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Oscar stumbled through the doorway. Zolf’s hand left his arm and Oscar felt lost without it. He tripped over a body just beyond the threshold and fell to his hands and knees. Hamid. His face was peaceful but blood coated his chest, trickled from his lips. A pair of crumpled bronze dragon wings curled half about him and Oscar was glad he’d had enough coordination to at least not step on them or fall across Hamid's prone form. Oscar looked at the gash in Hamid's clothing. It was right over his heart but the magical cloth was mending as Oscar stared. Seeing the rip sent an echo through his own body. His chest still ached though he could draw breath easily, but he could remember that fleeting moment of agony as he woke. His own clothes were a ruin of blood. A perfect unfrayed slice lay above the ridge of a freshly closed scar. Oscar put a shaking hand to it. It was a wound that should have killed him, had it?
Oscar heard a door close and bar behind him and he looked around. They weren’t all through. He flung himself back to his feet and at it. “No,” he shouted. The others couldn’t escape, Zolf couldn’t... His last words came back to him, he’d hardly understood the first time. Take the others and get out of here. Stay safe.
He scrabbled at the handle of the door. “No.” Ada had her hand on the latch, her mouth was set grimly. “We can’t. There’s a gas, poison.”
There was the eerie noise of Azu’s ax as it passed through the air, hallowed, both reassuring and hair-raising. From beyond the door there was no telling if it struck true. Then there was the roar of an inferno. Oscar glanced at Hamid, the fire must be something of Cel’s. Oscar collapsed against the door. Zolf. He’d been hurt, there’d been blood. Oscar reached to his cheek where he remembered it having dripped onto him. He felt a pit hollow out in his chest at the thought of being unable to do anything to help. Oscar swallowed, wet his lips and began to sing. The note seemed thin and wavered with his fear. He wasn’t sure if it would even help through the door. But they had been able to talk through the barrier so if they could hear him, it would help. He held the note, pure, strong, desperate. Its magic worked on him as well; it held off the panic that he knew was trying to eat him up and he hoped it offered his friends the same resolve. Oscar tried to ignore the part of him that was imagining Zolf falling, any of them falling. The image of Zolf hovering over Oscar, face grave, eyes full of unfallen tears, blood forming a rivulet across his cheek, haunted him and nearly brought his voice to a falter. If it was possible that they could hear, he’d sing. He’d keep singing until he knew. It felt like an eternity before there was a knock on the door and he allowed the song to fade.
“Yes?” Ada asked voice shaking.
"It’s done.” Azu’s voice was solemn.
“We’re still going to have to be fast, the gas is still strong in this area.” This time it was Cel. “But I think we will be okay if we move fast, I mean we will disturb the air and drag it in with us as we move, but probably with the volume of the room it will be at negligible levels quickly. Though maybe if we moved slowly we’d disturb less air…”
“Right, we will back off the door."
Ada tugged at Oscar’s sleeve and he stood. Hamid was still in the way of anyone coming through. Oscar bent and found Ada catching up his legs as Oscar took Hamid under the shoulders. They moved away towards the secret entrance.
The door to the lab swung open. Cel came through first, arms full of a small red figure. Then Azu carrying Augusta. Zolf, where was Zolf? Oscar knew better than to break for the door, he’d come through or he wouldn’t. Azu stepped to the side and set down her burden, turning to put a hand on the door.
Then Zolf was there, upright, carrying Sumutnyerl. Oscar looked him over; this cataloging of injury was as familiar and as horrible as it ever was. How many times had he waited for Zolf to return, worried that he wouldn’t, worried that he would simply never know what had happened? There was blood, matted in his hair, running in trickles into his beard, stark red against the white. Azu shut the door as soon as he was past it.
Zolf lay Sumutnyerl next to Augusta. They were still and Oscar was certain they were dead. He’d have been able to feel Sumutnyerl in that odd distant way, like a presence sharing the room but not speaking. There was no one there now, at least not close to him.
Zolf continued to stare down at the two figures and then finally looked directly at Oscar.
“We’ve got to move, quickly. We don’t know what that was."
“We can guess who sent it.”
“Of course,” Zolf cast his look over the others in the room. “We’re in a bad spot. We should go.”
“There’s nowhere to go that we know is safe. Not that we can get to without risk. We can take an hour to recover a little before exploring our alternate exit. We have to collect up what we need to stop this anyway.”
Zolf nodded, wiped his face with a hand and only managed to smear the blood across his brow.
Oscar finally was able to look away from Zolf and take in the others. Azu had moved to Hamid’s side and squatted beside him. She had a hand on his back between his half furled wings, helping him sit. They spoke quietly before Hamid flung his arms around Azu and was weeping. Cel was still carrying a motionless Skraak. Zolf turned to them and touched their arm and Skraak’s. Oscar was relieved to see Skraak perk up in an instant and scramble from Cel’s embrace. He went straight for Sumutnyerl.
Zolf stood next to them and said a spell word, a gentle net of light settled into the skin of the two still figures, a hopeful gesture that there would be time yet.
Ada stared down at Augusta for a moment before turning and going about the lab, She froze suddenly. "It's gone, the kill switch!" She hurried forward to where the apparatus holding Babbage's brain was. She looked it over, "Oh thank Hephaestus. Babbage is okay." Oscar wasn't surprised by the theft but it still ruined their plans.
Oscar took a breath and then looked for a place to sit and think. There was a cot against the wall and he sank onto it. They were short of resources, of help. He didnt think it was safe even to go back to their rooms for the rest of their supplies. They had only what was available in the lab. Zolf was suddenly standing before him. Oscar looked up blinking; he had lost himself in planning, extrapolating out the options left them after this disaster.
Zolf laid his hand over Oscar’s heart without a word.
“I’m…” ‘fine,’ Oscar had started to say before changing it to “don’t exhaust your strength.”
But there was warmth and peace and hope flooding in. The scar turned old in an instant, a surprisingly thin white line across his pale breast. The cloth remained ripped and bloody around it.
“I can’t…” breathed Zolf and his voice was so quiet. The look he was giving Oscar was the same one he had glimpsed in that moment of disorientation and terror before he’d been shoved towards safety.
Oscar took Zolf’s hands in his and pulled him gently onto the cot. When he was seated face to face with him, Oscar leaned forward until their foreheads touched. Zolf’s brow was sticky with drying blood but Oscar didn’t care. Oscar closed his eyes and sighed. “I can’t either.”
He opened his eyes and saw fresh tears spilling silently down Zolf’s cheeks. He could feel hot streaks down his face as well. Oscar reached up a hand to rest on Zolf’s cheek. He wiped his thumb through the tracks of tears and blood.
Zolf leaned into the touch. Oscar could see him fighting against breaking down. It was rare that either of them took or gave physical comfort, but Oscar shifted just enough to offer an embrace and Zolf collapsed into his arms and clutched at Oscar. Zolf didn't make a sound but Oscar could feel his suppressed sobs. The change of position let Oscar see the wound Zolf had taken to the back of his head. It was still oozing. Tears fell freely down Oscar’s cheeks.
Azu looked over at them and her attention brought Hamid’s as well. Oscar shook his head minutely at both of them. He took a shaky breath and then composed himself. He began to hum and his fingers stroked gently over the matted hair, drawing away the blood and then slowly the torn skin mended itself under the song’s spell.
When Zolf’s scalp was whole again Oscar changed the tune. It was soft as a lullaby, a gentle melody that brought with it not sleepiness but calm. Cel came to sit nearby and stilled as much as he had ever seen Cel be still. Skraak joined them shortly thereafter. Oscar saw the tension and fear drain out of all of them. Zolf began to breathe evenly against his chest. And Oscar watched, letting his magic work. After a time, when he estimated they had risked as much rest as they dared, he pushed the melody towards resolve.
Zolf sat up and away from him though their hands reconnected. “It’s time we moved.” he said. Oscar nodded.
“Yes, I don't think we should delay longer.” Oscar took a deep breath and Zolf’s fingers squeezed his. "Let's finish this," Oscar said, squeezing back. Then they let go and stood to make ready to carry on as they had so many times before.