Pharaoh looked into her eyes and she tried to keep her eyes on the ground where they belonged, but her eyes were caught on His and she could not even blink.

“Perhaps, my little singer of song,” said Khufu, his smile broad and kingly, “you would lead the sacrifice into the tomb. With you by her side, she will be smiling.”

Renifer listened to the faint lap of water from the lagoon, the distant voices of the crew on the barge. Khufu was asking her to travel down into the tomb. He was not suggesting that she would ever travel back out of it.

Her father said, “What an honor for my daughter, Great King.”

Her once beloved said, “What an honor for my bride, Great King.”

Wind whistled through stones stacked for future tombs.

“Will you, little singer of song, do me this honor?” asked Pharaoh.

As if Renifer had a choice. As if she were permitted to say, “No, thank you,” and go home to her mother.

To the Lord of the Two Lands, Renifer said, “I will.”

ANNIE

Annie did not see how they were all going to descend into Hetepheres' tomb. Especially her. With all this gold she probably weighed as much as the Statue of Liberty.

Renifer was lowered first, in a basket, like some scary ride at an amusement park. Annie was clearly next, then Pharaoh himself. Renifer held a torch in her hand but Annie was not given one. Renifer was lowered gently and without any bumping or lurching. Annie swallowed nervously and went down after her.

Pharaoh said something, his thin smile flickering like a flame or a snake's tongue.

That's who he reminds me of, she thought. A viper.

She was relieved when her basket fell below the level of the earth and beyond the power of his eyes. The shaft was very steep. She touched gouges in the stone, toeholds, perhaps for those without ropes or baskets.

At the bottom of the shaft, yet more gold glittered in the light of Renifer's torch.

Where do they get all this gold? she thought. Is Egypt full of gold mines? Or do they send pirates abroad, to loot and pillage?

At the bottom, she was surprised and disappointed. It was just a small stone room. Nothing there except the few pieces shifted from the other tomb. The vast sarcophagus, the bed canopy, the sedan chair. The gold she had seen from higher up was just one tray, far less than she had on her own body.

Well, it sure isn't Tutankhamen's tomb, she thought. But probably this is just the outer room. Once we start exploring, we'll see the better rooms.

She wondered what ceremonies would take place underground.