Pharaoh

by Wilbur Smith

  Luxor was becoming distinctly overcrowded. Fortunately Pharaohin Serrena came up with the excellent idea of restoring to me, Lord Taita, all the properties and rights that had been confiscated from me by the former, but now deceased, Pharaoh Utteric. This made me once more one of the richest men in Egypt. I was able to place my palaces and other suitable accommodations in the city at the disposal of King Hurotas and his wife, and also his minions the petty kings.

  Pharaoh Rameses also elevated me to the rank of Lord High Chancellor and Chief Minister of his cabinet. His cabinet consisted almost entirely of the thirty-two officials selected by Utteric for execution who were waiting in the Garden of Joy, which had previously been known as the Gates of Torment and Sorrow. When Rameses sent for them, at my suggestion, they came trooping joyfully into the city of Luxor and went unerringly into their appointed offices in the palace of government to take up their duties under me.

  Precisely six months after their triumphal return to Luxor I, as Lord High Chancellor, uplifted Pharaoh Rameses and his wife Pharaohin Serrena Cleopatra to the throne of Egypt for their formal coronation. Almost four hundred invitees packed the great hall of the palace. These included fourteen other emperors and kings from the lands surrounding the great Middle Sea.

  Egypt was restored to her former glory and I could not forbear to smile as I placed the golden crowns on the heads of my two most favourite persons in all the world.

  About the Author

  Wilbur Smith was born in Central Africa in 1933. He became a full-time writer in 1964 after the successful publication of When The Lion Feeds, and has since written over thirty novels, all meticulously researched on his numerous expeditions worldwide. His books are now translated into twenty-six languages.

  WilburSmith

  @thewilbursmith

  For all the latest information on Wilbur visit his author website, www.wilbursmithbooks.com.

  To learn about the work of the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation visit www.wilbur-niso-smithfoundation.org

  Also by Wilbur Smith

  The Egyptian Series

  River God

  The Seventh Scroll

  Warlock

  The Quest

  Desert God

  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

  The Ballantyne Series

  A Falcon Flies

  Men of Men

  The Angels Weep

  The Leopard Hunts in Darkness

  Thrillers

  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 (UK); The Delta Decision (US)

  Elephant Song

  Those in Peril

  Vicious Circle

  Predator

  About the Publisher

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