Page 98 of King Foretold
“If it were that simple, why do you think my master stayed imprisoned for over five centuries?” The dark mudang scoffs.
“Then why have you brought them here?” I sidestep away from the humans on the ground. “What do you want with them?”
“I might have led the Jaenanpa to believe a blood sacrifice was necessary to liberate the Yeoiju from its vessel.” He lets loose a cackle that sends a chill down my spine, and my instinct screams at me to run. “Perhapsnecessarywas an exaggeration. The humans are more for my entertainment.”
The dark mudang floats toward me, the moonlight illuminating the twisted smile on his face and the madness in his eyes. My steps falter as I remember that I destroyed the last of his sanity at Heaven Lake. I pray that it works in my favor ... that he takes reckless risks only a psychopath would.
“You see, your suffering amuses me a great deal.” He snickers as he draws closer. I unsheathe my hwando and widen my stance. “Would you like to knowhowyou will suffer?”
“Nah.” I raise my sword. “I’m not interested.”
“We shall see how much longer you remainuninterested.” Daeseong grunts in annoyance.
I tighten my clammy grip around the hilt of my sword and hold my ground, fighting back my flight instinct. The dark mudang closes in on me, and I raise my hwando. I suck in a bracing breath, then ...
He moves right past me.
“What the ...” I frown and whip around in momentary confusion.
“Shit,” I hiss. He’s heading for the buried city. Or more accurately, for the roof covering it ... and the 950 or so humans beneath it.
I don’t pause to think. I have to stop him before he gets to the top of the roof. My gumiho breaks into a sprint, and the world blurs around me as I close in on him. He spins around as I take a flying leap and tackle him to the ground.
I slash his face with my claws. His skin gapes open, but no blood flows from the gashes. There is only darkness beneath his skin—adarkness so black that it is the absence of light. His wounds close as I watch with horrified eyes.
He backhands my snout so hard he knocks a whimper out of me and sends me flying. I tumble across the rocky ground before skidding to a stop in a limp heap.
That’s going to leave a mark.
I stagger to a stand and launch myself at him again, my hackles raised. This time, I don’t even get within tackling distance. With a flick of his hand, the dark mudang catapults me into the air. My stomach bottoms out as the wind whooshes past, and a silent scream builds inside me.
I don’t know how far I’m flung, but his magic jerks me to a halt so abruptly that my teeth sink into my tongue. I grunt as the metallic taste of blood fills my mouth. I shake my head to clear it and glance below. Daeseong looks toy-sized from way up here. I’m at least a hundred feet high.
Not good. Not good at all.
“See what I mean?” He spins me around in the air. “So amusing.”
I take a deep breath and hold it, bracing for the impact I know is coming. But Daeseong doesn’t just drop me from ten stories high. He spikes me down.
I wrap my nine tails around my body, curling in on myself. The ground rushes up to meet me, and I crash into it with stunning force.
Everything goes dark and muted. Maybe the impact knocked my soul out of me, or maybe I blacked out. But the high-pitched ringing in my ears jolts me back to consciousness.
The numb daze of shock evaporates, and pain lances through me. I moan and writhe in the gumiho-sized crater around me.
Focus, Sunny.
Where is Daeseong? Did he kill the humans?No.
Even as I cough up blood, I try to stand. But ... I can’t feel my hind legs. Realization bolts through my head like lightning. The motherfucker snapped my spine.
I swallow my fear along with the blood gurgling in my throat. I claw at the wall of dirt around me with my front legs, trying to crawl out of the crater. The rough, packed earth digs into my nails as I pull my heavy body up, but after a few inches, I slide back down, twisted into an awkward angle.
It’s no use. I can’t climb out as my gumiho.
I shift into my human form and moan in agony, the pain sharper and the healing slower, but I drag my limp legs behind me and pull myself out of the crater. Then I stab my hwando into the ground and inch toward Daeseong in an army crawl.
I will not allow him to kill the humans. I willnotallow him to usher in the Amheuk. He doesn’t get to win while I have breath left in me.
