He stared at the loot the ancient kings had left piled in the room, greed at what he saw before him overriding an common sense. For weeks he'd been trying to get into this chamber, sure it was there. But beyond the need to sneak around the excavation camp set outside, a need to operate in secrecy, among other issues, it had been slow work. Now, as he gazed at the weath, the thief thought it worth it. Thinking of the better lifestyle he could make for himself, that maybe, just maybe, he could give up the life of a thief, he began to fill his pockets and packs with coins, gems, and other trinkets.
Disappointed that he wouldn't be able to take all with him, he considered that he might be able to come back. But then he thought of the team of archeologists and settled that they would likely discover this room some time after he left. Frustrated, he gave one final look at the chamber and the riches, of which he'd barely made a dent in, took a few more things, and exited.
Outside, the morning sun still wasn't up. But even though it wasn't, the desert was still starting to get warm. By midmorning, he guessed it would be broiling, with max temperature reached by noon. Quickly, he slipped through the camp, of which only one or two people were up. Grabbing his few belowings, he located two camels, he slung his bags on one and climbed on the other. Guiding them, prepared to offer a thousand excuses to any who might see him, the thief was on edge until he was past the edge of camp, but didn't relax until it was far behind him.
His travels took him far and by late morning he was within a couple miles of the nearest city. Stopping to eat his lunch, and to wait out the hotter part of the day, he began an inspection of what he'd taken. Coins from empires long claimed by the desert, gems worth more than he'd ever seen, and jewellery all was carefully piled on a large swatch of cloth. When he noticed the necklace, the thief furrowed his brow as he picked it up. Unable to see how it had any worth, he wondered where Zulo might have been as he studied the image imprinted on it. Figuring it couldn't be worth anything, he was tempted to throw it away.
Instead, he stood and headed over to where he'd left the camels, held the amulet up in front of them, and considered that maybe he'd make a halter out of it for the female to wear. Gently, he hand brushed against her fur and when he felt a sharp tug, he gasped out and dropped the necklace to the sand. A serious of curses escaped him and as he reached down to pick it up, he stopped when he saw his hand, which no longer looked human.
Thoughts of enchantments and what the kings of old might have done to protect their treasures danced through through the thief's head and frightened, he toyed with the idea that maybe he should return what he took. Unable to pick up necklace, a groaning sound escaped him as he dropped to his knees and he stared in horror at his hands, which he now realised looked like the hooves of a camel. Struggling to stand up, the thief found he couldn't and placing his hooves flat in the sand, he arched his back, which clicked and popped as it realigned. Another of those weird groaning sounds escaped him as his weight jumped from a hundred and forty three up to three hundred, seven hundred, and finally settled at around 978 pounds, the thief found himself suddenly warm.
Clothes unable to take the strain any longer, the seams let loose and the garments fell away. His attention focused on the pain in his face, which had began to push outward, the thief couldn't see the hair that grew over his body, how his bag feet now matched his front feet, that his nipples had vanished, replaced by a set of four teats that were almost between what were now his back legs, whilst his dick and nuts regressed to become the female genitals of a dromedary camel, or that the female camel was also transforming.
Within minutes, the change was complete and where the thief once had been was now a nine-year-old dromedary camel, and where the female camel had been was now a very confused, naked man. Slowly, the transformed thief rose her head and blinked at the sight before him. And suddenly it hit him what he was looking at.
A bellow escaped her as the man in front of her opened his mouth and articulated a string of nonsense words. Both alarmed by what had happened, the transformed thief uttered another bellow when she felt something heavy come down on her back. Suddenly remembering the male, she tried to pull away as she felt the bull try to penatrate her and it hitting home that she was indeed a female dromedary, she moaned when all she managed to do was make herself better positioned. Strange feelings overcoming her, the thief continued to try to pull away, but was alarmed to discover that not only was she making it easy for the male to mount her, but also that she wanted it as her body's estrus cycle ramped up.
In front of the two mating camels, the camel-turned-thief watched this, confused. Thoughts and memories that seemed both alien and natural raced through his head as he again uttered a string of nonsense words, the spat out, "What, what, what happened to me," and still looking at the camels, he bleated out, "That's me," before looking down.
Spotting the amulet, he reached down and picked it up. His mind starting to make some sense, he understood that, somehow, the cursed thing had swapped him and the camel. Unsure how, he pressed it against the female camel, then against the male. When nothing happened, he stumbled away, ignoring the noises the female made as he did so. Finding the thief's belongings, which his mind insisted where his, he slowly re-dressed himself, then, needing to think, lay down in the shade of the lean-to his mind told him he'd constructed.
From where she sat, the thief-turned-camel watched all this. She'd hoped that she'd change back when the human had touched the necklace to her, and was alarmed when she didn't. Not wanting to be a female dromedary, she groaned and moaned at the man when he'd walked away, trying to demand he come back, he try again. Realising that the bull was done mounting her, she tried to reason that she hadn't enjoyed being taken the way she had, but her body and mind betrayed her as she found she rather enjoyed it. Scared by all that was happening, and all that had transpired, she bellowed, "Please. Someone. Ancient kings of the past. Anyone. Help me. Take back this curse," but was unsurprised when nothing happened, except that she felt the mind of the female camel try and intrude.
From where he lay, the thief heard the sounds the camels made, but didn't understand them. His thoughts on trying to make sense what had happened as the day slowly crept past, he was nowhere close to an answer when he packed up in the late afternoon. Baffled and unsure, he tried to press the amulet against each of the camels again. When nothing still happened, he slipped it in a pocket and began to final trek to the nearby city. There, he located the first tourist he could find, and after a bit of wrangling, sold them the necklace, glad to be rid of the thing.
Led into the city, the female camel watched all of this. Enough of her human mind still remaining, and would remain for the rest of her forty to fifty years of lift, making her very intelligent for her species, she bellowed, groaned and bleated that the human not get rid of the amulet. Certain that if he did, they wouldn't be able to undo the curse, she was disappointed when he sounds were ignored and the necklace was passed off to an elderly man.
---
Warren thanked the man in Arabic and after they'd exchanged money and goods, he slipped the necklace into his pocket. Positive it was worth more than the couple Egyptian poinds he'd paid for it, he obsessively thought about it as he headed back to his hotel room. There, he took it out and gazed at the curiousity. Wanting to know more, but also understanding he'd have to wait till he got home, he believed he'd found a real ancient find as studied it a bit longer, wondered what Zulo meant, before finally casting about for a shipping box. Wrapping the amulet in tissue paper, and then sealing it inside the box, he carefully wrote an address on it and took it downstairs, where it joined the rest of the mail.
Something damp dripped from another package, and the neat handwriting became smudged a bit. When the mail was picked up, the sorters barely gave it a second glance before they forwarded on. Out on the next plane, the package was held up in customs for a bit before being sent to the local mail service. There, the postal sorters scanned it, made a guess of where it was supposed to go, slapped a sticker over it that had a printed address on it, and sent it on its way. Within a weeks time, it arrived. But not at its intended destination.