Chapter 35

York, Great Britain. November 1069

Luke was worried as he watched the bleak winter countryside pass by his train window and thought it was perfect to match his current mood. The message the two guard officers delivered was cryptic; Marion ordered Luke to report to York without delay; he was not to report to the base or stop to see Alice but report directly to her. There wasn’t any clue in the message as to why he was to report directly to her, and the guards were evasive in answering Luke. They only said they were far more afraid of Marion’s temper than Luke’s.

As the train rolled on, Luke went over the entire campaign in his head to try and figure out what had pissed Marion off so badly and try as he might, nothing came to mind. Only the homes of nobles and monasteries were looted, all the army’s food was bought at a fair price from the peasants, and rape was strictly forbidden. In fact, several soldiers met their maker at the end of a rope for rape. In short, Luke could think of nothing that would anger Marion, and in her last letter, which reached him only a week before he left France, she sounded thrilled he would be home soon. Included was a vivid description of the private welcome home he could expect, and reading it, Luke thought the paper might catch fire.

Getting off the train in York, Luke got a sense of foreboding when he noticed he had a tail. Worse, he was sure the tail was from British Intelligence. That sense of foreboding increased when two other guard officers met him at the castle door, and the rest of his guard was dismissed. The new guard was humorless, and Luke figured out he was in serious trouble if only he could figure out why.

Entering the castle, Luke noticed nobody smiled at him, and everyone kept their distance. The most embarrassing thing for Luke was that he hadn’t been able to change uniforms; he was still in his dirty BDUs and had his boonie hat on his head. When he walked into the office, everyone stopped talking at once, and many gave Luke the death stare as he passed.

“General MacDougall reporting as ordered, ma’am.” Luke sang out as he snapped to attention in front of the queen. Immediately, he noticed she didn’t appear happy to see him; her eyes were ice cold, there was no hint of any smile on her face, and Gabriella had murder in her eyes. Wisely he stayed at attention as Marion slowly rose from her seat.

“How do you explain your actions, general?”

“What actions, ma’am?”

“What the fuck do you mean “what actions,” general?” Marion growled. “I’m talking about the rape of the French Queen, Clémence d’Aquitaine, as if you didn’t know. Doctor Kensley reported that she would most likely not be able to have any children. It’s reported that YOU ordered her raped.” Luke was at a loss for words. He had only talked to the woman in question for maybe half an hour and didn’t particularly care for her. “Well, general, what do you have to say for yourself?!?!”

“Your majesty, I spoke with the woman for maybe half an hour just before we shipped her out, and most of that was to explain why women are allowed to serve in the British Army. That was the only time I saw her aside from her name on reports.”

“The reports I read said she was instrumental in capturing several of Guiscard’s treasure hoards. She didn’t lie about those, so why would she lie about you raping her?” Luke’s military discipline slipped as his mind tried to catch up with Marion’s accusations. “STAND AT ATTENTION, GENERAL!” Marion snapped, and Luke snapped to attention. “Know that if I could prove you raped that poor woman, I would have you hung, but fortunate for you, I can’t. Still, I think it would be better for you to find other lodgings. DISMISSED! GUARDS!” two of her Household Guards came into the room. “The general has five minutes to pack his bags and remove himself from the castle. Also, he is not to be allowed back in the castle without my express written permission, dismissed.”

The guards were just as stunned as Luke was, but discipline had been drilled into them, and they left the office.

“General, what happened?” A young guard asked Luke. She was only about nineteen and was proud to be a member of the Household Guard. For her, one of the best parts of the posting was listening to the queen’s passionate screams when Luke was home. They reminded her of better times in her own life. She had many friends throughout the guard unit, including Luke’s guards from France, and they never said anything about Luke raping anyone. In fact, Luke hadn’t been with any other woman after Pollyanna left. Her friends told her the French queen had been severely beaten before the British troops entered Paris. With their testimony, the corporal smelled a rat but couldn’t prove anything.

“I don’t know what happened, corporal, but it would be best for you not to be seen talking to me. I don’t want anything to happen to you because of me.”

Luke packed his bags in only a few minutes, taking only what he needed, which consisted of a couple of extra BDUs and his service uniform. His formal dress uniform was left behind, as were most of his everyday clothes. He made sure to take his computer, Sig, and American identification; these were far too valuable to be left in Marion’s possession. Looking at his “in case of death letter,” Luke sighed and threw it in the fire after removing his marine dog tags.

The guards gave Luke an extra couple of minutes, but they got antsy, and Luke allowed himself to be led out of the castle. With no country home, Luke headed straight to the army base outside town; he knew a few extra rooms were available so he could get some rest.

To Luke’s surprise, nobody at the base seemed to know what had happened, and he was thankful. The last thing he wanted to do was answer questions; of course, that would be better than having to quiet a bunch of rebellious troops. Everyone knew the average British soldier was far more loyal to Luke than they were to Marion. It would be nothing for Luke to stage a military coup and keep Marion as his sex slave. Thankfully for the queen, rebellion wasn’t in Luke’s nature.

Luke’s privacy lasted until the following day when Colonel Baker caught up with him in his office. She now had a regiment of grenadiers. As soon as the door closed behind her, she started;

“I’m sorry, sir. I heard about what the queen did to you, and it’s not right. Anyone who knows you knows you would never do such a thing.”

“Well, that didn’t take long,” Luke sighed.

“Sir, permission to speak freely.” Luke nodded. “Marion never did deserve you. You gave her power, and that’s what she was truly after. Just want to let you know that if you ever get tired of her, the army has your back.”

Luke couldn’t believe his ears; his elite commander was talking treason. It took Luke a few seconds to recover; he was across his desk and had Madeline off the floor by her shirt before she could react. With his face only centimeters away from Madeline’s, Luke growled deeply at her, “Colonel Baker, if I ever hear those words come out of your mouth again, I will have you elocuted; if you even think those words again, I will have you shot. What happens between Marion and me is only between Marion and me. She is your queen, and you will obey all lawful orders. Is that understood?” Madeline’s eyes got wide, and the blood drained from her face. Luke’s response to her offer of a military coup terrified her before she realized the consequences of what she had suggested. “I asked you, IS THAT UNDERSTOOD, COLONEL?”

“Yes, sir.” Madeline managed to squeak out. Luke set her down.

“If there is nothing else, colonel, DISMISSED.”

Madeline fled from Luke’s office and passed the word there would be no uprising; the general was still loyal to the queen. For the rest of the day, the other office workers stayed as far away from the general as possible.

For the next week, Luke made a good impression of a bear with an abscessed tooth. Officers feared coming near Luke, and enlisted personnel tended to disappear when Luke showed up. Luke even stopped taking personal messages, using them to start his fireplace. He would only respond to messages from his business empire or a military matter.

One day, Pollyanna came to visit. She was let in because she had an appointment to review some design changes to the new cruiser being built in Hull. Pollyanna could have had the changes sent to Luke’s office, but she wanted to talk to him anyway. Even with Marion’s accusations, he was still her best friend and the father of the bun in her oven.

“Luke, how long will you let Marion do this to you?”

“Do what to me?”

“Keep you from seeing your children.”

“General Hall, I don’t come to you and offer relationship advice, so I don’t want to hear another word on the subject. UNDERSTAND?”

“Yes, Luke.”

“What did you say, general?”

“YES, SIR!”

“That’s better. Do you have any more military matters to discuss at this time?”

“No, sir.”

“Then dismissed.”

Pollyanna came to attention and fled out the door before tears streamed down her cheeks. She couldn’t believe Marion was tearing the family apart over a claim by the French queen that was so ridiculous that it would be hilarious if it hadn’t been taken seriously.

The day before Christmas, Luke noted a disturbance in his outer office. Since he had good guards on his door, Luke returned to his paperwork. Large amounts of work had piled up in his long absence, and Luke was still working through the pile. Suddenly his door was smashed open and revealed a person in a long overcoat standing in the opening.

Alice had been just as hurt as Marion when a certain Clémence d’Aquitaine made her accusations of General MacDougall ordering her rape and twice as furious. It had been good for Luke that his ship was late leaving France since Alice would have killed him if she had seen him sooner. Again, it was thankful that Luke arrived in town when Alice had been in surgery and was gone before she returned home. Luke might have thrown her away, but she still had Marion, Gabriella, and the children, although Mackenzie was just as bright as her father and asked some very pointed questions about him.

As was Alice’s protocol, she was cleaning up paperwork at the end of the week when she came across a report from France dated 1 October from one of her surgeons. A clerk had filed it wrong, so it took an extra couple of months to reach Alice. In the report, the surgeon cataloged all the injuries she found on the French queen after she was discovered in Guiscard’s castle. Something in the report was eerily familiar. Thinking, Alice stuck her head out of her office door and asked her secretary to pull Clémence d’Aquitaine’s medical file. When the secretary brought Alice the file, Alice laid it next to the report from France.

The report matched Alice’s observations perfectly, and it was in comparing the two reports that Alice realized what Marion, Gabriella, and she had done. They had tried, judged, and sentenced Luke without allowing him to defend himself; Marion never even gave him a chance. The report made it clear the queen had been discovered in that state and had been transported straight to the doctor writing the report for treatment. From there, she was never out of sight of at least one medical personnel until she left France.