CHAPTER XXIX
As her general and his troops settled in for the winter, Cecilia started getting very disturbing reports from some of the villages. Marion was starting to really make herself a pain in the ass. Villages were declaring their allegiance to Marion and she was gathering troops around her. General Kleist of course wasn’t worried, after all what could a woman rebel and a few villages do to him. The worst bit of news for Cecilia came in just after Christmas and was that Marion appeared to be pregnant. The first time Cecilia heard this; she went started doing a pretty good impression of a super volcano erupting. Even General Kleist was fearful of her for Cecilia had finally shed the last of her nice person persona and was now easier to equate to the devil’s evil twin then a person. Any empathy that she might have still had evaporated. After a few days and Cecilia had calmed down a little, Kleist asked her about it,
“That fucking whore got herself knocked up by the man that I deserve. He was supposed to be mine; do you understand; MINE and she stole him.” She shrieked “So general when the fuck are you going to get your men into the field?”
“Milady it be the middle of…” Cecilia cut him off
“Middle of fucking winter my fucking ass!! That cunt has her army in the field and now I have just been informed that she is demanding that I leave not only England, but the British islands all together!”
“Milady, please clam down. This town is well stocked with food and water. The army is ready to go, but to fight in the winter is begging for disaster. Just give me until spring then I will scatter that cunt’s forces and bring you Luke.”
“See that you bring me Marion’s head on a pike as well general or it will be your head on a pike. Now get out!”
The general began to ride his troops hard in focusing on their training. He also began to make a contingency plan for if Marion somehow defeated him in battle. He decided that if that happened, he would take every man left in his army, race for the coast, and get out of England. He knew of Cecilia’s wide range network so he would have to most likely head to the port of London to make his escape.
A new problem made itself known in mid-January. The king of England had died and the throne was passed to Herold Godwinson just as Luke had told Marion’s group. Cecilia of course didn’t know this and sent envoys to meet with the new king and to pledge her allegiance. She couldn’t go herself because she had her hands full with Marion.
The only bit of good news was in early February when Cecilia found out that she was pregnant, but by this time Kleist didn’t care anymore. He couldn’t stand Cecilia and only stayed around so that he might still collect his bonus for getting rid of Marion. There was this too; Marion’s troops seemed to be in possession of some new type of weapon. One that made thunder when they were used. Kleist didn’t put too much stock in these reports but with so many coming in he figured that he just had to get a look for himself. He couldn’t see any way in which thunder weapons could affect his heavily armored knights and highly disciplined infantry.
With the end of February more bad news came in. Marion had given birth to a healthy baby girl and had married Luke. If this wasn’t bad enough for Cecilia then the news that Marion’s army was almost as large as hers was worse. By this time through Cecilia knew where Marion’s main base was. The arrogant bitch had the nerve to set herself up one of the villages that Cecilia had depopulated and forced into York so she could keep an eye on them. Cecilia then got news that she would most likely get no help from King Herold for he was gathering men on the Isle of Wight to face the Norman threat. Nobody knew when the Normans would attack but it seemed like that attack could come at any time.
As each day went by, Cecilia became more and more anxious for it was becoming increasingly obvious that waiting to rebuild the army hadn’t been the right call. Marion was gaining strength by the day and she was becoming increasingly brazen for she was raiding almost right up to York’s walls. These raids were becoming more effective as time went on.
On 1 March 1066 Cecilia had enough. She ordered General Kleist and the entire army into the field with strict orders the either succeed or die. To make sure that these orders were followed Cecilia sent a number of her personal henchmen along with the army. It took the general and his officers almost three days to get the troops ready and march them out of town. Their objective was the village that Marion had taken over. Kleist estimated that the march would take about two days and then they would burn the village to the ground and leave no survivors. They would then go on to the other villages and raze them as well. As the general was leaving the city gates, he was shocked beyond belief to be joined by Cecilia and her personal guard.
“If you lose general, then Marion will make sure that I die. If I am to die then I will die in battle.”
The general could barely hide his disgust for Cecilia’s guards were the worst examples of humanity. In addition, woman didn’t belong on the battlefield and the general was going to prove that. As Cecilia rode out with him, the general was getting another idea. During the battle, he would make sure that Cecilia died and he would take over all of her lands.
The first day out of town was pretty routine. The army made almost five miles the first day. They would have made many more but the roads were in terrible shape and the bridges had been destroyed. They also knew that Marion’s troops knew where they were at for they could see scouts in the distance. That evening they made camp around the remains of an abandoned village. Form the looks of things, the village had very recently been abandoned and destroyed. That night, the general’s officers set a heavy guard around the camp. Cecilia’s nerves were trying to get the better of her but she was so far able to fight it. After all the general seemed calm and she was better than any man.
The next morning the whole army knew that it was in trouble for every one of their night guards were dead. This made everyone more than a bit nervous for nobody heard a thing the night before and every one of the guards had their throats slit. The army got going within an hour of sunrise. All over there was signs of Marion’s army. Men and woman lurked in the shadows of the army. If Cecilia’s cavalry charged then the troops lurking disappeared without a trace. As Cecilia’s army came to within a few miles of their goal, they stumbled onto Marion’s army.
CHAPTER XXX
On 1 March, Marion received word that Cecilia was marching her army out of town. Marion had gotten word so fast because she had been able to slip spies into York and they were all equipped with advanced signaling equipment. They all had a set of flags and they all knew the code for sending messages. They would sneak up to a high place and signal their partners outside the wall. That partner would then send the message via telegraph back to Marion’s headquarters. This was another one of the many advances that Luke had introduced into the army. It had been a serious stretch and was expensive as hell but he managed to find enough copper to make enough cable to reach York. When she heard the news, Marion wasn’t worried through for she and her group of advisers had been discussing this for months. They had all traveled the entire area and studied the land. They knew where it would be to their advantage to fight and where not to. They had informed all the villages that were in the likely paths that when Cecilia’s army started their march that they would need to evacuate or likely be killed.
When Cecilia’s army finally came out of the gates, Marion’s scouts were watching and with the spy glasses that Luke had made could count the army as they came out of the gates. They even seen that Cecilia herself was with the army. All this was reported along with the army’s path. Marion ordered that all villages along that route were to be immediately evacuated and burned. Her cavalry units helped the villagers get out of harm’s way and even used their horses to pull wagons loaded with the villager’s possessions. She didn’t want to leave anything for Cecilia’s army to use. Luke called this tactic scored earth and because Marion had helped the villagers get out of the way, they complied with her order. All through the day Cecilia’s army was watched closely. The scouts had orders to let themselves be seen but only from a distance. They were not under any circumstances to get close enough to even remotely endanger themselves. That evening, Cecilia’s army camped in one of the burnt-out villages and the next phase of Marion’s plan was put into operation. It was time for more psy-ops. Gabriel and Pollyanna would move around the enemy camp at night and kill all the guards. If they could do so without being seen they would also leave signs in the camp itself that they were there.
That night Gabriel and Pollyanna struck. The enemy had many more guards than they had figured on but the duo was still able to wipe out all the guards. Problem was that taking out all the guards took so long that they didn’t have time to enter the camp safely. They reported this failure to Marion but she wasn’t disturbed in the slightest. She privately figured that their plan was a bit too reckless anyway. Granted it would have been nice to leave signs inside the camp it just wasn’t worth the risk to two of Marion’s closest friends. As soon as they reported in, Marion ordered them to get a nap. The battle would begin in a few hours and those two would need to be at their best for Gabriel was the leader of Marion’s bodyguards and Pollyanna’s engineers would play a critical role in Marion’s plans.
As Cecilia’s army got underway the next morning, Marion had her scouts constantly watching. They watched every step that Cecilia’s army took and gently encouraging them to go in the way that they wanted them to go. Finally, all the scouts broke away and rode hard ahead of Cecilia’s army. They disappeared around a corner in the road with elements of Cecilia’s army hard on their heels. As Cecilia’s army rounded the corner, there was the entirety of Marion’s army blocking the road only three hundred paces ahead
Kleist was actually a bit impressed that Marion would bring her army out to play. He was further impressed once he studied the enemy lines. Everyone was in uniform and they were in very good order. What was confusing him is why they were still there with his army coming onto the field and coming into order.
As the enemy army came onto the field, Marion couldn’t help but fell a bit nervous. She had faced thousands of men before but since they had fought from ambush, nobody in Marion’s group could see all the enemy at one time. Now they could and Marion found it nerve-racking. Furthermore, she could see that many of her troops were nervous too. She knew that she had to act fast or her army might start to break before the battle had even begun. It was time for Marion to do what only Marion could do.
She spurred her horse into motion as she, her personal flag bearer, and a bugler rode out alone to a spot in front of the army. She had ordered her bodyguard to stay behind and actually had to threaten Gabriel with insubordination charges to get her to stay. As Marion rode out a great cheer went up through the army. Marion then pulled her sword out and drove it into the ground in front of her army. To them the message was clear. Win or die. Retreat wasn’t an option. Behind her Cecilia’s army was forming up but Marion ignored them for a minute. Speaking to her army:
“Men! Woman! Citizens! You all come from different backgrounds and from different villages. You all have been brought together by one thing; Cecilia’s tyrannical rule. This is not about the ruler of these lands, your homes. This is about protecting everything that you hold dear to you. Your children, your wives, your husbands, your elders. While I am not sure of who will win today, I am sure of what will happen to your families and your lives if we lose and every one of you know too. You have the training, you have the weapons, you have the courage to win a glorious victory here today. The rest is easy!” Marion reached down and grabbed her sword from the ground and holding it up high above her head yelled “VICTORY OR DEATH!”
Her army erupted in cheer. Within seconds they were chanting “MARION! MARION! MARION!” Marion rode from one end of her lines to the other. Soldiers took their helmets off and put them on top of their bayonets as Marion passed. The noise was like none that had been heard sense the Romans.
Cecilia sitting on her horse on the other side of the field was dumbfounded. Three horsemen had ridden out in front of Marion’s army. Shortly later that army erupted in cheer. One of the figures drove their sword into the ground. Shortly later the army erupted again. This time Cecilia could make out the words. They were chanting MARION. The three figures they rode from one end to the other. Cecilia was getting the feeling that the figure that had drove their sword into the ground was none other than her little sister. General Kleist was next to her and she heard him give a snort of derision. He turned to his orderlies.
“Order all units to advance.” Then turning to Cecilia,
“You have nothing to worry about. We will kill them all in an hour or so.”
“I hope you are…” That was as far as she got before smoke and thunder erupted from the enemy lines.
CHAPTER XXXI
As Marion reached the far end, she turned to her bugler.
“Send the order to the artillery. Commence firing.” The bugler blew the order and her artillery opened up with a mighty roar. She had ten guns on the field with her today. They were all 12 pound cannons that Luke had been working at frantically for the last month to get done. He had got the bronze for them from old church bells. Now they were in battle for the first time and they were under Luke’s direct command. Marion rode back to where her guards were still at. By the time she had got back, Luke’s guns had reloaded and were firing again. Luke was using solid shot with bagged powder. As Marion looked back toward the now approaching enemy, she seen the second volley hit just behind the enemy ranks. Seeing the look on Marion’s face, Gabriel told her:
“The first rounds went way over their heads.” Marion nodded and turned to one of her messengers.
“Tell the fucking idiots that if they miss again, they will all be hung.”
“Yes ma’am” and she rode off.
“You’re being a bit harsh with your husband aren’t you dearie? After all those are smooth bore guns and this is a new experience for everyone here. Nobody other than Luke has ever heard of technology like this before.” asked Gabriel of Marion. Marion just gave her a hard look. Gabriel might be her girlfriend and her husband, Luke, in command of the artillery but Marion had resigned from the human race and found that she was rapidly becoming a commander and started developing a commander’s point of view of things. Her worries were now for her front-line troops and what would happen to them if the artillery didn’t bleed the enemy bad enough before they got within range. The third volley was on target and hit just in front of the enemy ranks. Since the ground was still solid, this is just what Luke was looking for. Grazing shots, he had called them in the pre-battle briefing. He had explained that with solid shot; you want to hit just in front of the enemy ranks while getting the round to bounce off the ground. This way the round would go through the enemy ranks and kill or wound a dozen or more men at a time. Marion watched as the approaching army had great holes put in it, but they kept coming. When they were within 150 meters Marion ordered the artillery to switch to caster shot. It was time to get serious. When the enemy was only 75 meters away, Marion ordered the infantry to open fire.
The noise was horrendous; the sound of almost one thousand rifles firing at once. Furthermore, the infantry was firing as fast as they could work the bolts and shove another round in. Luke had designed a single shot rifle for the infantry that was based on the French Chassepot rifle from the Franco-Prussian war. The only person to have a repeating rifle on the field that day was Gabriel. Luke had decided not to make anymore of her rifle because the ammunition was very hard to make without the machinery and he had enough other stuff to make first. Eventually he would reequip the entire army with repeating rifles, but he had other things to make first. In the glimpses that Marion could get, she could see that the enemy lines were getting very ragged. The amount of smoke that was produced was by all the rifles firing was so bad that Marion was having a very hard time seeing. A couple of times Gabriel had to grab her horse’s reins to keep Marion from wondering off to find out what was happening. By the time that the enemy had got to within 20 meters of her front lines only a hundred or so remained. Marion ordered a general advance across the whole line and within minutes it was all over. The remaining men surrendered as soon as they seen Marion’s troops charging them. The whole battle had only lasted about fifteen minutes from first shot to last. Marion had given strict orders to not kill prisoners and anyone caught killing a prisoner would get executed by firing squad so the men surrendering were not harmed.
CHAPTER XXXII
What followed was one of the worst things that Marion had ever seen. The rifles had done their jobs well. Luke had designed to be chambered in .58 caliber and they certainly packed a punch. Marion seen some men who didn’t even have heads left. Others had holes the size of her fist in their backs, were the rounds had went through them. One of the things that Marion had set up before hand was a system to get the wounded off the field and into the hospital quickly. Alice would be busy today and probably for the next week. Marion ordered most of her troops to help the wounded and pile the dead up for burial. She detected fifty of her men to guard the prisoners while they dug a mass grave for the dead. Marion sent most of her cavalry and Pollyanna’s engineers to head toward York and rebuild all the bridges that they had destroyed to slow down Cecilia’s army. By the time that Marion’s army got to them, the bridges would be rebuilt.
Now that Marion had the immediate concerns done; she had some personal business to take care of; she just had to find Cecilia. Marion walked through where the enemy lines had been and had to do her best to not vomit. There was more blood and guts on the ground then Marion had ever seen and that included in a butcher. It took Marion a while but she eventually found Cecilia. She was on her back and was missing one of her legs and Marion could see that she was in shock. The leg had been taken off just below the knee so Cecilia actually had a decent chance as long as she didn’t bleed to death. Marion took off her belt and wrapped it around Cecilia’s stump to slow down the blood loss. Although Cecilia had sworn to have Marion killed and keep Luke as her personal fuck toy; Marion just couldn’t stand by while her sister bled to death. Cecilia could barely open her eyes but Marion’s actions did register.
“I see that you are still a weak bitch.”
“Aye, love you too Cecilia.”
“Get your hands off me; you cunt!”
“Shut up Cecilia for I am no longer the weak sister that you tormented. I am now a mother to a beautiful girl and I have an amazing husband. Not only that but I just crushed your army and you are now MY prisoner.”
Marion tightened up the belt and yelled for a stretcher. As the stretcher came, Cecilia was still cursing at Marion but Marion didn’t care. She just couldn’t watch her sister die. As Marion turned around, Luke was standing there, watching quietly.
“What the fuck do you want Luke?”
Luke started toward her.
“Get the fuck away from me! Don’t ever touch me again! If you do try to ever touch me again; I will kill you!” growled Marion. She was pissed but had no idea why and didn’t care. Luke looked like he had been gut-punched while being ran over. He turned and did his best to choke off the tears that Marion caused when she stabbed him. As he walked over to the artillery, he could see some of them celebrating.
“Hey!” he boomed “Get your fucking asses in gear, NOW. I want these cannons facing York’s walls by sunrise tomorrow.”
“But sir…” protested one of the officers “That wasn’t the plan.”
“Plans change. Get your fucking ass in gear now before I see if I can kick it through York’s walls.” The officer turned white. As big as Luke was, nobody in their right mind would ever cross him. The officer recovered soon enough and turned yelling orders as he went. The troops began hitching up the horses and hooking up the guns.
“Luke?” He spun around and Gabriel was standing there with a worried look. “Are you and Marion good?”
“That’s none of your God-damned fucking business, Colonel” Luke turned on his heel and continued to push his artillery to get moving. Gabriel was dumbfounded. Yes, she did hold the rank of Colonel in Marion’s army but Luke had never been formal with her before. Furthermore, he usually tried to avoid blasphemy; not because he cared or even gave a fuck but out of respect for the locals. After Luke out of hearing range, Gabriel called over a nearby Captain that commanded one of the two companies of the elite infantry.
“Captain, get your troops ready to move out. You will be escorting Luke’s guns to York and he is getting ready to leave now.”
“Yes ma’am” and he was off. Gabriel had a reputation in the army as a very powerful and smart woman and when she gave an order, you obeyed. Gabriel was worried for Marion and Luke. She didn’t know what had set Marion off and Gabriel suspected that she didn’t know herself, but Gabriel could see the pain in Luke’s eyes. As Gabriel stood there, trying to figure things out; Marion came up behind her.
“What the fuck are you standing around for?!? There’s still plenty of work to do.” When Gabriel looked, she was struck by the look in Marion’s eyes. Instead of the loving, caring woman that Gabriel was use to; there was unbridled rage. Gabriel had never seen this look on Marion’s face, but figured that now wasn’t the time to argue so Gabriel saluted and went to help with the casualties.
In the hospital area, Alice was the one was to be obeyed. Her first rule was that when someone came in the uniform came off and that person was treated just as that, a person. Their place in line was dictated by the severity of their injury and not which army they belonged to or if they were noble or common birth. Her official rank was Colonel but she would ream anyone who called her that. She was a doctor first and foremost. Almost as soon as the shooting stopped, her work began. By now she was a fairly competent doctor and knew what to do in most cases. If not then she knew enough to guess her way through it. Before the battle she had made sure that everyone in her unit was well rested and that they had plenty of straight alcohol on hand. They used it to sterilize their hands and tools, and boiled horse hair or catgut for sutures.
Alice was the one who got to work on Cecilia when she came in. Alice cleaned the rest of her stump up and pulled a piece of shrapnel out of her shoulder. Alice wished that she could give her patients something for their pain, but Luke hadn’t had time to develop something yet. As pissed as Alice was about her patient’s suffering, she did understand. Luke was beyond incredibly busy with the needs of making arms for the army and machines to make those arms. He had also been busy with training new metal workers and training the army. After all, if their army hadn’t won then Alice’s efforts wouldn’t have mattered. Thankfully she understood this all too well. Cecilia was still fighting with everyone and shouting insults at anyone that she could see. When she tried insulting Alice, Alice just ignored her. Cecilia couldn’t hurt anyone for she had been strapped down to the stretcher and had her clothes cut off so that Alice could see what she was doing. Once Alice was done, she sowed Cecilia up and sent her to the recovery area while Alice got ready for the next patient.
Pollyanna was dragging ass for she had been up the whole night before and hadn’t been able to get much sleep. Now she was with her engineers working on rebuilding bridges so the army could pass. She used some of her escort to help cut down trees and move the logs while the rest kept watch. Every so often she would switch them out so that the first group could get some rest while the second group did some work. The men grumbled about having to do work but Pollyanna didn’t really care and they knew it. The complaining was never anything serious for everyone respected Pollyanna and liked her as well. She was usually easy going but would crack down hard if someone got out of line. It also helped that her husband Matt served under her and Pollyanna wouldn’t hesitate to lend a hand when help was needed. Pollyanna’s plans through were thrown for a loop when Luke showed with his guns. Fortunately, she had just finished the first bridge, but it was the easiest of the four that she had to rebuild.
“Luke, what the hell? You weren’t supposed to be here until tomorrow afternoon.” When he looked at her, she was stuck by the pain in his eyes.
“Plans change Pollyanna.”
“What changed?” asked Pollyanna almost desperately. But Luke didn’t answer. He just led his guns across the bridge, paused just enough for his escort, and continued toward York. Pollyanna then kicked herself into high gear as her unit was gathering up their tools and getting ready to move out.
Back on the battlefield, the dead had been buried and the prisoners were under guard. Marion left half of the remaining infantry to guard the prisoners and Alice while she took the remaining cavalry and infantry and started her march on York. She knew that Luke had already left and she was furious with him. Why had he risked the guns like that? The plan had been to wait a day so that the engineers could get the bridges rebuilt, then the whole army would leave together. She now had to fight to not only catch up with her artillery but to catch up with her husband. Although she refused to let it show, she was deeply worried about Luke.
“Gabriel” asked Marion “Do you have any idea why Luke took off like that?”
“No, I don’t but I might have a theory.” Marion looked at her and Gabriel explained “I talked to him just before he left and the pain in his eyes was almost unbearable. I think that it might have had something to do with the way that you reamed him right after you found Cecilia.”
Marion gasped at this revolution. She was about to offer a rebuke but the look from Gabriel killed it before Marion could get it out. She had been extremely rude toward Luke while all he wanted to do was to comfort his distraught wife.
“Gabriel, I need to you do me a favor please. Take a squad of cavalry and catch up with Luke. Make sure that he is safe and that he doesn’t do anything reckless. I know that I have no right to ask this but PLEASE can you do that for me? I couldn’t stand to lose him for he means everything to me”
“Just make sure that when you see him again that you not only tell him but show him what he means to you Marion. You hurt him very bad.” With this Gabriel was off.
Marion’s world was spinning around her. Yes, she had won the battle decisively but her sister was at death’s door. Worse still was the way that she had let her emotions overwhelm her when Luke had just been trying to offer her a little bit of comfort. After all, Luke had been in battles before while this was Marion’s first real battle. Sure, she had been in plenty of skirmishes before but a skirmish is just a skirmish, a battle is a battle, and a war is a war as her Luke would often say. He would then usually go on how various politicians and generals throughout his history had confused them and ended up losing everything. She was now beginning to realize that she didn’t push him away, she shoved. Not only that but she had stabbed him. She wouldn’t blame him if he left her but she would never forgive herself. She would rather have died then have to live with herself if she drove Luke off.
CHAPTER XXXIII
Luke was driving his guns and crews very hard. When he came to one of the destroyed bridges, he would lead the guns to the nearest ford and continue. If they couldn’t get to the ford then he would use every trooper he had to rebuild the bridge so that it was just good enough. Let the engineers finish it. He needed them to be just good enough to get his guns across. Whenever someone would ask why he was pushing so hard, he would just give them one of his famous looks. That was always enough and by the time they had crossed the second stream, none of them bothered to ask anymore. Through the night he drove everyone hard. He wasn’t afraid to grab an axe and help cut trees either. By sunrise the next day, Luke had his guns positioned about 500 meters from York’s strongest gate. Luke knew that his guns would be easily able to reduce the fortifications for he had modelled them after the 1858 Napoleon smoothbore. The first thing he did through was to send his aid-de-camp, Captain Trent, up to the walls under a flag of truce to demand the city surrender immediately.
Cecilia had left the city under the command of her most trusted and loyal subordinate, Anthony of Essex. She knew that the city would be in good hands until she got back. A couple of days after Cecilia had left, one of his soldiers woke him up right after sunrise. Anthony was pissed to put it mildly for he had been up late the night before working over a new batch of cunts and he was exhausted. The soldier told him that someone at the main gate had a message for him. So, Anthony lazily got up and dressed. The bastard had woken him up so he could wait.
When Anthony looked out over the wall, he seen a single man on horseback. The man had strange green clothes on and an even stranger helmet.
“Whatever you want, make it quick” Anthony snapped. He was from one of the wealthiest families in Essex and knew how to look down his nose at anyone below him and that was almost everyone. Whoever this man was; was either very stupid or had a spin of steel for he didn’t as so much twitch from Anthony’s tone.
“I am here as a representative of Marion of York. She demands that you immediately open the city gates and bring your men out unarmed. If you follow her orders then none of you will be harmed. If you refuse then she will be forced to order the city walls flattened. She will then move on your works with infantry and kill every last one of you.”
Anthony was now beyond pissed. After all who was this rebel bitch to tell him what to do.
“You can go back and tell that rebel bitch that if anyone is to be surrendering it will be her surrendering to me. She had better hurry up to for Cecilia’s army will crush her!”
“Cecilia’s army has already been crushed by Marion. This is your last chance to save the innocent lives of the people or York and surrender.”
“If the cunt Marion won then I am Julius Caesar! Now get the fuck out of here before I put an arrow between your eyes.”
Trent turned and rode back to Luke’s position.
“The commander is being stubborn sir.”
“Figured as much” said Luke. He told his color bearer to uncase the colors and Marion’s flag was unfurled. Turning he yelled to his guns “FIRE!”
All ten of his guns fired at once and Luke had just got his field glasses up in time to see the first volley drive into York’s ancient walls. Luke then turned to watch his crews work their guns. He felt a spike of pride to watch the crews that he had labored so hard to train, go through the firing routine like a fine swiss watch. Within minutes the second volley was on its way and the first parts of York’s walls started coming down. Those walls had never been designed to handle gunfire and especially not the kind of fire that Luke’s guns could deliver. Within an hour, the walls facing them had been flattened and Luke had shifted his gunner’s aim toward some of the more distant walls. As the gunners were shifting their fire, Luke was finalizing plans with his infantry commander when he heard horses behind him. He pulled out his Sig while the troops around him raised their guns and pointed toward the sound. The horses came around the corner and Luke could see that it was none other than Gabriel. She was leading a whole column for she had Pollyanna’s engineers with her.
Seeing who it was, everyone snapped to attention, just like Luke had drilled into them. Luke snapped to attention as well, just like his troops had and saluted Gabriel; she returned it.
“Report please” Gabriel said while looking Luke right in the eye.
“The garrison commander refused to surrender so we were forced to fire on the walls. We have been firing for the last hour and now we are preparing to assault the city.”
“Carry on ladies and gentlemen. From now on through, everyone reports to me.”
Luke turned to watch the infantry from up behind the guns. He knew that he was going to hate himself for the next series of orders that were going to be given but the city still hadn’t surrendered. He had seen firsthand just how dirty unban fighting was and was in no hurry to relive it, but duty still remained.
“Cease fire” Luke yelled to his gunners. They ceased firing as quickly as they had started for, he had trained them very well. Turning to Gabriel
“Permission to begin the assault ma’am”
“Granted.” As Luke was turning Gabriel continued speaking “Luke where are you going? You are not leading the assault.” When Luke turned toward her, she was stuck by the hard look on his face.
“With all due respect Colonel ma’am, but fuck off. You damn well know that there’s nobody more qualified. Also don’t bother trying to send cavalry in for if we end in a fight, they will be slaughtered in the tight city streets.”
Luke turned again and headed off on his horse with his saber in hand. Gabriel was too stunned to even try to stop him. She watched as he rode up to a position in front of the troops and waved them forward with his saber. It was really a beautiful sight to behold, Gabriel had to admit to herself. Every one of the soldiers were stepping in order with guns partly raised and fixed bayonets reflecting the mid-morning sun. Marion’s flag was waving gracefully above them as they moved forward and the musicians that had accompanied Luke were playing Rule Britannia. Gabriel watched as Luke’s infantry approached the ruined walls of York and she wondered if she would ever see him again. Moreover, she worried about what would happen to Marion if Luke happened to get killed.
Marion had been driving her troops hard, but she had to stop for the night. Luke had almost a half a day head start on the rest of the army and he had far fewer troops to move. Plus, he instinctively knew how to handle troops and Marion was still learning. Her army bedded down in one of the burned-out villages, but Marion couldn’t sleep one bit. She was worried about everything. She worried that her sister would die on her. She was worried about her troops and what she was going to do. She was worried that Gabriel would run into an ambush while chasing after Luke. Most of all, she was worried about Luke. She had verbally stabbed her loving husband and then he had taken all the artillery off and headed toward York almost alone. A messenger from Pollyanna had reported that Luke had passed them just as they had finished the first bridge. Marion could only guess at what he would do when he got to York and she only hoped that the guns would be able to convince the garrison to surrender before Luke could launch an assault. If he survived then she didn’t know what she would do for she had caused him to go rogue but she couldn’t just overlook his going off on his own.
The next morning, as soon as it was light enough to see their hands in front of their faces, Marion woke her troops. It would be just a cold breakfast this morning for she wanted to be moving again before the sun rose. They did have a few small problems with getting going that fast and while they were minor, they delayed their departure by almost a half an hour. Finally, they were on the move again. Marion was pushing them hard, almost too hard, but she didn’t care at that moment. All she wanted to do was to get to York before her husband could have a chance to launch an assault. Through their intelligence, Marion knew that while Cecilia had left a skeleton force to guard York; they were her elite troops and were extremely loyal to her. Marion knew that Luke knew that to and she wondered if that was part of the reason that he had done what he had done. That way he could soften up the defenses so that Marion either wouldn’t have to assault York or would just have to mop up.
After marching for a couple of hours Marion’s forces could hear the big guns firing and Marion was relieved. If the guns were firing then Luke couldn’t assault the city. Her heart sank through a few minutes later when the guns stopped. That meant that Luke was ready to attack or hopefully the city had surrendered, but she doubted this. He had stressed over and over again that the infantry had to be ready to attack as soon as the artillery had stopped firing. His was concerned that if they let the defenders catch their wits after the artillery barrage, then they would fortify the rubble and then they would have to fight even harder because rubble was easier to defend then regular buildings. What scared Marion the most was that she knew that Luke knew from personal experience what he was talking about. The only good thing was that all the bridges that they had come to had been rebuilt so Pollyanna had been able to add her troops to Luke’s.
As they continued their march the only sound was that of the birds. It continued with way until they were almost to York. What Marion heard then almost caused her to pass out for she heard lots of rifle fire and some grenades. That meant that some of Luke’s troops were tangled up fighting in the city. Marion double-timed her troops and they rushed toward the gunfire. Just before they cleared the last of the woods, they came on their artillery. They were guarding the guns and far more horses than they should have had.
“Gabriel ordered the cavalry to dismount and follow her into the city to support Luke ma’am” said one of the artillery women who were guarding the guns. All the artillery personal were there because they were the ones that were the hardest to train because everyone of their skills had to be taught to them with no previous foundation like what the infantry and cavalry had. Marion now ordered her cavalry to dismount immediately and join with the infantry to follow her into the fight.
In the city, the defenders were putting up one hell of a fight. They had managed to fortify an area further into the city from where Luke’s guns had pounded. As Luke’s soldiers hit this fortified area, they quickly got bogged down. The fighting was house to house and in some cases room to room. Casualties were heavy on both sides but Luke’s troops eventually got the upper hand through their superior firepower. The scales were tipped even further when Gabriel’s dismounted calvary joined the fray. As soon as Luke seen Gabriel, he started protesting
“Luke shut the fuck up. This is my fight too and I’ll be fucking damned if I let you get yourself killed.”
Together they pushed through the city. As they got closer to the castle, they picked up speed in their advance. Gabriel and Pollyanna were excited, but Luke was getting more suspicious. He expected that the resistance to get worse but it was like the enemy was giving up. When they reached the castle gates, Luke put away his saber and got a satchel charge. There was nobody that he trusted enough to do this yet for they only had one chance. Luke lit the slow burn fuse, and he had thirty seconds to place the charge and get the fuck out of there.
As he charged in, hidden archers started firing at him. He managed to avoid most of the arrows by moving very fast but a couple managed to find their marks. He managed to plant the charge right against the door and limp back into cover before the charge went off. The doors were blown off their hinges and the way was now open for Marion’s troops.
Gabriel led the charge through the now open doors and immediately was glad that she had a pair of six shot revolvers. She shot through both of them and pulled her saber. She hacked left and right. Everywhere she swung, she sliced an enemy combatant. None of them could even get close to her for she was a one-woman killing machine. Her troops flooded through the castle, killing everyone who resisted. It took the best part of an hour before the castle was cleared.
CHAPTER XXXIV
By the time that Marion had caught up with Gabriel, everything was over. Gabriel was literally covered with blood and had lost part of her pinky on her right hand. When Marion found her, Gabriel was administering first aid to a wounded trooper. Marion couldn’t believe the carnage that was before her. The floors and parts of the walls were coated in blood. She had thought that the battlefield that she had just been on the day before was bad; this was far, far worse. When Gabriel noticed Marion standing there, she came to attention and saluted and so did the troops around her. Marion was both impressed and disturbed. Impressed because the simple civilians that had been starving and desperate when they joined her a few months before had now been turned into a discipled army that was now capable of defeating professional armies. She was disturbed because she feared that after today, she might not even know the new Gabriel, or the new Pollyanna, or the new Alice, or the new Luke. ‘Wait’ she thought
“Luke! Oh my God!! Gabriel where’s Luke?!?! Please tell me that you know where he’s at!!!”
“Fuck!! The last time I seen him, he had just planted the satchel charge that destroyed the castle gates. It looked like he had several arrow wounds too for he was limping badly.”
Marion wanted to do nothing more than to run off to find Luke, but she was needed here too. A large number of her soldiers were dead or wounded. To make matter worse, there was also a number of wounded enemy soldiers to take into consideration as well. For the next fifteen minutes Marion was giving one order right after another, but only about half of her mind was on the task at hand while the rest of it was worried about Luke.
Finally, Pollyanna walked up to her. She had several light wounds but nothing too serious.
“Marion, go find Luke. We can handle things from here.” When Marion looked at Gabriel, she nodded. Marion was out the door like lightening. She just had to find Luke. She knew that he wasn’t in the castle but he had made it to the gate. With the wounds that Gabriel described Luke having, he must have taken cover in a very sheltered spot near the gate to protect himself from the blast.
“LUKE! LUKE! WHERE ARE YOU, LUKE?!?!” she screamed. Around her several houses were beginning to burn. Several others had been turned into rubble by the blast from the satchel charge and the grenades that some of her troops carried. She quickly ordered some of her nearby soldiers to start firing the fires for if they got out of control then the whole city and everyone inside it, including them, would burn. Marion was frantic as she looked through the nearby rubble. Her hands had been cut up with her clawing at the rubble but she couldn’t slow down. In truth she never even felt her hands and wouldn’t realize how bad she had hurt her hands until later. She looked and looked but couldn’t find a trace of him anywhere. She did manage to pull several of other soldiers out of the rubble and administer first aid to them until a medic had got there.
Finally, after searching for what seemed like hours, Marion seen a familiar boot buried in the rubble. She knew that it had to be Luke’s for she had never known someone with bigger feet.
“LUKE!!!” she cried “Hold on and I’ll get you out of there. SOMEONE, ANYONE HELP! God, please help me!! Luke don’t you dare die on me!!!”
Several of her soldiers hearing her cry came running up and began to help remove the rubble. Luke and Marion were very popular in the army for they were both fair and honest. They were down to earth and would go out of their way to help their soldiers. On numerous occasions in the past, they had given up their bed while on campaign for a sick or hurt soldier. In many ways, they were more than the commander and founders of the army. They were everyone’s mom and dad.
Slowly they uncovered more of Luke and things didn’t look good. Both of his legs were bloody from arrow wounds. So many arrows had hit him that several had found weak points in his armor. As more rubble was removed, Marion really began to fear the worst for he still hadn’t moved. They found another arrow wound in his side and one of his arms was trapped by more rubble. Several of the soldiers grabbed hold and lifted the piece off of him. It was obvious that his arm was broken.
One might wonder why Luke had taken such risk, just to blow up a door. Well, as long as Cecilia’s troops held the castle, they could rain down arrows and other projectiles on Marion’s troops. Worse, they could launch firebombs over the castle walls and light the city on fire. So Luke, being a marine combat engineer in what he thought of as his previous life, fell back on his training and charged into the breach to blow the doors and let Marion’s troops in. He made sure that he did this because one he knew exactly what to do and two, he was one of the few I the army that wore good enough armor that he might be able to get to the door. Charging in, he fully expected to not live long enough to ever see Marion again. He would have liked to have seen her one last time, to hold her and apologize for angering her.
Finally, Luke’s head was uncovered. Marion was right there and she gently moved his head so she could look at his face. ‘Wait did his eyes twitch?’ She thought. Hope swelled in her heart for she knew just how tough Luke was.