"You're bleeding.", Jin held you in his arms, marked by the fight.

Blood stained his face while cuts and bruises spread across his skin. Your whole body trembled, the adrenaline still boiling in your veins.

Every breath hurt and as you clutched your neck with trembling fingers you winced in pain. An unfortunate curse escaped your lips, your voice raspy and hoarse from the strain of the fight.

When you raised your hands to your eyes, they were covered in blood. At the same time, everything around you was as cold as ice. Not quite in your right mind, your gaze wandered over the beach.

The sand was soaked with blood, red seeped into the sea and drew spider lilies under the surface. Foam from the waves gathered around your bodies.

"Jin...", slowly you awoke from your stupor. "How... did you...?"

Your gaze continued to wander over the lost houses, past the boats. Dead Mongols lay scattered along the path leading out of the village. Their blood soaked the ground, the walls of the houses were completely stained.

Jin had killed every single one of them alone, armed with nothing but a katana. Worried, you grabbed his hands, turning them to look at the palms. Scrapes and red marks covered his fingers. He was trembling too.

"Not a fight I haven't already fought before.", he murmured in your ear, interlacing your fingers. "We have to go."

He pulled you to your feet. You could hardly take a step without stumbling. Your legs wanted to give way beneath you. It felt hard to breathe, as if two stones were permanently compressing your lungs.

The stench of iron spread through the village. Wind picked it up and carried it out to sea. As you passed the corpses, you couldn't help but squint your eyes. Everything was spinning, your head was light but ached as if a fire was burning in it.

"Nobu.", you suddenly whispered as you stopped at the other end of the village on the coast. "How do we get the horse to the island?"

Frowning, Jin let out a deep breath. His shoulders were so tense that he was obviously in pain just standing. For the first time, your eyes fell on him.

Although much of the blood was not his own, he could not have remained unharmed. He had fought several men on his own, he must have been injured somewhere. But when you reached out for the fabric of his top, he held you back by the wrists.

"You... You're hurt.", you mumbled, tired and still not back to reality.

The blood on your fingers was already getting cold, felt like a second skin embracing you. He shook his head gently, visibly tired.

"Nobu can swim.", with more vigour Jin pushed you into the shallow water towards a boat that was ponding not far away.

The Mongols must have pushed them out to sea as a distraction to make it look like the village was inhabited. You looked around thoughtfully while Jin pushed you further into the water until it reached above your knees.

Still no one showed up, but only now did you realise that the village looked completely lifeless. The houses had shown no sign of inhabitants, there were no fish drying in the sun and no clothes. Normally people would have screamed or cheered when the fight had ended.

They couldn't be dead either, otherwise it would reek of rotting flesh. They had probably fled before the Mongols arrived.

What would it look like on the island?

It was further out to sea, barely more visible from the coast than a green spot on the horizon. Perhaps the inhabitants of the village had fled there.

One couldn't reach it without a boat and if well enough equipped, one could set fire to the attackers at sea.

Jin helped you into the boat, panting and gritting his teeth. It was as if he was really hurt and didn't want to show it. Water dripped from your clothes into the boat. He climbed after you, wanted to grab the oars but you held him back.

"Allow me.", you picked up the oars with a smile.

Instead of objecting, Jin sighed into the hull of the boat, his arms stretched out on the small bench. His breathing was heavy and he could barely keep his eyes open.

At first glance, it didn't look like he was dying, he was just exhausted from the fight. Nevertheless, you thought it would be a better idea to keep him awake.

"Jin.", you gently nudge him with your foot.

"Hm?", his eyes flickered, tiredly he raised his head but didn't seem to look at you completely.

With the last of his strength, he tried to stay awake. A thin smile played around his lips. There was a new cut on his cheek that reached to the edge of his chin. Small drops of red shimmered between the black hairs of his beard.

"How does it feel?", you asked as the boat swayed on the waves.

White clouds passed over your heads in a bright blue sky. Birds sailed through the air. Although you had lived on a ship for as long as you could remember, this was completely different.

The sea seemed calmer, less like a monster that wanted to devour everything. Your eyes travelled over the calm surface on which white foam danced from time to time. Fish swam in the dark.

"How's what?", he asked back.

One of his arms slid over the edge so that he could play with the waves. The cold touch of the sea elicited a soft sigh from him.

You smiled. Black hair stuck to his sweaty forehead, he was dirty and stained with blood. Nevertheless, at that moment he seemed immortal.

"To fight to kill.", your gaze jumped over your shoulder.

The island came closer. From this distance you could see high cliffs against which the waves were crashing. He laughed amusedly, tiredly.

"You saw.", he murmured teasingly.

A strange coldness spread through your stained fingers.

"I don't... ever want to do that again.", your hands clenched into fists. "Sometimes people die when they're sick... But I never want to kill anyone with my own two hands."

He shook his head gently.

"You don't have to. I... promise."