Unbroken Curse
Alternative history suspense novella
The storyline
Jayden and his archeology group find the burial site of a Medicine Woman from the 5th century. Strangely, Jayden also finds a crude leather book in his grandmother's secret room that was written in 426 by a Shaman.
His sister, Sofia, decodes the ancient runes, and they learn that a powerful curse cast sixteen hundred years ago destroyed the lives of their ancestors for centuries. If it remains unbroken, the curse will ruin the lives of future generations as well.
Dark memories of their childhood start to surface, and they’re stunned to realize the similarities between the tragedy of the family described in the Shaman’s book and theirs, sixteen hundred years later. They’re stunned by the conclusion that Jayden is in danger due to a family curse.
His sister, Sofia, decodes the ancient runes, and they learn that a powerful curse cast sixteen hundred years ago destroyed the lives of their ancestors for centuries. If it remains unbroken, the curse will ruin the lives of future generations as well.
Dark memories of their childhood start to surface, and they’re stunned to realize the similarities between the tragedy of the family described in the Shaman’s book and theirs, sixteen hundred years later. They’re stunned by the conclusion that Jayden is in danger due to a family curse.
Reviewed By Keith Mbuya for Readers’ Favorite
Nothing stays hidden forever, or so Jayden and Sofia’s parents would soon find out. It all started with the demise of their younger siblings, Amelia and Aiden, whose deaths neither Jayden nor Sofia had fully comprehended, leave alone come to terms with. What followed next was Sofia surviving a series of near-fatal attacks from her mother. This saw Sofia being put under the guardianship of her brother Jayden, who was an archeology student. Jayden and Sofia were confused by all the happenings, and their parents giving them sketchy explanations did not help the situation a bit. Perhaps what triggered their search for answers was Jayden’s encounter with an assailant (who looked exactly like his sister Sophia) while he was out in the fields digging up artifacts. Why would a stranger attack Jayden and why did the assailant look exactly like Jayden’s sister? What happened to their siblings and is there something their parents have been hiding from them? Find out more about Sophia and Jayden in Erika M Szabo’s Unbroken Curse.
Erika M Szabo whisked me away from reality and into a wonderland. She forged her engrossing plot with simple sentences, which she loads with a sophisticated vocabulary. Her choice of words gives an edge of mystery, suspense, adventure, and romance in her narration. There are secrets, agony, old history, premonitions, dark powers, a story within a story, and much more. She gives vivid depictions of her scenes and characters. This served to add color to her narration. The characters are exciting and fully developed. I found it easy to connect with their thoughts and emotions, which gave me insight into their actions during the next scenes. It also made me empathize with the characters, and love as well as loathe some of them. Sofia is portrayed as a young girl whose inquisitive nature is capped with a sharp mind and an ability to learn quickly. Some of the conversations were witty and this spiced up the reading experience. A young adult audience with a yearning for fantasy novels laced with a supernatural tale will love Unbroken Curse.
https://books2read.com/Unbroken-Curse-by-Erika-M-Szabo
Nothing stays hidden forever, or so Jayden and Sofia’s parents would soon find out. It all started with the demise of their younger siblings, Amelia and Aiden, whose deaths neither Jayden nor Sofia had fully comprehended, leave alone come to terms with. What followed next was Sofia surviving a series of near-fatal attacks from her mother. This saw Sofia being put under the guardianship of her brother Jayden, who was an archeology student. Jayden and Sofia were confused by all the happenings, and their parents giving them sketchy explanations did not help the situation a bit. Perhaps what triggered their search for answers was Jayden’s encounter with an assailant (who looked exactly like his sister Sophia) while he was out in the fields digging up artifacts. Why would a stranger attack Jayden and why did the assailant look exactly like Jayden’s sister? What happened to their siblings and is there something their parents have been hiding from them? Find out more about Sophia and Jayden in Erika M Szabo’s Unbroken Curse.
Erika M Szabo whisked me away from reality and into a wonderland. She forged her engrossing plot with simple sentences, which she loads with a sophisticated vocabulary. Her choice of words gives an edge of mystery, suspense, adventure, and romance in her narration. There are secrets, agony, old history, premonitions, dark powers, a story within a story, and much more. She gives vivid depictions of her scenes and characters. This served to add color to her narration. The characters are exciting and fully developed. I found it easy to connect with their thoughts and emotions, which gave me insight into their actions during the next scenes. It also made me empathize with the characters, and love as well as loathe some of them. Sofia is portrayed as a young girl whose inquisitive nature is capped with a sharp mind and an ability to learn quickly. Some of the conversations were witty and this spiced up the reading experience. A young adult audience with a yearning for fantasy novels laced with a supernatural tale will love Unbroken Curse.
https://books2read.com/Unbroken-Curse-by-Erika-M-Szabo
Amazon review
Dorothy Angel
4.0 out of 5 stars Danger, premonitions and a family mystery to solve.
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2021
Verified Purchase
The relationship between the characters was comforting and felt real. The conversation with Sophia and her aunt, her aunt with that rolling pin was hysterical. Growing up in Queens, NY I could totally relate.
I enjoyed how you really get two stories in one. You begin with Jayden and Sophia but once they start to translate the book Jayden finds – not where you think, you’re in a whole other world.
More and more information comes to light as Sophia begins to remember some traumatic events from their childhood. Events take some crazy, but really interesting turns and I found myself turning page after page to find out the next piece and I was never disappointed.
4.0 out of 5 stars Danger, premonitions and a family mystery to solve.
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2021
Verified Purchase
The relationship between the characters was comforting and felt real. The conversation with Sophia and her aunt, her aunt with that rolling pin was hysterical. Growing up in Queens, NY I could totally relate.
I enjoyed how you really get two stories in one. You begin with Jayden and Sophia but once they start to translate the book Jayden finds – not where you think, you’re in a whole other world.
More and more information comes to light as Sophia begins to remember some traumatic events from their childhood. Events take some crazy, but really interesting turns and I found myself turning page after page to find out the next piece and I was never disappointed.
Author's note
Imagination is the ability of the mind to be creative. Well, I’ve been blessed with a very creative mind. I remember spending hours daydreaming when I was a young child. I sat on the wide windowsill watching the raindrops falling on the leaves, while my mind created imaginary worlds. Depending on the cartoon I watched or the story I read, in my mind, I rewrote the story to fit my literary taste. I never really liked the funny but senseless brutality of cartoons, so in my imagination, the hero characters became wittier and even the villains were less dumb and cruel.
I love fantasy stories, and while fantasy stories are often separated from reality, I prefer the magical realism subgenre that includes a substantial amount of realistic detail blended with magical elements to create an exciting, almost believable story.
Chapter 1
“Archaeology is the peeping Tom of the sciences. It is the sandbox of men who care not where they are going; they merely want to know where everyone else has been.” ~ Jim Bishop
~~~
Megyer Mountain, Hungary
The archaeological site near an abandoned stone mill quarry in the mountains on the Northeast side of Hungary had been buzzing with activity for days. Archaeologists found 16th-century artifacts the year before, but when they restarted the site in the spring and dug deeper, they’d unearthed an ancient burial site in the eight-foot-deep layer. As the initial assessment estimated, this layer had been untouched since the 5th century.
The large space near the top of the mountain had been cleared from vegetation and two more pits started in the spring. The excited murmurs of the group of four archeology students working at the bottom of the largest, nine feet deep hole, sounded muffled by the mound of dirt piled neatly around the mouth of the pits.
The smaller hole was occupied by two students kneeling in the dirt, brushes, and fine chisels in their hands. They carefully scraped away the dirt layer by layer. Next to them laid out on a weathered tarp were weapons, jewelry, and everyday items from around the beginning of the 5th century.
Jayden, a young American archeologist worked in the third pit, alone. Although Helen, the lead archeologist, wanted everyone to concentrate on the two new holes they’d found the artifacts in, Jayden convinced her to let him try the abandoned pit again.
Helen, a plump, middle-aged woman in white cotton overall, stood by a table carefully labeling and documenting the artifacts. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the sweat from her forehead. A strand of salt and pepper hair hung loosely tickling her nose, so she took off her hairband and pulled her hair into a tight bun.
Next to a large tent that housed the boxed artifacts ready to be transported to the museum, sat two men in foldup chairs wearing security guard uniforms. Bored out of their minds, they played cards keeping an eye on Helen. Standing with her back toward them, as soon as she moved, the guards hid the cards. If they’d be caught by the stern woman, they would say goodbye to their well-paying, cushy jobs.
The group had been working since dawn, knowing that it would be too hot to work after midday when they would be forced to take a break until around mid-afternoon.
The sound of the soft murmurs of the students and the relaxing chatter of animals coming from the bushes and trees had been broken by a lanky young student in a dusty overall. He ascended the stepladder from the largest hole and yelled out to the lead archeologist, his voice roaring, “Helen, you have to see this!”
Helen froze for a second, and then dropping her notepad and pen, she started running toward the pit. When she was near the mouth of the deep hole, her chest tightening by the sudden excitement and anticipation, asked, “What did you find?”
“Come down and see!” The student’s head disappeared as he hurried down the stepladder giving space for Helen to descend.
“Darn!” Helen exclaimed when her shaky leg missed the last step, but the young man broke her fall and steadied her on her feet. “Thanks,” she mumbled.
“Look!” One of the female students pointed at the horse's skull and shoulder poking halfway out of the soil. “Look at that beautiful headgear!” She looked up at Helen, beaming with joy.
“It’s magnificent!” Helen whispered. “The finest craftsmanship I’ve ever seen.” Crouching by the skull, she carefully ran her fingers through the dry, hardened leather. “The usage of gold and alloy of copper and zinc proves that this warrior had a funeral fit for a noble leader.” She quickly stood up as a realization hit her, and with a sweeping move of her arm, she barked out an order. “Everyone back away! There might be a human skeleton here as well. This is either the grave of a warrior’s favorite horse or a clan’s revered medicine woman who had been buried here with her horse. We must start clearing the dirt in a circle, from outward to inward.”
The four students complied and slowly moved away from the skeleton. They stood in a circle, their backs touching the wall of the pit. “How do you know?” one of them asked.
Helen stared at her confused students for a few seconds and then lowered her eyes back to the skull and began explaining, “According to Hun funerary customs of the 5th century, a male warrior had to be buried with his horse in an upright position, and the warrior sitting on his horse, upright. But because this horse was laid to rest on its side, it means that either buried alone or with a female medicine woman, who was also a warrior, sitting on its back, also laid on her side.” She stood by the horse skull calculating where the human skeleton should be, and grabbing a digging stick, she started scratching a wide circle into the packed dirt around the skeleton. “Okay, we’ll start removing the earth toward the middle of the circle, but very carefully!” she warned the students. “Let’s get to work!”
The group kneeled around the circle and carefully started the tedious work of scraping and brushing the packed dirt inch by inch and collecting the soil into small baskets. One of the students emptied the baskets into a large one with leather straps. He put the basket on his back and started climbing up on the stepladder. While pouring the dirt on top of the growing mound near the mouth of the pit, he waved and smiled at the guards.
Peter, the gangly, middle-aged guard waved back and stood up, shaking the numbness from his legs. “They must’ve found something,” he said to his stocky partner. “I’m gonna check it out. Helen seemed to be very excited when the student called her.”
“You go check it out, I’ll stay here to watch the tent,” Rowan said and pocketed the deck of cards.
Peter walked to the largest pit and craning his neck, he peeked while planting his feet firmly on the ground. Some old bones. He thought. Good! I hope they’ll keep finding stuff for a long time to keep my job secure. Not interested in looking at bones, he straightened up with a grunt and started walking around the clearing. He peeked into the other pits and initiated small talk with the students. They weren’t interested in talking, so Peter continued his round.
On his way back to the tent, anger rose in his chest when he spotted his partner still sitting on the chair, but his head tilted to the side. “That fool fell asleep!” He mumbled and hurried over. Rowan was softly snoring. “Hey, wake up, man!” Peter said, keeping his voice down, he punched his partner’s shoulder.
“Uh, what? Nah! I ain’t sleeping. Just restin’ me eyes,” the balding man grunted with a heavy Irish accent, which he still couldn’t lose after twenty years of living in Hungary. He sat up straight and wiped spittle from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
Peter scolded him in a hushed voice, “If they catch you snoozing, you can say goodbye to this easy job.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rowan mumbled. “They’re in the holes busy brushing dirt off of old stuff. And who would come up to this place to steal anything, anyway?” He stretched his hands over his head and let out a loud yawn before reclining once more on the fold-up chair with obvious intent to resume his slumber.
“Just keep your eyes open! I’m gonna drive down to the coffee shop to pick up the breakfast.”
“Okay, hurry up. I’m starving.”
Peter walked down the path between the thick bushes to the clearing where the archeology team parked their cars. Despite his promise, his porky partner’s chin dropped to his chest as soon as he was out of sight. I’ll just close me eyes for a moment, he thought. His breathing slowed as he fell asleep.
Imagination is the ability of the mind to be creative. Well, I’ve been blessed with a very creative mind. I remember spending hours daydreaming when I was a young child. I sat on the wide windowsill watching the raindrops falling on the leaves, while my mind created imaginary worlds. Depending on the cartoon I watched or the story I read, in my mind, I rewrote the story to fit my literary taste. I never really liked the funny but senseless brutality of cartoons, so in my imagination, the hero characters became wittier and even the villains were less dumb and cruel.
I love fantasy stories, and while fantasy stories are often separated from reality, I prefer the magical realism subgenre that includes a substantial amount of realistic detail blended with magical elements to create an exciting, almost believable story.
Chapter 1
“Archaeology is the peeping Tom of the sciences. It is the sandbox of men who care not where they are going; they merely want to know where everyone else has been.” ~ Jim Bishop
~~~
Megyer Mountain, Hungary
The archaeological site near an abandoned stone mill quarry in the mountains on the Northeast side of Hungary had been buzzing with activity for days. Archaeologists found 16th-century artifacts the year before, but when they restarted the site in the spring and dug deeper, they’d unearthed an ancient burial site in the eight-foot-deep layer. As the initial assessment estimated, this layer had been untouched since the 5th century.
The large space near the top of the mountain had been cleared from vegetation and two more pits started in the spring. The excited murmurs of the group of four archeology students working at the bottom of the largest, nine feet deep hole, sounded muffled by the mound of dirt piled neatly around the mouth of the pits.
The smaller hole was occupied by two students kneeling in the dirt, brushes, and fine chisels in their hands. They carefully scraped away the dirt layer by layer. Next to them laid out on a weathered tarp were weapons, jewelry, and everyday items from around the beginning of the 5th century.
Jayden, a young American archeologist worked in the third pit, alone. Although Helen, the lead archeologist, wanted everyone to concentrate on the two new holes they’d found the artifacts in, Jayden convinced her to let him try the abandoned pit again.
Helen, a plump, middle-aged woman in white cotton overall, stood by a table carefully labeling and documenting the artifacts. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the sweat from her forehead. A strand of salt and pepper hair hung loosely tickling her nose, so she took off her hairband and pulled her hair into a tight bun.
Next to a large tent that housed the boxed artifacts ready to be transported to the museum, sat two men in foldup chairs wearing security guard uniforms. Bored out of their minds, they played cards keeping an eye on Helen. Standing with her back toward them, as soon as she moved, the guards hid the cards. If they’d be caught by the stern woman, they would say goodbye to their well-paying, cushy jobs.
The group had been working since dawn, knowing that it would be too hot to work after midday when they would be forced to take a break until around mid-afternoon.
The sound of the soft murmurs of the students and the relaxing chatter of animals coming from the bushes and trees had been broken by a lanky young student in a dusty overall. He ascended the stepladder from the largest hole and yelled out to the lead archeologist, his voice roaring, “Helen, you have to see this!”
Helen froze for a second, and then dropping her notepad and pen, she started running toward the pit. When she was near the mouth of the deep hole, her chest tightening by the sudden excitement and anticipation, asked, “What did you find?”
“Come down and see!” The student’s head disappeared as he hurried down the stepladder giving space for Helen to descend.
“Darn!” Helen exclaimed when her shaky leg missed the last step, but the young man broke her fall and steadied her on her feet. “Thanks,” she mumbled.
“Look!” One of the female students pointed at the horse's skull and shoulder poking halfway out of the soil. “Look at that beautiful headgear!” She looked up at Helen, beaming with joy.
“It’s magnificent!” Helen whispered. “The finest craftsmanship I’ve ever seen.” Crouching by the skull, she carefully ran her fingers through the dry, hardened leather. “The usage of gold and alloy of copper and zinc proves that this warrior had a funeral fit for a noble leader.” She quickly stood up as a realization hit her, and with a sweeping move of her arm, she barked out an order. “Everyone back away! There might be a human skeleton here as well. This is either the grave of a warrior’s favorite horse or a clan’s revered medicine woman who had been buried here with her horse. We must start clearing the dirt in a circle, from outward to inward.”
The four students complied and slowly moved away from the skeleton. They stood in a circle, their backs touching the wall of the pit. “How do you know?” one of them asked.
Helen stared at her confused students for a few seconds and then lowered her eyes back to the skull and began explaining, “According to Hun funerary customs of the 5th century, a male warrior had to be buried with his horse in an upright position, and the warrior sitting on his horse, upright. But because this horse was laid to rest on its side, it means that either buried alone or with a female medicine woman, who was also a warrior, sitting on its back, also laid on her side.” She stood by the horse skull calculating where the human skeleton should be, and grabbing a digging stick, she started scratching a wide circle into the packed dirt around the skeleton. “Okay, we’ll start removing the earth toward the middle of the circle, but very carefully!” she warned the students. “Let’s get to work!”
The group kneeled around the circle and carefully started the tedious work of scraping and brushing the packed dirt inch by inch and collecting the soil into small baskets. One of the students emptied the baskets into a large one with leather straps. He put the basket on his back and started climbing up on the stepladder. While pouring the dirt on top of the growing mound near the mouth of the pit, he waved and smiled at the guards.
Peter, the gangly, middle-aged guard waved back and stood up, shaking the numbness from his legs. “They must’ve found something,” he said to his stocky partner. “I’m gonna check it out. Helen seemed to be very excited when the student called her.”
“You go check it out, I’ll stay here to watch the tent,” Rowan said and pocketed the deck of cards.
Peter walked to the largest pit and craning his neck, he peeked while planting his feet firmly on the ground. Some old bones. He thought. Good! I hope they’ll keep finding stuff for a long time to keep my job secure. Not interested in looking at bones, he straightened up with a grunt and started walking around the clearing. He peeked into the other pits and initiated small talk with the students. They weren’t interested in talking, so Peter continued his round.
On his way back to the tent, anger rose in his chest when he spotted his partner still sitting on the chair, but his head tilted to the side. “That fool fell asleep!” He mumbled and hurried over. Rowan was softly snoring. “Hey, wake up, man!” Peter said, keeping his voice down, he punched his partner’s shoulder.
“Uh, what? Nah! I ain’t sleeping. Just restin’ me eyes,” the balding man grunted with a heavy Irish accent, which he still couldn’t lose after twenty years of living in Hungary. He sat up straight and wiped spittle from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
Peter scolded him in a hushed voice, “If they catch you snoozing, you can say goodbye to this easy job.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rowan mumbled. “They’re in the holes busy brushing dirt off of old stuff. And who would come up to this place to steal anything, anyway?” He stretched his hands over his head and let out a loud yawn before reclining once more on the fold-up chair with obvious intent to resume his slumber.
“Just keep your eyes open! I’m gonna drive down to the coffee shop to pick up the breakfast.”
“Okay, hurry up. I’m starving.”
Peter walked down the path between the thick bushes to the clearing where the archeology team parked their cars. Despite his promise, his porky partner’s chin dropped to his chest as soon as he was out of sight. I’ll just close me eyes for a moment, he thought. His breathing slowed as he fell asleep.