Tuesday Teaser 1/22/19: Gina’s Wolf Part 33

I am back from the Barony of Nordskogen’s 12th Night event. I had a great time. I joined the SCA about 20 years ago but don’t play like I used to. Fun events like this make me wonder why I am not more active. I got to see some of my favorite people. It’s the people I miss the most. I meant to take a bunch of pics, but of course I forgot. Grr. Here are a few of the ones I took.

I really had a great time. I’m looking forward to being more involved from here on out. I bought a ton of fabric to make myself more garb. Some court garb (think heavy and fancy) and maybe some lighter weight summer type garb. I’m going to try to stick to Renaissance Italy, which is what my persona is supposed to be. We’ll see! Maybe I’ll post some pics of what I will be sewing from time to time.

I didn’t get that much time to write since I was either packing, or away, or unpacking for most of last week, but I do have a snip for you. I hope you enjoy it!

Gina woke in confusion. The sun was already gleaming weakly through the curtain when someone pounded on her door. Patia’s voice called, “Gina? Gina, come quick. Something awful has happened!”

Gina’s  heart leaped into her throat and stayed there the entire time she threw on her clothes and ran out of her room. The hall was dark. Patia grabbed her arm and rushed her down the stairs, through the kitchen where breakfast was being prepared, to the restaurant’s empty dining room, where a dim light cast eerie shadows over a handful of people. Taye was there, face as a hard and grim as stone. His arm was around his wife, and only when he glanced down at her did his face soften slightly. Carla’s cheeks gleamed with tears, but her lips were pressed firmly together. Rose leaned her back against the edge of a table, her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face. Sky looked about as happy as Taye. He turned when she and Patia came in.

She forced her voice to be calm. “What happened? Are we under attack?”

“Not exactly.” Taye reach his free hand to touch her shoulder.  “Cole has been captured.”

Cold swallowed her. “Captured?” she echoed. “By my stepfather?”

“His people,” Taye said gently.

The cold reached her heart. “Is he alive?”

“Yeah. It will be alright.”

She jerked her head from side to side. “No,” she whispered. “It won’t.”

Taye left Carla to fold Gina in a fatherly embrace. “Yes, it will. We’ll get him back.”

For a moment she let herself believe it. But her mother’s husband would never release his prize.  A wolf shifter was too unique to give up. Todd would perform tests on him to find out all he could about his shifting abilities before finally killing him to dissect him. If Cole was lucky, he would be dead before the dissection began. She stepped back from Taye and regarded him numbly.

“My stepfather will never let him go.”

Taye glanced over her at Sky. “Then we’ll take him back.”

Sky nodded and glanced at the window. “It’s time to go.”

“Go where?” Gina asked.

“To the wall,” her father-in-law replied. “They’re bringing Cole out so we have proof he’s alive.”

Her heart sank. That meant her stepfather wanted something.

“Patia and Rose will stay here,” Taye said in a tone that made Gina realize where Cole got his bossy ways. “Carla and Gina are mother and mate. They will come.”

 She went to get her coat and joined the rest of them in their cold walk to the wall around Omaha. They climbed steps to a ledge that ran along the inside of the wall near the top. The dozen men already there squeezed back to let them pass. They could look out over the top of the wall but their bodies remained safely protected.

The mayor was already there. His greeted them pleasantly, but she could see the strain in the lines around his mouth. “They’re out there.”

He nodded to the wall.  Gina stood on tiptoes to look out. In the glare of the early morning sun she saw only an indistinct line of people standing quite a distance from the wall before Taye gently pulled her back.

“Don’t show yourself,” he cautioned.

He and Sky stepped in front of her, solidly blocking her from looking out.

Carla lopped her arm through Gina’s. “Did you see him?” she said.

“No,” she whispered. “I didn’t have enough time to get a good look.”

Her mother-in-law smiled. “No use whispering.” She nodded at her husband and Sky. “They can hear us no matter how quiet we are.”

Mayor McGrath drawled, “Is that a white flag? I believe it is. Should we accept their surrender?” His dark chuckle said he knew Kansas-Missouri wasn’t surrendering. “What the f—” He broke off with a quick glance over his shoulder at Gina and Carla. “I wonder what they want.”

Taye spoke, and Gina thought his words were more for the women behind him than for the mayor. “There are a dozen men standing in a line just out of gunshot range. One of them is Cole. He doesn‘t look injured, but he is being held up by a man on either side of him. Either he is too weak to stand on his own or he is ill.”

Carla’s hand tightened on Gina’s arm, but she said nothing. Gina herself wanted to push her way to the wall and look for herself. She stiffened her spine and kept quiet.

Taye went on. “Two men are coming closer. They have a stick with a white cloth tied to the end.”

“Parley,” said McGrath. He raised his voice. “Let them come closer.”

After a moment, the mayor shouted again, more loudly. “That’s close enough, gentlemen. What can I do for you this fine spring day?”

“We come on behalf of His Excellency, President Gerald Todd of Kansas-Missouri.”

“Oh,” the mayor murmured as if to himself. “I was wondering who was running around out there.”

Gina blinked. Wasn’t he taking this seriously?

He raised his voice again. “And?”

“The president has one of your people in his custody. He offers a trade. Send out his daughter and he will release your man.”