The Medieval Marine - S01 E25

Story 4 hours ago

The Medieval Marine - S01 E25

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 25

The voices bothering you again?" Alice asked trying to sound as innocent as possible for she knew of Luke's sometimes hair trigger temper.

"Marion talked to you, didn't she?"

"Yes, she did. Luke, she is concerned for you and so am I."

"Why are you concerned for me?" It was evident from his tone that while he wasn't angry, he could become very angry very quickly. Alice decided then and there to lay all her cards on the table and confess to Luke her true feelings for him.

"Why? Because I love you, Luke. You saved me from being raped. You taught me medicine. You enabled my late fiancé and I to actually have a chance with each other. You have already saved the lives of countless people. Finally, you are the kindest, most loyal person that I have ever met. So, tell me, why would I not love you."

"Well let's see. I'm married and I'm broken. I have almost constant nightmares when I sleep. In fact, most nights I don't sleep but for maybe an hour or two and I've been having nightmares for many years now. I hear voices in my head telling me that I be dead by the end of this campaign and yet here I am getting ready to wage this campaign anyway. If that's not broken and hopeless then I don't know what is."

"Luke you're not broken. Only a very strong person could have survived what all you have been through. You not only survived but you have thrived. As far as being on this campaign see my previous comment on loyalty and as far as you being married; well Marion has a lover so why shouldn't you. After all she was the one who fixed us up the other night. She was the one who begged me to do what I could to watch over you during this campaign. So, please Luke can you just give us a chance."

"I don't..." that was as far as he got before Alice's lips locked onto his. When she broke the kiss, she locked onto his eyes with hers. He had tried to look away but Alice put her hands on his face and gently pulled his eyes back to hers.

"Please Luke" With their eyes locked she could almost see the epic battle going on inside Luke's mind. On one hand he was loyal. He was absolutely loyal to his wife. On the other hand, Alice was exceptionally beautiful and smart and she reminded him of someone who had been extremely dear to him that he had lost a few years before.

It seemed like hours before Alice seen a change in Luke's eyes, but finally a look of calm took over. He moved over in his cot and invited Alice to lay down with him. Since he was so large the only way that Alice could realistically lay with Luke was to lay on Luke.

"Before you say anything, I want to show you something. Something that even Marion has never seen and I don't want her to see it either for she already has enough to worry about."

Luke then pulled out another picture. This one was of him when he was in his mid to late twenties and he was with a stunning redhead. When Alice seen the picture, she gasped for the redhead in the picture could have been her twin sister

"Who is she, Luke?"

"Who was she, Alice? Her name was Rebecca, Becky, and she was my fiancé but she was killed two days before we were to get married. She was driving home late one night when a deer jumped out in front of her car. She tried to avoid it and in doing so lost control of her car and hit a tree. The autopsy showed that she died almost instantly so at least she didn't suffer. It also revealed that she was eight weeks pregnant with twin girls. That was when I moved to Alaska for, I wanted to get as far away from where she died as I could. I never did step foot back in Louisiana again. She was my entire life and after her my life has just wasn't been worth living until, I met Marion. Then I met you and everything went upside-down. You two even have very similar interest for she was a surgical resident at the local hospital and was within a month of finishing."

"Oh Luke, I didn't know!!" She gripped him as tight as she could and by the time, she finished crying Luke had fallen asleep. She continued to lay there and now paying attention she noticed Luke's body tense up several times. When this happened, she would hold him tighter and he would relax. Eventually she was able to fall asleep, but now she was having nightmares of her own. Only hers were what might happen if that voice in Luke's head turned out to be right. Would Marion be able to hold things together. As Alice thought about it, the more she was convinced that Marion wouldn't be able to. Alice had a huge amount more interaction with the general populace than anyone else in Marion's group except for Luke, so she knew that a major reason the people were willing to follow her was because of Luke. For it was Luke that had the people's complete trust. The one's that didn't trust him, feared him so much that they wouldn't do anything that might risk his wrath.

Alice of course knew why; after all this was the 11th century and

everyone understood brute force. This was what most people seen everyone understood brute force. This was what most people seen in Luke. His power was blindingly so obvious that most everyone overlooked his true power, his intelligence, his willingness to listen to the people around him, and his kindness. Alice knew that Marion didn't understand this dynamic and she probably never would, after all she had been born into a very privileged life and she was blind to the general population as a whole. Put any single person or small group in front of her and she treated them with upmost respect. But she was at best partly blind to the lower classes. At least to her credit, Marion tried.

The next morning Luke was up early as usual. He gently slid out from under Alice and covered her back up for she was still sleeping soundly. He started his morning the same way he always did. He checked the night sentries. Granted he was in friendly territory but that was no excuse for letting one's guard down. With sunrise the army got ready to leave. A message had come in overnight from Pollyanna telling him that things were clear all the way to the Thames. When Alice caught up with Luke later that morning, he invited her to keep her things with his and she gladly accepted.

The army moved like the wind on their way south. By the time they reached the Thames, Pollyanna had the pontoon bridge done so Luke's army didn't even have to pause. They moved so fast that they caught the Norman army completely by surprise. The only thing that saved the Normans from being annihilated during the first contact was a storm had blown up and limited the visibility thus allowed them to escape back to their fort. Not that being in their fort would do them any good. Luke ordered his artillery to ring the fort at a distance of five hundred meters with his infantry to dig in in front of them at a distance of three hundred meters from the walls. At this range they could pick off anyone who came outside the walls and depending on the wind, his motors could drop rounds on the fort. It took about a day to get into position at the end of which, he sent his surrender demands to William of Normandy. If they laid down their arms then they would be allowed to return to Normandy. If they didn't then they would all have English graves for the rest of eternity. It didn't surprise Luke any when his demands were refused with what was his experience was typical French snootiness, not that he cared.

The bombardment started at sunrise the next morning. Luke made

sure that his gunners fired slow enough so that they didn't fire

through all their shells in one day. Their first target was the walls. If

they could be destroyed then his troops could pick off William's

troops at will. Within an hour, the walls had been blown to bits, but

now they had another problem. William had built his fort on a hilltop and Luke's soldiers couldn't see into the fort so Luke ordered a number of towers to be built around the hill. These towers were made of crossed logs that had both ends notched to fit into notches of the logs above and below them. From these towers, his best shots would be able to pick off William's men no matter where they were at. It had taken the rest of the day to build the towers, but Luke had another trick up his sleeve. That night he ordered illumination rounds fired continuously over the Norman heads. This way, his sharpshooters could pick out their targets and the Normans wouldn't be able to get any sleep. Luke's sharpshooter teams only were allowed to work for four hours before they were relieved so that they could get some rest.

The next morning, the Normans presented Luke an offer for them to surrender but Luke flat out rejected it. The price was now their unconditional surrender which of course the Duke of Normandy was not going to do. After the messenger left with Luke's response, Alice asked him:

"Luke, why did you condemn all those men over there to death? That seems extremely cruel and that's definitely not like you."

"Because I don't want Marion to have to look over her shoulder constantly wondering if she will be invaded again from Normandy. This will buy her the time that she will need to shore up her support."

"You talk like you won't be there to help her. You're not leaving, are you?"

I hope not for I am happier here than I ever was before, but reality doesn't care about people." Luke said with a sad smile. Alice knew that he was still being bothered by the voices and worse still was that he now not only believed them but had accepted what they were telling him to be the truth and was conducting himself accordingly. All through the day, Luke's artillery and sharpshooters killed many Normans. That everning, Luke summoned one of his crack cavalry units and ordered them to advance on the fort and scout it for it was too windy for him to have the balloon deployed. As the cavalry advanced, Luke ordered a cease fire so that he wouldn't have to worry about friendly fire. He also had gone up to the top of one of the towers so that he could get a better view. He watched as the cavalry went into the fort and watched as they looked around. They signaled that everyone in the fort was dead and that it was safe to enter.

Alice was one of the first ones not in the cavalry to enter the fort

and she stunned by what she found for almost none of the and she stunned by what she found for almost none of the Normans were still alive. What shocked her worse was Luke's reaction to the carnage that he had caused. He just ordered the bodies thrown into a nearby gully and buried. After he had helped his troops dispose of the bodies he went and had dinner.