Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 17

"Hildyard, I have no idea how to please.... That was as far as she got before Luke cut her off with a gentle kiss.

"Do not worry about that for now. Just come sleep next to me for we have to be up early in the morning." Gabriel was starting to feel things that she had never felt before and Hildyard was causing those feelings.

"But" Luke just gave her his special shut the fuck up look. It worked every time he used it, and it did here as well. Gabriel curled up next to Luke and like Stella the night before felt completely safe and quickly fell asleep.

As promised, Luke was up very early the next morning. He figured that it was about three AM. He went around to all the ladies, gently woke them up, and ordered them to get ready to leave. Then he made his way to the barracks, here he wasn't gentle at all. He expected his men to follow orders and sure enough, neither of them was up yet. Luke woke them up with his boot on their asses.

"Get up you miscible excuses for soldiers! Get up now! When I tell you to be ready to go at a certain time you had better be ready to go." Luke's voice boomed through the barracks. He was being far meaner than usual on purpose. He figured that these men would probably continue to be soldiers once he helped Marion take over and Luke wanted to get a start on instilling disciple in the men.

Luke had to wait almost an hour for the men to get squared away and ready to go. Of course, he had already anticipated this; after all that's why he woke everyone up so early. Finally, everything was ready and the small group set off. The two soldiers weren't happy to put it mildly. They had been dragged out of their billet before dawn, they were assigned to escort a monster and a group of his concubines, and the worst part was that this Hildyard had the complete support of that asshole Earl Richard. They were partisans for the previous landowner and they were convinced that Richard had something to do with the Charles's disappearance.

"When that bastard is busy with his women, it will be the prefect chance to get rid of him, and then we can rescue those women and get them back home." One of the escorts said quietly to the other as they were headed out of the castle. The other nodded in agreement.

The trip out of the town gates went quickly for the sun was just

starting to lighten up the Eastern sky. Luke made sure that they

headed out the right gate so that Marion would see them. As the

group was ready to head into the forest, the escort was out in front

of the group, they came across a man standing in the road,

wearing a long cape with the hood up.

"Get out of our way!" one of the escorts, Michael yelled. He was agitated and this man had already pissed him off.

"I have just as much right to be on this road as you do." Answered the man calmly. This really pissed Michael off and he drew his sword. His companion, Tom drew his too. Luke just calmly watched but didn't draw his sword for he figured who the man was.

"Why are you not drawing your weapon?" asked Stella

"Why bother? The odds are already two-to-one, plus I know who that is and I have no desire to cross swords with her."

"Wait. Her?!?!" exclaimed Stella.

"Just watch."

Marion waited until both men committed to their attack before making her move. She used her staff to knock both men off their mounts. Then she made sure to grab both men's mounts before they ran off. The last thing Marion wanted to do was to chase done the horses. She tled the horses to a nearby branch. By the time that Marion got the horses under control and tied up, the men were finally getting to their feet and to say that they were pissed would have been an extreme understatement. How had this peasant dismounted both of them? Marion just waited for them to get up. The men both charged at the same time and this time Marion actually had to fight back a bit. She used a leg sweep to take Tom out and she side-stepped Michael. Before Michael could turn around, Marion had him in a sleep hold and her knee was planted firmly in his back. With Tom still suffering from the wind being knocked out of him; it was just Marion and Michael so when she demanded that he yield, he did. Marion then drew her sword and held it to Torri's throat and demanded that he yield as well. Tom had no cholce so he did. Marion then turned to Luke.

"Well big guy, how about you? Are you going to join the party?"

"I think not. I've done some dumb things in my time, but I'm not stupid."

The ladies in his group looked at him, confused. Luke didn't strike them as cowardly but here he was refusing to give battle and what was those strange words that he used.

"No, you're not, Luke. You're a lot of things but you're not dumb."

Giggled Marion

Now everyone in the group was confused. Who was this man? Why was Hildyard afraid of him? Who is Luke?

"Now that I have everyone's attention..." said Marion. She then dramatically swept off her hood and there was a collective gasp from the group. This man that Hildyard was afraid of was a woman. Stella then recognized who it really was, leapt off her horse, ran to Marion, and fiercely embraced her. Stella whispered in Marion's ear, while embracing her:

"What are you doing here? Marion, get out of here. Now! Hildyard has orders to arrest or kill you on sight. Get out of here, I will try and hold Hildyard off so you can escape."

"Stella, why would I want to escape?" Stella was alarmed for she cared deeply about Marion.

Marion turned to Luke

"Seriously Luke, Hildyard"

Luke dropped his Scottish accent "What? I thought it was a nice touch." With that he got off his horse walked over to Marion, picked her up, kissed her, and swung her around. Marion was laughing during this. Finally, they both turned to the group, who were now confused, afraid, and several emotions that they didn't know what they were. Marion then spoke to the group.

"Everyone, I want to introduce to you Luke MacDougall, and yes he is my man. He rescued Cecilia and I when Richard's son attacked us. Luke killed William's men and killed William with his bare hands. Since then, he has been protecting us on the journey home. Cecilia has returned to Lincoln with Lucy until the crisis is over. By the way Luke, your gear is safely hidden away in camp"

Luke turned to the women that he had brought with him

"All of you are now safe. If you want you can return home."

One of the ladies started crying:

"I can not retum home. Richard's men destroyed it."

Marion ran to comfort her while the others gave a similar story. While Marion was taking care of the women, Luke walked over to the guards.