UNCHARTED
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THE AZURE KINGDOM
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CHAPTER 1
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CHASE FOR A VASE
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It was warm and sweaty in the busy streets of Cairo. It was on a Saturday, so there were hundreds of people on the road, buying anything they could get their hands on. For the merchants this was daily business, but for an outsider it was an extraordinary sight. There were literally more than a thousand people per acre in the city. Every single spot was taken by a human being standing, screaming, talking, yelling or laughing. One thing was certain. No one was quiet. The hot sun blinded one man's face. A man who was in his late twenties, early thirties, but who had the experience of a lifetime. He was a fortune hunter, one who had a nose for gold, but he isn't the most clever one. Nevertheless, he did succeed in solving a great mystery in the world. He did find El Dorado. But the gold of El Dorado didn't quite satisfy him. A fox never forgets its tricks and certainly not Drake. Nathan Drake, that was his name. The latest descendant of Sir Francis Drake, the very man who found El Dorado before him and who uncovered its great secret. Next to Drake sat his old friend and mentor Victor Sullivan, who taught Nathan everything about treasure hunting. "You gotta think of it as an art. Only those with the most passion will succeed", as Sullivan "Sully" once said. And of course he couldn't be more right about it. Victor was an older man, who was not quite so agile as Drake, but he did take down enemies with style. Something Nate could learn from. As Nathan was leaning against a wooden pole in the centre of Cairo he sunk deep in his thoughts. He thought about Elena, who left him shortly after they had acquired the great treasure. She never gave him a reason why she left him, though. Something he had been mind crossing about for quite some time now. Maybe she didn't like his personality or maybe there wasn't enough romance. Whatever the reason was, he must have messed up pretty badly.
"You still think they'll come?", Sully asked him with a fat Cuban cigar in his mouth.
"They'll be here. Just wait for their signal", Drake said while peering in the distance, looking for any sign of them.
"You sure this was it?"
"Yes. This was the meeting point. We've been through this over a hundred times now. They'll come."
"Well, all right. If you say so, then it must be true."
"Look, there they are already." Nate pointed in the distance, where great dust clouds arose from the desert. In the whipped up sand you could see the contours of a giant truck. It did not slow down when approaching the city, however and Nate would swear he saw vague gun shapes in the dust cloud as well. As the cloud disappeared it became clear who the people in the truck were. And they were not quite the welcome wagon Drake had expected.
"Wait. It's not them. Sully, run!" Drake yelled and he quickly turned around and reached on the floor where he picked up a somewhat large, cylinder shaped object.
The terrorists now began to shoot at them, killing innocent people who were in their way. The crowd was screaming like crazy and the people were all running about without sense of direction. It didn't matter where they went. Anywhere but stay in the danger zone. Nathan and Sully were meanwhile trying to cross through the amassing crowd, but it wasn't easy. People were running everywhere and no one watched where he was going. Everyone bumped in to one another and order seemed like a word unheard of. The giant crowd could be considered as an advantage for our unfortunate fortune hunter. But it didn't take long before the central plaza was completely empty except for the terrorists terrorizing the city.
Sully and Nate were now running through the crowd, while avoiding gunfire. Two men clad in brown and sand colored suits were behind them, chasing them with their AK-47's. Unlike Victor, Nathan was carrying a precious object with him and with all those people running around it was hard not to shatter it. Holding the rare vase above his head wasn't an option either for the fortune hunter. One random bullet could blow it to pieces. So he ran through the slobs with the extraordinary vase against his chest, avoiding as many people as possible.
"Nate, two guys six o'clock", Sullivan said while pushing some random citizen to the side.
"Got it", Nate said and quickly grabbed a PPK-45 which was lying on the floor in front of him. Without looking back he pointed the gun backward and shot a couple of times. After a while he heard no bullets anymore. But somewhere he knew he hadn't got rid of them. They'd be back.
"Nate! I think that was the last of them."
"Yeah, I guess so too", Nate sighed and he leaned against a torn down market stall, with the vase still tight in his hands. His hands were trembling, so he had to use the palms of his hands and his lower arms to prevent the vase from falling. He was exhausted. After all, it hadn't quite been a vacation here in Cairo. If Nate only knew what his client meant, he would have never done it. That these terrorists were after him had everything to do with him possessing the vase. Next time he asks something from me, he's gotta get it himself, he thought. No way I'm sticking my neck out for this insanity ever again. Some low, bass rumbling disturbed the silence. It got louder as it came closer.
"Please tell me that's your stomach", Nate said to Sullivan, pointing at his belly.
"I think it's them. They'll find us soon if we don't do anything."
Bricks were thrust all into the air. The brick wall of the house in front of them was torn apart. The wheels of the car were wildly spinning, trying to get over a small brick bump. The engine roared and as the dust of the impact flew away Nate saw the hooded terrorists in the van once more, holding their guns in position.
"I think they just found us", said Nate. "RUN!"
Blood was racing through his entire body as Drake ran for his life through the narrow alleys of Cairo.
"Nate, to your left", Victor yelled and Nathan watched to his side. He saw a motorbike trying to get parallel with him. He jumped to the side, grabbed the bike and pushed it into a building, allowing the advancing truck to drive past them. Nathan got up as quick as possible and punched the helmeted driver a couple of times in the stomach, while still holding the vase in his hand. The biker tried to kick the vase, but Nathan held it away from him as far as possible. Then he took the biker down with his knees and grabbed his gun. He reloaded it and jumped on the bike, started the engine and went off. He followed the road tracks and tried to find his friend Sullivan. He quickly heard the truck closing in on him, but it went faster than he thought. He turned around a corner and came face to face with the giant truck, that had obviously turned around to find him. As quick as he could Nathan threw the steer to the right and drove past the giant truck to continue his ride. The truck also made a major U-turn and now full throttled it to catch up with Nathan. It didn't take long before the truck was on Drake's tail again. Drake scanned the area, looking for his friend, while meanwhile keeping an eye on the narrow road. Then he saw grey hair in the distance. Nate wanted to slow down, but he couldn't. The truck on his tail came closer and closer.
"Sully! Get on the bike! Get on the bike! Now!", Nathan yelled and Sully seemed to have heard him, because he was making his way through the crowd as fast as he could. Then, in less than half of a second Victor climbed aboard the bike. Nathan twisted the steer and went to full throttle.
"Thanks Nate! That was really close."
But the man hadn't finished his sentence or Nathan was nearly driving right into a gigantic gap in the bridge. Apparently he had missed the "roadblock" sign while he was driving through the alleyway at top speed. He used all his strength to push his foot down on the brakes and threw his body to the right, so he'd directly face his incoming opponent who was not so lucky. Because he had focused entirely on Drake he didn't notice the gap in the bridge lying ahead of him and he thrust into the enormous pit soon after.
"No, Sully. THAT was close!", Nate said, pointing at his downed enemy.
"Do ya think that's the last of them?", Victor asked him.
Another rumble closing in, this time accompanied by loud bangs and blinding flashes.
"I shouldn't have said that, right?"
"Probably not, no", said Nathan who was already preparing to drive away.
A flash emerged, accompanied by an incoming rocket.
Nate quickly jumped off the bike, with the vase in his hands. He quickly ran as far away as possible before the impact.
"Sully. Look out!", he shouted, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Nathan realized that the RPG was now being reloaded. He had to find cover now! There! To his left Drake saw a medium sized concrete house. No way those rockets were ever going to penetrate it. While avoiding some more rockets he finally got to the building. It was a underground parking garage, a huge one, but it was still under construction. Nathan sneaked in and spotted some snipers on the upper level. He grabbed a grenade out of his belt and threw it high up. He got lucky. Both snipers were killed at once. He quickly got up and picked up the Dragon snipers they dropped. Now he could finally snipe the RPG guy.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Drake felt the cold iron of a pistol on his back.
"Drop the gun down and kick it away."
Nate obeyed his orders and slowly put the gun down and kicked it away.
"No, don't turn around", the stranger said and tightened his grip.
"I was just…", Nathan started.
"Nah ah. No talking. Only I talk. And when I speak you shut your mouth!" The longer he spoke the more violent and harsh his speech appeared. "He's over here, boss", the stranger yelled.
"Now you're gonna be nice to me and wait till my boss arrives."
Nathan saw that the RPG guy had to be the boss, because when he looked through the peek-hole again the man was gone.
"Dwake. Nathan Dwake", a small Chinese man said while inspecting his victim.
"Chao Wong. What a surprise", Nate said sarcastically.
"What are you doing here?"
"I was just about to ask a similar question to you."
"Me? My men are here because of you. Because of that vase." Chao pointed at the vase in Drake's hand.
"You can have it. No problem. You're just gonna have to get it", Drake said and he held the vase out of the opening to his side.
"Oh yeah, of course. Aim your guns at me. Shoot me even. Just have in mind that I might just let the vase slip through my fingers."
"We got your point, Dwake. What are your demands?"
"I demand you to take those guns outta my face."
Chao smiled at his men, probably referring to the fact that Drake had gone out of his mind.
"Now!"
Chao's smile vanished as quickly as it came and he posed a gesture to his men, instructing they'd put their guns down.
"And what else?", Chao asked while grinning, showing his rotten and partially golden teeth.
"That you get the hell outta here! Now! Make sure you and your men don't bother me or my friends ever again!"
"Deal. Now give me the vase."
Drake carefully handed him over the vase. Chao reached his hands to the vase so fast Drake knew it was a trick. While holding it, Chao looked at it as if it were glowing like something he'd never seen before.
"So pretty. It seems as if I can almost smell the fortune this will bring me. Thank you, Dwake, for stealing this for us. We really couldn't have done it without you."
"I guess all I can really say is that you're welcome."
"Yeah, I'd bet. Shoot him!"
The guns were suddenly aimed at Drake again.
"What?! Hey, hey, hey. That wasn't part of the deal! You said…"
"That me and my men would stay away and never bother you again. The thing is: they…", he pointed at his men, "…are not my men. So long, Dwake! Hahahaha"
"Son of a b…"
A shot! And another one and another one. But Nathan didn't give up. He grabbed the sniper rifle from the floor and shot the vase to pieces. He vaguely heard Chao yell at him in anger, but his numbness overcame his body and he suddenly sunk away into oblivion.
To be continued.