Luke’s HAARP Time Warp: Part 7

Marion defeats Cecilia; but at what cost?

Based on a post by somethin fishy, in 15 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.

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 31.

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 saw 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 saw 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 32.

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 saw 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 though 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 33.

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 though 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 saw 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.

He 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 cavalry joined the fray. As soon as Luke saw 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 34.

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 disciplined 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 saw 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 saw 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.

Chapter 35.

Marion starts her life as a ruler.

Luke had just planted his explosive when he felt the first arrow find its way through his armor and hit his leg, but he had no time to think about it for the explosive would be going off in fifteen seconds. He made sure that it was planted right and turned to run. That’s when he felt the second hit. This one was serious for it was in his abdomen. Before he could get out, he was hit once more in his leg. He fought through the pain to make sure that he was out of there in time. He ran out and dove into the open door of a nearby building. As he was passing through the door the charge went off.

Normally he should have been far enough away to be safe, but where he took cover at was right in line with the entryway and the thick stone of the castle wall directed part of the blast back at him. The blast was powerful enough to shake the stone of the building loose. Before long Luke had been pinned under a large piece of rubble. Slowly more rubble came down and Luke admitted to himself that he wasn’t going to make it through the day. He was pinned and bleeding. He couldn’t even reach his wounds to bind them so instead of struggling he decided to send the rest of his life thinking about his beautiful wife and adorable child. He prayed that he had taught enough people enough; so that Marion could led them to a much better future.

Slowly he felt his life drain out of him. He was becoming delirious. He had to be for he could hear Marion calling for him and she sounded frantic and panicked. ‘That can’t be her’ he thought. Marion had been so pissed at him the last time he saw her that she cursed him out and ordered him not to touch her ever again. He began to see more light reaching his eyes and he finished preparing himself to finally leave this cruel world. He felt himself getting lighter and he was amazed by the sensation for it felt like he was being lifted up to heaven, but he had to admit that he would much more likely end up in hell.

‘Oh well, I am a devil dog after all’ and he smiled weakly at that thought. He felt a pair of warm, soft hands on his face and heard Marion’s voice again. As his face turned toward the light, he fought to open his eyes. There was an angel looking down at him with a warm smile on her face and tears streaming down her face. It had to be an angel for she was beautiful, timeless, and had a halo.

It was Luke’s eyes that had moved for Marion could now see the blue of his eyes. Those eyes that she loved so much; more than land, or power, or money. He was alive but barely. She wanted to do nothing more then pull him out of there and take him to bed, but the medical training that Luke had pounded into her head ever since they met; stopped her. She knew that he might have a broken back or other injuries. One of her men found part of a door that they could slip under Luke to lift him out. As they lifted Luke’s massive body out Marion knew that he most likely would die for nobody survived those kinds of injuries.

As she was holding his hand, she felt it go slack. She was finding that it was increasingly hard to hide her tears and so when she saw one of the men that had helped her get Luke out of the rubble break down in tears, Marion could no longer hold it back. She cried and cried. She didn’t care who saw her and didn’t know for how long she cried. She didn’t even know when she finally stopped, but the next conscious thought that she recognized was that she was back in her old room in the castle. She was still in her uniform and still had Luke’s blood on her.

As she swung her feet off the bed, she realized that she felt like shit, she was thirsty, hungry, her hands were killing her, and she was worried about Mackenzie. By now she had admitted to herself that she wouldn’t see Luke until she made it to heaven. She stumbled to the door and opened it. The two guards by the door came to attention and presented arms. She saluted and asked them:

“Where Gabriel was at?”

“She was in the great hall the last time I saw her ma’am”

“Okay” as Marion began to walk that way another thought came to her. “One more thing, what day is it?”

“10 March ma’am”

“I was out for three days?”

“Yes ma’am. The Colonel gave orders that you were not to be disturbed unless your life was at risk ma’am”

“I see. Thank you”

With that Marion was off the find Gabriel. Every soldier she passed came to attention and saluted her with military precision. As annoying as it was Marion was starting to feel a growing pride in her army. They were becoming professionals and had now won two battles against forces of superior numbers. Question was could that trend continue with Luke gone. When Marion got to the great hall, Gabriel wasn’t there, but one of Marion’s female bodyguards was. The guard snapped to attention. Marion actually heard the guards boot heels clicking together. The guard was as stiff as a board, her tits pointed straight forward and her dirty blond hair in a French braid that was barely visible under her helmet.

“Do you know where Gabriel is at?”

“Yes ma’am. The Colonel just stepped out to get some news. I believe she is probably still in the telegraph room ma’am”

“Telegraph room?”

“Yes ma’am. It’s in the small room through that door other there with the two guards on it.”

Marion turned to see Gabriel coming through the door. Her uniform was clean and crisp. Her steps were even and she carried herself with pride. Gabriel hadn’t seen Marion because she was busy giving orders to a courier. As soon as Gabriel sighted Marion, she stopped, snapped to attention, and saluted. Marion returned the salute and walked up to Gabriel.

“Come Gabriel, we need to talk.” They walked into a small room nearby and closed the door.

“So, what all has been going on the last three days?”

“I gave orders to bring the prisoners, from the first battle, to town right after the battle here ended. I figured that they would be much easier to guard here plus we need as much manpower as we can get our hands on so we can get the large number of chores done. I also requested that Alice send every person that she could spare but instead she brought the entire unit. Pollyanna came through the battle without a scratch so she has gone out with a strong escort to map the rest of your lands. We found Cecilia’s treasure hoard and I have been using it to pay the civilians in town to help clean up the town and clean away rubble. I also have been looking into installing plumbing into the castle and eventually through the entire town.”

“What about causalities?”

“Not as bad as it could have been. So far, we suffered eighty dead and a further one hundred wounded. Almost all of them came during the storming of the town. I think that it would have been far worse if we hadn’t gotten here so quickly. So far, we have counted twenty-three hundred dead or wounded out of Cecilia’s army and the rest are prisoners. Seems to be that most of the ones taken prisoner were ones that she had forced into the army. Speaking of her, Alice told me a little while ago that she expected Cecilia to recover.”

“Can you send word that my daughter is to stay where she is at. I don’t want to risk her health by bringing her to this filth hole until we can get sewers installed. Next, set up watch post on our borders for I suspect that the other local nobles will be wanting to take away everything we have won. Then we need to see to the army’s refit and they will of course need some rest, for I expect to be attacked within a week or so.”

“Yes ma’am”

“Gabriel, you’re my lover. There’s no need to call me anything other than Marion when we are alone or with our close friends.” Gabriel gave Marion a warm smile and a quick hug.

“I suspect that you’re right about the surrounding nobles attacking us, Marion. I do know that several of them have had representatives here over the last couple of days asking about you. They remind me of vultures. You know what has truly surprised me, Marion?”

“No, what?”

“That you haven’t asked about Luke yet.”

“Why should I concern myself with the dead?”

“Oh Marion, my darling, you need to follow me, and as your lover I order you to follow me so I can show you something.” Marion smiled and giggled as she followed Gabriel. As they walked, Marion’s eyes were pulled down to Gabriel’s swinging hips Marion was sure that she was exaggerating her hip swing on purpose. Marion checked to make sure that they were alone before she reached down and grabbed a handful of Gabriel’s ass. Gabriel jumped and giggled for Marion had quickly pinned her to the wall. Their lips quickly interlocked as they moaned into each other’s mouths. Gabriel was able to break off, she still had to show Marion something. Taking Marion’s hand Gabriel told her:

“Come on you naughty girl. I really do have something that you need to see.”

“Yes, you do” purred Marion as she rubbed Gabriel’s mound.

“Want am I going to do with you?” laughed Gabriel. “I know. You deserve to have your hot, bare ass spanked!”

“You promise?” asked Marion with a hopeful look on her face. After seeing Gabriel’s ass swinging in front of her had reminded Marion that she hadn’t had a good lay in almost two weeks and that was after she had gotten used to getting fucked several times a day. She just hoped that Gabriel could keep up with her.

“Come on Marion.” Marion and Gabriel walked down the hall, hand in hand. Marion was confused when they stopped in front of the old infirmary.

“It took Alice commanding almost a hundred workers a day and a half to clean these rooms to her standards when she got here.” Gabriel said as they were acknowledged by the guard and let in.

Inside Marion was amazed at how clean the room was. Not only that but there was bed after bed all down the length of the room. Each one had someone lying in it and each one had a chart at the foot of the bed facing the isle. Not only that but each bed had clean sheets on them.

“There’s beds for one hundred in here and they have round-the-clock care from two nurses and a doctor.” Explained Gabriel. “The person you need to meet though is through here.”

Marion followed Gabriel through several rooms of wounded men and woman. Finally, they came to a door. Gabriel flashed Marion a smile as she opened the door and stepped through. When Marion stepped through, she froze. She noticed in passing that she was in an old storage room that had been cleaned, but that wasn’t what had her attention. There in front of her was a single bed with a very large person laying on it and resting comfortably.

“No! No! It Can’t Be!” Marion cried “I Felt Him Die! Gabriel if this is a joke, I swear to God that I will fucking kill you with my bare hands!” screamed Marion.

“No joke my dear. Luke survived. What you felt was just him passing out. Alice guesses that it was from pain or blood loss. He will be confined to a bed for at least a month and will be weak for a while afterwards but Alice is confident that he will recover.”

Marion collapsed to the floor and sobbed. She cried harder than she had ever cried before, because she was so happy. Even when she had gotten married, she wasn’t this happy. Gabriel helped her up and into a chair that was next to Luke’s bed. Once Gabriel was sure that Marion was okay; she quietly left the room and made sure that the door was shut.

Marion sat quietly next to the man that she loved more than anything. The man that had saved her life numerous times before and had given her something that she had never had before, hope. Hope in the present, hope in the future, and hope for her people. As she sat there, unconsciously grabbed Luke’s hand and held it tight. She could feel his heart beat and his warmth. She didn’t know how long she sat there but she did remember a nurse coming and going a few times to check on Luke. Eventually, Alice came in. She was wearing her uniform of course, but over it she wore a white overcoat. She looked just what she was, a military doctor. Alice gently patted a sleeping Marion on the shoulder and she stirred. Marion’s eyes were bloodshot from her crying and her constant dozing off.

“Come on Marion. You need to get some real sleep.”

“No! I can’t leave him again.” Alice gave her a warm but tired smile.

“Marion. Look at me. Look into my eyes” Marion turned to look into Alice’s bright green eyes “I promise that he will be here when you return. His vitals are good and there’s no signs of infection so far. He might develop an infection later, but for now he needs rest and so do you. Oh, before I forget, your sister has been asking for you.”

“Where’s she at?”

“Down the hall, although you might want to clean up before you go see her. You look like shit.”

“Gee thanks.” The ladies shared a laugh. “I guess I should clean myself up. I do kind of smell.”

“Aye. I’ll say you do and “kind of smell” is an understatement.”

Marion stood with a small smile on her face. She kissed Luke on the forehead and left to return to her chamber. When she got there, her bed had been changed and all her extra clothes were hung up. Additionally, Gabriel’s and Luke’s clothes were there as well, and Marion smiled to herself. Suddenly she heard a voice coming from one of the other rooms. She drew her sword and advanced. She burst through the door and found a naked Gabriel bent over a tub with hot water. She stood up and turned when she heard Marion come in. As always, Marion was struck by her beauty. Gabriel’s eyes were shimmering and her long hair was loose, but Gabriel had it draped over one of her shoulders and covering her left tit.

“Well, you going to join me sweetie?”

That was all the encouragement that Marion needed. She had to have Gabriel help her with her uniform for Marion was stiff from sleeping in the chair by Luke’s side. In addition, all the blood on her uniform was hard and crusted. After Marion was naked, she climbed into the tub with Gabriel. The warm water was making her dizzy. They used some soap that Gabriel had brought with her to wash each other. They took turns holding the bar of soap and tracing each other’s bodies. They washed each other’s hair and made sure to comb each other’s hair so they didn’t get tangles and to make sure that all the dirt was out of it. Eventually the water was cold, so they helped each other to stand up and get out. Gabriel went and got some extra water that she had sitting nearby to rinse off with.

They made sure that every square centimeter was clean of dirt and soap. After they had dried each other off, Gabriel got a pair of scissors and had Marion lay back on their bed. She then proceeded to trim Marion’s pubic hair. Gabriel then went and got some more hot water and soap. Marion was confused but things were cleared up when she saw the straight razor in Gabriel’s hand. She shaved not only Marion’s pussy, but her legs and underarms as well. After she was done, Marion felt cleaner than she had felt in a very long time. She then returned the favor to Gabriel.

Marion had more work to do for Gabriel had a thicker bush than Marion; had but all this meant was that Marion got the stare at Gabriel’s pussy longer. As Marion shaved Gabriel’s pussy, she could see the moisture forming on her pussy lips and Gabriel’s inner lips were getting red and swelling up. Marion was sure that hers were doing the same thing. When they were done, they cleaned up all the loose hair; which wasn’t hard because they had put a towel down first.

Their time together, in bed, that night unleased a whirlwind. Marion and Gabriel poured all their passions into each other. Since they were in no hurry, they could take their time with each other. They started with light kissing that slowly became more and more passionate. As their kisses became more involved, so did their hands. They both really loved the feeling of their partner’s bare cunts. As they were getting more into things, Marion suddenly had an idea. She moved to where she could lick Gabriel’s cunt and Gabriel could lick hers at the same time. As soon as Gabriel asked what she was doing; she figured it out. Soon they were licking and kissing each other’s pussies and driving each other wild.

All too soon they exploded in mutual orgasms that left both of them exhausted. It had really been too long since they had been together. As they recovered, Marion started to think. Their clits were like tiny cock tips, so Marion wondered what it would feel like to rub them together. When she explained this to Gabriel, they both agreed that they just had to try it. It took them a few minutes to find the right positions but when they did; the sparks started flying. They got the new heights that neither of them knew existed.

Together they climbed higher and higher. Neither of them wanted to be the first one to cum so they both fought off their own as best they could while trying their hardest to make the other cum first. After almost ten minutes of sheer pleasure, they exploded. They both sprayed all over the other which caused them to cum yet again. Eventually they stopped cumming and they were now beyond exhausted. They couldn’t even untangle their bodies and fell asleep with their legs still wrapped around the other and their pussies still pressed up against the other.

To be continued in part 8, Based on a post by somethin fishy, for Sex Stories.