Podcasts about novels

Support our Halloween “Overcoming the Darkness” campaign to help people with depression: https://weirddarkness.com/HOPEThese fictional books predicted the Titanic, nuclear weapons, presidential names, and pandemic lockdowns before they happened, and with such terrifying accuracy that you'll question whether the authors were writing fiction — or prophecy.IN THIS EPISODE: The captain and crew of the ocean vessel St. Andrew not only saw what appeared to be a flying saucer – but narrowly avoided being destroyed by it when it dove into the sea, almost crashing into their ship. (The Falling Saucer) *** We hear of crashed UFOs, flying saucers, or extraterrestrial spacecraft – but… how reliable are the stories we've been told? We'll look at cases after the Roswell incident to see if they hold up. (Where Are The Crashed UFOs?) *** In the Mexican city of Durango there lived a witch who, while stunning beautiful, was grotesquely ugly when it came to her soul and personality – because people never seemed to believe her when she told them of the powers she possessed. And some regretted that. (The Witch of Durango) *** Imagine yourself in the Old West renting a carriage, forgetting to return it the next morning on time, and because of that, having the finger of murder being pointed at you. That's what happened to Hattie Woolsteen. (The Trial of Hattie Woolsteen) *** A cemetery off the western coast of Winnipeg has lost its gravestones, the house that used to be there is gone, but that doesn't mean that souls don't reside there. (The Legend of Nes Cemetery) *** But first – we'll look at nine books, works of fiction, but somehow they eerily predicted the future with stunning accuracy. We begin with that story. (Books That Predicted The Future) CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Lead-In00:00:49.672 = Show Open00:03:07.223 = Books That Predicted The Future00:10:40.243 = The Falling Saucer00:17:27.342 = ***Where Are The Crashed UFOs?00:24:53.333 = Witch of Durango00:28:07.862 = Trial of Hattie Woolsteen00:36:22.416 = ***Legend of Nes Cemetery00:43:26.739 = Show Close*** = Chapter starts after ad break inserted at this time stampSOURCES AND RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE…What Would It Take To Build Jules Verne's Space Cannon?: https://tinyurl.com/yyrktv2qSilas Newton's FBI File: https://vault.fbi.gov/silas-newton“Books That Predicted The Future” by Ben Gazur for Mental Floss: https://tinyurl.com/y4nb5j7b“The Falling Saucer” by A. Sutherland for Message to Eagle: https://tinyurl.com/yyv9ryt6“Where Are The Crashed UFOs?” by Nick Redfern for Mysterious Universe: https://tinyurl.com/y6lobv92“The Witch of Durango” by Robert Bitto for Mexico Unexplained: https://tinyurl.com/y6fnjpuz“The Trial of Hattie Woolsteen” by Robert Wilhelm for Murder By Gaslight: https://tinyurl.com/y5ba3e9h“The Legend of Nes Cemetery” by MJ Banias for Mysterious Universe: https://tinyurl.com/yxklmlh3=====(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2025, Weird Darkness.=====Originally aired: November 04, 2020EPISODE PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/BooksThatPredictedFutureABOUT WEIRD DARKNESS: Weird Darkness is a true crime and paranormal podcast narrated by professional award-winning voice actor, Darren Marlar. Seven days per week, Weird Darkness focuses on all thing strange and macabre such as haunted locations, unsolved mysteries, true ghost stories, supernatural manifestations, urban legends, unsolved or cold case murders, conspiracy theories, and more. On Thursdays, this scary stories podcast features horror fiction along with the occasional creepypasta. Weird Darkness has been named one of the “Best 20 Storytellers in Podcasting” by Podcast Business Journal. Listeners have described the show as a cross between “Coast to Coast” with Art Bell, “The Twilight Zone” with Rod Serling, “Unsolved Mysteries” with Robert Stack, and “In Search Of” with Leonard Nimoy.DISCLAIMER: Ads heard during the podcast that are not in my voice are placed by third party agencies outside of my control and should not imply an endorsement by Weird Darkness or myself. *** Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised.#WeirdDarkness #BooksThatPredictedTheFuture #ScienceFiction #TitanicPrediction #CreepyPredictions #FictionBecomesReality #PropheticNovels #EeriePredictions #UnexplainedMysteries #BooksTheCameTrue

Bridget, Caitlin, and Hilda are finally getting around to covering "Quicksilver," book 1 in Callie Hart's Fae & Alchemy series. And since book 2 "Brimstone," comes out November 18, now is the perfect time to listen and refresh your memory on what the book is about, and whether or not Kingfisher should be on your book boyfriend list.  Join our Patreon for exclusive behind-the-scenes content and let's be friends!Instagram > @Booktokmademe_podTikTok > @BooktokMadeMe

On The Literary Life Podcast this week, our hosts continue with part 2 of their series on Bram Stoker's Dracula. After sharing their commonplace quotes, Angelina, Cindy and Thomas begin discussing how to properly read Dracula and other books written in this tradition. (Hint: It's not the Freudian or psychoanalytical approach!) Angelina argues that Bram Stoker was trying, among other things, to reintroduce the traditional forms and metaphors into the modern era. Thomas shares the dark etymology of the name Dracula and how that relates to the image of Satan in this character. Cindy brings up Jonathan's memory of Mina when he is in his darkest moments and the power of love against evil. For the full show notes on this episode, including book links, quotes, and more, please visit https://theliterary.life/297. 

Brooke and Tyler swap speculative theories about everyone's favorite Herdazian escape artist, re-live the horror in creating the Crystal Inquisitor, and munch on pancakes with an Awakener and an Edgedancer. The Interludes involving The Mink, Moash, Vasher & Lift seem like perfect fodder to be setting up significant characters in the back half of the Stormlight Archive. #AllSpoilers Support this podcast by becoming a Patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/CosmereConversations) Original music by David Gruwier (https://twitter.com/DGruwier). "Radiant" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5CFAZUv4C0) by David Gruwier.

Critic and opinion writer Christopher Scalia, son of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, recommends 13 novels with conservative themes that, he says, aren't widely known by conservatives. In his book "13 Novels Conservatives Will Love (but Probably Haven't Read," the former English professor discusses books by Walter Scott, George Eliot, P.D. James, Zora Neale Hurston, and others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Critic and opinion writer Christopher Scalia, son of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, recommends 13 novels with conservative themes that, he says, aren't widely known by conservatives. In his book "13 Novels Conservatives Will Love (but Probably Haven't Read," the former English professor discusses books by Walter Scott, George Eliot, P.D. James, Zora Neale Hurston, and others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

646. We talk to Dr. Thomas Smith about his series of Red String novels, set in 19th century Mississippi River and Central Louisiana. His first novel in the series is Just a Piece of Red String: Antebellum Voodoo and Vengeance. In antebellum Natchez, Mississippi, and the bustling city of New Orleans, cousins Sawyer Dundee and Solomon Witcher come into manhood, each charting a dramatically different course. While Sawyer remains in Natchez to run the family business, the charismatic Solomon seeks his fortune, chasing legendary buried treasure and trying his luck at cards in New Orleans. Now available: Liberty in Louisiana: A Comedy. The oldest play about Louisiana, author James Workman wrote it as a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Now it is back in print for the first time in 221 years. Order your copy today! This week in the Louisiana Anthology. Swanton. Natchez Stories. "36. Story of a Bison." While traveling about a hunter was overtaken by darkness and thought, “I will camp for the night and go home next morning.” Near by was something which he took to be a tree pulled up by the roots, and he thought, “I will make a fire there.” So he leaned his gun up against it and hung his shot pouch on it. But really it was a bison and what he hung his shot pouch on was the horn. It got up and ran off bellowing, carrying the shot pouch. After it got a long distance away it threw it off. This week in Louisiana history. October 4, 1792. Under Gov. Carondelet, the first theatre opened in Louisiana on St. Peter St., N.O. This week in New Orleans history. In 2008, William Jefferson sought re-election to the United States House of Representatives. Seven Democrats challenged him for the seat in the Democratic primary. In the October 4, 2008 Democratic primary, opposition to Jefferson was split among six contenders. Jefferson's 25% total was enough to give him a plurality and to send him into the runoff primary This week in Louisiana. World Championship Gumbo Cook-Off Bouligny Plaza 100 West Main Street New Iberia, LA 70560 October 11-12 Spoons at the ready! Also known as the Super Bowl of Gumbo, the World Championship Gumbo Cook Off is a free two-day event showcasing the best local gumbo chefs in New Iberia. Each year, dozens of cooking teams and thousands of enthusiasts gather to see who will take home trophies for each category and earn ultimate bragging rights. After filling up on gumbo, stroll down New Iberia's Main Street. Take a walking tour of the historic buildings, or pop into local art galleries, boutiques, antique shops and more for some retail therapy. Postcards from Louisiana. Street Poet Michelle Schocht.  Listen on Apple Podcasts. Listen on audible. Listen on Spotify. Listen on TuneIn. Listen on iHeartRadio. The Louisiana Anthology Home Page. Like us on Facebook. 

We've visited the Crooked World of Captain Britain twice in the book club, now Luke Aldred returns to discuss what happened to Brian Braddock after all of that earth-shattering chaos. We talk about stories by Jamie Delano, and all of that superb art by Alan Davis.You can find Luke's own artwork on Instagram, and see some of his painted miniatures here.You can find a list of all the upcoming books on the Facebook page, follow the podcast on instagram, Threads, Mastodon, and BlueSky. And email me comments and suggestions to MCBCpodcast@gmail.comMusic used in this episode is Circuit Breaker by the artist Robodub. Click here to listen to the episode online. Or Download here Right click and choose save link as to download to your computer.

"This has to be meaningful to you. It has to be a story that won't leave you alone, a story that you're willing to rearrange your calendar for," says Masha Hamilton, whose Atavist Magazine story is titled "I've Gone to Look for America."Today we have Masha Hamilton, a journalist, a novelist, a fan of the show, a fan of Pitch Club. You'll want to visit mashahamilton.com to learn more about her wide-ranging career covering the world. She's the author of five novels and trying to sell her sixth. She was at one point the director of communications and public diplomacy at the US embassy in Kabul.Her story for the Atavist is about her driving the entire length of I-95 with her photographer son Cheney, and stopping at just about every rest stop to speak with strangers about how they feel about our country. “Conversations and revelations about an ailing nation along Interstate 95.” Man, those Atavist editors sure can write the hell out of a dek.Guess who's back!? Seyward Darby! Do your best Kermit the Frog dance. Very nice to hear her and this piece challenged Seyward in ways I didn't see coming: Meaning, she didn't share Masha's optimism or hope. Seyward, for lack of a better word, disagreed with it, so there was an interesting tension she brought to the edit.For Masha's part, we talk about: Novels as complimentary to her nonfiction Covering societies in change Healing through story How this was piece was a therapy session Accelerated intimacy Endings Middles Finding the meaning Writing you rearrange your calendar for And belonging as practiceOrder The Front RunnerNewsletter: Rage Against the AlgorithmWelcome to Pitch ClubShow notes: brendanomeara.com

Visions Vol. 3 Cast Announcement:https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-visions-volume-3-cast-announceFans Theorize Amy Adams involvement in Starfighter:https://screenrant.com/star-wars-starfighter-mara-jade-rumor/James Mangold Paramount Deal:https://deadline.com/2025/09/paramount-pictures-james-mangold-1236566309/Thank you for choosing Star Wars Alliance for all of your Star Wars News and Reviews. Star Wars Alliance Hotline: 1(830) 538-4828 Send us a text or call and leave a voicemail with your Star Wars Questions, feedback on the podcast, and reactions to the latest Star Wars TV shows, movies, comics, and Novels! You can always send us an email!  Starwrsalliance@gmail.com Follow us on BlueSky or Instagram!  •Star Wars Alliance- @starwrsalliance  •Katie- @sliceofkatie  •Clay- @FanboyClay Geek Ultimate Alliance Network Is Produced By GeekVerse Podcast Network Schedule:   Monday: Rangers Alliance  Tuesday: A Walk Through the Multiverse (Bi-Weekly)  Wednesday: The Animation Nation  Thursday: Star Wars Alliance  Friday: Marvel Alliance  Saturday: DC Alliance  Follow the respective shows on Instagram & BlueSky so when they record live on GeekVerse Podcast Network you can join the chat and add to the conversation! Remember to subscribe to the GeekVerse YouTube channel and set notifications to “ALL” to catch us when we go live every Wednesday night at 7pm EST. •https://www.youtube.com/GeekVersePodcast Please consider joining our Patreon to support us and everyone at the GUA •https://www.patreon.com/guanetwork

Visions Vol. 3 Cast Announcement:https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-visions-volume-3-cast-announceFans Theorize Amy Adams involvement in Starfighter:https://screenrant.com/star-wars-starfighter-mara-jade-rumor/James Mangold Paramount Deal:https://deadline.com/2025/09/paramount-pictures-james-mangold-1236566309/Thank you for choosing Star Wars Alliance for all of your Star Wars News and Reviews. Star Wars Alliance Hotline: 1(830) 538-4828 Send us a text or call and leave a voicemail with your Star Wars Questions, feedback on the podcast, and reactions to the latest Star Wars TV shows, movies, comics, and Novels! You can always send us an email!  Starwrsalliance@gmail.com Follow us on BlueSky or Instagram!  •Star Wars Alliance- @starwrsalliance  •Katie- @sliceofkatie  •Clay- @FanboyClay Geek Ultimate Alliance Network Is Produced By GeekVerse Podcast Network Schedule:   Monday: Rangers Alliance  Tuesday: A Walk Through the Multiverse (Bi-Weekly)  Wednesday: The Animation Nation  Thursday: Star Wars Alliance  Friday: Marvel Alliance  Saturday: DC Alliance  Follow the respective shows on Instagram & BlueSky so when they record live on GeekVerse Podcast Network you can join the chat and add to the conversation! Remember to subscribe to the GeekVerse YouTube channel and set notifications to “ALL” to catch us when we go live every Wednesday night at 7pm EST. •https://www.youtube.com/GeekVersePodcast Please consider joining our Patreon to support us and everyone at the GUA •https://www.patreon.com/guanetwork

This week on Smut Club Chelsea and Hannah are reviewing The Doctor by Nikki Sloane.You can find every episode of Smut Club at www.smutclubpodcast.com

TAKEAWAYSAn Illuminati Primer: Understanding The System Through the Eyes of Its Whistleblowers, introduces readers to the world of secret societiesSome believe that the Bermuda Triangle may be a spiritual hotspotOther children's books that use portals include Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, and Harry Potter, by J.K. RowlingYou might be surprised how many seemingly average members of your local circle are members of the occult

Author Lois Melbourne discusses her new sci fi novel, Moral Code. Lois was inspired by the idea of an ethical Artificial Intelligence that could protect children. In Moral Code, her main character, Dr. Keira Stetson, creates such an AI. Dr. Stetson begins by using it as her assistant, which she names Elly, and eventually uses it to help the FBI and other agencies identify dangers to kids. As the AI learns and grows, Elly becomes more vigilante than humble assistant. Lois admits that it took work to strike the right balance between technology and creativity when writing this novel, but at its heart, Moral Code is not really about tech. It's a story about people.

Luke's HAARP Time Warp: Part 6 Marion continues growing but must suffer a loss. Based on a post by somethin fishy, in 15 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 25. When Luke and Marion woke up the next morning, it was storming out. Nothing really serious, just one of those late summer storms with a decent amount of rain, some wind and usually some lighting. Being that it was a warm rain, Luke went out into it without putting clothes on. It was about the perfect temperature. With some persuasion, Marion came out too. Soon both of them were playing like children with them jumping in mud puddles and just having a good time. Marion, before too long, was working on getting everyone else to strip down and join them. The women were quick to strip down and Bard followed suit not too long after. Robin though, was raised to be very modest and in believing that the devil would soon visit; so, he wouldn't strip down with everyone else. Marion, for her part, respected his views and didn't try forcing his which he appreciated. Basically, as long as he respected her view, she respected his. The rain continued for almost an hour. During this time the miserable feeling of the day before were forgotten for the time being. The group was having too much fun. Not only was playing in the rain fun, but they were all busy teasing Marion about her limping and careful walking. Everyone had heard her the night before and this actually helped the group start to recover from Stella's death. All too soon though, the rain stopped and it was back to business. Marion had left it to Pollyanna, Stella's closest friend, on where to bury her. Pollyanna picked a small church, in the village, from where Stella was originally from. So, the group made to four hour track to the village church. Once there though, the group realized that the whole village had been abandoned. From the looks of things, it had been abandoned not that long ago. Gabriel found an empty space in the cemetery and Alice had even found a coffin for Stella. Luke and Bard took care of digging the grave, making sure to go down six feet. Once the grave had been dug, everyone but Matt grabbed a line and lowered Stella's body into the ground. Once done, Marion spoke a few words. After she had finished, but before everyone started to bury her, Pollyanna started speaking: “For my best friend, the woman who taught me to be a woman and who encouraged me to fight like a man; I cannot thank you enough. I swear this now that I shall ever stop working toward freeing the people of this tormented land so that no others have to make the choices that you did, Stella. For nobody should be forced into the position of selling their bodies just so that their children can have something to eat, or having to watch as those children are ripped away by soldiers because the family couldn't pay the record high taxes levied on them because some lazy noble wanted to host a bigger party then their neighbor. Go in peace know Stella and know that I will always love you for all that you have done for me.” “Amen” everyone said while trying to hold back their tears. When she finished, everyone in the group started to openly weep; Pollyanna had just said out loud what everyone had been feeling in their hearts. Eventually, they started burying their friend, and Pollyanna finished things by pushing a cross which Gabriel had made into the ground. The cross had actually been Stella's sword at one time, but Gabriel had broken it in half after Stella had been killed and had etched Stella's name and date of death on it. After they finished, Luke put his arms around Marion's shoulder. This always made her feel better and it did this time as well. Looking around, Marion started getting curious about this village. It looking like a nice enough place to stay, so the group split up to search the village. Luke found a fully intact blacksmithing shop that still had its tools in it and plenty of raw materials laying around. Marion found a small tavern but all the alcohol was gone. Robin and Bard checked out the church while Gabriel went up to check out the steeple for this looked like the prefect place from which she could pick off intruders. Alice went though the houses and found one that was significantly cleaner than the rest. To make it better, it had a large supply of herbs in it that Alice recognized as having medicinal value. Not only that, it still had to tools to process the herbs. Pollyanna meanwhile stayed with Matt and they talked quietly. They both realized that they were quickly falling in love and only hoped that nobody would object. Luke of course already knew about them and had told them as much. He also told them that as long as they continued to do their duties that he had no objections. In fact, he had wished them the best of luck and they looked like they belonged together, and they made a cute couple. Within an hour the group met back up at the church. Marion made the decision to move their base of operations here as soon as they could get all their gear and they had scouted the area. Everyone agreed with her; this was far nicer living then in the forest plus there was so much here that they could use that it would be foolish not to move. An added bonus was that they were now further away from York and therefore safer for the time being. The last thing that justified them moving was that they had been recently discovered and didn't know how long it would be before Cecilia would try again. She figured that it would probably take them about a week or so to move. Matt and Alice would stay behind, in the village, while the group moved. Moving around was extremely painful for Matt and Alice would have to take care of him. Pollyanna made the announcement that her and Matt were now an item in the most obvious way possible. She wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a giant, wet kiss on his lips. That simple kiss began to turn into something more when Matt started pushing his tongue into Pollyanna's mouth. Only Marion loudly clearing her throat made them stop. When Pollyanna looked up, she looked like the kid how got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. This made the rest of the group fall over laughing and Pollyanna's reddening face didn't help any. Eventually everyone in the group were able to compose themselves. Marion told Pollyanna to stay behind to not only help protect Matt but also to scout the area. Marion told her that the rest of them would be back the next day with some of the gear and to hear what all Pollyanna had found while scouting. Marion and Luke couldn't for the life of them understand why everyone in the village was gone. In fact, it looked like everyone had just stopped whatever it was that they had been doing and left. This was actually not far from the truth. This village was one of those that refused to follow Cecilia so she had come in and forced all the residence of the area to move to York. Of course, the young men were forced into her army while the young woman were force to become army whores. Thing is though that the village itself hadn't been destroyed and now it was going to be Marion's new base of operations. The trip back was much faster than the trip to the village, in the first place. On the way back, the group was able to ambush a small patrol. One of the members was only badly wounded so Marion was able to pump him for information; although she didn't have to pump very hard for the man was one of Cecilia's forced recruits. “Cecilia's hold is slipping as most soldiers refuse to leave their quarters anymore. For the most part she is having to rely on mercenary soldiers who have never heard of you ma'am. Also, I feel that I should warn you that she is planning another major offensive aimed at forcing you out of the forest so that she can finally eliminate you. This time she will be using her mercenary troops and their commanders are extremely tough men. They make everyone in Cecilia's regular army seem like little girls instead of fighting men.” With this the man died. Marion ordered that the man be at least given a burial instead of just dragging him off into the woods to be eaten like they usually did. This patrol had only six men in it and didn't yield very much loot. The most valuable thing they got were the extra horses. Marion was now determined to move camp even faster than before. The rest of the way back was uneventful. Once they were back in camp, Marion had the group immediately start preparing the first load of gear for in the morning. Looking everything over, Marion decided that it should only take three round trips to move everything; two less then she had initially thought. After getting tomorrow morning's gear ready, Luke took the first watch while everyone else bedded down. Marion was taking no chances now, and she relieved Luke four hours later. As soon as started to get light the next morning, Marion woke everyone up. She was anxious to get moving, and within forty minutes the first load was on its way. The trip to the village was fast and uneventful. When they were about fifteen minutes form the village, they were intercepted by Alice. She was standing watch while Pollyanna got some rest. “She found two nearby villages, Marion. In both of them the people were starving. She didn't make contact though for it was only the three of us here. We figured that once everything gets moved that you might want to go to the villages and introduce yourself for it's about time that we stop hiding and start making actual strides toward getting rid of your bitch sister.” “Very good Alice and yes that is exactly what I will do. Now for some news for you. We intercepted a small patrol on our way home yesterday. One of the men was only wounded badly and he told us that Cecilia is getting ready to launch another offensive only this time she's using mercenary troops under professional leadership. I figure that we should be able to get everything moved within three days if we don't get interrupted.” The next couple of days were busy ones for the group. Marion rotated who stayed in the village. This way everyone would have a general idea of the lay of the land before they made their presence known. In order to hide themselves, they even held off setting booby-traps for the time being. After they had gotten the last load, Marion ordered that the whole area around their former camp be riddled with booby-traps of all kinds and in much thicker densities the they usually used. Doing this took the rest of the day and they had to make the trip back to the village in the dark. None of them minded though for they had a full moon and were used to moving around in the dark. Marion was able to get a few hours' sleep when they got back. Her and Luke now had a small house to themselves. Actually, everyone in the group did. Marion's house was the one that had the blacksmith's shop attached to it. The next morning, the group had their first strategy meeting. They all shared everything that they had learned about their new home: where the villages were, where the roads ran, where were the streams, bridges, and fords were at. Luke shared what he would be focusing on for the next couple of weeks. He was going to make horse drawn reaping machines. His machines weren't combines but they would be far ahead of reaping crops with a sickle. Gabriel would go around and set up hidden watch post and look for good trees for which to make good bows and arrows out of. Alice would get a hospital set up. She would also search the area for medicinal plants. Bard would help Luke in the blacksmith shop when he wasn't busy tending to the group's livestock or the fields which the group had found. Pollyanna would be working on mapping the area. Luke had told her to pay particular attention to areas that they could fortify or areas in which they could set up a water powered blacksmith shop or a grist mill. Matt was confined to bedrest for the next five weeks, but while he was in bed, he would be working on making new clothes for everyone and more arrows for the group. Marion in the meantime would be working on getting the other villages in the area to join with her for she knew that she would need their help to overthrow Cecilia. Chapter 26. Cecilia in the meantime, was growing ever more paranoid and fearful of Marion. Her army mostly refused to leave their barracks for they had suffered enough losses at Marion's hands and they didn't want anything more to do with her. When they did go out, they stayed very close to town and they defiantly stayed out of the forest. Even Cecilia's assassins had failed. She had sent them out to kill Marion and instead twenty of them had been killed including their leader. This caused the rest of them to scatter in the wind after all they were assassins not soldiers and they quickly found out that hunting Marion was a fool's errand and a surefire way to meet with God. Or course it took a while for Cecilia to get this news for Marion didn't leave any survivors that knew what had happened. Then just a few days later, a small patrol went missing. They hadn't even been patrolling in an area that Marion had ever attacked before. This caused Cecilia to really lose sleep. Was Marion expanding her operations? Was there another group that was rising up against her? Nobody knew for they couldn't find the bodies. Soon after she had sent her assassins off, Cecilia had a most important visitor. He was a legendary mercenary commander and had a knack for hunting down rebel groups and eliminating them. He had heard of Cecilia's problems, all the way in Paris and he thought that he might be able to get a very good job offer. After all he was able to bring almost one thousand seasoned men into the field. These were very experienced and highly motivated men. At first Cecilia balked at the terms the general was offering but then again, she really didn't have much choice after Marion had routed her regular army. She was hoping that her assassins would be able to get the job done, but she had her doubts and she needed a back-up plan. Cecilia was able to make it to where she wouldn't have to pay most of the cost until the general had proven that he had been successful. After seeing everything that her sister was now capable of, Cecilia had serious doubts that this continental general could do any better. In fact, she told him as such and that was when he agreed to terms that actually favored Cecilia. The visiting general wasn't French but German. His name was General Kleist and he came from the Saxon controlled area of central Europe in what would eventually become central Germany. He was almost fifty years old and had never lost a fight. He had been a soldier since before he needed to shave and had been given his first army when he was eighteen. He had fought all over Europe and had a brutal reputation when it came to rebel groups. Against regular troops he fought with honor, but that completely disappeared when he fought rebels. Most of his men were German, but he had men from all over Europe, including England. These were the men that he would be relying on for this contract. The general had interviewed the surviving men of Cecilia's previous expedition to find out what had happened. What he learned, shocked him. Marion's troops were extremely ingenious and ruthless, but they were also capable of showing extreme kindness as well. Furthermore, Marion didn't strike at the noble's morale, she struck at the common soldier's morale. By convincing them that the fight was worthless and that they would only die if they continued. This made the largest part of the army worthless for its commanders and left the nobles vulnerable to ambushes. General Kleist didn't share the common misconception that knights were invulnerable in battle for he had seen this notion get crushed on numerous occasions. Knights did have their roles to play but they had to have the protection of the infantry. Just as the general was about to leave to fetch the rest of his men, Cecilia got word that a small patrol had disappeared. This sounded like one of Marion's tricks and she forbid the general from leaving for he could send a messenger for his men; she needed him with her now. Kleist would have to force Cecilia's own army into the field. He knew that as a fighting force, that army was worthless at the moment and he told Cecilia that. She then did something that he wasn't really expecting in that she gave him free rein over her army. “General just do whatever you have to do to get those worthless bastards whipped into shape. Then when you are ready, take them out and crush my sister.” “Yes milady.” And he left. What followed was a brutal time for those in the army. General Kleist whipped any man that didn't follow orders. If they complained, they got whipped. If they tried to desert then he had them hung, drawn and quartered, and finally beaten to death by his own comrades. Kleist wanted the men to fear him more than Marion. It took a couple of months but he was making real progress with turning the mob that he started with, back into a real army. During that time, he and Cecilia had started sleeping together. The general found Cecilia to be a very passionate woman and Cecilia found the general to be very experienced in bed and would always make sure that Cecilia was very satisfied. Cecilia was doing this because she hadn't gotten laid since leaving Lincoln and figured that this would be a cheaper way to keep Kleist loyal to her. Kleist was fucking her because for one, she was beautiful. Two, she was powerful and Kleist wanted some of that power for himself and third pounding Cecilia senseless helped him relax in the evenings. Retraining her ragged army was very stressful and Kleist found that fucking Cecilia helped him forget. His eventual goal was to marry her and then use her army to force her out after she had produced a number of children for him but first, he would have to get rid of Marion. It was almost three months after the general first arrived that his army got there. These men were professionals and it showed. They had excellent gear and marched with supreme confidence. It took them just over a week to integrate Cecilia's army with his own, but by the time it was done, he had an army of just over two thousand men. They still didn't know exactly where Marion's forces were at but the area of where Cecilia's first army was routed seemed like a good place to start. Everyone knew that Marion was still around, only now it was Cecilia's tax collectors that were being targeted and all the villages near that forest were now in open rebellion. Problem was that by the time that the general had gotten the army ready, winter had settled over northern England and put all thoughts of an offensive on hold until spring. Nobody fought in winter. It was too dangerous and with no grass available, horses and oxen died in groves so the army and the general settled in for the winter. Chapter 27. Marion and the rest of the group rapidly settled down into the village. Bard was finding out that Luke was a man of many parts when Luke started making reaping machines that they could rent out to the local villages for a tiny part of their harvest. Luke told Bard that the machines would save so much grain that even with paying the fee, the villagers would still be coming out ahead. This way everyone would win. Marion's group would get the food that they would get the food that they would need for the winter and the villagers would get even more grain than usual. An added bonus was that the locals would start trusting Marion and that was more important than the food. While Luke was making machines, he also took the time to teach Bard how to make knives and swords. Before long Bard was making amazingly beautiful swords that were very balanced and were very good at holding their edge. By the time the harvest had come around, Luke had built six reaping machines and had furthermore made harnesses so that horses could be used instead of oxen. This would further speed up the harvest over the old ways. One of the long range projects that Luke was working on was a steam engine that would be able to power the shop and would enable Luke to work on bigger projects faster. Bard kept working on his swords for which soon he was making really good money from; by selling them. In the meantime, Alice was rapidly growing her skills as a doctor and an apothecary. As soon as Marion had started to draw more people to her banner, Alice's skills began to come into high demand. At first Alice completely memorized every scrape of medical information on Luke's computer and every last bit that he had drifting around in his head. Alice made sure to write everything down in the common language, English no Latin or Greek here. She would then give this information to Pollyanna who had set up a print shop in town and was printing books using a press that she designed herself. It was based on an idea that Luke had given her, based on what her could remember about the Guttenberg press. She knew that at first there would be no market for these, but once more people had learned to read then she would be ready. In addition to Alice's books, Pollyanna printed every book from Luke's computer. She also printed books that were designed to help people learn how to read. One of the other things that she printed was maps of the area so that Marion's troops would know where to go and how long it would take to get there. Luke had taught everyone the metric system being as that was what he was most comfortable with. Being that he had been an engineer that had worked all over the world, Luke used the metric system so that there would be no screw ups in specs. Pollyanna also helped Luke in engineering his new machines. Luke was working on everything from lathes to mills for machining from powered looms to sewing machines for textiles. One other big thing happened to Pollyanna, she got pregnant and Matt was going to be a dad. When Pollyanna gave everyone the news, the group erupted in celebration. They all loved Pollyanna and Matt. After Gabriel had set up out the best look-out post surrounding the villages, everyone took their turns at standing look out. One of the things that Luke had already made was a telegraph and every post was equipped with one. This way the lookout could immediately warn everyone else if enemy troops were sighted. When Gabriel wasn't standing guard, she was Marion's personal bodyguard; a duty which Gabriel took dead serious. After everything that Marion had done for her, Gabriel would gladly give her life to make sure that Marion survived and stayed out of Cecilia's grasp. With everything that Marion was doing, Gabriel had her hands full but so was the life of the personal bodyguard of a very capable ruler. Just after the group had settled down in the village, Robin died. He had never fully recovered from his earlier brush with death either physically or mentally. His death had hit Alice hard for she had poured her soul into keeping helping Robin recover. “Alice” Luke quietly said to her just after they buried him “The first rule of being a doctor is that you Will Not win every battle. Some people will be too badly injured physically; or in their mind they are already dead. That's not to say that you shouldn't try to save everyone because you have amazing skill but always remember that you're not God.” “I know Luke, but that kid was so innocent. I mean what did he do to anyone? Why did he have to die when there are plenty of evil people that could have taken his place?” “Alice, that is a question that humans have been wrestling with since time began and there's no good answer. The religious would say well that's just God's plan, but I have never found that line to be of any comfort. You just have to accept it and move on. Learn everything you can from each case and that way if they don't make it, then at least they wouldn't have died in vain.” “I keep forgetting that you've been through all this before.” Luke nodded and put his arm around Alice as she sobbed quietly and he kept it there until she had cried herself out. He didn't even bother to say anything to her because he knew that there was nothing for him to say. After the funeral, Alice began to pour everything she had into her studies. Marion had the busiest time of everyone. She was to one that would travel to the surrounding villages to talk with the leaders about joining her. At first, nobody could even believe that she was still alive. Her next battle would almost always be about her being female and why they should follow her. A couple of things always helped her with this argument. First is that she already had a reputation for being ferocious in combat. The second was that she was nobility whether she liked it or not. The third thing was that she projected leadership like nobody else. In meetings she was the dominate personality but she wasn't domineering and she would always go out of her way to make sure that everyone had the chance to include their input and when someone made contributions to one of her plans then she would always make sure that person got credit. It took Marion almost three weeks of almost constant effort before the first village signed on with her and they were almost immediately rewarded for Marion started stopping Cecilia's tax collectors from visiting that village. As word of this spread, other villages signed on with her. Marion was also always on the lookout for new recruits for her army. Yes, she would be building it from scratch but she had the help of Gabriel and especially Luke. Luke could get the most thick-headed person to follow orders within an hour or so with very little effort on his part. The army that they were starting to build would be the most professional one since the ancient Romans. Marion knew that for a while she wouldn't be able to compete with her sister based on numbers so she would have to make up the difference with quality. She was able to get one of the villages to agree to try Luke's mechanical reapers saying that if the results didn't live up to her promises then she would make the difference up herself. Once Luke had finished the first field, the villagers were amazed for they had no idea just how must grain they lost every year. By having Luke harvest the field, the village got almost a quarter more grain than they would have gotten themselves. Within days, every other farmer in the area was wanting Luke to harvest their fields too. Instead, Luke taught some of the farmers how to use his reapers and subcontracted them to do the harvest. Luke had enough on his plate the way it was and he also wanted to make sure that the locals learned how to do these things for themselves. In Marion's personal life, she was just as busy. Her pregnancy was starting to show and one of the things that Luke liked to do was to play his music for the kid. He would place his old cell phone on Marion's stomach and play different music for the kid. He just loved the feeling of the kid kicking. Even before Marion gave birth, her house got another person to live in it for Gabriel moved in with her and Luke. At first it was just Gabriel being dead serious about protecting Marion, but as time went on it became more than that. Everyone realized that Gabriel was falling in love with Marion. At first Gabriel was deeply ashamed of her love for Marion and by extension Luke. This feeling continued until a rainy day when all three were home. “Gabriel?” asked Marion and Luke “Can the three of us talk please?” “Yes” replied Gabriel who was so nervous that she thought that she might pee at any moment. “Gabriel” started Luke “We know that you have fallen in love with Marion and after talking with Marion we have no problem with this. After all you have no control with who you love and we don't believe that anyone can tell you who you can love and who you can't. Back in my time we had plenty on men and woman who were homosexual or bisexual. F Y I, bisexuals love both men and woman. There were plenty in my time who didn't like this fact but to repress this fundamental human fact is exceptionally cruel.” “Gabriel” started Marion “I am fine with you loving me and being completely honest with you, I find myself falling in love with you too. I just ask you to remember that Luke is and will always be my primary love but he has agreed to share” giving Luke a funny look “a bit too eagerly now that I think about it.” Luke just gave have a shit eating smile and Marion gave him a playful punch. “So, both of you are fine with this?” asked Gabriel as if she was reaching for some distant hope that she was too afraid that she would never reach. Luke and Marion smiled at her. “Yes, we are fine and to prove it to you…” Marion took Gabriel by the hand and lead her to her and Luke's bed. Luke whispered something to Marion and he left the room. At first Gabriel was worried about Luke until Marion explained that Luke was giving them some privacy for their first time and he was going to work in the shop. Marion took the lead when she pulled Gabriel in for a deep kiss. At first Gabriel was so nervous that she could barely participate. Her upbringing was keeping her back for she was about to partake in one of the vilest sins, but Marion was patent with her. After a few passion-loaded kisses from Marion, Gabriel started to loosen up and she started returning them. Marion then started to run her hands up and down Gabriel's body with Gabriel quickly replying in kind. As Gabriel's hand ran across Marion's swollen stomach, the baby kicked and the girls giggled. As their hands reached each other's pussies Gabriel was now completely involved and couldn't have stopped if she wanted to. Both of them were wearing pants and shirts. By this time all the woman in Marion's party had given up on dresses. Gabriel made quick work of untying Marion's pants while Marion ran her hands up under Gabriel's shirt, pushing it up as she went. As Marion's pants fell away, Marion pushed Gabriel's shirt over her head. Marion then untied Gabriel's pants as Gabriel removed Marion's shirt slowly. After the two of them were naked, they embraced each other. It was then that Marion realized that Gabriel was softly crying and Marion was instantly concerned, ‘had she gone too far, too fast.' She didn't need to worry though “Marion, my love” Gabriel started when she noticed Marion's concern “All my life I have known that I was different but could never figure out why. I was always more interested in spying on the other girls then I was in spying on the boys. I never told anyone because I knew how people would react and then I met you though Luke. You took me under your wing, protected me, and helped me grow to heights which I never knew existed. Then you and Luke took me to bed with you. That was until now the best night of my life and if I had died, I would have been happy. Afterwards though was so awkward; at first, I thought you were just ignoring me like my parents did after they made love. Then I began to fear that you hated me for it didn't seem that you wanted to be with me anymore and that hurt so bad.” By this point Marion was in tears. Part of this was simply her hormones but most of it was caused by Gabriel pouring her heart out. “Gabriel, to be honest with you, I never thought about you sexually until just a few days ago even after that time with Luke. For back then I was just trying to help one of my best friends get through a very difficult time in her life. I did notice that you were more distant toward me after and I thought that I had offended you in some way. Then you moved in with us. At first you were just a loyal guard who was serious about her duty, but then Luke noticed that your eyes seemed to be full of pain whenever you saw me, especially when I was undressed. The reason that Luke kicked you out of our house the other night was so that we could talk about you. He's concerned about you, Gabriel. When he first suggested that you might be in love with me, I was taken back to put it mildly. However, the more I thought about it the more I thought about that night with the three of us and I realized that was when the awkwardness really started. Then I truly examined that night and every night after and I realized that Luke was right. At first, I was embarrassed and angry. I mean we have always been told that homosexuality was evil. Then I started to wonder how something so beautiful and pure as what we shared that night could possibly be evil. After I couldn't find an answer for that question, I realized that the reason that I couldn't find the answer was that I had fallen in love with you too.” By now both girls were in tears. They had opened their hearts to each other and had been accepted by the other. “But Marion, what about Luke? About everyone else?” “What about Luke? I still love him and he loves me. As you know, he knows all about us and He was the one who started me on my road to discovering myself. If anything, I love him more now than I did before. Just know that he has already stated that he is strictly a one woman man and that he felt terrible after he made you a woman. It actually took me a while to convince him that he didn't do anything wrong and I'm okay with it. I still think he feels guilty once in a while though As for everyone else, if they don't like the facts then they can choke on it. Luke does suggest that we keep us to ourselves for we are trying to lead a revolution in which everyone will be equal in the eyes of the law. Everyone will be free to be themselves. Everyone will have the freedom to succeed or fail and whatever they do will be up to them.” “Remind me to give Luke a thank you.” Marion smiled at this “He's already said that you being happy and able to thrive will be thanks enough.” With that Marion gently pulled Gabriel to lay with her in bed. What followed was something that could only be described as pure love. Marion started by softy kissing every square centimeter of skin on Gabriel's face and neck. As Marion made her way down Gabriel's neck, Gabriel released her first moan of the night. Marion then made her way down to Gabriel's tit. Gabriel wasn't as gifted in the tit department as Marion, but that was okay because Gabriel having smaller tits made it easier for her to use her bow. Marion the started sucking on one of Gabriel's nipples while foundling the other. This gave Gabriel her first orgasm for the night. Gabriel had another orgasm before Marion moved on. Down across Gabriel's tight strong stomach Marion kissed and caressed. Finally, Marion reached Gabriel's bush. It was the same chestnut color as her hair and while sparse was curly and soft. Marion didn't spend too much time here before she started down Gabriel's legs, much to Gabriel's disappointment. After working on both of Gabriel's long, strong legs; Marion returned to Gabriel's flower. This time Marion was looking for nectar and she found it by the bucket full. As fast as Marion could lap it up Gabriel produced more. Marion then gave up trying to lick her lover clean and sent right to the source. She locked her mouth over Gabriel's fuck hole and used her tongue to fuck her. Marion found a rough patch inside Gabriel that when licked drove Gabriel crazy, in fact it was all that Marion could do to hold Gabriel down. As Marion's tongue found her special place, lights started flashing in Gabriel's eyes. She didn't know what was happening to her and really didn't care for this was far better than anything she had ever experienced before. Things hit a crescendo when Gabriel started shaking violently and flooding Marion's mouth with nectar. Marion almost couldn't keep up but somehow managed to keep everything in her mouth. Marion then stopped to give Gabriel some time to recover. She gently moved up to lay next to Gabriel. As Marion lay on her back, Gabriel moved around to where her head was lying on Marion's shoulder and her long hair was spread across Marion's upper body. At this moment, Marion knew why Luke always loved when they did this for, she found that there didn't seem to be any other way to show that two people loved each other more. Marion then made sure that all the hair was out of Gabriel's face and then she drew the blanket over them and joined Gabriel in sleepy land. Some hours later Marion didn't know when, she was awakened by movement under the cover. At first, she was disoriented, someone was gently sucking on her right nipple. Marion moved the cover and by the light of the moon could see a head covered in chestnut hair whose lips were latched on to her nipple. The realization came to Marion of what was going on and she put her hand on that head and gently stroked the hair. Gabriel was startled by this but recovered quickly when Marion started stroking her hair. Gabriel was determined to return Marion's love with interest. She moved up to Marion's face and their eyes locked. Neither of them could seem to break contact for it was like there was some spell over them. They didn't know how much time pasted but Gabriel slowly started kissing Marion's neck while caressing Marion's face. This time it was Marion who was cumming buckets for to her this was almost a dream because she had never fully woken up. Eventually Gabriel moved south back down to Marion's sensitive tits. Marion was a bit larger and with her pregnancy was getting bigger and more sensitive. Gabriel didn't spend too much time here for she wanted to make sure that Marion was still conscious when she went down on her and so far, Gabriel had given Marion two powerful orgasms. Gabriel worked her way over Marion's slightly swollen belly tracing every stretch line as she did. She then made her way down to Marion's golden bush. Since she began spending time with Luke; Marion now kept her bush neatly trimmed so that Luke wouldn't get hair in his mouth, plus it gave her more skin to skin contact when Luke went down on her. Now it was Gabriel's turn to enjoy. By this time Marion was talking in moans and gasp and not saying anything. When Gabriel spread Marion's pussy lips and started to lick; Marion saw the stars in her eyes. The more Gabriel licked the more intense the starlight became. Those stars exploded the second that Gabriel put her tongue up inside Marion and started licking her G-spot. Since Gabriel had Marion's legs propped up on her shoulder's Marion's orgasm was beyond intense. She screamed out into the night at the top of her lungs. She screamed until there was no air left to scream out and then Marion collapsed. Every muscle went to jelly and every cell felt like it weighed a ton. She couldn't even pull the blanket over her before she passed out. Gabriel smiled, seeing this and pulled the blanket over them and fell back asleep. Chapter 28. Life after this got better for Marion and the rest of the group. Cecilia's troops wouldn't even come out of the castle anymore and Marion was making rapid progress in turning the entire area against her. Luke was making amazing progress in forming the army. He assigned one unit to learn under Pollyanna and one to learn under Matt who had recovered. If the recruits thought that winter would slow things down, then they were mistaken. If anything, Luke made them train harder for by now they had excellent intelligence on what Cecilia was up to and they knew that she had hired a professional general to rebuild her army and he had brought units with him from Europe. Marion always made sure that her men and woman were paid on time and their pay came directly from her coffers and not from the officers. This was something that Luke had insisted on; the new army would be government troops, G I as he called them, and not independent contractors. With Marion now in control of the countryside, she instituted her own taxes. They were much lower than Cecilia's and with the extra grain that had been taken in, the people could easily pay it and were glad to for Marion was a much better ruler then Cecilia ever was and they knew that if Marion lost the war then their lots would get much worse. On Christmas day 1065 several big things happened for Marion and her followers. First was that Luke got his steam engine up and running. Now he could make weapons far faster than before and much more advanced weapons. In fact, Gabriel was the first one to receive them. Luke gave her a pair of six shot revolvers and a bolt action repeating rifle that was based on the German Mauser rifle. Granted it was slower to shoot then if he had based it on the Lee Enfield; it was more rugged. Gabriel also got a small unit of bodyguards to help protect Marion; four women and four men and within a week they were equipped just like Gabriel. Luke gave Pollyanna a set of surveying tools that she instantly fell in love with. Measuring distances was always a pain but now she could do her work much faster. Alice got a surgeon's tool set. Luke had scrounged high and low to find enough of the right metals to make the tools but he just managed. Alice of course knew what Luke was doing for her because he had measured her hands so that he could make the tools so that they would fit her properly. Matt had also got a set of guns but his were a bit larger than the ones that Luke had made for the woman. The caliper was the same of course but the rifle stock was a bit longer and his pistol grips were a bit larger. Luke had done this so that Matt could use them more comfortably. The other big thing that happened was much more personal for Marion. That morning, before they left the house, Luke gave her a diamond ring and asked her to marry him. Of course, she said yes and everyone's reaction was “Well it's about time” Luke had gotten the diamond while he was in one of the port towns looking for salt so they could preserve meat for the winter. Luke had met a gem dealer and after much bargaining, which saw Luke trade in the loupe that he had made, he got several large rough diamonds and a couple of smaller ones. He also got some sapphires and a ruby. Luke had then taken those rough gems and cut and polished them to perfection. The biggest diamond got a solitaire cut and this truly brought out the fire in it. Luke then made a pair of rings out of gold. The diamonds were held in by six prongs that Luke had carefully shaped like tulips and the small ones down the sides were held in by a V shaped groove that Luke had formed. Luke took the sapphire and a couple of other small diamond pieces and made a necklace for Marion. He took the Ruby and made a necklace for Gabriel. After Marion and Gabriel's first night together, the three of them slept together every night. That had happened in November and now Gabriel was wondering if she too was pregnant. If she was then so be it for, she had always wanted to be a mother. Everywhere Marion went her ring caught everyone's attention. Nobody had ever seen jewelry like hers. The diamond shined and shimmered in the sunlight and the sapphire necklace was just breathtaking. Luke thought that Marion wearing jewelry was like guiding a lily but seeing her wearing the pieces that he made was unlike any other experience he had ever had. Gabriel loved her necklace too but refused to wear it for the most part so that she wouldn't lose it in battle. She did wear it around the house and on formal occasions. After Christmas, things started to get extremely hectic for Marion and her group. For one she was really starting to have a hard time moving around due to her growing belly. One of the local midwives how had joined with Alice estimated that Marion had about six weeks to go. Alice, like the rest of the group had taken on followers of her own, only her followers were interested in medicine. So far, she had gotten a herb specialist, a couple of midwives, and two men. These men were not like most of the other men in that they considered woman equal and they would be more than happy to treat anyone who might need their assistance. In fact, Alice had enough people around her that she asked Pollyanna to design a hospital for a base. Pollyanna rapidly agreed and got to work. Another reason that things were hectic was that Marion had declared a total blockade of the city of York. The blockade wouldn't be lifted until Cecilia's army laid down their arms and Cecilia left. Marion was demanding that Cecilia not only leave York, but leave the British islands as well. At first Marion had a hard time enforcing the blockade but as more and more troops came out of Luke's training program this became easier. With the first snowfall, Luke introduced something that the world had never seen before, winter camouflage. With the padded jackets and pants that he had developed, Marion's troops could move very quickly and stay hidden until it was time to strike. Not only that but Luke's gun making was gathering momentum. He was having a problem securing a steady supply of potassium nitrate and iron but he had enough to manage. He designed the firearms to use black power at first because it was the easiest to manufacture. Marion and Luke were married on New Year's Day by one of the local priests. He wasn't all that happy about Marion already being pregnant but he was far from stupid and was able to see the reality in front of him. These two people loved each other with all their being. Not only that but he had been one of the early victims of Cecilia's extortion and he saw marrying Luke and Marion as a way of poking Cecilia in the eye. Within a week, Pollyanna and Matt were married as well. In mid-January news came in of Edward's death. Marion and her immediate group already knew that this was going to happen thanks to Luke so they didn't react at all to the news. They also knew that the new king would have his hands full with the threat from the Duke of Normandy so Marion knew that the only threat they would be facing for a while was from Cecilia. By the end of February Marion had fifteen hundred troops at her disposal. A thousand were infantry, four hundred were cavalry and the last hundred were artillery. In addition, Pollyanna had fifty combat engineers under her command and Alice had a medical unit with four doctors besides herself, twelve nurses, and thirty others. A week before the end of February though Marion's life made a drastic turn when she became a mother. It was about two in the morning when after fourteen hours in labor, Marion gave birth to a beautiful baby girl which Marion promptly named Mackenzie MacDougall which brought tears to Luke's eyes. Marion knew for all that he loved her, that he still missed his family terribly. Marion had caught him numerous times just sitting in front of his computer looking at pictures of his sister Mackenzie and her family, pictures of his former coworkers who were like family to him, and pictures of his parents. Thankfully Marion's pregnancy had been uneventful for the most part and their child was healthy. Chapter 29. Marion defeats Cecilia; but at what cost? As her general and his troops settled in for the winter, Cecilia started getting very disturbing reports from some of the villages. Marion was starting to really make herself a pain in the ass. Villages were declaring their allegiance to Marion and she was gathering troops around her. General Kleist of course wasn't worried, after all what could a woman rebel and a few villages do to him. The worst bit of news for Cecilia came in just after Christmas and was that Marion appeared to be pregnant. The first time Cecilia heard this; she went started doing a pretty good impression of a super volcano erupting. Even General Kleist was fearful of her for Cecilia had finally shed the last of her nice person persona and was now easier to equate to the devil's evil twin then a person. Any empathy that she might have still had evaporated. After a few days and Cecilia had calmed down a little, Kleist asked her about it, “That fucking whore got herself knocked up by the man that I deserve. He was supposed to be mine; do you understand; Mine and she stole him.” She shrieked “So general when the fuck are you going to get your men into the field?” “Milady it be the middle of...” Cecilia cut him off “Middle of fucking winter my fucking ass!! That cunt has her army in the field and now I have just been informed that she is demanding that I leave not only England, but the British islands all together!” “Milady, please clam down. This town is well stocked with food and water. The army is ready to go, but to fight in the winter is begging for disaster. Just give me until spring then I will scatter that cunt's forces and bring you Luke.” “See that you bring me Marion's head on a pike as well general or it will be your head on a pike. Now get out!” The general began to ride his troops hard in focusing on their training. He also began to make a contingency plan for if Marion somehow defeated him in battle. He decided that if that happened, he would take every man left in his army, race for the coast, and get out of England. He knew of Cecilia's wide range network so he would have to most likely head to the port of London to make his escape. A new problem made itself known in mid-January. The king of England had died and the throne was passed to Herold Godwinson just as Luke had told Marion's group. Cecilia of course didn't know this and sent envoys to meet with the new king and to pledge her allegiance. She couldn't go herself because she had her hands full with Marion. The only bit of good news was in early February when Cecilia found out that she was pregnant, but by this time Kleist didn't care anymore. He couldn't stand Cecilia and only stayed around so that he might still collect his bonus for getting rid of Marion. There was this too; Marion's troops seemed to be in possession of some new type of weapon. One that made thunder when they were used. Kleist didn't put too much stock in these reports but with so many coming in he figured that he just had to get a look for himself. He couldn't see any way in which thunder weapons could affect his heavily armored knights and highly disciplined infantry. With the end of February more bad news came in. Marion had given birth to a healthy baby girl and had married Luke. If this wasn't bad enough for Cecilia then the news that Marion's army was almost as large as hers was worse. By this time though Cecilia knew where Marion's main base was. The arrogant bitch had the nerve to set herself up one of the villages that Cecilia had depopulated and forced into York so she could keep an eye on them. Cecilia then got news that she would most likely get no help from King Herold for he was gathering men on the Isle of Wight to face the Norman threat. Nobody knew when the Normans would attack but it seemed like that attack could come at any time. As each day went by, Cecilia became more and more anxious for it was becoming increasingly obvious that waiting to rebuild the army hadn't been the right call. Marion was gaining strength by the day and she was becoming increasingly brazen for she was raiding almost right up to York's walls. These raids were becoming more effective as time went on. On 1 March 1066 Cecilia had enough. She ordered General Kleist and the entire army into the field with strict orders the either succeed or die. To make sure that these orders were followed Cecilia sent a number of her personal henchmen along with the army. It took the general and his officers almost three days to get the troops ready and march them out of town. Their objective was the village that Marion had taken over. Kleist estimated that the march would take about two days and then they would burn the village to the ground and leave no survivors. They would then go on to the other villages and raze them as well. As the general was leaving the city gates, he was shocked beyond belief to be joined by Cecilia and her personal guard. “If you lose general, then Marion will make sure that I die. If I am to die then I will die in battle.” The general could barely hide his disgust for Cecilia's guards were the worst examples of humanity. In addition, woman didn't belong on the battlefield and the general was going to prove that. As Cecilia rode out with him, the general was getting another idea. During the battle, he would make sure that Cecilia died and he would take over all of her lands. The first day out of town was pretty routine. The army made almost five miles the first day. They would have made many more but the roads were in terrible shape and the bridges had been destroyed. They also knew that Marion's troops knew where they were at for they could see scouts in the distance. That evening they made camp around the remains of an abandoned village. Form the looks of things, the village had very recently been abandoned and destroyed. That night, the general's officers set a heavy guard around the camp. Cecilia's nerves were trying to get the better of her but she was so far able to fight it. After all the general seemed calm and she was better than any man. The next morning the whole army knew that it was in trouble for every one of their night guards were dead. This made everyone more than a bit nervous for nobody heard a thing the night before and every one of the guards had their throats slit. The army got going within an hour of sunrise. All over there was signs of Marion's army. Men and woman lurked in the shadows of the army. If Cecilia's cavalry charged then the troops lurking disappeared without a trace. As Cecilia's army came to within a few miles of their goal, they stumbled onto Marion's army. Chapter 30. On 1 March, Marion received word that Cecilia was marching her army out of town. Marion had gotten word so fast because she had been able to slip spies into York and they were all equipped with advanced signaling equipment. They all had a set of flags and they all knew the code for sending messages. They would sneak up to a high place and signal their partners outside the wall. That partner would then send the message via telegraph back to Marion's headquarters. This was another one of the many advances that Luke had introduced into the army. It had been a serious stretch and was expensive as hell but he managed to find enough copper to make enough cable to reach York. When she heard the news, Marion wasn't worried though for she and her group of advisers had been discussing this for months. They had all traveled the entire area and studied the land. They knew where it would be to their advantage to fight and where not to. They had informed all the villages that were in the likely paths that when Cecilia's army started their march that they would need to evacuate or likely be killed. When Cecilia's army finally came out of the gates, Marion's scouts were watching and with the spy glasses that Luke had made could count the army as they came out of the gates. They even saw that Cecilia herself was with the army. All this was reported along with the army's path. Marion ordered that all villages along that route were to be immediately evacuated and burned. Her cavalry units helped the villagers get out of harm's way and even used their horses to pull wagons loaded with the villager's possessions. She didn't want to leave anything for Cecilia's army to use. Luke called this tactic scored earth and because Marion had helped the villagers get out of the way, they complied with her order. All through the day Cecilia's army was watched closely. The scouts had orders to let themselves be seen but only from a distance. They were not under any circumstances to get close enough to even remotely endanger themselves. That evening, Cecilia's army camped in one of the burnt-out villages and the next phase of Marion's plan was put into operation. It was time for more psy-ops. Gabriel and Pollyanna would move around the enemy camp at night and kill all the guards. If they could do so without being seen they would also leave signs in the camp itself that they were there. That night Gabriel and Pollyanna struck. The enemy had many more guards than they had figured on but the duo was still able to wipe out all the guards. Problem was that taking out all the guards took so long that they didn't have time to enter the camp safely. They reported this failure to Marion but she wasn't disturbed in the slightest. She privately figured that their plan was a bit too reckless anyway. Granted it would have been nice to leave signs inside the camp it just wasn't worth the risk to two of Marion's closest friends. As soon as they reported in, Marion ordered them to get a nap. The battle would begin in a few hours and those two would need to be at their best for Gabriel was the leader of Marion's bodyguards and Pollyanna's engineers would play a critical role in Marion's plans. To be continued in part 7, Based on a post by somethin fishy, for Sex Stories.

On this week's episode of The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina Stanford is joined as always by Thomas Banks and Cindy Rollins for the opening of their series on Bram Stoker's Dracula. Today our hosts focus on the background and historical context for this piece of literature, as well as going over the highlights of the first two chapters. They talk about the question of the role of the monster in literature in modernity versus its historical interpretation. Understanding the form of the Gothic novel and the time period in which this book was written are important aspects of approaching Dracula.  Keep listening next week for more about how to read this book. We will be covering chapters 3-7.  To view the full show notes for this episode, please visit https://theliterary.life/296.  Get the latest news from House of Humane Letters by signing up for their e-newsletter today! We are excited to announce this coming year's annual Literary Life Online Conference, happening January 23-30, 2026, “The Letter Killeth, but the Spirit Quickeneth: Reading Like a Human”. Our speakers will be Dr. Jason Baxter, Jenn Rogers, Dr. Anne Phillips, and, of course, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks.

We promised Ninja Gaiden, but sadly could not deliver...However, we have quite literally the next best vibe! This month/This episode, we cover Ninja Slayer Kills, written by Koutarou Sekine, created by Bradley Bond and Phillip 'Ninja' Morzez. An action-packed, Ninja meets Cyberpunk, story of vengeance!We also resolved some of the standing items from the last episode, talked smack about each other, and drank the night away. We appreciate any and all who left stuff to follow up on. Cheers!Here are the deets -Book of the month:https://www.amazon.com/Ninja-Slayer-Kills-Koutarou-Sekine/dp/1632360861Spirit of the month: (though not shown, we all agreed on Sake)https://shop.takarasake.com/products/nigori-silky-mild?srsltid=AfmBOoq7jpRx_RtKFzz1zz9PQuRz9rDMrVq8jB6bNnuzri7YJ519xBHWWARNING: Enjoy at your own risk.Brought to you by Zero-0-Eight (0-0-8 Studios)https://0-0-8studios.com/ #podcast  #podcasts  #podcasting  #comics  #artist  #writing  #reviews  #comicreviews  #comicreview   #booklover  #bookreview  #booktok #books  #artwork  #art  #podcastlife #Godofwar #kratos #superheroes #supervillians #drunkreaction #readingcommunity #ninjagaiden #teamninja #doa #ninjaslayer #ninjas #funny #indieauthors #bookrecommendations

Luke's HAARP Time Warp: Part 5 Marion returns with vengeance. Based on a post by somethin fishy, in 15 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. They waited until the troops had pasted them before attacking. Pollyanna and Stella started shooting when they were about twenty meters behind the last of the soldiers. They were able to shoot two volleys before the soldiers even knew that they were under attack. As the soldiers were stopping to turn around Pollyanna and Stella dropped their third pair of targets. Now the odds were seven to one. Before the soldiers could charge the odds had become to six to one. As the soldiers started their charge toward the two women, they ran off the road and continued to shoot from the forest. Being in the forest allowed them to hide and shoot and the trees slowed the soldiers down. The odds were down to five to one by the time the soldiers had made it to the pair but now they were close enough to use their swords. Stella was the first to catch a blow when one of the soldiers struck her bow and cut it in half, but before he could strike again, Pollyanna shot him and Stella was able to draw her sword and cut down another passing rider. Now it was four to one but the problem for the women now was that the remaining eight were some of the best and most loyal men that Cecilia had. Stella had barely seen him but was able to yell out: “Polly Behind You!” As Pollyanna turned, one of the men drove his horse right over her and knocked her out. Normally, something like that would have killed Pollyanna but her armor saved her and now Stella was by herself. She continued the hack and slash at anyone who came close while working herself over to where she could protect Pollyanna. Stella hoped that Pollyanna was only knocked out and not dead, but had no time to check. Finally surrounded, the troop leader demanded Stella's honorable surrender. At first, she refused, but when she took in the full situation, she could see really didn't have a choice. She was outnumbered eight to one and Pollyanna was out cold. Hopefully by giving her honorable surrender, Stella could buy herself and Pollyanna some time for Marion to bail them out. Thankfully Marion knew where the two of them had been patrolling and Stella knew that Marion would be looking for them within only an hour or so. They had left a note, written in the group's code at the site where they had rescued the women explaining where they were headed. So, Stella surrendered. Stella and Pollyanna were both searched while most of the men searched the surrounding forest where they managed to round up all five of the other women. Stella knew better then to fight at the moment but the other women were fighting viciously. This was deeply amusing for the soldiers. The commander wanted to just kill the five women and take the two captured back to York. His men had other ideas; they were not about to waste five good pussies before they could play some. “Fine, you idiot's have an hour and then we kill them.” The commander stated. His authority over these men was still a bit shaky for he was a very recent transfer from Richard's former main estate plus an extra hour wouldn't matter and maybe he could get some information out of his captives; so, while his men started to rape the women, he sat with Stella and Pollyanna to have a talk with Stella. By this time, Stella had checked on Pollyanna and could see that she was only knocked out and should be coming to before long. The commander had watched this and was impressed. Stella went through checking Pollyanna in such a way that suggested that she not only knew what she was doing but had nerves of steel as well. “So, lass what be your name?” Stella just looked at him but didn't answer. The commander had expected as much for this clearly was not a weak woman. “Well, my name is Captain Hall, but you can call me Matt.” “Why are you letting your men rape those poor women? Don't you think that they're been through enough already?” Stella asked with enough venom to kill all the men. “Well, there are seven of them and only one of me, plus those men are mercenaries while I am not. Also, what kind of word is don't?” ‘Shit, didn't think that though' thought Stella. “Where I come from that is called a contraction. It is a combination of the words do not and by using contractions it makes speaking more efficient.” “Where are you from then? I have traveled widely in my many years and I have never heard speech like that.” “Well, I am from a far-off land known as America.” Stella knew that she couldn't tell the truth here so she made up a cover story using parts of Luke's story as her own. “America? I have never heard of such a land.” “It is far away after all. It lays far to the West, across the sea.” “Then how did you end up here then?” “Like you, I have traveled widely and I have been travelling almost constantly for many years. I have probably been to more places than you have ever heard of.” By this time Pollyanna was starting to come around so Stella went to her side to help. Matt quietly watched as Stella helped Pollyanna sit up and then do something with Pollyanna's eyes. Stella then checked Pollyanna's pulse and then checked her for broken bones. Eventually Stella decided that Pollyanna probably only sustained a mild concussion and she would be fine. While she was checking her Stella quietly told Pollyanna what was going on including the story that she was telling the commander. The other men were making enough noise to cover up their own conversation. Matt then started trying to get some information out of Pollyanna but all that she would say was that she was an engineer. Matt had heard of engineers, he had served with many large armies in his past, but he had never heard of a female engineer before. He guessed that it was possible after all one of his sisters had been very bright before disease had killed her and truth be told; it was his memory of her that had caused him to be so kind to these two women. After an hour the men's time was up. “Hey idiots, when you finish up with your current woman, kill her. We need to get going.” Neither Stella or Pollyanna said a thing for they both knew that if these women were kept alive then their secret would be revealed and they would most likely be killed. Within ten minutes, all five women lay dead and the men had themselves dressed and ready to go. The men then started showing interest in Stella and Pollyanna but the captain claimed them for himself. These two amazed him and he wasn't about to let them be used by some lowlife soldiers. When one of the men tried to grab Stella, she grabbed his wrist, flipped him over her body and stomped on his throat at the same time he was landing on the ground. Stella's aim was true and she crushed the jugular, leading to the quick death of the arrogant soldier. The other men, including Matt, took a step back at seeing this. Obviously, these were not women that you would want to piss off, and now with both of them awake and alert the odds were now three and a half to one and none of them were confident that they could win even with the odds in their favor. Matt quickly ordered that the women's hands be bound and to the women: “If you fight us anymore, I will have you ran through. Is that clear?” Both women nodded. “Good because the last thing I want to do is have you two killed.” Once the women were bound, the group continued on their way. Matt had the women put on horses and had one of his men keep hold of the reins to keep the women from doing anything stupid. Another one of his men rode next to each woman with their sword out and ready to use at a moment's notice. Matt wasn't going to take any more chances that these women try to escape. For hours, the group rode in mostly silence. There was some occasional talk between the men and Matt. Once in a while Matt would ask one of the women a question. Sometimes they answered, sometimes they didn't. The answers that they did give were always very short. It almost seemed that the women were waiting for something or someone. Matt had quickly caught on to this and had sent two of his men ahead to keep an eye out. Finally, the woods thinned out and they could see the city of York in the distance and Matt was relieved for these two women had been making all of his men and himself, for that matter, nervous as hell. Matt almost couldn't wait to get the women back into his small house that he rented in town. Through Matt's cloud of thoughts, a sound broke through, the sound of men being killed quickly. Matt snapped out of his thoughts and looked around. All the men with him were still alive, but it was obvious that they had heard the noise to for they all had their swords drawn and were looking into the woods. They had also sped up their mounts for right now all they wanted to do was to get back to the safety of town. Coming around the last corner, the group stopped in their tracks. There laying on the ground were their two advance guards and standing over them was a giant. The giant had a green overcoat on and the hood had been pulled over its face. Matt actually wondered if this thing might actually be capable of picking him and his horse up and slamming them both into the ground. Then the giant spoke: “Those two women belong to me and I would appreciate their return.” The voice was very calm and under these circumstances very unnerving. “They are mine now” growled Matt. Then speaking to his men: “Kill that bastard” “I believe the gentleman asked for his women back and it will be in your best interest to return them” came a female voice. All the men including Matt stopped and looked. Stepping out from behind the giant was another person that wore the same long green overcoat. Now that Matt was thinking clearly, this was the same type of overcoat that is captives were wearing. Again, the female voice spoke: “This is your last warning; release them and I might let you live. If you refuse to release them, then I guarantee that you will be dead within a minute.” “Who the fuck are you?!?!” spat Matt. He was getting pissed and he wasn't about to release the woman that had killed over half of his men. Ahead of him the two looked at each other and them back to Matt. At the same time, they swept off their hoods and Matt found himself looking at a fairly handsome man and a woman that could only be described as an angel or the goddess of beauty. Behind him, he heard a gasp. “What?” he asked the man who had gasped. “We should do what they say sir for that is Marion of York and therefore I bet the giant is the man named Luke. I am telling you now sir that we stand no chance against them.” Now Matt knew who they were for he had heard the tales and seeing these two in the flesh didn't doubt that the tales were true. Now knowing the two in front of him, he could guess at who his captives were. He also knew that if Cecilia heard that he released two members of Marion's group that he would die a very slow and painful death. As he was deciding what to do, Marion spoke “If you don't release my people by the time, I count to five, then I will have you killed where you stand. Of course, if you try charging then you will only die faster. My best archer is hidden in the woods and she never misses” This decided things for Matt and he told the men to put away their swords and untie the women. “But Milord, if Cecilia hears of this then we will all be dead anyway. I know not about you, but I would much rather die at Marion's hands then Cecilia's. For you know that Cecilia will torture us and kill our families where if Marion kills us then it will be at least fast and our families will hopefully still have a chance.” “You men know that you have a third option” said Stella. She urged her horse forward until she was in front of all the men and then she turned to face them. “You men can join us and serve Marion in her bid to oust the tyrannical Cecilia and bring peace and prosperity back to northern England.” All the men were staring at her like she was a ghost or had turned into a monster and their faces turned white as sheets. The seconds ticked by, the men under Matt's command were paralyzed for they had never expected this. From what everything that was said about Marion, they had expected to be killed very slowly. Eventually Marion stepped forward and came to stand next to Stella. “Choose now!” Marion snapped. This seemed to snap the men out of their paralysis. “The men who are willing to follow me need to get off their horses now. The rest of you will have ten seconds to get the hell out of here before I have you killed.” Matt was the first one to dismount. Something in Marion gave him hope and it was like she was an angel, with a halo surrounding her, that screamed “Follow me”. About half of his men followed suit while the rest decided to run. They had family that still lived in York and without them there to protect them, they would be dead within a month. Marion true to her word let the men go, but before they rode off, she stopped them. Handing them each a small pouch; she told them “Here, take this and make sure that your families get it before you meet with my sister. Make sure that when you report what happened that you do not mention it for, she will surely steal it from you. Now good luck and ride safe.” Marion stepped out of the way and let the men ride on. She then turned to check out her four new recruits. Chapter 21. The mood in Cecilia's castle was bleak to say the least. It had been going downhill ever since the raid that had killed Richard had happened. If there was any rumor that Marion had been sighted, Cecilia sent off a group of her men to investigate but that was all they ever were was rumors. In the meantime, Cecilia's grasp on reality started to slip. She was ever more fearful of the people turning against her. This fear lead her to institute loyalty oaths for all her men. She had also demanded that they all move their families into York. She made it clear that if any of them tried anything that went against her, that their families would be killed by either torture or being burned at the stake. She would use fear to keep everyone in line. At the same time, she raised taxes even further. Any household that couldn't pay were either forced to provide free labor for Cecilia's estates, or had to provide a young man for her army, or had to provide a young woman to help entertain the soldiers. If the household couldn't or wouldn't meet these conditions then the household would be destroyed. The men would be worked to death on her estates, usually in the mines, while the women would be forced into sexual servitude. They would be sent to one of Cecilia's brothels where their life span would be measured in months. For these women would be the ones to serve the customers that had social diseases or who had very kinky taste like murder or cannibalism fetishes. As long as they paid for the goods, Cecilia didn't care what happened to the girls. On this day, Cecilia was waiting on a gold shipment. It was money that she had made by selling the extra food that she had brought in with her taxes. The food was needed but she needed hard money even more. The shipment was under a strong guard and was led by one of her most trusted men; Captain Matthew Hall. He was extremely capable and extremely loyal. The only thing that bothered Cecilia about using him was that he had no family for her to have leverage over him. The captain was due back soon for he had sent a messenger ahead to tell Cecilia that he had the shipment under guard and was leaving London. He had even given her an approximate date that he thought that he would be back by. She got a message that said that some of the Captain's men had returned but not the Captain. Cecilia went to meet with them and there was only three that had returned out of twenty that had left. Furthermore, none of the money had made it back and this outraged Cecilia. She managed to just barely hold her temper in check while the men gave their reports. It seemed that Marion was back and her entire group that had escaped, had survived. She had ambushed the convey and had killed most of the guards. The only way they had survived was that they had played dead while Marion and her followers had looted the money, the arms, and armor from the dead. Cecilia exploded. Her damn sister was back and now had a lot of money. Cecilia had been expecting almost five thousand pounds from the sale of her extra food and other goods. The surviving men made their retreat while Cecilia was busy ranting and raving. “Was that a good idea lying to her like that” one of them asked. “You want to go back and tell her the truth? Plus, we did not exactly lie, we just left some things out of our report.” was the response “Besides with the money that Marion gave us, we can afford to buy food for our families for the next month.” This settled it for the three of them, after all Cecilia didn't need to be bothered by the embarrassing details of how they had been ambushed by only two women and half of the survivors had joined Marion. After Cecilia had worn herself out, with her tantrum, she called all her commanders together. The survivors had given her the approximate position of Marion's ambush and Cecilia was eager to get revenge and to get her gold back. It would take a couple of days to get the men ready to go. Cecilia gave her men just one day to get ready. She had almost three thousand men at her command and one hundred elite knights. She was going to send almost everyone out with the exception of about one hundred men that she used to keep order in town and guard the castle. Everything in town was thrown into chaos. Soldiers were busy gathering food and fodder for the expedition. They had to get all the horses and mules ready as well. Weapons had to be sharpened and uniforms had to be repaired. Some of the horses needed new shoes and a few saddles had to be replaced. Every civilian in town was put to work in helping get the soldiers ready to go. Cecilia had also ordered the gates of the town to be sealed. No one was allowed in or out without her direct orders and there were no exceptions. The preparations went on through the night, no one in town got any sleep and that included Cecilia for she was going over her commander's plans, gathering any and all intel on the forest in which it was said that Marion and her crew were hiding. She also talked to the armorers which she had tasked in recreating Tom's gear; to see if they might be able to add anything new to what Cecilia knew about Marion's likely hiding area. Problem here was that even after a month, her armorers were no closer to recreating the armor. Apparently, some mysterious process had been used to create it, and sorcery was suggested as the only way it could have been possibly done. After all, Cecilia had hired the most experienced armor makers around to make armor like Tom's and none of them could even come close. By dawn the next morning, everything had been done and Cecilia's army marched out of town. Their orders were simple. Comb every inch of the countryside until they found and eliminated the threat that Marion posed. They were ordered that under no circumstances were they to return until Marion's whole crew had been killed. Cecilia wanted Marion's head returned to her on a pike. She no longer cared about taking her or Luke alive. Within a day, the army had reached the final ambush site and they found plenty of evidence to show that Marion had been there. First there were plenty of tracks on the road that appeared to be from the right time. One of the men found a scrape of green fabric that appeared to be the same that Marion's crew was said to wear as overcoats. They also found the dead guards scattered around the site. Some of them still had the arrows imbedded in them. The three that had escaped were really amazed for they had been actually ambushed several hours up the road. After all the only ones killed here were the advanced guard and yet the bodies of all their companions were here. It didn't take them long to figure out that it was Marion actually cared about them, not Cecilia. After all Marion had risked detection to place the other dead men around so that they wouldn't look guilty. All three decided separately that as soon as they could, they would take their families out of York and join with Marion. That is if this wild goose chase actually ever ended and if they weren't killed by it. They privately acknowledged to each other that their chances of actually catching Marion ranked far below a snowball's chances in the depths of hell. The scouts had found five different trails leading away from the area and some of the tracks were from heavily loaded horses. That would be the pack animals. There had been fifteen of them in the convoy and none of them were found with the guard's corpses. In fact, no dead horses were found. The commanders sent groups of their scouts to follow every track. They were to follow them for the rest of the day and return tomorrow, unless they actually found Marion; then they were to report back while leaving some of the men to shadow her while the army got into position. The first scout was screaming within five minutes of leaving the main army. It was close enough that the commanders went to investigate for themselves. When they got there, they found that parties leader hanging by his feet from a tree and impaled on a bed of wooden spikes. A new leader was appointed for that group and they were strongly advised to stay off the trail and to keep alert. When the commanders returned to the army, they got word that one of the other parties had also walked into a trap. Only there, half the scouts had been killed for they had been bunched up and had walked over a camouflaged pit that contained a large number of sharp wooden stakes. Another group had lost two members to arrow fire. The arrows had come out of nowhere and no shooters could be found. This was going to be a very long and costly expedition, but they had their orders. They were not to stop hunting Marion until she was found and killed or Cecilia herself recalled the army. This is how the next week went. Some groups of scouts would see nothing and other groups would be ambushed and annulated. For the night guards it was far worse, for in the morning half of them would be dead; their throats slit and their armor and weapons stripped. The mood in the camp was getting worse and worse. It didn't take the soldiers long to learn that being assigned to night sentry duty was a death sentence. The disciple of the army started to break down despite most of the men having families back in York and being well supplied with food and drink. It got to the point where there would be groups of five or six men assigned to every sentry post. Finally, they got a solid lead. One of the patrols had sighted a large camp near a stream. In the camp they saw a very beautiful female bathing. They also saw bits of armor laying around and a couple of men moving around. The patrol reported back as ordered and the commanders got the army underway within an hour, and they also sent a report back to Cecilia detailing what was going on. To move through the forest at speed, they had to leave almost all of their gear behind. The men were spread out through the forest so that they could move easier. Deeper and deeper into the forest the army went. Occasionally a man would scream and then there would be silence once again. The booby traps that Marion's crew had set up were extremely ingenuous and very well hide; and they were taking a heavy toll on the men. After almost three hours, they reached the camp. There they found two men still in camp and they were quickly captured. These were two of the men who had deserted from the money guard detail. They had been sick so they hadn't been out on patrol with the rest of Marion's group. It didn't take them long to start talking. In fact, Marion had told them not to bother keeping secrets if captured. If there was something that she didn't want them to know, she simply wouldn't tell them. The army set about looting the camp as the two men were tortured. Everything from thin knives stuffed under fingernails to their balls being crushed didn't tell the commanders anymore then they had been told when the men were first captured. The torture went on for hours and still nothing could be learned so the two were tied to a stake and burned alive. The men that had been looting the camp didn't have any better luck. All they found were a couple of coins, some pots and pans, and an old horse. The commanders kept the army there until the corpses were completely burnt. The reason for this was to remind the men what would happen to them if they betrayed Cecilia and to send a message to any others that were thinking of deserting that if caught, they would receive the equal treatment. Late in the afternoon, the army started on its way back to their original camp. This time they moved much faster for they had no reason to keep quiet. When they got back to their campsite, they realized that they had fucked up big time. Spread around were the bodies of the one hundred men that had been left to guard the camp. All the horses and mules were gone. Along with all the extra weapons, food, medicine, and drink. Anything that couldn't be taken had been piled up and burnt. They did manage to find one of the men still alive and able to tell what happened. Chapter 22. The attack started just after an hour after the main army left. It was as swift as it was brutal. The attack started with arrows coming in from every side. Every time one of the men had thought that he had found a good hiding place, he would catch an arrow in the back. Not very many arrows missed their marks either. Within fifteen minutes half of the men were dead or injured. The rest had found some shelter by drawing some of the wagons around them. If any of them even tried to raise his head to look out, he caught an arrow to the face for his efforts. Eventually I saw a couple of people step out of the forest dressed in green. They approached the wagons and lit something, they held in their hands, on fire. They then tossed those objects onto the wagons where the fires rapidly spread through all the wagons. The men caught inside found that they had been caught in a death trap. Some of the managed to get out but they were cut down by arrow fire or by the two that had started the wagons on fire with swords. After the attack was finished, more people came out of the forest, also wearing green. They went through the remaining wagons looking for loot or survivors. After they swept the camp, they loading everything they could carry onto the pack animals and piled everything else up in the middle of the camp and lit it on fire. They then melted back into the forest.” “How many of those bastards did you see, laddie?” “I saw at least six and five of them were defiantly women. I also saw the giant that we keep getting reports of, and there might have been another man or two around but I could not tell. I was too busy trying to pretend to be dead.” At this the man started crying for he had just admitted that he had been a coward and fully expected to be executed for being one. Instead, the leading commander patted him on the shoulder, told him to get some rest, and that he had done a good job. “Why were you so lenient on that man sir? He obviously was a coward so why are you not ordering him to be killed?” Asked the second in command. He was a nobleman through and through and as such didn't hold any of the lower classes in high esteem. “Because you ignorant jackass; that man had watched as a group of one hundred men had been overwhelmed by a group that was less than a tenth their own strength. Plus, he has given us some really good and usable intel on Marion. Now a question for you: If you were her, where would you go after getting ahold of that much loot?” The second in command thought for a moment, “Not back to my main camp. Hauling that much loot will leave an obvious trail and the last thing that I would want to do was to led the army which I had just humiliated back to my main camp.” “My thoughts exactly. Now let's go see if any of the men know these woods.” After taking most of the evening to question the men, the commanders had a good idea of where to start looking in the morning. They made sure that the men had settled down the best that was possible and then they started writing the report to be sent back in the morning. That night, none of the sentries were killed; indeed, it seemed like the enemy had disappeared, but then again, why stick around when they had already gotten most of the valuable stuff. The army set off first thing in the morning. This time they left nothing behind but some smoldering camp fires. They started moving toward an area that was known to have a number of caves in it. As they moved, they came across signs that they were on the right track. They kept finding bits of armor and clothing that had been looted from their camp. As they kept moving, they eventually came across a bridge. It was built out of timber and was much heavier built then something that one would normally find in such a remote area. Going across it they could see fresh wagon tracks, probably no more than a couple of hours old; for it was now about midday. The army formed up to cross the bridge, for the small river that it crossed was moving too swiftly and had too high of banks to be forded. About half of the army had made it across when the bridge disappeared in a burst of light, sound, and smoke. The air then hung thick with the stink of sulfur, and the men that had been near the bridge were screaming in pain. Many of them had received nasty wounds from the wood that flew from the bridge during the explosion. Still more were now in the river and were starting to drown. The army then had to stop to not only rebuild the bridge but to tend to the wounded. This was going to prove extra difficult because the army's surgeon had been on the bridge when it went up. The commanders quickly began to organize the men. Some of them would tend to the wounded while others would start to use whatever tools they had to cut down new trees to rebuild the bridge good enough so the men on the far bank could retreat and link back up with the rest of the army. The army was working as fast as they could when men on the far side began to drop like flies for, they were being picked off by arrows. Every time they would rush to try and catch the shooter, more of them would die and they still couldn't find the shooter. Time and again this happened. After almost an hour, a bridge of sorts was in place and the men started rushing back across. By the time the last of them had gotten across, almost two hundred lay dead on the other side. The men now had had enough and demanded that they be allowed to go back to town where they wouldn't have to worry about being ambushed every time one of them would leave the camp. As the army started to retreat, they heard a trumpet sound from across the river and a woman dressed in green stepped out of the forest and into full view. She spoke to the army through something that magnified her voice many times over. “We thank you kindly for all the gear. I am truly sorry for all the men that we killed defending ourselves and I truly wish that we would not have had to kill any of you. To the commanders; be advised that if we capture any of you, we will execute you in the same manner that you executed my two men that you captured. Now in the interest of avoiding any more deaths, we have left for you a marked path back to York. There will be a red ribbon tried to trees about one hundred paces apart. As long as you stick to the path no further harm will come to you. If you leave the path for any reason you will be killed. I have left enough tents in a clearing next to a stream for your wounded to spend the night in. The army will camp at that spot and then you will continue on your way as soon as the sun is up and your campfires have been extinguished tomorrow morning. If you leave the fires burning you will be killed. As long as you do what you are told, then you will be back at the walls of York be late tomorrow afternoon. When you get back, tell Cecilia that Marion of York sends her regards and thank her for the gear. Now good day gentlemen.” With that the woman melted back into the trees. The men found the ribbons quickly enough and started following the path, just like the woman had said. When they got to the clearing, that she had talked about, they found tents, food, medicine, drink, and enough firewood for the night. The commanders didn't even have control over the men at this point as the only thoughts of the men was to get back to York without pissing Marion off any further. When the commanders ordered foraging parties out, the men flatly refused, telling the commanders that if they wanted to forage then they should go out themselves. The next morning the men put the fires out as instructed and continued on their way. Occasionally they saw one of the green ghosts watching them from the trees but it was never more than a glimpse before they were gone. By late afternoon they had made their way back to York, just like Marion had said. By the time they had got back they had been able to count their losses. Out of one hundred knights that started out, only thirty survived and none of them still had their horses. Out of almost three thousand soldiers, only eight hundred returned and almost all of them were terrified of the forest. The army had lost almost all of their gear including their pack animals. This was going to cost Cecilia a very pretty penny for many of those animals had been loaned to her and now she would have to pay for them. To make the matters even worse, the army's payroll had been taken when they lost their gear. Cecilia was beyond furious. Her army had failed spectacularly and large amounts of gear had fallen into Marion's hands. Furthermore, all of the men that had come back spoke admiringly of Marion. She could have killed them all but had given them a way out and had even given them food, drink, and a place to sleep for a night. As long as they did what she had said then they wouldn't be harmed and they weren't. Cecilia had the top commanders executed by impaling them. Some of the men that had spoken especially well of Marion were burned at the stake. The people in York then started to get rebellious and Cecilia had to crack down extra hard to keep order. She had only one option left to her and she took it. She called in her assassins. So far, she had avoided using them because they were expensive and their expense came directly out of her pocket. Furthermore, she had been trying to keep her reputation among the people of the upper classes intact. When her army was so soundly defeated; her reputation was shattered with the army. All told she had thirty assassins that she kept on retainer and she called all of them up. Their mission was simple, kill Marion and anyone that got in their way. The one who brought back Marion's head would get a five thousand pound bonus. Chapter 23. Marion's team was relaxing after a hard week. They had beaten back her sister's army, but had lost two of their own in the process. It wouldn't have been so bad if the men had been killed in combat but they had been murdered after they had been captured. This had taught Marion that no quarter would be given and none would be expected in this fight. Luke was massaging her feet for she was starting to feel the weight gain from her pregnancy. She loved when he did this and she could feel the tension leaving her body. Matt and Pollyanna were sitting by a fire talking quietly. They had proven to be a very good team and got along well together. In fact, Marion had started teasing her about them getting a room. This was always good for a round of laughs, including from Pollyanna even though she always turned red when Marion did this. Gabriel was in the process of making more arrows. She had shot through almost all that she had made. In fact, her shoulder was sore from all of the shooting that she had done. Alice was reading more on Luke's computer. She had gotten to where she could navigate through it without Luke's help and she was taking full advantage of it. Stella and Robin were on guard duty. Even though they had just defeated most of Cecilia's army didn't mean that they could let down their guard and in fact Luke and Marion figured that Cecilia's next move would be the try and hire assassins to sneak in and kill Marion. This left the last member of the group and his name was Bard. He had been one of those who surrendered to Marion when she had captured the money convoy. He didn't much like the idea of serving a female leader, but Marion was many times better than her sister. Marion was calm, approachable, outgoing, and listened to everyone in the group and their resent triumph had been the result of that. After all it had been Pollyanna's idea to blow up the bridge using some kind of devil powder. Luke had provided her with the means to blow up the bridge from a safe distance and do it at command. Alice was the one who came up with the idea to kill only half of the night sentries. She had almost been captured with the two men. She had been there that morning to take care of them. She had even washed up in the stream after she had tended to their medical needs. She had left to rejoin Marion only fifteen minutes before the army struck. She had watched as the men were tortured and eventually killed. Gabriel had been responsible for killing most of the scouting parties and had been instrumental in building the booby traps as Luke called them. Matt had provided them with insight into the army's commanders frame of mind and had allowed Marion to stay at least five steps ahead almost the entire time. Meanwhile Stella and Robin had kept the army under observation the entire time and provided Marion with hourly updates. Marion had the biggest role of all. She had held everyone together after her men had been murdered and it had been her idea to provide the army with a safe way out when they had gotten close to where the loot had been stored. They had moved it the night before. Bard was moved from his reminiscing by the sounds of horses entering the camp. Stella had come in and had a young man with her. He was also riding a horse but was blindfolded. “We caught him riding through the forest alone” explained Stella to Marion “he says that he has important news for you.” Marion nodded and the man's blindfold was removed. The man struggled for a minute with the light before he started. “Marion of York I presume” he continued once Marion had nodded. “I have come to tell you that Cecilia has hired thirty assassins to kill you.” Bard was stunned, but Marion didn't look surprised at all. “How do you come of this information young man?” “My sister is Cecilia's scribe so I know most everything that Cecilia does. Although I should mention that for some matters Cecilia uses a special scribe who is almost never seen in the castle and when he is seen; he is surrounded by a large group of very tough looking men. “When did her order go out?” “The day after her army returned.” “So yesterday” Marion stated. The man nodded “Is there anything else I should know? How it the town doing?” “The people are getting rebellious. Cecilia has almost reached their breaking point and with the defeat of her army, I doubt that it will take much more before the people openly rebel against her.” “Well thank you young man. Here is some money for your trouble of coming out here.” “No money is necessary milady. We all want that witch gone.” “Stella, Pollyanna, Matt” Marion said “See that this young man is safely escorted out of the forest.” Stella retied the man's blindfold and then lead his horse out of camp. After they had left, Marion returned to Luke and asked: “Well honey what do you think?” “I think that we need to get going and observe our young visitor from a distance. Something doesn't seem right. For starters, how many women do you know that can write outside of your group? Yes, he told us everything that we expected to hear but that's what bothers me.” Marion had a confused look on her face “The fact that he told us everything that we were expecting makes me suspicious” Luke stated. Marion thought for a second, “Bard” she continued when he looked at her “go with Luke to keep an eye on our young visitor from a distance. I don't want him knowing that there's extra eyes on him” Luke and Bard quickly gathered their gear and took off. They had to hurry to catch up with the others. On the way Bard and Luke talked a bit because Bard was confused, after all Luke and Marion had apparently expected this to happen. Luke explained that yes while the man had told them everything that they had expected to hear some things were bothering him. How did this man get out of York? The last they had heard the town was still on lockdown. Why did he have such a nice horse? Most of the horses that they had captured from the army were nowhere near this nice. How did his sister become Cecilia's scribe? Almost no woman knew how to write their name, never mind take dictation from someone. Granted all the women that had gathered around Marion could read, but that was because Luke had taught them and constantly encouraged them. Something here smelled rotten and Luke was going to get to the bottom of it. As they traveled, they would occasionally catch glimpses of the group ahead of them and this was close enough for Luke. As they were approaching the edge of the woods, they heard yelling and as they came around the last corner they could see why. Chapter 24. Marion continues growing but must suffer a loss. As Luke and Bard came around the last corner, they could see Stella was already down. They didn't know if she had been just dismounted or was hurt. Matt's horse had been shot out from under him and he was trapped under it. The young man that had come to the camp was in the process of wrestling Pollyanna's reins away from her and several men were coming out of the woods with bows drawn. Luke and Bard quickly dismounted. Bard wanted to ride straight to their rescue but Luke was worried about secondary traps. “Bard, think of it as fishing. You use some bait to catch some small fish. You then take the biggest of those small fish to catch much bigger fish. That is what Pollyanna and Matt are at this moment. They are the small fish that on their own would be a meal, but I think they're fishing for a banquet and they're planning on or are already using Pollyanna and Matt as bait. So, we are going to sneak up either side of the road while staying in the forest and looking out for more men hiding. If we don't find any, then we'll free Pollyanna and Matt.” Bard wasn't really convinced, but did as Luke planned. One of the things that Bard had learned was that to not trust Luke's instincts was beyond foolish. Within only minutes, Luke was proven correct. Both him and Bard had found other men in the woods. Fortunately, they all had their attention on the road, where Matt had been pulled from under his horse and Pollyanna had been brought under control. Luke and Bard worked the way up the road, silently eliminating men as they went. Finally, they got to where they could rescue their people. Together Luke and Bard had killed ten men and they hadn't even got the men holding Pollyanna and Matt who were by this time tied up. All this time Stella hadn't moved and Bard could see why; she had got an arrow through her throat. Bard was getting ready to start shooting these bastards with his bow when Luke stepped out of the forest with his handgun at the ready. This was the first time that Bard had ever seen it in action; he had heard the tales but thought that they were just that, tales. Now he was convinced. Within seconds, Luke had taken out all ten of the men on the road except one; he only wounded the man that had first came to their camp. Before Luke went to untie Pollyanna and Matt, he went to check on Stella. Before he even checked her pulse, he could see that she was dead. The color was gone out of her face and Luke could see the pool of blood under Stella and the fact that she was no longer bleeding was proof enough that she was dead. Luke knew that later he would be crying his eyes out, but right now he had more important things to do. Bard was untying Matt and Pollyanna so Luke took the job of interrogating the prisoner. Luke had only wounded him on purpose, he wanted the man to talk. “Okay this is how things are going to be; you are going to die, but how you die is up to you. If you tell me everything that I want to know then you will be killed quickly, but if you don't tell everything or you lie to me, then your death will be beyond painful and will last for days. Also, if your answers satisfy me then I will make sure that you get a church burial, but if you don't then your body will be cut up and fed to the hogs. You have until I get back to decide.” Luke went over to check on Pollyanna and Matt. While Pollyanna was just shaken up; Matt was in bad shape. When he got trapped under his horse, it had broken his leg bad enough that his leg wasn't anywhere near straight. “Luke what about Stella, you have to help her!” screamed Pollyanna. Luke just gave her a sad look. “No, no, it can't be! She can't be dead; damn it! Tell me that she will be fine!” “Pollyanna, I'm sorry but there's nothing that can be done for her. She was dead almost as soon as that arrow hit her in the throat for it looks like it also took out her spinal column as well. Even in my time that would be a fatal injury.” As Luke spoke these words, he shed a single tear. He wiped his face and turned back to his captive who was trying to get away. Luke would have been impressed if he hadn't been so angry. Angry at himself for not seeing the ambush sooner, angry at Stella for dying, and angry at the fuckhead who had led her into the ambush in the first place. At least Luke could get some revenge on this fucker anyway. “Well, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?” asked Luke as he kicked the man's leg out from under him and then stepped on the man's shot out knee as he landed. “Fuck off!” the man yelled from the ground while trying to fight his way through the pain. “Figured as much” Then Luke put much more pressure on the man's shattered knee. After a couple of minutes, the man still was being stubborn so Luke moved his foot up and stepped on the man's balls. The way in which Luke had stepped on them had pinned them against the man's body, so that they had nowhere to go. He gradually stepped up the pressure until tears came to the man's eyes. “Well, you ready to talk now?” “Yes, please just stop stepping on my boys, please.” “How did you find us?” “I just dressed up in poor person clothes and rode through the forest until someone from your group found me.” “How much is Cecilia paying you?” “Three hundred up front and five thousand when we completed the job.” “We?” “Aye, there were thirty of us. Cecilia keeps us on retainer for people that crossed her.” “Were all these men in your group or are they just hired thugs?” “They were all in the group.” “How many other assassins does Cecilia keep on retainer?” “How would I know?” Luke moved his foot back to the man's balls. “Honestly, I have no idea. I do know that she has a large network that has a presence all over England.” “What all is she involved in?” now Luke was getting increasingly curious. “Assassins for hire, prostitution, sex slaves, counterfeiting, espionage, and anything else that she can make money using other people's suffering.” “Well, I think that I am about out of questions; Matt, Pollyanna, do have anything you want to ask?” “Why did you have to kill Stella?” snapped Pollyanna. “We had to let you know that we are serious; plus, she was just a woman so nothing much was lost.” At this Pollyanna lost it and, drawing her sword, beheaded the captive. She was still breathing like a bull when Luke came up and put his hand on her shoulder, a move which almost earned him a swipe with Pollyanna's sword. Seeing Luke, Pollyanna broke down and started crying as she wrapped her arms around Luke's neck and buried her face in his chest. Her and Stella had been very close and Stella's death was hitting Pollyanna particularly hard. As she cried, Luke gently moved her toward Matt who was still in need of help. Eventually Pollyanna had cried herself out and was able to help Matt. Together Luke and Pollyanna got Matt's leg set and splinted. They then helped Matt get sat comfortably against a tree while Luke and Pollyanna looted the dead. As usual they found plenty of arms, money, and other useful items. The biggest haul though was a piece of paper. On it, it detailed the assignments of the entire group of assassins, not just the group that Luke killed. Bard had been looting the dead that Luke and he had killed while coming up the road after he had retrieved their horses. The trip back was very slow due not only to Matt's injury, but Luke wanted to make extra sure that they were not being followed. Eventually they made it back to camp and managed to get Matt into the bunker that they used as a sleeping quarters/hospital. There, his care was handed off the Alice. Meanwhile, Marion was busy debriefing Pollyanna and Bard. Debriefing Pollyanna was especially hard because she really didn't want to relive that experience but Marion needed to know what had happened so that they could prevent it happening in the future. Then, it was Matt's turn. His take on the events of the day weren't as good because he was suffering from extreme pain in his leg. Luke had managed to make primitive aspirin from willow bark and this helped take the edge off of Matt's pain. Finally, Marion had a go at Luke but here it was more of Luke comforting Marion, while he told her everything his captive had told him. He also showed her the paper that Pollyanna had found on one of the dead men. They still had to be on the lookout for ten more assassins. Once everything was finally done, Marion finally broke down and allowed herself to weep for her friend. After all, this was someone how she had known before her father was murdered. All through this Luke stayed quiet right next to her and gently rubbed her back. The woman that he loved more than anything else even more than life itself and the mother of his child was having the worst day of her life to date. Worse yet was that Marion was also now responsible for the lives of eight other people if you counted her unborn child. This was something that she had never been prepared for growing up. Personally, Luke thought that she was handling things quite well, all things considered. As the sun set on the day, Marion made her rounds around camp. She checked on their horses, the booby-traps, the armory, and finally her men and women. This was the hardest. The mood across the group was almost uniform, absolute depression. They would need time to heal, but Marion was determined to bring everyone out of their funk. This had also helped make her own mind up; she would go back to the sleeping pad that she shared with Luke and fuck him senseless. While it was true that they made love almost every night, it had been a while since they had a good animalistic fucking and this was what Marion was in the mood for. Getting back to their sleeping area, Luke wasn't there. At first Marion wondered if Luke had assigned himself to night watch again, for he had a habit of taking an extra night watch if he was worried about being surprised. He usually did this when the conditions were ideal for someone to sneak up on the camp, like on damp nights. Tonight though, he just had to take a piss and he came back soon after Marion had gotten there. As soon as she saw Luke, she launched herself into him and started almost ripping his clothes off and she was trying to shove her tongue down Luke's throat. Luke had been taken by surprise at first but he caught up fast. Before long he was working at Marion's clothing. At least he didn't have to fight with bras anymore. With his large fingers, they had always presented a bit of a problem in the past, even as nimble as his fingers were. All he had to do was to unbutton her pants and push them down her shapely hips and then pull her shirt up and over her head. This was the hardest thing because she wasn't in any hurry to take her mouth away from his. Eventually, Luke managed to get her shirt off and they were now both naked. Luke started kissing his way down her long neck and this sent chills all through Marion's body as it always did. She was moaning before Luke even made it to her nipples which were more sensitive than they had been because of the baby. As soon as Luke started kissing them, Marion had her first explosive orgasm of the evening. The only reason that she managed to keep standing was that Luke was holding her up. As Marion recovered, she shoved Luke over so that he landed on his ass. She was on him like a cat and had pushed him onto his back. There she straddled him, her pussy leaking all over Luke's stomach as she kissed her way down his chest. She just loved to run her hands through the hair on Luke's chest. Luke then saw another reason for tonight to be more special than most for the Northern Lights had decided to make an appearance and were putting on a spectacular display. He didn't have long to look at then though for Marion was beginning to impale herself. “Ah; fuck me hard Luke! Fuck My Brains Out!” Marion yelled as she slid down his shaft of steel. Tonight, was one of those times that no matter what she did, she just couldn't get Luke's cock deep enough to satisfy her cravings. “Luke fold me up please, god damn fold me up and fuck the shit out of me” begged Marion. Luke was amazed that his sweet, wonderful woman was talking so dirty, but her wasn't about to complain about it because he was more turned on now than had had ever been. It felt like his cock was about to rip open from all the blood being forced into it. Luke then did what Marion had been begging him to do. He rolled over without taking his cock out of Marion. Once on top, he put her ankles up on his shoulders. In this position, Luke could pound Marion until she fainted. Not only did he dive deep enough to ram into her cervix with almost every thrust, but he also rubbed against her G-spot with every movement. Within seconds, Marion was yelling at the top of her lungs, in fact Luke had never heard her yell this loud before and she was usually quite a vocal love-maker. Marion could feel Luke's heartbeat through the veins on his cock and this sent her to new heights for this was something new to her. Usually, she could feel his veins rise up on his cock but she had never felt his heart beat. Then it happened, Marion had herself the orgasm of the millennium. She actually felt like her pussy was going to cause her to fly like some of the rockets pictured on Luke's computer. In fact, if it hadn't been for her pussy muscles clamping down and Luke holding on to her, she might have flown. As she was reaching her climax, she set Luke off as well. Luke thrust up into her so hard that he actually bruised her a bit, not that she cared. When he exploded in her, he shot nine white-hot shots of sticky cum into her; it was a new record for them. He put so much into her that when he pulled out, it looked like a white-water river flowing out of her cunt. Although, at first Marion had wanted to be fucked longer than this, she and Luke were at their limits and they barely got onto their sleeping pad before passing out for the night. To be continued in part 6, Based on a post by somethin fishy, for Sex Stories.

In this episode of Diverse Voices Book Review, host Hopeton Hay welcomes back Rudy Ruiz, the author of THE BORDER BETWEEN US, which was just released in paperback. In the interview, Ruiz delves into his Mexican American roots and how they have profoundly influenced his writing. He discusses how his personal experiences growing up on the U.S.-Mexico border have shaped the themes and characters in his novels.Rudy Ruiz is the author of The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez and Valley of Shadows. He is a winner of the Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Book of Fiction, the Gulf Coast Prize in Fiction, and multiple International Latino Book Awards. Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewX - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

Luke's HAARP Time Warp: Part 4 Marion grows as a leader but only after some serious pain. Based on a post by somethin fishy, in 15 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Luke was glad to get out of there. Richard smelled terrible. Not only was he super obese and he smelled from that, but he had bad body odor and smelled of stale sex. He went to make his way back to his chambers, but he stopped before he got there. He had to do some recon. He explored the castle from top to bottom and stopped to have friendly chats with the guards that he came across. Luke was quickly gaining a reputation for being polite and considerate. Any maids that he crossed paths with didn't fear being attacked by him. Instead, they all stopped to have a quick chat. Through all this Luke learned that Richard was very unpopular with the men and women of the castle and only stayed in charge because he had the support of about a dozen key men. Luke also learned that the last of the men that had been openly loyal to Charles or Marion had been killed, but the general opinion was that it was for the best for they had long ago resigned from the human race and had become animals just to survive. Finally, after some hours, Luke returned to his quarters. There he found the others very tense and it didn't take long for Luke to find out why. Richard was planning on leaving within a week and was demanding that Luke's women accompany him back to his regular home. “Well, that decides it. We have to act tonight.” “Tonight? Luke are you sure?” squeaked Marion. “Yes sweetheart, I'm sure. Because if we don't act, they will find out who you really are.” Marion nodded her final agreement. The group went through all their gear and Luke shared all the intel that he had gathered. This was the first time that any of them other than Marion had seen Luke's handgun and they were all amazed. “I promise that after all this is over and if I am still alive then I shall explain everything to all of you. Marion knows most of the things about me but not all.” Chapter 16. It was almost midnight when Marion's group started their attack. Luke had instructed them that if they heard him firing then they should leave as soon as possible and not to look back; Luke wouldn't accept any arguments. Their first target was Richard's key supporters. Slip up, kill the guards quickly, then kill the key supporters. Gabriel would start off each attack with her bow. She would hide in a dark corner and shoot the guards throats out. This way they couldn't scream. Luke would then usually pick the lock and they would slip in. When they found their target, they would slit his throat and usually would have to cover the mouths of the women with them so that no one screamed. Usually, Stella would calm down the whore that was in the bed. Stella was well known in the castle and had the respect of all the woman. After everything was taken care with one target, they would move on to the next. They worked like this through all the key supporters. Eventually, they only had one target left, Richard. Problem was that he was under heavy guard by loyal men, not the run of the mill castle guards like the rest of them had been. It took almost three hours to get through all the key personal. This had the benefit that by the time they struck at Richard, most of his guards would be drowsy. Luke stopped the attack for a couple of minutes to regroup and plan out their final assault. After looking things over Luke decided that it just might be time to get the trump card out and ready. He put his sword away and pulled out his sig. Quietly he checked to make sure that there was a round in the chamber. Just as the group was starting their assault, there was a blood curdling scream from where they had just been. Their latest target had just been found. Luke moved in as soon as Gabriel had shot the door guards. Luke shot the lock out of the door after finding the door was locked. He burst into the room and this being Charles's old rooms Marion had drawn very exacting sketches so Luke knew exactly where to go. Marion and he moved fast through the rooms, clearing them as they went, while the others guarded the door. Luke and Marion killed anyone that opposed them. By the time they got to Richard, they had killed fifteen men and two women. “Who the hell are you? What do you mean by barging in here?” “Why Richard” said Marion taking off her helmet “I am insulted that you do not recognize the rightful owner of these lands.” When Richard realized just who was standing in front of him, he smiled. “Ah I see that you have returned; Marion of York. Problem is that the rightful owner already has signed over the lands.” “What do you mean?” “Cecilia, you want to come out and meet our guest for this evening?” Marion and Luke started when they caught sight of Cecilia coming out of an adjacent room “Good morning, Marion. Ever the night owl I see. Nice to see you again Luke. It will be so nice to finally have your giant cock buried inside me; but do not worry about Marion for she will have to watch while tied she's to her old bed.” “You traitor. You betray father and every person living in these lands for what? Empty promises from this tub of lard.” This pissed Cecilia off and she started to move toward Marion but Luke pointed his gun at her. “Ah so that is the “gun” that Cecilia has told me so much about. And before you ask and waste more time, I know that it was you, Luke, who killed my son and his men. And now I think that it is time for all of your people to die.” Richard then whistled and his men started coming out of hiding. Luke was faster though. As soon as he heard Richard whistle, he shot Richard dead by double tapping him in the heart. Now he had to get Marion and the rest of the team out of this ambush. Luke shot any soldier that he saw while Marion was busy cutting down more. They worked their way back to the door, only to find a battle royal going on. The team was in serious trouble. They were heavily outnumbered and Gabriel was out of arrows. Luke had to act and act fast. He slapped another clip in and started to walk and shoot. Richard's men unfamiliar with such a device got nervous and broke. The team took full advantage of this and made their break for it. They had left hidden ropes so that they could make their escape. All they had to do was get to them. As they were running, Gabriel caught an arrow in her leg. She wanted the rest of the team to leave her and get out, but Luke wouldn't hear of it. “You never leave a team member behind, Gabriel. Now come on, let's get the fuck out of here.” Luke picked Gabriel up and threw her over his massive shoulder in a fireman's carry. This way Luke could still fight and Gabriel could shoot her bow as she got the arrows. As the team was getting through one of the doors, Tom was taken down. He had just helped Pollyanna get out for she had turned her ankle and was limping when a swordsman came out of nowhere and ran Tom threw. Pollyanna turned as quickly as she could and killed the swordsman. Stella came out then and seeing Tom lying dead started cursing. She turned to go back in and kill as many bastards as she could find but Marion got to her first and pulled her towards the ropes. Alice got them first and got everything ready for the rest. Marion came up with Stella and Pollyanna. Stella went down first, followed by Pollyanna and Alice. Marion in the meantime waited for Luke and Gabriel. She didn't have long to wait either. Luke came up and Marion was horrified. Luke had numerous cuts across his armor and placed that were not armored were bleeding badly, but Luke was so full of adrenaline that he didn't even notice. He went over with Gabriel hanging on to his back, for dear life, for they had to go down almost forty feet. Marion was the last over and made it down safely but almost didn't. When she was only ten feet from the ground, someone cut her rope and when she landed, she got herself a bad ankle sprain. Thankfully for all their sakes their horses were nearby and they were able to get out of town without too much hassle. Granted this meant that they had to kill the guard at the gate they used and had to lower the drawbridge themselves, still all things considered not bad. Chapter 17. The team had a long ride ahead of them to get back to their campsite, and they were all exhausted. As the team put distance between themselves and the town, their injuries began to make themselves known. Not one of them had managed to escape unscathed. Luke had numerous cuts, especially on his legs and near his hands. Pollyanna had a twisted ankle and was now missing two fingers on her left hand. Gabriel still had the arrow sticking out of her leg and had numerous other cuts. Marion was cut up bad and had a strained ankle. Stella was missing a finger on her right hand and was an emotional wreck after losing Tom. Alice was now missing part of an ear and had a very dramatic cut running down her jawline. Just before daybreak the group finally had to stop. They picked the thickest woods that they could find so that they would at least have some cover until they recovered a bit. Since Alice was the most talented medic in the group, she took charge of tended the wounds while Luke was her adviser. It took Alice almost two hours to tend to the team's wounds while Luke tended to hers. As soon as Marion was taken care of, she started cooking some food for everyone. It wasn't much, just a little bit of stew that Marion made up with the food that was in their saddlebags. “Well Marion, what is going to be our next move for we cannot go anywhere near York now?” asked Stella. “I don't know, Stella. I don't know.” Luke could see and feel the mood of the group get even darker now. He knew that he would have to step in but he had to be careful for he wanted Marion to grow into the leader that he knew she was capable of being. But right now, he had to keep the group together long enough for Marion to learn how to led. “Excuse me ladies but I think that we need to get back to our campsite and hunker down until things calm down a bit. After all, if Cecilia's forces catch us it's pretty much a sure thing that we will all be killed as painfully as possible.” When the rest of the group was far enough away, Luke pulled Marion to him and talked quietly; “Marion, never ever say that you “I don't know” when asked what to do ever again. Do you hear me?” she just stared at Luke for he was frigid. “Those three words will destroy a unit faster than any kind of enemy action. As the leader it's your job to know what to do even when you don't. If you truly want to be a leader then you need to take this advice to heart.” With that Luke helped Marion onto her horse and then mounted his. With the thought of Cecilia chasing them, to keep them company, the group set out again. Luke was worried about Gabriel's leg but right now he had more important worries for Cecilia's troops were starting to get out this far to look for them. The team slipped away as quietly as possible and keep moving though the day. As one member would sleep another one would guide that person's horse. Finally, they got back to their camp from which they had set off from just a couple of days before. Back at camp, the mood was somber for they had lost their friend and comrade, Tom. Emotions ran from just sad for Luke to furious from Stella. This wasn't the first time Luke had lost people in combat and he knew that it wouldn't be the last. Stella in the meanwhile was dealing with a bad case of survivor guilt. Everyone else in camp was between these two extremes. Since it was late in the afternoon, Luke started cooking supper. Yes, it was time to mourn but things still needed to be done, like cleaning his weapons and mending his clothes. As he was cleaning his Sig, Alice came up to him and asked: “Luke, are you going to tell us about that thing and about yourself now?” Luke looked at the others and saw that they wanted the answers. “Can we eat first and then after dinner I will show you all everything?” “I guess.” Alice replied melodramatically. “Thank you.” Dinner that evening was quiet to say the least. The only talking was to ask for food and to say thanks. Luke had managed a hearty venison stew for supper and there was enough left over for breakfast the following morning. After the dishes had been cleaned Luke pulled all of his gear out of hiding. This was going to be the first time that even Marion had seen all his gear. Sure, she had seen the cases, but she had never seen Luke open them. “Ladies, before I show you what I have to show and before I tell what all I have to tell; I must demand that you swear an oath of silence for if the wrong people, like Cecilia, get ahold of the information that I know, the world as you know it could come to an end. If you cannot do this then you need to leave now.” All of the women nodded their heads, agreeing to his terms. Luke started with his rifle. It was one of his most prized weapons, even before getting thrown back into the middle ages. It was a .338 caliber with a Leupold scope on it. With this rifle and the Lapua ammo that he was packing, he could shoot someone between the eyes at almost 1500 meters. Gabriel was amazed with this and Luke could see that she really wanted to try shooting it. “Gabriel” Luke continued once she looked him in the eye “I promise that I will teach you how to use this weapon, as soon as I can start making ammo for it. You will understand why in a little bit.” Luke then pulled out his computer and powered it up. During the last few months, he had taken it out periodically to make sure that the battery stayed charged. He had charged it with his solar powered charging station. When his laptop finished booting up, he started explaining: “Now this devise is called a computer. This one in particular probably holds more information than if you combined all the current knowledge on this planet. Stored in here are text on medicine, engineering, math, geography, economics, general science, and physics. I also have a large selection of music and many pictures of my past life.” “How can all that be stored in that little thing?” asked Marion. “Well, it's kind of hard to explain but let me see if I can massively simplify it so that you all can hopefully understand. The information is stored in a form called bytes. That's the basic building block of all computer languages. A byte is kind of like a letter. Computers like mine can store trillions upon trillions of bytes. Does that make any sense? Computer science was never my strong suit.” “Somewhat” the women responded. “Okay. Now it's time I tell you all my biggest secret. Now before I tell the rest of you; I will tell you that Marion already knows. Okay here it goes.” Luke took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “You know this to be the year 1065 A D. Where I am from it was the year 2021 A D.” All the women, except Marion, had the same stunned look. “Yes, I am from almost a thousand years in the future and as such I not only carry huge amounts of scientific information but I also know the general outline of European history for the next almost thousand years.” When the ladies heard this: Alice passed out, Stella and Pollyanna gasped, and Gabriel looked thoughtful. Only Marion didn't react. “So that's why you have been so quiet about yourself!” exclaimed Gabriel “And I agree with you as it happens. If the information that you possess gets into the wrong hands then the world would change in every way possible and most likely not for the better. Every king and petty noble would want to get their hands on you to learn about their future and then try to change that future to suit them. Problem would be that if you start changing the events then you change the history too.” Luke just nodded at her; he was thankful that Gabriel understood. When Luke looked at Marion, he expected to see anger. Instead, he saw complete love for she now understood why Luke had been so quiet about himself. “Now gather round ladies” Luke said after everyone recovered “I want to show you all my previous life.” Over the next two hours, Luke showed everyone pictures of his pervious life. Everything from his time in the marines, to growing up with his family, to Mackenzie's family, to pictures of his company and some of the projects that he had worked on, all over the world. He also showed them pictures of the places that he had been to and the people that he had seen. Then after promising that she would take upmost care of it, Luke loaned his computer to Alice and Pollyanna. To Alice so that she could study his medical books, and Pollyanna so that she could study the engineering text that was stored with the provision that they only study of about an hour a day so that they wouldn't suffer eye strain. “Okay ladies, time for a brief history lesson, well my history. There is a storm coming. It will start next year when King Edward dies. He will name Herold Godwinson as his successor. Two problems with this though. Herold's brother believed that he should have been named king and gets the king of Norway to support him. The Vikings would invade England, but would be almost animated by Herold's forces. The other problem came from Normandy, and his name was… well is William, Duke of Normandy. Apparently, Edward had also promised him the throne before he gave it to Herold. William would also invade England, but he would beat Herold's troops at the Battle of Hastings. During the battle Herold will die from an arrow to his eye, and William would be forever be known as William the Conqueror. This would be the last time that England would be successfully invaded. During the 1200's, England would control almost all of France but would be eventually driven out completely. England would then turn their attention North and after almost five hundred years of intermittent struggle would conquer Scotland. Eventually they would conquer Ireland as well and would be known as Great Britain. There will be at least two civil wars that I can remember fought over the English crown. The first one was in the 1400's, and was called the War of the Roses and was fought between the houses of Lancaster and York. Eventually the house of York would win but it was a very long and bloody struggle. The second civil war would be in the mid to late 1600's and this one would cement the power of Parliament over the King, for the winner of that war was the forces of Parliament, under the command of a man named Oliver Cromwell and the King would end up losing his head. Eventually the monarchy would be restored but they would remain at best equal with Parliament. After this civil war Britain would eventually go on to rule over one quarter of the globe, and would be one of the most influential empires the world has ever seen. Now by my time the idea of the divine rights of Kings would be dead and the people ruled over themselves. Most of the time this was a better thing then having a king and at other times; well let me say that anyone, no matter at what level they were born at can be just as cruel, for instead of kings or dukes, we had dictators or juntas. Both of these usually came to power through the military and for the most part, as long as they had military support then they would stay in power. Now where I am from, we were once part of the British empire, but fought a war with them and kicked them out in the late 1700's. Over the next 200+ years we would be ruled be the same type of government with only one civil war. That type of government was a constitutional republic that was set up with three separate branches of government that were designed to fight with each other so that none of the three could gain too much power. Also it was what is known as a federal type government, meaning that the national government shared power with the provincial, state was the term that we used, governments and local governments. Another provision in the way our government was set up was the minority would also get to have a say in government and not get rode over by the majority. As if that wasn't enough, the men that set up our government made sure that the people would be able to have their say in government. They even made sure to protect the peoples to firearms so that if somehow the government did become too strong the people could rise up against it. Was our government prefect? Of course not. But was the most stable form of government, over the long term, that humans have ever came up with.” When Luke was done, he was exhausted and all the women sat stunned. They could hardly believe what all Luke had told them, but once they thought it through, they could see the merits of the people wielding power and protections being put in place to protect the minority as well as the majority. Eventually Marion was able to speak up: “Wow, no wonder why you are so afraid to tell people what you know.” Luke just looked at her with sad eyes and nodded. Marion was thrilled and terrified at the same time. She was thrilled because she finally knew everything there was to know about Luke and she was terrified for the same reason. “So, with all those advances were there still diseases and famines?” asked Alice “Yes, although most diseases would be curable in my time and smallpox would be eradicated. Famines still stuck with amazing fluency, especially in Africa and parts of Asia. Most of the time the cause was human related, usually wars or the mismanagement of natural resources at the hands of a corrupt government. Sometimes though, the weather patterns would change and an area would have a series of bad harvest and that would set off famines. And before you ask yes, we still had wars a plenty and they were usually fought the same petty reasons as they are fought for in this time. Only in my time, wars could have casualties in the millions of people and we had weapons that could obliterate the largest cities on Earth. We had enough of these weapons that we could eliminate all the humans on Earth.” “Oh” Alice looked very sad and she even shed a tear hearing Luke. Eventually Marion stood up and stretched. “Well now, I do believe that it is time for us all to lay down and try to get some sleep for tomorrow we need to get focused on surviving and figuring out our next move.” No one moved but Luke. He was the only one that moved towards getting ready for bed. “Marion, I'm scared” confessed Gabriel “your sister will never stop hunting us and unlike you, none of us have skills that are useful out in the world.” “You all have skills” responded Marion “You Gabriel are an amazing fighter and a lot of fun to be around. Alice, you have an interest in real medicine. One of the only people in our world that can say that. Pollyanna, your skills lay in engineering and science. Stella, you Milady are one hell of a leader and I suspect that one day you may be quite famous. We all have our own talents and skills; the trick is knowing how to harness them.” “Still, I'm not only scared for next year but also tomorrow and next week.” Marion gave her a warm smile. “I know the feeling and I get over it by curling up in Luke's arms” They all looked to Luke now. “But...” Marion cut her off with a finger over Gabriel's lips. “Come with me.” Marion and Gabriel went over to where Luke was laying down. Marion then slowly stripped Gabriel's clothes off and Gabriel returned the favor for Marion. Once they were both naked, they laid down with Luke. Marion made sure that Gabriel took the spot right next to Luke so that she could feel all of Luke's body. Luke looked up at Marion with alarm, but Marion just gave him a warm smile and mouthed to him to be gentle. What followed was a whirlwind for Gabriel. She had never been naked with any man and here she was now with a gentle giant. Not only that but Marion was also pressed up against her, encouraging her to be herself and have fun. Luke went slow with Gabriel. He started off be slowly rubbing his hands all over her body feeling her muscles, her tits, her stomach, the pubes, her legs. At first Gabriel was so nervous that she thought that she might be sick. That disappeared when Marion gave her a tender kiss that she had poured all her passion into. Gabriel could feel the love in it and her tension melted away. Finally, her hands started coming to life as well. She started off rubbing Marion because that was the way the Gabriel was facing. Gabriel was amazed at how soft and smooth Marion was, and yet she could feel the power that Marion possessed just under her skin. Eventually though, Gabriel's attention was pulled to the monster that was poking her in her ass. She was amazed when she first felt it. It felt like the size of a horse and it was hot. She could also feel the ridges caused by Luke's veins and she was amazed that something could be so hard and yet so soft feeling at the same time. Gabriel had started to get wet while she had been rubbing Marion, but in feeling Luke, she started to get soaked between her legs. Soon she felt a hand trying to get between her legs, so Gabriel opened up. What came next was the best thing that she had ever felt. It felt like there was an inferno burning between her legs, but Gabriel wanted it to continue. Before long she started to wonder just who's hand was causing her to feel so good and it didn't take long for her to find out for when she looked at Luke, one of his hands was rubbing her tit and his other one was propping his head up so that he could get a better view. That meant that the hand that was making her so hot belonged to Marion. Gabriel had never given a thought as to what it might be like, being with another woman, but she figured what the hell. Within minutes, Gabriel's hips were humping Marion's hand by themselves and Gabriel was having a hard time making noise never mind actually speaking. Finally, she started to shake like a leaf and she saw bright flashes in her eyes. When she finished, she felt like a wet rag for she had a very hard time moving. She tried to open her eyes, but even the dim light from the fire was too much for her to handle at the moment. Marion was giggling as Gabriel struggled to come back to her senses. Once she had come back to her senses enough to be able to function again, Gabriel looked over and into Luke's eyes. She gave him a silent promise that she would never, ever abandon either him or Marion. With that she gently pushed Luke onto his back and with a bit of final encouragement from Marion; Gabriel mounted Luke. At first, she had some problems getting lined up, but a little help from Marion holding Luke's cock; Gabriel figured it out. She slowly made her way down Luke's shaft thoroughly enjoying every bit of it. Finally, Gabriel felt Luke's cock run into her hymen and with a deep breath forced Luke through and he was inside her. Marion gently kissed the tears from Gabriel's face while Gabriel sat perfectly still. It felt like she was being split open by Luke, but she had no desire to remove Luke from inside her. Eventually, the heat from Luke's cock combined with her own heat encouraged Gabriel to start moving. What came next was like seeing another beautiful world for the first time. She slowly built-up speed as her pussy figured out what it liked the best. As she had been moving, Luke had been matching her. Thrust for thrust, move for move. Together they travelled toward a massive orgasm. As Gabriel rode Luke, Marion was busy kissing Gabriel's nipples and rubbing her clit. Gabriel had simply never imagined that she could ever feel this good. As he got close, Luke tried to pull out of her cunt, but Gabriel wasn't having any of it. She knew why Luke was almost desperate to pull out of her, but she didn't care and more to the point, kind of hoped that she would get knocked up. Once Gabriel had made her command known, Luke began to unleash his little swimmers. He first six large shots up inside her and the pulsing of his organ set Gabriel off with an orgasm that might have caused her injury if Marion hadn't been there to hold her and keep her safe. Gently Marion helped Gabriel lay down between Luke and herself. Gabriel couldn't have fought back even if she had wanted to for she had passed out form her orgasm. Luke and Marion formed a human sandwich with Gabriel holding the place of honor between them and within minutes all three had passed out. Chapter 18. Two months earlier. Lucy and Cecilia had just set off after it was decided that Luke and Marion would stay and try to kill Richard. Cecilia though had plans of her own. On the way to Lincoln, she and Lucy talked and Lucy filled Cecilia in on everything Richard had been doing. This was important to Cecilia's plans, plus she wanted Lucy to feel safe. Once the two got to Lincoln, Cecilia led Lucy to a different inn then she had stayed at when she was with Marion and Luke. This inn was one that Cecilia actually owned under an alias. The inn was one of the fronts that Cecilia used to force woman and girls into the sex trade. Cecilia figured that Lucy was good enough looking that she might just be worth a fair amount of money. The inn keeper had strict orders to never acknowledge Cecilia in public. Cecilia was to be treated the same as anyone else. Cecilia would always initiate the contact, usually after most everyone had got to bed for Cecilia had her secrets too. Cecilia's biggest secret was that she was actually extremely intelligent. She had figured out though, at a very young age, that if she played the clumsy fool then no one would expect anything of her and would generally leave her alone. Another one of Cecilia's secrets was that she had killed so many people that she had actually lost count. She either had killed them herself or had ordered their death. By this point in her life, she had built the most powerful crime network in the British islands, and one of the largest in Europe. She dealt in everything from stolen church artifacts to slaves. From commanding pirates on the open seas to highway men on land, she was into everything. Basically, if she could make money from someone else's suffering she did it. She even extorted church officials for land, forgiveness, and money. Once Lucy had gone to sleep, which didn't take long for Lucy was exhausted, Cecilia made contact with her henchmen. In this world she was known by the name Elizabeth and she was not a person that any sane person would ever cross. “That other woman in my room, get her. Just make sure that you idiots don't damage the goods too badly this time. I lost good money with the last bitch you idiots captured.” “Yes ma'am” they barked and were off. Cecilia sat, by herself in a corner, enjoying a good pint when she heard Lucy get captured and a cold smile came across her face. She then heard the soft thud of her men knocking Lucy out. Lucy's life was now for all real purposes over for she was now just one of Cecilia's sex slaves and would be taken to a coastal brothel take specialized in catering to sailors. After Cecilia had finished her pint and food, she went up to bed where the first thing she did was to collect all of Lucy's former possessions. Among them was the money that Luke and Marion had given her. When Cecilia counted it out, she was amazed at how stupid Marion and Luke were for they had given Lucy almost fifty pounds. Lucy quickly pocketed this and went to bed where she slept just as peacefully as she always did. The next morning, after breakfast, she sent a message to Richard telling him that William was dead and that Marion was still alive. She went on to explain briefly about the stranger that had interfered and ruined all their plans. When she was done dictating, the scribe read it back to her and she approved by using her ring to seal the letter. After the message was off, Cecilia spent the rest of the day on business. She had been away for a while and had a lot to catch up on. By that evening she was finally done and was feeling extra horny; so, she went to her special brothel where she could get some well-hung guy either fuck her senseless or rock her gently all night long, depending on her mood. Tonight, she was in the mood to get pounded senseless all night long. She would have to switch out men for they were always so weak but that was just one of the facts of life. When she got there, she got a surprise for there was a large black man that had just came in and she just had to get a piece of that. Cecilia took him up to her room where she ordered him to strip so that she could inspect the goods. She so enjoyed making big, strong men feel powerless. When he finally got naked, Cecilia carefully inspected the man. He had well developed muscles, a large almost pitch-black cock, and he was tall at about six foot. He actually kind of reminded Cecilia of Luke in demeanor but Luke was white, was taller, a little larger cock, and bigger muscles. This man though was far, far better than anything else that was available so Cecilia was happy. She made the man go down on her and eat her to her first orgasm of the evening. She never sucked cock for she wanted the men to last longer inside her. Before Cecilia started fucking herself on his cock, she made sure that he understood the penalty for him cumming too soon. If he cum before Cecilia had cum at least once, then she would castrate him, fry his balls in front of him, and force him to slowly eat them. He was bigger than anyone she had ever had inside her and she was thoroughly stretched out. Cecilia absolutely loved the color contrast between her body and the man she was with. She was snow white while he was dark brown. Needless to say, that Cecilia had no problems with this guy for he fucked her until she had to actually beg for him to fill her cunt with cum, before he pumped her full of juice. Before Cecilia began the night, she figured that she would end up going through several men, but now she could barely move, never mind go look for another guy, so she passed out for the night, after telling the guy to get out. So was Cecilia's life for the next week or so. Wake up whenever she felt like it, take care of business until supper. After supper, she went to get her brains screwed out by her now favorite gigolo. She was a bit worried that she might get pregnant but the sex was far too good to stop and with her stress levels getting fucked senseless every night by a dark piece of forbidden fruit was just what she needed. After eight days, she got a response from Richard. In it he thanked her for the news of his son and also offered to marry her, seeing as he had his own wife killed after suspecting her of cheating on him even though, he kept a harem for himself. Cecilia agreed but with the stipulation that she be made his sole heir and that their marriage be kept an absolute secret. After almost three weeks of back and forth, Cecilia and Richard had come to an agreement. Cecilia would get most everything that she wanted, Richard would keep his harem and Cecilia would pay Richard 2000 pounds. While this was a significant amount of money for Cecilia, it meant that she would by her own calculation be in control of most of Northern England. For she knew something that Richard didn't. Luke, Marion's boy toy, was still out there, he was extremely dangerous, and that he actually cared about the filthy masses. Cecilia figured that sooner or later he would make a move to get rid of Richard and she also figured that Luke would succeed with that. Richard kept his end of the bargain so Cecilia kept hers. She privately figured that she would have all her money back within a month or two especially once she had figured out that Luke had already been in the castle and had met Richard once. Not only that but Richard's men were being attacked by mysterious forces in the areas outside of town, and some of the dead were left where they could be easily spotted from the castle walls. Privately Cecilia figured that Richard had only a month left and she wasn't far off. Within two weeks of the extremely private wedding Luke and Marion struck. As soon as the attack had been driven off Cecilia commanded her most trusted lieutenant: “Go and seal Luke's chambers. Kill anyone that tries to get in or out and wait for me to get there before going in.” “Yes ma'am.” And off he went. When Cecilia examined the armor on the one dead intruder, she was completely amazed at how well it was made and how well it had worked for it was a very lucky strike that took him down. Some of the soldiers identified the man as Tom. It seems that he was one of the soldiers that Luke had chosen to accompany him when he went to look for Richard's son. The other man hadn't been seen at all. The other women were all identified as fresh whores that Richard's men had captured and Richard hadn't had an opportunity to fuck before Luke took them. The thing was that when they had come back, they were all much stronger both mentally and physically then when they had left with Luke. When Cecilia went to investigate Luke's chambers, she was discouraged to find that none of his gear was there. In fact, it didn't look like anyone had been in there for days. Publicly Cecilia spoke about taking strong action against her rebellious little sister and her minions. Privately however, Cecilia was terrified. Marion had almost succeeded and if it hadn't been for the measures that Cecilia had just barely got put in place, Marion most likely would have succeeded. Cecilia knew that she might not be so lucky the next time for she had tipped her hand when Richard called her into the room with him, just before he was killed. Plus, Marion and especially Luke had a knack for winning over the lower classes; while Cecilia hated and was hated by the lower classes. One more thing to turn her world over was that she got word that her favorite gigolo had escaped. It had apparently been quite a bloody thing with five of her best people being killed in the process. He had then got a spot on a ship and had left England for parts unknown. She had made her decision with the rising sun on the morning after the attack; she ordered her armorers to do their best to duplicate the armor that was captured with Tom. Tom's body was beheaded and his head was put on a pikestaff in the town square and his body was burned to ash. Cecilia then made it known that there was a 500-pound reward for the capture of Luke and Marion. The only stipulation was that they had to be taken alive. Cecilia then put a 250-pound reward on the other team member's heads. She also made it known that aiding them in any way was punishable by a very slow and painful death. That done, she then worked on putting a better training program in place for her troops. For they would have to be very well trained and motivated to even stand a chance against Marion. Chapter 19. The next morning, Gabriel woke up more rested than she had felt in years, granted her leg was still throbbing and her pussy was sore, but that was to be expected. At first, she was confused as to why she had slept so well, then she remembered and started to feel guilty because she felt that she had taken advantage of Luke and made herself a promise right there that would never happen again. The next thing she noticed was that it was light out and she was alone. As she looked around, she could hear Luke and Marion talking quietly. Finally, she forced herself to stand and wrapped the blanket around her body. She limped to where everyone else was at. She was hit with the smell of breakfast; the sound of blades being sharpened, and the music that was coming from Luke's computer. “Well look at what the cat drug in.” chirped Alice and to Gabriel's embarrassment everyone including Luke laughed. Her embarrassment deepened when Stella pointed out Gabriel's rapidly reddening checks and the dried cum on her legs and the group laughed harder. Marion actually fell off the stump that she was sitting on she was laughing so hard. Gabriel couldn't run away so eventually she started laughing with the group. As she laughed, she felt her guilt melt away. After all Marion had insisted on sharing Luke with her and Gabriel was very thankful that her first time was with a man that knew how to take proper care of her. She then noticed just how hungry she was as Pollyanna handed her a bowl of left-over stew and a piece of bread. “So, Marion, what's our game plan now?” Gabriel asked. “Well, you are restricted to camp until your leg heals and don't even think about arguing. You can still make arrows and other gear without leaving camp. The rest of us will be taking turns posting lookouts around the camp. When not on lookout duty or hunting, we will be training hard and working on developing better arms and armor. After your leg heals, then we will start collecting fresh intel on Cecilia. She might be better than Richard, but I highly doubt it. I figure that her harsh policies will start to drive people out of their homes and when that happens, we will encourage them to join us. Once we are strong enough then we will strike again. This time we will have even more advanced weapons, much better intel, and most importantly won't be underestimating Cecilia. “So, what happens if we are discovered before I heal?” “Well then we fight. There are booby traps hidden all around camp that enemy troops are sure to fall into. By the time they get through, we should be able to have our horses saddled and get out of here with all of our gear. If we fail, well then we fight and die here.” Gabriel looked like she had turned into a ghost she was so pale. Marion had changed and until that moment, no one had realized just how much Marion had changed. Marion was starting to show the makings of becoming a great Queen. The rest of the women also caught Marion's change and quickly came to the same conclusion as Gabriel. Not only that, they all privately had come to the realization that they would follow Marion into the pits of hell itself. Gabriel then limped over and picked up her sword. She took it out and walking up to Marion kneeled in front of her and offered her the sword and swore an oath of absolute loyally until Gabriel's dying breath. The rest of the group following, including Luke much to everyone's surprise. Everyone had figured that Luke's loyalty was already a given. Through this Marion's cheeks were red with embarrassment. After Luke had finished, Marion swore her loyalty to the group to her dying day. She would gladly die to defend them. This all this done, Marion started giving the team their individual assignments and their watch rotation. Marion made sure that she spent at least as much time on watch during the difficult times of day as the rest of them. She also made sure that everyone had at least a couple of hours a day to relax a bit. The next month was busy for the team. An infection had set into Gabriel's leg and she almost died. Only Alice's dedication and Luke's knowledge had saved her. Marion had gotten over her morning sickness, finally. The rest of the team had fully recovered although Stella still had bouts of survivor's guilt. She kept this at bay by working her ass off and reminding herself that she would get her revenge. Eventually the group started to extend the area that they patrolled. Included in that area was one of the main roads to York. At first, they just watched the traffic and looked for patterns. They noticed that a lot of the traffic was iron ore, food, horses, and textiles and it was all headed for York. Traffic coming from York was very light to say the least and mostly consisted of empty carts that had transported in supplies. At first Marion wondered if Cecilia had come to her senses and had started to care for the people. This idea was forever chased out when she and Alice came across a young man one day by the side of the road. He was barely alive and he wasn't much more than a skeleton with skin. Between the two of them, they easily picked the man up and carried him to their camp. Of course, they blindfolded him after explaining that it was for their safety. The man was so weak that he couldn't have resisted anyway. Once back in camp, Alice went to work on tending to the man's wounds while Marion questioned him. At first Marion would keep her name a secret. She could see no need to give away any more information then was necessary. “So, what is your name, lad?” “Robin.” “Where are you from and where are you going?” “Where I was from was burnt to the ground a week ago and no longer exist. As to where I was going, well I hope that it is heaven for I am not long for this world.” “Now there is no need to think like that. This woman here is an amazing doctor. Now what can you tell me of Cecilia?” “She is pure evil and I bet that the devil himself would be kinder. At first everyone hoped that she would be better than Richard, but hopes of that were dashed within days of Marion's brave, but unsuccessful attack. First Cecilia put out a reward of 500 pounds for Marion and her friend Luke, but they have to be brought in alive. The rest of the group has a 250 pound reward on their heads. I highly doubt though that anyone is fooled by her anymore; for if they did bring in one of the outlaws, Cecilia would have them killed before they could even count out the reward money. Then she raised everyone's taxes even more. Not only that but rumors are that she is extorting the churches in the district into handing over most of their money and artifacts so that she can pay for her soldiers. She is building a massive army but no one really knows why. I mean, after all Marion and her group are most likely dead for nobody has seen or heard them since the attack.” With that Robin bowed his head and started to softly cry. Marion stood up and went over to Luke, who was out of the visitor's line of sight. “You heard?” “Yep. What do you want to do?” Marion looked at Robin for a second. “We will keep him with us as long as Alice can heal him. We will also start attacking Cecilia's troops, but only if we catch them mistreating civilians. When we do attack, we will make sure to do so only in areas away from here. We will also let it be known through the land that we are in fact not dead and are looking for volunteers willing to fight for justice and liberty.” “I agree. When are you planning on telling Robin who you are?” “Soon honey. Soon.” Marion said patting Luke's cheek. Marion returned to Robin and helped Alice by putting cool, damp rags on Robin's forehead to help keep him cool. After he had passed out and was sleeping soundly, Marion quietly called a meeting to announce the new plans. She strictly forbid the use of any of their names around Robin until they were sure of him. She figured about a week or so before they could revile just who they were. The rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement with her. Chapter 20. Marion returns with vengeance. The next week was an extremely busy one for Marion's crew. It had been touch and go for Robin, but he was now starting to mend slowly. They also had their first encounter with Cecilia's men since they had gone into hiding. Pollyanna and Stella had been coming back from a scouting trip when they almost literally stumbled on a group of Cecilia's men raping five women that they had taken from a local village. Since they had the element of surprise and there were only five bastards, Stella quickly made the choice to strike. While Pollyanna stayed hidden in the brush, Stella worked her way around the group. Once she was on the other side, which had only taken her five minutes, she signaled Pollyanna and she signaled back. With that the angel of death spread its wings over the men and within seconds they were all dead, for while neither Stella or Pollyanna were in Gabriel's league; they were no slouches either and the range here was only about 10 meters. They then stepped out of hiding to make sure all the men were dead and to check on the women. The women were so scared that a couple of them peed themselves. First, they had been taken for payment because their families couldn't pay the outrageous taxes that Cecilia was charging. Then when their guards had stopped for lunch, the women were brutally raped for dessert. Then without warning arrows flew out of the woods, killing the guards. Then two very strangely dressed men came out of the woods and checked on the guards. They had to be men for they were wearing pants and had on strange green overcoats that had hoods on them that covered their faces. Then the older one spoke, these “men” were actually women and they removed their hoods. The women that had been raped started crying for they had hope that they might now be safe. Prior to Cecilia's reign of terror, they had been part of successful families that usually didn't have to worry about paying their taxes or putting food on the table, but now they were beyond dirt poor. “Do any of you know who we are?” Asked the younger woman warmly. All five women shook their heads. “Well then introductions are in order then. My name is Pollyanna and I am an engineer. My companion here is Stella, and she is my immediate superior. We are both followers of Marion of York” All five of the women's reactions were about the same. They were shocked beyond belief for they had thought that Marion and her followers had all died. In fact, nobody believed that they were still alive. “Thank you for rescuing us” one of the younger women said quietly. The woman named Stella responded with a smile. “No thanks are necessary. We do have a couple of small favors to ask before we escort you home.” “What are they?” sharply asked the same woman that had spoken up before. “Hey calm yourself if you please. We ask that once all of you have gotten dressed you help us get these bastards off the road. The other thing we ask that you quietly tell people just who's group rescued you.” Again, the women nodded their heads only this time there was no hesitation. They quickly got dressed and then helped Stella and Pollyanna get the bastards off the road and hidden. After the dead were hidden, Pollyanna brought their horses up and loaded all the looted gear up. Going through their loot, they found a total of five pounds ten shillings which Stella divided between the raped women. For Stella and Pollyanna this was no big deal but for the other five this was a godsend for them. They did suggest that the women hide the money so that it wouldn't get stolen from them. After making sure that everything was ready, they set off. Stella made the decision to give the women an escort back to their villages and since Pollyanna didn't have too much to do for the rest of the day went with them. Along the way, the women were full of questions about everything it seemed but especially Marion. Stella and Pollyanna answered most of the questions but not all. They were silent about where they were hiding and they refused to talk about what all they had been doing since the attack. They did answer the questions that pertained to the group's goals. The women had a hard time believing that Marion was aiming toward making all people equal in the law's eyes and giving everyone the opportunity to prove themselves and succeed in life. As the group was coming up to a bend in the road, Pollyanna suddenly stopped and quietly signaled the group to get off the road fast. Stella was the last into hiding: “What's up?” “I heard horses.” “Well, we know what to do with them. Ladies listen to me and listen well. You need to hide. If anything happens to us run and make sure to scatter so that if one of you are found then the rest will still have a chance.” Stella said as she was unlimbering her bow and making sure that her arrows were ready as Pollyanna quickly followed suit. Within minutes a troop of cavalry came around the corner and they were wearing Cecilia's colors. Stella counted twenty men and numerous pack horses as they drew back their bows. Both of them had a new type of bow that Luke had designed. It was far more powerful than anything else in existence and was capable of being shot rapidly. To be continued in part 5, Based on a post by somethin fishy, for Sex Stories.

Time to check out all the anime coming this Fall 2025 season.This episode's members: Dexomega, DocKev, Gugsy, Hybridmink, Marquan, Protonstorm, Raitzeno and Requiem, with Marquan handling the editing duties.The AniTAY Podcast is a bi-weekly podcast brought to you every other Wednesday. It is available on all your favorite podcast services! If you like us, be sure to subscribe to your favorite service and give us 5 stars! Your support is much appreciated and will help us grow and continue to provide this style of content.ItineraryIntro: 0:00–2:19Main Shows:2200-nen Neko no Kuni Nippon: 2:20–4:30A Mangaka's Weirdly Wonderful Workplace: 4:33–7:10A Star Brighter Than the Sun: 7:14–8:59Alma-chan Wants to Be a Family!: 9:01–10:52The Blue Orchestra Season 2: 10:55–12:30Bukiyou na Senpai (My Awkward Senpai): 12:32–14:25Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill Season 2: 14:26–16:09Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle: 16:19–20:15Dad is a Hero, Mom is a Spirit, I'm a Reincarnator: 20:17–21:40Digimon Beatbreak: 21:42–24:46Disney: Twisted-Wonderland The Animation: 24:47–26:56Dusk Beyond the End of the World: 26:58–31:34Gintama: 3-Z Ginpachi Sensei: 31:38–33:44Gnosia: 33:49–37:42Hands off: Sawaranaide Kotesashi-kun! (Don't Touch Kotesashi): 37:45–42:03Hero Without a Class: Who Even Needs Skills?!: 42:05–44:57Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Oota: 45:00–47:00Kagaku×Bouken Survival! 2nd Season: 47:04–49:14Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits Season 2: 49:16–50:40Kingdom 6th Season: 50:42–53:59Let's Play: 54:00–56:48Li'l Miss Vampire Can't Suck Right: 56:50–59:07May I Ask for One Final Thing?: 59:17–01:01:22Mechanical Marie: 01:01:24–01:04:41Monster Strike: Deadverse Reloaded: 01:04:42–01:05:00My Friend's Little Sister Has It In for Me!: 01:05:03–01:07:17My Gift Lvl 9999 Unlimited Gacha: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon, I'm Out for Revenge!: 01:07:22–01:10:18My Hero Academia Final Season: 01:10:20–01:12:33My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's: 01:12:35–01:13:40Ninja vs. Gokudo: 01:13:41–01:15:05Nohara Hiroshi: Hiru Meshi no Ryuugi (Style of Hiroshi Nohara Lunch): 01:15:09–01:16:27One-Punch Man Season 3: 01:16:28–01:18:53Oshiri Tantei 9 Part 2 (Butt Detective 9 Part 2): 01:18:54–01:19:08Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!: 01:19:09–01:21:06Plus-sized Misadventures in Love!: 01:21:13–01:23:46Potion, Wagami wo Tasukeru (Potions Will Save Me): 01:23:47–01:25:23Ranma ½ (2024) 2nd Season: 01:25:26–01:26:55Sanda: 01:26:58–01:29:36Shabake: 01:29:37–01:31:31SI-VIS: The Sound of Heroes: 01:31:31–01:33:32Spy x Family Season 3: 01:33:33–01:35:03Tales of Wedding Rings Season 2: 01:33:06–01:36:53The Banished Court Magician Aims to Become the Strongest: 01:36:54–01:38:55The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess: 01:38:56–01:39:59This Monster Wants to Eat Me: 01:40:00–01:44:20To Your Eternity Season 3: 01:44:21–01:45:56Touring After the Apocalypse: 01:45:58–01:47:53Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray Part 2: 01:47:55–01:51:47Wandance: 01:51:48–01:55:43With You, Our Love Will Make It Through: 01:55:44–01:58:16Yano-kun's Ordinary Days: 01:58:20–01:59:55Shorts: 01:59:58–02:00:16Movies: 02:00:18–02:00:29OVA/ONA/Specials: 02:00:30–02:03:29Most Anticipated Shows: 02:03:32-EndMissed the previous episode of the AniTAY Podcast? Check it out here:AniTAY Podcast S10 E16: Drowning in Shoujo

Luke's HAARP Time Warp: Part 3 Marion readies her attack. Based on a post by somethin fishy, in 15 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 11. The next morning the three of them all woke at about the same time. Luke was amazed that he had slept in and Cecilia was amazed that she had woken up early and was so rested. Watching Marion trying to walk, Cecilia fell off the bed she was laughing so hard. To rub salt into Marion's wounds, Luke was chuckling a bit as well and all Marion could do was blush. She was too sore, at the moment, to do anything else. They all took turns with the chamber pot and after Marion and Luke had washed each other up a bit; got dressed and went to get something to eat. In the dining area Luke was greeted like a mighty warrior; while Marion was getting jealous looks from every woman in the room. Everyone had heard them and every woman wanted to be her or have a man like she did. This actually cheered Marion up quite well. She actually was enjoying the looks that she was getting; after all it just proved that she had something that none of them could even dream of. The innkeeper meanwhile had given the lovebirds free food. This annoyed Luke but he yielded after the innkeeper explained that she was not only very happy for them, but their love making had lured extra people in for supper the night before. It had actually been standing room only and the only fighting had been when someone else made too much noise. She had made more money off Luke and Marion's love making then she had made in the previous month. Marion's reaction to this got laughs from everyone in the room because she flushed the deepest red that anyone had ever seen. Cecilia had also noticed that she had been getting some jealous looks; but hers were equally from men and women. It didn't take her long to figure out that they were jealous of her front row, well bed seat, to last night's entertainment. Of course, it didn't hurt that all three of them smelled like hot sex. Eventually they got done eating breakfast and returned to their room to pack up. Within an hour they were on the road to York. The three of them traveled quickly for Cecilia had given up on killing Marion on the road. Now she figured that she would use Marion to keep Luke around. Of course, that didn't mean that Marion could be free; oh no. The first thing that Cecilia planed on doing when she got home was to trump up some charges against Marion to have her thrown in the dungeon. With Marion still alive, Cecilia could use her to force Luke's cooperation. While traveling, Luke had noticed the change in Cecilia's behavior. At first, he had hoped that she might be starting to change, but a couple of comments, that she made, put this theory to rest; after all how often do leopards change their spots. Marion though, was overjoyed at her sister's change in demeanor for she had always wanted a loving sister growing up and now, apparently, she had one. As they rode Cecilia and Marion talked and joked as if they were the best of friends. Luke started to just ignore them and instead focused on keeping a look out for traps. The rest of their trip back to Cecilia and Marion's land was uneventful. Cecilia's charm though, wasn't fooling Luke and he began to mentally prepare himself to do whatever he had to do, including abandoning Marion, in order to keep his knowledge from getting into the wrong hands. As they passed back into their family lands, the ladies immediately noticed a change. A blind person could have seen it. Houses were burnt and the people that lived in the area were starting to show signs of starvation. It was so bad that even Luke felt sickened by the sights. Cecilia and Marion were pale as ghost as they threw up everything in their stomachs. Eventually, Marion found one of the people that she trusted. It was an older woman, Lucy, who had lost her husband years before. Lucy had been Marion's nanny, back when Marion was younger and they had retained a close friendship. When Marion first saw Lucy, Marion actually had to look very hard to make sure for Lucy had changed so much since Marion had last seen her, and that was just a week before Marion had left for London. “Lucy what happened?” “It was Richard. As soon as the three of you left for London, he moved in and took over. The guards that remained loyal are rumored to be in Richard's dungeon; that is if they have not been killed by torture yet. Where is your father anyway?” Lucy was so depressed and dirty that it broke Marion's heart, for she loved this woman. Lucy was the mother that Marion had never known. “Father was killed in an ambush. John, Cecilia's fiancé was killed too. The ambush was led by none other than William.” Lucy hissed at hearing this. “I am so sorry, Marion. Now the big question, who is the giant behind you?” “Oh sorry. Lucy this is Luke. Luke this is Lucy. She took care of me when I was younger. Lucy, Luke is the stranger that rescued Cecilia and me from the ambush. He killed William with his bare hands and he has been keeping us safe ever since. Also, we have fallen in love.” “Oh really.” “What, I am not allowed to fall in love?” Lucy smiled at this. Marion had always had a bit of fire in her soul. “Back to serious issues Marion, you three need to get out of here before you are discovered. Word has it that Richard has put a bounty on your and Cecilia's heads.” “Not to fear Lucy, the only head that is going to be collected will be Richard's” growled Luke. Lucy now felt a spike of fear go through her. She had never heard a human sound like this. This Luke sounded much more like a wild animal. More to her surprise, the look on Marion's face had hardened as well. Obviously these two knew something that Lucy didn't. “Lucy, I need all the information and rumors that you have on this Richard bastard.” Said Luke. Over the next hour the woman told Luke everything that she knew about Richard. Richard was an older Earl that lived next to their land and had been eyeing Marion's family land for years. Richard was one of those who get everything that he wanted, mostly because he was very quick to resort to very dirty and underhand tactics to get them. In the thirty years since Richard had gained his Earldom, he had tripled his land holdings. In the process, he had killed off whole villages and had put such a tax burden on the peasants living on his land that many of them were in a constant state of half starvation. This is what he had started doing in Cecilia and Marion's lands, but here he taxed the peasants at such a high rate that many of them would be dead by the end of the year. If a peasant couldn't pay the tax then one of several things might happen to them: they might be tortured, killed, if there were good looking women in the family then they would be taken to serve Richard or his men, young boys would be taken to be turned into soldiers. To put it simply, Richard viewed everyone below him as an expendable plaything and everyone including the king was below him, in his mind. By now, Cecilia had realized that she would have to put a hold on getting revenge on Marion. There was no way that Cecilia would live long enough to make up the charges against Marion, never mind pump Luke for information. Luke listened carefully to everything that the women told him and asked pointed questions if he thought that they might have missed something. Finally, Luke asked Lucy: “Where can I find Richard?” “Why he now lives in the castle” said Lucy while she pointed at the castle that had once been Marion and Cecilia's home. Luke gave Lucy some money and one of their extra horses and told her to get lost and if he failed to get rid of Richard, never come back. Luke had figured out, listening to all the stories that the only way to get rid of Richard was to kill him. So that's what Luke set out to do. He had Marion show him a spot from which Luke could watch the castle and remain hidden. He then told Cecilia and Marion to get back to Lincoln and stay there until Luke sent for them. Cecilia was good with this, Marion wasn't. Eventually it was agreed that Cecilia would travel to Lincoln with Lucy and Marion would help Luke. The ladies hugged each other when Cecilia set off with Lucy. Luke and Marion had given almost all their money to Cecilia and Lucy. Luke had told Lucy that she should find some business to invest in. That way she could keep making money and would have a secure future. Luke now had to face the problem that he didn't know what Richard looked like. Yes, he could shoot Richard from a long way off, but he had to know what Richard looked like first. Marion couldn't take Luke to show him Richard, because too many people in the castle knew Marion. Then he hit on a solution. Luke would go into the castle, claiming to be a Scottish mercenary looking for a new job. “How are you going to do that?” asked Marion “You're not Scottish.” “Something I haven't mentioned to you, my family name is MacDougall, and I've spent enough time in Scotland to fake the accent good enough. Just have to hope that Richard doesn't have any other MacDougall's around.” “Damn it Luke, how many more secrets do you have?” “If you're afraid of the answer then you probably shouldn't ask the question my dear. On the plus side, you already know my biggest one. The rest aren't too bad.” Marion just gave him the stink eye. “I should only be gone for a couple of days. If I'm not back by sunset four days from now, get out of here as fast as you can and never look back.” Marion was starting to argue, but Luke wasn't having any of it. “Damn it Marion, think with your head and not your pussy. We can't launch an attack without knowing what all Richard has going on inside and you are too well known to go in. That leaves me, plus I have a military background so I know what to look for.” Again, Marion was gearing up for a fight, when she suddenly drew in her breath. She had realized that once again Luke was right and that if she tried to go in, she would be caught before the sun had gone done. “Okay, Luke. Get going, just be careful and remember that I love you.” “I love you too, Marion. Remember if I'm no back by sunset four days from now get out of here, and take all my gear with you.” With that, Luke mounted his horse and started riding toward the family of York's castle. Chapter 12. Getting inside the castle was a pain for Luke, for he was searched multiple times. Finally, he managed to get through the guards. Once inside, Luke was amazed at how destitute the place was. Everywhere it seemed there were people hanging at the end of ropes or in stocks. The air was thick with flies, but the remaining people didn't seem to even notice. He saw some desperate people actually walk up behind someone in stocks and carve a big piece of flesh from them. A number of the people hanging appeared to be merchants and craftsmen which amazed Luke; after all what kind of idiot ruler would go after the very people who earned the money to pay the taxes. Of course, three answers came to Luke's mind. Evil despot rulers, socialist, and communist and usually the evil despot rulers were brightest of the three. Their end goal was always the same just dressed up in different ways; power for themselves and their supporters. Luke didn't even have to look for an inn because there were so many abandoned homes to pick from but first Luke had to get a meeting with this Richard idiot. This actually proved to be very easy. Luke just walked right up to the main castle doors and told the guard that he was a mercenary looking for a job. Luke looked the part too with two swords, an impressive collection of knives, and a large shield that he had bought while in Lincoln. When Luke finally met the Earl Richard for the first time Luke almost fell to the floor laughing. This guy had some serious man issues. For starters he was hideously ugly. Marion of course had told his this, but Luke had never pictured something this ugly. Another thing was Richard was extremely short, even for the era. Luke estimated him to be no more than four foot nine or ten. Finally, the guy had some kind of speech problem which for normal people wasn't a problem, but for people who thought of themselves masters of the world, this was a major problem. “So, I hear that you want a job as one of my soldiers?” “Yes sir, that is correct.” Stated Luke with his slight Scottish accent. He could have laid it on thicker but figured that keeping things light would help convince Richard that Luke was really a very experienced soldier. “Why?” “Why not. I need a job and I heard that you sir are hiring.” “Well, let us see what you can do.” “David, Matt, John. Test this man's metal.” Richard set back to enjoy the entertainment. He was going to enjoy watching his best man whittle this giant down to size. The three of them approached Luke spaced out evenly around him. Luke waited until the last possible second, then stuck. Using the same method that he had used on William; Luke sidestepped David's strike, grabbed his right wrist with one hand and broke is elbow with his other. Luke then moved and snapped David's neck. This pissed the other two men off for all three were very close. With new fury they moved on Luke who was still calm as ever. This time he drew his swords. These were hand and a half swords, but in Luke's hands they became single handed swords. With longer swords and much more strength, Luke quickly forced the other two knights back. Finally, Matt managed to get past Luke's swords and deliver a blow to Luke. This blow was normally a fatal blow, but Luke just shrugged it off. Before Matt could get out of the way, Luke hit him between his eyes with the pommel of one of his swords. Matt's skull shattered with the blow causing everyone around to cringe. Now it was one to one and John was not only in a rage, but was also fearful. He had seen both his best friends killed before his eyes and this giant had received a usually fatal blow from Matt. Yet it barely seemed to affect him. Luke now went on an all-out attack on John. It was all John could do to keep Luke's blades off of him. If John didn't do something fast, he would be killed too. Finally, John had an opening and he took it. Problem was that Luke had purposely let his have that opening and taking it proved to be a fatal mistake for John. As John delivered what he hoped would be at least a debilitating blow on Luke, Luke trapped John's sword and pulled John to him. Close in, Luke dropped his swords, picked up John, turned him over, and drove him head first into the floor. This completely crushed John's head. It was so bad that you couldn't even tell that it had been a head. Luke the casually picked his swords up and sheathed them. He then started to return to in front of Richard who was sitting in his chair with is mouth open. He had never seen someone win a three to one fight so fast. As Luke got back to where he had started, he heard the unmistakable sound of a bow being drawn. As quick as lighting, Luke drew a throwing knife and let it fly. It stuck the bowman in the throat, killing him instantly. Luke walked over, kicked his knife loose of the man's neck, wiped it off on the man's uniform, and returned the knife to its place. By now the look of fear was in every face of the room, including Richard's. It was obvious to all that this man was not one to be messed around with. Upon returning Luke asked: “Well, happy now?” “Yes, you are a remarkable soldier, how did you survive Matt's strike; sorcery?” Luke snorted at this. “Sorcery please? Do not insult me in such a way ever again. I survived because I designed my own armor which is hidden in my clothes. Only complete losers blame their loss on sorcery. Real men take responsibility for their victories as well as their defeats.” “So, they do, friend. So, they do. Now to business, what would you be charging for your services?” “Eighty pounds sterling a year.” He had talked with Marion and she had told him that while this was a bit expensive Richard would gladly pay it to have a soldier of Luke's caliber. “Sixty pounds a year plus I will provide you with girls to use whenever you please.” “Seventy, plus some girls of my choosing.” “You drive a hard bargain, Hildyard. I accept and my I say that name suits you very well.” “Thank you my lord.” Luke had picked this alias for that very reason. It meant one who is like a wolf in battle. “Take my new knight to pick his girls.” Richard said to a servant. The servant wouldn't even dare look at Richard for Richard would kill anyone who he thought gave him a disrespectful look. Luke followed the servant into another set of rooms. There were many good-looking females there, some being quite young and some being decent looking Milfs. “Thank you, my good man. What is your name?” asked Luke looking at the servant. “Michael, sir” Kneeling down in front of the servant Luke said quietly to him: “Never call me sir again, you hear me. My name is Hildyard. Got it?” “Yes sir, Hildyard” said Michael with a slight grin. “Good.” Luke had a warm smile on his face “When you tell your friends about me as I am sure that you will, make sure that you pass the word on to them.” “Yes Hildyard.” With that, the servant scampered away almost causing Luke to laugh. Turning back to the women, Luke had to work to hide just how disgusted he really felt. These women were being forced into sex slaves because their family couldn't pay the sky-high taxes that Richard insisted on levying on them. Luke quietly looked at each one. Finally, he thought that he might have a way that he could do this. Going to one of the servants by the door: “This is going to be a hard choice for me to make. Can you show me to my chamber and then have the women report to it one at a time please?” “Yes sir. This way sir.” the servant snapped. Luke sighed to himself, this servant hadn't heard his bit to Michael. ‘Oh well' thought Luke. Once Luke had been shown his chamber, the women were sent in one at a time like he had requested. Luke had to be very careful here for one false move on his part and Richard would figure out that Luke was lying through his teeth and then it was only a matter of time. As Luke carefully questioned each of the women, he had to work at sounding like an arrogant mercenary soldier when in fact all he wanted to do was to get the woman out of there and back to their homes. Luke finally picked some young ladies who were all a bit younger than Marion and an older one that had worked in the castle while Marion had lived there. The reason that Luke had picked the younger woman was to help protect them for they were brand new to the harem and were still virgins. He had absolutely no intention of forcing himself on any of them. Of course, this first night he would be able to use being very tired as an excuse but the following nights could be difficult. Finally, it was time for bed. Luke had managed to procure a separate room for “his” woman so that no one else would have a chance to force themselves on them. Luke took the oldest one into his room for the night. Of course, he had already checked out the room twice and had found no hidden listening holes. Still, he had to be careful. The older lady was named Stella and Luke put her age about thirty or so. “So, Stella what can you tell me about yourself. I find sex to be more enjoyable when I know something about the bitch.” “Well, I am twenty-nine years old, I think. Married once but he died from an accident. I had one child with him but she died before she made it to one year old. I have been working in this castle all my life and I know exactly how to please men.” “What can you tell me about the previous owners? I have heard whispers about them but none of it makes any sense.” “Why do you want to know about the previous owners?” “Because I am curious, so humor me please.” “The owner was named Charles. He was a good man who lost his wife so after his youngest daughter, Marion, was born. After this he never remarried but used the ladies of the castle to keep him company. It was actually very good for us because he was kind and gentle with us.” “You mentioned a daughter?” “He actually had two, Cecilia and Marion. Cecilia was a two-faced wild child, but Marion was kind, loving, and very intelligent.” “Was?” “Yes, word has it that they were killed on their way back from London which is just as well. For if they had gotten back here, Richard would have had Charles tortured and imprisoned and his daughters would have become Richard's concubines.” “I see. I can see where death would be preferable. Come here Stella.” Stella came up to Luke, expecting to be ravaged, but to her surprise Luke invited her to lay with him while she still had her clothes on. “Master what is wrong? Do I not please your eyes?” “Never call me master. My name is Hildyard and that is what I expected to be called. Understand?” “Yes” squeaked Stella. “Good. Now for tonight I just want a beautiful, caring woman to curl up with; for after my travels and the excitement of this afternoon I am too tired for any fun right now.” With that Stella curled up in Luke's arms and quickly found herself feeling safer than she had felt in years. This man was very kind and considerate; a bit weird for a man but Stella could live with that. He was much better than Richard was that was for sure. When she woke up the next morning, Luke was gone. His spot was still warm though so he wasn't far away. Indeed, as she put her feet on the floor, Luke came through the door holding two bowls of stew. He gave Stella her pick of the two and he took the other one. He also gave her a piece of bread and a few veggies. Now Stella was just blown away by this man. He was far kinder than any other man she had ever met. She was also glad that he had been able to get the fresh virgins before Richard could get to them for Stella knew that Hildyard would be gentle with them; while Richard purposely was extra rough with fresh meat. After they finished eating Luke gave Stella her assignment for the day. “I want you to care for my ladies. Get them cleaned up. A couple of them smell so bad that it is hard to be in the same room with them. Also, if anyone of the bastards so much as touches any of them I want to know about it. Got it?” “Yes, Hildyard” “Good. Now I have to get going for I have a lot of things to get done today.” Chapter 13. Luke wasn't actually worried that anyone would mess with his ladies, he had scared everyone shitless yesterday, but it was always better to be ready. Luke first went to the training yard to work out with some of the other knights and other soldiers, at least that's what he told everyone. In reality he was looking for weaknesses, learning about these knight's fighting styles, and learning just how many men Richard had here. Many of the knights seemed to be second rate and the soldiers only went about their training half heartily. Luke could guess why, but the last thing he wanted to do was ask them. The problem with asking questions is that you tell the person that you're asking that the information you seek is in some way important to you so Luke spoke as little as possible. After a few hours of training, Luke had a little bit of free time, so he wondered the town. Everywhere he went he could feel the people's eyes following him. He could feel the hatred in their looks. This, of course, put him on high alert but thankfully no one attacked. He made sure to quietly pay extra for all the food that he bought. Most of it he would take back for his ladies so that they could start to regain their strength. He dropped the food off in his quarters and went to find Richard for he had an important meeting scheduled. Luke had a contract to sign with the devil. To Luke's surprise, the contract was in order and ready for signature. After signing Luke got his first assignment. He was to go toward London and look for Richard's son William. William should have reported in by now and yet nothing had been heard of him. While out Luke was to keep an eye out for the previous owners. If Luke met them, he was to kill or capture them, whichever was most convent at the time. Luke couldn't believe his ears; this was going to play right into his hands. As an added bonus, he could take his women with him and he would have a small escort. The escort part bothered Luke a bit but they were easy to get rid of. On the other hand, though…Luke requested that he be able to choose his men. He figured that three should be enough. Richard agreed but only allowed Luke two. Luke made sure to pick two of the men that had shown the most hatred toward Richard's knights during the training session. Luke told them that they would be setting out first thing in the morning so they had better get some rest. Upon returning to his chamber for the evening, he was surprised that all his ladies were in the room. When Luke entered, they all stopped talking and looked at him. Luke had to admit that they definitely cleaned up nice. Then Stella stepped forward: “Hildyard, rumor has it that you are leaving in the morning?” “That is correct. Are you speaking for the group, Stella?” “Yes I am.” “Well then get on with it or let them speak for themselves.” “We thank you kindly for the extra food. That was the best that we have ate since this Richard took over.” “Well, no thanks are necessary.” Luke said to the group with a warm smile that always seemed to melt hearts. “Now ladies listen up. I will be leaving very early in the morning on a special mission. I have been given permission for you to accompany me on my journey. We will also have a two-man escort. Now I suggest that all of you get to bed now, for I want to be going through the gate just as it is getting light. Now move and no arguments.” Tonight, Luke took the youngest of the ladies to bed with him. Her name was Gabriel and she reminded Luke a lot of Marion. “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 tied 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 Tom's throat and demanded that he yield as well. Tom had no choice 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 cannot return 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. “Neither of you have anything to fear. I taught her” Luke pointed at Marion “how to fight. That is why both of you got your asses beat, and no I have no intention of supporting a bastard like Richard. I am completely loyal to Marion.” The relief on the men's faces was as obvious as it was instant. Michael also started to look a bit guilty for he remembered their plans and wasn't sure what to do or even what to think. Luke saved him from further worry. “No need to worry Michael. I figured that you and Tom were planning on killing me eventually. The reason I picked you two was the shear hatred, for Richard and his men, that I had seen in your eyes during our training season the other day.” Both of them were now red as beets and Luke had to laugh. “Part of the training that I got, when I was in the military, was how to look for traps and part of that is properly reading people. Now I am going to need your help. I want to help Marion get rid of Richard permanently. Will you two help me, help her.” “That bastard killed my wife in front of me after he and his men raped her. He took my daughters and made them his concubines, and he hung my sons from the ceiling of my house. He then forced me to be one of his soldiers and if I refused then my daughters would be killed very slowly. I only became one of “his men” to hopefully find a way to save my daughters.” Said Tom “What is your story, Michael?” asked Luke. “My family was killed several years ago. I had to come to town for a few days and when I returned home, I found out that they had all gotten sick and died while I had been gone. I became a soldier so that I would hopefully never have to return to that village again. Life was good while Charles was the lord running things, but under that devil Richard no one is safe. I was actually getting ready to leave and head to London.” “Well men, will we help me and hopefully afterwards stay soldiers but this time under Marion?” Neither man looked at the other one. They went up to Marion, drew their swords, kneeled in front of her, and held their swords up to her. Behind them, Luke smiled. He was happy that once again his instincts had been correct. Marion's embarrassment was just an added bonus. “Stand up, both of you. Luke did you tell them to do this?” Marion asked with a bit of venom in her voice. She had caught him smiling. Luke just shrugged at her. Luke and Marion then spent the next hour learning everyone's stories and telling their story. Neither Luke nor Marion mentioned that Luke was from the future. They were not ready to revile that secret, yet. Eventually, Luke and Marion stood next to each other, Luke with his arm around Marion's shoulder, “So ladies will you help us as well?” asked Marion. “But, we're women...” “And I'm not a woman?” asked Marion cutting them off. “That's…that's not what we meant Lady Marion.” Said the women all at once. Marion looked crossly at them and they all shrunk in fear. They were really thrown for a loop when Marion then smiled warmly at them. “Not to worry for once I was like you. I could not defend myself and then I met Luke. He taught me how to fight and more importantly when to fight and when to retreat and I bet that he will teach all of you too. One more thing, I am just Marion, not Lady Marion” Marion then looked at Luke and he nodded. Chapter 14. Over the next month, Luke and Marion trained everyone in the group basic self-defense tactics. The ladies were amazed at how their fortunes had changed. They had started off as simple concubines only allowed to live if they were able to please men and now, they knew how to protect themselves. Luke also taught them how to be soldiers. The guys didn't really agree with teaching the women how to fight or be soldiers, but they certainly were not going to complain. After all they now had a chance to square accounts with Richard. Part of their training was to ambush groups of Richard's soldiers as they raided the countryside. At first the women had a hard time killing, but they quickly got over it. When they would look at Marion, they would always take heart. In battle, Marion was proving to be not only extremely intelligent but also could be very cold blooded and ferocious when she had to be. She had no problems with executing prisoners that they took. Marion knew that they couldn't give prisoners a chance to escape and warn Richard. They also didn't have the extra manpower to guard them or food to feed them. In every battle, they would strip the dead of gear. When they had extra gear, they would put it in hiding so that they could come back and get it later. The better the women became the more disgruntled Michael became. He didn't believe in women in combat or even having them as soldiers, but he did admit that having them in close quarters did provide him with some unique opportunities for he was a serial rapist and murderer. There was nothing that he liked better then popping a virgin's cherry, filling her up with cum, and then forcing her to suck all the bloody cum off his cock before he strangled them. In this group he thought that he had found the pinnacle of virgins, Gabriel. She was tall, had chestnut colored hair that was full and wavy. She had warm, brown eyes, a firm pair of tits and with all the exercise that she had been getting over the last moth; she was developing a very firm ass. He wasn't worried about the fact that she had taken to Luke and Marion's training the best for he was planning on surprising her, raping, and killing her before anyone else knew what was going on. Afterwards, he would disappear and continue his raping somewhere else. Finally, it was the evening before the group was planning on returning to York. Their raiding of Richard's men had taken its toll on Richard's forces. They were afraid to leave the safety of the castle for even a short distance because just leaving the gates was proving to be very dangerous. Marion had made sure to leave some of the corpses where they could be seen from the castle walls. She had done this at Luke's urging while he explained to her the modern-day concept of Psy Ops. The more she thought about this, the more she liked it. If the enemy could be mentally defeated before battle then you would suffer fewer causalities and maybe you could even avoid a battle in the first place. Michael meanwhile had been watching everyone in the group and he finally saw his perfect opportunity to strike. The rest of the group had bedded down early so that they could get up early and get ready. Gabriel had gone down to the stream so that she could get a quick bath. She was unaware that she was being followed. Just as she had got her clothes off, Michael stuck. He came up to her quickly, put one of his powerful hand over her mouth and held his knife to her throat with the other one. Normally this would have been more than enough, but Gabriel now knew what to do. Before Michael could react, she drove her heal into his knee. While she didn't break it, he was now hurting and lost his grip on Gabriel. As soon has her mouth was free, she screamed. Michael was too busy trying to get control of his prey to care, after all they were a way away from the camp and everyone else had turned in. Michael was able to land a punch squarely in Gabriel's face. This knocked her to the ground and the force of hitting the ground stunned her. Michael untied his pants and slowly lowered them. He loved seeing the fear on his victim's faces when they realized what was about to happen to them. As Michael was getting on his knees so that he could force his way into Gabriel's virgin cunt, he felt something cold and sharp touch the back of his neck. This caused him to freeze. Slowly he turned his head and found himself looking into Marion's expressionless face. “Hey Luke, before we go to sleep, I have something to tell you.” Luke looked down at Marion. She had assumed their usual post coitus spot. Her head lying on his shoulder and one of her legs over his with her cream filled pussy leaking on him. “Oh ya what's that.” Said Luke half asleep. “I'm pretty sure that I'm pregnant. Won't know for sure for a little while but I missed my last period and I've not been feeling good in the mornings.” Luke was now fully awake. During their time together he had never given a thought to Marion getting pregnant. Mentally Luke cursed himself for being such an idiot. Yes, he loved Marion, but Luke wasn't sure why he had been transported to this universe and Marion having a child could cause serious problems if Luke ever got the opportunity to go home. This is why he never told Marion all he knew about the future. He never even told her his real fears of leaking the information that was locked away in his head. Marion misread the look on Luke's face. “Don't worry honey, it was bound to happen eventually and I'm so happy to be carrying your child.” Luke took a deep breath. He was going to have to finally tell Marion all of his fears. As he was about to start, they both heard a scream and recognized it as Gabriel. Marion grabbed her sword and raced off toward the scream as fast as she could still naked. Luke stopped to put his pants and then he was following in Marion's wake with both of his swords. When Luke caught up, he found Gabriel on the ground still stunned. Her clothes had been put on a nearby branch so Luke assumed that she had been getting a bath. Marion had her sword at someone's neck but however it was, was facing away from Luke. Then they turned their head and Luke could see that it was Michael. Luke went over and helped Gabriel to her feet and gave her back her dress. Meanwhile Marion was forcing Michael to return to camp without his clothes. Gabriel had serious problems walking so Luke decided just to carry her. He gently picked her up and cradling her in his arms, carried her back. Marion forced Michael back to camp and made him get on his knees. “You think making me get on my knees will change anything bitch then you are dumber than I thought you were. I was well within my rights as a man to demand that she service me.” Marion leaned in and whispered in his ear “It's not just me that you have to worry about. And if you think that raping that poor girl makes you a man then I have to wonder how humans have survived so long. With such sorry excuses for a man as yourself, we should have all died off thousands of years ago. I'm willing to bet that it was actually Adam that got humans kicked out of the garden and when the men writing the bible realized the truth, they switched the roles so that history wouldn't find out the truth.” By this time, Luke had returned with Gabriel and she was starting to recover. Luke tried to hand her off to Stella to care for but Gabriel wasn't having it. “I want to see what happens to him.” Her voice was one of iron and Luke knew that arguing wouldn't do him any good. “Well come on then” was all he said. Luke was actually impressed when he realized what Marion was doing. She was organizing a trial by jury. Everyone knew what had happened but Marion wanted to start establishing a precedent. She was obviously thinking long term and Luke was impressed. Once everyone in the group had gathered; the trail started. Gabriel told all what happened and what Michael said. Michael was given the opportunity to defend himself but refused. He obviously didn't realize Marion's growing power and strength. Finally, it was time for the group to vote on Michael's guilt or innocence. The entire group voted Michael guilty. Michael was stunned when Tom voted with the women. While Michael had been growing disgruntled, Tom had been changing as well. He saw the women getting stronger and he found that he was being drown to them and one in particular, Stella. They were close to the same age and had both had a hard life. Stella, for her part, was well aware of Tom's attraction to her and while she hadn't made a final decision on the matter yet, she was starting to have naughty thoughts about Tom especially while Luke and Marion were practicing their love making. With the guilty verdict, Marion passed sentence on Michael. He would be castrated, his balls would be forced down his throat, and then he would be executed. Luke was stunned by her harshness. He had never seen Marion so cold as she was now but he didn't argue. After all, this was her time era not his, and after the word got around of what she was capable of then hopefully there wouldn't be as much resistance for her. Marion ordered Michael tied to two trees. She then stood in front of him as she slowly sharpened her knife. Finally, Marion reached down and cut Michael's balls off. As he was screaming, Marion put his balls in his mouth and then covered his nose and clamped his mouth shut so that he would have to swallow his balls. After he swallowed his balls, Michael was crying. Luke and Tom cringed but didn't look away; after all nobody had forced Michael to attempt to rape Gabriel. Marion then drew her knife across Michael's throat, cutting the jugular and carotid. It took a minute or so for Michael to bled out. During that time, Stella came up next to Tom and held his hand. After all, Michael had started off being Tom's best friend. Marion then ordered that Michael's body be left where it was. It was getting late and they had to travel almost half a day tomorrow to get back to York. Chapter 15. Marion grows as a leader but only after some serious pain. It was early the next morning when Luke and Marion woke the group up. The sun was just starting to light up the Eastern sky but everyone in the group was used to getting up this early. They made sure to cook up an extra hardy breakfast for they didn't know when they would be able to eat again. Over the previous month the scared young women that had traveled out of York with Luke had been replaced with strong, young women that thought like soldiers and fought like lions. They now all carried swords and knives and knew how to use them. Every one of them also wore a leather overcoat that they could wrap around themselves to protect against swords or even long-range arrows. Under that they wore a green shirt and pants. Sown inside each shirt was light steel and leather armor that Luke had designed to deflect blows. They each also carried a helmet that was radically different than anything else currently in use. It looked a cross between a World War two German helmet and a modern U S military helmet. He had designed it this way to be able to give maximum protection with the materials available. Gabriel also carried a bow that she had gotten to be very good with. She was good enough to put an arrow into someone's eye from fifty paces. Luke was extremely proud of the ladies and of Tom. Tom had helped train everyone in sword use and had grown to love each of the ladies like sisters except Stella. No, her he loved romantically. What's more she was also falling in love with him. Tom was armed like all the women and he loved this new gear. It was lighter than his previous gear and protected him far better. It was a warm morning when they set out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. They made quite a sight the seven of them, Marion, Luke, Tom, and the four women that were “suppose” to be Luke's whores. In that group there was from oldest to youngest: Stella, Pollyanna, Alice, and Gabriel. Stella was the leader of the group being the oldest amount them. Pollyanna was showing signs of wanting to become an engineer like Luke. Alice was showing an interest in medicine, while Gabriel was the sharpshooter and Luke thought that she might make one hell of a sniper. One of the other things that Luke had started teaching them was how to read and write for soldiers needed to know how to read orders and make out reports. It took the group almost half a day to reach York. During their trip they had to hide once to avoid a large patrol that Richard had sent out. Yes, they could have taken the patrol out but it was now far more important for the group to get to York. When they got to the gates Luke had to talk fast to get through. Once through, the group was deeply disturbed by what they found. The town had gone further downhill. The people were now walking skeletons and the streets were full of filth. The soldiers walking around took whatever they pleased including having their way with anything they pleased. Marion actually vomited at the horror that was before her. Still, they had a mission to accomplish. All the ladies were well aware that every soldier had their eyes on them. Many of the soldiers whipped out their cocks and waved them at the women. Marion actually snickered at some at the tiny cocks that were being waved at her, for Luke's was far bigger. At least she was still feeling good enough to snicker. Finally, the group reached the castle. Luke told the guard who he was and they let him in. They easily remembered him. Once in the group was in for another surprise, especially Tom, for Richard was in the middle of an orgy and Tom's daughters were in it. Luke had to act fast to keep the group under control for Tom was furious and Luke's “whores” were about to gut Richard where he was. Problem was that there were too many of Richard's loyal men in the room and they wouldn't have made it out, even with their skills. They had to release the men loyal to Marion first, that is if any of them were left. First thing that Luke had to do was to make his report. Richard wasn't happy that he was being interrupted mid orgy but he did stop long enough to listen. “I am sorry Milord, but we traveled all the way to London and did not find a trace of William. We heard some rumors of him but we could not find him.” “Well, you may go now, but I shall want to talk to you more later about this matter.” “Yes Milord.” Luke turned around and got the hell out of there and made his way back to his chamber. Once there, he found Tom puking his guts out, Stella was trying to comfort him. The ladies were white as ghost, seeing the fate that so far, they had avoided. Marion was the worst one, of the group, for not only was she puking but she was crying her eyes out. She had known some of the women that she had seen in the orgy. That is even if you could call the women people anymore. Luke knew that they had to move fast for he figured that it wouldn't be long before Richard came for “his” women as well. Within an hour Luke got a message that Richard wanted to see him immediately so Luke put the rest of the group on alert and he left to meet with Richard. “Ah Hildyard, Good to see you.” “It is good to be seen, sir.” “So, you found no sign of my son or his men?” “No Milord and we traveled all the way to London. If they had been there, we found no signs of them. We came back a different route and still found no signs of them.” “Now tell me about the whores that came in with you.” “Well, traveling fast does tend to make any fat disappear and they travel faster when they are healthy.” “By my count, you left with four, but I could have sworn that I see you come back with five.” “The fifth one is my intended, sir. I also must report the loss of one of my men. We were ambushed on the road. Tom and I had to fight hard to get out. By the time we did, there was no sign of Michael. We think that the bandits took him for we searched afterwards and found only some of his gear.” “So you couldn't find my son and you lost one of my men in the process; Hildyard, if you disappoint me anymore then I will take back the whores and might even have to take your intended. Do I make myself clear?” “Yes, Milord.” “Good, now get the fuck out of my sight.” To be continued in part 4, Based on a post by somethin fishy, for Sex Stories.

Celia Dale! Bernice Rubens! Stupidity! Welcome to episode 142 of Tea or Books? In the first half of the episode, we ask if we can like characters in novels who make stupid decisions. In the second half, we compare Other People

Dani Vee and Sherryl Clark chat about the rise of the verse novel, how to write one and her brand new book The Only Branch on the Family Tree.

Luke's HAARP Time Warp: Part 2 The journey continues... Based on a post by somethin fishy, in 15 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 6. Luke had been off gathering food and firewood while waiting on Cecilia to get her lazy ass out of bed. It was getting to the point where he was going to break his promise and leave her sorry ass. She was lazy, incompetent, and greedy. Basically, all the traits that any American would think of when they heard the word; aristocracy. Marion on the other hand didn't share any of those traits and she was very intelligent to boot, but she had cracked and ran off when Luke had told her his darkest secret. This had saddened him deeply but then again; he was use to that in his life. Anytime something good happened to him, that good thing would then be ripped away again. Looking up while he was working on breaking up a branch, he saw a young man on a horse approach the camp carefully. As Luke watched the young man, he carefully looked through the camp as though he knew what he was looking for. Then apparently not finding it, the man retreated and took up a good hiding spot from which he could watch the camp without being seen. Luke was now on full alert. He started working his way around the stranger's hiding spot until Luke had got behind him. Luke might be a big man but he could still move through the woods like a ghost. As he came up behind the stranger, something about his clothes looked vaguely familiar to Luke, but Luke didn't have much time left because Cecilia was now starting to stir. Luke got up right behind the stranger and clamped his hand over the stranger's mouth. The stranger instantly began to fight back hard. It was all Luke could do to keep the stranger under control. During the struggle, the stranger's hat fell off, revealing long golden blond hair. Whoever this stranger was, they were strong and determined. Eventually the stranger was able to get turned around to where they were facing Luke, then all of the sudden they both stopped struggling. The stranger looked up at Luke's face revealing a pair of beautiful sapphire blue eyes. The stranger, Luke realized was none other than Marion and he let go. She then smacked him hard across his face. He was surprised that it actually stung pretty bad. What happened next stunned him even more. Marion jumped up, wrapped her legs around his waist, knocked him on his back, and kissed him just as fiercely as she had fought. Marion felt like her heart was about to burst, she had her lips on her man's lips again and this time around she wasn't going to let go. To make it better, she had knocked him over, so she was on top of him. Her hips began to move on their own as she started to grind her pussy against Luke. Between the kissing and the humping, Luke was now getting really fucking horny. After all, why not. Here was the most beautiful woman, that he had ever laid eyes on, on top of him and grinding her tight pussy against his stomach. Luke's eight-inch cock was now fully and painfully erect. Marion had moved one of her hands down and was starting to fiddle with the strings that held his pants up. Normally Luke would have been able to stop her, but between her delicious kisses and her beautiful body moving around on top of him; not very much blood was getting to his brain. Eventually, Marion got her hand into Luke's pants, where she got the surprise of her lifetime. Luke Was Huge! Marion felt like she had just grabbed hold of a horse. But of course, the feel of Luke's huge, hot cock in her hand stopped most of the blood from getting to her brain as well and her body felt like it was on full autopilot. The heat she felt increased drastically when Luke started moving his hands over her tits. When she touched her tits it had been pleasurable, but when Luke did it however, Marion lost all ability to reason. While his hands were big enough to completely cover her entire tits, he was extremely gentle with them. This went against everything she had ever been told by other women; in that when a man got ahold of tits, he almost always got very aggressive and that she should expect bruises afterwards. Marion now felt hotter than she had ever been before and started to rip her shirt off. Luke carefully helped her pull her shirt over her head. With her tits now exposed, Luke raised his head and started to kiss Marion's tits. He carefully circled each one with kisses while purposely avoiding her nipples. This was driving Marion mad for she really wanted Luke to suck on her nipples. Finally, she had enough of Luke's tease and grabbing his head put one of her nipples in his mouth. He got the hint and began to suckle on her. Marion started to feel extremely light headed as Luke continued his sucking. While he was sucking on one nipple, his giant hand was caressing and gently pinching the other one. Marion was now entering a state of ecstasy that she didn't know existed. When she had first started, she had expected Luke to quickly work at getting her pants off, but that's not even close to what Luke did. He didn't even try to push her, he just let her continue forward at her own pace. Luke had never liked to push the women that he slept with. He much preferred to let the woman set the pace. This actually annoyed many of the woman that he had been with, in his old life. Somehow, they all viewed this as weak on his part while never understanding the great amount of restraint that was required of him not to just stove his thick cock deep inside them. Luke had found that being well endowed was as much curse as blessing. Other guys were jealous of him while the gals seemed to fear him. That was always why he let the gal take the lead. He didn't want to hurt them. Here finally though, was a woman that didn't mind taking the lead. Kind of ironic really that Luke had to travel almost a thousand years into the past to find her. As Marion started to work her pants off, cursing them the whole time because if she had been wearing her dress, she would have already had Luke inside of her, she heard Cecilia calling for Luke. “Damn her anyway” scowled Marion “I swear every time things get interesting; she has to show up.” Looking at Luke, she could tell that he felt the same way. Luke was quietly laughing to himself, “So I'm guessing that I've been forgiven?” “How can a man from the future still be so dense, of course I've forgiven you. Now if I can only forgive myself be behaving like a bloody idiot.” “Nice contraction use, by the way.” “What can I say? Any time I get around you, your way of speaking speaks to me. On a different thought about being around me, you might want to hide for a minute or two until our friend here calms down a bit.” Luke smiled at her: “What can I say? There's something about having a goddess grinding her body against me that gets me all excited.” Marion lightly swatted him and giggled quietly. She had to be quiet because Cecilia wasn't more than ten paces away. Fortunately for the lovebirds, there was enough of a breeze to cover up their sounds. The two smiled at each other. Eventually, Cecilia moved back to the campsite. After she had moved away, Marion got up and having a naughty idea, turned her ass toward Luke's face, bent over at her waist, and reached down to retie his pants. The site of Marion bent over like that was driving Luke nuts, and his friend was showing that he didn't want to be contained. Marion leaned other over and whispered to Luke's cock: “Don't you worry, friend; I'll make sure to take very good care of you later.” Marion then retied Luke's pants and stood back up, making sure to flip her hair as she did. When she looked back at Luke, the look on his face was priceless. Marion knew that she now had Luke and nothing the Cecilia could do, short of killing her, could change that. This thought caused Marion to smile warmly at Luke as she moved to get her shirt that Luke had thrown off. After Marion had made herself presentable, she looked back at Luke and his cock was now behaving for the most part. This was good news for neither Marion or Luke were ready to reveal her return to Cecilia just yet. Finally, Luke stood up, gave Marion a quick kiss, moved back around to where he had left the firewood that he was gathering, picked it up, and returned to camp. Chapter 7. When Luke finally returned to camp, Cecilia gave him an earful about being late. The problem for Cecilia now was that Luke didn't give a shit about her. “What the hell are you bitching about this time, Cecilia. I am not the one who sleeps half the morning away. After all it has been light for three hours and you are just now waking up.” Cecilia was taken back. This was the first time that Luke had forcefully stood up to her. She would now have to take drastic action. She walked up to him and slapped him as hard as she could. “Don't you ever talk back to me; peasant!” she snapped. She then moved to slap him again. As her hand started to come up, something stopped her hand. Now very pissed, Cecilia turned to see what had stopped her. She was stunned to see Marion standing there. “Lay another hand on my man again and I will kill you” Marion stated calmly. “I don't care that you are my sister or that you have more support among the guards back home.” “Your man? Ha. You must be joking?” However, looking into Marion's face told Cecilia that she wasn't joking at all. “Like he would actually want to be with someone as dumb as you.” Marion's expression still hadn't changed so Cecilia spun around to look at Luke and caught him smiling. “What are you so happy about.” “Oh, just enjoying the sight of my girlfriend ripping you a new one.” “What!” Cecilia shrieked “How could you? Why would you? I am the one who you need to be with. After all she ran away.” “I will make this easy for you to understand, Cecilia. Marion is a delight to be around, while you are a pain in my ass. Marion always asks intelligent questions and provides stimulating conversation; while with you, well let's just say that I have had better conversations with corpses. She is very willing to learn and equally willing to admit when she made a mistake; you on the other hand seem to have no interest in learning and are not willing to admit that you could make a mistake never mind that you did. And finally, while I do admit that you are a beautiful woman, Marion is a goddess. Also, your beauty is only skin deep while hers goes all the way to her bones. Do not think for an instant that I have no idea of what you were planning to do once I got you home. I have known since you started trying to seduce me that you would do everything possible to force me into telling you everything that you wanted to know even though you are not capable of handling the information that I have access to” Said Luke with a smug grin. Cecilia just stood there stunned. Nobody had ever talked back to her before and now here were two people that not only talked back to her, but one of them was her younger sister and the other one Cecilia just classified as a large but dumb peasant. Apparently, he wasn't as dumb as Cecilia thought, but that didn't matter. What neither Luke or Marion knew was that Cecilia was actually very good with a knife and that she had helped set up the ambush with William. She had wanted her father, John, and especially Marion killed so that she could rule alone over her family's land. Granted she would have to marry William, but she had planned to arrange for William's father to die of an accident shortly after the wedding. Then within a year, kill William in some way so that she would control both family's lands. Now the entire plan had come completely unraveled. William was dead and Marion was alive. Furthermore, Marion had managed to gain the favor of the man that had “rescued” them from the ambush and now she had even won him over completely. Cecilia knew that it was too early to try and kill them for they would be expecting her to try something so she just backed down from the argument that they had been having. Just to rub salt into Cecilia's wounds, Marion went over and stood next to Luke who then put his arm around Marion. Cecilia would know have to be very careful indeed. Cecilia stomped back to the carriage and sat down. Luke went to tend the fire, and Marion went to get her horse. After Marion got back, she went up to Luke and kissed him. This made Cecilia fume even more, for her life long campaign to keep Marion subdued and meek was also coming undone. Marion was quickly gaining self-confidence and strength and if Cecilia didn't do something quickly, she wouldn't have any chance at all of getting Luke to cooperate; even under torture. After Marion got done making out with Luke, she whispered to him “We need to talk alone and quickly.” Luke nodded his agreement for he figured what Marion needed to talk about after all a blind idiot could have figured it out just from feeling the tension between Marion and Cecilia. After Luke had finished making breakfast and everyone had eaten, the three of them got back on the road. Cecilia drove the carriage while Luke and Marion rode their own mounts. Luke had also put all his gear on one of the spare horses. He covered it with some cloth to hide it, and while it was weird looking at least nobody would see his modern gear. By late afternoon the group was at the gates of Nottingham. Luke intended to stop here and sell all the extra stuff. Marion fully agreed with this for it would be much easier traveling without the carriage. To their surprise, Cecilia also agreed for she had enough of ridding in that damn thing and the roads would get worse the closer they got to York. She still had to get home before she could make her move. When they first got into town, Luke insisted that before they sell anything that the three of them explore the town to find out what all goods and services were available. Doing that took the rest of the day. Finally, they agreed on an inn that was reasonably priced and had decent food. They had rented two rooms, and after eating, decided to retire for the evening. It had been a very long day. Included in the room price was a small bundle of firewood and a set of blankets. Luke took all his gear up into his room after all this stuff was irreplaceable and held immeasurable amounts of knowledge. He started a fire and then checked out the room looking for listening holes or false walls before revealing his modern gear. After a bad experience with a high school girlfriend, Luke always thoroughly checked out every new room that he slept in. Looking at the bed, Luke decided that he would more likely be more comfortable on the floor so he set up his mattress pad and sleeping bag. Before he laid down, he stripped. This was the first time that he had been completely naked since before he had left home on his hunting trip and it felt so good to finally be without clothes, especially those itchy medieval things. To wind down, Luke fired up his computer to listen to some music and look at some pictures of his family. He made sure that he had his earbuds secure so that no one else would hear the music. Finally, he started getting tired and put his computer away. Just as he was shutting his eyes, there was a soft knock at the door. Cecilia and Marion had taken the larger of the two rooms since there were two separate beds in it. The atmosphere in the room was colder than the artic in midwinter. Neither woman wanted anything to do with the other one. Cecilia made sure to try both beds and took the most comfortable one. ‘Let that bitch figure out her proper place in the world' was Cecilia's thinking. Marion laid down on the other bed and tried to go to sleep but she was restless. She didn't trust Cecilia at all and wouldn't put it past her to take a knife across her throat during the night. Marion finally noticed that Cecilia was asleep. As quietly as she could, she climbed out of bed and left the room, closing the door softly. She quickly went to Luke's door and after breathing in a deep breath and saying a quick prayer that he was still awake knocked on the door. Chapter 8. Luke hurried up and threw his pants back on to get the door. Quietly opening the door, he carefully stuck his head out around the door. Standing there was Marion. Luke quickly finished opening the door for her and she came in. “What's the matter sweetheart, can't you sleep?” “Not in the same room as my sister. She is really starting to make me nervous. I'm actually worried that she would stick me, with a knife, while I slept. I was kind of hoping that there would be some room with you.” With that she gave Luke some of the saddest puppy eyes imaginable. Luke just smiled and put his arms around her. He gently led her to where he was sleeping. “Why are you sleeping on the floor, Luke?” “An old injury that I got years ago makes it hard for me to sleep on soft beds. By having a harder surface to lay on, it takes the pressure off and I can sleep.” “Oh, I'm sorry.” “That's okay. After all you didn't know.” “Wow, contractions really do make speaking faster and easier.” “Yep” With that, Luke dropped his pants again. There was just enough light coming from the dying fire for Marion to see that Luke was now naked. She suddenly wasn't tired at all but now had a fire burning, in her loins that was hotter than a smithy's furnace. She quickly stripped off the gown that she had on and got under the covers with Luke. Feeling her skin, Luke figured out that Marion was naked too and what she had in mind. “Are you...” was as far as he got before a pair of plump lips sealed off his mouth. He certainly wasn't going to argue any further after all; as the saying goes “His mama didn't raise no fool.” Marion used one of her hands to reach down and grab Luke's cock. This time at least she wasn't surprised by its size. Luke broke her kiss and using both of his hands, held her face. “Sweetheart, is this your first time?” “Yes” Marion squeaked fearfully. “Then why are you rushing. Let's slow down a bit so you can savor your first time. Plus, I don't want to hurt you.” Marion shed a tear and Luke kissed it off her face. At that point she knew that Luke was truly in love with her and that she had nothing to fear from him. What followed was the most intense time of her life. Luke started by kissing her neck. Just his kisses on her neck caused her to have mini orgasms. He then moved slowly down to her tits. He moved in circles around each one smothering them in kisses, but not touching her nipples and when she tried to move a nipple into his mouth, he just pinned her down. Finally, mercifully Luke started moving further south; still without touching her nipples. He kissed his way down her stomach and when he got to her navel she started giggling. She had never been ticklish but Luke's kissing her belly button really got to her and she couldn't hold still to save her life. This brought much joy to Luke, who hadn't been with a woman in years. ‘Yep, I still got it' he thought. Luke then moved down each of her legs, avoiding her pussy. By the time he had finished her second leg, Marion wasn't really on Earth anymore. At least not mentally. Luke then spread her legs. ‘Oh god, I'm finally going to become a woman and the man that's going to make me a woman, I couldn't love more' thought Marion. Luke had other plans though. Instead of his cock he started out with his tongue. This completely surprised Marion for she had heard nothing like this ever discussed by the other women in the castle. What Marion then discovered was that there were more layers of pleasure then she ever realized. She could feel Luke's hot breath on her moist skin and could feel the stubble on his face brushing against her. Most of all she could feel his tongue working its way into her slit. When it hit her clit, she took a deep breath and froze. Luke worked his way up and down her slit causing Marion to start involuntarily thrusting her hips. Luke gently held her down and this really drove Marion wild. “you might want to cover your face, with a pillow or something sweetheart, so you don't wake up the whole inn.” Luke said giggling. Luke then continued working Marion's pussy like a fine musical instrument. Up and down her slit he moved. Marion wasn't just leaking nectar anymore; her pussy was now a flash flood zone. Finally, Luke sucked her clit in between his teeth and Marion would have completely jumped off the floor if Luke hadn't been holding her down. She screamed at the top of her lungs, into the pillow, for almost thirty seconds before collapsing. Luke had taken pity on her and stopped tonguing her. He waited until her breathing had become more regular before he started kissing his way back up her body. This time he worked both nipples before moving up to her lips. “What did you do to me? I've never felt anything that good in my life.” “And just think, that wasn't even the main course.” Marion's eyes now shot open as she felt the tip of Luke's cock on her slit and she started moaning softly. He moved the tip up and down her slit a few times to make sure that it had sufficient lubrication on it. The last thing he wanted was to hurt his lover. Being happy with the amount of lube; Luke put the tip right at her entrance and stopped. Marion looked up at him, nodded and smiled. Luke began to gently push into her most delicate and personal area. She was thankful that Luke was going slow because she felt like she was being split open as Luke pushed up into her. Luke stopped again, when he felt her hymen. He gently kissed Marion as he whispered in her ear: “You sure sweetheart?” Marion just nodded again; her throat wouldn't let her speak at the moment. Luke thrust all the rest of the way into her in one stroke and stopped when he had bottomed out. Marion was now crying and Luke was kissing her tears as fast as they formed. Eventually Marion opened her eyes, “I am now all yours to do what you want with.” She would never know why she muttered that line, not for all her years would she ever be able to figure it out. She could have then sworn that she saw Luke's eyes flash fire red, and he got very angry with her. He grabbed her face roughly and held it so that her eyes were locked onto his. What she saw at that moment absolutely terrified her for she had never seen someone so angry. “Now, you listen Marion and you listen to me good” started Luke in a deep growl that sounded more like it was made by a wild animal then a person “You are not mine to do with what I want. You are you. Your body is Yours to share as You please. If we do proceed with a relationship it will be as equals, as partners. Not as master and servant. If we ever do anything you don't like all you have to say is stop and we'll stop.” “But why?” Marion was now more confused than she ever had been before. “Why am I not yours's to do with as you please.” She saw Luke close his eyes, take a deep breath, and when he opened his eyes again, she saw there was nothing but love in them. “Because Marion of York I love you more the life itself. You are not inferior in my mind. The only way I want this relationship to happen is if it's between equals.” Marion started sobbing as she wrapped her arms around Luke's neck. Finally, she was able to mutter the most important words in the world, into his ear. “I love you too, Luke!” With this Marion's pussy took back over, after all Luke's cock was still inside her. Before long Luke was slowly thrusting in and out of her. The sensations that Luke's cock caused made Marion lose her mind. Within a minute she had another orgasm. This one blew away the one that Luke had given her with his tongue and the only thing that kept Marion from screaming her head off was Luke's lips locked onto hers. What followed was one orgasm after another, for Marion. From everything she had ever heard, sex was something that lasted maybe five minutes from start to finish. Of course, everything else that she thought that she knew had already been shattered by this man, why not the amount of time spent engaged in sex as well. Most of the time Luke stayed on top, but he did roll over and swing her on top toward the end. He did this so that he could last longer for Marion. Marion's body quickly figured out what it liked. It not only went up and down, but it went side to side and even moved about in circles while searching for the perfect spot. By this time Marion's brain was barely functioning. Luke then rolled back on top and began thrusting faster and faster. Marion was barely keeping her moaning under control as Luke neared the finish. Then Marion felt Luke's cock swell up even more and she was hit with an earthshattering orgasm that didn't stop until after Luke had shot what felt like gallons of hot sticky cum deep into her. This last orgasm caused Marion to black out completely. Luke fell over on his back next to her, completely drained. Marion's body somehow crawled up and her head rested on Luke's shoulder. Luke managed to get a blanket over them and pass out. Luke woke up the next morning to someone knocking on the door. “Yes, what is it?” he managed to get out. “The cook would like to know what you want for breakfast?” said one of the inn's staff. “Umm, can you give me a little bit so I can finish waking up, then I can take to the cook about breakfast?” “Yes sir.” “Okay then. I will be down in a bit.” Luke gently shook Marion awake. The look on her face was beyond priceless for Luke. She still looked like she was in orbit from last night and her hair was a mess. “Good morning, sweetheart” he said cheerfully. “What a rotten thing to say to someone who doesn't know where they are at.” Groaned Marion Now Luke couldn't resist “Well last time I checked you were, in a room, at an inn in Nottingham, having one mind altering orgasm after another.” This time Marion gave him the stink eye “Gee thanks for that update…Smartass” “Hey it's far better to be a smartass then a dumbass.” Said Luke with a shit eating grin. Now it was Marion's turn to smile. “Come on Marion. It's time for breakfast and I'm starving. Plus, we have a lot to do today. “Fine” said Marion trying her best to sound cross but she couldn't keep the smile off her face. Before long they were both laughing like idiots as they worked towards getting dressed. Luke took a bucket of water and a rag to clean Marion's pussy up a bit, and then she took the rag and cleaned Luke's cock off. When they were both happy, they got dressed and went down to eat. On the way out of the room, Luke made sure that it was locked and then he put one of his hairs carefully in the lock to tell him if anyone tried to get into his room while they were gone. Breakfast was simple, consisting of some bread and veggies. Luke then asked the cook if he could get some eggs made up. The cook looked at him like he was weird but made them anyway after all when the customer is bigger than a horse, it's not a good idea to argue. Luke shared his eggs with Marion and she shared some of her stew with Luke. They both had an ale to wash everything down with. As they were finishing up, Cecilia came down the stairs. When Cecilia saw them, she went to sit at a table in the corner. If looks could kill then Marion would have been dead with the looks that she was getting from her sister, but by this time Marion didn't give a shit about her anymore. Luke paid for their meal and he paid for Cecilia's as well. He wanted to make sure that the innkeeper got the money due them because he knew that Cecilia had a habit of throwing her rank around to get out of paying for things. Marion and Luke went back upstairs and collected their gear. They both looked around both rooms to make sure that they didn't miss anything. Then they locked the doors back up and returned downstairs where they paid for the rooms and returned the keys. Marion walked over to Cecilia and gave her the bag with her stuff in it. “Whenever you finish, Luke and I will be selling the extra stuff. You can come and find us.” With that Marion walked off without giving Cecilia a chance to say anything. The innkeeper of course knew what was going on because Marion had told him. Luke and Marion went outside and got the horses and carriage from the stable. The first stop was an armorer down the street. There after much bargaining, Luke managed to sell all the extra swords and knives they had. He also sold all the armor. None of it fit either of them so why keep it. The next stop was a cloth maker to sell the extra clothing that they had. This time Luke bought a new outfit for himself, one that actually fit somewhat comfortably, and so they went through the town. After they hit a dead end with the carriage, Luke had an idea. They broke the carriage down into its pieces and sold the pieces. They actually made much more money doing this then they would have made by selling it in one piece. “What made you think of that Luke?” Marion asked him after they had finished. “Back in my time, a lot of vehicles were sold that way. You would sell all the usable parts off then scrap everything else. Here we didn't have to scrap anything, lucky for us” Luke whispered back. The last stop was to sell the extra horses. They only really needed three, but decided to keep an extra two just in case and as pack animals. As Marion and Luke were coming out of the stables, Cecilia finally caught up with them. To say that she was pissed was an understatement. It was now late afternoon and she had been going all over town looking for Luke and Marion. She couldn't wait until she could get rid of Marion and get revenge on Luke. One plus side of her wondering the town was that she had met some old friends. After some short negotiations, Cecilia had another ambush set up. This time she made sure to warn them about Luke. The ambush would take place outside of town so that it looked random. As Cecilia came up to them, Marion told her that they would be leaving immediately since they had gotten everything sold. This threw a wrench into Cecilia's plans however. She had figured that they wouldn't leave until tomorrow. She had to delay them. “Are you sure, I mean there are reports of bandits out there?” “What, you scared sis?” teased Marion. Cecilia noticed that Marion was now carrying herself taller and she now wore a short sword and knife at her waist. “Where did you get those?” asked Cecilia pointing at Marion's sword and knife. “Luke got them for me, from the armorer. He actually knows a lot about swords and knives.” Cecilia just looked at Luke. “Yep, guilty as charged. I use to make swords and knives when I was younger and I still make an occasional knife when I can get the chance.” From the looks that Marion was giving Luke, Cecilia was sure that they had sex the night before. “So, I guess that you finally started whoring yourself out, Marion. It was only a matter...” Smack! That was as far as Cecilia got before Marion knocked her to the ground. “You call Marion a whore again and you will be eating all your teeth” growled Luke with fire in his eyes. Cecilia sat on the ground more afraid than she had ever been because at the moment Luke didn't look like a human, no, he looked like one of the Titans from Greek mythology that had come to life. Luke hunched back on his heals slightly and Cecilia actually peed herself because she was so scared. Many predators hunched back slightly before attacking and Cecilia was truly terrified of Luke attacking her with the anger that was still in his eyes. Marion patted Luke on his arm and the fire disappeared, from his eyes, and he relaxed. “Come on Luke, we need to get going.” Chapter 9. The three of them left town that afternoon. Marion was no longer afraid of bandits. Not with her new side arms and boyfriend. Now it was Cecilia who was terrified. She was still unarmed and worse still she had managed to thoroughly piss off Luke. After all this was a man that she had seen snap another man's neck and elbow without breaking a sweat. To make matters worse for Cecilia, she had to watch as Luke picked Marion up and gently put her on her horse. He did this without struggling a bit. This was something that Cecilia had never seen before. She had never seen someone so strong and yet so caring and she was extremely jealous of Marion's relationship with Luke. The whole way Cecilia was hanging behind, trying to slow Luke and Marion down, but they barely slowed down at all. Cecilia could see them talking and laughing, but she couldn't hear from where she was at, and if she caught up so that she could hear then she wouldn't be able to slow them down. After almost five miles, the trio came across a stream with a meadow next to it and with the sun setting Luke decided that this was a good spot to stop for the night. Cecilia was glad for she was exhausted. It really irritated her to see Marion still full of energy. Luke of course never seemed to run out. Marion started on the camp site while Luke caught some fish for supper after gathering firewood. Cecilia managed to take care of the horses. She didn't tie the knots as good as they should have been, for she hoped that the horses would bolt during the night. She sat near the fire as Luke and Marion prepared dinner. Along with dinner, Marion was boiling the water for their canteens. After dinner, which was actually really good Cecilia had to admit to herself; she would never admit it publicly. Marion walked over to the horses. She had seen Cecilia tie the bad knots while she was setting up camp and wanted to fix them before bed. When she got back, she and Luke gave Cecilia an evil look which sent chills up and down Cecilia's spine. She now knew that she wouldn't be able to do anything else to slow them down. She got another surprise at bedtime; they were not going to be sleeping in the tent. Instead, all the gear went into the tent and Marion had the bedrolls set up outside. The final surprise came when Marion and Luke settled down under the same blanket. Luke was behind her with his arms around her. She was using one of his arms as a pillow and Marion passed out quickly. Cecilia watched for a chance to kill Marion, but Luke stayed alert all night. All he ever did was doze off and the slightest sound would cause him to wake up. To make matters worse for Cecilia, Luke had his handgun under one of his hands ready for him to grab at all times. Cecilia didn't know what that devil device was but she did know what it could do. Eventually she gave up and fell asleep. The next morning, Luke was up with the sunrise as usual and Marion got up with him. They got the fire going and tore the tent down and hide it away. By now they had the routine down pat. This morning though was already a warm one and both of them had been sweating all night. Luke took Marion down to a pool in the stream and they stripped down. At first Marion thought that she was going to get laid again. Then when they were both naked, Luke picked her up and threw her in the stream. “Damn it, you bastard! It's fucking cold in here” Marion cried out standing up. The water was up to the bottom of her tits. Luke just laughed as he jumped in and further drenched Marion with water. The two of them cleaned each other making sure that every nook and cranny was clean. They splashed each other and had a lot of fun. Luke made sure that Marion's hair was washed out and that her pussy was thoroughly cleaned. Marion made sure that Luke's cock and balls were clean enough to eat off of. Eventually they got out of the water and dried themselves off on a blanket that Luke had brought along, just for that purpose. They then put clean clothes on and went back to camp. There Cecilia was still sleeping so Marion walked over to her and woke her up with water to the face. “Hey time to get up!” barked Marion. Luke just stood back and laughed. Marion was starting to sound like some of his drill instructors. This time Luke fixed breakfast for everyone. Cecilia had bags under her eyes; she really hated mornings. By the time breakfast had been eaten, Cecilia was beginning to function and she had some questions for Marion as they were finishing packing. “Hey Marion, I got a question for you. When you woke me up, why were all wet?” “Oh, Luke and I took a bath in the stream.” “Why people will think that you're a Jew or something?” “Luke said that he felt really grimy and that he couldn't stand his smell anymore. I thought that we were going down by the stream for of loving but when I was naked, he picked me up and threw me in. He jumped in after me and we made sure that each other was really clean.” “If Luke said that he needed a bath then why were you surprised to be thrown in the water?” “Because he didn't tell me that until after he had thrown me in.” Cecilia actually had to laugh. She couldn't help it for it was too damn funny. It served Marion right for stealing Luke from her. Marion was beat red from embarrassment. This wasn't helped when Luke came up behind her and gave her a big sloppy kiss. Marion started to laugh as she leaned back into Luke and wrapped his arms around her. She had never been this happy before. This display of affection wiped the smile right of Cecilia's face. Finally, Luke announced that it was time to go. The three mounted up and resumed their travels. As they went along, Cecilia kept her eyes peeled. She was looking for the prearranged signs that the ambush was ahead. To her dismay she didn't see one, however about noon, Luke stiffened up, suddenly stopped, and pulled his horse off to the side of the road. He just made it look like he had to take a leak. After he was done, he motioned for Marion and Cecilia to join him. “There's an ambush about fifty paces ahead.” “How could you possibly know that?” asked Cecilia. This probably wasn't her ambush but one ambush was as good as another as far as she was concerned. “Because I saw a glint in the brush near the road. The same place that I would set an ambush.” “You sound like you have experience with ambushes” Marion said. “I do” stated Luke in a hard flat tone that said the discussion was over. “So, what are we going to do?” asked Marion. “Simple, I'm going to ambush the ambushers.” “How?” Marion was almost crying now. “Just stay here and watch.” And with that, Luke pulled his handgun and knife out and disappeared into the forest. Within minutes, shots rang out up ahead and the ladies heard several screams. Marion looked like a ghost and even Cecilia had lost some color. Then everything was quiet. Both ladies were nervous; Marion for her lover and Cecilia because she wanted his knowledge. “Miss me?” Luke said causing both ladies to almost jump out of their clothes. “Damn it Luke” screamed Marion “Don't do that to me ever again!” “What's that?” now Luke was feeling mischievous. “I was so scared that you would be killed.” Said Marion so quietly that Cecilia could barely hear her. Luke just snorted. “Me killed by those idiots.” Snorted Luke “Not likely. Come on ladies, we got some bodies to loot.” Luke and Marion grabbed the horses and lead them to where the ambush had been. There was fifteen men laying on the ground. “We're not going to worry about burying them. There's a nice dip in the ground back there” Luke pointed behind him “That we can dump the bodies into.” The three of them quickly gathered all the gear that they could use. Luke of course policed his brass. They even found some more horses to carry the loot. Part of the loot was a large bag of money and some really nice swords. Marion recognized the crest on one of the swords as one that belonged to a very wealthy family that lived a couple of days ride from her own home. It was only the work of an hour or so to get all the new loot and get it stored for travel. As they were getting to leave, Marion heard more horses coming, and the three of them hid in the brush. Cecilia immediately recognized the men that went by, for they were the ones that she had hired. After they had went by Luke stood up. “Come on ladies, let's get the fuck out of here.” The three of them mounted back up and continued on their journey. It was obvious that Luke was now on high alert for anymore ambushes. Fortunately, they didn't see anything the rest of the day. Problem was that they hadn't come across any good places to stay for the night. To Luke this wasn't a problem; they would push on through the night. They had light cloud cover and a particle moon. “Hey Marion, how close are we, do you figure?” Marion purged her lips as she figured, “probably four or five days. Why?” “Okay, here is what we are going to do. I didn't like the look of those guys that past by us earlier, and it's too easy to ambush people in the forest so we are going to push on through the night.” “But how about our sleep?” whined Cecilia “Tired is just temporary, dead is permanent. We push on through the night, but if you want to stop for the night go ahead but I'm going to keep going.” “Marion are you going to stop?” asked Cecilia “Nope. I'm staying with Luke. I almost lost him once and I'm not going to make the same mistake twice.” Now Cecilia was worried. They would probably go right past her ambush during the night and her guys wouldn't see them because no one ever traveled at night. Chapter 10. Marion readies her attack. The three of them pushed on through the night, just as Luke had said. By the next morning, Cecilia was almost asleep in the saddle and Marion wasn't too far behind her. Even Luke was getting tired but he was used to it. When jetting all over the world ever week, you get use to not sleeping or grabbing cat naps whenever possible. They didn't even stop to make breakfast. Today, breakfast was whatever was in the saddlebags that could be eaten cold. During the night, Luke had come up to a fork in the road and had decided to make a slight detour to Lincoln to sell the loot gathered from the ambushers. The ladies didn't even notice the fork for they were both dozing off. Marion was the first one to realize that they were not on the road to York. “Of course, not” replied Luke “We're on the road to Lincoln. I want to sell all the extra loot we got and get some comfortable sleep.” Both ladies agreed if only so that they could get some good sleep. Luke was quietly amazed; he actually got those two to agree on something. He still didn't trust Cecilia any and probably never would. It was midafternoon before the trio got to Lincoln. It took them a couple of hours to sell the extra gear. While they had been going around selling the gear, they had found a good inn to stay at. Problem was that they were only able to rent one room. ‘Oh well' thought Luke. They finished selling the stuff and got back to the inn; they were glad that they had rented the room earlier for the inn was now packed. After a quick dinner, the three of them went to the room and settled in. Luke of course checked out the room. Cecilia was now curious: “What are you doing?” “Looking for hidden rooms or listening holes. I had a bad experience one time and ever since I always check out new rooms. Once in a while I actually do find hidden rooms or listening holes.” “Oh” “It's far better to be safe than sorry.” Finding none, Luke started to settle down. Marion had already gotten their bedroll out. Cecilia was actually amazed that she didn't have to fight for the bed. She soon figured out why for Luke laid down with Marion. Before long clothes were flying out from under their blankets. Cecilia couldn't believe it; Luke and Marion were going to go at it right in front of her. Marion had just laid down and curled up under the covers. She so enjoyed the feeling of Luke's bedding on her skin that she almost fell asleep immediately. She moaned slightly when she felt Luke lay down with her. Before long she was getting warm and not just from Luke's body heat. Her hands started to move by themselves and soon locked onto Luke's manhood. Luke wasn't sure if they should do anything with Cecilia in the room but the feeling of Marion's hands gently tugging on his cock settled that issue for him; to hell with Cecilia. His hands started to roam Marion's body, their lips locked, and Marion moaned into his mouth. Their hands started tearing at each other's clothing and they couldn't get naked fast enough. Clothes flew out from under the covers for they didn't want some clothes to get in their way. By the time she was naked, Marion's pussy was gushing like the Amazon during the rainy season and Luke was hard enough that he probably could had smashed granite. Marion pushed on Luke's shoulders, signaling that she wanted to start out on top. This was just fine with Luke. Marion impaled herself completely in one shot and started to ride him like he was a rodeo bull. Problem was that, in her haste, she had forgotten about her moaning, and by the time she started getting loud, about five seconds after bottoming out, she didn't give a fuck anymore. She then became determined to give the inn some good vocal entertainment and announce, to the world, that Luke was hers. As Luke caught up to her, she was singing like an opera singer from a much later time, but she didn't know that and didn't care. Luke was again making her feel amazing. An added bonus for her was that Cecilia was in the room with them and Marion wasn't about to waste this opportunity to show off what she and Luke could do together. Within minutes of impaling herself, Marion was cumming by the bucket loads. Meanwhile Luke hadn't been quiet either and with Marion's juices coating his balls he didn't care. He was pounding away at Marion's beautiful body from below and after she exploded, Luke flipped them over so that he was on top. It was time for him to show off a bit. He took Marion's feet and put them on his shoulders. In this way he could bend Marion in half and drive deep into her. Just as he knew it would, this position caused Marion to start screaming at the top of her lungs. The biggest problem that Marion was having was being able to even form words. While Luke and Marion were fucking, Cecilia at first was disgusted with her little sister. After all, what god fearing woman would want to see her unmarried sister getting laid, never mind that Cecilia was no slouch in the getting laid department. As Marion was having her second orgasm however, Cecilia started to have strange feelings; she was getting wet between her legs, her pussy was getting hot, and her nipples were hard as rock. She couldn't believe that she was getting aroused at the sight of her little sister getting the stuffing pounded out of her. Then Luke had rolled over and Cecilia got her first glimpse of Luke's manhood. The sight took her breath away. It looked like Marion was getting fucked by a horse! ‘How the hell did she even get that… that… that thing inside her?' thought Cecilia as her hands started rubbing her tits and pussy. Not getting the feeling that she was after; Cecilia flipped her nightgown up so that she could get unblocked access to her pussy. Cecilia saw Marion look at her and she was wasn't surprised to see Marion's eyes were completely glazed over and her jaw slack. As Luke pounded Marion; Cecilia matched his pace with her hand and quickly had a powerful orgasm of her own. As she recovered, she was amazed to see that Luke was still pounding Marion, only now the two of them were on their sides; facing Cecilia. Cecilia got to watch as Luke's giant hands roamed all over Marion's body, and Marion's hands disparately trying to get a hold of anything so that she could maintain some connection with Planet Earth for she was now having almost continuous orgasms. Marion's tits were bouncing in prefect sync with Luke's thrusting. Cecilia figured that Marion wouldn't be able to speak in the morning and that she herself would probably be hard of hearing. Finally, Luke rolled Marion back on her back, this time in the traditional missionary position, was now making full thrust, deep into Marion. She had recovered just enough so that she could kiss Luke as he thrust and could even urge him to fill her up. Of course, she paid no attention to how loud she was yelling but neither of them cared by this point, and for that matter neither did Cecilia for she was now having almost constant orgasms from fingering herself while smelling, watching, and listening to Marion and Luke. Marion knew that Luke was getting close when she felt his cock swell up even more. It got hotter still and his veins popped and gave Marion extra sensation. Then it happened, Luke exploded. Eight giant shots of hot cum were unloaded into Marion's pussy and this caused Marion to again cum so hard that she blacked out. As Luke gently pulled out of Marion, a mix of cum came flooding out of her pussy and all over their bedding. Just like their first time, Luke rolled over so that he was on his back, Marion crawled up, and put her head on his shoulder and a leg over one of his. Luke somehow managed to find a cover and pulling it over them fell asleep. This was actually Cecilia's best chance to kill Marion, but like the two love birds she too had passed out. To be continued in part 3, Based on a post by somethin fishy, for Sex Stories.

645. Part 2 of our interview with David Ballantyne about post Civil-War Reconstruction of the Red River Valley. He has given the history on the area in his book, Fractured Freedoms: Reconstruction in Central Louisiana. “Fractured Freedoms is a riveting history of central Louisiana from the 1860s to the 1890s, focusing on majority-Black Rapides Parish during Reconstruction. Using the region as a case study, Ballantyne reveals what is, in part, a rural Reconstruction success story, emphasizing the resilience of Black politics and the persistence of significant divisions among white residents that allowed the Republican Party to gain and maintain power there. It was only with the collapse of state-level Republican power in 1877 that Democratic forces in the parish were able to dismantle local Republican political control and gradually constrict Black freedoms" (LSU Press). Now available: Liberty in Louisiana: A Comedy. The oldest play about Louisiana, author James Workman wrote it as a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Now it is back in print for the first time in 221 years. Order your copy today! This week in the Louisiana Anthology. Rebecca van Laer, "First Date."    She orders oysters, of course I don't know how to do this, to slip a three-pronged fork under the white flesh of some mollusk and wiggle soft globes of muscle from the black mass of shell, the lemongrass broth the dense gem swims in —     how to pop it out and into my mouth and then suck, savor the dense slip of it, then again: a sequence of teasing, eating, repeating, and this is only    our appetizer. I'm gulping My glass of pinot grigio, wet fingerprints along the stem because I can't pronounce the name of a single entrée, meet her eyes across a candelabra with the weight     of a fresco above her head, ridiculous cherubs entreating with their fat blue eyes. Beside, the dark drapes and the billowing shapes of tablecloths curtain off any eaves this conversation could fade into, so it's spotlight     perspective, precarious. She's tongue tumbling into me, an outpouring of asks until I spill sauce, a thin line of it down the buttons on my blouse — she dabs     at me with her burgundy napkin, freshly dampened for the task. I shut my eyes and feel the whirl of the room, the orangey angels and her dry palms pressed against my chest, wonder if I'll open up full-mouthed and mind-tied.   This week in Louisiana history. September 27, 1902. N.O. streetcar employees strike for 8-hr days and 25 cent per hr. minimum wage. This week in New Orleans history. The historic Saenger Theater reopened for the first time since Hurriane Katrina on September 27, 2013 with three performances by comedian Jerry Seinfeld; one on September 27 and two on September 28. The opening gala would be held October 3-6. This week in Louisiana. La Fête des Vieux Temps OCT 03 - 05, 2025 Friday 6PM Saturday 10AM Sunday 9AM 4484 Hwy 1, Raceland, LA. 70394 985-637-2166 Called the "Festival of Old Times" this event features a celebration of music, dancing, Cajun food, and arts & crafts show. This long standing event is a local favorite and showcases the true authentic Cajun culture of Lafourche Parish. Postcards from Louisiana. Royal Street Band. Listen on Apple Podcasts. Listen on audible. Listen on Spotify. Listen on TuneIn. Listen on iHeartRadio. The Louisiana Anthology Home Page. Like us on Facebook. 

This week, Richard Sennett delivers a powerful warning to universities to defend their freedom; and Helena Kelly on the revolutionary world that shaped Jane Austen.'The Worlds of Jane Austen: The Influence and Inspiration Behind the Novels', by Helena KellyProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thank you for choosing Star Wars Alliance for all of your Star Wars News and Reviews.Star Wars Alliance Hotline: 1(830) 538-4828 Send us a text or call and leave a voicemail with your Star Wars Questions, feedback on the podcast, and reactions to the latest Star Wars TV shows, movies, comics, and Novels!You can always send us an email!Starwrsalliance@gmail.comFollow us on BlueSky or Instagram!  •Star Wars Alliance- @starwrsalliance •Katie- @sliceofkatie •Clay- @FanboyClay Geek Ultimate Alliance Network Is Produced By GeekVerse PodcastNetwork Schedule:  Monday: Rangers Alliance Tuesday: A Walk Through the Multiverse (Bi-Weekly) Wednesday: The Animation Nation Thursday: Star Wars Alliance Friday: Marvel Alliance Saturday: DC Alliance Follow the respective shows on Instagram & BlueSky so when they record live on GeekVerse Podcast Network you can join the chat and add to the conversation!Remember to subscribe to the GeekVerse YouTube channel and set notifications to “ALL” to catch us when we go live every Wednesday night at 7pm EST.•https://www.youtube.com/GeekVersePodcast Please consider joining our Patreon to support us and everyone at the GUA•https://www.patreon.com/guanetwork

Thank you for choosing Star Wars Alliance for all of your Star Wars News and Reviews.Star Wars Alliance Hotline: 1(830) 538-4828 Send us a text or call and leave a voicemail with your Star Wars Questions, feedback on the podcast, and reactions to the latest Star Wars TV shows, movies, comics, and Novels!You can always send us an email!Starwrsalliance@gmail.comFollow us on BlueSky or Instagram!  •Star Wars Alliance- @starwrsalliance •Katie- @sliceofkatie •Clay- @FanboyClay Geek Ultimate Alliance Network Is Produced By GeekVerse PodcastNetwork Schedule:  Monday: Rangers Alliance Tuesday: A Walk Through the Multiverse (Bi-Weekly) Wednesday: The Animation Nation Thursday: Star Wars Alliance Friday: Marvel Alliance Saturday: DC Alliance Follow the respective shows on Instagram & BlueSky so when they record live on GeekVerse Podcast Network you can join the chat and add to the conversation!Remember to subscribe to the GeekVerse YouTube channel and set notifications to “ALL” to catch us when we go live every Wednesday night at 7pm EST.•https://www.youtube.com/GeekVersePodcast Please consider joining our Patreon to support us and everyone at the GUA•https://www.patreon.com/guanetwork

Luke's HAARP Time Warp: Part 1 A cosmic catastrophe. Based on a post by somethin fishy, in 15 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 1. Luke MacDougall was stretching out in his tent after his hunting the Brooks Range in Alaska. He had been hunting moose earlier this week, He bagged a bull moose on his first day up north, and his work horse of a snow machine was vital to hauling the beast back to the truck. By the time he got back to his house in the outskirts of Anchorage, It was just after the evening rush hour. This was too easy. His neighbor's butcher shop was impressed when he drove up to drop off the field dressed carcass. “1022 pounds!” Mike told him when the winch scale steadied. “I didn't expect you til Friday!” Mike loves the outdoors and in addition to hunting, he also loves fishing and seeing the beauty that is Alaska. “I think I'll take my Polaris up the river to the east and see what's out there, before the melt floods out the pass.” I'm going to make the most of my week off! Luke said, But Mike was busy rolling the hoist rack over to the meat locker. Luke owned his own engineering firm that worked all over the world, mainly for the chemical industry. Luke had master's degrees in chemical and mechanical engineering plus a bachelors in metallurgy. He had been in the Marine corps, but a combat injury had forced him out. While in the corps he had been a combat engineer and he still did engineer consulting work for the Marines. He stood six foot eight and weighed two hundred and sixty pounds, and even though he did mostly desk work he was by no means out of shape. Not only was he very strong, but he was a hand-to-hand combat expert while in the corps, was one hell of a shot, and had gotten his black belt in martial arts after he had gotten out. He had thought about trying out to be a sniper, but figured that his size would give him away and therefore be a threat to his team mate, this he couldn't live with. He had light brown hair that was kept in a crew cut and piercing blue eyes. Although he looked to be very definition of a hard ass, he was actually extremely considerate to those around him and always took the extra second to consider how his actions would affect the people around him. While he didn't have a family, his older sister Mackenzie, did. Her husband, Dan, was one of Luke's oldest childhood friends and they had two kids. Luke always made sure to spoil them rotten. Since he didn't have anyone to spent money on, he had set up trust funds for both kids over his sister's objections. His sister still lived on the same ranch that they had grown up on in Wyoming. Their parents had been killed when Luke was sixteen and Mackenzie was eighteen. Mackenzie, without thinking about it; cancelled going to college and stayed on the ranch to take care of Luke so that he wasn't taken by the state. Luke's mom had been a geologist and his dad had been a part time jeweler and worked the ranch in his spare time. Tonight, Luke had another reason to be happy. He had gotten the jewelry done for his niece's birthday and had sent it to her the day before he left for his trip. Since he lived in Anchorage, Alaska it took some time to get there. He had made her a handmade necklace out of gold that he found in some of Alaska's streams. In the pendant he had a large sapphire set in it, her birth stone. He had gotten that while working on one of his overseas jobs and upon smuggling it into the U S, had cut it to maximize its beauty. It had been in rough form when he smuggled it in. Luke's jewelry making was a hobby of his to relax after a hard day in the office and actually knew how to cut and grind gemstones thanks to not only his dad but his mom as well. Going to sleep that night, he never in a million years would guess that his life was about to change completely. Luke's Spring trip up the Matanuska River to the glacial basin, before the dangerous spring thaw, and flow.; was going to be a 4-day run via snow machine. He made great time and decided to extend his trip northeastward past Lake Tazlana, and perhaps even Mount Sanford. Having made great time getting to the headwaters, he continued east toward the Gakon River. At Glenallen he stopped for fueling up at a trading post; and for updates on the Mount Sanford melt. The locals told him to Stay on the north side of the Gakon River and he'd be safe. Continuing northeast, Luke was now in unfamiliar territory, so he focused on landmarks and wildlife. He watched two Grizzlies kill a yearling moose. He finally pitched camp due northwest of Mount Sanford; Just east of Gakona, and on the north side of the flooding river that rushed down from the high mountain peaks. His chart showed he was near the research facility known as the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP). Global rumors and conspiracy theories abounded, regarding the mega-high voltage compound, guarded by a very sophisticated security system and plain-clothes security people. The security protocols were strikingly identical to the Central Intelligence Agency's standard operating procedures. Luke had heard that tonight might be an amazing display of the Aurora Borealis; or northern Lights. What Luke didn't know was that he was closer to the security fence than he knew. Just one ridge of trees blocked his view of the high fencing. During the night, while Luke slept in blissful ignorance, a cosmic disaster struck. At one point Luke stirred a bit as a sound similar to a P A system having a feedback loop, was flaring. As it did, the waves and arcs of the northern lights danced radically across the sky. The sound and lights were clearly synchronized and getting brighter. But Luke uncharacteristically slept like a baby. This was a weird one, for the only known person immediately affected was Luke. Suddenly the sound was silent and the area was black. Pitch black. Again, Luke slept. And when the black hole sucked him, tent and all, Luke was sound asleep. This unexplained phenomena transported Luke across space and time. When Luke woke up the first time; he noticed was that it was a lot more humid and warmer than it had been when he had gone to bed. He then noticed that the bird sounds were different as well. ‘Okay this is weird' he thought. He stuck his head out of his little tent and his confusion deepened for around him was a wild forest of deciduous trees. When he went to bed, he had been surrounded by scrub land with stunted aspen trees. ‘I must be dreaming, and if this is a dream, damn.' “Well, I guess I better have a look around” he said to himself. He spent the rest of the morning looking around his “dream world” wondering when he was going to wake up. His Polaris Snow Machine was no longer parked next to the south end of the tent. It wasn't anywhere. Not that it would be all that helpful in this mild summer-like weather. He noticed that the sun was almost straight overhead and he had an idea. He would check the time on his phone and use that to figure out about where he was at. When he did it, he got an even bigger shock, his phone was nine hours behind. That combined with the tree species around him, put him in… ‘Hell, is this England?' The weather plus the state of the leaves on the trees likely put it in late spring. “Well fuck me!” exclaimed Luke. For the rest of the day, he stayed near his 2-man tent. He found a stream nearby to get water and fish from. Hopefully he would wake up from this nightmare soon. When he woke up the next morning, he was starting to realize that something was truly fucked up with his world. He was still in the same spot. Figuring out that he was fucked, he did an inventory of his gear. He had his tent, sleeping bag, backpack, and camo clothes. He had his 9mm sig and his .338 rifle that his had picked up while in the Marines, and he had plenty of ammo for both. In his backpack he had is laptop and solar powered charger, one M R E, plenty of survival straws, matches, his extra canteen, and extra fire starters. Of course, he had his travel rod, a selection of terminal tackle, and some lures. He had re-spooled the reel right before going to the Brooks Range. All in all, he was in good shape. What really bothered him was that he couldn't get any satellite lock or cell signal at all. After his inventory, he figured that he probably should get moving, so he packed everything up. While he was packing, he had water boiling over the fire to fill his canteens up. Checking his compass he decided to start moving East. He walked carefully through the woods for the rest of the day, stopping with about an hour of daylight left, at another stream, to make camp. First thing he did was get a fire going and got himself more water. He had managed to catch some fish and frogs for supper. Early the next morning he again topped off his canteens and started moving again, still heading East. The way he figured it, one of three things could be going on: one this was all some weird dream; two somehow, he had traveled through space and time; or three he was in an alternate universe. He was hoping that this was a dream. About midday he paused and rested for a bit for it was a warm, humid day. As he was getting up from a short nap, he heard shouting nearby. It sounded like English, well sort of. Now Luke was curious, for he had also heard metal on metal contact, so he headed toward it. Within a minute he came up to a dirt road. Looking North, Luke saw six men on horseback riding around a stopped carriage. On the ground were several dead men, all wearing armor. As Luke watched, two men burst out of the carriage and were quickly cut down there was nothing that Luke could do for them because he was too far away. The men on horseback now dismounted and approached the carriage. The next sound made Luke's blood chill for it was a female scream. Not one but two. Two young women were yanked from the carriage. One had golden blond and wore a blue dress, while the other one wore a green dress and had brown hair. The younger one looked to be about eighteen or nineteen while the other looked to be slightly older. Two men grabbed each woman and pulled them in front of what Luke assumed to be the commander. While the men were occupied, Luke quickly closed the distance. As he got to within thirty yards, he heard something about the men having some fun with the woman. That was enough for Luke, he slipped off his backpack. He was still in his camo clothing and had carefully modified it into a ghillie suit. He stepped out into the road, mad sure to have his handgun ready and yelled; “Halt, Drop Your Weapons!” Chapter 2. Marion of York was pissed to put it mildly. She hadn't wanted to come along, with her older sister, Cecilia, and father, Charles, to London. Normally she loved traveling to London, but this time it was for Cecilia's engagement and her fiancé, John of Sussex, gave Marion the creeps. They had spent almost a week in London getting the wedding contract ready. When they were married, John would become the lord of Charles's land and the land would then stay in the family. Marion would continue to live in the castle until she was married. Charles was making these arrangements to avoid a situation with his greedy neighbor who had been eyeing his land and daughters for years, and Charles knew that his health was failing and that he wouldn't be long for this world. After the contract had been signed, John decided to travel back with them, as much to check out his new land as to check out Marion and the other woman of his soon to be castle. They had been traveling for three days when they were ambushed. Their guards were cut down within minutes, because although these men were very experienced, loyal, and brave; they had been caught by surprise. Soon all six men were dead. Three were John's and three had been Charles's. They had managed to cut down four of their attackers though. Soon the remaining six attackers were circling the carriage. Marion recognized the colors that the men wore. They belonged to their greedy neighbor, Richard. One of them, Marion personally recognized as Richard's son, William. The same man that her father had kicked out of their castle when he had persuaded relations with Cecilia. This wasn't good. Soon her father and John decided that their only chance was to try and kill the men attacking them. They both knew that if they surrendered, they would be killed anyway. They burst out of the carriage and were quickly cut down without achieving anything. This left the ladies defenseless. William ordered them to be pulled from the carriage. They were brought before him where he then told them; “Well bitches, we're going to have some serious fun then you'll both have to die. However, I will give you a choice. If you cooperate your death will be quick and painless, if you don't well…” Both ladies started turning white for this was their worst nightmare come true. Both despised William, his father, and all the people loyal to them. As William was cutting the dress from Cecilia, they heard a booming male voice: “Halt, Drop Your Weapons!” The voice echoed through the forest and the trees even seemed to move at the sound of it. Although the words themselves were weird, the point was clear. The ladies looked up hopefully and the men spun around. There thirty paces in front of them was a massive humanoid creature. It was dressed with leaves and small branches and not a single patch of skin was visible. In one hand was a small black object, but it didn't have any armor or any weapons for that matter. Then William spoke up; “Says who? A stupid, unarmed swamp thing?” His men snickered. Apparently, the humanoid had understood him. “'Says who? I'll tell you; I am your worst nightmare come to life. A man that can kill you where you stand and you won't be able to do a thing about it. Now this is how things are going to be. I am going to count to five. If you fuckers are not out of here by then, or I will kill you all.” The humanoid made this threat in a way that seemed like it might have ordered food, not facing six heavily armed men. William snorted; this was going to be too easy. Looking at his men: “Lads, time for some more entertainment. Kill that thing.” The ladies knew the stranger was dead. Suddenly the humanoid couched slightly and brought the small black object up to a horizontal position. The next thing the ladies knew there was a sound like thunder, the small black object jumped around in the humanoid's hand, and a quick jet of flame shot out the end of the object. The men around them started falling with blood and meat exploding from their necks. Within seconds, only William was left and he was using a now nearly nude Cecilia as a shield. Cecilia was nearly nude because William had just finished cutting her dress when the humanoid interrupted. “So, I see mister tough guy in armor is actually just another coward that uses an innocent woman as a shield, how pathetic.” The humanoid stood very still for a short time as though he was debating something. “Get out of here, beast. Nothing here concerns you” commanded William. Marion thought this was a stupid move on William's part but then again, he wasn't known to be the sharpest tool in the shed. Her thoughts were confirmed within a second. “Beast is it now? Well tell you what is going to happen. You let that lady go and I'll put my weapon away. Then we can see who is the better in a real man's fight.” Luke knew this course was a bit dumb but one he didn't want to risk hurting the lady even though the chances of that were slim. The other reason that he did this was that he wanted a bit more fun from this engagement. “Deal” said William and he released Cecilia and Luke put away his gun. As he released her, her dress fell away but this was the least of her concerns at the moment. She ran to Marion and embraced her. Then Marion asked the stranger: “Where is your sword, kind stranger?” “Sword?” snorted the stranger “Never used one and won't be needing one.” ‘This man was more arrogant than most nobles. What kind of word is “won't”? He is doomed.' thought Marion. She had good reason to doubt the stranger would live for although William was an idiot, he was very noted swordsman. William made the first move toward the stranger. The stranger didn't move until William was almost upon him, then with absolutely amazing speed the stranger side-stepped William's attack and grabbed his right wrist. The stranger then took his other hand and struck William in the elbow snapping it and bending it completely the other way. William though, didn't have time to register the pain for the stranger then grabbed William's head and with a quick motion of his hands, snapped William's neck with a loud crack; snapping it just as easily as someone would snap kindling for a fire. The stranger then moved quickly to check on the other men. For those attacking, to make sure that they were dead and for the attacked to see if he could give any of them aid. All of them were dead. The entire time the ladies cautiously watched his, Cecilia not even realizing that she was naked. When the man finished, he walked up to the ladies with his hands stretched out and with his palms faced the ladies so they could see that he wasn't armed. As he passed the wagon, the man looked in a trunk and found another dress for Cecilia. He also removed the strange outer clothes that he was wearing. Luke was now dressing in a t-shirt and camo jeans. Finally arriving in front of the ladies, Luke handed the dress to Cecilia who quickly put it on. Marion was stuck by this act of kindness on the man's part, for he at first seemed to be utterly ruthless. Something else Marion noticed was just how damn handsome the stranger was. He was clean shaven, with a strong chin. His blue eyes were lit with the look of not only intelligence but also concern. His shoulders were broad and his bare arms had well defined muscles on them. Marion could almost imagine those arms wrapped around her and this thought caused her heart to flutter and for moisture to form in between her thighs. No other man she had ever met had caused her to have thoughts like this and she had even met the current king of England, Edward the Confessor. Walking up to the ladies, Luke was having a hard time deciding on which one was better looking. Cecilia, the older of the two, had long and almost Chestnut colored hair, her skin had a very light tan, few freckles on her face, and warm brown eyes. Of course, the rest of her body was really good too, with about C cup tits plus large pink nipples. Her stomach had a little bit of fat on it but not bad, Luke liked his ladies with a little meat on them. He hated when women were so skinny that their bones showed. The worst thing from his perspective about her was that her pussy was a jungle, in fact he had never seen a bush that thick. He had been to some of the world's most remote jungles and her pussy hair was thicker. The younger one though was stunning as well, although she wasn't naked so Luke couldn't make a direct comparison. She was slightly taller than the older one, probably about five foot ten or so. Her hair looked to be the color of twenty-four caret gold, and her eyes looked to be sapphires. Her skin, at least what Luke could see, was a pure white. To top things off she had nice full lips, a very cute nose and a perfectly oval face. “Good afternoon, ladies.” Seeing the fearful look on their faces, Luke continued: “You have nothing more to fear, for I will not harm you.” Cecilia was still in a state of shock, but Marion had recovered for the most part. “We thank you kind sir. I do not want to think what would have happened to us if you had not stepped in.” Luke gave her a slight nod “What be your name kind stranger?” “Luke. What be your name and the name of your companion here?” “I am Marion of York and this is my older sister Cecilia.” Marion was starting to relax a bit; however, Cecilia wasn't, but this was normal for them. Marion had always been faster to react to changes. “So, tell me, Marion, what happened here? Why were you attacked?” “The men that attacked us belonged to a neighboring earl, Richard. He was been lusting after my father's lands for years now.” Marion broke down a little, thinking about her father. “Sorry, Richard was furious when he heard that Cecilia here was to be married to John of Sussex. This would have kept our lands out of Richard's hands. His men were waiting in ambush for us, and they caught our guards by surprise. Our father and John were in the carriage with us. They decided to rush out and attack the remaining men, once the guards were slain. They were killed without achieving anything. William was Richard's son and the man you killed with your bare hands. He told us, once we had been pulled from the carriage that they were going to have fun with us and that we would be killed. How we died would have our choice, if we cooperated then death would have been quick and if we did not cooperate then we would have faced a long and painful death. William has killed many people before and he was addicted to killing, so I have no doubt that you saved us from a horrible death at William's hands.” Marion finished, and broke down in tears. Luke kneeled in front of her and put one his large hands on her cheek. He then pulled Marion in and held her tight. As he did, he whispered to her, “You have no need to worry further for I will now be protecting you, that is if you want me to.” She pulled away slightly and looked into his eyes with a hopeful look on her face. She then launched herself back into his arms: “Thank you, Luke. But are you sure, we have nothing of value for I am sure that Richard has taken over our home?” “If I was not sure of it, Marion, I would not have made the offer. You two will have to do something for me, though.” Both ladies instantly stiffened and gained hard looks on their faces. “You two will have to learn how to defend yourselves In case I am not nearby when you are attacked next. Because, I am sure of this; when Richard does not hear back from his men, he will send more men to look for them and by extension you two.” Both ladies relaxed a bit, but were a bit confused for this was the last thing they had expected. “But we are ladies, we cannot fight” stated Cecilia. She had finally gotten over her paralysis. Hearing this, Luke's face went from a concerned caring, to one of extreme anger. The ladies were completely taken back by this and instantly became fearful again. They didn't even realize what they had done to change his mood so suddenly. But they quickly learned. “Let Me Get Something Straight With You Two, Right Now!” growled Luke as the ladies shrank from his fury. “You both Will learn how to defend yourself, for I will teach both of you how. This is the price for me staying with you. If you are not willing to at least try to learn then I shall take my leave of you.” At this Luke spun around on his heel and started walking away. He was a firm believer in woman being capable, despite their physical differences. He wasn't however going to fight for his life to defend these ladies, if they were not at least willing to learn how to defend themselves. Sure, he would feel a bit guilty about leaving them but that was life. Luke figured that with the loot from the dead men around plus a couple of their horses, he could go anywhere. Luke hadn't taken more than three steps when Marion cried out: “Wait! God, please wait?” Luke stopped but didn't turn around. “If you are willing to teach us how to defend ourselves, then we would be deeply in your debt, kind sir.” “Never call me sir again, and you will not be in my debt. You're learning how to defend yourselves will be enough payment for not only rescuing you, but also further defending you” stated Luke. “Do we have a deal?” he asked still with his back to the ladies. The ladies looked at each other and then back to Luke, “We have a deal, Luke” They said together. Luke turned back around, wearing a soft, warm smile. “First thing we need to do is to collect all the weapons, armor, and anything else useful from the dead. Then they will need to be buried for the last thing we need is obvious evidence of what happened here. After all that is done, it will probably be about time to set up camp for the night. Tomorrow morning your lessons start.” The ladies looked at him with confused looks “What ladies, I don't want any arguments, get moving now” Luke snapped at them. Chapter 3. This got the ladies moving. Over the next few hours, they worked harder than they ever had in their lives, the dead were stripped of anything useful, even their clothes. All the loot was put in the carriage for transport. While the ladies were busy with the dead, Luke rounded up some of the horses. They had enough for each of them to ride their own horse and to have a spare apiece. On William they found a number of gold coins and some silver ones as well. This was added to the money that was being carried in the carriage. After Luke rounded up the horses, he began to dig a mass grave for the dead and place them in it. He had also policed his brass shell casings. He thought that with his knowledge that he might be able to make reloads, plus he wanted to leave as little evidence as possible. Finally, everything was finished and they still had about two hours before nightfall, so Luke set up camp away from the road, in a clearing next to a clear stream. As he began to set up, Cecilia and especially Marion were immensely curious. They had never seen gear like this before. Sure, they had seen satchels and tents before, but never made of this strange cloth. Luke got a fire going, and then started boiling water that he collected from the stream. Now the lady's curiosity overrode their lingering fear. “Why are you boiling the water, Luke?” asked Marion. “Just making it safe to drink. By boiling the water you kill off the microorganisms, in the water, that can make you sick.” “Microorganisms?” asked Cecilia “Yep, microorganisms are organisms that are too small to be seen by the naked eye, but make no mistake they are there and the wrong ones can kill you” explained Luke. “Sounds like you speak witchcraft or heresy” stated Cecilia. She was devotedly religious. “God alone decided who dies and who lives.” Through this Marion wasn't sure who to believe. Although the things that Luke said made absolutely no sense to her; what reason would he have of lying to them over something like this. Luke must have been in a good mood however for he wasn't offended by Cecilia's rebuttal. He actually looked amused. “Well, Cecilia go ahead and drink the water straight from that stream then, and when you do eventually get dysentery don't complain to me about it. As far as witchcraft is concerned, stop being insulting, for there is nothing magical about anything I do for I am an engineer.” “You're that confident that we would get sick from that water?” “Maybe not the water from that stream but why take the risk.” “I have a couple of questions for you Luke.” Marion continued when Luke nodded toward her “what does “don't” mean, and what is an engineer?” “Oh, sorry about that. It is a speech difference from my homeland. Sometimes we would take two words and make them one. Doing this makes speaking more efficient. Don't is actually do not. When this is done it's called a contraction. It's; is actually it is.” “Wow that is more efficient.” “And an engineer is someone who designs things to be made, or figures out why something failed, or figured out how to make things easier, mechanically” “Interesting, I have never heard of an engineer. So, another question for you, where is your homeland?” Marion was determined to learn everything that she could about Luke. “Well, originally I came from an area called Wyoming, but now I live, well lived in an area called Alaska.” “I have never heard of either of those places.” “That doesn't surprise me for they are very far away. Across the western sea. The Viking raiders know of it. It is past Iceland and Greenland. ” “Father may have known about those lands, but it's not something he felt women should bother with.” Marion wasn't sure of what to ask next. She wanted to know everything about this man but she could sense that he was hesitant to talk about himself. She sat next to him by the fire and like him just stared into the flames. Cecilia had started her evening prayers by now. “Are you going to say your evening prayers, Luke?” asked Marion. Luke gave her a weak smile. “Sorry, I don't pray.” “You don't believe in God?” “Nice use of a contraction, Marion, and to tell you the truth, no I don't. I never have for I have seen more destruction and suffering caused by differing religious beliefs then you could ever imagine. I do believe that you have the right to believe what you want and you have the right to peacefully practice your beliefs without interference. But I could never take moral guidance from folks that allow innocent children to be tortured and killed of no reason at all, or that preaches that half the human population are inferior because they were born as a woman.” “Maybe their torture was all God's plan for them; and woman are inferior to man. After all, Eve was created from Adam and it was Eve that got them kicked out of the garden.” “Ya sure, “God's plan”. I've been hearing that all my life and every time someone says that, it is usually to cover up for either them not caring or they were the guilty party. Problem with the Adam and Eve theory is that there is absolutely no proof that it happened and I find it ironic that the “first people” had European names. Plus, this sounds just what it is, a story that men use to keep woman subservient to them, makes me sick.” By now Luke had a faraway look in his eye. Marion realized that is his mind, he was somewhere else entirely; and he was. Luke's mind had traveled back to his time spend in Iraq and the death he had seen firsthand that was caused by people's differing beliefs, and these weren't even beliefs in different gods, just different ways of worship. In his mind's eye he also saw women that had been burned with acid or hot oil because they did something to “offend” their family. He saw what happened when men used their position to “marry” young girls and the horror inflicted on the girls. Eventually Cecilia got done with her prayers and came back over. Luke shared some of his food with her. He had lost his appetite. Anything he thought about his time in Iraq he lost his appetite. “Something bothering you?” asked Cecilia “You barely ate anything.” “It's Just some very bad memories of a place that I was in for a time; nothing for you two to be worried about.” Eventually Luke stood up and stretched, Marion and Cecilia were almost asleep sitting by the fire. “Well ladies, you two should get some sleep. You two can sleep in my tent and I will sleep against that tree so I can keep watch.” “But we cannot sleep were you sleep. You need the sleep as well” protested Marion. Luke just gave a look and told her “Shut up and get in the tent, both of you. Make sure to take your dresses off before you lay down so that you don't damage the bedding.” Both Marion and Cecilia knew that they wouldn't win this argument so they did as Luke told them. They were amazed by how soft and comfortable Luke's bedding was. It was simply the most luxurious thing that they had ever laid on. Within minutes both had passed out. Luke sat outside and kept watch all night. He would doze off for ten or fifteen minutes at a time. He would then wake up, look around and then doze off again. Chapter 4. Marion was the first of the ladies to wake up the next morning, Cecilia was really not a morning person. So, Marion carefully got up as to not wake Cecilia, she grabbed her dress, and stepped out of the tent. Luke was up and had the fire going. He had some fresh fish cooking, but he hadn't realized that Marion was up yet. So, she stood quietly and watched him still holding her dress in her hand. The sun was just about to rise as Marion watched Luke cook the fish and boil water for drinking. Finally, she got the courage to walk over to him. As she did, she carefully laid her dress down. 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 decent actually. How about you?” “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 actually 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. She had about the same size tits as Cecilia, but Marion's tits were a bit firmer with smaller pink nipples. The flip side was that her nipples were 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 pussy was covered in sparse light blond hair. He could see her pussy lips sticking out slightly and the there was a small gap between her legs, caused by Marion's hips flaring out nicely. Her legs were long and strong, and her feet were even beautiful and Luke wasn't a foot guy. Traveling back up north, Luke also noticed that Marion had a graceful neck that seemed to be screaming for him to nibble on. “Well how do I look?” “Are you sure your name isn't Aphrodite? You are by far the most beautiful woman that I have ever met, and I have met some very beautiful woman before.” Marion smiled. From the sudden heat in her cheeks, she was sure that she was blushing crimson and she felt a sticky wetness forming between her legs again. Suddenly she was moving like another person. She walked straight up to Luke, reached up to hold his cheek and pull 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 actually wondered if she might pass out from the pleasure. This increased when Luke carefully picked her up. Marion then wrapped her strong legs around Luke's body. She could feel his cock getting hard and this only further drove Marion's lust. 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 dress on. She got it on in record time and by the time Cecilia came out of the tent Marion was starting to eat on one of the fish that Luke had been preparing. Cecilia was clueless as to what Marion and Luke had been doing, for she just assumed that Luke would want to be with her because she was the oldest and she though the smartest. What she didn't know was that Luke was deeply attracted to intelligence and Marion had her beat badly in this department. As the three of them ate their breakfast, Marion asked about the plans for today. “Well first we need to check out those clothes we got yesterday to see if you two can wear any of it. 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 the fact that you are women.” Marion immediately could see the wisdom in Luke's thinking; by hiding the fact that Marion and Cecilia were in fact women, even if it was only from a distance, then they wouldn't attract as much attention to themselves. It was like Luke's hunting clothes, in the woods, that she learned were colored in a pattern called camouflage. It would make them harder to spot. Cecilia of course was against the idea. She was a lady not some cross dresser, thank you very much, but when it was clear that even her sister supported Luke, Cecilia didn't have much choice. They both found men's clothes that fit them and Luke found some clothes that even fit him. He wanted to be dressed in the same clothes as everyone else so he didn't stand out as much. Plus, by not wearing his modern clothes, he could save them for special occasions. After the three got changed, Luke started going over the ultra-basics of self-defense. Marion threw herself into learning and she learnt fast. She had been almost raped once and she wasn't going to let that happen again if she could help it. Cecilia wasn't really that interested. The way she looked at it, it was Luke's job to protect her, not for her to protect 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 excused herself to relieve herself. “Marion, I have a question for you. Now before I ask, know this; know that the question will at first sound very stupid but once I explain I promise that it will make sense. And furthermore, I must insist that you never, ever tell anyone what we are about to talk about. If my secret falls 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, held it for a second and slowly let it out. Marion was growing more concerned, she knew that Luke didn't lack anything in the bravery department and 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 A D.” “What?” “That's right, Marion. I not only come from a different place but also from a different time. And since I have a decent understanding of my history, I know what the major events that are going to happen for the next almost thousand years and if the wrong people get hold of this then they might try to make short sighted decisions that would spell disaster for them and their people.” Marion was speechless and absolutely stunned after all she had been falling in love with this man and know she felt that she didn't know him at all. Suddenly she stood up. “Marion!” “Get Away From Me You Bloody Devil! I never want to be near you again!” Luke bowed his head, accepting his fate. As Marion ran away, she didn't see that Luke was starting to cry. He had just lost the only woman that he had ever truly loved romantically and this came on top of him losing his entire family and all of his friends. He hadn't cried since he was five, but now he was crying now. Slowly he stood up and started to gather his gear up. Looking up he saw Cecilia coming back. ‘Just fucking great' he thought. “Where's Marion?” Cecilia asked. Knowing that not telling her would turn out badly, Luke decided on telling Cecilia a half-truth; he didn't trust Cecilia. “I told her something about myself that upset her deeply.” “What, are you actually 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 used wrong 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 for she didn't like the fact that that Luke trusted her bratty little sister and not her. “Why, because I am finding myself falling in love with her and 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, for 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 took the time to make a marker for him. She collapsed in front of the grave and began to weep. She was crying harder than she had ever cried before, the man that she had fallen in love with wasn't even close to the man that she had thought that 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 had written something else. Then he drove the handle part into the soil at her father's head. It took Marion a while to read the instruction. For one, it was written in an unfamiliar tongue and two her reading was just good enough to be able to slowly make her way through the bible. But 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 that gave his life so that 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 then I would be able to die a happy man. Go in peace now Charles of York. I promise that I will do everything in my power to continue to protect your family.” Marion knew what she had to do and she knew what she had done. She was so pissed with herself, for turning her back on Luke, that she could barely stand herself. 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, but in mental abilities, where Luke seemed to be most interested in her, he had already stated multiple times that men and women are at least equals and, in some areas, women are for the most part far superior to men. She also knew that Luke would never hurt her and would die to protect her. Finally, she was able to stand up, she wiped her face off, turned around, and ran off to find Luke before he took off. She could only hope and pray that she wasn't too late. Of course, he might turn his back on her and she wouldn't blame him if he did, after all she had already turned her back on him once. Chapter 5. As fast as Marion ran through the woods, her mind was running 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? This 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 in 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 for her just had to find Luke before it was too late. Finally, she got to the clearing that they had camped in. Luke and Cecilia were gone. Looking around desperately, Marion found the tracks leading out toward the road. She also found a note written on some strange material. The fact that it was written was enough to prove that it was from Luke, Cecilia couldn't read or write, but Marion would have known it was from him anyway because she recognized his writing style: Marion, “I am deeply sorry that I have angered you. I truly wish that the circumstances were different for I have truly fallen in love with you. I would not blame you if you never talk to me again for, I have realized that I completely overwhelmed you. I am sorry that I have hurt you. I have left, with Cecilia, to get her back home. After that I will be leaving England. I truly hope that you find the happiness and love, in life, that an outstanding woman like yourself deserves. Goodbye, Luke Marion was cursing herself too much to bother crying at the moment. She had turned her back on Luke when he tried to tell her the most important thing about himself. It should have been obvious to Marion, at the time, that Luke didn't like to keep secrets from her, but then again, she had never known anyone that would tell her the simple truth without wanting something in return. Just to make herself feel even better, the one and only time that someone told her the truth without wanting anything in return, she ran away. Now Luke had taken reasonability for angering her, admitted to her that he had fallen in love with her, and told her where he was going. She had to catch him before he left England, at all cost. She knew that with the carriage that Luke would be slowed down a bit. Problem is that she didn't have a horse or any other gear with her, but she didn't care. As Marion began to follow the tracks, she heard a familiar sound coming from the brush. When she looked, she found a horse there with all the gear she would need. In the saddlebags, she found money and food. All this stuff she had seen very recently. It was gear that the three of them had collected from the dead after Luke had saved them. This could only mean one thing; Luke hade left it without Cecilia's knowledge, for if she had known then she would have done everything she could have to prevent Luke from leaving anything for Marion. With the horse and the knowledge of where Luke and her sister were headed, and that Luke wanted her to rejoin him, Marion took off to find them. Once Luke had explained to Cecilia what had happened, leaving out the part about him being from the future, Cecilia pretty much demanded that Luke finish escorting her home. Luke was too broken hearted to care so he finished packing the gear and set off with Cecilia. As they left, Cecilia started pouring on her charm. Despite her many flaws from his point of view, Luke had to at least admit that Cecilia was beautiful and charming. With him being hurt so bad by Marion, Cecilia figured that it would be easy to get her hands on Luke. Still Luke maintained at least some of his wits about him. He wouldn't show Cecilia his computer or rifle, and she wouldn't be able to secretly look at them for Luke had them both locked in their cases, and the locks were highly advanced combination locks. Luke guarding his secrets so closely pissed Cecilia off to no end, but she couldn't let it show, yet. She figured that it would take a few days but she would wear down Luke's resistance to her. After all, she wanted the knowledge that Luke surely possessed for herself. Cecilia and Luke made pretty good time, after they broke camp, traveling until they had to stop and set up camp. Luke still wouldn't take the chance on getting a room at an inn. Cecilia of course wasn't happy about this, but since she had set herself a mission, she wasn't about to complain about it. After Luke got the campsite set up, Cecilia was too much of a lady to help, he went to get some food. While he was gone Cecilia went through his gear and found many clues as to who Luke really was. At least she would have if she could read that is. She decided that when they got home, she would have Luke arrested for something and then take his gear to a monk that she trusted and knew loved to read. Seeing Luke coming back with food, Cecilia continued to pour on the charm. “See unlike my stupid sister, I would never leave you, Luke. She never did care about anyone but herself and you deserve a woman who knows how to pleasure and care for a man. That woman is me.” Cecilia curled up to Luke and began to caress him softly. Luke barely reacted to her, but she had expected that. He had been badly damaged, by her sister, and Cecilia knew from long experience with men that it might take her a little bit longer to get what she wanted from Luke. That evening, Luke again set up the tent. This time, Cecilia insisted that she was terrified of nightmares and was afraid to sleep alone. “It was fine before Marion ran off because there was someone there with me. With her now gone I am terribly afraid that I will start having nightmares.” “Sorry, Cecilia but someone needs to keep watch during the night. If you get nightmares, I will be right out here for you.” Finally, wondering at how Luke could still have the ability to reject her, Cecilia went to bed. Luke sat around for a while and just thought about everything; Him losing his parents, getting a medical discharge from the Marines because of a roadside bomb, losing the rest of everyone he had every known because of some fucking cosmic freak job, killing those men to protect two women who he didn't know Then losing Marion because he had told her the truth, and finally Cecilia's rather obvious and frankly annoying attempts to seduce him. Thing was that the harder Cecilia tried, the more she drove Luke away. She didn't know this of course and Luke wasn't about to tell her. He had promised to get her home and he would. As soon as he did, he would get to a port as fast as possible and get a boat to the continent. Finally, he fell into a fitful slumber. Marion drove her mount as hard as she could to make up some time. As she went, she would ask people coming from the other direction if they had seen a carriage with more horses then would normally be around and was headed in the same direction she was. A few people had and she had learned that she was about a half day behind. If she got what she thought was truthful information, she would pay the person who had given her the info. As it got dark, Marion continued to travel until she couldn't see anything anymore. When at last she had to stop, she took care of her horse for without it she wouldn't have a chance to catch Luke, then she ate some of the food that Luke had left her, and finally dozed off to sleep. Before she went to sleep though, her mind drifted back to when she had been naked and had been picked up by Luke. This memory made her wet between her legs and it felt like she was on fire with the fire being centered in her cunt. It didn't take long for her to start rubbing herself with one hand rubbing across her tits and sensitive nipples and the other rubbing between her legs. Since she had never done this before, it took her a few minutes to figure out what felt good. Eventually she found a small bump that when rubbed sent shock waves through her body. The more she rubbed that spot the better it felt, until she started to thrash around and nearly blacked out. As she recovered, she felt several emotions running through her. One was guilt, what she had just done had been preached against as a mortal sin for as long as she could remember and, now she figured that she was going to hell because of it. The second emotion though took some of the guilty edge off for she felt an amazing calm descend on her. She just didn't give a fuck what those priest and nuns said. This feeling was new to her but didn't take her long to figure out that Luke had led her to this feeling and the more she thought about it the more that she realized that Luke had been right. This was after all Her body and what she did with it was Her business. One side effect that she didn't expect was that making herself feel good like that, also helped her get to sleep easily. The next morning, Marion was up before the sun and felt more rested than she had in years. One other affect that Luke had on her was that she just didn't feel any need to pray and definitely didn't feel any need to visit a priest to ask for forgiveness. Quickly she ate a bit and got the horse ready. She knew that Cecilia wasn't a morning person so she figured that she could make some serious ground up. Marion had her dress packed away in a saddlebag and was wearing some of the clothes that they had gotten off the dead guys. At first, she felt bad about this, but seeing the reactions of the people that she met on the road, made her fully realize Luke's wisdom for nobody realized that she was in fact a woman. She had been traveling for a couple of hours when she came upon a campsite that had been recently abandoned. Checking it out, she found a small pouch with some money, a short note, and some food. Again, she recognized the pouch and the writing. This time the note informed Marion that her sister was up to no good. She estimated that she had only missed them by about an hour or so, judging by how much heat was in the embers. She easily got the fire going again and boiled some water. She remembered the warning that Luke had given her about contaminated water. After boiling enough water to refill her canteen and making sure that her horse had gotten enough water and grass to eat, she set out again. Again, she traveled to nightfall, but this time when she stopped, she could see a small campfire in the distance. Now she began to plan what she was going to do when she caught up with Luke and Cecilia. With her sister's two-faced nature, Marion would have a hard time of it just showing back up in camp, but she also really wanted to meet up with Luke and apologize for turning her back on him and running off. Finally, Marion had a plan and she started to rub herself again. This time, she was able to start with what felt the best and within minutes had cum so hard that she saw stars and passed out. The next morning, Marion got up as the sun was coming up and got underway extra quick. Sure enough, the fire that she had seen the night before was from Luke and Cecilia. When Marion came to the edge of the camp, she dismounted and quietly began to investigate. Luke wasn't there, but Cecilia was and was still sleeping. Marion then retreated to a good hiding spot near her horse to watch for Luke. After an hour, Marion began to get worried. There was evidence in the camp to say that Luke was still with Cecilia but Marion hadn't seen Luke anywhere. She was watching so intensely that she didn't hear someone come up behind her. Suddenly a strong hand was across her mouth, and Marion reacted in the way that Luke had taught her, but whoever was behind her was very strong. Marion was now fighting for her life and felt like she was stronger now then she had ever been. Finally, she was able to face who had attacked her and was surprised to be looking into a giant's chest. She glanced up and was astonished to see the person, who had attacked her, was none other than Luke. Without thinking about it, she slapped him hard across his face and then jumped up and grabbed hold of him, and started kissing him fiercely. To be continued in part 2, Based on a post by somethin fishy, for Sex Stories.

The Bishop's Hotwife: Part 5Some things are not negotiable..Based on a post by Wendy Trilby, in 5 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.Chapter 10: So What Happens Now.That was the last I saw of Mrs. Barton. Two days after that conversation, I headed back to Boston to complete my final year of law school.I had two choices: dwell on the love I had found and now lost or apply that energy into my studies. I chose the latter.Mrs. Barton would text me from time to time and even ask if I was coming home for the holidays. I could have ignored her texts, but instead, I'd reply with one-word answers.Busy.Can't.No.I wasn't trying to be rude, but I was still processing this strange brew of deceit and devotion, that had left me so fucked up.At times, I would masturbate to the memories of our time together, but visions of The Bishop would cloud those thoughts.I spent Christmas in Boston, telling each of my friends a different story about where I would be. Although I had lost control of my life last summer, I knew that if I focused on my studies, I could gain control over my thoughts.But I could not control my dreams, and nearly every night I'd be with Mandy. The Bishop was never in those dreams, just she and I. The dreams were almost never sexual. It would be us spending time together. At most, we held hands or kissed.I knew I should see a therapist about my experience, but I remembered the threat Mandy said could come to her if our tryst was made public in any way or form. Time and distance would have to be my therapy.It was mid-January when I came out of Langdell Hall on the Harvard campus and saw her standing there. She was all alone.I assumed I was dreaming. I must have been asleep, but a student on a Citybike nearly hit me, and I realized I was very much awake.Her face showed a little weight, but in her winter coat, you couldn't tell she was six months pregnant.I asked her why she was there. Was everything Okay? Was she okay?Her answer was unexpected. Everything was fine. Perfect. Except she felt lonely.She shared that she had cried uncontrollably every morning since our last day. She sank into a depression and spent several days at my house, lying in our bed.The Bishop had hired a nanny to cover for her time away from home. None of this was planned for in the grand scheme and The Bishop had grown angry with her and livid with me.I had so much to say to her. I had rehearsed countless ways to insult her, to bring her down. She had used me in the worst possible way and had exploited my father. For eighteen years, she and The Bishop had manipulated us so that he could appear to be a virile man of the church. Meanwhile, he degraded his wife to maintain that stature. I was prepared to unleash my hatred on this woman.So here she was, and I; didn't say any of that.She didn't need my semen, my support, my permission. She was here for me."Can we talk?" she asked.We walked through the campus, coming to a quiet place to sit and talk."Does The Bishop know you're here?""No, I'm in Boston for a physical at Brigham and Women's. A woman at forty, they treat a pregnancy like it's high risk.""You came to Boston for a physical?""I'm at seven months, so I won't be able to travel soon.""But there's nothing wrong? Nothing that requires you to be here?""Yes, there is. You."She had a difficult time making eye contact and looked at her lap as she spoke."I've missed you. I realized how hurt you were when summer ended. We had so much fun, shared so much together, and then the truth; ""Yeah, the truth. That was a hell of a lot of truth.""I know. I didn't see it coming. It was different with your father,""See what coming?""My feelings for you. I mean, with your dad, it was fun and comforting, and we never let emotions get in the way.""Well, I'm not my dad, I guess. I've only impregnated you once."I rolled my eyes. That wasn't necessary, and it wasn't what I wanted to say. I was overjoyed she was here and insulting her wasn't what I wanted to do. Thankfully, she let it go."I never felt for your father what I feel for you. That's what I came here to say. I thought this feeling would go away when you left. It didn't, it got worse."We sat there in silence. She had, without stating the words, seemingly proclaimed everlasting love for me."So, what happens now?"I return to Utah tomorrow. In two months, our daughter will be born. Three months later, you graduate, and hopefully, three months after that, you'll let me come to you when I'm ready for another child."So, nothing changes? This charade continues?""Everything changes. I think I made it clear how I feel for you. Do you understand how complicated that is for me?"She was a master of bringing the story back to herself.Complicated for her? She had created this world, she chose it; I had been conscripted.Still, I did feel for her. I knew how much I wanted to be with her, and if her desire for me was even a fraction of that, her days were long and wanting.She got up to go."I have an appointment. But I'm staying at the Copley Plaza if you want to come by and say goodbye or talk some more."She stood before me with a glow that only a pregnant woman can achieve. Her hair was thick and lustrous, her face was full, and her belly was distended with our child warm inside.I stood to face here."Of course, we don't have to talk," she said, then turned and walked across the quad toward a waiting town car.It was early evening when I arrived at the Copley Plaza Hotel. I went to the front desk to find her room."Can you call Amanda Barton's room for me. Tell her Ethan is here?"The clerk handed me a room key."She said her husband was coming by. Ethan, is it?""Yes, Ethan. Her husband," I said, trying to sound sincere. "I'm her husband."The clerk handed me a room key and gestured to the elevators."14 23, and congratulations."I smiled and nodded. I was her husband again. Apparently, I was to be congratulated for that. Oh, wait, he meant for her pregnancy. Okay, whatever.I gently knocked on the hotel room door, but with the key in hand, I unlocked it and entered. It was a two-room suite, and I could hear the shower running."Ethan?" she asked from the bathroom."Umm, yeah. They gave me a room key, so I let myself in."I heard the water shut off, and a few moments later, she walked into the suite's living area wearing a thick hotel robe and drying her hair."I might have gone heavy on the coffee today.""Should you even be drinking coffee?""Decaf. Not as much fun, but it turns out the poop effect is the same.""And so, the shower."She smiled."You know me. Poop and a shower. Some things don't change even if my body has."I was trying to visualize her beneath the robe. We had spent most of the summer naked and in each other's arms, but there was a different body under that terrycloth, and I longed to see it.Perhaps my gaze betrayed me."You're curious, aren't you?" she said with a mischievous smile."Very."I could tell she was anxious, which was a notable shift from her typically confident demeanor.She kept her gaze on me, and she reached for the tie of her robe, fingers trembling slightly, and then let it slip away, revealing her heavily pregnant form.I noticed a line of skin discoloration from her cunt up to her belly and beyond. She had always had protruding nipples due to her breastfeeding, but I had never seen her areolas so large and dark.I had so many questions about female physiology during pregnancy, but this didn't seem like the right time to ask.I thought I might be put off by seeing her pregnant, especially with my child; however, I'm not sure if it was me or nature, but I found myself turned on.She placed her hand on the swell of her belly and gently bit her lip, waiting for my approval or fearing my disapproval. Her tits were once again heavy, her nipples thicker and darker than I remembered, pointed down."You look; incredible," I said, closing the distance between us."I've missed you. I wanted to come here so many times to see you and;"I cut her off."I missed you, too.""With your father, he was next door, and I would go over to talk with him. But he was just a friend. I didn't need him like I need you.""But you got what you needed from both of us."She looked down and rubbed her belly with a smile."Not this," she said, referring to our child within her."This," she said as she moved in and kissed me passionately.The familiarity, the plumpness of her lips, the taste of her mouth, the smell of her skin, brought back the feelings of elation from the summer, and we practically melted together.She wrapped her arms around my shoulders, clinging to me. Our kisses grew deeper as the primal urge for us to reconnect intensified. On an animal level, her body sensed that I was the father of her unborn child, and her hormones sent signal after signal to her brain to draw me close, to give me pleasure, to keep me nearby, and let me protect her.My body responded in kind. I wanted to join her, but was unsure how."How do we do this?" I asked, genuinely bewildered.She backed up to the bed and sat so her face was at my waist. She didn't speak but went to work unbuckling by belt and a moment later, freeing my cock.She smiled at seeing it once again. Moving her hair to the side, she took it in hand and brought her mouth down on my shaft, warming it with her saliva. The feeling was familiar, and I sighed in relief. She continued to work my cock, gently massaging the shaft.Having never had sex with a pregnant woman, I wondered if this was it, but I recalled her one command, that I always finish in her pussy. Then I remembered that was probably just part of the ruse.Perhaps this blowjob is the end game. I'll just let her lead.After a while she released my cock from her mouth and crawled back on the bed. Her pussy was shaven, More so than in the summer. She lay on her back, her arms out, and then beckoned me to join her.I crawled to her side, she took her tit in hand, holding it out for me. Careful not to put my weight on her, I brought my mouth to her thick nipple. It was plumper than last summer and incredibly swollen. I gently played and applied pressure with my mouth, as when she fed me in the past, but nothing came out.She stroked my head gently, then brought her fingers to her tits. I released her nipple and watched as she tugged and manipulated it until a thick ooze of cream trickled out.

To Australia he was a genius adman and best-selling author but behind closed doors Bryce Courtenay was a deeply flawed husband and father. His son, Adam, has tried to make sense of the lies, the ego and the heartbreak.When Adam Courtenay was growing up, he saw his dad Bryce as a hero.Bryce worked in advertising so he knew all the latest, coolest trends, and at bedtime, Bryce told Adam and his brothers amazing stories about his life in South Africa and the Courtenay family's noble origins.When Bryce went from adman to wildly successful writer with his debut novel, The Power of One, Adam couldn't have been prouder.As Adam grew older, he became aware of the gaps in the stories his father told so well, and realised just how many lies Bryce had told his family and the nation.At first, Adam tried to ignore the fables and fibs - he wanted badly to believe them because they made Bryce's storytelling so powerful.But when Adam became a writer himself, an author of historical books and a journalist, he needed to champion the truth above all else.Further informationMy Father Bryce is published by Hachette.This episode of Conversations explores novels, writing, advertising, Australiana, Australian books, memoir, father son relationships, big egos, Australian voices, Tandia, The Night Country, Whitethorn, The Potato Factory, Tommo & Hawk, Solomon's Song, Nick Duncan Saga, The Persimmon Tree, Fishing for Stars, The Milky Bar Kid, knowing your parents, marriage, fatherhood, journalism, betrayal, cancer, divorce, affairs, infidelity, public personas, modern history, literature.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you'll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Stephen Mitchell about his  article, “Opening-out Delight: Romantic Love as Divine Sign in the Novels of Walker Percy” Coming Soon!Related articles and podcasts by this author:Episode 431: John Searle: Unwitting Ally of the Soul (Philosophers Series)John Searle: Unwitting Ally of the SoulEpisode 407 Consciousness, AI, and the Imago DeiConsciousness, AI, and the Imago DeiEpisode 232 Who Made God?But Who Made God?Swimming Upstream: Why the Natural Law Resists TotalitarianismDon't miss an episode; please subscribe to the Postmodern Realities podcast wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Please help spread the word about Postmodern Realities by giving us a rating and review when you subscribe to the podcast. The more ratings and reviews we have, the more new listeners can discover our content.  

Bridget, Caitlin, and Hilda FINALLY wrap up "Kingdom of Ash," the seventh and final book in Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass series. And there are tears, and rants, and laughs but mostly tears because this is the EPIC conclusion to a much-beloved series.  Join our Patreon for exclusive behind-the-scenes content and let's be friends!Instagram > @Booktokmademe_podTikTok > @BooktokMadeMe

Candace Kade joins PostConsumer Reports for a series of 2025 episodes to discuss her Hybrid books series, with the third book in her trilogy Augmented having just coming out in September. A speculative sci-fi set in a futuristic dystopia, the series centers on Urban, a young woman striving to find her identity in a world that sees her very existence as a threat (or at the very least, someone to be disposed of!). You can find out all about Candace's work at https://candacekade.com/ (where you can purchase signed copies!) or find her books at all the usual online spaces. This conversation centers primarily on book 1 in the series, Enhanced.

Holly Seddon and Gillian McAllister discuss two upcoming things:Holly's book is out now, and you can buy it here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/59-Minutes-unmissable-heart-wrenching-thriller/dp/1398709492They are doing an event TOGETHER at Waterstones Bluewater. Tickets here: https://www.waterstones.com/events/honest-authors-podcast-live-recording/bluewater

The Stormwall has finally come down and the 4 SPaRC Jedi Council members have finally been able to escape the Occlusion Zone! Hayley and Brian are joined, as always, by James "Yodahew" Hewings and Todd "Suds" Sedlacek, this time to discuss Phase III of Star Wars: The High Republic, Trials of the Jedi, and also the overarching story of all 3 Phases, and what did and did not work in this massive multimedia endeavor. Plus James regales us with his "Ode To Geode". EMAIL: SPARCPODCAST@GMAIL.COMTWITTER: https://twitter.com/SourcePagesCastINSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/thesourcepagespodcast/FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/SPARCPODCASTSPaRC's Podcast Buddies:Across the Bifrost: The Mighty Thor - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/across-the-bifrost-the-mighty-thor-podcast/id1572200841Dan and Ian Have Questions - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dan-and-ian-have-questions-podcast/id1587402809Commute: The Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/commute-the-podcast/id1552657624Segabits - https://segabits.com/Machtails From the Cantina - https://www.facebook.com/machtailsfromthecantina/Rebel Force Radio Presents "The Babu Freaks" - https://www.rebelforceradio.com/shows/category/BaJacked Kirby - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jacked-kirby/id1248146026So Weird So Fun - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/so-weird-so-fun-swsf-friends-through-fandom/id1793135012Star Wars YOU-niverse - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/star-wars-you-niverse-podcast/id1704904756

Publishing Talks started as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly talking about the future of publishing, books, and culture. It was great fun talking with people in the book industry about the evolution of publishing in the context of technology, culture, and economics. In the past […] The post Publishing Talks Interview with Carol Fitzgerald of The Book Report Network first appeared on WritersCast.

644. Part 1 of our interview with David T. Ballantyne about his book, Fractured Freedoms: Reconstruction in Central Louisiana. "Fractured Freedoms is a riveting history of central Louisiana from the 1860s to the 1890s, focusing on majority-Black Rapides Parish during Reconstruction. Using the region as a case study, Ballantyne reveals what is, in part, a rural Reconstruction success story, emphasizing the resilience of Black politics and the persistence of significant divisions among white residents that allowed the Republican Party to gain and maintain power there. It was only with the collapse of state-level Republican power in 1877 that Democratic forces in the parish were able to dismantle local Republican political control and gradually constrict Black freedoms." (LSU Press). Now available: Liberty in Louisiana: A Comedy. The oldest play about Louisiana, author James Workman wrote it as a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Now it is back in print for the first time in 221 years. Order your copy today! This week in the Louisiana Anthology. We've recently added Mosquitoes, one of William Faulkner's early novels. Faulkner was one of the South's greatest writers. He wrote this novel about the artists he had met in the French Quarter. He put them on a yacht that took them through Lake Pontchartrain until they ran aground and were stranded for several days. That's right, Faulkner basically created Gilligan's Isle.     "The violet dusk held in soft suspension lights slow as bellstrokes, Jackson square was now a green and quiet lake in which abode lights round as jellyfish, feathering with silver mimosa and pomegranate and hibiscus beneath which lantana and cannas bled and bled. Pontalba and cathedral were cut from black paper and pasted flat on a green sky; above them taller palms were fixed in black and soundless explosions. The street was empty, but from Royal street there came the hum of a trolley that rose to a staggering clatter, passed on and away leaving an interval filled with the gracious sound of inflated rubber on asphalt, like a tearing of endless silk. Clasping his accursed bottle, feeling like a criminal, Mr. Talliaferro hurried on.     "He walked swiftly beside a dark wall, passing small indiscriminate shops dimly lighted with gas and smelling of food of all kinds, fulsome, slightly overripe. The proprietors and their families sat before the doors in tilted chairs, women nursing babies into slumber spoke in soft south European syllables one to another. Children scurried before him and about him, ignoring him or becoming aware of him and crouching in shadow like animals, defensive, passive and motionless." This week in Louisiana history. September 20, 1717. Gov. LePinay recalled to France after "ruining the colony." This week in New Orleans history. The last space shuttle fuel tank rolls out of the Michoud Assembly Facility on September 20, 2010. This week in Louisiana. Louisiana Gumbo Festival October 10-12, 2025 326 Hwy 304 Thibodaux, LA 70301 Celebrate Louisiana's Rich Culinary Heritage Indulge in a diverse array of Cajun and Creole cuisines, savor our traditional gumbo recipe, and immerse yourself in the captivating rhythms of live Zydeco and Cajun performances. With exciting activities for all ages, there's something for everyone to enjoy.      The Louisiana Gumbo Festival began in 1973. During the 1970s, Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards signed a proclamation naming Chackbay the Gumbo Capitol of Louisiana. Annually, volunteers cook nearly 500 gallons of Gumbo during the festival weekend. You can also find various Cajun food, music, amusement rides, parade, auction, and so much more for the whole family to enjoy.      This year, we are offering Pay One Price Advanced Weekend Armbands for $65.00 + tax. 
Advanced Armbands allow children unlimited carnival rides throughout the duration of the festival. Advanced Armbands are available for purchase ONLINE ONLY until Friday October 10, 2025. Armbands will NOT be sold at the festival.      Advanced armbands can be picked up at the designated line of the festival ticket booth on Friday, October 11th beginning at 5:30pm. Postcards from Louisiana. Street Poet Melody Eloise. Listen on Apple Podcasts. Listen on audible. Listen on Spotify. Listen on TuneIn. Listen on iHeartRadio. The Louisiana Anthology Home Page. Like us on Facebook. 

Rob Ellis joined me at the Lawless convention to discuss an unusual book by the Italian creator Luana Vecchio. Content advisory: this book features a lot of sex, violence, and suicidal ideation. It's not for everyone but if you are not deterred then both the digital and paperback versions are still available.You can find a list of all the upcoming books on the Facebook page, follow the podcast on instagram, Threads, Mastodon, and BlueSky. And email me comments and suggestions to MCBCpodcast@gmail.comMusic used in this episode is Circuit Breaker by the artist Robodub. Click here to listen to the episode online. Or Download here Right click and choose save link as to download to your computer.

Consider yourself at home– with trivia on Go Fact Yourself!Stephen Tobolowsky is an actor, writer, and director. He's perhaps best known for his role as Ned Ryerson from the classic film Groundhog Day. He'll tell us about what it's like being part of such an iconic movie – and how its fans keep him humble.Aparna Nancherla is a comedian, who's also a prolific voice actor. She'll tell us why voicing the character Moon Tobin on “The Great North” represents a lifelong dream for her. Plus, she'll workshop some titles for her upcoming stand-up special that will premiere on Dropout TV. Areas of Expertise:Stephen: The work of Charles Dickens, the movie Children of Men, and the Jamaican Switch scam.Aparna: The movie Home Alone, the movie Jurassic Park, and naked mole rats. What's the Difference: Pay UpWhat's the difference between a deposit and a down-payment?What's the difference between extortion and blackmail?Guest Experts:Dr. Rochelle Buffenstein: Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, known for her groundbreaking work with naked mole rats. Shani Wallis: Legendary singer and actor who's appeared in dozens of film and stage productions – including the 1968 Oscar-winning Best Picture Oliver!Hosts: J. Keith van StraatenHelen HongCredits:Theme Song by Jonathan Green.Maximum Fun's Senior Producer is Laura Swisher.Co-Producer and Editor is Julian Burrell.Seeing our next live-audience shows by YOU!

Arguably, no high school reading list is complete without one of Toni Morrison's books. In today's episode, we look back at a 2004 conversation between the author and NPR's Renee Montagne, who visited Morrison to talk about a new paperback re-release of five of her novels. The interview focuses on Morrison's perspective on hauntings, apparitions and ghosts, including the way Morrison's late father helped her complete Song of Solomon.To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookofthedayLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Gugsy is stuck in a podcast with a group of married people. He drowns his sorrows in shoujo anime to cope.This episode's members: Requiem, Gugsy, Marquan and DocKev with Thatsmapizza handling the editing duties.The AniTAY Podcast is a bi-weekly podcast brought to you every other Wednesday. It is available on all your favorite podcast services! If you like us, be sure to subscribe to your favorite service and give us 5 stars! Your support is much appreciated and will help us grow and continue to provide this style of content.Intro: 0:00–3:09Housekeeping: 3:10–8:122025 Seasonal Shows:Grand Blue Dreaming: 8:13–13:17My Dress Up Darling S2: 13:18–21:09Secrets of the Silent Witch: 21:10–26:26Betrothed to my Sister's Ex: 26:27–35:02Rascal Doesn't Dream of Santa Claus: 35:03–42:52Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra: 42:53–48:45Call of the Night S2: 48:46–54:50Spring 2025 Round Up — Favorite, Biggest Surprise, Least Favorite:Marquan: 54:51–58:19Gugsy: 58:20–1:03:22DocKev: 1:03:23–1:07:53Requiem: 1:07:54–1:14:06News:Queen Millennia: 1:14:07–1:18:39Witch Hat Atelier Delay: 1:18:40–1:22:38Assassination Classroom Movie: 1:22:39–1:25:41Street Fighter Movie: 1:25:42–1:33:18Topic of the Week: What's the Best Gateway Anime: 1:33:19 — EndMissed the previous episode of the AniTAY Podcast? Check it out here:AniTAY Podcast S10 E15: Top 10 Anime PoopJoin us as we talk about Summer 2025 Anime, and poop!medium.com

✨ The 1990s were packed with groundbreaking science fiction—cyberpunk matured, space opera returned in force, and near-future thrillers exploded. The Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards recognized plenty of classics…but they didn't catch everything.In this episode of Fantasy for the Ages, Jim takes you year by year through the 1990s to spotlight the top two sci-fi novels from each year that were completely overlooked by the major awards. These are the books that readers loved, critics praised, or that sold strongly—but somehow never got the big award nods.From forgotten space adventures to hard-SF gems and dystopian thrillers that deserved more recognition, you'll discover which titles truly stand the test of time, even without a trophy.

Support #Millennial! Pledge on Patreon and receive lots of perks: https://patreon.com/millennial Visit our merch store: https://shop.millennialshow.com Watch episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@millennialpodcast This week: It's been... quite a week. We check in on the latest breaking headlines, including Trump's (alleged) face drooping during last week's 9/11 memorial. We're also breaking down Anthropic's $1.5 billion settlement with authors after a judge ruled the AI giant trained its chatbot on pirated books. Is this the “Napster moment” for AI, and what does it mean for the future of copyright battles in tech? We also reflect on the decline of reading for fun, and some of us get to humblebrag on the number of books we've read so far in 2025. From social media distractions to BookTok trends, we account for what makes reading difficult, and what inspires us to pick up new reading.  We love a theme, so this week we've got book recommendations on board for y'all! Dare to Lead by Brené Brown (Andrew), This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead (Laura), and The Third Gilmore Girl: A Memoir by Kelly Bishop (Pam). And in this week's installment of After Dark, we're talking about the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination. How are we faring after the events of last week, and how are we navigating the constantly shifting details as they emerge? How are we dealing with friends on social media who latch onto single headlines and proceed to double down on a narrative? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bridget, Caitlin, and Hilda are back with part 3 of "Kingdom of Ash," book 7 in Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass series. And there's no other way to say it -- the shit is hitting the fan, and it's hard to read and talk about it. But they're moving forward for you, powered by Aedion hate. Listen now! Join our Patreon for exclusive behind-the-scenes content and let's be friends!Instagram > @Booktokmademe_podTikTok > @BooktokMadeMe

Author Geoff Loftus discusses his new book, The Devil's Vacation. It is the tenth book in his Jack Tyrrell thriller series. The main character, Jack Tyrrell, is a former Special Forces veteran and Deputy U.S. Marshall who solves crimes and rights wrongs with the help of his guardian angel. In The Devil's Vacation, which is set on a small island off the coast of Rhode Island, Jack finds his summer vacation interrupted by a brutal double murder. The deaths have familiar hallmarks, and Jack and his guardian angel are forced into a confrontation with evil in the form of a serial killer and his guardian devil. This series—its story line and the main characters—were inspired by Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Brooke and Tyler are done hidin', now we're shinin' like we're born to be...talking about one of the most mystical group of voyagers in the Cosmere. We look at Dyel's interlude from Wind and Truth and investigate her visitors from the 17th Shard, the mighty Cusicesh, and the history of the Iriali's Long Trail. #AllSpoilers Warning: This episode contains minor spoilers about Isles of the Emberdark. Not major plot points but aspects of the broader Cosmere. Support this podcast by becoming a Patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/CosmereConversations) Original music by David Gruwier (https://twitter.com/DGruwier). "Radiant" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5CFAZUv4C0) by David Gruwier.

Today, we expose the dark world of steamy romance novels, from violent “smut” like “50 Shades of Grey” to monster fantasies, luring women into dopamine-fueled addiction. Online discussions like BookTok are fueling Gen Z's addiction to erotic literature. We unpack their psychological and spiritual harm, fueling discontent and demonic delusions. Join us to reject this cultural poison and pursue the purity and satisfaction found only in Christ, guarding our hearts for God's glory. Share the Arrows 2025 is on October 11 in Dallas, Texas! Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sharethearrows.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for tickets now! Sponsored by: ⁠Carly Jean Los Angeles⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.carlyjeanlosangeles.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Good Ranchers⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.goodranchers.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠EveryLife⁠: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.everylife.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Buy Allie's new book, "Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion": ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://a.co/d/4COtBxy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Timecodes: (01:30) Dark Romance Introduction (09:40) Smut Genre (22:10) Spice Levels (30:50) Novel Sale Statistics (35:40) Psychology of Reading (45:55) Biblical Response --- Today's Sponsors: Good Ranchers — Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠GoodRanchers.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and subscribe to any of their boxes (but preferably the Allie Beth Stuckey Box) to get free Waygu burgers, hot dogs, bacon, or chicken wings in every box for life. Plus, you'll get $40 off when you use code ALLIE at checkout. Constitution Wealth Management — Let's discover what faithful stewardship looks like in your life. Visit Constitutionwealth.com/Allie for a free consultation. Carly Jean Los Angeles — Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.carlyjeanlosangeles.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and use code ALLIEB to get 20% off your first CJLA order, site wide (one-time use only) and start filling your closet with timeless staple pieces. And see Allie's CJLA favorites at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠carlyjeanlosangeles.com/pages/allieb⁠⁠⁠⁠ EveryLife — The only premium baby brand that is unapologetically pro-life. EveryLife offers high-performing, supremely soft diapers and wipes that protect and celebrate every precious life. Head to EveryLife.com and use promo code ALLIE10 to get 10% of your first order today! Jase Medical — Go to Jase.com and enter code “ALLIE” at checkout for a discount on your order. --- Episodes you might like: Ep 1235 | ‘KPop Demon Hunters': Paganism & LGBTQ Propaganda for Kids https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-1235-kpop-demon-hunters-paganism-lgbtq-propaganda/id1359249098?i=1000723771113 Ep 1054 | “It Ends With Us” Is Emotional Porn for Women https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-1054-it-ends-with-us-is-emotional-porn-for-women/id1359249098?i=1000666041941 Ep 740 | How Porn Changes the Brain, Kills Intimacy & Harms Society | Guest: Sam Black https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-740-how-porn-changes-the-brain-kills-intimacy/id1359249098?i=1000595052837 Ep 636 | How BDSM, Porn, & Pedophilia Are Tied to Transgender Ideology | Guest: Genevieve Gluck https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-636-how-bdsm-porn-pedophilia-are-tied-to-transgender/id1359249098?i=1000568333166 --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alliebethstuckey.com/book⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices