A Fox's Whisper

15: Ҝ卂乙ㄩ卄卂

I found Inari not long after entering the Furnace. It may seem foolish to say, but I believe it was the wind whispering and urging me onwards to where she was...for it seemed inhumanly possible to find her as swiftly as I did. Fortune had smiled upon me.

She was unconscious, lying at the edge of a cliffside far above the ground where the Balethunder is thinnest. When I first saw her still figure, I thought her dead. I'd rushed to her side, rolling her onto her back. Her neck and shoulder were smeared with dried blood, ugly bite marks sunk into her skin.
I pressed shaky fingers against her neck, and I felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders when I felt her fluttering pulse. Faint, to be sure, but it was there.

Aside from the bite, most of Inari's bruises and cuts had faded for which I was grateful. But what had done this to her? And where was Sora? Where was Legion?

Inari didn't show any signs of waking soon. I'd have to carry her out of here before the Balethunder took effect. Finding a way out of the endless maze the Furnace presented would be exceedingly difficult. I swallowed my apprehension and carefully swept Inari up into my arms, one arm under her legs and the other at her back. She was surprisingly light, but she felt very cold like I was holding a block of ice instead of a girl.

I ran. I chose each step with care as I went, avoiding divots in the ground and upturned stones and roots. Because I didn't know if whatever had attacked Inari was still lurking nearby. My breath came in short stabbing gasps, and I kept looking over my shoulder in the hopes that I wasn't being followed.

Something dark and shadowy caused me to skid to a halt. My heart was beating so loud it nearly echoed throughout the Furnace. It was dark...shadows stretched and lengthened along the cavernous walls like creatures ready to bare their teeth. I took a step forward, knocking loose pebbles to the earth below. They clattered and echoed until they reached the ground. A cold wind caressed my cheek, and then the air stilled. Deep into that darkness peering, I long stood there. I feared and I doubted, praying that what I had seen was not real.

My eyes darted left and right, and I held Inari a little tighter. The irregular way she was beginning to breathe worried me.
There was a billowing swoosh of what sounded like fabric and I spun around to be faced with Legion. I drew in a sharp breath, stepping away from him. Had he been chasing me?

"I found Akio. He's with the other girl. They found the exit," he said quietly. "Though I wonder at what suddenly brought you here."

I wondered if he was lying to me. "Where are they?"

"It isn't far. I only came back because they insisted I try and find her." He pointed a long finger at Inari's unconscious figure. "I am certain they'll both be relieved to find you alive."
The emphasis he put on the last word seemed to be a sort of taunting disdain at why I'd suddenly changed my mind and entered the Furnace after I'd been so avidly against it. But he did not ask me for an explanation, and I did not provide one.

"Then by all means, lead the way," I said.

But Legion didn't move. Not yet. My throat burned from the Balethunder. The Electro energy was beginning to make my sense of sight grow spotty.
"It will be faster if you let me carry her," he said.

Subconsciously I held Inari closer, and I took another step back. Maybe Legion's intentions were good. Still, I knew I could no longer trust him, though perhaps that was unfair of me. I couldn't deny the overwhelming evidence against him being a just, upright man, however. It was beginning to shake my judgment.

He stretched out his arms for Inari. "Why are you hesitating?" He rasped. "Who knows how long she's been exposed to Balethunder. We'll be out of here quicker if you give her to me. You're wasting time."