Chapter Text
With a sigh Yusuf sat up. He gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. For more than an hour he had tried to fall asleep, but he couldn’t. The fight he had had with the invader was still too present in his mind.
He turned around and glared at the man, lying in the other bed, sleeping. He held his sword close to himself and had a blanket pulled up to his chin.
Yusuf once again gritted his teeth.
It was half a year that they had killed each other for the first time, half a year since they had fought for days and half a year since they had called a truce after finding out that they couldn’t die, no matter how hard they tried. But this afternoon… this afternoon they had fought again and if Yusuf was honest with himself, he couldn’t even remember the reason. Like always it’s been just some inanity, something Nicolò had said and he took wrongly.
Slowly and as quietly as possible he rose, took his boots, his scimitar and his bag and sneaked out of the room they shared in the caravansary. The damn invader didn’t wake up and Yusuf went to the stairs, sneaked down and went to the pen where the camels were.
Last week one of their camels died and so the two of them had to share the one remaining. But now Yusuf would take it and ride away, leaving his unwilling companion behind. He would try to get home, to his family, his parents. The damn invader could buy himself a new camel and go wherever he wanted to be.
Quietly he saddled the camel, put his bag behind the saddle and climbed onto the animal. And with a last glance over his shoulder he rode away. It actually took him more than a day to regret his decision, especially when he found out that he had had their money in his bag.
But the inva…no, Nicolò. His name was Nicolò. But Nicolò would find a way to get a new camel. Or a horse. For a moment he thought about turning around and going back to the caravansary but no, it wouldn’t go well. As long as they were together they almost constantly fought. No, it was better that way. Nicolò was better off without him and he without Nicolò.
He didn’t dream of him during the nights. No, he still dreamed about these two women. And he knew that Nicolò also dreamed about them. At first they had planned to search for them but in their dreams the place where they were looked so different and they both had no idea in which direction they should go, where they would find them.
No, his plan was to go back to his family and he would do that now.
After three days alone he could join a caravan. He just had to agree to help defend them in case they got attacked. They were on the way to Alexandria and he hoped to get a ship to bring him closer to his home, to his family.
The trip was uneventful and Yusuf had lots of time to think. Think about the two women he still dreamed off, think about the inva… about Nicolò and what he’s doing right now. Once again he thought it was a mistake to leave him behind. He knew no one who was like him aside from this pale guy and - with a little distance to the fight - he wasn’t that bad of a guy. For an invader that is.
But it is what it is. Yusuf was on his way back to his family and Nicolò probably, too. From the caravansary it’s just a few days' ride to a harbor where he could quite possibly get a passage on a merchant ship… and if he couldn’t afford the passage because - by accident - Yusuf took almost all of their money, he could work for it. They had done it before and most merchants were glad to have mercenaries aboard, in case they got attacked.
In Alexandria he went to the harbor to search for a passage for himself and found a ship that would leave town in four days. So he sold the camel, went to a tavern and got himself a room.
That night he dreamed of the two women again. They were attacked by a group of heavily armed soldiers in weird looking armor. He had never seen anything like it before and the men themselves… they all had black hair and weirdly shaped eyes.
Yusuf dreamed of Nicolò, too, but this dream was different. It was a remembrance of the first time he had seen him smile. They both had managed to hunt a small rabbit and just cooked it over open fire and he, Yusuf, had made a joke and Nicolò’s whole face lit up when he had grinned at him. It was a little lopsided but it changed his whole appearance. For the first time he had met the man he almost seemed happy, carefree. Sure, he had seen him smile again, but these smiles were different, more controlled and they definitely lacked the spark in his eyes.
Yusuf sighed, turned around and stared out of the window at the moon.