48 (Second Part)

Gaita spies from his bedroom door. Chester slices off part of Bironte's charred corpse, and leaves. The princess waits a minute for his chest to calm down, then goes downstairs, and discovers Suri sitting near the puddle of different substances, playing with the bullet casings. The mixture of burnt flesh, urine, and blood, makes Gaita go to a corner to vomit up her dinner.

Wipes the bile from his lips with his forearm, and when her returns to his face, discovers that Suri has also left. Avoiding looking at the stiff, she decides to leave the house and shout for help from his subjects, but no sooner does he cross the threshold than she discovers lying near the porch a man who takes his breath away.

"Zell!" She kneels down in front of the champion, and notices the arrow stuck in his chest. Reflexively reaches out a hand to try to pull it out, but Zell catches her fingers and squeezes them so hard that she winces in pain. The princess looks teary-eyed at her favorite lover. "Who did this to you? Was it the devil?"

"Listen to me carefully" Zell's voice is raspy, and the corners of his mouth glisten with blood seeping from within. "Head for the barracks and get my bag, bring me everything you can find. Quickly... And don't warn anyone"

Gaita nods, although she doesn't understand why she should shy away from the hunters, instead of asking for help to kill the stranger together. She still obeys and runs barefoot to the barracks.

Without waking anyone, she finds the mat and under it a bag. She opens it to make sure that inside is what she assumed to be a medicinal ointment, but instead her face is illuminated by an ominous purple glow. A bad breath from another dimension.

Out of shock he drops the bag and recoils. She hyperventilates with one hand on his heaving chest. Gathers his courage and grabs it again, hands still trembling. Takes a second look, swallows saliva. No doubt about it, it's a cursed seed.

"First time I've seen an unseeded one" She whispers to himself.

But the appearance matches the descriptions of the wise elders, those only authorized by heaven to manipulate it. It is a crime for the falcon's champion to carry one, he could deserve exile for it, even death. Gaita hesitates to take it, but under the skins of the bed there is no more. She returns to the lying warrior, kneels beside him, but does not dare to hand him the wrapping.

"Zell, this is..."

The champion snatches the bag from him. With one hand he pulls out a black oval with fleshy bulbs glowing with amethyst tones. Gaita feels nauseous at the mere sight of it, though lately she feels nauseous of everything. Zell contemplates the seed as if it were his salvation.

"This is madness. I'll get the old Zakary to heal you and-"

"Zakary is gone. None of the elders are here. They all died"

Gaita falls silent and looks at Zell without understanding. Under the unholy glow of the seed, the champion's skin looks increasingly deathly, as if he were already dead.

"Your father killed them. And we are all complicit in his blasphemy"

"How...?"

Despite the terrifying words, Zell does not look distressed, and instead, his chiseled face sneers both to himself and to the world.

"I never thought it would end like this. But I won't fly high just like that. I will kill Chester Lancaster, even if I have to commit an even greater blasphemy than Neddin"

Speaking as one who is no longer afraid of losing anything, Zell sinks his teeth into the seed. Gaita twitches, rises, and turns away from the champion as if his presence were electrified. She runs his hand across his belly before turning and running away.

Zell finishes gobbling up the core of The-nest-of-all-plants.