Hi ya'll, I'm back! So sorry it's been so long. I was taking a much needed vacation. I would've posted the next chapter before I left, but I was dealing with the aftermath of having to put my beloved cat down. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Until next time!
Of course, things never go as planned. The plane never made it to its destination. Nate and I were discovered and long story short, the plane crashed in the Rub' al Khali desert. I have no idea how long we wandered through the desert. Heat exhaustion tends to do that to you. We eventually came upon a town and for a glorious moment, thought we were saved. But alas, as with many things in the desert, it was only an illusion, at least partially. Upon closer inspection, there was actually a town, but it had long been abandoned. But just our luck, we still ran into Marlowe's men. Thankfully, we were saved by some local bedouins, though it was unclear as to why.
The bedouins had taken us to their camp and gave us food and water. Currently, Nate and I sat by a fire in the bedouins camp, each of us nursing a cup of tea. I was a bit surprised at the hospitality we received and I could tell Nate was too. We were trespassers on their land, same as Marlowe's men, so why spare us? Of course neither one of us was going to say no to food and water, famished as we were. I looked up as the man who had led the unintentional rescue group approached us.
"You are far from home, Americans," he stated in a heavy Middle Eastern accent. He held out a teapot and refilled Nate and I's cups. I thanked him in Arabic and sipped at the warm liquid. Now that the sun had set, the temperature had dropped. I was thankful for both the hot tea and fire. It also helped to have a warm body pressed against my side. "You do not belong out here," he continued. "Any of you."
"You spared us. Why not just kill us along with the others?" Nate asked, voicing the very question I had been wondering.
"That would have been impolite," the man answered casually. "You were in distress. Even an enemy must be fed and sheltered." He cocked his head, considering us. "Are you my enemies, Americans?"
"Drake." The man hummed questioningly. "My name. It's Drake," Nate explained, holding out his hand.
The man shook his hand firmly. "Salim. I am sheikh of this tribe." He looked at me.
"انا اليكس," (ana alyaks - I'm Alex) I said, holding out my own hand. Salim shook it, raising a brow slightly in surprise.
"You speak Arabic?" He asked. Up until now, Nate and I had only thanked them in the native language, certainly not speaking enough for him to assume we knew the language.
"Among many others," I confirmed with a nod. I once again mentally thanked my parents for all those language classes I received growing up. I may have hated the hours of studying as a child, but they have shown their worth time and time again over the years. "I want to thank you for saving our lives back there. And…" I fingered my teacup. "I know this is probably too forward, especially after the hospitality you've shown us, but we need a couple of horses. We don't have anything to offer in return -"
"You plan to attack the English caravan alone?" Salim interrupted with a knowing smirk.
"You know about them?" Nate asked in surprise.
"My scouts have been tracking them for two days." Salim crouched beside the fire, using a nearby stick to stoke it. "Why are you here? Why do the English cross the Rub' al Khali?"
Nate sighed, lowering his head. "They're looking for the lost city of Ubar."
"Iram of the Pillars…" Salim whispered.
"They've taken our friend hostage," Nate explained. "He's the only one who knows the way. Once they find Iram, he'll be worthless to them."
"If they find Iram, we are all dead," Salim stated ominously. Nate and I exchanged uneasy glances. I had a feeling there was more to this 'Atlantis of the Sands' legend. What had Nate and I unknowingly unearthed? A moment later, I found out what it was. Salim told the tale of King Solomon and the Djinn and how the king trapped and tossed the rebellious Djinn into the depths of the city. "The English must not reach the city. If they unleash the power of the Djinn…" Salim trailed off, clearly not wanting to dwell on what would happen if Marlowe and her men reached their journey's end.
"We don't have much time, do we?" Nate mused.
Salim shook his head. "No, but they have the greater numbers. We cannot attack them in the open. Tonight, rest. Tomorrow they enter the canyons. We'll take them there. We ride at dawn." He got to his feet and walked off to talk to some of his men, leaving Nate and I alone.
I sighed, running a hand through my hair tiredly. "Once again, a treasure hunt becomes a race to save the world."
"Just another to add to the resume," Nate joked lightly, but I could tell he was tense. We were both worried about Sully. I knew they wouldn't do anything to him, at least not until they made it to Iram.
"C'mon, we'd best get some sleep. We won't be of any use to anyone, let alone Sully if we pass out in the middle of the desert again," I said. I slid off the log to sit on the ground, tugging Nate down with me. He slipped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side. Leaning my head against his shoulder, I let out a deep sigh.
"We'll find him," Nate murmured, though it was hard to tell if he was trying to reassure me or himself.
I gripped his hand. "I know." I drifted off to sleep listening to the crackling of the fire and Nate's steady breathing.
Dawn approached quickly. It felt like I had only closed my eyes for a couple minutes before I was being woken by Salim. Salim, Nate, and I along with several of Salim's men mounted up. I patted the neck of my black mare as she stomped her hoof, eager to get going. At the signal, we followed Salim through the desert. Not for the first time I was glad that I wasn't claustrophobic as we wound through narrow canyons.
"There they are! The convoy is right below!" Salim shouted over the galloping hooves. Sure enough, down below the ledge we were currently on was the convoy.
"We have to hurry!" Nate called back.
"This is a shortcut, just stay with me!" Salim urged. Nate and I kept close behind. "Quickly, now is our chance! Take these guys out!"
"This is where the fun begins!" I stated. Time to pay back these stronzos (assholes). I pulled out my pistol and started shooting at the mercenaries in the nearest truck. Salim, Nate, and I worked our way through the mercenaries until we got to the last two trucks and crane at the front.
"Sullivan! Sully - you in there? Sully!" Nate called. The passenger door opened and a mercenary leaned out, gun pointed at Nate. Before he could pull the trigger, Sully appeared and clocked him. "You're alive! Hang on!" Sully climbed onto the top of the truck and jumped onto the crane, but didn't quite make it.
"I'm slipping!" Sully cried as he dangled off the side.
"Hang on, Sully!" I told him. A large goon on the crane reached over and grabbed Sully. Nate spurred his horse forward and launched himself onto the crane. He tackled the goon just as he lifted Sully in the air. The momentum knocked Sully over the side and Nate just barely managed to grab him. I urged my horse and came up beside Sully. "Sully, give me your hand!" Sully grabbed my hand and I hauled him onto my horse, my arm straining with the weight. "Nice to see you again, old man!"
"Good to see you too!" Sully replied. He gripped my waist tightly as I pulled my horse away from the crane. As soon as Sully was clear, the goon grabbed Nate and tossed him to the other side of the crane.
"Nate!" I pulled out my pistol and tried to aim for the mercenary. Before I could pull the trigger, Nate started fighting the goon.
"Shoot him!" Sully urged, watching Nate take a fist to the gut.
"I can't," I said regretfully. "I might hit Nate!" I watched helplessly as Nate fought the mercenary. Finally he managed to get the upper hand when the goon lifted him up and he grabbed the crane, kicking the mercenary over the side. Unfortunately, that dislodge the crane, sending it to the side. Nate's horse galloped underneath him.
"Jump!" Nate dropped onto his horse just as the crane hit a pillar and went careening over the edge of a cliff. We pulled the horses to a stop, sliding off. Nate and Sully embraced.
"You all right?" Nate asked Sully.
Sully nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. But - Damn, I was sure they'd killed you, kid."
Nate grinned. "Well, they tried, right?"
Sully turned to me with a smile. "And you, c'mere." I hugged him tightly. He pulled back but left a hand on my shoulder. "You have no idea how relieved I was when you managed to get away." He chuckled. "I think you broke that guy's nose."
I smiled fondly. "I only wish I had done more damage."
"So, how the hell did you two find me all the way out here?"
"We had some help," Nate answered just as Salim galloped up. He held out his hand and introductions were made.
"We haven't much time," Salim warned. "We cannot allow them to reach the city."
"I don't know -" Nate began to protest looking at both me and Sully.
Sully held up a hand to stop him. "He's right, Nate. I've been trapped with those crazy bastards for days. I don't know what the hell Marlowe is after, exactly - but it sure as hell ain't treasure." He mounted a nearby horse that was without a rider. "We've got to stop 'em."
"Drake, we must go. Now," Salim persisted. He called to his men. Nate and I quickly mounted up.
"Never a dull moment," Nate commented.
Sully laughed. "Why change now?" We spurred our horses and followed Salim through the desert.
"There! Straight ahead!" Salim announced. I squinted. The only thing I could see was a wall of sand.
"Into the storm? Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Nate asked nervously.
"Trust me, Drake! Trust me!" Nate and I exchanged concerned glances. This man knew the desert. If he said go into the sand storm, then I guess that's where we were going. I narrowed my eyes against the biting sand as we rode through the storm. It was nearly impossible to see anything. It didn't take long for us to lose our group. Nate called for Salim, but it was no use. With the wind whipping about, there was no way we would hear his reply.
"Sully, Alex, stay close!"
"Right behind you!" I called back. We didn't get very far before the horses refused to go any further. I dismounted and attempted to pull my mare along, but she stood firm.
"It's no good! Let 'em go," Sully said. I released my mare's reins and she turned round and galloped off, her two companions following closely behind.
"They must know something we don't," Nate said.
"Probably means we're headed in the right direction," I mused. Turns out, I was right. We came across the rest of the caravan. Apparently even in a sand storm where visibility was limited to about five feet in front of you, we still couldn't manage to sneak in anywhere. Leaving a wake of dead mercenaries, we finally reached the doors of the city.
"This is it. We made it," Nate said in awe.
"Yes, but let's admire it from the inside please before my lungs fill with sand," I said. The other two quickly agreed and we slipped through the giant doors, Sully slammed them shut behind us. As soon as we were inside and out tf the sand storm, my jaw dropped. The room was huge! Despite its crumbling walls, it was still beautiful. The architecture was absolutely stunning! I ran my hand over the leg of one of the giant statues guarding the door. If this is what the front door looked like, I could only imagine what the actual city was like. Some climbing around and pulling switches later, and the giant statues opened the massive gate.
"In the words of Victor Sullivan, 'I'll be go to hell'," Nate said from above.