"After the rumh, I lay very still and held my breath. He thought I was dead. He left me lying there with the pony. Took my weapons and my water bottle. I crawled here. In the sun. Yesterday afternoon. I bled and bled."
He is going to die, Daoud thought. He did not want to believe it. For a moment he was angry at Nicetas. Why had he been such a fool as to come out here alone? And then at himself. Why had he let him go?
And then at God.
Why did You let this happen? Do You hate us because we love each other?
"I knew you would come for me, Daoud. I stayed alive to greet you."
Daoud took Nicetas's hand. "I will take you back."
"No. Bury me out here. Let him think you never found me. Bide your time, as he did. Give him no reason to fear you. He fears you already, or he would never have done it this way."
"Before the year is out, you will look down from paradise and see him burning in hell."
"I'm sorry. I was never strong enough to be a Mameluke."
"No. You are strong."