Yusuf’s hands stilled on the reins. He looked over his shoulder at Nicolo, who lingered in front of the baker's house.
“Did we forget something?” Yusuf eyed the baskets on either side of the horse’s harness. The bread and cheese still filled the air with their warm scents. And he remembered slipping the packages of dates and dried meats in the other basket along with the little package Izem offered to get for him while Yusuf patrolled the village with Nicolo.
Nicolo looked discomforted, his hand on his sword hilt, his feet apart. He appeared he was prepared to run, to where, Yusuf did not know. He only hoped it was a place Yusuf was permitted to follow.
“I have something with the metal smith,” Nicolo explained. He fidgeted. “But I forgot as we were moving the barrels to set by the mill’s part of the stream.”
It was Nicolo’s idea to fortify the mill. It stood between the shores and the land as the outermost boundary. The structure was large enough to hide the elderly and women if they were under siege. They could escape the village by following the stream up to their dwelling and beyond.
The villagers grumbled, but many begrudgingly helped Yusuf and Nicolo fill the barrels with sand and roll them to create a wall that ran along the mill and part of the stream.
If there were more barrels, Yusuf preferred they made the wall two rows thick and stacked above their heads. But it was all they have until the fishermen return from Alexandria’s ships with more.
“The metal smith was across the mill,” Yusuf mused out loud. He eyed Nicolo. “If you had business with the smith, you could have left. We were fine. You could have rejoined us later.”
Nicolo’s thumb ran along his lower lip.
“Yes, that is true,” Nicolo mumbled. He gave Yusuf a sheepish look through his lashes.
Yusuf bit back his smile. He folded his arms in front of him.
“Perhaps I should go with you,” Yusuf decided. He snickered at the panic Nicolo could not hide completely.
“Or not.” Yusuf thought of his package secreted under the meats and sack of dates. He pretended to sigh.
“Very well, I will wait rather impatiently by our horse, the sun descending behind us.”
“I will be quick.” Nicolo glanced up at the sky as well. He blinked when he discovered Yusuf now stood toe to toe with him.
Yusuf checked their surroundings. At this hour, the villagers gathered in the market to haggle with each other for the remaining wares.
“A reminder,” Yusuf murmured, “On why you should hasten your feet.”
Nicolo rolled his eyes, but his ears pinked. “Yes, I remember—“
Behind the melon cart, under the shadow of their horse, Yusuf crushed his lips over Nicolo’s. Yusuf swallowed Nicolo's surprised squeak that quickly turned into a moan when he deepened the kiss.
Yusuf's hands roamed, quickly, before someone walked by, kneading and gripping Nicolo’s buttocks, ran his thumbs over the ridges of Nicolo’s spine and shoved a leg between Nicolo’s, sighing as he pressed forward, inviting Nicolo to—
Yusuf felt the teeth snapping towards his ass just as Nicolo’s eyes widened at whatever he saw past Yusuf’s shoulder.
“You crazy beast!” Yusuf sputtered. He ran behind Nicolo, scowling at the horse over Nicolo’s head.
Nicolo chuckled as he stepped back from Yusuf. He brushed back his hair, patted his clothes and exhaled. The flush on his cheeks and neck remained.
“The longer you delay me, it will be too dark to walk home and we would have to trouble Izem and his mother for her floor once again—“ Nicolo scoffed as Yusuf nudged him towards the metal smith’s hut.
“Hasten,” Yusuf quipped, “if only to spare the horse the horrible fate I have in mind for it if I wait too long.”
Nicolo shook his head, a small private smile on his lips as he walked away.
Yusuf watched until he could watch no more. His eyes drifted back to the horse that stood far too close for Yusuf’s liking.
Yusuf glared at the beast. The beast stared back, unmoved. Then, its lips pulled back, it bared its teeth and chomped the air between them.
Yusuf bared his own teeth and snapped back.
Izem and the others made him feel old.
Only fair, Yusuf supposed. While he looked a man of over thirty, his years stretched beyond that. He was in his eighties now, already older than his father might have been.
A dull pang in Yusuf's chest reminded Yusuf he was not the only one who outlived his peers. And as he watched Izem and his two friends marched past in their own patrol, Yusuf wondered if Nicolo, too, felt the years. Izem, despite his jagged experiences at sea, was still young by mortal or immortal standards. Izem shook off his fascination with Nicolo and now appeared to hold many ideas on the village's future.
But Yusuf has seen villages rise and fall, whether by disease, violence or simply time. He wondered if Izem would feel the same ten years from now? Or twenty?
"Ah, hobi," Yusuf muttered under his breath. "My thoughts always go too dark with you not near. Hasten back, my heart."
Next to him, the horse snorted.
Yusuf rolled his eyes.
"And what comment do you have, beast? Or are you contemplating your next moment to attack?"
The horse stamped a foot and kicked its hind legs.
"Aye, aye. Do not spill the baskets, you wretched creature." Yusuf grumbled as he removed the baskets from the harness. "I have many plans for these. Especially these dates. They are his favorite." Yusuf peered into the bin to be certain they fared well. "They will sweeten his lips and--"
Yusuf growled as the horse's hind foot nearly connected with something sensitive.
"This is why I have not named you," Yusuf sputtered. He veered away from the horse's reach. "I am torn from the many ill-tempered names that would suit you."
Yusuf set the baskets by the side of the baker's house.
"My old horse was far more better tempered than you," Yusuf grumbled when he returned. "And it outraced any desert horse! Would have certainly best you and your short stumpy legs." He kept an eye on the path Nicolo would return on. "Barb horse. Magnificent warrior. Fought alongside with me outside the walls of Antio--"
Yusuf abruptly cleared his throat. His black horse perished underneath him when a staff cut through its belly. He fell but his poor horse valiantly tried to rise until Nicolo stilled it with a swift blow of his sword.
At the time, Yusuf did not realize it was out of mercy. Grief and rage sent him forth, his sword high to clash with Nicolo's. And the battle shrank to the two of them for days.
The horse whinnied. It turned its narrow head towards the house.
"Ah ha, you wanted to eat what was in the basket, did you?"
Yusuf shook a finger at the horse. To his surprise, though, the horse did not try to bite it. He frowned at the horse. The horse stamped a hoof, then another. It snorted, blowing wind across Yusuf's curls.
Yusuf cautiously patted its bay coat.
The horse's black mane flicked out like a whip.
Yusuf frowned. No matter what horse, they always seemed more attuned.
"What is it mangy creature?" Yusuf muttered. He patted the horse's shoulder and felt it twitch under his palm again. He glanced up at its large eyes. He stilled.
"You want a bite? Yea?" Yusuf waved his left hand by the horse's muzzle. His right hand slowly reached behind him for his scimitar. "Not another sandstorm, I pray? I have many plans with Nicolo and I do not want to include a sandstorm. The places sand gets into are infuriating."
Reflected off the horse's eyes, Yusuf saw him: a man whose headdress and mask covered everything except his eyes. He crept out from around the other side of the house. He held a sword, as long as Yusuf's scimitar, as straight as Nicolo's longsword.
The horse nickered. It bumped its nose into Yusuf's shoulder.
"Eh? Eh?" Yusuf said loudly as he continued to watch the coward sneak up behind Yusuf. "That food is not for you! Have they not fed you enough chaff for four horses? I should hitch you to a cart after all, before your laziness makes you cumbersome and even more--"
The horse shrieked, rearing up on its hind legs.
Yusuf swore. The man was not close enough yet. He spun around to face the coward. Behind him, the horse screamed once more and another man shouted but abruptly silenced with sharp hooves and a squishy thump.
Yusuf's would-be attacker started at the sound. It was enough. Yusuf charged the man before him, his scimitar lashing out. Straight like a lance as he has seen Nicolo do, thrusting into the man before he has a chance to lift his own sword.
The man's hood muffled his dying cries, but Yusuf stood over him, panting as he watched the life die before he dared turn around.
Another man in similar dress laid by the horse's feet. Most of him, that is. The head was a smear the horse was currently trying to wipe off its hooves in the dirt.
He must have went around the horse, Yusuf realized. They were to attack him from both sides.
The horse snorted in disgust as it continued to scrape its bloodied hooves into the dirt. It looked over at Yusuf. Its ears wiggled.
Yusuf bristled. "I would have dealt with him."
The horse exhaled in a noisy and rather rude snort.
Yusuf frowned as he cleaned his blade on the other's attire. Were they scouts? Surely they did not think they could ransack the village with two?
The horse whined loud.
From afar, shouting rose.
Yusuf's eyes widened. They were coming by sea, by the mill, by the metal smith--
"No," Yusuf breathed. He tightened his grip on his scimitar, spun towards the direction of the shouting.
"Stay here," Yusuf barked, not caring if the horse truly understood or not. "If these men take you, they would work your miserable hide to the bon--"
The horse shrieked again, but this time its warning came too late. Yusuf tensed, expecting to see another coward's approach.
And felt the arrow punch through his chest and out his back.
As Yusuf fell forward, he heard the horse scream. He heard the village scream. What he did not hear was--
"Nicolo," Yusuf groaned as blood bubbled up to his lips.
Yusuf fell face forward into the dirt as the world around him fades.
---------------------
(Tomorrow? (ducking from the apples thrown her way)
NEW HERE: Needs of the Other 18E/20
———————————————-
Part 18E
———————————————-
(Yusuf)
Somewhere outside of Alexandria, 12th century
“Wait here.”
Yusuf’s hands stilled on the reins. He looked over his shoulder at Nicolo, who lingered in front of the baker's house.
“Did we forget something?” Yusuf eyed the baskets on either side of the horse’s harness. The bread and cheese still filled the air with their warm scents. And he remembered slipping the packages of dates and dried meats in the other basket along with the little package Izem offered to get for him while Yusuf patrolled the village with Nicolo.
Nicolo looked discomforted, his hand on his sword hilt, his feet apart. He appeared he was prepared to run, to where, Yusuf did not know. He only hoped it was a place Yusuf was permitted to follow.
“I have something with the metal smith,” Nicolo explained. He fidgeted. “But I forgot as we were moving the barrels to set by the mill’s part of the stream.”
It was Nicolo’s idea to fortify the mill. It stood between the shores and the land as the outermost boundary. The structure was large enough to hide the elderly and women if they were under siege. They could escape the village by following the stream up to their dwelling and beyond.
The villagers grumbled, but many begrudgingly helped Yusuf and Nicolo fill the barrels with sand and roll them to create a wall that ran along the mill and part of the stream.
If there were more barrels, Yusuf preferred they made the wall two rows thick and stacked above their heads. But it was all they have until the fishermen return from Alexandria’s ships with more.
“The metal smith was across the mill,” Yusuf mused out loud. He eyed Nicolo. “If you had business with the smith, you could have left. We were fine. You could have rejoined us later.”
Nicolo’s thumb ran along his lower lip.
“Yes, that is true,” Nicolo mumbled. He gave Yusuf a sheepish look through his lashes.
Yusuf bit back his smile. He folded his arms in front of him.
“Perhaps I should go with you,” Yusuf decided. He snickered at the panic Nicolo could not hide completely.
“Or not.” Yusuf thought of his package secreted under the meats and sack of dates. He pretended to sigh.
“Very well, I will wait rather impatiently by our horse, the sun descending behind us.”
“I will be quick.” Nicolo glanced up at the sky as well. He blinked when he discovered Yusuf now stood toe to toe with him.
Yusuf checked their surroundings. At this hour, the villagers gathered in the market to haggle with each other for the remaining wares.
“A reminder,” Yusuf murmured, “On why you should hasten your feet.”
Nicolo rolled his eyes, but his ears pinked. “Yes, I remember—“
Behind the melon cart, under the shadow of their horse, Yusuf crushed his lips over Nicolo’s. Yusuf swallowed Nicolo's surprised squeak that quickly turned into a moan when he deepened the kiss.
Yusuf's hands roamed, quickly, before someone walked by, kneading and gripping Nicolo’s buttocks, ran his thumbs over the ridges of Nicolo’s spine and shoved a leg between Nicolo’s, sighing as he pressed forward, inviting Nicolo to—
Yusuf felt the teeth snapping towards his ass just as Nicolo’s eyes widened at whatever he saw past Yusuf’s shoulder.
“You crazy beast!” Yusuf sputtered. He ran behind Nicolo, scowling at the horse over Nicolo’s head.
Nicolo chuckled as he stepped back from Yusuf. He brushed back his hair, patted his clothes and exhaled. The flush on his cheeks and neck remained.
“The longer you delay me, it will be too dark to walk home and we would have to trouble Izem and his mother for her floor once again—“ Nicolo scoffed as Yusuf nudged him towards the metal smith’s hut.
“Hasten,” Yusuf quipped, “if only to spare the horse the horrible fate I have in mind for it if I wait too long.”
Nicolo shook his head, a small private smile on his lips as he walked away.
Yusuf watched until he could watch no more. His eyes drifted back to the horse that stood far too close for Yusuf’s liking.
Yusuf glared at the beast. The beast stared back, unmoved. Then, its lips pulled back, it bared its teeth and chomped the air between them.
Yusuf bared his own teeth and snapped back.
Izem and the others made him feel old.
Only fair, Yusuf supposed. While he looked a man of over thirty, his years stretched beyond that. He was in his eighties now, already older than his father might have been.
A dull pang in Yusuf's chest reminded Yusuf he was not the only one who outlived his peers. And as he watched Izem and his two friends marched past in their own patrol, Yusuf wondered if Nicolo, too, felt the years. Izem, despite his jagged experiences at sea, was still young by mortal or immortal standards. Izem shook off his fascination with Nicolo and now appeared to hold many ideas on the village's future.
But Yusuf has seen villages rise and fall, whether by disease, violence or simply time. He wondered if Izem would feel the same ten years from now? Or twenty?
"Ah, hobi," Yusuf muttered under his breath. "My thoughts always go too dark with you not near. Hasten back, my heart."
Next to him, the horse snorted.
Yusuf rolled his eyes.
"And what comment do you have, beast? Or are you contemplating your next moment to attack?"
The horse stamped a foot and kicked its hind legs.
"Aye, aye. Do not spill the baskets, you wretched creature." Yusuf grumbled as he removed the baskets from the harness. "I have many plans for these. Especially these dates. They are his favorite." Yusuf peered into the bin to be certain they fared well. "They will sweeten his lips and--"
Yusuf growled as the horse's hind foot nearly connected with something sensitive.
"This is why I have not named you," Yusuf sputtered. He veered away from the horse's reach. "I am torn from the many ill-tempered names that would suit you."
Yusuf set the baskets by the side of the baker's house.
"My old horse was far more better tempered than you," Yusuf grumbled when he returned. "And it outraced any desert horse! Would have certainly best you and your short stumpy legs." He kept an eye on the path Nicolo would return on. "Barb horse. Magnificent warrior. Fought alongside with me outside the walls of Antio--"
Yusuf abruptly cleared his throat. His black horse perished underneath him when a staff cut through its belly. He fell but his poor horse valiantly tried to rise until Nicolo stilled it with a swift blow of his sword.
At the time, Yusuf did not realize it was out of mercy. Grief and rage sent him forth, his sword high to clash with Nicolo's. And the battle shrank to the two of them for days.
The horse whinnied. It turned its narrow head towards the house.
"Ah ha, you wanted to eat what was in the basket, did you?"
Yusuf shook a finger at the horse. To his surprise, though, the horse did not try to bite it. He frowned at the horse. The horse stamped a hoof, then another. It snorted, blowing wind across Yusuf's curls.
Yusuf cautiously patted its bay coat.
The horse's black mane flicked out like a whip.
Yusuf frowned. No matter what horse, they always seemed more attuned.
"What is it mangy creature?" Yusuf muttered. He patted the horse's shoulder and felt it twitch under his palm again. He glanced up at its large eyes. He stilled.
"You want a bite? Yea?" Yusuf waved his left hand by the horse's muzzle. His right hand slowly reached behind him for his scimitar. "Not another sandstorm, I pray? I have many plans with Nicolo and I do not want to include a sandstorm. The places sand gets into are infuriating."
Reflected off the horse's eyes, Yusuf saw him: a man whose headdress and mask covered everything except his eyes. He crept out from around the other side of the house. He held a sword, as long as Yusuf's scimitar, as straight as Nicolo's longsword.
The horse nickered. It bumped its nose into Yusuf's shoulder.
"Eh? Eh?" Yusuf said loudly as he continued to watch the coward sneak up behind Yusuf. "That food is not for you! Have they not fed you enough chaff for four horses? I should hitch you to a cart after all, before your laziness makes you cumbersome and even more--"
The horse shrieked, rearing up on its hind legs.
Yusuf swore. The man was not close enough yet. He spun around to face the coward. Behind him, the horse screamed once more and another man shouted but abruptly silenced with sharp hooves and a squishy thump.
Yusuf's would-be attacker started at the sound. It was enough. Yusuf charged the man before him, his scimitar lashing out. Straight like a lance as he has seen Nicolo do, thrusting into the man before he has a chance to lift his own sword.
The man's hood muffled his dying cries, but Yusuf stood over him, panting as he watched the life die before he dared turn around.
Another man in similar dress laid by the horse's feet. Most of him, that is. The head was a smear the horse was currently trying to wipe off its hooves in the dirt.
He must have went around the horse, Yusuf realized. They were to attack him from both sides.
The horse snorted in disgust as it continued to scrape its bloodied hooves into the dirt. It looked over at Yusuf. Its ears wiggled.
Yusuf bristled. "I would have dealt with him."
The horse exhaled in a noisy and rather rude snort.
Yusuf frowned as he cleaned his blade on the other's attire. Were they scouts? Surely they did not think they could ransack the village with two?
The horse whined loud.
From afar, shouting rose.
Yusuf's eyes widened. They were coming by sea, by the mill, by the metal smith--
"No," Yusuf breathed. He tightened his grip on his scimitar, spun towards the direction of the shouting.
"Stay here," Yusuf barked, not caring if the horse truly understood or not. "If these men take you, they would work your miserable hide to the bon--"
The horse shrieked again, but this time its warning came too late. Yusuf tensed, expecting to see another coward's approach.
And felt the arrow punch through his chest and out his back.
As Yusuf fell forward, he heard the horse scream. He heard the village scream. What he did not hear was--
"Nicolo," Yusuf groaned as blood bubbled up to his lips.
Yusuf fell face forward into the dirt as the world around him fades.
---------------------
(Tomorrow? (ducking from the apples thrown her way)