like Selina and be too afraid to get your hands dirty."

Delaney frowned at her words, "I've never been afraid to get my hands dirty but this is quite a lot more than that and you know it."

Cora stepped out of the open door then, getting down from the carriage. "Well, I'm going in," she waved a hand over her shoulder, "You can come with me or sit out here and not even try." With those words she turned and marched towards the stables, reminding Delaney of the stubborn little girl she used to be. Before she could build up her dread even further, Delaney lifted her skirts and hurried to follow the other woman.

When they reached the doors Cora stopped and took a deep breath before pushing one open. Delaney nearly jumped as she was immediately hit by the sounds of men suffering. She hesitated but followed Cora inside the dimly lit stables, windows propped open for some light and fresh air but not enough. Delaney stared wide-eyed at the rows of stalls that each now held at least two injured men on cots.

Delaney looked around and felt her stomach knot. All she could hear were the sounds of men crying, moaning, and begging for relief. She raised her handkerchief to her face to try to dampen the smell of blood, rot, and human bodies. There were buckets with clothes hanging out of them soaked in blood and more blood stained the straw-covered floor.

She looked on in horror at the men who laid with missing eyes, ears, or even whole limbs. She knew they had only been hunting the females who couldn't breathe fire but they were extremely powerful monsters with razor-sharp claws and teeth and enough strength to rip apart their prey, animals, and humans alike.

Delaney suddenly pictured Miles in one of these beds. Or Duncan or Bernard or worst of all, Vincent. She imagined them crying out in pain as these men were, as their blood and their life slipped from their bodies. She looked up at Cora with horrified eyes.

"Delaney," Cora started, "It's alright. Don't panic it's just..."

"This is not alright," Delaney hissed, "Nothing about this is alright. I can't be here!"

"Wait!"

Delaney turned to escape and slammed into a man with a bloody bandage covering one eye and his arm in a sling, the other holding on to a crutch he was using. "Miss Delaney," the man attempted a smile, "I thought that was you."

Delaney realized then this was one of the men that had worked in the stables at her school. He wasn't much older than Vincent. "No," she whispered, shaking her head and stepping away from him, "Oh no no no..."

"I'm sorry if I startled you," the man said seeming embarrassed.

"I have to leave this place," Delaney squeaked and rushed past him then, through the shadowy stables. She burst from the doors and into the sunlight and ran straight to her carriage. "Get me out of this horrible place right now!" she shouted to the men there, not waiting for them to open the door for her, she threw it open herself.

Inside the carriage, Delaney heard Cora calling her name as she rushed after her.

"Delaney, I'm sorry," she panted, "I should have warned you more but I just thought...I thought if you came and saw how badly they needed help you would want to help them."

"I will help them how I can. I will send whatever food and supplies I can collect..."

"But they need people to tend to them..."

"And I can't do that!" Delaney shouted at her friend then, her anger coming through as she trembled in fear from what she had seen behind those doors. "I have no medical training Cora and neither do you. I am a woman of class and I will not be here cleaning up blood and infection form injured men. That is a job for the women who know how to do it and haven't been so lucky to be gently reared as we have. I am going home now where I will help in the way highborn women like you and I should be helping! From afar!"

Cora looked at her friend in shock and disgust, "I thought you were better than this Delaney."

"I am!" Delaney shouted and gestured towards the stables, "I'm better than all of this!"

"Fine. I won't be leaving with you," Cora slammed the door to the carriage closed and stormed away, back to the stables and all the horror they held.

The carriage rolled back down the lane the way it had come and Delaney sat alone inside, shaking, with her heart racing and her stomach turning from what she saw. The images of the blood and gore played before her eyes and soon she pounded on the roof for the carriage to stop and flung the door open to wretch into the grass below.

"Are you alright?" one of the men asked fearfully.

"I will be," she managed, wiping her mouth, "Just get me far from here."

Delaney didn't relax again until she was back at home and had demanded a bath be drawn for her. She scrubbed herself raw, wanting to make sure no blood or infection would be on her and had the clothes she'd been wearing taken away.

That night as she slept, she curled in a ball as nightmares plagued her. Everyone was full of images of the people she cared about lining the stalls in the dark stables. Each person brutalized almost beyond recognition. She saw Vincent there, mangled and missing limbs but the image would change and his eyes became empty black sockets. Then blood poured from his mouth as he gasped for her to save him, all the while calling her, "My Lady."