The Uncharted Tales

Chapter 5

Part 1: From Small Beginnings

Victor Sullivan

The first step in Sully's agenda upon waking up was to try to make the adjustment process as smooth as possible for the boys. He knew the transition back to their form of normalcy would be rough at best and it didn't help they now had Sully to contend with. They had been apart for nine months – of course they would have some trouble getting back into the swing of things. His job, first and foremost, was to make this whole situation easier on Sam and give him the space he needed in the meantime.

Sully prepared them breakfast, laying everything out for them when they eventually decided to come out of their hole. He half expected them to come crawling out somewhere closer to noon, so he was pleasantly surprised when, not too much later, they trudged into the sitting area together and per his usual self, Nate didn't hesitate to stuff his mouth full while sticking his nose in the pages of the leather book. Sam, on the other hand, took a more cautious approach, though Sully was pleased to see him do so without any prompting. There was also a lack of hostility in his eyes, making Sully wonder what changed overnight. That wasn't to say Sam had any semblance of warmth directed at him, but the change was noticeable, and it wasn't entirely unwelcome.

"There was this one we actually got to keep with us for about a day before we handed it off to the buyers. It's from Nepal-?" Nate flipped through the pages to show Sam one of his many impressive sketches. "From the fifteen hundreds?" He looked at his older brother for confirmation and the older Drake shook his head.

"Nah, look at this. Hard to tell from a sketch, but can you see how the necklace was smelted?" He pointed at something on the page. "And see that inscription? I'm bettin' on Thirteenth century."

I'll be goddamned. Two peas in a pod, those two. The only question was how in the hell they knew so much. No amount of the American education system could give them that level of knowledge on rare artifacts. It was also fascinating to watch them go through Nate's detailed records. He considered the kid to be a sort of genius in the realm of relics. For the most part, Nate did know his stuff, though Sam seemed to challenge the knowledge he possessed, like the two of them were constantly testing each other, like a perpetual quiz. They could have been scholars if their lives lined up on a different path.

When their conversation moved on, Sam reached over and touched the ring dangling around Nate's neck. "Still can't believe you actually got it."

Nate grinned up at him. "See? I'm not totally useless."

Sam's uneasy smile told Sully there was more to that story, as there was suddenly tension between the two of them. "I'm sure," He said pleasantly enough, thumbing the unlit cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. "But not right now, Nathan. I literally just got out of jail." Nate's shoulders slumped and Sam jolted forward. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that."

"Yea, I know." Nate still wouldn't look at him, so Sully stepped in. He dumped his dishes in the sink and tossed a rag at the back of the teen's head, which he promptly swiped at with a glare on his face. "What was that for?"

"You owe me some clean dishes," Sully told him. "If you don't cook, you clean, and I'm thinkin' you lost pretty spectacularly last night, anyhow, so how about you get on that and then get to packing. We're gettin' out of here after we get our shit together. I think I've had enough of Cartagena to last a lifetime."

Nate rolled his eyes and pushed out of the chair to get started on his chores.

Sully grinned around his cigar just as the older Drake made the comment, "Wow. You actually got him in shape pretty good."