CHAPTER LVI

Luke was anxious to get home. Everyone just assumed that he just wanted to get home to fuck his hot girlfriend and even hotter wife and he did have to admit that was part of the reason. Ok a big part. The main reason though was that he knew that they were scheduled for invasion soon and from the spies that Marion had sent into Norway, he knew that the historical invasion was still on track. Luke wanted to get back so that they could get ready for it. Before he could leave through, he had to deal with some more rebellious nobles. This time they had acquired some firearms on the black market. Fortunately for Luke’s army; the nobles didn’t know how to use the guns they had gotten and they also didn’t have any way to get more ammunition for them. Some of them had managed to get the secret to making gun powder, but because Luke’s guns required a primer to fire them; the nobles still couldn’t use them beyond the limited use of the very small number of primers that they had managed to steal. This was one of the reasons that Luke had made these firearms, in the first place, and not simpler muzzleloaders. Luke won the battle easily but it had cost him almost one hundred dead and almost twice that wounded. The only good thing that came out of the battle was that the last of the rebellious nobles had been killed.

After the battle, Luke started his march back to York. Since it was the middle of summer, he kept the march at a slower pace and made sure that his army had plenty of water and rest. The last thing he wanted to do was to cause his soldiers to suffer from heat exhaustion, especially when there was no pressing reason that they needed to hurry to York. So, Luke and the army took their time going back. They stopped to help build difficult sections of road and to occasionally help farmers with their chores. In the end, a march that could have been done in a couple of days, ended up taking two weeks. The plus side was that support for Marion had been shored up in the region and Luke knew that in the near future, that would prove vital. He knew that support for Marion was still very shaky and he suspected that most of her support was because people feared him. One day he hoped that people would support her for her but he feared that this was still a long way off.

The sight when they got back to York left most of them speechless, for the city had changed drastically in the month and a half that they had been gone. All the streets were now paved, with concrete, with trees and flowers planted along the sides. New streets had been laid out and were in the process of having either their sewers put in or were being paved. New buildings made of brick and concrete were going up everywhere it seemed. The biggest difference though was the sheer number of people present in the city. They were everywhere and they all seemed to be doing some job. The biggest surprise they got though was from Marion herself; for she ordered that the army march right through the center of town and to assemble in the castle courtyard.

Luke paused the army outside of York for an hour or so, so that the soldiers had a chance to clean up a bit and look their best. He made sure that he also got cleaned up as well. The route to the castle was packed with civilians who had all turned out to cheer for their army. Finally, it was time; and Luke had the band led the way, into the city, but the crowd was so loud that barely anyone could even hear the band. Luke estimated that every one of his soldiers probably gained five pounds from all the flowers they got. On the way in Luke had even observed a Jewish synagogue being built with the help of some of the Christian pastors of the city. Although Luke didn’t really like religion all that much, he did approve of everyone being allowed to be open with their faith and practice it in peace. When the army got to the castle gates, they swung open to reveal Marion and Gabriel standing there, in uniform, to personally welcome the soldiers back home. Anyone that had any doubts as to Marion’s ability to be a great leader, had them put to rest that day; for Marion proved that not only was she an excellent administrator but also that she was extremely popular with not only her troops but also the population as a whole. By now everyone had accepted her and Gabriel as a couple when the general wasn’t in town. When he was in town, every straight leaning guy between puberty and dead was jealous of him because he had two of the most beautiful and intelligent women to share his bed with every night.

Since Luke had been about halfway back in the parade, it took him a while before Marion got to him. When she did, everyone watching expected that she would jump into his arms. Instead, Luke snapped to attention and gave one of the crispest salutes that anyone had ever seen.

“General MacDougall and army returning to York as ordered, ma’am.” Marion returned his salute,

“On behalf of the people of York I am pleased to welcome you and your troops back to York. You, your troops, and their families are all invited to a banquet this evening. The doors to the banquet hall will open at eighteen-thirty hours and will remain open until all the food and drink are gone.”

Everyone in the army was stunned from Luke on down. There had been no news about a banquet. In addition, everyone was stunned by this display for they were sure that Luke would be greeted by his wife; instead, he was greeted by Marion of York, his commander. Luke was actually glad that Marion had done this for this would help reenforce her position as the military’s commander-in-chief. Personally, though he was pissed about the banquet, for he wanted to do nothing more that night than rock his beautiful wife’s world all night long. For tomorrow he had paperwork to do. Luke turned to the troops once Marion had finished.

“Due to the banquet everyone has a forty-eight-hour leave starting at seventeen hundred hours this afternoon. ATTENTION! DISMISSED!”

The troops started making their way to the barracks so that they could get their gear stored away and they could be ready for leave. Luke still had hours of work ahead of him though. Reports had to be filed, casualty list had to be updated, supplies had to be inventoried and new supplies had to be requisitioned. All this Luke had to get done before he could go on leave. So as the troops headed toward their barracks; he headed for his office for hours of paperwork. ‘Yippy, and now I have that damn banquet to go to tonight.’ thought Luke as he walked toward his office. When he tried to unlock his office door, his key wouldn’t work. “What the fuck?!?!” Luke said to himself. He was now starting to get really pissed off and was actually wishing that he was still in the field. He would have used his old-fashioned door opener but when he had designed the door, he made it so that it was virtually impossible to force the door open without a tank or explosives. Plan C was to pick the lock but his tools were in his chambers. “Well fuck me.” Luke grumbled as he headed to his chamber to get his tools for, he really wanted to get the paperwork done so that he could actually, hopefully, enjoy a couple days off.

Luke was in for another surprise when he got back into his chamber for, he found that his dress uniform was laid out with a note. “Why can’t I just get my fucking work done?” growled Luke as he picked up the note:

“Luke, make sure to wear your dress uniform this evening. I changed the lock on your office door so that you can’t lock yourself in your office and I have hidden your tools so that you can’t pick the lock. Gabriel will come by to get you at eighteen hundred so make sure that you are ready. I promise you that it will be worth it.

Your loving wife,

Marion”

“FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!” Luke screamed as he sent his fist through a nearby door. Now because of Marion he would have to spend a good chunk of his days off catching up on paperwork. He hated when people did this to him for, he was one of those people who hated to procrastinate. Luke looked out one of their windows at the brand-new clock tower outside. It said that it was fifteen thirty. ‘Fuck, how the hell am I going to kill two and a half hours?’ he thought. ‘Well, I guess I can try out the shower that Marion has been writing about so much’. Luke stripped down and went into their bathroom. He turned on the water and was surprised at just how well it worked. The shower helped him unwind a bit, but he was still aggravated enough that little Luke didn’t rise at all which was odd for bath time. He turned the water off, dried off, and collapsed in bed. It had been well over a month since he had been in a comfortable bed so he passed out really quickly despite being pissed.

CHAPTER LVII

After Marion had given her troops the news about the banquet, she and Gabriel retreated back into the castle.

“Did you hide Luke’s tools?” asked Marion.

“Yep, I highly doubt that he will find them for they are in his office and you have the only key around your neck.”

“Ok just make sure to get him this evening for I willing to bet that he lays down to take a nap and I want to make sure that he sees me tonight.”

“Oh dearie, you worry too much!” Exclaimed Gabriel with a giggle.

The ladies were headed to the kitchen to check on this evening’s meal. There was a large number of things that they still needed to take care of before the banquet, but with all the help that they had, they were confident that everything would be ready. Dinner would be a choice of pork, chicken, or beef that had been prepared several different ways. Sides would be vegetables and drinks would be ale, wine, or whiskey. After checking on the food, which was coming along nicely; they went to work on all their other chores that had to be done before they could go and start getting ready.

It was about five thirty when they headed off to Pollyanna’s chambers to get ready. They had left their clothes there so that Marion could surprise Luke, plus it was more fun to get ready with good friends. Granted they didn’t have that much to do: just get a quick shower, put on some light make-up, get dressed, then fix up their hair. When they got there, Pollyanna was already getting ready. She had now returned to her former vigorous self after getting beaten and giving birth to twins. When Marion and Gabriel walked in, Pollyanna was naked and Matt was napping for the campaign had worn him out too. The ladies stayed as quiet as they could so that they wouldn’t wake Matt up. Marion had almost forgot just how beautiful Pollyanna was with her warm brown eyes and almost black hair. Her skin was white as snow which really made her pubic hair stand out for it was as black as the hair on her head. She did keep it trimmed for if she didn’t it would turn into something of a jungle. Her breast were in the D-cup neighborhood and her nipples were still swollen and darker brown than usual. Gabriel and Marion both took quick showers so that they would be clean for this evening. After their showers, they slipped on their dresses. All three had been working on their dresses for a couple of weeks in secret. They had used pictures so Luke’s sister in formal wear as inspiration. Marion had a long blue dress that was a halter top and had a slit on both sides that ran up to her mid-thigh. Gabriel’s was about the same but hers was bright red. Pollyanna’s was strapless and black, since she had the biggest pair, she was able to pull off the strapless look while Gabriel and Marion went backless because they had smaller tits. This is why they all hid their dresses from Matt and Luke. They wanted their men to drool over them and to remind all the other men of what they couldn’t have. Alice wasn’t present because she had patients that she refused to leave. Marion, Gabriel, and Pollyanna had all tried to convince Alice that she needed to get away for an evening with Marion even having a beautiful green dress made for her, but Alice wouldn’t budge. She was proving to be an extremely devoted doctor and would gladly give up her personal life to help her patients. Another reason that she didn’t want to go was that neither her or her fiancé were much of the party animal and Alice much preferred to send a quiet evening with him to one of people eating and getting drunk. Her fiancé however did ask her to wear the dress for him. Alice told him:

“I will gladly wear it for our wedding and after that for parties, but not before.” That was her last word on the subject and her fiancé knew better then try and push her on it.

As promised, Gabriel went to wake Luke up at six and was surprised to find him already up. He was wearing an old pair of pants and standing in the window.

“Good evening Coronal.” Luke said in an extremely dry voice.

“Seriously, Luke. Why so formal?”

“Why not? I can’t get any fucking work done.” Now it was Gabriel’s turn to get pissed

“Now listen here, Luke. And you listen well. Marion put a lot of effort into this and you ARE going to go! End of discussion! Now get your dress uniform on!”

Luke just stood there and didn’t move a single muscle.

“LUKE!” Gabriel screamed “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!?”

“Well let’s see here.” Luke responded calmly “All I wanted to do when I got back was to get my paperwork done so that I could actually enjoy a couple of days off. Now thanks to you and Marion, I will have to spend a good chunk of tomorrow catching up on paperwork. I would have shot the lock out except I didn’t want the hassle of putting a new one in. Now please leave me alone.”

“Fuck no! Get dressed or it will be a long time before you get laid again!”

“I don’t need to get laid to survive, Gabriel.”

Gabriel was now fuming. How could Luke even think of refusing Marion after all the work that she had done to surprise him with everything. She stormed out the door, slamming it shut. On her way back, Gabriel literally ran into Pollyanna and Matt. After explaining why she was beyond pissed, Matt told her:

“Better let me talk to him first before you go off halfcocked Gabriel. After all I have been campaigning with him continuously for the last month and a half.”

“Fine but hurry. The party is about to start and Marion is expecting Luke to be there.” The three of them walked back to Luke’s chambers. Matt knocked before he entered, finding Luke still in front of the window. He signaled the women to stay in the hall and be quiet.

“You know that you really pissed Gabriel off, right Luke?”

“She’s a big girl. She’ll get over it.” Luke responded flatly.

“Ok what gives, Luke? I’ve never seen you pissed like this.”

“Oh, you really don’t want to go there.”

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have asked.” Luke took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

“Pull up a seat Matt.” Luke stated as he turned around. After Matt had sat down, Luke started. “Do you know how much paperwork has to be done to keep the army running smoothly?” Matt was taken off guard at this

“Ah no, I do not.”

“Thought not.