Chapter 41

Gabriella had been frantic about finding Marion and Luke. One of the scouts had not returned, and the reports said that she had been killed. She had been taken by surprise and shot at around 200 meters.

“Well, that settles it. The Norwegians must have rifles; smoothbore musket rounds wouldn’t have traveled that far.” Luke stated once Gabriella told them the news. He then turned to Marion. “I think that I will need Gabriella tomorrow with my rifle. Also, you should get the fuck out of York in case we lose.”

“Luke, you might be my husband, but I am your commander and will be with my army tomorrow. I will loan you Gabriella, though. Taking out the commanders would make it so much easier for everyone.”

Gabriella nodded and took off to find her spotter so they could get back to York and get their gear ready before the battle. She had been gifted with Luke’s old rifle and spotting scope once he had started making smokeless powder. He had been able to make enough rounds to train her to be a sniper, and he had even taught one of the other bodyguards to be the spotter. Using Luke’s old rifle, Gabriella was good enough to shoot someone’s eye out at 1,500 meters. By using smokeless powder, nobody would see where she was, either.

After checking on the army, Marion, Gabriella, and Luke finally retired for the evening. The morale was high; the troops had confidence in their commander, gear, and themselves. They knew what they were fighting for and were determined to win, no matter the cost. That evening none of the three were in the mood for any loving. Marion was sad because she had known the scout who had been killed. The scout had been a castle worker when Marion took over, and Marion encouraged her to join the army. Gabriella was worried about Marion, and Luke was concerned about the coming battle and the future.

Thanks to his mom’s fascination with Sci-fi, Luke knew all about the theoretical paradoxes of time travel and hoped he wasn’t about to create one. Also, this would be the first time Marion’s army faced a genuinely professional army with weapons much closer to their own. All they did that night was Gabriella cradled Marion while Luke cradled both. It took them a while to fall asleep, and the following day came too early.

Luke made sure Gabriella and her spotter had eaten a large breakfast that morning because none of them knew when they could eat again. While they were eating, Luke discussed tactics with them. This would be Gabriella’s first time being a sniper, and Luke wouldn’t be there to look over her shoulder. He had ensured they were trained well, but the real battlefield differs greatly from training. After the two were done eating, Luke helped them with their gear. He had made both ghillie suits based on his old one and helped them pick out what foliage to use for additional camouflage. The sun was beginning to light up the eastern sky when they headed into the marsh east of the likely battlefield.

Luke had picked to do battle near the original battlefield where the Norwegians had beaten the first group of English soldiers. His right flank was anchored on the River Ouse, and his left on the same marshland Gabriella and her spotter were using. He ensured all his soldiers had a good breakfast and cooked food for Marion and himself. He always did their cooking in the field because Marion was terrible at cooking, while Luke liked to cook. Marion had professional chefs in the castle when Gabriella or Luke didn’t feel like cooking.

Today, Luke had woken the dragoons up first because he had a plan. He would send the dragoons in first to raid the enemy camp before they could wake up, to stir them up so they would do what Luke wanted. Usually, this was something that Luke wouldn’t have done, but they had got a message the day before about a Scottish army that had invaded the Lake District to retake it. Luke had to finish this battle quickly so he could send part of the army up to deal with the Scots. An additional consideration was that the enemy had no cavalry at their disposal. The infantry woke up by the smell of the dragoons cooking breakfast.