Gisela

[Acalewia]

Derick figured Gisela and the man knew each other, judging by the recognition on both sides.
“Who uses harlot anymore?”
"Stay out of this," the man turned to Derick.
"No one asked you to come. Unless the witch has you on a short leash," Snickers came from the two men behind him.
“So now she’s a witch?”
“Derick, don’t,”
"Are you afraid he'll let something slip, Witch?"
“Will you stop with the witch thing already,”
“He’s obviously deep under her spell,” the young man who had led them there said.
"Spell?"
"Damnit! Stay the hell out of this!" Gisela turned back to the man. "What do you want? You got your man to lure me down here. So what the **** do you want?"
“You still have the foul mouth,”
"Your point?" Gisela was struggling to keep her cool. Derick gently touched her arm.
“I don’t know you and I don’t care to. She didn’t want to set foot here,” He pointed at the painting. “And I now understand why,” The man snorted. One of the men behind him, placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Let him speak, Adelric,” He said. “Apparently, the witch hasn’t been completely honest with him,”
"Lets start at why you think she's a witch," Gisela gave up trying to keep Derick out of this.
“She has the markings of pagan gods,”
"I was born with these," Adelric ignored her.
"When you escaped, you cursed me with unaging and undying. The mudslides started not too long afterwards, thus we couldn't trade with the north. Why are you laughing?" Gisela was laughing. Hard.
“If I wanted to curse you, it would not have been with immortality,” she said. “And in case you didn’t notice I have that same curse,” The two men behind Adelric looked down ashamed.
"His pride is keeping him from asking this. Can you break the curse?" One of the men said.
“I didn’t put this on him and I don’t know who did,” Gisela shook her head. “I am Vormund, the hunter of Gorgozon. That dragon that was attacking you all those years ago was Gorgozon himself. That is why he fled. But because of your stupid witch hunting, he had a head start. I saved your asses and all I got was chains and pain,” Derick suddenly had a thought.
"You were 'cursed' and the mudslides started around the time that Gisela was here last? What the hell did you do to her to piss the gods off?" Gisela looked at him.
"You think this is Delayna’s doing?”
"She created you. I would think she'd be pissed off if someone mistreated her creation," Adelric looked at him.
“You think because of what we did, we were cursed?”
“It’s possible,” He turned to Gisela
“Do you know how to break it?”
“I don’t,”
"You have to know!" Adelric cried. "If you are the Vormund, you must know the mind of the gods!"
“I’m not a ******* priestess!”
“But you are a witch! You escaped from right under our noses,”
"For the last time, I'm not a witch! And I had help. And it doesn't matter how since she's been dead for 500 years," Adelric looked down, ashamed.
“We had been taught for generations that no woman should travel without a man. That any woman that traveled alone were up to no good and lived in the underworld of cities and towns and reeked of the sins they had committed. I watched my wife, my children, my grandchildren grow old and die, yet I continued to live on. I grow weary of continuing on as I watch everyone around me die. Forgive us for what we did to you. Forgive us! Forgive me!” Derick looked at Gisela.

Gisela didn't know how to react. She had spent the last 500 years trying to forget Adelric and Verrat. If Derick would have let her, she would have went ahead to Delayna's Temple. But she knew Derick would have followed, mudslides or not. And she wouldn't stand for him being hurt. But seeing Adelric desperately begging for her forgiveness, desperate for an end to his immortality. She knew how he felt. He'd only had 500 year of it, but she'd had a thousand years of hunting Gorgozon. She couldn't rest until he was killed. The reason they were going to Delayna's Temple to begin with.

Forgive

A simple word. But so hard to do.

Forgive

The word filled her mind. Could she?

Forgive

It had been 500 years. And she'd held a grudge for that entire time.

Let it go

Gisela closed her eyes and sighed. Let it go. She'd held onto things beyond her power for too long. It was time let go of the grudge.
"I forgive you, Adelric," she said. A slight breeze touched them. Adelric smiled and took a deep breath of relief.
"Thank you,"

The next morning, Gisela called to check on the progress of the road clearing. The officer she spoke with had surprise in his voice as he told her he roads seemed to clear themselves.
"I don't know how to explain it. We went to start where we'd left off and the mud and rocks were gone. No one is admitting to doing night cleaning. The officers posted on either side didn't report any one coming or going. It's very odd, but they are passable,"
"Thank you, Officer," She hung up and turned to Derick. He had just come out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth. She smile at the sight.
"What did they have to say?" he asked around the toothbrush, nearly loosing some toothpaste in the process.
"The roads cleared themselves over night,"
"You're sh*tting me,"
"Nope. Apparently Delayna wanted me her for a reason. And I did what she wanted so she cleared the roads,"
"Sweet,"
"Which means the sooner you're done molesting your toothbrush the sooner we can make it to Delayna's Temple,"