Valley of the Kings (23 page)

Meryat sang, rocking herself back and forth. Sennahet did not speak; he did not move.

At last the pit was finished. The priests stood back, and the workmen stood back, and the soldiers cut away the bonds that held Sennahet and Meryat and threw the man and the woman down together into the pit. A few moments later Hapure's dead body was flung in with them.

The soldiers and the priests and workmen went away. Meryat sat in the corner of the pit; but now she did not sing. From the sleeve of her robe she took a knife, so thin and fine she had concealed it even from the priests who bound her, and she put the knife to her breast. The blood welled up from her breast. She put her head back against the wall of the pit and shut her eyes.

Sennahet sat still a long while, until he was sure that no one had waited on the surface of the gorge. He chuckled. He had fooled them to the last. Carefully he unwound his loincloth. He had hidden gold and jewels from them. They had not found what he had stolen; he had stolen it all away. He held the baubles in his hands, smiling. Now at last what he had sought was in his hands.

He sat there in the pit, laughing now and then. The bodies of his friends lay nearby. Truly the priests had given him choice meats for his eternal house. He laughed again, fingering his priceless gold.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1977 by Cecelia Holland

Cover design by Jamie Keenan

978-1-5040-0767-2

This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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New York, NY 10014

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