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They looked at each other after killing each other once again. They didn't know how they could still be alive, but the one thing they did know was that they had to leave Jerusalem before anyone found out what happened to them, and it had to be together. After plundering the first dead people they saw for their belongings, Yusuf mounted the first horse running past him, before offering Nicolò a hand, which he took without hesitation. When Nicolò sat on the horse behind Yusuf, Nicolò took the other cape he had taken from a dead person and placed it around Yusuf's shoulders, hoping the capes would hide their uniforms. Then Yusuf got the horse going at a speed Nicolò had never tried before, which meant he tightened his grip around Yusuf's waist, hoping he wouldn't fall off.
Yusuf forced the horse to run at a high speed for over two days. When Yusuf looked at Nicolò, it was the first time they looked at each other without anger, and it was a strange feeling; they knew they had to deal with it later. After dropping the bags with the stolen stuff on the ground, they dismounted the horse, which saw its chance to escape the two men, who couldn't prevent it from happening.
Nicolò was the first one to get out of his dirty and bloody uniform. He stripped down to his tunic and leggings before using the discarded clothes for a fire. Yusuf saw it all and decided it was a good idea what Nicolò was doing, so he also did the same thing. After stripping down to his tunic and leggings, Yusuf took one of the capes and placed it over Nicolò's shoulders, before taking the other cape on.
They sat a bit in silence, trying to figure out what to do next because ending up with the enemy was something they hadn't planned when they became a part of the Siege of Jerusalem. When Nicolò couldn't ignore his growling stomach anymore, he reached for one of the backpacks and opened it. Yusuf watched with interest what Nicolò was doing and when it became clear to Yusuf what Nicolò was doing, Yusuf also started to search the other backpacks for food.
Nicolò placed the food on one of the backpacks, and so did Yusuf. When they had searched all the backpacks, they looked at the food in front of them. There was one apple and one mouldy bread. Yusuf and Nicolò looked at each other with a hungry look in their eyes. When Nicolò reached for the apple and bread, Yusuf thought Nicolò would eat it all, but instead, Nicolò shared the apple and bread into two equal parts before handing half to Yusuf, who took it without hesitation.
While eating his bread, Yusuf noticed that Nicolò was eating all the mouldy bread, which was something Yusuf didn't understand because he had always been told that people like Nicolò were selfish and didn't care about people like Yusuf. What Yusuf didn't know was that Nicolò was thinking the same thoughts as Yusuf was thinking. When they looked at each other, they didn't know that with time, they would sort out all the things they had misunderstood about each other.
Yusuf stirred around the fire to prevent it from going out. It was dark when Nicolò spoke.
"I don't know if you understand me," Nicolò said. "But my name is Nicolò."
It was the first time Nicolò had spoken to Yusuf. Nicolò pointed at himself again while saying his name in the three languages he spoke. Yusuf didn't understand what Nicolò was saying in the first two languages, but when Nicolò spoke Greek, Yusuf understood him.
"Nicolò," Yusuf said. When Nicolò heard Yusuf say his name, it made him smile because it was the first time anyone had spoken his name with warmth in their voice. "I am Yusuf."
When Yusuf heard Nicolò say his name, it was like hearing an old friend say his name. They looked at each other again. After a bit more in silence, Yusuf extended his shaking hand towards Nicolò, hoping he wouldn't kill him. Nicolò's hand was also shaking as he shook Yusuf's hand. But all the shaking disappeared the moment they touched.
"Truce?" Nicolò asked. "Until we find out what has happened to us."
"I think it is a wise thing," Yusuf replied. "Tell me one thing, Nicolò. Did you also dream of two women when you died?"
Nicolò nodded, and they both knew it was something they had to talk about, but right now, when it became dawn, they both knew that their first priority was to get out of the desert together so that they could search for food and clothes. When that was done, they would start to seek the answers they both had to their questions.