Nicolo blinks his eyes open, stomach still hurting where it's knitting itself back together. Dusk has started to fall, and the battle has moved on. All that surrounds him now are corpses of his brothers in arms and his enemies. They look startlingly similar when they are dead and covered in blood. He gingerly sits up, feeling weary, and scans over the bodies looking for the man that he owes his death to 4 times over now.
He finds him not too far away, although he did not die by Nicolo's hand this time, Nicolo knew he'd be close. He will always be near. They are bound – Nicolo may not like it, nor will the man, but it is an undeniable fact. After meeting death four times and being flung back to the mortal realm four times, each time with the man nearby experiencing the same – it is hard to think they are anything other than bound.
The man has an arrow sticking through his forehead, which is why Nicolo assumes he hasn't been revived yet. Nicolo drops to his knees heavily, he made have been brought to life, but he still feels exhausted. Weighted down by his armour, and weak from not eating for at least a day. He pulls the arrow from the man's head and sits back on his heels, waiting.
It doesn't take long for him to feel a knife at his throat. The man is half sat up, glaring at Nicolo. Nicolo just sighs, "I mean you no harm." Nicolo says, even though he knows the other man doesn't understand his mother tongue.
The man frowns at him, assessing. He says something back to Nicolo in Arabic. Nicolo doesn't understand the words, but he feels he understands the meaning somehow. What is the meaning of this?
Nicolo stands up slowly and offers his hand out to the man. The man frowns in confusion before taking his hand and Nicolo hauls him up. They stand at look at each other before Nicolo looks around, a few stray horse graze in the distance that haven't been picked up by either side when the battle finished. Nicolo points over to them, and the man nods.
They approach the horses hesitantly and manage to mount them without any problems. They sit astride and assess the horizon. The man says something to him, and Nicolo interprets as what now?
Nicolo shrugs, "you choose." He says, pointing at him. Nicolo took the first step. The man can take this one.
The man suggests something and Nicolo nods, gesturing to the landscape meaning lead the way. The man eyes him for a while and then spurs his horse to move forward. Nicolo follows.
They set up camp when it gets too dark to travel, setting up a fire which they sit around. Nicolo hesitates for a moment before offering the man some of his dried meat rations. The man frowns at him before taking the proffered meat, then extends Nicolo a drink from his skin – which Nicolo takes gratefully.
"Yusuf," the man says, pointing at himself.
"Yusuf," Nicolo repeats and the man, Yusuf, nods. He then points at Niciolo.
