Page 33 of Prisoner of Darkness and Dreams (Fated to the Sun and Stars #3)

Morgana

I t’s my first true look at a mortifus, and it’s even worse than I imagined.

Whatever this creature used to be was large, its head standing a full foot above mine.

My guess is it was some kind of wolf once, but too many parts of it are rotted away to be able to say for sure.

In the place of fur and soft tissue, the forest has patched it up with what it could.

Wood, splintered and damp, juts from the mortifus’s left flank, while an explosion of moss and fleshy fungi holds its shoulder together.

When it lowers its head, I can see that the right side of its face is almost completely exposed, vines curling around a bare skull where worms wriggle from an empty eye socket.

The other eye, big and yellow, focuses on me.

How did it get in here?

That thought cuts through the fog of fear that’s frozen me in place. I slowly take a step backward, and the mortifus growls again, exposing the other side of its teeth.

Then Leon’s there, barreling forward to put himself between me and the beast, his sword drawn.

The mortifus snarls and bends its legs to leap. Leon gets there first, charging toward the creature and burying his blade straight through the bottom of its skull.

The creature doesn’t even flinch.

Instead, it begins to unhinge its jaw while Leon still clings to his blade. It shakes its huge head a few times, as if to dislodge a fly, then brings its canines snapping down, inches from his face.

For a second, I’m frozen in fear, terrified I’m about to watch the man I love get bitten in two.

Then I scramble to draw my own blade. But Leon’s too quick for the mortifus.

He dodges the huge teeth slamming down beside him, then wrenches his sword from the creature’s skull and rolls out of its reach across the floor.

The maneuver leaves us on opposite sides of the chamber, the mortifus standing between us. As it turns its head from me to Leon, I risk a glance down the corridor behind me, wondering if it leads to the council. Maybe I could make it—get help.

I meet Leon’s gaze, and without speaking, we understand each other.

Leon takes a running leap at the monster, driving his sword into its upper flank and using it as a handle to climb onto its back.

I break into a sprint down the corridor, screaming at the top of my lungs.

“Help! Help us!”

There’s a crash, a yell, and a thud, and I guess Leon’s been thrown from the animal. I keep running, praying that he’s alright but not able to afford the time to slow down and look over my shoulder.

The sound of huge paws thundering against the floor tell me I’m being followed, but I’m already at the end of the corridor.

I collide with a door and throw myself through it, only to find another chamber almost identical to the one I just escaped.

It’s completely empty. Why is this place built like a maze?

“Ana!” Leon’s shout is drowned out by a vicious baying as the creature crashes through the doorway after me. I spin around to face it, lifting my sword. But if Leon can’t stop this thing with his weapon, I certainly can’t.

Desperate, without even thinking, I reach for my magic .

And something answers.

I throw out whatever is there waiting for me, and a weak sun beam erupts from my palm, hitting the mortifus in the face. It leaves a smoking hole in its skull, which makes it hesitate for just a moment.

“Please,” I shout, not sure if I’m calling for earthly or divine assistance.

A deep rumbling shakes the ground beneath my feet.

“Stand back!” Leon shouts as the floor starts to split open.

The mortifus swings its head around in agitation, tilting its single eye downward at the mixture of stone and earth disintegrating beneath its feet.

I focus on throwing myself back against the wall, finding a wall bracket to grab onto as I’m almost flung off my feet by Leon’s magic.

Only when a huge section of the floor falls away does the creature understand the danger it’s in.

It lets out a whine as its back foot slips into the dark hole Leon’s created, scrabbling frantically to get a purchase with its front paws.

But it’s no use. The cracks grow as more of the stone floor crumbles away into darkness below.

We’re on the ground floor, but there’s clearly a subterranean level to this tower, and whatever’s underneath this room is a long way down.

Just as the back half of the mortifus starts to slide into the abyss, it manages to get a hold on one of the remaining flagstones, using it to leap forward.

My heart thuds in my ears for several long moments as I watch the remaining floor disappear beneath the mortifus, yet it keeps moving toward me.

Carried by forward momentum, its huge mouth opens, and I’m sure it’s going to swallow me whole.

It falls short, but the very tip of its teeth catch the edge of my cloak and latch on.

Leon’s watching me from across the room, his eyes widening.

Then gravity catches up with the mortifus, and it’s pulling me through the chasm in the floor as it slips down into the darkness.

We tumble earthward. The mortifus is all around me—bones and wood and moss and sweet decay. I don’t know which way is up or down. Those few seconds pass strangely slowly, allowing me a beat to wonder exactly how fast I’ll die when I hit the ground far below.

Use your magic. It’s back. Use it .

That’s the second thought that passes through my mind, and I seize it.

With all my might, I concentrate on how I want nothing more in this moment than to not hit the floor.

I’m aware of thick walls around me and throw my magic out to them.

I’m not able to move them, but the force of my magic trying to bring us closer counteracts gravity, slowing my descent.

The mortifus isn’t so lucky.

It plummets past me, hitting the floor below with an awful crunch. My magic is too weak to stop my fall completely. I have a few seconds to see the way the animal’s bones splinter and snap before I too have to brace for impact, protecting my head as I slam into the stone floor.

Something in my leg shatters, the impact running up my shin and into my thigh. I scream, and when I’m able to gasp in another breath, I find the words to curse a hundred different ways. But I’m alive. I survived the fall.

“Ana!”

I look up blearily at the ring of light far above me, where Leon’s dark outline is silhouetted against the hole in the ceiling. “Ana! I’ll come get you.”

The drop is too high for even him to jump, and there’s no way to climb down. I watch as he realizes this too, disappearing from view.

I focus on breathing through the throbbing in my leg, beating like a pulse against my nerves. Leon will be here soon, and then everything will be okay.

Something shifts in the corner of my vision, sending a clattering of bone and wood echoing toward me.

The mortifus. The fall didn’t kill it.

Of course not. How could it? It’s already dead.

I turn my head and watch in horror as the fractured creature slowly gets to what’s left of its feet.

By now, the bottom of its jaw is hanging off, and one of its legs is still lying in pieces on the floor, a splintered stump of bone protruding from a piece of rotten flesh on its haunch.

And still, it staggers toward me, an awful, bubbling noise coming from its maw, a sound like something trying to breathe through mud .

It might not be moving very fast, but my leg is broken, and I can’t run.

Heart pounding, I try to drag myself away on my elbows.

Every inch sends a burst of agony stabbing through my leg, but I know I have to keep moving.

I desperately search the space for something to defend myself with.

I lost my sword in the fall, but could I orbit one of its discarded bones to me to use instead?

But what difference would it make? If a blade or sun beam couldn’t stop it, then that certainly wouldn’t.

I crawl as fast as I can, my skin scraping against the stone floor as the creature’s uneven footsteps echo behind me.

For the first time, I take in the sheer size of the chamber we’re in.

It’s dim, but from what I can tell, it must take up the whole footprint of Aquila Hall, even extending beyond it.

The only light source is something shining in the floor up ahead—an odd, silvery glow emanating straight out of the ground.

That light is good. That light can help me.

I don’t know how I know it, but something inside me awakens at the sight, and a flare of energy courses through my veins. Whatever’s there is powerful—and I need some power on my side.

The mortifus snarls from behind me, a broken growl rumbling from its mangled jaw. I can’t keep crawling from it forever, and there’s still no sign of Leon.

I trust my gut. I have no other choice.

With all my strength, I haul myself toward the light. As I pick up speed, so does the animal behind me, its hot, labored breaths coming heavier. But finally, I reach the source of the light: a stretch of bright, opalescent stones giving off an ethereal glow.

Ralus, Lusteris, whoever’s listening—please, please let this work , I pray as I slam my hand down onto the surface of the stones.

It’s like I’ve been struck by lightning. A jolt of energy runs through me so powerful I think I might explode. Instead, I throw my other palm out toward the mortifus, letting the force running into me from the stones pour out .

A blast of sunlight so bright it sears itself onto my eyeballs shoots directly into the mortifus’s face. The beast doesn’t have time to react, to growl or shake off the attack. Instead, it simply…disintegrates. Every scrap of bone and wood turns to ash, crumbling into a dusty pile on the floor.