Summer Lawns Ch. 15 - D-Day!

"Well alright. But if you let me down Sandra will be very angry, and she will find out." Charles knew he would regret the decision, but what else could he do.

"Relax Charlie, we can enjoy ourselves for a while. You enjoyed me in the Maze that morning, why not now. These young soldiers would jump at the chance of having a girl before the big battle. Why not us two now?"

Gremalgin pulled open the green tunic she had stolen to reveal her perfectly formed breasts. The nipples sticking up to invite Charles to bend down and suck on them. They felt good and soft, and he squeezed his lips around the tips and gulped the flesh into his mouth. They both unbuckled their battle-dress pants and let them fall down their legs to the ground.

Even his underpants were of the period and Gremalgin pulled these down to let his weapon curl out then stand erect before them both. She just smiled and lent against the truck which hid them from the groups of men walking along the quayside.

Gremalgin propped herself up on the mudguard of the truck and spread her legs wide apart. Her red rose opened for him to see, and he continued by licking this until it became wet and soft. So excited had they both become, that the boy could hardly wait to plunge his cock deep into her rich mound. The girl rocked back and forth on the hard metal and she felt the boy push himself into her. Even when they heard voices close at hand, they still kept going, until they could both wait no more and Charles came hot and hard. Gremalgin still wrapped her legs around him after she had come and wanted more but the military police were closing in, and no Magic could keep them off forever.

The ship set sail that night and by the first light of morning, Charles knew they were getting ready for the invasion. They lined up on deck and awaited orders.

Charles wondered how he would react to combat? Sure enough, all his family had seen action in one war or another. In fact, his family had come to be in this situation because of a war. But that seemed distant now. Suddenly a terrible thought came home to Charles. His own Grandfather was taking part in this conflict.

How ironic that he should be standing here, taking part in the very battle his grandfather had talked about so much? If only his father could see him here, maybe Charles could stop living in their shadow?

Somewhere in this invasion fleet, stood his grandfather, as scared and confused as himself. There was one consolation, and that was Charles could finally look him in the eye and not feel ashamed when the old war stories were wheeled out.

Funny really, but in a way, this was what he had always wanted. If he could not prove himself now, he would never get another chance. Ampstwell was a long way off when the barrage opened up on the French coast.

Cannon shells poured from the big guns, to hurtle their way through the skies. As the soldiers watched, the whole of the coast exploded in a cloud of smoke, before the noise of the shock-waves hit them with a defining roar.

"Ain't no kraut gonna' live through that man!" cried a Sergeant as they watched.

It was like witnessing a volcanic eruption as everything blew up. Then waves of aircraft came in to drop even more bombs. So it was the noise of their own destruction which filled them full of fear as they made their way to the side of the ship and the nets. The landing craft was hoisted up and lowered over the side, and the nets dropped down.

Men scrambled amongst the shouts of their officers as they tried to climb down to the small bobbing boat. Charles grabbed the ropes in his hands and hoisted himself over the side. His hands were shaking so badly he could hardly grip, and several men around him became entangled as they could not concentrate due to the fear. By the time they reached the bottom of the rope ladders, the craft was pitching up and down on the waves, making it almost impossible to land inside.

Charles was grabbed by several other soldiers, as he dropped from the ropes and landed on his back on the floor of the landing-craft. Standing to his feet he tried to balance himself with all his equipment. He had not liked to mention the fact that he had no idea what most of it was. The only time he had ever fired a gun, was to try and hit rabbits on the village playing field. An incident which ended with the rabbits fleeing in all directions and the other children laughing fit to burst. The automatic rifle he held in his hands now, was very heavy, and Charles wondered if he could get away with dropping it on the beach, once they landed.

That was presuming they lived that long, for as the little landing-craft was bobbing up and down on the waves, another terrible thought came to them.

"Those navy boys are falling short!" cried a man, as a huge plume of water shot up beside them. "That one nearly hit us."

"That ain't the navy buddy! That's the krauts!" shouted back the Sergeant.

"They can't be any of them left alive, can there?" asked someone else.

"You better believe it, but don't look over the side to find out."

Sure enough, some of the big German guns had escaped the barrage, and shells rained down. They fell all around them until they heard one hit and saw men and machinery flying up in the air above them.

"That was a direct hit!"

They all watched as pieces of men fell back into the sea, and the landing-craft plunged on. As they came nearer the beach, the officer in charge looked over the side to see where they were.

"I think we are in the wrong place. The beach commander has marshalled us in the wrong place, he hasn't allowed for the tides." The young officer tried to look at his map as the craft pitched up and down, but could make nothing of it.

"Too late now sir, we'll have to go with the others, else we don't stand a chance. That's orders, sir." The Sergeant tried to reason with him, knowing they were in real trouble.

So they set off, and the beach came in site. Some of the soldiers were wearing a type of special helmet to operate the flame throwers, and some of them pulled their helmets on now, as the end of their journey came in sight.

The strangest thing to Charles was the way he could find beauty in all, even at a time like this. The plumes of foam which soared into the air were truly breathtaking, and the importance of what they were doing just added to the sense of spectacle. The fact that they were all scared just added to the theatre of it.

Then they came to the beach. By now they could hear the sounds of gunfire coming from the German positions up on the cliff, and tracers made their way down to cut through the foaming waves. Now when a shell landed, it brought up a mountain of brown silt from the ocean floor, as the shelf grew more shallow. With the shallow sea came another problem which soon became apparent to the landing-craft either side of them.

"Mines! Stay in the sea lane, they laid mines!" The officer took a look above the side of the craft and looked back at the men, white-faced.

"Then where the hell do we go sir?" asked the Sergeant.

But as they waited for a reply, fate made their minds up for them, and the landing craft hit an obstacle. Looming up above them, the soldiers could easily see the metal posts planted by the Germans all along the beach. Sure enough, they had been told to avoid these and attack a stretch of the beach where the navy had blasted a path for them, knowing the obstacles would be mined. However, someone had given the order to land in the wrong place and now the landing-craft found themselves up against the very thing sent to prevent their assault.

The only thing which saved them was another landing-craft bumping into them and pushing them away. This craft was not as lucky as they had been and touched the mine.

There was a scream of men as the explosion ripped through the craft, and now when the water lapped in, it was red. But the collision had sent them sideways and they would hit the beach at an angle and not be able to run up the sand, as the others were now doing.

It was this very fact which saved many of them, for when the landing-craft gate was dropped down, German bullets ripped into them. The first casualty was the flame thrower man, who went up like a Roman candle and set fire to several others around him. Now they all scrambled into the water, bullets or not.

A shell landed next to them, sending black silt raining down into the craft. Charles was flung sideways as the water poured in and the craft began to sink. Water flooded all around him as he threw away his rifle and tried to unstrap the heavy pack from his back. But this was too tight to his body and he could not pull off the straps.

Charles sank into the black water, as machine-gun bullets ripped into the metal of the small craft. Several other men were trapped with him, and the bullets cut threw them and they fell into the water around him.

Finally, someone wearing the flame-thrower helmet grabbed him and pulled him to the surface. Ripping the pack from his back, he coughed and looked around him. Shells were exploding overhead now, with great masses of black and white smoke growing above them, only to be swirled around by the fighters as they swooped in to bomb the guns up on the cliff.

The helmeted soldier, who had saved him from the bottom of the landing-craft, suddenly took off his helmet. Revealed before his eyes, was Gremalgin.

"Bet you thought you were dead eh Charlie?" She laughed as if she was back in the garden at Ampstwell, just having fun and enjoying every minute of it.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Charles could not believe she would turn up in a place like this, and now. "I thought you would come over as a nurse or something. We agreed last night."

"Had to get to Germany fast. I've got friends over there at this time, so they could get me off this world for good." She waded through the water, as bullets hit the side of the craft and retrieved a bag.

"They are killing people in their millions over there now! That is the last place you want to go right now Gremalgin!" Charles wondered if she had gone finally mad and just wandered into this mess.

"The nazis are the very people I want to make contact with. They raise demons all the time, and we are getting out of this place, fast. You can either come with me or stay here to die like these humans. The choice is your's Charlie?" She took the bag and looked around the front of the craft, as another landing craft floated past them on fire.

"We have to try and get back." Charles held onto the side as their ship lurched further into the water.

"You might have noticed, but Sandra was pretty pissed off with me before we left. Do you think she is going to laugh it off as a joke? No, I'm gone!" Gremalgin looked out at the beach and weighed up her chances of getting across enemy lines.

"Think about what you are doing! I really wanted you, when we fucked in the Maze." Charles could think of nothing else to say and was about to fall back in the water.

"I always had a weakness for the good looking ones."

She came across and took the Cleopatra ring from her own hand and placed it on Charles's.

"Now she can find you, but I'm taking the other stones. My magic is weak and I'll need them to get through to Berlin. Have a great life, we might meet again."

With that, she blew him a kiss and dived out into the rolling ocean, clutching the case full of diamonds.

Charles just lay there wondering what to do next. The shells were landing more often now, and the Allied Navies were sending their own shots inland to try and knock out the German guns. The sounds came like an express train above his head, and when they landed, even the dead bodies floating around him, jumped.

"What adventures have you been getting up to," said a soft voice beside him.

Charles looked up and stared into the eyes of Sandra, as she stood in the waters of the landing-craft beside him.

"Oh God, I thought you'd never come. We have to get out of here!" Charles scrambled to his feet and grabbed the woman.

"Enough said." With that, Sandra worked her Magic and the scene of war grew faint before their eyes.

When he came round Charles looked up and saw he was lying on the lawn back in Ampstwell.

"Where are we and what's the year?" He saw Sandra sitting on the grass beside him and grabbed her arm.

"Relax, we are back in our time. The war is over Charles, and you are safe. What happened to Gremalgin?" She got to her feet and walked to the house.

"She is trying to get to Berlin. Something about meeting other demons working for the Nazis, and leaving the world. Do you understand it?" Charles joined her and looked at the uniform he still wore, with the seawater dripping from it, stained red with blood.

"Yes, I think I do. Maybe it's for the best? She was nothing but trouble down here, I hope the Nazis can handle her." Sandra laughed at that thought and went inside.

"She took the diamonds," added Charles.

"Let her have them. At least she gave you the Cleopatra ring. As soon as you disappeared, I knew you had gone back in time to find her. Brave of you Charlie. Terry would never have done that. How did your disguise work out?"

"Perfect, in fact too perfect. They never doubted I was a Ranger, and let me come on the raid. But how did it work out for me? Surely you would have gone back as a WREN or something?" Charles made his way upstairs to wash off the smell of war.

"I made it to suit anyone who used it, like a new skin. So as soon as you walked through that gate, you could become anything as long as you fitted in with your surroundings. The sad fact was, the Manor House was occupied by the Americans during the last war, so that's what you came out as. Gremalgin too, although I can't imagine how she went down."

"Well that's enough time travel for me, I could sleep for a week." Charles undressed and stepped in the shower.

"Don't hang up you holster yet Charlie, we might have to go back and take a look at Ampstwell in 1645, my time," Sandra said this more to herself as she joined the boy in the shower.

"No more wars!"

"Don't worry, this time I'll be there to protect you." Sandra began rubbing soap onto his back, still scared with cuts from the landing-craft.

"What the hell do you want to go back there for? That's just as dangerous as D-Day?"

"Because Councillor Dual is an evil man, and we have to stop him from building a motorway across this land."