House of Two Pharaohs, page 32
Every other time he had visited this place he had been in turmoil, but now, as Taita stood on the brink, he felt a deep peace.
Lowering himself into the hole, Taita took out his flint and fire-striker, to light one of the remaining brands. The bitter smell of pitch filled his nose as the flames licked up from the torch and the shadows raced away along the limestone walls of the tunnel.
Reaching above him, Taita muttered the words of the medu neter – the spell of the closed mouth. The torch sputtered and hissed as the rock closed above his head, the darkness that surrounded him growing deeper as the moonlit sky disappeared from view.
The slap of Taita’s leather soles echoed off the walls as he strode down the incline. The air grew colder still as he stepped into the confines of the tomb. In the quivering light thrown by his torch, the gods’ words, painted in brilliant colours across the walls, seemed to move with a life of their own.
Taita gazed on those inscriptions as he had done before. Now, it was his task to preserve them.
So much power had been stored here: the ability to summon the gods, and with their help, to reshape the world. Which was why Imhotep had buried them here, why he had hidden them away for a thousand years. Only someone of great wisdom could even attempt to use them without catastrophic consequences.
Taita exhaled and closed his eyes, feeling with his long fingers along the wall, feeling the power that radiated from it. Imhotep had left these spells for him. The Great Architect had looked across the millennium and seen his successor. And now, finally, Taita was going to unravel their secrets.
Taita sat down, with his back against Imhotep’s sarcophagus, and closed his eyes, allowing the medu neter to dance in his head. His heart flooded with emotion, and his mind filled with certainty that, at last, this was the moment when everything would change for the better.
A new age was about to dawn.
About the Author
Wilbur Smith was born in Central Africa in 1933. He became a full-time writer in 1964, following the success of When the Lion Feeds, his first published novel. An international phenomenon, his readership built up over fifty-five years of writing, his works include the Courtney Series, the Ballantyne Series, the Egyptian Series, the Hector Cross Series and many successful standalone novels, all meticulously researched on his numerous expeditions worldwide.
The establishment of the Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation, in 2015, was driven by Wilbur’s passion for empowering writers, promoting literacy and advancing adventure writing as a genre. The foundation’s flagship programme is the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.
Wilbur Smith passed away peacefully at home in 2021 with his wife, Niso, by his side, leaving behind a treasure-trove of novels and stories that will delight readers for years to come.
For all the latest information on Wilbur Smith’s writing visit www.wilbursmithbooks.com or facebook.com/WilburSmith.
Mark Chadbourn is a Sunday Times best-selling author. A two-time winner of the prestigious British Fantasy Award, he is best known for his Hereward series of Anglo-Saxon historical fiction novels, published under his pseudonym James Wilde, and his Age of Misrule series of modern fantasy novels.
Other books in the Egyptian Series
River God
The Seventh Scroll
Warlock
The Quest
Desert God
Pharaoh
The New Kingdom
Titans of War
Testament
Also by Wilbur Smith
Non-Fiction
On Leopard Rock: A Life of Adventures
The Courtney Series
When the Lion Feeds
The Sound of Thunder
A Sparrow Falls
The Burning Shore
Power of the Sword
Rage
A Time to Die
Golden Fox
Birds of Prey
Monsoon
Blue Horizon
The Triumph of the Sun
Assegai
Golden Lion
War Cry
The Tiger’s Prey
Courtney’s War
King of Kings
Ghost Fire
Legacy of War
Storm Tide
Nemesis
Warrior King
Fire on the Horizon
Crossfire
The Ballantyne Series
A Falcon Flies
Men of Men
The Angels Weep
The Leopard Hunts in Darkness
The Triumph of the Sun
King of Kings
Call of the Raven
Fire on the Horizon
Hector Cross
Those in Peril
Vicious Circle
Predator
Standalones
The Dark of the Sun
Shout at the Devil
Gold Mine
The Diamond Hunters
The Sunbird
Eagle in the Sky
The Eye of the Tiger
Cry Wolf
Hungry as the Sea
Wild Justice
Elephant Song
DON’T MISS THE FIRST THREE BOOKS IN THE EPIC NEW KINGDOM SERIES
Gods and men.
Magic and power.
Glory and salvation.
The fate of Egypt hangs in the balance . . .
AVAILABLE NOW
WILBUR SMITH RETURNS TO HIS LEGENDARY COURTNEY SERIES WITH A BRAND-NEW RACE AGAINST TIME WORLD WAR II THRILLER
1943. The tide of the Second World War is turning. The Russian victory at Stalingrad – the bloodiest battle in history – has opened the door for the Allies. Now, they must strike decisively at the heart of Hitler’s Reich. But military success cannot be guaranteed without total secrecy.
Special Operations Executive’s, Saffron Courtney, is sailing from the west coast of Scotland to New York on the Queen Mary. Her mission – to identify the mole in the British Embassy in Washington, DC before Churchill and Roosevelt begin the talks that will determine British and American military strategy in the wake of the Russian victory.
Haunted by the ghosts of her previous mission in the Low Countries, and with dangerous agents on her tail, Saffron must find the spy who could derail the Allied advance. Time is running out. Will Saffron complete her mission? Or will she succumb to the shadows of her past?
AVAILABLE NOW
DISCOVER THE BIRDS OF PREY SEQUENCE IN WILBUR SMITH’S EPIC COURTNEY SERIES
The earliest sequence in the Courtney family adventures starts in 1667, amidst the conflict surrounding the Dutch East India Company. In these action-packed books we follow three generations of Courtney’s throughout the decades and across the seas to the stunning clifs of Nativity Bay in South Africa.
THE COURTNEYS AND THE BALLANTYNES COME TOGETHER IN . . .
FIRE ON THE
HORIZON
South Africa, 1899
The smouldering hostility between the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State and the British colonies of the Cape and Natal is about to burst into flame. War is coming and no one can prevent it. Colonel Penrod Ballantyne, hero of Abu Klea and Omdurman, is sent to Mafeking to recruit and train men for the fighting ahead. Amber, his wife, the successful novelist, accompanies him - eager to see more of the country her husband is about to risk his life for. But when war is declared, Amber must flee with their baby son and pray for her husband’s survival against impossible odds.
Eight hundred miles to the south, in Cape Town, Ryder Courtney is using his wealth and connections to bankroll the British war efort. His artist wife Safron, frustrated by stufy Cairo society, has joined him with their three children. There is peace in the Courtney household until their eldest son, Leon, stows away on a train to the front line, determined to join his distinguished uncle, Penrod Ballantyne, in changing the course of history. Safron and Ryder have no choice but to leave the safety of the Cape Colony and follow. Leon is convinced that his parents are without honour and courage. Little does he realise that he has no chance of escaping the people they used to be.
AVAILABLE NOW
First published in the UK in 2025 by Zaffre
This ebook edition published in 2025 by
ZAFFRE
An imprint of Bonnier Books UK
5th Floor, HYLO, 105 Bunhill Row, London, EC1Y 8LZ
Copyright © Orion Mintaka, 2025
Jacket design by Bonnier Books UK art department
Illustrations Fred van Deelan (goddess) and Shutterstock
The moral right of Wilbur Smith to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-83877-640-4
Hardback ISBN: 978-1-83877-638-1
This ebook was created by IDSUK (Data Connection) Ltd
The authorised representative in the EEA is
Bonnier Books UK (Ireland) Limited.
Registered offi ce address: Floor 3, Block 3, Miesian Plaza,
Dublin 2, D02 Y754, Ireland
compliance@bonnierbooks.ie
www.bonnierbooks.co.uk
Wilbur Smith, House of Two Pharaohs
