Chapter 22

On 1 March, Marion received word that Cecilia would be marching her army out of town. Marion had gotten word so fast because she had been able to slip spies into York, and they were all equipped with advanced signaling equipment. They all had a set of flags and knew the code for sending messages. First, they would sneak up to a high place and signal their partners outside the wall. The partner would then send the message back to Marion’s headquarters via telegraph. Luke didn’t use the Morse code from his universe because he couldn’t remember it, so he made a new code. This was another one of the many advances Luke had introduced into the army. It had been a serious stretch and was expensive, but he found enough copper to make enough wire to reach York. The only other thing Luke wished was that the wire had been insulated with rubber instead of pitch and pine tar.

When she heard the news, Marion wasn’t worried; she and her commanders had been discussing this for months. They had all traveled the entire area and studied the land. They knew where it would be to their advantage to fight and where not to; the whole area had been mapped well, and all the commanders had accurate maps. Marion had informed all the villages in the likely paths that when Cecilia’s army started their march, they would need to evacuate or likely be killed. This early warning allowed Marion to gather her entire army and ensure they were sober and fully equipped for the battle.

When Cecilia’s army finally came out of the gates, Marion’s scouts were watching, and with the primitive spy glasses Luke had made, they could count the army as they came out of the gates. They even saw Cecilia was with the army. This was reported back to Marion along with the army’s path.

Marion ordered that all villages along that route be immediately evacuated and burned. Her cavalry units helped the villagers escape harm’s way and even used their horses to help pull wagons loaded with the villagers’ possessions. She didn’t want to leave anything for Cecilia’s army to use. Luke called this tactic scorched earth, and because Marion had helped the villagers get out of the way, they complied with her order. In an unheard-of move for the day, Marion partly paid all the people for their losses. All through the day, Cecilia’s army was watched closely. The scouts had orders to let themselves be seen but only from a distance. They were under absolutely no circumstances to get close enough to endanger themselves.

That evening, Cecilia’s army camped in one of the burnt-out villages, and the next phase of Marion’s plan was put into operation. It was time for more PSYOPS. Gabriella and Pollyanna would move around the enemy camp under cover of night and kill all the guards. If they could do so without being seen, they would also leave signs inside the camp that they were there. Luke would have helped, but he had his own headaches to deal with. His unit in this battle was the artillery; getting them completely ready took some serious time. Ammunition had to be assembled, guns had to be cleaned, and horses had to be groomed.

That evening had been extremely nerve-racking for Marion because she had never been in a pitched battle. She was so nervous that she couldn’t sleep, so she spent time with Luke. Luke was there to comfort her; she couldn’t understand how Luke could be so calm. It wasn’t that he was nervous; it was just he was far better at hiding it. He knew her army had a huge advantage over the enemy, but also, her army was utterly untested, and most had never even been in a battle. If they broke, then they would be cut down. Marion spent the night clinging to Luke whenever she could, as if she was about to drown.

That night, while Marion sat shaking next to Luke, Gabriella and Pollyanna struck. The enemy had many more guards than they had figured, but the duo still eliminated all of them. They didn’t have the time to strip the guards, so they didn’t even try. The goal was to kill as many of the enemy as fast as possible. The problem was that taking out all the guards took so long that they didn’t have time to enter the camp safely. They reported this failure to Marion the following day, but she wasn’t disturbed in the slightest. She privately figured their plan was a bit too reckless anyway. Leaving signs inside the camp would have been nice, but it wasn’t worth the risk to two of her closest friends. As soon as they reported in, Marion ordered them to get a nap. The battle would begin in a few hours, and those two would need to be at their best because Gabriella was the leader of Marion’s bodyguards, and Pollyanna’s engineers would play a critical role in Marion’s plans. Gabriella fell right to sleep, but Pollyanna was too nervous to sleep.

As Cecilia’s army got underway the following day, Marion had her scouts constantly watching. They watched every step Cecilia’s army took and gently encouraged them to go in the way they wanted. Finally, all the scouts broke 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, Marion’s army blocked the road only 500 paces ahead.

Kleist was 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 excellent order. What confused him was why they were still there with his army coming onto the field and getting into battle formation.

As the enemy army came onto the field, Marion couldn’t help but feel nervous. That morning had been okay because she had been busy getting the army ready to go, but now she had no active task to occupy her. 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. But now they could, and Marion found it nerve-racking. Furthermore, she could also see that many of her troops were nervous. This was their first battle, and nobody had ever used weapons like theirs in anger, so they had no way to gauge how the battle would go. Marion 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.

Marion spurred her horse into motion as she, her 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 had to threaten Gabriella with insubordination charges and kicking her out of her bed to get her to stay. As Marion rode out, a great cheer went up through the army. Marion pulled her sword out and drove it into the ground before 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 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 you hold dear to you: your children, your wives, your husbands, and your elders. While I am not sure who will win today, I am sure of what will happen to your families if we lose, and every one of you knows, too. You have the training, weapons, and courage to win a glorious victory here today. The rest is easy!” Marion reached down, grabbed her sword from the ground, and held it high above her head, yelling: “VICTORY OR DEATH!”

Her army erupted in cheer. Within seconds, they were chanting: