Chapter 23

What followed was one of the worst things that Marion had ever seen. The rifles had done their jobs well. Luke designed them to be chambered in 7mm, and they 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, where the rounds had gone through them. The large lead round would usually not go through the body because it would flatten on impact, although some did make it through. Thankfully, one of the things that Marion had set up beforehand was a system to quickly get the wounded off the field and into the hospital. 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 detached 50 of her troops to guard the prisoners while they dug a mass grave for the dead. Marion then ordered most of her cavalry and Pollyanna’s engineers to head toward York and rebuild all the bridges they had destroyed to slow down Cecilia’s army. By the time 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 had to find Cecilia. Marion walked through where the enemy lines had been and had to do her best not to vomit. There was more blood and guts on the ground than Marion had ever seen, including in a butcher shop. There was so much that Marion didn’t even try to keep from stepping in the gore. It took Marion a while, but she eventually found Cecilia. Cecilia was on her back, missing part of one of her legs, and was in shock. Her leg had been taken off just below the knee, so Cecilia had a decent chance as long as she didn’t bleed to death. Cecilia also had a minor shoulder wound. 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 sex toy, Marion 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 wench.”

“Aye, love you too, Cecilia.”

“Get your hands off me, you cunt!”

“Shut up, Cecilia; I am no longer the weak sister you tormented. I am now a mother to a beautiful girl and 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. Cecilia was still cursing at Marion as the stretcher came, but Marion didn’t care because she couldn’t watch her sister die. As Marion turned around, she saw Luke standing there, watching quietly.

“What the fuck do you want, Luke!?!?”

Luke started toward her.

“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME! DON’T EVER DARE TOUCH ME AGAIN BECAUSE IF YOU DO; SO, HELP ME, I SHALL HAVE YOU EXECUTED!” yelled Marion.

She was pissed but had no idea why and didn’t care. Luke looked like he had been gut-punched while being run over. He turned and did his best to choke off the tears Marion had caused when she stabbed him. As he walked back to the artillery, he could see some of them celebrating. Now, it was his temper that went through the roof. They still had some work to do.

“HEY!” he boomed, “GET YOUR FUCKING ARSES 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 arse in gear now before I see if I can kick it through York’s walls.”

The officer turned ghostly white. As big as Luke was, nobody would ever think of crossing him in their right or wrong mind. 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 Gabriella was standing there with a worried look on her face. “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 while Gabriella stood there 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 but out of respect for the locals. After Luke was out of hearing range, Gabriella called over a nearby captain who commanded one of the two companies of the elite infantry.

“Captain, get your troops ready to move out. You will escort Luke’s guns to York; he is getting ready to leave now.”

“Aye, ma’am,” and he was off.

Gabriella had a reputation in the army as a powerful and intelligent woman; soldiers obeyed when she gave an order. In the overall view of things, she was second in command. Gabriella was worried about Marion and Luke. She didn’t know what had set Marion off, and Gabriella suspected Marion didn’t know herself, but she could see the pain in Luke’s eyes. As Gabriella stood there, trying to figure things out, Marion walked up behind her.

“What the fuck are you standing around for?!?! There’s still plenty of work to do.”

When Gabriella looked, she was struck by Marion’s eyes. Instead of the loving, caring eyes that Gabriella was used to, there was now unbridled rage so cold it could have frozen flames. Gabriella had never seen this look on Marion’s face but figured now wasn’t the time to argue, so she saluted and went to help with the casualties.

In the hospital area, Alice was the one to be obeyed. Her first rule was that when someone came in, the uniform came off, and that person was treated as a person. Their place in line was dictated by the severity of their injury, 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 reasonably 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 ensured everyone in her unit was well-rested and had plenty of straight alcohol on hand. They used it to sterilize their hands and tools while using boiled horsehair or catgut for sutures. Patients with a bad chest or head wound would be put aside because Alice didn’t have the blood or time to operate on them. All they got was a visit from a priest. They couldn’t even be spared any alcohol because Alice was using it all for sterilizing.

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 to give her patients something for their pain, but Luke hadn’t had time to develop something practical yet. Yes, they did have primitive aspirin, but it was not something to give a wounded soldier who had lost a lot of blood. As pissed as Alice was about her patient’s suffering, she did understand. Luke was incredibly busy making arms for the army and the machines to make those arms. He had also been busy training new metal workers and training the army. If their army hadn’t won, Alice’s efforts and skills wouldn’t have mattered. Thankfully, she understood this all too well.

Cecilia still fought with everyone and shouted insults at anyone she could see. When she tried insulting Alice, Alice just ignored her. Cecilia couldn’t hurt anyone because she had been strapped down to the stretcher and had her clothes cut off so that Alice could see what was happening. Once Alice was done, she sewed Cecilia up and sent her to the recovery area while she got ready for the next patient.

Pollyanna was dragging; she had been up the whole night before and couldn’t get much of a nap. Now, she was with her engineers working on rebuilding bridges so the army could pass. She used some of her escorts to help cut down trees and move the logs while the rest kept watch. She often switched them out so that the first group could rest while the second group did some work. The cavalry grumbled about doing manual labor, but Pollyanna didn’t care, and they knew it. The complaining was never anything serious since everyone respected Pollyanna and liked her. She was usually easygoing 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 help when needed. Pollyanna’s plans were thrown out the window when Luke showed up with his guns. Fortunately, she had just finished the first bridge, but it was the easiest of the six she had to rebuild.

“Luke, what the hell? You weren’t supposed to be here until tomorrow.”

When he looked at her, she was struck by the pain in his eyes.

“Plans change, Pollyanna.”

“What changed?” asked Pollyanna almost desperately. But Luke didn’t answer.

He 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 gathered their tools and prepared 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 a forced march to York. She knew 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 for the engineers to rebuild the bridges; then, the whole army would leave together. She now had to fight to catch up with her artillery and husband. Although she refused to let it show, she was worried about Luke.

“Gabby,” asked Marion, “do you know why Luke took off like that?”

“No, I don’t, but I might have a theory.” Marion looked at her, and Gabriella continued, “I talked to him just before he left, and the pain in his eyes was almost unbearable. I think it might have had something to do with how you reamed him right after you found Cecilia.”

Marion gasped at this revelation. She was about to offer a rebuke, but a look from Gabriella killed it before Marion could get it out. She had been vulgar toward Luke when he only wanted to comfort his distraught wife.

“Gabriella, honey, please, I need you to do me a favor. Take a company of cavalry and catch up with Luke. Make sure he is safe and doesn’t do anything reckless. I know I have no right to ask this, but can you please do that for me? I couldn’t stand to lose him. He means everything to me.”

“Make sure when you see him again, you tell him and show him what he means to you, Marion. You hurt him very badly, and almost anyone else would leave you after what you said to him,” with this, Gabby was off.

Marion’s world was spinning. Yes, she had won a decisive victory, but her sister was at death’s door. Worse still was how she let her emotions overwhelm her when Luke had just been trying to offer her some comfort. 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 Luke would often say. He would then usually go on about how various politicians and generals throughout history had confused them and lost everything. She now realized she didn’t push him away; she shoved him. Not only that, but she had stabbed him as well. She wouldn’t blame him if he left her, but she would never forgive herself. She would rather die from torture than live with herself if she drove Luke off.

In the meantime, Luke was driving his guns and crews very hard. When he would come up 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, he would use every soldier he had to rebuild the bridge so that it was 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 third stream, none of them bothered to ask anymore. Through the night, he drove everyone hard. He wasn’t afraid to grab an ax and help cut trees, either.

Luke had his guns positioned about 500 meters from York’s strongest gate by sunrise the next day. Luke knew his guns would quickly reduce the fortifications since he modeled them after the 1858 Napoleon smoothbore. However, the first thing he did was send his aide-de-camp, Captain Trent Weatherby, 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, and he had 250 elite men under his command. These were her best and most reliable troops, and she knew the city would be in good hands until she returned. A few days after Cecilia left, one of his soldiers woke him right after sunrise. Anthony was pissed, to put it mildly; he had been up late the night before working over a new batch of whores, and he was exhausted. The soldier told him someone at the main gate had an urgent message for him. So, Anthony lazily got up and got dressed. The bastard had woken him up so he could wait and cool his heels. Anthony saw a single man on horseback when he looked over the wall. 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. Whoever this man at the gate was, he was either very stupid or had a spine of steel because he didn’t as 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, she will be forced to flatten the city walls. She will then move on your works and kill every last one of you.”

Anthony was now royally pissed. Who was this rebel wench to tell him what to do?

“You can tell that rebel wench that if anyone is to surrender, it will be her surrendering to me. She had better hurry up because Cecilia’s army will crush her!”

“Marion has already crushed Cecilia’s army. This is your last chance to save the innocent lives of the people of 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. Marion’s flag was the same as the English flag from Luke’s universe. The flag of St. George. Turning, he yelled to his gunners: