Chapter 21

Cecilia started getting disturbing reports from some villages as her general and troops settled in for the winter. Marion was beginning to become a pain. Villages were declaring their allegiance to Marion, and she was gathering troops around her. General Kleist wasn’t worried; what could a female rebel and a few villages do to him? In his mind, he had already won the battle. The worst bit of news for Cecilia came in just after Christmas and was that Marion appeared to be pregnant. The first time Cecilia heard this, she performed a pretty good impression of a supervolcano erupting. Even General Kleist feared her because Cecilia had finally shed the last of her nice person persona and was now easier to equate to the devil’s evil twin than a person. Any empathy that she still had evaporated and anyone who crossed her was sent to work in the mines. That was if Cecilia didn’t behead them with her sword first. After a few days and Cecilia had calmed down a little, Kleist asked her about it:

“That fucking whore got herself knocked up by the man I deserve. He was supposed to be mine; do you understand MINE, and she stole him!” She shrieked, “So general, when are you going to get your men into the field!?!?”

“Milady, it is the middle of...” Cecilia cut him off

“MIDDLE OF FUCKING WINTER, MY FUCKING ENGLISH ARSE!! That wench has her army in the field right now, and now I have just been informed she is demanding I leave the British islands altogether!”

“Milady, please calm down. This town is well stocked with food and drink. The army is ready to go, but to fight in the winter is begging for disaster. Give me until spring; then I will scatter that wench’s forces and bring you Luke.”

“See that you bring me Marion’s head on a pike, or the head on the pike will be YOURS. Now get out!”

The general began to ride his troops even harder in focusing on their training. He also began to make a contingency plan if Marion somehow defeated him in battle. He decided to take every man left in his army, race for the coast, and get out of England if that happened. He knew of Cecilia’s vast network, so he would have to most likely head to the port of London to make his escape.

A new problem made itself known in mid-January. The king of England had died, and the throne was passed to Herold Godwinson just as Luke said it would. Cecilia didn’t know this and sent her envoys to meet with the new king and pledge her allegiance. She couldn’t go herself because she had her hands full with Marion. Marion had cut her tax revenue by almost half, making it evident to Cecilia that she would need a larger army to stay in power. By early February, Cecilia conceded that she would need to pull every man out of the mines and turn all of them into soldiers. She would have to rely even more on her general and his sergeants for this. The men from the mines first had to be strengthened because many were skin and bones. They trained hard as they were gaining strength, and food was used as positive and negative reinforcement.

In early February, Cecilia’s only bit of good news was when she found out that she was finally pregnant. She was happy because she could deny Marion’s claims over the area with her having a child. However, by this time, Kleist didn’t care anymore because he couldn’t stand Cecilia. The only reason he stuck around was so that he might still collect his massive bonus for getting rid of Marion, and so he could continue to fuck her hot body. There was this, too; Marion’s troops seemed to have some new type of weapon that made thunder when used. Kleist didn’t put too much stock in these reports, but with so many coming in, he figured that he just had to get a look for himself. Some reports also mentioned some new weapon that could send a projectile through a stone wall from almost 1,000 paces away, which were disregarded. He still couldn’t see how these thunder weapons could affect his heavily armored housecarls, highly disciplined infantry, and lightning-quick cavalry.

At the end of February, more bad news came in. Marion had given birth to a healthy baby girl and had married Luke on New Year’s Day; if this wasn’t bad enough for Cecilia, then the news that Marion’s army was almost as large as hers was much worse. By this time, Cecilia knew where Marion’s main base was. The arrogant bitch had the nerve to set herself up in one of the villages that Cecilia had depopulated and forced into York so she could keep an eye on them. Cecilia then learned she would most likely get no help from King Harold. He was gathering men on the Isle of Wight to face the expected Norman threat.