The Medieval Marine

CHAPTER I

Luke MacDougall stretched out in his tent during the last night hunting the Brooks Range in Alaska. He had been hunting moose all week, and while he had seen a couple, none had presented a decent shot, so he hadn't taken any. This didn't bother him because he had also got some fishing in and had done very well catching pike and arctic grayling. Plus, being away from the office distractions, he had gotten several projects done and had sent the drafts to his secretary and second-in-command via satellite link. Luke owned an engineering firm that worked worldwide, mainly for the chemical industry, but they did jobs for many other sectors and the military. He had master's degrees in chemical and mechanical engineering plus a bachelor's in metallurgy from Purdue University.

Luke had been in the Marine Corps until a combat injury forced him out. While in the corps, he had been a combat engineer and still did engineer consulting work for the Marines. He had done two tours in Iraq and had been awarded three Purple Hearts, three Bronze Stars, and a Silver Star. Near the end of his second tour, he received a million-dollar wound, which ended his career. He had done everything he could to stay in, but the doctors wouldn't budge.

He stood 198 cm tall, weighed 113 kilograms, and even though he mainly did desk work now, he was by no means out of shape, just not as good as he had been. Not only was he very strong, but he had been a hand-to-hand combat expert in the corps, was one hell of a shot, and had gotten several black belts in various martial arts after getting out. He had thought about trying out to be a sniper while in the corps but figured that his size would give him away and, therefore, be a threat to his teammates; this he couldn't live with. Luke also had light brown hair that was kept high and tight and piercing blue eyes.

Although he looked to be the very definition of a hard ass, he was extremely considerate to those around him and always took an extra second to consider how his actions would affect the people near him. While he didn't have a family of his own, his older sister Mackenzie did. Her husband, Dan, was one of Luke's oldest friends, and they had two kids that Luke had always made sure to spoil rotten. Since he didn't have anyone to spend money on, he had set up trust funds for both kids over his sister's objections.

She still lived on the same ranch they had grown up on in Wyoming. Their parents were killed when Luke was sixteen, and Mackenzie was eighteen. Without thinking about it, Mackenzie canceled going to college to stay on the ranch and care for Luke so the state wouldn't take him. Luke's mom had been a geologist, while his dad had been a part-time jeweler and worked the ranch in his spare time. Luke had sent most of his marine pay to Mackenzie to help pay her back for sacrificing her future for him. She wasn't happy about this, but Luke didn't give her a choice, and the extra money had helped her and Dan get started. By the time Luke got out, he had his first niece. Two years later, Mackenzie provided Luke with a nephew. Also, while Luke had been in the corps, he took every engineering class he could, so when he started at Purdue, he was a junior.

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 to his niece. He had made her a handmade necklace out of gold that he found in some of Alaska's streams. There was a large sapphire in the pendant that he acquired while working on one of his overseas jobs and had smuggled into the US before cutting it to maximize its beauty. Luke's jewelry-making was a hobby to relax after a hard day in the office, and he knew how to cut and grind gemstones, thanks to his mom and dad. Going to sleep that night, he never in a million years would guess that his life was about to change completely.

During the night, while Luke slept in blissful ignorance, a cosmic catastrophe struck. In this catastrophe, the only person immediately affected was Luke, who was transported across space and time. His sister and co-workers would spend months looking for him without success. They knew where he had been camping, but when search planes overflew the area, there were no signs that Luke had ever been there. Eventually, Mackenzie would inherit Luke's engineering firm and sell it to the employees. She had no idea how to run an engineering firm and didn't have the time or energy to learn. The only comfort was Luke's employees would be cared for, and his niece and nephew would never need money.

When Luke woke up, he noticed it was much more humid and warmer than when he went to bed. Luke then noticed that the bird sounds were different as well. 'Okay, this is weird,' he thought. He stuck his head out of the tent, and his confusion deepened. Around him was a wild forest of deciduous trees instead of the scrubland of stunted aspen trees that had been there when he went to bed. 'I must be dreaming, and if this is a dream, damn.'

"Well, I guess I better look around," he said.

Luke spent the rest of the morning looking around his "dream world," wondering when he was going to wake up. Noticing the sun was almost straight overhead, he had an idea. Checking the time on his laptop against the sun would help him figure out where he was. He knew his computer's internal clock would still be accurate enough for this purpose. It was an even bigger shock when he discovered his laptop was nine hours behind. That, combined with the tree species around him, put him in England. The weather, plus the state of the leaves on the trees, likely meant that it was mid to late spring. What bothered him the most was that he couldn't get any satellite lock or cell signal.

"Well fuck me!" exclaimed Luke when he couldn't get a satellite lock.

For the rest of the day, he stayed near his tent. He found a stream nearby to get water and fish, hoping to wake up from this nightmare soon. When he woke up the following day, he started to realize that something was truly fucked up with his world. He was still in the same spot. Figuring that he was screwed, Luke did an inventory of his gear. He had his tent, sleeping bag, backpack, and camo clothes. For weapons, there was his 9mm Sig 320-M17 handgun and a Winchester .338 rifle that was picked up while in the Marines. He had plenty of ammo for both, four spare clips of 9mm plus the one in his Sig, and twenty rounds of .338 ammo. He had his laptop, cell phone, and solar-powered charger in his backpack, one MRE, plenty of survival straws, matches, an extra canteen, and cooking gear. He also had his travel fishing rod, terminal tackle, and some lures. Before Luke left home for this trip, he had spooled new super line on the reel.

All in all, he was in good shape. He had put all his gear in his tent before going to bed in the Brooks Range because it was raining, and he didn't want his equipment to get wet. The reason he had his cell phone with him was to take pictures, and he was packing his nine-millimeter because he usually found his forty-five to be too heavy to lug through the wilderness. Luke had been carrying a handgun for so long that without one, he felt naked.

After completing the inventory, he figured it would be a good idea to get moving, so while packing, he boiled water to fill his canteens. Checking his compass, he decided to start moving east. He walked carefully through the woods for the rest of the day, stopping at another stream with about an hour of daylight left to make camp. He hadn't seen any signs of modern life but saw signs of other humans when he crossed several dirt tracks and saw people working fields. Luke didn't want to approach anyone because he didn't know how they would react. When he made camp that evening, the first thing he did was get a fire going and get himself more water. He had caught some fish and frogs for supper, which he cooked over the same fire. Early the following day, he topped off his canteens and continued heading east. Luke had been still trying to get a satellite lock but had no luck.

The way he figured it, one of three things could be going on: one, this was all some fucked up dream; two, somehow, he had traveled through space and time; or three, he was in an alternate universe. He hoped this was a dream, but the likelihood was dropping by the minute, and his best hypothesis was that he was in an alternate dimension. How and why he was there was a mystery. He didn't even know where or when "here" was. None of the people he had seen wore modern clothes, and the buildings he saw were old enough to classify as historical landmarks five hundred years before he had been born.

Around midday, he paused and rested briefly; it was a warm, humid day, and he wasn't used to the heat. Getting up from a short nap, he heard shouting nearby. It sounded like English, well, sort of. Now Luke was curious, especially when he 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 and hadn't decided to interfere. The men on horseback now dismounted and approached the carriage. The next sound made Luke's blood run cold. It was not one but two female screams.

Luke watched as two young women were yanked from the carriage. One had golden blonde hair and wore a blue dress, while the other wore a green dress and had brown hair. The younger one, the blonde, looked about eighteen or nineteen, while the other looked slightly older. Two men grabbed each woman and pulled them in front of what Luke assumed was the commander-this turn of events made Luke's decision for him. While the men were occupied, Luke quickly closed the distance. As he got to within thirty meters, he heard something about the men having some fun with the women. That was the final determining factor for Luke as he slipped off his backpack. Before moving in, he stashed his gear so only he could find it. He was in his ghillie suit because he never knew when he would have to hide. Then he stepped out into the road, made sure to have his handgun ready, and yelled:

"HALT, DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"

CHAPTER II

Marion of York was pissed, to put it mildly. She hadn't wanted to accompany her older sister Cecilia and father Charles to London. She usually 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 Cecilia and John were married, John would become the lord of Charles's lands, which would stay in the hands of the York family. Marion would continue to live in the castle until she married. Charles was making these arrangements to avoid a situation with his greedy neighbor, who had been eyeing his lands and daughters for years; plus, Charles knew that his health was failing and that he wouldn't be long for this world. Every day, he felt weaker, and it took longer to get going in the mornings. He hadn't told his daughters yet, but they could see he was getting worse by the day. Marion strongly opposed this contract because she suspected John would steal and merge the land with his family's lands in the south. Having him around wouldn't be as bad as having Richard as lord, but not by much. The only good thing about John was that he could manage an economy where Richard couldn't.

After signing the contract, John traveled with them to check out his new land, Marion, and the other women of his soon-to-be castle. John was twenty years old and the scion of one of the most powerful families in southern England. He was tall for the time at 180cm and had long black hair with cold brown eyes. He was only interested in power, fame, glory, and sex and would do anything to get those things. Marrying Cecilia was just a means to that end. With his marriage to her, he would have the resources of York and the surrounding areas to further his power. However, he wasn't planning on merging with his family lands because John wanted complete control. If he joined, he would have to give up some of his power to his father or older brothers.

When the group left London, John was in an excellent mood. The trip to York would take them a week and a half at best, but the carriage was comfortable, and he could pass the time by flirting with Marion and talking plans with Charles. He didn't care about Cecilia, which suited her just fine. This was a political marriage, nothing more. Cecilia figured that the more attention John paid to Marion, the less he would bug her. She would have to provide heirs, but that was all. John hoped to use his position as a leading noble in the North to give him leverage in the constant aristocratic power struggle. He would do this by building the economy and his military simultaneously. Josh was one of the few nobles who realized that you had to have a stable economy to have a strong army. This view led Charles to approach John's father in the first place.

The group had been traveling for three days when they were ambushed. Their guards were cut down within moments because although these men were very experienced, loyal, and brave, they had been caught by surprise. Soon, although they managed to cut down four of their attackers, all six guards were dead. The remaining six attackers were circling the carriage. Marion recognized the men's colors; they belonged to their greedy neighbor, Richard. She recognized one of them as Richard's son, William, the same man her father had kicked out of their castle when he had pursued relations with Cecilia the year before. With the guards dead, her father and John decided 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 of note. This move left the ladies defenseless, and William ordered them removed from the carriage. They were then brought before him where he told them:

"Well, wenches, we are going to have some serious fun, and then you will most likely die. However, I will give you a choice: If you show enthusiasm, you will live. If you just cooperate, your death will be quick and painless, if you do not well…."

Both ladies started turning pale since this was their worst nightmare come true. Marion despised William, his father, and all the people loyal to them. Just 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 seemed to quiver at its sound. Although the words themselves were strange, the message was clear. The ladies looked up hopefully, and the men spun around. There, thirty paces in front of them was a massive humanoid creature dressed with leaves and small branches so that no single patch of skin was visible. It held a small black object in one hand but had no armor or weapons. Then William spoke up:

"Says who? A stupid, unarmed swamp thing?" His men snickered.

The humanoid understood him.

"Says who, you ask? I am your worst nightmare. 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 and your men are not out of here by then, I will kill you."

The humanoid made this threat in a way that sounded like he was ordering lunch, not facing six heavily armed and experienced soldiers. It sounded so calm and confident that it rattled some of William's men. William snorted; 'this was going to be too easy,' he thought. Looking at his men,

"Lads, time for some more entertainment. Kill that thing and take your time at it."

Both ladies knew the stranger was dead. When William's men moved toward the humanoid, it couched slightly, bringing the small black object to a horizontal position. The next thing the ladies knew, there was a sound like thunder, and the small black object jumped around in the humanoid's hand as a quick jet of flame shot out the end of the object. The men around them started falling, blood and meat exploding from their necks. Within seconds, the only one left was William, who was now using a nearly nude Cecilia as a shield.

"So, I see Mister Tough Guy in armor is just another coward who uses an innocent woman as a shield; how pathetic."

The humanoid stood very still as though he was debating something.

"Get out of here, beast. Nothing here concerns you," commanded a very nervous 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 soon confirmed.

"Beast, is it now? Well, I will tell you what is going to happen. You let that lady go, and I will put my weapon away. Then we can see who is the better in a real man's fight."

Luke knew this was a dumb move, but he didn't want to risk hurting the lady even though the chances were slim. Two, he wanted a bit more fun from this engagement. And the third reason was as old as sex itself; he wanted to show off for the ladies.

"Deal," said William, and he released Cecilia as Luke put away his gun. As he released her, her dress fell off, 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. "I won't be needing one."

'What kind of word is "won’t”? This man is more arrogant than most nobles but doomed,’ thought Marion. She had good reason to doubt the stranger would live, for although William was an idiot, he was a very noted swordsman; it was his only good quality.

William made the first move when he charged the stranger. The stranger didn’t move until William was almost upon him, then with absolutely terrifying 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. Marion heard the bones break and cringed. William, though, didn’t have time to register the pain because the stranger then grabbed William’s head and, with a quick motion of his hands, broke his neck with a loud crack, snapping it just as easily as someone would snap kindling for a fire. The stranger then threw William to the ground and brushed off his hands.

The stranger then moved quickly to check on the other men, for those attacking to ensure they were dead and for the attacked to see if he could give them any aid. All of them were dead. The entire time the ladies cautiously watched him, Cecilia had not even realized she was naked. When the stranger finished, he walked up to the ladies with his hands stretched out and his palms facing them so they could see that he wasn’t a threat. As he passed the wagon, the stranger looked in a trunk and found another dress for Cecilia. He also removed the strange outer clothes that he had been wearing. Luke was now dressing in a t-shirt, camo jeans, and boots. Finally arriving in front of the ladies, Luke handed the dress to Cecilia, who quickly put it on. Marion was struck by this act of kindness on the man’s part since he initially seemed utterly ruthless. She was expecting to be raped by this monster. In passing, Marion noticed just how damn handsome the stranger was. He was clean-shaven, had close-cut hair, and a strong chin. His blue eyes showed not only intelligence but also concern for the ladies. His shoulders were broad, and his bare arms had extremely well-defined muscles. Marion could almost imagine those arms wrapped around her. This thought caused her heart to flutter, butterflies to fly around in her stomach, and moisture to form between her thighs. She had never met a man who 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 difficulty deciding which one was better looking. The older sister had long, almost Chestnut colored hair; her skin had a very light tan, few freckles on her face, and warm brown eyes. The rest of her body was good-looking, too, with about C-cup breasts capped with large brown areolas and nipples. Her stomach had some fat on it, but not bad. Luke liked his ladies with meat on them anyway and hated when women were so skinny that their bones showed. The worst thing from his perspective was that her pussy was a jungle, and had never seen a bush that thick before. He had been to some of the world’s most remote jungles, and her bush was thicker. Looking at it, Luke thought that his dick wouldn’t even be able to get through it without a brush cutter and a map. Although she wasn’t naked, so Luke couldn’t make a direct comparison, the younger one was also stunning. Marion was slightly taller than the older one, probably about 175cm. She had long hair that looked to be the color of twenty-four-carat gold, her eyes were colored like the highest quality sapphires, and her skin, at least what Luke could see, was snow white. To top things off, she had nice full lips, dimples when she smiled, an adorable nose, and a perfectly oval face.

“Good afternoon, ladies.” Seeing the fearful look on their faces, Luke continued: “You have nothing more to fear; 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 would your name be, and what is the name of your companion here?”

“I am Marion of York, and this is my older sister Cecilia.”

Luke bowed to her and Cecilia. Marion was starting to relax; Luke’s calm manners assured her he wouldn’t harm them. However, Cecilia wasn’t, which was normal since Marion had always reacted faster to changes.

“So, tell me, Marion, what happened here? Why were you attacked?”

Luke could tell by how this lady was talking that he was in pre-Norman England because her speech was a mix of English, German, and what sounded Norwegian to him. At least he could speak all three languages, so he didn’t have too much problem understanding these women. The nobility would have spoken French if Luke had been in a post-Norman invasion era. Luke was glad she spoke old English since he couldn’t speak French and had no desire to learn. Another plus for him was reading the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles in Old English in college during a required elective class. So, he could understand what these ladies were telling him as long as they didn’t speak too fast. This was the first time in his life that he had ever been glad to have done that lame assignment.

“The men that attacked us belonged to a neighboring earl, Richard. He has been lusting after my family lands for many 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, surprising our guards. Our father and John were in the carriage with us, and they decided to rush out and attack the remaining men once our guards had been slain but were killed without achieving anything. William was Richard’s son and the man you killed with your bare hands. Before you intervened, William told us they would have fun with us and that we would be enslaved or killed. How we died would have been our choice; if we cooperated, then death would have been quick, and if we did not cooperate, we would have faced a long and painful death. William has killed many people before and was addicted to killing, so I do not doubt that you saved us from a horrible death at William’s hands.” Marion finished and broke down in tears.

Luke crouched slightly in front of her, putting one of his large hands on her cheek. He then pulled Marion in for a hug and held her tight. As he did, he whispered to her:

“You do not need to worry further because I will protect you if you want me to.”

She pulled away slightly and looked into his eyes with a hopeful look. She then launched herself back into his arms:

“Thank you, Luke, thank you. But are you sure? We have nothing of value, and I am sure Richard has taken over our home.”

“If I were 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 their faces hardened. Luke continued without taking note of the change in the women’s faces. “You two will have to learn how to defend yourselves in case I am not nearby to defend you. 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 slightly but were confused; this was the last thing they had expected.

“But we are ladies; we cannot fight,” stated Cecilia, having gotten over her paralysis.

Hearing this, Luke’s face went from having a concerned, caring look to one of extreme anger. The ladies were utterly taken aback by this and instantly became fearful again. They didn’t even realize what they had done to change his mood suddenly. But they quickly learned.

“LET ME GET SOMETHING STRAIGHT WITH YOU TWO RIGHT NOW!!” growled Luke as the ladies shrank in fear and shook at his fury. “You both WILL learn how to defend yourself because I will teach both of you how. This is the price for me to stay 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 firmly believed in men and women being equal despite their physical differences. The only place they weren’t equal was in a sporting arena, but that was neither here nor there. He wouldn’t fight for his life to defend these ladies if they were unwilling to learn how to defend themselves. He knew that once they had been appropriately trained, even the physically demanding combat of the era wouldn’t present too much of a challenge. Sure, he would feel a bit guilty if he left them, but that was life. Luke figured he could go anywhere with the loot from the dead men and a couple of their horses. He hadn’t taken more than three steps when Marion cried out:

“WAIT! For the love of God, please wait?” Luke stopped but didn’t turn around. “If you are willing to teach us how to defend ourselves, we would be deeply in your debt, kind sir.”

“Never call me sir again. I work for a living, and you will not be in my debt. You learning how to defend yourselves will be enough payment for rescuing and defending you until you get home,” 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.

“The 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 since the last thing we need is evidence of what happened here. After everything is done, it will probably be time to set up camp for the night. Tomorrow morning, your lessons start.” The ladies looked at him with confused looks. “What ladies, I want no arguments. NOW GET MOVING,” Luke barked at them, and for the first time in years, he sounded like the Marine sergeant that he had been, which got the ladies moving.

Over the next few hours, they worked harder than they ever had; the dead were stripped of anything useful, even their clothes. All the loot was put in the carriage for transport. Luke rounded up some horses while the ladies were busy with the dead. They had enough for each of them to ride a horse and to have a spare horse apiece. On William, they found several silver coins and some gold ones. This money was added to the money that was in the carriage. One of the other things they collected was all the jewelry that was worn, including from Charles and John. After Luke rounded up the horses, he began to dig a mass grave using his camp shovel. The hole was just a shallow one that Luke made by digging out the backside of a small ridge. He had also policed his brass. He thought that he might be able to make reloads with his knowledge, plus he wanted to leave as little evidence as possible that something strange happened here. Finally, they were done and had about two hours before nightfall, so Luke set up camp away from the road in a clearing next to a clear stream.

Cecilia and especially Marion were immensely curious as he began to set up. They had never seen gear like this before. Sure, they had seen satchels and tents before but never made of this strange material. Luke got a fire going and started boiling water he collected from the stream. Now, the lady’s curiosity overrode their lingering fear.

“Why are you heating the water, Luke?” asked Marion.

“Just making it safe to drink. By boiling the water, you kill off the microorganisms that can make you sick.”

“Microorganisms?” asked Cecilia with her head cocked to one side.

“Yep, microorganisms are organisms that are too small to see with the naked eye, but make no mistake, they are there, and the wrong ones will kill you. If I had the proper tools, you could see them,” explained Luke.

“Sounds like you speak witchcraft or heresy,” stated Cecilia; she was devoutly religious. “God alone decides who dies and who lives.”

Through this discussion, Marion wasn’t sure who to believe. Although the things that Luke said made absolutely no sense to her, what reason would he have for lying to them over something like this? However, Luke must have been in a good mood; Cecilia’s rebuttal didn’t offend him. He looked rather amused:

“Well, Cecilia, go ahead and drink the water straight from that stream, and when you do eventually get dysentery, don’t complain to me about it. As far as witchcraft is concerned, stop insulting me; nothing is magical about anything I do. 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, yeah, sorry about that. It is a speech different from my homeland. Sometimes, we take two words and make them one. Doing this makes speaking more efficient. Don't is do not. When this is done, it's called a contraction, and it's is actually it is."

"Wow, that is more efficient."

"An engineer designs things to be made, or figures out why something failed, or how to make things easier."

"Interesting, I have never heard of an engineer. So, some more questions for you: where is your homeland, and what kind of engineer are you?" 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; they are far away across the western sea. As to what type of engineer I am, I am a couple of types. I am a chemical and a mechanical engineer. Chemical engineers deal with chemical processes. The closest comparison I could make for you would be something like an alchemist. Mechanical engineers usually design machines or machine-like systems. Think of the people who build siege engines."

She wasn't sure what to make of this, but Luke sounded brilliant. She wasn't sure what to ask next but wanted to know everything about this man. However, she sensed he was hesitant to talk about himself. Marion just sat beside him by the fire and, like he was, stared into the flames. Cecilia had just started her evening prayers.

"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 have never been religious, even before I went to war. There, I saw firsthand the destruction and suffering that people fighting over differing religious beliefs could cause. I believe that you have the right to believe what you want, and you have the right to peacefully practice your beliefs without interference. Still, I could never follow something that allows innocent children to be tortured and killed for no reason or preaches that half the human population is inferior because they were born as a woman."

"Maybe their torture was all God's plan for them; women are inferior to men; after all, Eve was created from Adam, and Eve got them kicked out of the garden."

"Yeah, sure, God's plan." Luke snorted, "I've been hearing that all my life, and every time someone says that, it is usually to cover up for them not caring or they were a guilty party. The problem with the Adam and Eve theory is that there is no proof that it ever happened. The garden of Edan has never been found, and I highly doubt that it ever will be. This story sounds just what it is: a story that men use to keep women subservient. It makes me sick. I have met many women who were excellent soldiers, workers, and bosses in my past. Regarding mental capacity, women are just as capable as men; it depends on the individual."

By now, Luke had a faraway look in his eye, and Marion realized that in his mind, he was somewhere else entirely. In his mind, Luke had traveled back to his time in Iraq, where he saw how close-minded people's differing beliefs caused death and destruction. These weren't even beliefs in different gods, just different ways of worship. In his mind's eye, he also saw women raped, beheaded, or burned with acid or hot oil because they did something to "offend" their families. He saw what happened when men used their position to "marry" young girls and the horror inflicted on them. Eventually, Cecilia got done with her prayers and came back over. Luke shared the rest of his food with the ladies since he had lost his appetite. Whenever he thought about his two tours in Iraq, he lost his appetite and knew he wouldn't sleep that night.

"Something bothering you?" asked Cecilia. "You barely ate anything."

"Just some horrible memories of a place 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 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 where you should sleep. It would be best if you sleep as well," protested Marion.

Luke just gave her 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 you don't damage the bedding."

Marion and Cecilia knew 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 passed out, with Cecilia wrapping her arms around Marion. Luke sat outside and watched all night. He would doze off for ten or fifteen minutes at a time, wake up, look around, and then doze off again.

CHAPTER III

Marion was the first of the ladies to wake up the following day. Cecilia was not a morning person, so Marion carefully got up so as not to wake her, grabbed her dress, and stepped out of the tent. Luke was up already and had the fire going. He had some fresh fish cooking and water boiling, but he hadn't realized that Marion was up yet. She stood quietly and watched him, still holding her dress and underclothes in her hand as the sun was about to rise. Finally, Marion got the courage to walk over to him. As she did, she carefully laid her clothes down on a log. 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 decently. How about you?"

He slept like shit as usual because his PTSD had been acting up, and he had to deal with his damn nightmares again, but Marion didn't need to know about that.

"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 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 and without blemishes. She had about the same size breast as Cecilia, but Marion's were firmer, with bright pink nipples about the size of a pencil eraser topping them. They were also naturally 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 mound was covered in sparse, curly, blonde hair that was a shade darker than the hair on her head. He could see her pussy lips sticking out slightly, and then there was a small gap between her legs caused by Marion's hips flaring nicely. Her legs were long and robust, her feet were beautiful, and Luke wasn't a foot guy. Traveling north, Luke also noticed that Marion had a graceful neck that seemed to scream to him to nibble on it.

"Well, how do I look?"

"Are you sure your name isn't Aphrodite? You are by far the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and I have met some stunning women."

Marion smiled and giggled lightly. From the sudden heat in her cheeks, she was sure she was blushing crimson and felt sticky wetness forming between her legs again. Suddenly, Marion was moving like another person. She walked straight up to Luke, reached up to hold his cheek, and pulled 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 wondered if she might pass out from pleasure. This increased when Luke carefully picked her up by grabbing the back of her thighs. Marion then wrapped her strong legs around Luke's body. She could feel his penis getting hard, further driving Marion's lust. Then she came back to reality.

"Luke," she asked, "are you afraid we might go to hell for this?"

"No. Let me ask you something: whose body is this?" He lightly ran one of his hands across her back, causing her to shudder. "Well, darling, whose body is this?"

"Mine?"

"That's right. And as YOUR body, it is your right to use it as you please. Damn those church idiots who preach one thing, but I can almost guarantee they do the same things they preach against as soon as they are in private. It is perfectly acceptable for you to enjoy your body as you see fit."

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 clothes on. She dressed in record time, and by the time Cecilia came out of the tent, Marion was starting to eat one of the fish that Luke had been preparing. Cecilia was clueless about what Marion and Luke were doing; she just assumed that Luke would want to be with her because she was the oldest and thought the smartest. She didn't know that Luke was deeply attracted to intelligence, and Marion had her beaten badly in this department. Not only that, but being overly religious was a massive turn-off for Luke. While Marion was religious, she was also open-minded enough to investigate new ideas, while Cecilia was about as close-minded as possible. As the three of them ate breakfast, Marion asked about the plans for the day.

"Well, first, we need to check out those clothes we got yesterday to see if you two can wear anything. 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 that you are women."

Marion immediately could see the wisdom in Luke's thinking; by hiding that Marion and Cecilia were women, even if it were only from a distance, they wouldn't attract as much attention to themselves. She later learned that Luke's hunting clothes were colored in camouflage, making them harder to spot. Cecilia, of course, was against the idea. She was a lady, not some crossdresser, thank you very much, but when it was clear that even her sister supported Luke, Cecilia didn't have much choice but refused to wear pants. Marion found some men's clothes that fit her, and Luke found some that, with some modification, even fit him. He wanted to be dressed like everyone else so he didn't stand out as much. He could save his modern clothes for special occasions by not wearing them as often.

After Luke and Marion got changed, Luke started going over the basics of self-defense. Marion threw herself into learning and learned fast. Marion had been almost raped once and wouldn't let that happen again if she could help it. Cecilia wasn't that interested because of how she looked at it; it was Luke's job to protect her, not for her to defend 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 got up to relieve herself. Luke started talking without prompting from Marion as soon as Cecilia was out of hearing range:

"Marion, I have a question for you. Before I ask, I must tell you that the question will sound foolish, but once I explain, I promise it will make sense. However, I must insist that you never tell anyone what we are about to talk about. If my secret fell 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, and held it briefly before slowly letting it out. Marion was now growing more concerned; she knew that Luke didn't lack anything in the bravery department, 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 AD."

"What?!?!"

"That's right, Marion, I come from a different place and time. Since I understand my history well, I know the major events for the next almost thousand years. I fear that if the wrong people get hold of this information, they might try to make short-sighted decisions that would spell disaster for everyone."

Marion was speechless and stunned; she had fallen in love with this man and now felt she didn't know him. Suddenly, she stood up.

"Marion!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU BLOODY DEVIL!! I never want to see you again!"

Luke bowed his head, accepting his fate.

As Marion ran away, she didn't see that Luke started to cry. He had just lost the second woman he had ever truly loved romantically, which came on top of him losing his entire family and old friends. Luke hadn't cried since his first love was ripped away but cried again. Slowly, he stood up and started to gather his gear. Looking up, Cecilia was coming back. 'Just fucking great, the bitch is back,' he thought.

"Where's Marion?" Cecilia asked.

Knowing that not telling her would turn out badly, Luke decided to tell Cecilia a half-truth; he didn't trust her. Luke was a good judge of character, and something about Cecilia made him wary.

"I told her something about myself that upset her deeply."

"What, are you 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 misused, 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 because she didn't like that Luke trusted her bratty little sister and not her.

"Why? Because I am falling in love with her, 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; 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 taken the time to make a marker for him. She collapsed in front of the grave and began to weep. She cried harder than she had ever cried before; the man she had fallen in love with wasn't even close to the man she had thought 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 wrote something else. Then he drove the broken end into the soil at her father's head. It took Marion a while to read the inscription. For one, it was written in an unfamiliar script, and two, her reading was just good enough to make her way through the bible slowly. Women of this time were seldom able to read. Marion was able to read because she had taught herself. 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 who gave his life so 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, I would be able to die a happy man. Go in peace now, Charles of York. I promise I will do everything I can to protect your family."

Marion knew what she had to do and knew what she had done. She was so pissed with herself for turning her back on Luke that she could barely stand herself. Hell, she couldn't even cry. 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; however, in terms of mental abilities, he stated multiple times that men and women are at least equals and, in some areas, women are superior to men for the most part. She also knew that Luke would never hurt her and would die to protect her. Finally, Marion stood up, wiped her face off, turned around, and ran off to find Luke before he left. She could only hope and pray that she wasn't too late. He might turn his back on her, and she wouldn't blame him if he did after what she had done to him, but she had to try. She couldn't go on living without knowing.

As fast as Marion ran through the woods, her mind ran 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?' The 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 at 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; she just had to find Luke before it was too late.

Finally, she reached the clearing where they had camped, but 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 because Cecilia couldn't read or write. Still, Marion would have known it was from him anyway because she recognized his writing style and, since she was getting used to his writing, was able to read it much faster:

Marion,

"I am deeply sorry that I have angered you. I genuinely wish the circumstances were different because I have started falling in love with you. I do not blame you if you never talk to me again. I realize I completely overwhelmed you, and am so sorry for hurting you. I have left with Cecilia to get her home. After that, I will be leaving England. I genuinely hope you find the happiness and love in life that an outstanding woman like yourself deserves.

Goodbye,

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 evident to Marion at the time that Luke didn't like keeping secrets from her, but she had never known anyone to tell her the simple truth without wanting something in return. Just to make herself feel even better, the only time that someone told her the truth without wanting anything in return, she ran away. Luke took reasonability for angering her, admitted he had fallen in love with her, and revealed where he was going. At all costs, she had to catch him before he left England. Marion knew that Luke would be slowed down a bit with the carriage. The problem was that she didn't have a horse or any other gear, but she didn't care. As Marion followed the tracks toward the road, she heard a familiar sound coming from the brush. When she looked, she found a horse with all the gear she would need.

In the saddlebags, she found money and some food. She had seen all this stuff recently. It was the gear that the three of them had collected from the dead after Luke had saved them. This could only mean one thing: Luke had left it without Cecilia's knowledge because if she had known, she would have done everything she could to prevent Luke from leaving anything for Marion. With the horse, knowing where Luke and Cecilia were headed and that Luke wanted her to rejoin him, Marion took off to find them and reclaim her man.

Once Luke explained what had happened to Cecilia, leaving out the part about him being from the future, Cecilia demanded that Luke finish escorting her home. Luke was too heartbroken 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 admit that Cecilia was beautiful and somewhat charming. With him being hurt so badly by Marion, Cecilia figured it would be easy to get her hands on Luke. Still, Luke maintained some of his wits about him, even with his broken heart. He wouldn't show Cecilia his computer or rifle, and she wouldn't be able to look at them secretly. 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. Figuring that it would take a few days, she knew that she would wear down Luke's resistance to her. Cecilia wanted all the knowledge that Luke undoubtedly possessed, and she always got what she wanted.

After they broke camp, Cecilia and Luke made a pretty good time until they had to stop and set up camp for the night. During their trip, Luke barely talked to Cecilia but kept his eyes open in case of ambush. Luke still wouldn't take the chance of getting a room at an inn. Cecilia wasn't happy about this, but since she had set herself a mission, she wasn't about to complain about it. After Luke set up the campsite, Cecilia was too much of a lady to help; he went to get some food. While he was gone, Cecilia searched his gear and found clues about who Luke was. At least she would have if she could read, that is. She decided she would have Luke arrested for something when they got home and then take his gear to a monk she trusted who loved reading. Seeing Luke coming back with food, Cecilia continued to pure on the charm:

"See, Luke, I would never leave you, unlike my stupid, selfish sister. She never cared about anyone except herself, but you deserve a woman who can 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 and acted accordingly. Her sister had severely damaged him, and Cecilia knew from long experience with men that it might take her a little longer to get what she wanted from Luke. At bedtime, Cecilia insisted that she was terrified of nightmares and was afraid to sleep alone.

"It was fine before Marion ran off because someone was there with me. With her now gone, I am afraid I will start having nightmares."

"Sorry, Cecilia, but someone needs to keep watch during the night. If you get nightmares, I will be right here for you."

Finally, wondering how much longer Luke could 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, losing his fiancé, losing the rest of everyone he had ever 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. The thing was, the harder Cecilia tried, the more she drove Luke away. She didn't know this, and Luke wasn't about to tell her. He had promised to get her home, and he would. Luke would then go 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 possible to make up some time. As she went, she would ask people from the other direction if they had seen a carriage with more horses than would typically be around and headed in the same direction she was. A few people had, and Marion learned 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 she finally had to stop, she took care of her horse, for without it, there wouldn't be a chance to catch Luke. Then she ate some of the food 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 loins. At first, she tried to fight it, but the more she thought about Luke, the hotter she became. It didn't take long for her to start rubbing herself, with one hand rubbing across her breast 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 between her legs 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 just did was preached against as a mortal sin for as long as she could remember, and now she figured she was going to hell. The second emotion took some of the guilty edges off because she felt an amazing calm descend. She just didn't give a fuck what those priests and nuns said. This feeling was new to her, but it didn't take long to figure out that Luke had led her to this feeling, and the more she thought about it, the more 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 she didn't expect was that making herself feel good helped her sleep quickly.

The following day, Marion was up before the sun and felt more rested than she had in years. Another effect that Luke had on her was that she didn't feel the need to pray or visit a priest to ask for forgiveness. Quickly, she ate a bit and got the horse ready. She knew Cecilia wasn't a morning person, so she figured she could make up some serious ground. Marion had her dress in a saddlebag since Luke had left it there and was wearing some of the clothes they had gotten off the dead guys. At first, she felt terrible about this, but seeing the reactions of the people she met on the road made her fully realize Luke's wisdom because nobody seemed to realize that she was a woman.

She had been traveling for a few hours when she came upon a recently abandoned campsite. She checked it out and found a purse with money, a short note, and some food. Again, she recognized the purse and the writing. The message informed Marion that her sister was up to no good. She estimated she only missed them by about an hour or so, judging by how much heat was in the embers. She quickly got the fire going again and boiled some water. She remembered Luke's warning about contaminated water. After boiling enough water to refill her canteen and ensuring her horse had enough water and grass to eat, she set out again. Again, Marion traveled to nightfall, and when she stopped, she could see a small campfire in the distance. She began to plan what she would do when she caught up with Luke and Cecilia.

With her sister's two-faced nature, Marion would have a hard time just showing back up in camp, but she also wanted to meet up with Luke and apologize for turning her back on him and running off. Finally, Marion had a plan, and she rubbed herself again. This time, she began with what felt the best and, within minutes, had cum so hard that she saw stars before dozing off. Here, she found another advantage to wearing pants; it was straightforward for her to slip her hand into her pants to play with herself and then slip her hand back out again when she finished. The biggest downside that she had found was that taking a leak left her feeling exposed since she couldn't just hike her dress up and squat.

Marion rose with the sun and got underway quickly the following day. Sure enough, the fire 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; he couldn't have gone far. After an hour, Marion began to get worried. There was evidence that Luke was still with Cecilia, but Marion hadn't seen Luke anywhere. She watched 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 Luke had taught her, but whoever was behind her was very strong. Marion now felt like she was fighting for her life and felt stronger than ever. Finally, she was able to face who had attacked her and was surprised to be looking into someone's chest.

CHAPTER IV

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 would break his promise and leave her alone. She was lazy, incompetent, and greedy. These are all the traits that almost anyone would think of when they hear the word aristocracy. On the other hand, Marion didn't share any of those traits, and she was brilliant to boot, but she cracked and ran off when Luke told her his biggest secret. This had saddened him profoundly, but then again, he was used to that in his life. Anytime something good happened to him, that good thing would be ripped away.

Looking up while working on breaking up a branch, he saw a young man on a horse approaching the camp carefully. As Luke watched, the young man carefully looked through the camp as though he knew what he was searching 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 worked around the stranger's hiding spot until he 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 starting to stir. Luke got up behind the stranger and clamped his hand over his mouth. The stranger instantly began to fight back hard, and it was all Luke could do to keep the stranger under control. The stranger's hat fell off during the struggle, revealing long golden blonde hair. Whoever this stranger was, they were strong and determined. Eventually, the stranger turned around to where he was facing Luke, and then suddenly, 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 smacked him hard across his face, and he was surprised it stung pretty badly. What happened next shocked him even more. Marion jumped up, wrapped her legs around his waist, knocked him on his ass, and kissed him 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 she wouldn't let go this time. 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 ground her crotch against Luke. Between the kissing and the humping, Luke was getting aroused. How could he not? Here was the most beautiful woman that he had ever laid eyes on, on top of him and grinding her tight pussy into his lap. Luke's 20cm cock was now painfully erect. Marion had moved one of her hands down and fiddled with the strings that held his pants up. Usually, Luke would have been able to stop her, but between her delicious kisses and her beautiful body moving around on top of him, not 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 the feel of Luke's huge, hot cock in her hand stopped most of the blood from getting to her brain, and her body felt like it was on autopilot. The heat she felt increased when Luke started moving his hands over her breast.

It had been pleasurable for Marion when she touched her breasts, but she lost all ability to reason when Luke did it. While his hands were big enough to cover her entire breast, he was extremely gentle with them. This went against everything other women had ever told her; when a man got ahold of her breast, he almost always got very aggressive, and she should expect bruises afterward.

Marion now felt hotter than ever before and started to rip her shirt off. Luke carefully helped her pull her shirt over her head. With her breast exposed, Luke raised his head and kissed Marion's breast. He carefully circled each one with kisses while purposely avoiding her nipples. This drove Marion mad; she wanted Luke to suck on her nipples so badly. Finally, she had enough of Luke's teasing and, grabbing his head, put one of her nipples in his mouth. He got the hint and began to suckle on her, adding his tongue to the mix, swirling around her hard nipple. Marion started to feel extremely lightheaded as Luke continued his sucking. While he was sucking on one nipple, one of his giant hands was caressing and gently pinching the other one. His other hand was locked onto the back of Marion's neck. Marion was now entering a state of ecstasy that she didn't know existed.

When she first started, she had expected Luke to work at getting her pants off quickly, but that's not even close to what Luke did. He didn't try to push her; he just let her continue at her own pace. Luke had never liked to push the women he slept with, preferring to let them set the pace. This annoyed many of the women he had been with in his old life. Somehow, they all viewed this as weak on his part while never understanding the tremendous amount of restraint required of him not to push his thick cock deep inside them.

Luke had found that being well endowed was as much a curse as a 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, was a woman who didn't mind taking the lead. It was ironic 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 and ruin it." Looking at Luke, she could tell that he felt the same way.

Luke quietly laughed, "So I'm guessing 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 for behaving like a bloody idiot."

"Nice contraction use, by the way."

"What can I say? You've corrupted 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."

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 and enough brush in the way to hide them. The two smiled at each other. Eventually, Cecilia moved back to the campsite. After she had moved away, Marion got up and had a naughty idea; she turned her butt toward Luke's face, bent over at her waist, and reached down to retie his pants. The sight of Marion bent over like that was driving Luke wild, and his friend showed no signs that he wanted to be contained. To make things worse for Luke, she was too far away for him to rub her pussy with his hands. Marion whispered to Luke's cock:

"Don't worry, friend; I'll take outstanding care of you later."

She gave Luke's cock a kiss and then tied Luke's pants before standing back up, making sure to flip her hair as she did. When she looked back at Luke, the look on his face was priceless. He looked like a stunned steer; Marion knew that she now had Luke, and nothing 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 somewhat behaving. This was good news since neither Marion nor Luke thought they were ready to reveal her return to Cecilia. Finally, Luke stood up, gave Marion a deep, passionate kiss that caused lightning to fly between them, moved back around to where he had left the firewood he had gathered, picked it up, and returned to camp. Cecilia gave him an earful about being late when Luke finally returned to camp. The problem for Cecilia now was that Luke didn't care about her.

"What the hell are you bitching about this time, Cecilia. I am not the one who sleeps half the morning away. It has been light for three hours, and you are just now waking up."

Cecilia was taken aback. This was the first time Luke had forcefully stood up to her, and she would now have to take drastic action to put him back in his place. She walked up to him and slapped him as hard as she could.

"Don't ever talk back to me, peasant!" she snapped.

She then moved to slap him again. As her hand started to come up, something stopped it. Now very pissed, Cecilia turned to see what had stopped her, and she was stunned to be face-to-face with Marion.

"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 she wasn't joking. "Like he would 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 seeing my woman ripping you a new one."

"WHAT!!!" Cecilia shrieked, "How could you? Why would you? I am the one who you are supposed to be with. She ran away!"

"I will try to make this easy for an idiot like 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; with you, let's say 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 when you do mess up. And finally, while I admit you are beautiful, Marion is more beautiful than Helen of Troy. Also, your beauty is only skin deep; hers goes into 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. Since you started trying to seduce me, I knew you would do everything possible to force me to tell you everything I know. Even though you cannot handle the information I have access to," Luke said smugly.

Cecilia just stood there stunned. Nobody had ever talked back to her before, and now, here were two people who not only talked back to her; one was her younger sister, and the other, Cecilia, just classified as a large, dumb peasant. He wasn't as dumb as Cecilia thought, but that didn't matter. What neither Luke nor Marion knew was that Cecilia had helped set up the ambush with William. The bit with William cutting her dress off was mainly for show, and Cecilia felt a bit kinky when she set it up. Plus, a gang bang sounded like fun to her. 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 somehow 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 who had "rescued" them from the ambush, and now she had even won him over completely. Cecilia knew 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 they had been having. To rub salt into Cecilia's wounds, Marion stood next to Luke, and he put his arm around her. Cecilia now had to be very careful and stomped to the carriage to sit down. Luke went to tend the fire, and Marion went to get her horse. After Marion returned, she went up to Luke and kissed him deeply. Cecilia fumed even more because her lifelong campaign to keep Marion subdued and meek was also coming undone. Marion was now quickly gaining self-confidence and strength, and if Cecilia didn't do something quickly, she wouldn't have any chance of getting Luke to cooperate, even under torture.

After Marion finished making out with Luke, she whispered to him, "We need to talk alone and quickly." Luke nodded his agreement, figuring Marion needed to talk about it. A blind idiot could have figured it out just from feeling the tension between Marion and Cecilia. After Luke finished making breakfast and everyone ate, they returned to the road. Cecilia drove the carriage while Luke and Marion rode their mounts. Luke put all his gear on one of the spare horses and covered it with some cloth to hide it. While it was weird looking, nobody would see his modern gear because the last thing he wanted to do was answer any questions, especially about his strange equipment. He didn't put it in the carriage because Cecilia was driving, and he didn't want her to try to drive off with it. By late afternoon, the group was at the gates of Nottingham.

Luke intended to stop here and sell all the extra stuff, and Marion fully agreed since traveling without the carriage would be much easier. To their surprise, Cecilia also agreed because she had enough of riding in that damn thing, and the roads would get worse the closer they got to York. She still had to get home, or at least somewhere safe, before she could make her move.

When they first got into town, Luke insisted that the three of them explore the city before they sold anything to find out what goods and services were available. Doing that took the rest of the day. Finally, they agreed on a reasonably priced inn with decent food. They had rented two rooms, one for Luke and one for Cecilia and Marion. After eating, they decided it was time to retire for the evening; it had been a 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; his stuff was irreplaceable and held immeasurable knowledge. Carrying his gear up, he covered everything with an old blanket so no one could see the equipment. Everyone could see that he was hiding something, but not what.

Before revealing his modern gear, he started a fire and checked the room, looking for listening holes or false walls. After a bad experience with a high school girlfriend, Luke thoroughly checked out every new room he slept in. He had been set up to be caught secretly on film having sex with her so she could blackmail him. It hadn't worked because Luke caught sight of the hidden camera at the last moment and turned the tables on her. Still, the experience had left him wary of new rooms. Looking at the bed, Luke decided he would be more comfortable on the floor, so he set up his mattress pad and sleeping bag. Plus, he didn't feel like being an all-you-could-eat buffet for all the critters who lived in the bed or the provided bedding. Before Luke laid down, he stripped. This was the first time he had been entirely naked since before he had left home on his hunting trip, and it felt so good to finally be without clothes, especially those itchy damn medieval things. He didn’t know how people could wear such awful things, but he figured he had better get used to it. To help him unwind, Luke fired up his computer to listen to music and look at pictures of his family. He ensured his earbuds were secure so no one else would hear the music. Finally, Luke started getting tired and put his computer away. Just as he shut his eyes, there was a soft knock at the door.

Cecilia and Marion had taken the larger room since there were two beds. The atmosphere in the room was colder than the Arctic 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 sleep but was restless. She didn't trust Cecilia and wouldn't put it past her to take a knife to her throat during the night. Marion finally noticed that Cecilia was asleep. She climbed out of bed and left the room as quietly as possible, 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.

Luke hurried up, threw his pants back on, and grabbed a knife before getting to the door. Quietly, he opened the door a bit and carefully peered through the crack. 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 makes me nervous, and I'm worried she will take a knife to my throat while I sleep. I was hoping 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 arm around her while gently guiding her to where he was sleeping.

"Why are you sleeping on the floor, Luke?"

"An old injury I got years ago makes it hard to sleep on soft beds. Having a harder surface to lay on removes the pressure, and I can sleep."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"That's okay. You didn't know."

"Wow, contractions do make speaking faster and easier."

"Yep."

With that, Luke put his knife away and dropped his pants again. Just enough light was coming from the dying fire for Marion to see that Luke was now naked. Suddenly, she wasn't tired and had a fire of her own, burning in her loins 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 realized 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 because, 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 held her face using both of his hands.

"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 young life. Luke started by rolling her over on her back and kissing her neck. Just his kisses on her neck caused her to have mini orgasms. He then moved slowly down to her breast. He moved in circles around each one, smothering them in kisses but not touching her nipples, and when she tried to force 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 she giggled when he got to her navel.

She had never been ticklish, but Luke's kissing her belly button 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 on Earth anymore. At least not mentally. Luke then gently 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 with his tongue. This completely surprised Marion because she had never heard anything like this discussed by the other women in the castle. Marion then discovered more layers of pleasure than she ever realized. She could feel Luke's hot breath on her moist skin and the stubble on his face brushing against her. Most of all, Marion could feel his tongue working its way into her slit. When it hit her clit, she took a deep breath and froze. Marion's control over her body started to quickly slip away as Luke worked his way up and down her slit, causing Marion to start involuntarily thrusting her hips. Luke gently held her down, and this drove Marion wild.

"You might want to cover your face with a pillow or something, sweetheart, so you don't wake up the whole town," Luke said, chuckling.

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. As it was, she screamed at the top of her lungs into the pillow for almost twenty seconds before collapsing. Her muscles were contracting randomly, and she was covered in sweat. Luke had taken pity on her and stopped tonguing her. He waited until her breathing had become more regular before kissing 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," he whispered into her ear.

Marion's eyes now shot open as she felt the tip of Luke's cock on her slit, and she whimpered softly. He moved the tip up and down her slit a few times to make sure that it had sufficient lubrication on it. At least Marion was already plenty wet since 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 in half as Luke pushed into her. He would push a little bit into her and stop. After she had adjusted to his size, Luke pushed a bit more into her. As he slid into her, Luke was kissing Marion. Luke continued this until bottoming out. Once he had bottomed out, he stopped and gently kissed Marion. She was now crying softly, and Luke kissed 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 left on Earth would she ever be able to figure it out. When Luke heard her, she could have sworn that she saw his eyes flash fire-red, and he got very angry with her. He grabbed her face roughly and held it so his eyes locked onto hers. What she saw then terrified her because she had never seen someone so angry.

"Now, you listen, and you listen to me well," started Luke in a deep growl that sounded more like a wild animal than 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 proceed with a relationship, it will be as equals, as partners. NOT as master and servant or even dominant and submissive. If we 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 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 nothing but love in them.

"Because Marion of York, I love you more than life itself, and you are not inferior to me in my mind. I only want this relationship to happen if it's between equals, as partners."

Marion started sobbing as she wrapped her arms around Luke's neck. Finally, she muttered the most essential 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, and she was producing copious amounts of fluid. Before long, Luke was slowly thrusting in and out of her. The sensations that Luke's cock caused and the knowledge that they both loved each other 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 lasted maybe five minutes from start to finish. But then again, everything else that she thought she knew had already been shattered by this man; why not the amount of time spent engaged in sexual intercourse 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, and it liked being on top. It not only went up and down but also side to side and even moved about in circles while searching for the perfect spot. As Marion's body learned what it liked, Luke learned what Marion liked because he was paying close attention to how her body moved. He wanted to make sure that she craved making love to him. She could feel the ridges caused by Luke's veins, his body heat fueled the fire in her loins, and she could feel his cock curving a bit upwards. This caused it to rub her G-spot constantly. By this time, Marion's brain was barely functioning, and her body was on autopilot. 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 blackout entirely. 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 relaxed. As he laid there, he listened to Marion's breathing as he stroked her hair and heard her softly snoring. Smiling to himself, he pulled Marion a bit closer and drifted off to sleep.

Luke woke up the following day 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, sir?" said one of the inn's staff.

"Umm, can you give me a little bit so I can finish waking up? Then I can talk to the cook about breakfast."

"Yes, sir."

"I will be down in a bit."

Luke gently woke Marion up by rubbing her clit, thus giving her an orgasm that woke her up. The look on her face was priceless for Luke. She still looked like she was in orbit from last night, and her hair was messy.

"Good morning, sweetheart," he chirped.

"What a rotten thing to say to someone who doesn't know where they are," 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 than 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; I'm starving, and bet you are, too. 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 at getting dressed. Marion had to run to her room quickly to get her clothes, but Cecilia was a sound sleeper, so she didn't wake her. Luke took a bucket of water and a rag to clean Marion's pussy, and then she took the rag and cleaned Luke's cock. When they were both happy, they got dressed and went down to eat. On the way out of the room, Luke made sure that the door was locked, and then he carefully put a strand of thread 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, figuring that it's probably not a good idea to argue when the customer is bigger than a horse. Luke shared his eggs while Marion shared some of her stew with him. They both had a mug of thin ale to wash everything down. 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, Marion would have been dead with the looks she got from her sister. By this time, though, Marion didn't care about her. Luke paid for their meal and Cecilia's as well. He wanted to ensure that the innkeepers got the money due because Marion had told him 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 looked around both rooms to ensure they didn't miss anything. Then they locked the doors and returned downstairs, where they returned the keys. Marion walked over to Cecilia and gave her the bag with her stuff.

"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 knew what was going on because Luke 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? Plus, he didn't have somewhere he could modify it so that it would work. Later, he would. He had even found a sword and knife that Marion could handle, so he bought them. What amazed him was that he even found a sword for himself. The next stop was a tailor to sell the extra clothing. This time, Luke bought a new outfit for himself, one that fit somewhat comfortably. After they hit a dead end with the carriage, Luke had an idea. They broke the carriage down into its pieces and sold the parts. They made much more money doing this than they would have by selling it in one piece.

"What made you think of that, Luke?" Marion asked him after they had finished.

"Back in my time, many 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. Usually, you would make many times more money by selling the parts than you would by selling it whole," Luke whispered back. He then snuck in and nibbled on her ear, making her giggle.

The last stop was to sell the extra horses. They only needed three but decided to keep an additional three just in case and as pack animals. As Marion and Luke emerged from the stables, Cecilia finally caught up with them. To say that she was pissed was an understatement. It was now midafternoon, and she had been going all over town looking for them. Cecilia couldn't wait until she could get rid of Marion and get revenge on Luke. One plus side of her wandering the city was meeting 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 occur outside of town, so it looked random. As Cecilia approached them, Marion told her they would be leaving since they had sold everything. This threw a wrench into Cecilia's plans because she figured they wouldn't leave until tomorrow. She had to delay them.

"Are you sure? I mean, there are reports of bandits out there?"

"What, are you scared, sis?" teased Marion. Cecilia noticed that Marion was now carrying herself taller and 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.” Cecilia just looked at Luke. “He knows a lot about swords and knives."

"Yep, guilty as charged. I used to make swords and knives when I was younger, and I still make an occasional knife when I get the chance."

"But you said you never used a sword before," whined Cecilia.

"Yep, I've never used a sword before in combat, but I've made plenty of them, so I know how to handle them."

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. I knew that it was only a..."

SMACK.

That was as far as Cecilia got before Marion knocked her to the ground with a right cross, giving Cecilia a bloody nose in the process.

"You call Marion a whore again, and you will be eating all your teeth," growled Luke with fire in his eyes and his hand on his sword.

Cecilia sat on the ground, more afraid than she had ever been because, at the moment, Luke didn't look like a human. Instead, he looked like a Titan from Greek mythology that had come to life. Luke hunched back on his heels slightly, and losing all the color in her face, Cecilia peed herself. Many predators hunched back slightly before attacking, and Cecilia was genuinely terrified of Luke attacking her. With his anger still building, it was a real possibility. The worst thing about this for Cecilia was that she was usually the one that people were afraid of. Marion then patted Luke on his arm, and the fire disappeared from his eyes as he relaxed. It might have been her bratty little sister that had knocked Cecilia on her ass, but it was Luke’s reaction to her that scared her.

"Come on, Luke; we need to get going."

CHAPTER V

The three of them left town that afternoon. Marion was no longer afraid of bandits. Not with her new sidearms, training, and boyfriend. Now, it was Cecilia who was terrified. She was still unarmed, and worse still, she had managed to thoroughly piss off Luke. This was a man that she had watched 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 without struggling a bit. This was something that Cecilia had never seen before. She had never seen someone so strong and yet so caring. All this was making her extremely jealous of Marion's relationship with Luke. Cecilia was hanging behind as they left Nottingham, trying to slow Luke and Marion down. However, they barely slowed down at all. Cecilia could see them talking and laughing, but she couldn't hear from where she was.

However, if she caught up so that she could hear, she wouldn't be able to slow them down. Once in a while, she would see Luke and Marion stop talking and glance back at her before they would resume talking.

Marion and Luke rode at a decent clip; both had one of the pack animals tied to their saddle. This way, the pack animals couldn't wander off, and Cecilia couldn't steal them. Within five minutes of them leaving the town gates, it was evident that Cecilia was trying to slow them down. At first, Marion wanted to slow down so she could keep up, but Luke didn't.

"If a big guy like me can ride this fast after not ridden horses in years, she can keep up. After all, we have all the gear with us, and her extra horse is just a spare, so she needs to speed up more than we need to slow down," Luke told Marion.

At first, Marion wasn't sure, but her desire to be with Luke quickly overrode thoughts of slowing down for her sister. It didn't take her long to figure out another benefit since as long as they didn't yell, Marion and Luke could talk without worrying about Cecilia overhearing them. Marion rode a bit faster to open the gap up more before talking with Luke.

"Luke, what's the future like?"

Luke had to think for a second about how best to answer this.

"How do you mean?"

"Well, I guess, for starters, what did you do to support yourself?"

"Well, I owned a small company that specialized in engineering consulting. That means when another company has some special project and needs an engineering specialty they don't have, then they would call my company. Someone from my company, usually me, would talk with the potential customer to see what they needed. If we could help them, then we would discuss the project. They would tell me everything they wanted the project to do, then I or someone in my company would create possible solutions for them and the cost of that solution. Creating those solutions took time and money, with some creations taking over half a year. The customer, of course, had to pay for that. Once we had everything ready, we would present the solutions to the customer, who could then decide how to proceed. If they liked one of our solutions the best, my company would oversee the installation of those solutions, with some jobs taking over a year to complete. At any one time, we might be working on five or ten projects. That way, we would never run out of work."

That was a preview of The Medieval Marine. To read the rest purchase the book.

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