Gaita of the Lake

Canto II: Bridges Burning in Town Minor

            As Gaita and Nora eclipsed the canopy of trees, they saw their home burning to the ground. Thick, black clouds billowed from thatched roofs, air heavy with burning straw and tar. Smaller structures splintered and crashed, returning to the earth as burning effigies. The travelers clutched their racing hearts. They beckoned forth their horses.

            As they approached the town, they saw the streets were empty. Not a soul was near or calling or screaming, but their tears could be felt through the collapsing buildings. Gaita and Nora shot glances through the sooted haze, trying to discern an order from this chaos. Then, Gaita saw movement from the baker’s front. She moved without hesitation fearing they or their child were trapped inside.

        She peered into the burning building. Shadows quickened to her steed and from the fire leapt a stray goat, whose burns were so horrific, its eyes were smoke-blind and unblinking, frozen in razored fear unlike anything Gaita has ever seen. It crashed into her horse which sent the horse into a frenzy and Gaita felt the chaos intensify as now both master and steed were losing control.

        The horse shook violently and bucked once or twice, backing from the building it now synonymized with fear. Gaita pulled the reigns opposite the way the horse was twisting to restrain and calm the creature. It bristled and shivered, but Gaita was able to ease its shock enough to prevent herself from being thrown onto the paved road.

        As the horse calmed, Gaita looked around and saw neither the goat nor Nora. She called for Nora, but there was no answer. She called louder, straining her voice and coughing as the smoke filled her lungs and burned her throat. A large sound was heard behind her. Another building collapsed, she though. But as she turned to inspect the damage, her stomach sank.

        A large reptilian creature stood before her, emerging from the fire. It had forearms and wings, but crawled on its belly, dark green scales glistening from the flames. Large yellow glass eyes peered through Gaita as she saw its tongue, slender and forked, flicker and knew it had tasted her. Gaita felt herself froze and shake as it lumbered towards her like a cat stalking its prey. It stopped and crouched low, the heavy muscles in its arms swelling with tension and blood.

        Gaita pulled on the reigns on the horse as hard as possible and dug her ankles as hard as she could into her horse’s side, launching her and her steed to the side before the draconic beast catapulted itself towards her previous spot. A sound of thunder followed in its wake as the building behind her was demolished in an instant. Without looking back, Gaita beckoned her horse forward, making herself as small as possible to unencumber her steed’s advance and desperate sprint.

        On the main road, Gaita and her horse raced for the town entrance, where she saw the shape of Nora on horseback through the smoke and haze. A stream of fire shot past her right side, trailing into the sky before dissipating into molten air. The sound of thunder continued behind her. She dared not look behind. She dared not look.

        Nora, seeing what was chasing Gaita, reacted immediately. She turned her horse to the same direction Gaita’s path was and raced ahead. Across the open field in front of town and up the gently rolling hills was more heavily canopied woods. Without saying a word, they both knew the plan: make it to the woods, split up, and lose the creature, as if it were a bear or band of thieves on foot.

        As they left their home, their pace fell as the horses sprinted against the upward slope. Panic set in. Gaita was almost crying. She pulled the reigns so tight her fingers lost feeling, going cold and white. The creature let out a terrible screech, which made Gaita shut her eyes completely. She let out a small whimper. She prayed it would not reach her and her horse, Faith, would get her to the forest. She opened her eyes, which now had tears in them.

        Through watery vision, she thought she saw a figure on horseback underneath the lone apple tree near the boundary of town. As she approached, her eyes did not deceive her. There was a figure on horseback. Not only a figure, but one adorned in armor, holding a lance. Wiping the teary veil from her eyes, she saw more clearly the figure.

        The knight steadied his beast, who was stopping the ground in anticipation. He lowered his lance halfway. His body was solid. He radiated a gentle strength. However, he wasn’t particularly large, Gaita noticed. His armor seemed large compared to his frame. His helmet seemed loose.

        The creature’s screech turned into a roar, jolted Gaita from her thoughts and back to her mission. It was then she heard the quick gallop of the knight’s steed. Charging past her with his lance lowered, the knight collided with the beast. Gaita didn’t see but heard the lance shatter and the creature shriek in pain. The creature slammed the ground with its heavy body.

        As Gaita crested the hill, she was certain she wasn’t being chased by the creature. She circled around the apple tree where the knight was and peered down the hill. The knight was dislodged from his horse and lay on his back in the grass unmoving. The riderless steed sprinted past the wounded beast and didn’t come back for its master.

        Gaita saw in the grass the knight’s sword was next to him. A peculiar sword wrapped in a cloth hilt. She had never seen anything like it. She saw the knight twitch and attempt to sit straight, his movements slow. The creature too was waning, but still alive all the same. However, Gaita noticed the creature was recovering faster than the knight.

        She looked around for Nora. Gaita couldn’t see her. She must have already entered the forest and was waiting for Gaita. She had to think. She could leave now and escape while the beast was wounded, but that would leave the knight alone with no guarantee of winning. She felt like a coward for wanting to leave him. But what could she do anyway? She wasn’t trained for battle. She had no armor or weapon.

        She could use the knight’s sword. Then what would the knight use? Her thoughts raced. The knight seemed unable to get onto his stomach. Where as the creature was already prodding at its wound, licking it a few times before raising its mighty head at the towards the knight. Gaita couldn’t wait any longer. She slapped her heels against the horse and charged down the hill.

        She couldn’t stop thinking what a stupid idea this was. The sprinting horse seemed to genuinely startle the beast, whose brain seemed to have already registered the wound with the charging clop of horse hooves.  Gaita veered away from the beast before crashing into it, putting herself in the worst possible spot between the beast and knight before quickly dismounting and pushing the knight upright.

        Just as he was knight sat upright with Gaita’s help, the raking claw of the beast struck Faith and ripped the poor steed asunder, sending blood and bits of flesh across the landscape. Gaita’s heart sunk. She had no way out. The beast was in a fit of rage but before long it would come for them. It would come for her. She grabbed the knight’s sword and unwrapped it. It was unbearably heavy and barely movable. Tearing at the cloth, she unveiled the sword, which dashed her already minute hopes.

        In her hands she held what appeared to be a normal looking sword from the hilt down, but instead of a blade, there was a large, jagged stone rectangle with obscure markings and seemingly no edge. Gaita was mortified. What was she to do now with this joke of a weapon?

        The knight, on his feet now, grabbed the shattered lance and charged at the creature. He pierced the same wound he made early and drove the lancehead which was stuck in the creature, deeper. Gaita almost called out to him, but before she could, the creature already swiped at him, sending him toppling head over heel, with much less force than it used on her horse. Gaita sat with the unbearably heavy sword now alone before the creature.

        Her chin trembled. Her legs felt weak before the giant lumbering after her. This was the end, she thought. No more knights or horses or friends or laughs or spring. No more town, Nora, Thomas, Mother, Father, and townsfolk. She thought of the lake and the faerie springs she dreamt of, coming to close before her now. She thought about running away and what could have been with Nora at her side.

        She wanted it. Her adventure. She wanted the freedom to do what she wanted, when she wanted and this beast wanted to take her from the world she loved and looked forward to. She felt strength returning to her limbs. Her chin ceased trembling and she gripped the strange weapon, whose marking starting to glow with dull light, washed away by sunlight. She got to her feet in her low wrestling form and hefted the large weapon in front of her. She eyed the creature’s wound as it came at her. She charged at it.

        The creature’s claw missed its target, expecting her not to move. The blade of stone found its mark. She drove with all the power in her legs as soon as she felt the weight of the beast press upon the tip of the sword. Blood gushed from the gaping tear in the creatures flesh. It let out a terrible cry that turned empty and hollow before the large mass collapsed all at once, it’s snakelike head slamming to the ground for the final time.

        Gaita stood there panting. She found her once clean light green kirtle now soaked with the creature’s blood. Her hands and forearms too were painted. Soon, her boots were soaked and the earth beneath her was engorged with the creature’s essence. It breathed no longer, but she, Gaita, was still her. Barely. She shivered in the cold wet, her head and heart pounding.

        She heard the knight’s armor clank as he fidgeted. Walking over to him, she saw that his visor was up.

        He was old, with a white beard and many wrinkles on his tan face. His mouth had blood in it and he beckoned her over with his hand.

        “What happened?” He asked.

        “The beast is dead.”

        “It is?”

        “Yes.”

        “Did you do it?”

        “Yes.”

        “Well done, malady,” he said, looking to the sky. “Well done.”

        “We did it.”

        “No, no. It’s quite alright. I know I wasn’t of any use.”

        “You mostly did it. I just finished it.”

        “With what, pray tell?”

        “Your sword?”

        “My sword?” He shouted.

        “Yes.”

        “You lifted my sword?”

        “Yes.”

        “Impossible.”

        “It’s in the creature now.”

        “You lifted it?”

        “Why is that so hard to believe?”

        “Because it’s enchanted. I thought I was the only one.”

        “I couldn’t at first, but then I just did.”

        “Why, the same thing happened to me. Fancy that.”

        “Here, I’ll get you up.”

        “No, no, all my ribs are broken, please don’t try.”

        “Shall I fetch your horse for you then?”

        “That coward? He’s probably in the next county. No, please, don’t worry about it. I’m not long for the world anyways.”

        “You’re dying?”

        “Yes, yes, I can tell. Something has, well, ruptured. I feel it. It’s not good. My legs are already numb.”

        “You seem awfully calm.”

        “Well, I’m really old, aren’t I? I thought I was dead on that initial charge. Damn thing had tough hide.”

        “Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do for you?”

        “May you tell me your name?”

        “Gaita of Rhyste. Although, that was Rhyste and Rhyste apparently is no more, so just Gaita.”

        “Gaita, my dear, cities can be built and destroyed, but as long as names are spoken, they shall never be forgot.”

        Gaita smiled.

        “And what is your name, Sir Knight?” Gaita asked.

        “Belano of Glastir. My younger brother is Beldom. We are of the Order of the Windmill.”

        He pointed to his tunic, which was navy, with a large windmill embroidered in gold.

        “If I shall die here and you are truly the one to lift the sword, you may keep it. If you do not wish to keep it, please return it to my brother in Glastir. If you would do that, please spin them a yarn about how heroic my death could be as best as you could. The truth is rather unfortunate you see and I’d like to be remembered for something more dashing. Plus, it would bother my brothers to no end.”

        “I shall.”

        “And, there is one more thing, if you would humor me once more. Could you pick me a flower and give it to me? I wish to die holding a flower and looking at the clouds.”

        His voice was hoarse now and she could her a gurgle in his throat.

        Gaita smiled with tears forming at the edge of her eyes, and replied, “Of course.”

        Gaita turned around and searched the area for a large white flower not coated with the creature’s blood. As she returned to the knight, however, she saw that he had passed, smiling, with his face illuminated by the sun staring into the clouds overhead.

        Gaita cried a few tears for him and her horse, newly departed and compatriots to the world beyond.

        Nora road in moments later, calling for her.

        “Are you ok?” Nora looked over her friend carefully. It was Gaita, but somewhat different. She’s never seen her covered in so much blood before, but she wasn’t in shock and that’s what made Nora even more worried.

        “Did you see the knight?”

        “Yes, he charged the beast while I was following you into the woods.”

        “What happened to him?”

        “He died.”

        “Oh, I’m sorry. Where’s Faith?”

        “She died too.”

        Nora shook her head, holding Gaita close to her to comfort. She cried a bit, unable to hold back anymore. Gaita cried too after seeing her friend. She looked around the area.

        “Where’s the beast?”

        “What?” Gaita spun around to scan the field.

        The beast was nowhere to be found.

        “That’s impossible. Where did it go?”

        Gaita became afraid again. She desperately looked around, taking a few steps forward, checking the ground, the sky, the tops of the trees, even looking into the smoldering heap that used to be her home.

        “It was right here. I killed it right here.”

        “You killed it?”

        “Yes, with the knight’s sword. It’s still stuck in the creature.”

        They scanned the field, approaching the spot where the beast fell near the body of the knight, holding a white flower between his fingers.

        “There’s someone there,” Nora said.

        Gaita looked in the center of the spot where the beast was and indeed its imprint was there, but instead of a creature, was a man, curled in spot the creature was slain.

        Nora and Gaita ran up to the man, who was naked but covered in blood. His side was ripped open. Gaita at first thought it was the creature’s doing until she found both halves of the lance and the stone blade underneath him. They looked at each other.

        “That’s not possible,” Nora said.

        “Dragons aren’t supposed to be either,” Gaita replied.

        They felt a shiver down their spines. Was this the creature? What if someone saw them now, covered in blood with the bodies of two men nearby? They scanned the field to see if there was any other sign of life.

        They didn’t find any. Before either of them spoke again, Nora helped Gaita onto her horse and they left the field of Rhyste for the final time.