Love curse

 

Things were not going they way Jack had planned when he briefed his team in London. It was to be a straightforward three week archaeological dig along the upper reaches of the Egyptian Nile to see whether there was any trace of Cleopatra’s legacy.

 

As the heat built up each morning to forty or more degrees the team reluctantly eased up on their efforts and took to the shelter of their tents.

 

At 35 Jack was easily the oldest member of the mixed group of 20 somethings who were all at university studying related subjects.

 

Most had met for the first time after seeing Jack’s email asking whether anyone would be interested in joining him at their own expense for some adventure. His intention was to explore part of the Nile area he had been researching from his office. It was to see whether there was some truth in the legend that when Cleopatra was romancing with Mark Antony in 44 BC she would take him away from her palace to a quiet retreat alongside the river.

 

For a week it looked like the team had been on a mistaken course – then, just as they were about to break for a few hours, Sarah found a bracelet of such beauty that even the Egyptian government representative overseeing the dig marvelled at what he saw.

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Too late, he failed to stop Sarah from slipping it onto her wrist by warning her of the legend that whoever dares to wear possessions of a pharaoh is subjected to the pharaoh’s curse. Sarah was well aware of the most famous Egyptian curse – that of the boy king Tutankhamen where a death curse was allegedly placed upon all those present at the opening of the tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor in February 1923 and who subsequently died prematurely.

 

As she admired the bracelet dangling from her wrist Sarah felt a strong urge well up inside her body for sex – sex with anyone. At the same time her features seemed to change from an average good-looking woman to a beauty.

 

By the time Jack reached the spot the Egyptian representative had taken the bracelet off her and was closely examining the inscribed hieroglyphics on the inside of the gold band.

 

For a moment Jack took the bracelet and turned it around in his hand, before handing it over to other members of the party who were now crowding around. Each of the girls insisted on trying the bracelet and one by one they too felt strong urges welling up inside their bodies for sex. Until this point every member of the party had neither shown nor displayed any interest in his or her companion.

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The Egyptian mindful of security took the bracelet away to the mobile security vault and reported its find to his superiors.

 

As the team retired to the main tent for a cool drink Sarah began eyeing Jack in a way he had not seen before.

 

“God she’s beautiful,” he said to himself as he handed her a beaker of ice-cold water. As she took the beaker their fingers touched and he felt a tingle of energy run through his hand and the rest of his body. He sensed an arousal so fast that he knew his erection would be there for all to see. He wanted her and he wanted her now.

 

“Sarah there’s something I’d like to discuss with you…” he began.

 

“Shall we go outside a moment, then Jack” was her instant response.

 

Silently he followed her out as the rest ignored them: Cleopatra’s bracelet was working on the rest of the girls who were now eyeing up their male counterparts who were becoming detached from reality and falling under the spell or curse of the bracelet.

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Outside Sarah took Jack’s hand and led him to her tent. Once inside she released the belt of his shorts, stripped while he tore off his T-shirt and stepped out of his shorts and pants. Both had had a number of partners and Jack was engaged to marry on his return from the dig. This mattered little as the couple enjoyed each other’s body for the most enjoyable sex either had ever had.

 

By morning they had lost count of the number of times they had roused each other and enjoyed togetherness, first under the sun then the moon.

 

As they dressed and came out of Sarah’s tent other members of the party were appearing. No-one was self-conscious of the fact they had all been at it and wanted more, either with the same partner or with someone else.

 

To the Egyptian representative’s consternation all thoughts of pursuing the dig for the next week were lost in the desire for sex and more sex. As he reported the strange goings on back to his superiors Egyptian government interest became more and more involved. At first it was amusing to think that there could be such a curse. Then alarm bells began to ring. Interestingly the Egyptian and some of his fellow countrymen and women had touched the bracelet but were unaffected. It was just the party members from England who had come out for the dig.

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“Jack you have a week left before the permit runs out. Are you going to do any more digging?” asked the Egyptian.

 

“Maybe” was all he could say as Sarah sidled up to him and playfully teased Jack between the legs, much to the Egyptian’s embarrassment. “Scuse us for 10 minutes will you.” Jack led Sarah off to his tent leaving the red-faced government man standing alone.

 

After 15 minutes he approached Jack’s tent. “There’s something you need to know about the bracelet which we have had analysed…” he began.

 

Jack’s head eventually appeared through the flap of the tent. He was obviously naked and fully aroused. The Egyptian caught a brief glimpse of Sarah lying naked on her back.

 

“What have you discovered?”

 

“Legend has it that when Cleopatra was making love to Mark Antony she used to stimulate him in all sort of ways…”

 

“…and…” encouraged Jack.

 

“Legend has it,” went on the Egyptian, She used to place armband, bracelets and the like around Mark Antony’s private parts,” he couldn’t bring himself to be more specific, “as part of her tease. She also used to coat the jewellery like that bracelet Sarah found with an ancient, even in those times, recipe for human stimulation. We’ve found some traces on the inside of the bracelet.

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We’re running various DNA-style tests at this very moment and I’ll let you know the outcome.”

 

“OK, thanks…keep me informed” replied Jack as he withdrew into the tent and fell up Sarah and began making love as though it as the first time for months.

 

By the end of the third week as they packed their belonging for the long journey home all the team had to shew for their efforts was one priceless and magnificent bracelet and an inordinate amount of sex under the sun by day and moon by night.

 

“Will you be marrying your fiancée when you get back to London, Jack, or do you have something else in mind?” asked Sarah as she fondled him gently.

 

Jack responded by picking her up and taking her into the one remaining tent which had yet to be dismantled. It was already occupied by three other couples who were in various stages of making love. Jack and Sarah quickly stripped at the entrance, eased themselves into a remaining unoccupied corner and immediately applied themselves energetically.

 

It was farewell time with the Egyptian host who gave jack a sheaf of pictures of the bracelet along with his colleagues’ various reports on the treasured find. Jack stuffed them into hiss holdall and said he’d read them on the flight back to London.

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As the Airbus lifted off from Egyptian soil Sarah, who was sitting next to Jack with her hand tightly clasped in his, turned to face him. As their eyes met both instinctively knew something had changed. The same applied to the other members of the party who were sitting around them.

 

The moment the wheels left contact with Egyptian soil Cleopatra’s curse was lifted also and the previous three weeks were but a distant memory with the experiences totally erased from the group’s minds.

 

Jack ruffled through the sheaf of papers he had been given. There were pictures of the bracelet then his eyes were riveted to a sheet of hieroglyphics alongside which was and English translation. ‘Whoever wears this bracelet without the pharaoh’s permission will be subject to the pharaoh’s will until the pharaoh forgives.’

 

Jack glanced a look at Sarah. Apart from the suntan, which they all had, her features were the same as he remembered when he first met her in London and there was nothing but nothing he would enjoy about her, other than as an archaeological dig colleague.

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Sarah, like the other girls, was feeling the same yet at the back of her mind she had that strange feeling she had known Jack in some other life, or was it just her imagination and too much Egyptian sun? Strange however her period was late as she was always so regular. ‘It must be the Nile effect’ she thought to herself.

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