<em><strong>Ancient Revenge - Waldorf Hilton Hotel, Lecture Theatre 2</strong></em><br/><br/>(http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad212/cere33/1dc89a41.jpg)<br/><br/>"Firstly, I guess some of you might be thinking that I’ll be going over already well trodden ground. After all, what’s left to know about Cleopatra that Shakespeare hasn’t already disclosed? Well, here’s what I’m not going to talk about today."<br/><br/>“I’m not going to talk about the Queen except where she is directly associated with a particular script; neither will I speak of her band of merry Nubian slaves directly or should I say, Sudanese, for that is where they originated. However, those tall, dark and handsome ‘mummy’s boys’ were<strong>pretty hard</strong>to ignore, if you’ll excuse the pun.” At this there was a general snicker from the group and it was then that Josh noticed the same two faces that he had singled out in the coffee shop, sitting and leaning shoulder to shoulder, Kate and Andrea, seemingly sharing a private joke with their feline eyes shining on him.<em>They aren’t just looking…but staring at me! </em><br/><br/><div align="center">(http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad212/cere33/ecffeaaa.gif)   </div><br/>Andrea, he saw was taking notes already and Kate, he noticed, had been the last to take her seat after a rather unceremonious entrance; a smile teased the sides of his mouth as he remembered her stumble.<em>Beware women who wear pants!</em><br/><br/>“What I will speak of today, are some ancient scripts recently uncovered as you may have read in the press a few months ago, from deep beneath the very centre of the old Queen’s Empire. We initially translated the scripts at face value but now, by using new spectral technology we have surprisingly revealed what we believe to be the real messages within. Under certain light conditions, using a glass pyramid of particular dimensions we now see entirely different symbols. We hypothesise that they were written by one of the Nubian slaves or, most likely, by a Recorder who secretly learned to understand the ancient Kush symbolism and documented for posterity, if you can imagine, in a truly effective cipher; one that no Egyptian elder would ever know existed.“<br/><br/>“Our initial findings begin to tell a story…the story of their enslavement from birth.  It is this technique that I will be focussing on today, and I hope you all, as I do, will feel privileged to be one of the first to begin to see life from their unique perspective, two and a half thousand years ago.”<br/><br/><em>I’m certainly not going to reveal the much more important translations that this technique has permitted me.</em>Josh was referring to the retranslations he was undertaking that pertained to the ancient ceremonial rites and rituals…and of course, charms.<br/><br/>During a pause in his delivery, he felt a sudden shiver run down his spine causing him to perceptibly wince; “someone had walked across his grave” as the old saying goes. This discomfort went deep, right into the marrow of his bones.  He turned to look away from the class, trying to hide his reaction and continued as though his slow walk back to his laptop was a part of his delivery.<br/><br/>He continued on to provide what seemed to be a well received presentation.  The group interacted with questions during the session and finally, at the end of the 90 minutes the class wound up. The group headed for the door at the back of the theatre and Josh followed the stragglers, Kate and Andrea up the steps. Suddenly, Kate seemed to stumble for the second time and bent over directly in front of Josh.<br/><br/><em>Oh my god! What a beautiful sight! Has it really been that long?</em><br/>