CHAPTER LXI
It was late June in the court of King Hardrada of Norway when a strange man approached him. The man wore just thread bare clothing for he had been traveling for many weeks and his beard was long. The man claimed to have a weapon so powerful that even a mire child who knew how to use it could easily defeat the most powerful and skilled of warriors. When the king heard this; he and his entire retinue fell over laughing but the mystery man was not dismayed. The man stood quietly until the king could recover.
“I have a few of these weapons with me your majesty and I will be very happy to demonstrate their power to you.”
“Very well, if you insist; but you must do this outside because I don’t want my floors soaked with your blood!” The retinue started laughing again but the mystery man just smiled.
Everyone went outside and the King’s best warrior stepped forward in full armor and with his fearsome battle axe shining in the late morning sun. The mystery man just stood there and waited. Finally having enough of this the warrior charged and the mystery man pulled some smallish thing out from under his coat. He raised it up and smoke and flame came out of the end of it. The warrior’s head jerked back and he fell, blood and brains coming out of a large hole in the back of his head. Everyone was stunned for this man had just defeated one of the best warriors in the kingdom without even breaking a sweat.
“How is this possible?!?!” demanding the King. “Witchcraft!?!?!?”
“No, your majesty. I have made a new type of weapon that uses a special powder to propel a projectile forward with enough speed to punch right through the thickest armor that a man can wear and still move. Furthermore, I can teach your people how to make this powder and the weapon that uses it. All I ask for in return is protection from a very dangerous man who told me that if he finds out that I am telling anyone these secrets that he will hunt me down and tear me apart with his bare hands. I believe him for he makes even you look small and weak your majesty; for I have seen him send one of his fists through the side of a barrel. His name is Luke and he is the husband of Marion of York as well as the commander of her army.”
“Very well. But should you fail; I will rip you apart with my bare hands.”
“Yes, your majesty” the man said as he bowed. After the man was escorted out, the King turned to Tostig.
“Well, he comes to us from your area of England. What do you know about this Marion and her husband?”
“I have met Marion on a number of occasions and her beauty would put Aphrodite to shame milord. She is also timid and weak although the way that man talks that might have changed since I last met her. I have never met her husband but last year it was rumored that she and her sister were saved from an ambush by a passing stranger. This is probably the same man as her husband.”
“Very well. We shall see what kind of weapons our new friend can make for us. After all this deal is costing me almost nothing.”
Three weeks later, the mystery man, who had been identified as an alchemist, presented the King with thirty weapons and the men to use them. These weapons were a bit slow to load but they didn’t require too much skill to use which made the soldiers much cheaper to train. These were muzzle loading weapons that used a flint striking steel to set off the powder. Starting with the bullet shapes that Luke used, the alchemist designed a round that was conical and could be easily loaded but would still grip the rifling. He quickly proved that these men could hit their targets at almost three hundred paces away. They would be vulnerable to cavalry but with bayonets for the rifles, that problem was lessened some.
The King was deeply impressed and asked how many weapons like these the man could produce in a couple of months. The man told him that he could probably make a couple of hundred but also that training to use these new weapons was very important because if they were not used properly, they were very dangerous for the user. By now the King had got reports that Marion was now in complete control of York and the surrounding area and nobles that opposed her were deposed of very quickly. She had accomplished this by using the same kind of weapons that this man was making. Tostig was impressed by how much stronger Marion seemed in these reports from when he had known her. Her husband on the other hand was made out to be much bigger than Goliath and stronger than a horse. Some of the reports even mentioned that Marion was in a relationship with the head of her personal guard and to Tostig’s complete surprise the guard in question was another woman named Gabriel. In fact, it seemed like almost a full quarter of Marion’s army was made up of women. This was always good for a laugh at parties and soon Marion’s army was the butt of every joke. What wasn’t a joke however was that it had soundly defeated every single army that came up against it and usually in less time than it took to eat a proper dinner.
Finally, it was time to sail for England. The King traveled first to Scotland where he got extra troops from his ally, Malcom III of Scotland. Then he met up with Tostig’s forces, who had been raiding coastal England, before they made their landing at Riccall. All together the King had about nine thousand battle hardened soldiers. They set up base and they were amazed at how much more advanced and wealthier the area was. The roads were straight and very well made. The village had running hot and cold water and a sewer system to carry away the waste. The houses were made of identical bricks that were as hard as stone and they had tile roofs. The advancements continued inside because most of the houses in this area had toilets and solar hot water heaters already installed. Everyone in the army was simply amazed at how advanced these “primitive English” were. The king was really glad then that he had ordered the alchemist to come along even though he protested furiously.
Before the whole army had even disembarked the King got reports that enemy cavalry had been seen in the area. Apparently, they were scouts for they took off before they had gotten too close. The King ordered his riflemen to be ready and to see if they could shoot the next one, they seen.
Within half an hour, the king heard gunshots and when he went to investigate, he found that one of the enemy scouts had been killed. The man’s gear was very strange for the man was dressed in green, brown, and black shirt and pants. In addition, he wore a strange helmet. When the helmet was taken off the man’s long braided hair came out. Wait, this was a female soldier of about nineteen or so and she was very fit. She carried a strange gun which the king ordered taken back to one of the ships so that it could be sent back to Norway. The knife and sword she carried seemed to be made of a very strange steel so they were put on the ships as well. If they kept getting more loot like this, then they were going to need more ships for their return to Norway.
They continued to see enemy scouts but none of them stayed put long enough to give the riflemen a shot. Finally, after a very long day the army bedded down for tomorrow, they would march on York.
CHAPTER LXII
Gabriel had been frantic to find Marion and Luke. One of the scouts had not returned and the reports said that she had been killed. Apparently, she had been taken by surprise and shot at around two hundred meters.
“Well, that settles it. They have to have rifles; for smoothbore muskets wouldn’t have traveled that far.” Luke stated. He then turned to Marion. “I think that I’m going to be needing Gabriel tomorrow with my rifle. Also, you should get the fuck out of York in case we lose.”
“Luke you might be my husband but I am your commander and I will be with my army tomorrow. I will loan you Gabriel though. Taking out the commanders would make it so much easier for everyone.”
Gabriel had been gifted with Luke’s old rifle and spotting scope once he had started making smokeless powder. He could only make it in small quantities and it was a pain to make but he was able to make enough rounds to train Gabriel in how to be a sniper and he had even trained one of the other body guards to be the spotter. Gabriel nodded and took off to find her spotter so that they could get back to York and get their gear ready before the battle. Gabriel was good enough with Luke’s old rifle to shoot someone’s eye out at fifteen hundred meters. With her using smokeless powder, nobody would see where she was at either.
Marion, Gabriel, and Luke finally retired for the evening after they had checked on the army. The morale was high, the troops confidence in their commander, gear, and themselves. They knew what they were fighting for and were determined to win, no matter the cost. That evening none of the three were really in the mood for any loving. Marion was sad for she had known the scout who had been killed and she had been one of Marion’s friends. Gabriel was worried about Marion and Luke was worried about the coming battle and the future. This would be the first time that Marion’s army had faced a truly professional army and one that had weapons that were much closer to his own. All they did that night was Gabriel cradled Marion while both were cradled by Luke. It took them awhile to fall asleep that night and the next morning came way too early.
Luke made sure that Gabriel and her spotter had ate a large breakfast that morning for he didn’t know when they would be able to eat again. While they were eating, Luke discussed tactics with them. This would by Gabriel’s first time being a sniper and Luke wouldn’t be there to look over her shoulder. He had made sure that both of them were trained well but the real battlefield is very different from training. After the two were done eating, Luke helped them with their gear. He had made both of them ghillie suits based on his old one and had helped them pick out what foliage to use for additional camouflage. The sun was just lighting up the eastern sky when the two of them headed into the marsh that was east of the likely battlefield.
The spot that Luke had picked to do battle was near the original battlefield where the Norwegians had beat the first group of English soldiers. He had his right flank anchored the river Ouse and his left anchored on the same marshland that Gabriel and her spotter were using. He made sure that all of his soldiers had a good breakfast and cooked food for Marion and himself. He always did their cooking in the field because Marion was terrible at cooking while Luke liked to cook. He had woken the dragoons up first for he had a plan. He would send the dragoons in first to raid the enemy camp, just to stir them up so that they would do what Luke wanted them to do. Normally this was something that he wouldn’t have done but they had got a message the day before about a Scottish army that had invaded the Lake District to retake it. Luke had to finish this battle up fast so that he could send part of the army up to deal with the Scots. An additional consideration was that the enemy didn’t really have any cavalry at their disposal.
As soon as the infantry were finishing their breakfast, gunfire broke out in the distance, marking the start of the battle. Luke started working at getting the army into formation and into their positions. They would be positioned along a road with a slight hill in front of it. This way, his troops would have some protection against the enemy riflemen. Luke urged his horse up to the top of the hill so that he could watch the battle down at the enemy camp. From what he could see, his dragoons had caught the enemy with their pants down and were going through them like a buzz saw. Luke began to worry though for if they couldn’t disengage with the enemy before they could from up then they would be at a disadvantage; and he could see that some of the enemy units were getting themselves into formation. Luke turned to his bugler:
“Send the signal for the dragoons to retreat on the double!”
“What’s wrong Luke?” Marion asked.
“Those god-damned fucking idiots are letting themselves get tangled up with the enemy, just like they were ordered not to!”
Luke continued to watch as his dragoons broke contact, but some of them had been too tangled up to retreat. The ones that couldn’t retreat were cut down within minutes. Luke watched as his troops routed and he came really close to blowing a gasket. He had to stop this and he knew just how to do it:
“FLAGBEARER WITH ME NOW!” he shouted and spurred his horse into a hard run. He and the flagbearer raced toward the routing dragoons. Even at this distance, Luke could see the fear on the soldier’s faces. As Luke came closer, the soldiers began to slow down. Luke stopped his horse suddenly, causing it to rear up. As his horse reared up, he took off his helmet and waved it vigorously at the onrushing troopers. Slowly the rout stopped as the soldiers were able to calm down and take heart at Luke’s commanding presence. By the time the first of them passed Luke, they had slowed down to a trot. Luke turned his horse and slowly trotted back to his own lines. He had some misgivings about this commander before the battle and now his misgivings had proven true. He was pissed with himself for not listening to them and it had cost him a number of dragoons.
On his way back to his lines, he placed the commander that had got the dragoons tangled up with the enemy, against Luke’s strict orders not to, under arrest. Since the second-in-command had been killed in the raid, Luke turned to one of the squadron commanders. She was a young woman of about twenty-five or so with a husband and three kids. Luke knew that while she was extremely daring, she wouldn’t take stupid risk like the other idiot had. Her mouth almost fell off when Luke told her of her promotion and he ordered her to get her troops back into formation and to wait of orders.
Luke was almost back to his lines when he heard a sharp crack. He of course knew what that sound was. Gabriel was starting to pick off the enemy. He just hoped that she wouldn’t shoot too fast. He got back to the small ridge and turned to look back over the battlefield. The enemy had been stirred up for they were advancing in force. He was pleased to hear that Gabriel was keeping her shooting slow so that the enemy would have a much harder time figuring out where she was at.
CHAPTER LXIII
The night after the scout had been killed the King and Tostig talked strategy. The King was getting very interested in this land and he was starting to lean toward adding all of Marion’s land to his kingdom. The thing that impressed him most was that the house that he was staying in wasn’t much more than an average house in the area but yet it had running hot and cold water, clear glass in the windows, and had a number of books most of which made no sense to either the King or Tostig. Their alchemist friend was able to read the books and he explained what each book was about. There seemed to be books on everything from medicine to books for children and the King was extremely impressed by the amount of knowledge in this one house even if he thought that most of it was just ridiculous. After the King had enjoyed a hot bath, he went to bed. Normally he would have taken a whore to bed with him, but every civilian was gone from the area before he had arrived. Not fucking a bitch before bed left him feeling something akin to indigestion but he figured that after his victorious army beat the shit out of Marion’s army, he would take her for his own personal whore.
The next morning, the sun was just starting to light up the eastern sky the King was awaken by large amounts of gunfire outside. He bolted to the window and what he seen terrified him. The enemy cavalry had surprised his own forces and were slaughtering them. He tore out of the house that he was staying in without even putting his armor on and started to organize his own forces. Fortunately, his troops were all battle hardened and they hadn’t routed for if they had, they would have been slaughtered. As it was, with the King rallying his forces, the enemy cavalry was forced to retreat and their retreat quickly became a rout. Some of the cavalry had been cut off by his men and they were cut down. They had only managed to catch only fifty or so of the enemy cavalry and when they realized what was going on and they wouldn’t be able to retreat; they fought to the death trying to take as many invaders with them as possible. The King was deeply impressed with their skill and courage. He was equally disturbed though to find that ten of the fifty dead were woman and that they had fought just as fiercely as the men.
Watching the enemy retreat, the King saw two riders came out from the enemy lines. One of them was flying a flag that was white with a red crossed bar through it. The alchemist had told him that this was the flag that Marion had adopted and that she called it the flag of St. George. Whoever these men were, the enemy rout almost halted in its tracks and they were quickly reorganizing. The king started working furiously to get his troops in formation. At first, he was planning on leaving some of his soldiers back to guard the boats, but the cavalry raid had killed a large number of his men and he would now need every man he could get.
Hardrada positioned himself on his left flank, the one closest to the river, and Tostig on the right, closest to the marsh. It didn’t take long to get everyone in formation and they started advancing toward York. Once the troops cleared the village and got out into the open countryside, Hardrada heard a distant crack and he could see that somehow Tostig had been killed. The crack kind of sounded like a gunshot, but nobody could see any smoke and even his alchemist didn’t know what had happened. The king ordered his soldiers to double time it so that they could engage with the enemy forces before more of his men were killed. Every minute or so Hardrada would hear that crack again and he watched as another one of his other commanders would be killed. By now though, they were only about four hundred paces away from the enemy lines. Looking ahead, he seen large pillows of smoke erupt from the enemy position and then he heard a strange whistling sound. He listened as the whistle got closer and watched as a large amount of earth was thrown up in front of them. Before he had time to think, the smoke erupted again from the enemy lines. This time those things hit his men and he watched as a number of his men just disappeared. Hardrada lost all the color in his face. If he stayed out here too much longer, his men would be slaughtered, but he was so close so he quickened the march some more and this time the enemy overshot. By now they were only about two hundred paces from the enemy lines, so the king ordered his musketeers to shoot at anything that moved ahead of them. Almost as soon as his men got into position, the enemy infantry made itself known. There were thousands of them and they were all dressed identically. Hardrada then realized that he had walked into a trap and the cavalry raid did just what the enemy commander wanted it to do. It had tricked Hardrada into launching his attack early. He watched as the front rank of soldiers raised their guns. Suddenly they all disappeared behind a wall of smoke. What happened to his men though was much worse for almost all his own riflemen had been mowed down and a large number of his regular troops had been killed. Within seconds, another smoke cloud erupted and more of his men were mowed down. If things kept on at this pace, they might not even make it to the enemy lines but what surprised him the most was that the front line of enemy troops fired again. This was much faster than his own could fire. Then he felt something hot hit him in the leg and he went down.
Luke had been watching the enemy lines getting thinned out very quickly by his troops. It was now time to finish this battle up. He turned to his remaining cavalry and ordered them to charge. Luke was pleased to see that his new cavalry commander was doing very well despite being in command for only about twenty minutes. Her cavalry quickly overwhelmed the remaining enemy forces and rode all the way to Riccall and managed to capture all the enemy ships before any of them could get away. Now, all that had to be done was to mop up any of the opposing troops that had escaped the trap. The dragoons swept the village, going from room to room. Anyone they found that didn’t surrender immediately was cut down. After the village was cleared, the prisoners were rounded up and marched back toward York. There was work to do and Luke’s troops were looking forward to watching these arrogant foreigners digging mass graves for all their dead and individual graves for all of Marion’s dead soldiers.
As soon as Luke’s cavalry had swept the town and signaled that the coast was clear, Luke ordered the medical corps to get to work on saving as many of the wounded as possible. After they had started out, Luke ordered the artillery to get ready to march for they had to get up north as fast as possible. He would only be sending part of them, for he had reports that King Godwinson was approaching fast and Luke didn’t know how he was going to react to Marion and he wasn’t going to take any chances. Luke then rode over to the marsh and called out for Gabriel. He watched and listened. He had to call for her twice more before he seen the glint of glass. He smiled as he rode over and Gabriel stood up.
“You need to be more careful about the sunlight and that scope darling. I saw it glint in the sun and that is what gave you away.”
“Ok Luke. I will be more careful from now on.”
“Oh, one more thing, you two were never in this marsh and if anyone ask neither of you know anything about shots coming from the marsh.”
“But…” That was as far as Gabriel got before the look on Luke’s face told her shut up and not argue. She quickly figured out that Luke wanted to keep her abilities hidden for as long as possible. She and her spotter started to make their way back through the marsh, making sure to leave as little evidence as possible.
CHAPTER LXIV
As the prisoners were forced to dig the mass graves, the wounded were cleared off the field and since they were so close to York, they were taken right to the new hospital. Alice was very proud of this hospital as well she should be. It was four stories tall and had the world’s first elevators in it. These were used to move patients, equipment, and supplies between the floors. All the windows were covered in two pane glass windows and the building even had central heating and a primitive but effective cooling system. Hardrada had been one of those that had been picked up on the battlefield and now he looked around in amazement at all the sights and sounds. At the hospital he started protesting about having to wait; after all he was a king. Alice was the doctor on triage duty so she was the one who had to calm him down.
“What is all that complaining about?”
“I’m the King of Norway” Hardrada hissed “Why am I still waiting to have this bullet taken out of my leg?”
Alice leaned over and checked his tag.
“Let me explain something to you. I don’t give a fucking rat’s ass if you’re the King of Norway or the god damned fucking pope. When you come in here, the severity of the wound determines the order in which you are worked on and your wounds are not that serious. This is MY hospital and I make the rules here.”
With that Alice continued on her rounds. Hardrada laid there stunned. Nobody had ever talked back to him, ever. Finally, it was his turn to get worked on. He watched as he was taken into a very clean room that was very well lit. Alice was again the one to work on him. She started by putting some liquid over his wound that numbed it and he was amazed at how good it felt. She then used a prob to find the bullet. The king had been lucky in that the bullet had missed the bone. In twenty minutes, Alice was done and one of her nurses finished by putting a dressing on the wound. Hardrada was then taken to a recovery ward, where he was able to look around at all the other wounded men. Almost all of them were his too. Before long he got tired and fell asleep.
Back in the field, Luke was overseeing the 1st division, 1st brigade along with one battalion of dragoons in their preparation for them heading to the lake district. The structure of the army was fairly simple. A division had twelve thousand soldiers in it. It had four brigades with three thousand soldiers each. One of the brigades was cavalry and the division commander would assign cavalry where ever they were needed at the moment. The other three were primarily infantry. Each brigade had three battalions with a thousand soldiers each. This was then broken down into three regiments of three hundred and a one hundred strong artillery unit with ten large guns. Each regiment had three, one hundred strong companies. Each company was broken into three platoons of thirty and a heavy weapons unit. This is where the motors were at and when Luke had managed to get machine guns available, would be here as well. The cavalry had their own artillery in quick firing 75mm guns that were light enough to keep up with the cavalry. So far Luke had one whole division at his disposal and one brigade of what would eventually become the second division.
As Luke was finishing up with helping in the preparations, he got a message that put a temporary halt to everything, King Godwinson would be at York by tomorrow morning and he had almost thirteen thousand troops with him. Luke was hoping to avoid a battle with him but it was far better to be safe than sorry, plus it was only a single day delay and with the railroad, Luke’s soldiers could move much quickly than any other army. He soon got another message but this time from Alice saying that she had the King of Norway in her hospital. ‘Well fuck, this is going to get interesting.’ Thought Luke. He was sure that Godwinson would demand that Hardrada be turned over to him but he was currently under the care of Alice and Luke would do almost anything to support her. Marion would too for that matter. As he watched a cavalry detachment go by, he remembered the commander that he had placed under arrest.
By now the former commander had figured out that she was in deep shit. She had disobeyed Luke’s direct order because she had hoped to win the battle for herself and the glory with it. Now she sat in a dark, cramped cell awaiting her fate. She knew that while Luke was usually easy going as a commander, when he gave direct orders, he expected them to be followed and if you didn’t then you had better have a damn good excuse. She didn’t have that and everyone knew it. She had got into trouble because she had been too reckless again and now her only hope was that Luke would have her executed quickly. She heard the door being unlocked and the guards came in to get her. She went with them, with her head held high for she had accepted her fate and was determined not to show any cowardice. As she expected, she was led into the military courtroom where she seen Luke in the witness area. What really scared her was that Marion herself was the judge and her reputation for being harsh was far worse than Luke’s. Marion read the charges against her and asked for her to explain her actions. The commander figured that she was fucked anyway so she told the brutal truth. She had been glory-hunting and kept advancing when she had seen the enemy forming up because she wanted to win by herself. After the commander finished, Luke was called up to the stand to give his side of things. He explained his orders not to get tangled up and produced several other commanders who had heard the order for he had issued the order in the pre-battle briefing. Other witnesses told of how the commander kept pushing on despite her orders. After all the statements, the jury went into a small room off to the side. They came back five minutes later with the verdict. The commander was found guilty of disobeying direct orders and endangering her comrades. For these crimes, the death sentence was recommended. Marion agreed and the commander was sentenced to be executed by firing squad. The firing squad was to be drawn from the same soldiers who she had formally led. Marion’s biggest problem here was there were too many volunteers for the firing squad. Marion only needed six but instead every trooper that had been in the former commander’s unit eagerly volunteered and fifteen percent of that unit was women. So instead, Marion decided to hold a lottery. The six soldiers had been ***********ed and they and the former commander were led to the execution area. She was blindfolded and stood against a wall. When the squad fired, not one missed their mark for they were all angry with their former commander for she had risked all their lives too many times. Worse it wasn’t to save others which would have been celebrated; it had been for her own personal glory. After all the paperwork was done, her body was taken and buried in one of the mass graves. She would get no tombstone or last rites.
Luke was deep in paperwork when he heard a knock on his office door.
“Enter” then seeing who it was. “Hey Alice. What’s up doc?”
“Ha, ha very funny. I came here to tell you that King Hardrada is now awake and I already sent word to Marion.”
“Ok. I’m on my way” Luke said as he lifted himself out of his chair while thinking ‘I’m really getting too old for this shit.’ When Luke got to the hospital, Marion was already there and talking with the king so Luke walked up beside her. Marion seen who it was and turned her attention back to the king
“Your majesty, may I introduce my husband and commanding general, Luke. Luke, meet King Hardrada of Norway.”
Luke hated nobility and Marion knew this so this could get interesting. Luke nodded toward the king and as Marion figured, Luke was being purposely insulting of the king. ‘Oh well’ she thought. Hardrada of course had been offended and was trying to challenge Luke to a dual. Marion of course put an end to this for she knew that Luke would crush the king and Marion could get a lot of money for the king if he was kept alive. She pulled out her gun and pointed it at the king while she told Luke to go away until he could stop acting like a child.
“I am terribly sorry about that your majesty but my husband hates nobility even though I am nobility as well.”
This was to show just how powerful she was to the king. Marion had known a head of time just how Luke would act because that was how he always acted with nobility. Of course, Marion had hoped that Luke would be polite but he actually didn’t know the proper procedures for dealing with royalty and more to the point didn’t care so Marion used this to her advantage. After Marion had managed to get the king calmed down, they actually had a nice talk and Marion found out about how he had got the guns and she learned that the alchemist had been killed during the battle. By the time that Marion and Hardrada were done talking, Luke had left and it was dinner time. Marion then had an idea. She asked Hardrada if he would like to come to dinner with her, not as a king but as a guest. This, she explained would keep her husband down and would actually help the conversation. Since Hardrada was hungry and didn’t have much else to do, he agreed. Marion got permission from Alice to take Hardrada out of the hospital, as long as she brought him back after dinner for, he was still her patient. Marion ordered a stretcher for the king and took him back to the castle. When they got to the castle Marion excused herself so that she could get changed while the king was taken to her dining room.
For the entire trip, the king was deeply impressed with just how advanced Marion’s lands were compared to his. They had hot and cold running water, working sewers, clear window glass, lamps that produced an amazing amount of light form just a little flame and the flame burned cleanly. Luke wasn’t an electrical engineer and he was having problems getting things with more voltage than the telegraph to work properly. He knew that eventually he would get there, it’s just that electrical things were not instinctive to Luke like mechanical or chemical things were. The king had just got settled in his chair when Luke came in. Luke was clean and was wearing regular clothes. Luke had been told by Marion to be on his best behavior or he wasn’t going to get laid for a week. Honestly Luke didn’t really care but figured ‘oh well, I could be civil for an hour or so.’ Since the king and Luke were alone for a minute, they took the time to take stock of each other. Hardrada had never met a man that was as big as Luke or as kind for it was almost immediately clear to the king that Luke was very considerate of people around him and Hardrada thought that he might be able to use this to trick his way out of captivity. It took the king a while, but he eventually figured out that Luke was actually very intelligent and was very good at hiding it when he wanted to. Furthermore he was completely loyal to his wife and her word was law.
The men had been talking for about ten minutes when Marion and Gabriel joined them. To Luke’s delight, Marion had also brought Mackenzie with her. Usually, Luke would eat his supper while he held Mackenzie on his lap. He would always give her small pieces of whatever he was eating and usually she would eat it; it just took her awhile. Mackenzie would always light up any room that she was in for she has at the age where she was really cute to almost every adult and could always get them to smile. She did the same that evening. Hardrada actually forgot for a little while that he was technically a prisoner as Mackenzie played with his large fingers. He actually felt like he had sat down to a simple family dinner and he had actually forgot what it was like and seeing Mackenzie, Gabriel, Marion, and especially Luke laughing and smiling as they ate warmed the king’s heart tremendously. They had one ugly moment when the Luke told the story of his background, Hardrada called him out on it.
“I know that you are lying about where you came from, NOW tell me why.” Demanded the king. Luke just looked at him and his face got hard as he handed Mackenzie off to Marion.
“Yes, I am lying about my background and I could care less about who you think you are, I will not tell you about where I came from. When I first came here, I was plenty strong enough to stove you into a horseshoe and I am in much better shape now then I was.”
“I second that.” Said Marion with a smirk causing Gabriel to blow the wine that she had been drinking all over. The ladies started laughing and Gabriel fell off her chair when Luke blushed. Normally he never blushed but this time he did. All this laughter helped settle the room back down again and the rest of dinner went by smoothly.
After dinner, Marion had the king taken back to the hospital telling him;
“Sorry doctor’s orders and you are under her care.”
After the king had been taken away Luke, Marion, and Gabriel discussed what to do about Godwinson’s approaching army. They decided that in the morning, they would go out with the bodyguard unit and a squadron of cavalry to talk to the king and try to avoid hostilities.
CHAPTER LXV
The next morning, the three of them woke up at about 3 am. Luke wanted to be out of town before the sun got up so that if they had to fight the king, he would have some room to fight before they got to York. After Gabriel got dressed, she went to wake up the rest of the bodyguards while Luke went to get the cavalry ready to go. Marion went and made sure that the other commanders were up so that they could race out of York at a moment’s notice. Within an hour, the welcoming party was ready to go and the rest of the army was stirring. Marion’s party rode out on the road that they knew Godwinson was on and just as the sun was lighting up the sky, they found him. His army was getting ready to march when Marion’s party came into sight. Luke ordered the squadron to hold their position, stay out of sight, and not attack unless Godwinson attacked first. Next, he had a flagbearer come with him and Marion to meet the king. The eleven of them galloped up to the king’s army. Once at the guards Marion told them;
“I am Marion of York here to see the king.”
The guards were not sure of what to do with her for they were not use to women being in the field and half of Marion’s party were women. Luckily, before one of them could make a wisecrack about that, an officer came up. He had served in one of the armies that Luke had crushed a couple of months before so he knew who Luke was and he had heard tales of Marion. Seeing her in the flesh, he could see that the tales were true. He sent a messenger to the king and invited Marion’s party to dismount. They politely refused and the officer didn’t blame them. After all, if he had been in their position, he wouldn’t have dismounted either.
The king came up and Marion’s party then dismounted, even Luke. He saw no benefit in insulting the king at this time, after all he would be dead in a couple of weeks. Marion kneeled before the king and Luke was glad that he wasn’t the ruler of the area because he definitely wouldn’t kneel before anyone but God. When the rest of the party kneeled however, he had a problem but Luke being Luke remained standing. Fortunately, Marion was prepared for this:
“I would like to apologize for my general not kneeling your majesty” she said without even looking at Luke “but the only person he will kneel before is God, although he has kneeled before me before I suspect that was mostly for show.”
“You never looked back, how did you know that he refuses to kneel before the rightful king of these lands?” asked the king.
“Your majesty. That man is not only my army’s commanding general, but he is also my husband and has saved my life a number of times over the last year and a half.”
“Ah” The king then moved around to stand directly before Luke and actually felt more than a little uneasy for; he had never met a man that was so large.
“You do know that it is a crime not to kneel before the god chosen ruler of these lands?”
Marion held her eyes shut and cringed for she knew what was coming and she wasn’t disappointed.
“God chosen, seriously?” sorted Luke “No king or queen is chosen by God; they are chosen by men who are too lazy or ignorant to rule themselves. Do you actually think that God really cares what happens down here on Earth; after all he is eternal and we are mortal?”
As Marion had feared the king had set off Luke’s temper and there was no going back now.
“Do you not believe in God?” asked an increasingly angry king.
“Fuck no. I have seen more death and destruction caused by people in the name of their god then I care to remember. As far as I am concerned, I have the right to my beliefs as well as EVERYONE else and as long as those beliefs are practiced peacefully then I have no problems with them. That is one reason why I encouraged my wife to protect any Jews and ALL other religious groups in the area.”
Marion now knew that she would have to act fast before the king and Luke came to blows.
“Excuse me your majesty” she said as she wormed her way in-between Luke and the king “what my blunt husband is trying to say is that as complex as God’s word is, it helps to have as many viewpoints as possible to try to further our understanding of it. Plus, we are all God’s children so why should the Jews or any other group not be protected as well. And while on the Jewish question, was Jesus not Jewish himself after all and did he not die so that all of our sins be forgiven?” She then turned to Luke and shifted to modern English “Before you make an even bigger ass of yourself, why don’t you go do something useful, honey”
At first Luke was pissed and then he smiled:
“Admit it, you just like watching my ass as I walk away!”
Every one of the guards had to stifle a laugh and Marion had to bite her tongue.
“Luke, go so you don’t get us into deeper trouble. Please?”
“Fine” Luke then grabbed hold of Marion’s ass and picked her up so they could share a kiss and of course she instinctually her wrapped her legs around Luke. Before he put her down, they starred into each other’s eyes for a moment, just to tell each other that everything was good and that they loved each other. Luke gently put her down and remounted his horse. He raced back to the top of the hill that was hiding the rest of the troops and he turned to watch over Marion’s group.
When Marion turned back to the king, she could see that he was still mulling over what she had asked him, so she waited for him to finish. Finally, he appeared to finish.
“Well, that is a matter for another time. I need to get going so that I may be able to beat back those damn Vikings and my treacherous brother.”
“Actually, your majesty, that is why we came here this morning.”
Marion turned and gave the signal. A small band of horses came over the top of the hill, escorting a liter. When they got to the king; Marion asked the king to come with her as she went over to the liter and pulled back the sheet revealing the king’s dead brother. She just hoped that he didn’t ask too many questions about the type of wound that he had received for when Gabriel shot him; the bullet had blown off the entire of the back of his head. The king looked sad for a moment before he shook himself back to the present.
“As you can see your majesty, we have already defeated your brother and his Viking allies. In fact, King Hardrada is as this moment recovering from a leg wound back in York and before you ask, none of the Viking army escaped.”
“I must go see Hardrada for myself you understand. I feel that I cannot simply take your word for it.”
“Of course, your majesty. Your army is welcome to come into York as well, as long as they behave themselves and leave their arms back in their camp.”
“My army will travel where ever they choose and they will not disarm!”
At this Marion’s guards instantly became more visibly alert.
“I am sorry your majesty, but your army will not be permitted to bring their weapons into York”
At this the King drew his sword. Within a blink of an eye all of Marion’s guards had their weapons out and Gabriel moved to where she was between the King and Marion. In the distance, Marion could hear the sounds of her cavalry escort moving and within moments, they became visible over the top of the hill with Luke right out in front.
“As you can see your majesty, I have an army at my back as well and they are ready, unlike yours. Plus, if you really insist on trying to fight me, you WILL be the first one killed for the young woman in front of you will kill anyone who threatens me.”
Marion was doing her level best to stay calm and she hoped that the king would see reason. Gabriel at least hadn’t drawn her weapons yet but it was clear from her posture that she could within a fraction of a second. The king then did something stupid as he tried to move Gabriel to the side. she flipped him over her body and onto the ground. As she was flipping him, she managed to get his sword away from him. She then held it to his throat and demanded that he back down and apologize to her mistress, Marion. Marion then gently moved Gabriel out of the way as she offered her hand to help the king get back up which he took. When he was back on his feet, Gabriel returned his sword to him.
“As you can see your majesty, I was not joking and unless you want that army behind me to attack then I strongly suggest that we come to terms. You can come into York to see Hardrada for yourself, you can retain your arms, and bring alone one armed guard. Your army can come into York as well as long as they behave themselves and they leave their arms back in their camp. If they misbehave then they will be subject to the laws of the people of York. Also, while Hardrada is in my care, he will not be harmed for he is currently under a doctor’s care and her word is law in the hospital.”
“Her word?”
“Yes, your majesty. We believe in equal rights for both men and woman. That is one reason why a good size part of my army is made up of women. The head doctor is a woman, one of my best engineers is a woman, and of course my head guard is a woman.”
The king took a deep breath. Marion had him over a barrel and they both knew it. If he wanted to confirm that Hardrada’s army had indeed been crushed then he would have to accept Marion’s terms for her army was ready to charge while his was mostly getting ready to march and it would take them some time to get into proper formation.
“Very well, I accept your terms.”
“Good! How soon will you be ready to go?”
“Not long.”
“My troops will escort you to York then. Just make sure that your men understand that they are to be on their best behavior while in MY lands. As long as they behave then nobody will have any problems.”
Marion turned away with her guards, remounted, and rode back to her army. The king meanwhile was a bit dumbfounded. How the hell did things come to this; him being beaten by two different women. Flustered he turned to give the orders to his army. After he was done, he quietly observed Marion’s army. Even at this distance, it was obvious that her army was a professional one and the king couldn’t help but to get a little bit jealous for most of his was levy spearmen. Finally, his army began to march and as promised, Marion’s army escorted them to York. As they got closer, everyone in the King’s army was deeply impressed with just how advanced everything was. The roads were better than anything they had ever seen before and the farmers working the fields were doing so much faster than any of the king’s men had ever seen. People barely stopped what they were doing to watch their king’s army and truth be told, the king found that more than a bit disturbing. It was clear to him that their loyalty was with Marion, not him. What he found even more disturbing was just how professional Marion’s army was. They were all uniformed identically and they followed orders without question. They weapons were very strange and the king became to suspect that the reports that he had been getting of their devilish weapons were not some fairly tale, but the truth. He was even more confused when he seen his first train. Marion had stopped the army at a crossing so that the train could go through. Then turning to the king, Marion explained
“Trains, your majesty, always have the right of way for they cannot stop quickly.”
This train was loaded with military equipment headed for her lands in the land district. It was one of her artillery units that was getting a head start being that the train was going that way anyway. After the train passed, they continued on their way. Marion led them to a large field, just outside of York. It was the same field that the peasants had kept their livestock in during the Sheffield invasion.
“Your men can set up their camp here your majesty. Just make sure to remind them NO WEAPONS ON THEM WHILE IN THE CITY OF YORK!”
With this, Marion’s army disengaged and returned to their barracks while Luke came up beside her. The two of them watched as the king’s army began to set up camp. After the king had seen to the important things, he and his guard rode up to Marion.
“I wish to meet with Hardrada now.”
“Yes, your majesty. This way if you please.”
With that Marion and Luke turned their horses to head into York. Going into York, the king felt like he was a child going into the big city for the first time. It had changed so much since he had been here in February. The city was now clean, the people were healthy, and they were everywhere. Even though it was September, the king could smell no sewage at all. The roads were no longer dirt but were made out of some kind of very strange stone. There were trees and shrubs planted along the sides of the road. People seemed like they were in a constant hurry, but they all waved to Marion and Luke. The king then noticed that the old houses were being slowly replaced with new ones that were made of brick and stone. New construction was happening everywhere it seemed. Along the street, he noticed oddly shaped metal objects that were painted bright red. Finally, he had to ask his host about all these things.
“What are all these things that I am seeing?”
“Not to worry, but we will answer at least most of your questions after you meet with Hardrada and we eat some lunch” responded Luke.
They rode on until they came up to a large brick building with many windows in it. Once there, Marion led the way to a stable around back where their horses could be taken care of. They were quickly let past the guards on the entrance to the hospital. Alice had insisted on having guards that were paid by the hospital; one to take care of some of the more combative patients, two to deal with people that might try to steal medical supplies, and three to keep people who might wish to do her patients harm out. Once inside both Luke and Marion removed their helmets and kept them in the crook of their left arm.
As the four of them were going into the ward were Hardrada was, they came across Alice.
“Hey doc” chirped Luke “How’s our Norwegian guest doing?”
“Not bad considering one of my nurses gave him a black eye.”
“He made a move on her?”
“Yep, but I think he learned his lesson. The worst thing hurt is his pride but that’s his problem not mine.” Luke smiled at this as they entered.
Once again, the king was amazed. This hospital was clean and bright. Wounded or sick men and women were in beds on either side of the aisle they were walking down. By now he was starting to forget all the questions that he wanted to ask Marion for he had so many. Finally, they stopped in front of a large man with a black eye.
“Your majesty, may I have the pleasure to introduce to you King Hardrada of Norway. Luke and I will leave you three alone for some time. Just remember that he is under my protection and if you hurt him then you will have to deal with Dr. Alice and she is far worse to deal with then I am and I have castrated men who crossed me before.”
Marion and Luke stepped away so that the two kings could talk in private. Watching, Luke whispered to Marion.
“I’m going to go and get the first brigade and elements of the fourth ready to go fight those damn Scots.”
She nodded and Luke turned to leave.
“Oh, before I forget, what would you like for lunch, sweetheart?”
“I’m thinking that I will have probably have a sandwich and a pint. Can you tell Gabriel to come and find me please for we need to discuss security while Godwinson’s army is here?”
Luke pulled her in for a deep kiss before he left. After Luke left, Marion felt someone come up beside her and out of the corner of her eye, she could see bright red.
“Well doc, how soon can you release him?” Alice smiled at this. She was finding that she loved to be called doc.
“Just a couple of days. There doesn’t seem to be any infection and drainage is a minimum. Speaking of infections though; I need Luke to get me some kind of general antibiotic for we are losing too many to simple damn infections. From what I have been able to determine, most of those damn infections are staph so I have ordered all surfaces to be cleaned. Also, I’m going to need more surgical tools so that the doctors that I’m training can have enough tools. Good news though; Luke’s suggestion about the smallpox vaccine appears to be working quite well and hopefully within a month or two, I will be ready to begin full scale vaccinations.”
“Ok, I’ll talk to Luke about your stuff and that’s excellent news about the pox vaccine.”
The ladies stood there for a couple of minutes while the kings finished talking. Godwinson then walked over to Marion.
“He is your problem milady. After all your forces captured him, so it would only seem fair that you should get his ransom.”
“Thank you, your majesty. Now may I introduce to you Dr. Alice. She is the one that runs the medical side of things here in York.”
“Your majesty, it is a pleasure to meet you.” Alice said
“A woman doctor? I thought Marion was joking!”
Alice’s face flushed with anger as she growled
“Now listen here you fucking idiot. So, what if I don’t have a cock swinging between my legs. The advantage of that is that I don’t have to think with my balls! But I tell you this; I am the best doctor in the world right now. If these FACTS anger you then that is your fucking problem and you can get the fuck out of MY hospital.”
The king was taken back, after all nobody talked to the king in such a manor. He was surprised to see the same anger in Marion’s face as well. It was clear to him that he had crossed some kind of line. What scared him though was what he saw behind Marion. Standing in the doorway was a very angry Gabriel and an even madder Luke. Luke walked over to a fireplace and picked up one of the tools, he made sure the king and his guard were watching as he proceeded to bend the formerly straight shaft into a series of small loops with his bare hands. The king’s face turned ghostly white seeing this for he had never seen someone do that. When he turned to look at Hardrada; he was met with a smile and a shrug. After all, Hardrada had already learned the hard way that you do not insult the women here. The king then very wisely apologized to Alice and to Marion. The four’s tempers began to cool down after that and the king was glad to see Gabriel and Luke relax so Marion’s next words surprised him.
“Would you like to have lunch with us and we could begin to answer some of your questions?”
“Yes, I would.”
“Then come with me please.” Marion said bye to Alice who went back to her duties as Marion led the king, his guard, Gabriel, and Luke to the castle. Outside the king could see that his men were starting to come into York and they were just as amazed as he still was.
It was a short ride to the castle which by this time was packed with offices for administration. Finally, they were able to get their food and sit down. They proceeded to answer many of the king’s questions but when it came to where Luke was from, the king was met with silence and looks telling him that he definitely should not go a step further with those questions.
The king stayed with Marion and asked questions for the next couple of hours. He was deeply impressed that she, Luke, and Gabriel were such charming host as long as he was careful of what he said. Eventually though the elephant in the room had to be addressed. Why did Marion have such a large army in the first place?
“The answer to that your majesty is very simple” explained Gabriel “if Marion didn’t have her army, then we would all be dead and a large number of the people of York would also be dead at the hands of Cecilia. It was either fight or die; the people fought and won.”
As soon as Gabriel finished, a messenger interrupted. After Marion heard the message, she invited the king to come with them. The five of them went to the train station where a part of Marion’s army was getting ready to leave to fight the Scots. The troops and their equipment caused wonder for the king and his guard. Uniforms everywhere, all the troops had the same kind of weapons, most of all was the large number of women that made up Marion’s army. Marion though was watching Alice and Markus for he was deploying with the army to the lake district. She thought it was a bit funny watching Alice behave the same way that she did whenever Luke had to leave for combat missions.
CHAPTER LXVI
After Marion’s army left, the king went back to his. They would end up spending five days in York until he received word that the Normans had finally landed. The king left immediately and started to recall his army for most of them had left to go home and tend to their crops. Luke estimated that the king would only be able to get maybe six thousand troops by the time he got to Hastings. Before the king had left, he did ask Marion for some of her troops, but she refused. Most of her army was keeping order, or fighting the Scots, or being refit. At least that’s what she told him. In reality she was readying her army for when William won the Battle of Hastings. She had done this at Luke’s request and by now she had figured out at what he was angling after. He wanted her to be Queen of England and help led them to an enlightened future to hopefully avoid the pitfalls of his own history. As much as Marion hated lying to her own king, she did have to admit that Luke’s path was probably the best one that she could take.
Just two days after Godwinson left to confront the Normans, Luke got some very bad news from the lake district. It appeared that even he had gotten cocky in that the army that he sent up there didn’t have adequate recon capabilities. While they had been tangled up with the Scottish army to their front, a force a cavalry had snuck around them. When they attacked, they had targeted the medical unit first.
At first the reports were contradictory, one said that the army had been routed, another said that they had won a great victory. After spending all day in the telegraph room, Luke had the whole picture. Yes, the army had won once again, but the losses were very heavy. Almost half the army had been killed or wounded and it was only due to the talent and extreme bravery of the commander that the entire army had not been annihilated. One of the worst reports was that the entire medical unit had been wiped out. Every doctor and nurse had been killed when the enemy cavalry had surprised and overran the field hospital. Among the confirmed dead was Alice’s fiancé. The commander also recommended him for the highest honors possible for he had fought the cavalry long enough for the commander to get his message of the attack and organize a response. If he hadn’t done that, then the army probably would have been wiped out. Luke was deeply saddened for he knew just how much Alice and Markus loved each other. As he was leaving the room, Marion entered. She was really happy until she seen the look in Luke’s eyes.
“What happened…. Luke what’s wrong?” He didn’t say anything; he just handed her the report.
“Oh my god!!” exclaimed Marion after she had finished and her hands flew to her mouth.
“Yep, and now I have to tell Alice that I was a fucking dumbass and got her fiancé killed. Excuse me please darling for I want Alice to hear the news from me instead of through the grapevine and I want to do it before I go get that bottle of booze that I’ve been saving for a rainy day.”
“Luke, I’m going with you for Alice is one of my best friends and I signed off on the forces that you send up there.”
When they found Alice, she was in her hospital office and was in a really good mood.
“Hey Marion, great news! Markus’s priest says that he can marry us as soon as he gets back. I CAN’T WAIT!!” she squealed.
Marion forced herself to smile weakly “That’s good Alice.”
“Something wrong Marion? I haven’t seen you this quiet in a long time.”
Marion tried to talk but all she did was tear up. Finally, she couldn’t take it and ran out sobbing.
“Luke, what happened?” Alice was now worried.
Luke kneeled down in front of Alice and took her hands “Alice we just got some very bad news from the front. It seems that I got cocky and we paid for it. Almost half the army that went to the lake district has been killed or wounded. It seems that they suffered a surprise attack in the rear while they were tangled up with the Scottish army in front of them. Now I haven’t got a full causality list yet but it has been confirmed Alice… Markus is dead. It seems that the medical unit was right in the way of the attack and they were wiped out. Markus has been recommended for the highest honors possible for he was able to fight off the enemy just long enough for the commander to save the rest of the army. I am so sorry Alice.”
Alice was now in tears for Markus was her life. She had never really had luck with men because she was a strong-willed woman and had no intention of quitting being a doctor. She fell into Luke’s arms and sobbed. He held her and cried with her for he had liked Markus tremendously even though Luke had never told him so. They then heard someone come it. It was Gabriel, Marion, and Pollyanna. Matt wasn’t available at the moment, but Marion had sure that he got word as well. Marion had told them the news and they had come to help comfort their friend. Marion had also brought Luke’s booze. This was some of the strong whiskey that he had made while he was working on the alcohol supply for the hospital. Pollyanna put five glasses out on Alice’s desk and Marion poured everyone a drink.
“I DON’T WANT A FUCKING DRINK! I WANT MARKUS BACK!” screamed Alice
“Alice. Shut-up and drink” stated Pollyanna
Luke raised his glass:
“To Markus and all of the others that we have lost. You might be lost but you will not be forgotten.”
With that, they all downed their glasses with Alice immediately demanding another which Marion poured and Alice gulped down. Marion refilled the glass again but this time Luke stopped the glass from getting to Alice’s mouth.
“Come on Alice. Let’s all get out of here.”
Luke guided them back to the castle where they ended up in Marion’s chambers. Everyone by now had heard of the disaster so they all gave the five space. Back in Marion’s chambers the drinking continued with the exception of Gabriel because she was pregnant. The remaining four drained Luke’s supply which wasn’t too big to start with, thankfully. It had been enough though for the four to get plastered. Gabriel slipped out and got Matt. Being that Pollyanna was wasted, it would take both of them to get her back into her bed. Matt simply picked Pollyanna up and put her over his shoulder while Gabriel got the doors.
When she got back Luke, Marion, and Alice were passed out for which Gabriel was thankful for because she hated dealing with drunks. Luke had passed out on the coach, while Marion was in their bed, and Alice was in Luke’s favorite arm chair. Gabriel went around and put covers over everyone. She then got a shower and got into bed with Marion, spooning her softly. Gabriel had to admit though that if she hadn’t been pregnant then she would have been wasted too. Eventually she fell asleep.
Sometime during the night, Luke was disturbed by someone playing with his cock. Between the booze, the darkness, him still being mostly asleep, and the awesome feeling; he couldn’t tell who was working on his cock and Little Luke didn’t care. Eventually whoever it was rose up and slowly sank down Luke’s organ. It should have occurred to him that the person working his cock had seemed a little timid and had winced a little when Luke’s cock first entered her but it didn’t. All he knew was that his cock was in someone really, really tight and really, really hot. Luke tried to grab her hips, but she smacked his hands down. Up and down, she moved; her tight pussy had a death grip on Little Luke and Luke had to admit that it felt like he had put his cock into a furnace. After a few minutes, the pussy’s grip tightened even more as Luke watched her stiffen up and start quivering. This was too much for Luke as he thrust his hips up and deposited a massive load of hot sticky cum into her tight cunt. With this, the lady got off and covered Luke up. Luke for his part passed back out.
The next morning Luke’s head was killing him. When Luke went to get up, he noticed that his penis was sticky like it had been inside someone. This brought back the memory of the night before for he thought that he was having a dream. Now he was curious as to who had ridden him. He figured that it wasn’t Marion for she was much louder and he hadn’t noticed an expanded belly on the person ridding him. He fixed his pants and got up. Marion and Gabriel were still sleeping so he was quiet. He then noticed Alice sleeping in his chair. Luke looked at her and started thinking. ‘No way it was her’ he thought as he staggered into the bathroom to wash up and relieve himself.
When he came out, the ladies were all getting up. At least he felt better after his cold shower, the water heater hadn’t had enough sun yet to warm up. He stopped by Marion and Gabriel.
“Ok I got a question for y’all. Which one of you lovely ladies rode little Luke last night?”
Marion and Gabriel looked at each other. They rubbed their hands on each other’s pussies.
“Wasn’t Marion.” Claimed Gabriel
“Wasn’t Gabriel.” Moaned Marion. “You sure one of us rode you last night?”
“Well, someone did for I thought I remembered someone riding me last night and when I got up this morning, I was sticky.”
About this time Alice got up and she was limping slightly. Gabriel and Marion, both caught it. So did Luke as soon as he looked at Alice’s walk. Marion was about to say something when Luke stopped her.
“Alice” he said softly “Can you come here for a minute, please?”
“Can it wait? I have to pee.”
“No, it can’t and it will only take a moment.” She stumbled over.
“Did you impale yourself last night?” she just looked confused.
“He means dearie” said Marion, softy “did you have sex with him last night?”
“NO!”
“You sure?” asked Gabriel “for your legs are telling a different story.”
“Look, I’m a virgin! I know I still have my hymen because Markus seen it one day when he was eating me out and I looked at it myself with a mirror. I was going to give it to him on our wedding night! IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE ME THEN LOOK FOR YOURSELF!”
With that, Alice dropped her pants, laid down on the bed and spread her legs wide. Luke didn’t want to look but he wanted to know who had rode him and Alice was the last choice. He hoped and prayed that it wasn’t her for she had been through enough already and the last thing he wanted to do was to add more for her to worry about. Marion gently pulled one side of her pussy back, while Gabriel pulled the other side back. When Luke looked, Alice’s hymen was gone and she had dried cum on her pussy and in her flaming pubic hair. Marion and Gabriel seen this too. The three looked at each other and Gabriel went to the bathroom to get her small mirror. Marion was the one that got elected to break the news to Alice.
“Alice, darling. It was you last night. Your hymen is gone and you have dried cum on you.”
“Marion of York, you are so fucking full of shit!” Alice screamed.
“Take a look for yourself.” Marion said as Gabriel handed the mirror to Alice. Alice checked herself out and when she seen that they were telling the truth, she burst into tears again. She just couldn’t believe what she had done. Here they had been fighting to make men and women equal and she had just raped the man that had saved her and had given her life real meaning. She was going to run out of the room when Marion caught her and sat her down on the bed. Marion looked at Gabriel and Luke. They got the message and quietly left.
“Alice” said Marion, softy. And Alice looked up. Her face was a wreck. She had tear streaks all over, she had bags under her eyes, and her eyes were red and bloodshot. “Did you know what you were doing last night?” Alice just sat there quietly for she was in a state of shock. “Alice?” asked Marion again. Now the flood gates opened for Alice.
“No! I swear I didn’t know! I would never do anything… I mean… Well, what I mean is…” that was as far as she got before Marion put her finger over Alice’s lips and Alice started sobbing again. As Alice was crying, Marion pulled her to her and hugged her tightly until she was able to calm down a little bit. Alice for her part was expecting for Marion to have her arrested for rape.
“You have nothing to fear Alice for I am not angry with you. I just wish that you had told us that you wanted to get laid so that Luke could have made you a woman correctly.”
“What?? You mean that you’re not mad at me for raping Luke.”
“No, I’m not. I should be furious with you and have you arrested but you have been under so much strain with everything going on and then to lose the man that you love the most before you can even get married. I mean damn, I doubt that I could live with that. Considering this, I can’t see myself doing anything to add to your problems, but honey I do have one request.” Alice looked at her. “Next time you want to get laid, just ask Luke. Its fine with me if you want him to show you how to love or even to give you a child. I mean he has already given Gabriel and I one, plus he is a very considerate and thorough lover. I highly doubt that you could do any better. I know that I can’t.”
Alice just sat there in disbelief. Marion had just given her permission to sleep with her husband and for him to knock her up, if she wanted it. This was something that secretly Alice had wanted but she had been afraid for Luke had always seemed so tough and demanding, plus he was with Marion already. She broke down in more tears, but this time they were tears of joy. She wrapped her arms around Marion tightly and held on until she had cried herself out. Once she had, Marion told her.
“Come here tonight Alice.”
Alice excused herself so that she could clean herself up before she started working for the day and Marion went to tell Luke about Alice. She found both Luke and Gabriel in the telegraph room. As she walked in, Gabriel told her
“Looks like you get to negotiate with Scotland too. The armies clashed again only this time, your army not only completely routed theirs, but captured almost all of it, including King Malcom III. We also got a message that…” Gabriel stopped there and looked around “We need to go somewhere completely private” So Luke took them to his office and locked the door once the three of them were inside. Once in Gabriel continued “The Battle of Hastings unfolded exactly how Luke said it would; King Godwinson is dead and his army has been routed. We won’t know for a few days yet how the nobles will react though.”
“So, it’s starting is what you are saying. I need to decide if I want to become the Queen of England or stay a local leader.”
“That is exactly what we are saying Marion and I personally recommend that you work to becoming the Queen of England for the Normans won’t let you stay a local leader.”
“I second that” chimed in Luke. “You will have a huge advantage in that you already know what kind of pitfalls are ahead for humanity and hopefully under your leadership, everyone will be able to avoid the worst of them, hopefully.” Marion was now starting to panic a little for in the back of her mind, she had never expected this to happen.
“I need a few days to think this over.”
“Of course. We do have some time before you need to decide and by waiting a little bit, it would be less suspicious anyway.” Luke said. Marion looked at him and nodded. Gabriel was getting ready to leave for she had a few things to do but Marion stopped her.
“We all have one other thing to talk about.” Luke and Gabriel looked at her and waited for her to continue
“I had a talk with Alice. First, she feels terrible about raping you, Luke. I mean really, really terrible. Now I kind of promised her that you would teach her how to love and you would make love to her tonight. I also kind of told her that if she wants a child that you would be her sperm donor. I hope that’s ok Luke?”
“Marion, seriously. I really wish that you have asked me first. How would like it if I promised you to a bunch of men.”
Marion was going to protest but thought about it for a second. He was right as usual. It was her turn to burst into tears.
“I’m so sorry Luke!” she whaled “I wasn’t thinking. I just seen one of my best friends in pain and thought that you would help her. I’m so sorry! I truly am! Please forgive me! Please??”
“I wasn’t mad at you, Marion. Just please don’t offer me to anyone else. You know that I was a one-woman man and it took me a while to accept Gabriel as a regular lover. Now before you ask, I will be happy to help Alice through this difficult period”
“Thank you, Luke. Has anyone ever tell you that you’re the greatest.”
“Yep. That’s been mentioned a couple of times.”
Marion laughed as she swayed against Luke, and she ended up just hugging him tightly. The feeling of Luke’s powerful body in her arms reminded her once again that she was the luckiest woman on Earth. She had a loving husband who supported her completely and she had loyal friends that would die to protect her.
The rest of the day, everyone was doing their jobs. Luke and Alice were in constant communication with the lake district army about handling wounded and prisoners. Alice ordered a very small medical unit to leave immediately and get up to the lake district to help with wounded. Luke had sure that they would get top priority for transportation and any needed supplies. Meanwhile Marion and Gabriel had loads of civil administration duties to take care of. Finally, it was dinner time. This time Alice joined Marion, Gabriel, and Luke. This was the first time that she had done that for normally she would eat either in her chambers or in her office.