Chapter 3

Marion was the first of the ladies to wake up the following day. Cecilia was not a morning person, so Marion carefully got up so as not to wake her, grabbed her dress, and stepped out of the tent. Luke was up already and had the fire going. He had some fresh fish cooking and water boiling, but he hadn’t realized that Marion was up yet. She stood quietly and watched him, still holding her dress and underclothes in her hand as the sun was about to rise. Finally, Marion got the courage to walk over to him. As she did, she carefully laid her clothes down on a log. Now naked with nothing to hide her body, she walked up behind Luke.

“Good morning, Luke. I trust that you slept well last night.”

“Good morning, Marion. I slept decently. How about you?”

He slept like shit as usual because his PTSD had been acting up, and he had to deal with his damn nightmares again, but Marion didn’t need to know about that.

“That was the best that I have ever slept. Your bedding is by far the best I have ever felt.”

“Thank you, Marion. Breakfast will be ready in a bit. Can you wake Cecilia up?”

“Can we talk for a bit first, please? Cecilia hates mornings.”

“Very well then.”

Luke turned around, and his jaw almost fell off. Marion was the very definition of a goddess. Her skin was pure white and without blemishes. She had about the same size breast as Cecilia, but Marion’s were firmer, with bright pink nipples about the size of a pencil eraser topping them. They were also naturally much harder than Cecilia’s. Luke’s eyes traveled down to her stomach. It was flat, firm, and toned but not thin enough to show any bones. Traveling further south, Luke noticed that Marion’s mound was covered in sparse, curly, blonde hair that was a shade darker than the hair on her head. He could see her pussy lips sticking out slightly, and then there was a small gap between her legs caused by Marion’s hips flaring nicely. Her legs were long and robust, her feet were beautiful, and Luke wasn’t a foot guy. Traveling north, Luke also noticed that Marion had a graceful neck that seemed to scream to him to nibble on it.

“Well, how do I look?”

“Are you sure your name isn’t Aphrodite? You are by far the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and I have met some stunning women.”

Marion smiled and giggled lightly. From the sudden heat in her cheeks, she was sure she was blushing crimson and felt sticky wetness forming between her legs again. Suddenly, Marion was moving like another person. She walked straight up to Luke, reached up to hold his cheek, and pulled him down so she could kiss him. Kissing him was by far the best thing that Marion had ever felt. Her whole body felt tingly, and she wondered if she might pass out from pleasure. This increased when Luke carefully picked her up by grabbing the back of her thighs. Marion then wrapped her strong legs around Luke’s body. She could feel his penis getting hard, further driving Marion’s lust. Then she came back to reality.

“Luke,” she asked, “are you afraid we might go to hell for this?”

“No. Let me ask you something: whose body is this?” He lightly ran one of his hands across her back, causing her to shudder. “Well, darling, whose body is this?”

“Mine?”

“That’s right. And as YOUR body, it is your right to use it as you please. Damn those church idiots who preach one thing, but I can almost guarantee they do the same things they preach against as soon as they are in private. It is perfectly acceptable for you to enjoy your body as you see fit.”

She might have gone even further, but through her lust-induced trance, she heard the unmistakable sounds of Cecilia starting to get up. Marion and Luke let go of each other, and Marion ran over to put her clothes on. She dressed in record time, and by the time Cecilia came out of the tent, Marion was starting to eat one of the fish that Luke had been preparing. Cecilia was clueless about what Marion and Luke were doing; she just assumed that Luke would want to be with her because she was the oldest and thought the smartest. She didn’t know that Luke was deeply attracted to intelligence, and Marion had her beaten badly in this department. Not only that, but being overly religious was a massive turn-off for Luke. While Marion was religious, she was also open-minded enough to investigate new ideas, while Cecilia was about as close-minded as possible. As the three of them ate breakfast, Marion asked about the plans for the day.

“Well, first, we need to check out those clothes we got yesterday to see if you two can wear anything. One, having pants on makes it easier to fight, and two, when we start traveling, it will be much easier for you two to hide that you are women.”

Marion immediately could see the wisdom in Luke’s thinking; by hiding that Marion and Cecilia were women, even if it were only from a distance, they wouldn’t attract as much attention to themselves. She later learned that Luke’s hunting clothes were colored in camouflage, making them harder to spot. Cecilia, of course, was against the idea. She was a lady, not some crossdresser, thank you very much, but when it was clear that even her sister supported Luke, Cecilia didn’t have much choice but refused to wear pants. Marion found some men’s clothes that fit her, and Luke found some that, with some modification, even fit him. He wanted to be dressed like everyone else so he didn’t stand out as much. He could save his modern clothes for special occasions by not wearing them as often.

After Luke and Marion got changed, Luke started going over the basics of self-defense. Marion threw herself into learning and learned fast. Marion had been almost raped once and wouldn’t let that happen again if she could help it. Cecilia wasn’t that interested because of how she looked at it; it was Luke’s job to protect her, not for her to defend herself. After a couple of hours, all three were hungry and tired. Luke got the fire going again and started fixing the last of the food that had been in the carriage. As they ate, Marion sat as close as she could to Luke while not crowding him. Eventually, Cecilia got up to relieve herself. Luke started talking without prompting from Marion as soon as Cecilia was out of hearing range:

“Marion, I have a question for you. Before I ask, I must tell you that the question will sound foolish, but once I explain, I promise it will make sense. However, I must insist that you never tell anyone what we are about to talk about. If my secret fell into the wrong hands and used incorrectly, the destruction that will fall on the world will cast the Battle of Armageddon in the shade.” Marion nodded nervously, “Okay, what year is this?”

“Why, this is the year of our lord 1065. Why, and why must it remain a secret?”

Luke closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and held it briefly before slowly letting it out. Marion was now growing more concerned; she knew that Luke didn’t lack anything in the bravery department, yet here he was more nervous than she had ever seen him, and she had seen him take out half a dozen thugs without breaking a sweat. Slowly opening his eyes, Luke looked directly into Marion’s eyes and said flatly:

“Where I came from, it was the year 2021 AD.”

“What?!?!”

“That’s right, Marion, I come from a different place and time. Since I understand my history well, I know the major events for the next almost thousand years. I fear that if the wrong people get hold of this information, they might try to make short-sighted decisions that would spell disaster for everyone.”

Marion was speechless and stunned; she had fallen in love with this man and now felt she didn’t know him. Suddenly, she stood up.

“Marion!”

“GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU BLOODY DEVIL!! I never want to see you again!”

Luke bowed his head, accepting his fate.

As Marion ran away, she didn’t see that Luke started to cry. He had just lost the second woman he had ever truly loved romantically, which came on top of him losing his entire family and old friends. Luke hadn’t cried since his first love was ripped away but cried again. Slowly, he stood up and started to gather his gear. Looking up, Cecilia was coming back. ‘Just fucking great, the bitch is back,’ he thought.

“Where’s Marion?” Cecilia asked.

Knowing that not telling her would turn out badly, Luke decided to tell Cecilia a half-truth; he didn’t trust her. Luke was a good judge of character, and something about Cecilia made him wary.

“I told her something about myself that upset her deeply.”

“What, are you married?”

Luke smiled slightly. “If it was only that small of a secret, but no, my secret can change the world forever, and if it gets misused, then the horror that would be unleashed is far beyond anything you could ever imagine.”

“Then why did you tell Marion but not me?” Now Cecilia was getting pissed because she didn’t like that Luke trusted her bratty little sister and not her.

“Why? Because I am falling in love with her, the last thing I wanted was to keep my biggest secret from her.”

Marion, in the meantime, was stomping off. She didn’t even know where she was going; she was furious. Eventually, she found herself standing in front of her father’s grave. Luke had given her father his own grave and had even taken the time to make a marker for him. She collapsed in front of the grave and began to weep. She cried harder than she had ever cried before; the man she had fallen in love with wasn’t even close to the man she had thought he was. Finally, she stopped crying and just stared at the marker that Luke had made for her father. Luke had taken her father’s sword and broke it in half. He then carved Charles’s name on it and wrote something else. Then he drove the broken end into the soil at her father’s head. It took Marion a while to read the inscription. For one, it was written in an unfamiliar script, and two, her reading was just good enough to make her way through the bible slowly. Women of this time were seldom able to read. Marion was able to read because she had taught herself. Eventually, she was able to make sense of the writing and once again began to cry, for Luke had written:

“Here lies a proud, brave man who gave his life so his family might live. If I, the man who buried his earthly remains, could be even a quarter of the man that this man was, I would be able to die a happy man. Go in peace now, Charles of York. I promise I will do everything I can to protect your family.”

Marion knew what she had to do and knew what she had done. She was so pissed with herself for turning her back on Luke that she could barely stand herself. Hell, she couldn’t even cry. After all, here was a man: that had saved her from being raped and murdered, that had started to train her in self-defense so that if something like that ever happened again, she would be able to defend herself, and most of all, here was a man that believed that women are at the very least equal to men. Sure, men are usually stronger and faster; however, in terms of mental abilities, he stated multiple times that men and women are at least equals and, in some areas, women are superior to men for the most part. She also knew that Luke would never hurt her and would die to protect her. Finally, Marion stood up, wiped her face off, turned around, and ran off to find Luke before he left. She could only hope and pray that she wasn’t too late. He might turn his back on her, and she wouldn’t blame him if he did after what she had done to him, but she had to try. She couldn’t go on living without knowing.

As fast as Marion ran through the woods, her mind ran faster. ‘Would she be able to find Luke and Cecilia again? Would Luke even talk to her if she could find them? And perhaps the most disturbing thought, would Cecilia try to ensnare Luke?’ The last one was the worst for Marion because Cecilia could never stand to see Marion happy and always went out of her way to make Marion’s life as miserable as possible. Now that Marion had, for all appearances, rejected Luke, would Cecilia try and take Luke before Marion could come to her senses? Is water wet? With this at the front of her mind, Marion pushed herself to run even faster. The brush and branches that slapped her in the face and the thorns that caught her clothes couldn’t slow her down; she just had to find Luke before it was too late.