Gisela

[Acalewia]

Going Home

"How long has it been since you've been home?" Derick asked after they had drove the rental car several miles. Gisela was quiet.
"Define home first,"
"Funny. You know what I'm talking about,"
"My village? I was in my teens when I left. Germany...," she thought a moment. "A few hundred years. I think," Derick shook his head.
"You do realize that a lot may have changed since then?"
"Ya think? I may be old, but I'm not senile," Derik grinned. "Say it and you'll regret it,"
"Wasn't going to,"
"Sure...,"

The bantering continued as they travelled deeper into the German countryside. Although Gisela threatened Derick several times if he said "padiddle" one more time. Gisela had usually traveled alone before now. And she had prefered it. But Derick didn't know she knew he'd insisted on coming with her and had convinced his superiors that her mission, her duty, was a matter of national security. She looked out the window as she slowly was lost in her thoughts. Yes, Gorgozon had attacked a navy ship, but he'd also attacked several times during the Civil War. Then, the Americans insisted she go home and let the men handle war. Now they wanted to help her. At least since the middle of the past century. Gisela was so deep in her thoughts that she hadn't realized the car as stopped and Derick was speaking to her until he shook her.
"What?" She asked, returning to the present.
"I don't speak German. What is he saying?" A police officer was standing at Derick's window. Looking in front of them, a sign said "Road Closed".
"He says that all the roads are closed going south. Either we can go back where we were heading from or we can go to...," She trailed off and addressed the officer in German. "That is the closest town? Verrat is the closest town?"
"On this side of the mudslide, yes,"
"Mudslide? In Germany?"
"It happens. Seems this area is bad or it. This is the first time we've had one cover all the roads though,"
"Gisela...," Gisela translated to Derick.
"So we either go all the way back or we detour to Verrat until they get the roads cleared,"
"I don't want to go all the way back,"
"Neither do I, but I don't want to go to Verrat either," She blurted the last part. "But we have no other choice but to go there," she added quickly, mentally smacking herself in the head.
"Why...," Gisela had turned back to the offcer.
"How long until The roads are cleared?"

[Acalewia]

1544

Gisela approached the town. She had been following Gorgozon's path of distruction for days. She had pinpointed where he would be with the help of one of the Lutgarda, a secret group dedicated to helping her defeat the shapeshifter. Sometimes she questioned why Delayna had chosen her. She sighed to herself. The demi goddess had defied the gods to "bless" her with the duty of being the archenemy of Gorgozon without so much as a manual on how to kill him. Gisela glanced at the sign anouncing the town's name. Verrat. She stopped. One glance at Gisela and anyone would know she was a woman. Her dark grey skirt reached just above the ankles, revealing brown boots. She wore a dark grey blouse. A hood of the same color hid her blond hair. A cloth mask covered her lower face starting just above her cheek bones. There was no other way to hide the runes that marked both sides of her face starting at her temples and running down below her eyes following her cheek bones. What no one could see at first glance was the long knife and two small crossbows hidden under the cape of her cloak. Along with the knives hidden up her sleeves. She walked into Verrat.

The damaged buildings caught her attention first. Then she overheard one villager asking if the dragon would ever move on to another town. Gisela knew she was in the right place. All she had to do was wait.
"What do you want?" A man's voice said. Gisela turned to see the man glaring at her.
"Excuse me?"
"What do you want?"
"A room for the night for a weary traveler," The man scoffed.
"Traveler, hmm? What woman would travel alone that isn't looking to get paid for lowly deeds,"
"I'm no harlot if that is what you're getting at," She was becoming angry at his accusations. Then she remembered the warning she had recieved. At that moment, they heard a scream. They both turned and saw a young woman running full speed down the street.
"Dragon!" She screamed. Gisela looked up at the sound of wing beats.
"Take cover!" The man screamed before fleeing.
"Hello, Gorgozon," Gisela said to herself as she drew one of her crossbows and aimed.

* * *

Derick pulled into Verrat. Gisela had avoided his questions about the town and had even fallen quiet fo the car ride there. She was staring out the window, her finger tracing one of her tattoos. She was deep in thought. Or maybe she was reliving whatever she didn't want to talk about.
"Whoa," he said. Verrat was having some sort of carnival or festival. This had caught Gisela's attention.
"What in Hell?"
"This is new to you?"
"They weren't party people last time I was here," They had to park the car on he edge of town and walk. All around them people were celebrating. Gisela discovered they were celebrating the defeat of a dragon. Derick laughed at that. Then the girl Gisela was talking to also said the festival was their way of begging the gods' forgiveness for turning on their savior.
"They still believe in gods?"
"Shut up," As they made their way around dancers, Gisela stopped in her tracks. Derick had continued on. He turned to say something to her, then looked around for her. Gisela's attention was on a performance on a raised platform. A woman in a dress was shooting what was supposed to be crossbow bolts at a two performers dressed like a dragon. They fought and the dragon "flew" away to the cheers of the crowd. Then one of the other performers grabbed the woman, who had apparently been injured or weakened during the fight and spun her around.
"No woman alone can be up to any good!" He pushed her to the upper level of the platform, much to the protest of the crowd.
"She just saved your asses!" Someone in the crowd shouted, which caused several others to laugh. The man pushed the woman to her knees.
"Let's see why you hide your face!" Derick hadn't realized the woman's face had been covered until he pulled the mask and hood off. His jaw dropped.

Gisela had seen enough and had turned away from the performance when the woman had been forced to her knees. Derick found her pretending to look at dragon figures.
"That was you and Gorgozon, wasn't it?"
"Yes," her voice was cold.
"What happened?"

[Acalewia]

She'd lost her crossbow when Gorgozon rammed his tail into her side while she was making for a higher stance. Gisela had slammed into the side of a building, loosing her grip on the handle. She fell on her side in the dirt while the crossbow landed a few yards away and out of her reach. She had no time to reach it with Gorgozon bearing down upon her. A flick of her wrist and the knife hidden up her sleeve was in her hand. A quick swipe at the dragon muzzle left a bloody gap on it 's snout.

"Bitch!" He growled. He went to snap at her again and received the same on the other side. He backed away and studied her. Yes, this had to be Vormund. The guardian that Delayna had set against him. No one else in this village had dared face him. Even with the tell tale runes covered, he knew it was her. Gorgozon snorted. Guardian his foot. She'd gained her footing, the knife still in her hand. Blood dripped of the fingertips of her left hand. A gift from his claws making contact with her shoulder. Her cry of pain delighted him. He raised up, preparing to go in for the kill. While she was in his blind spot, she'd gone for the second crossbow and fired the bolt into his chest. He screamed and took flight.
"This town is yours, but we will meet again!" He fled.

Gisela sank to one knee. She hadn't been prepared for this fight. It had happened to quickly. She cursed herself for allowing her guard to drop long enough for his dragon claws to tear into her left shoulder. The wound was currently throbbing. She tucked her knife back into its hiding place. Gisela rose when the villagers began to emerge from their homes and hiding places. A hand spun her around and she nearly lost her balance. She was face to face with the man she had been speaking with when Gorgozon had attacked.
"The dragon attacks us, then you just waltz in here and run him off? Are you in league with that beast,"
"I hunt the son of a bitch. I will die before I am ever in league with him," Gisela was taken by surprise with a sudden backhand. The gathering crowd gasped and murmured among themselves.
"No lady uses such a foul tongue," She wiped the blood from her lip.
"You don't have to worry about me dirtying your village with my foul mouth. I was just passing through anyway," She turned to leave, but the man was not finished with his tongue lashing. He grabbed her injured arm.
"Ah!" The pain that traveled through her nearly sent her to her knees.
"A woman alone is never up to any good. You fight. You curse. You can't even show your face!" He pulled her to the center of town towards a platform that bore four posts on it. He dragged her onto it and pressed onto the injured shoulder. She cried out again and actually did go to her knees that time.
"Let's see who you really are," Before she could stop him, she heard the fabric of her mask ripping away from her hood. The hood was jerked back sending her blond hair flying about her face in wisps. The crowd gasped at the runes on her face. The man stared a moment.
"Witch!" he screamed and the next moment she felt cold bands upon her wrists.

* * *

Gisela awoke with a start. She sat upright quickly and took a deep breath. She was in the room of the inn she and Derrick had rented until the roads were cleared. Derrick was hanging up the phone.
"There was a fresh mudslide that covered what they had cleared," He said. "You ok? You look like a trapped deer," She glared at him. "Shutting up," She still hadn't told Derrick about that day and he had asked several times. Just being in Verrat was causing her nightmares of the event.
"A fresh mudslide?" She rubbed te back of her neck. "Apparently someone doesn't want us getting to Delayna's Temple," Gisela braced herself for the question.
"We could actually go enjoy the festival. When was the last time you had fun?" Not the question she was expecting.
"1600s Paris?"
"That didn't involve you hunting something for the hell of it,"
"Are we talking fun or fun fun?" Derrick looked at her.
"You've had fun fun?"
"You thought I was a thousand year old virgin?"
"Ok I didn't want to know that,"
"You asked,"

An hour later, Gisela and Derrick were mingling amongst the crowd. The reenactors were performing again. Derrick watched the full performance, wondering how much of that was true. Afterwards, he found Gisela watching some dancers performing traditional dances. They invited members of the crowd to dance along.
"You know this dance?"
"Of course,"
"Wanna?"
"Oh what the hell," She let Derrick lead her out of the safety of the crowd. She showed him the steps of the dance, which he picked up quickly and soon they were keeping up with the professional dancers. She smiled for the first time since returning to Verrat. Then she caught a glimpse of someone she thought she reconized during a turn. When she turned back, he was gone. Maybe it was just her imagination.

After the dance, they found a food vendor and sat next to a fountain to eat. A young man approached them.
"I couldn't help but notice your tattoos, Ma'am. Are they Germanic runes?"
"Yes,"
"May I ask why you chose "Protection" and "Immortality"?"
"You read runes?"
"I'm a scholar. I'm also the town historian,"
"That's nice,"
"Seeing that you have an interest in old writing, do you also have an interest in history?"
"Why?"
"Because I have something I think you may be interested in,"
"Is that a pick up line?" Derrick tried not to laugh.
"No, but I do have some paintings of a woman with those same runes," Derrick and Gisela looked at each other. "I have your attention now?"
"This I want to see," Derrick said. Gisela still hesitated. She looked at the Navy Lieutenant. He wanted answers. Answers she wasn't willing to give.
"Alright," They threw their trash away and followed him into the library
"Here it is," he said pointing to something on a table. Gisela's breath caught. Someone had painted her. Blond hair flowing over one side. Arms stretched to either side of her chained to two pillars. Her face was pained, the runes in the right place.
"Wow," Derick said, trying not to make a comment that would out her as an immortal. A door opened and a male voice, full of hate, said:
"So the harlot returns," Gisela turned around and saw a face she thought would have been dead centuries ago

[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,"