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Chapters (43)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. By Simon Scarrow
  4. Dedication
  5. Acknowledgements
  6. CHAPTER ONE
  7. CHAPTER TWO
  8. CHAPTER THREE
  9. CHAPTER FOUR
  10. CHAPTER FIVE
  11. CHAPTER SIX
  12. CHAPTER SEVEN
  13. CHAPTER EIGHT
  14. CHAPTER NINE
  15. CHAPTER TEN
  16. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  17. CHAPTER TWELVE
  18. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  23. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  24. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  42. EPILOGUE
  43. AUTHOR’S NOTE

Karim pursed his lips. ‘That is a slender source of comfort, General. Frankly, I’d rather die somewhere a little less barren. If I have to die at all.’

Ajax ignored him. He glanced at the entrances to the tombs. ‘When they come for us, we can still give them a good fight. Come, let’s have a closer look.’

He strode towards the mouth of the tomb he had seen earlier, and after a brief hesitation Karim followed him, not relishing the dark depths that stretched back into the cliffs. It seemed an ill omen to be trapped amid a valley of the dead.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

‘They put up quite a fight,’ said Macro as they stood in the larger of the two courtyards in the temple. Cato, his left arm in a sling, nodded as he surveyed the bodies littering the ground. It was late in the morning and the air was already stifling. The cloying odour of blood added to the discomfort of the setting. Several legionaries were picking their way across the courtyard looking for wounded comrades to carry into the columned hall where the chief surgeon had set up his field hospital. Any of the enemy wounded were quickly despatched to put an end to their suffering.

‘Quite a fight,’ Macro repeated, arms on hips. ‘Now comes the fun part. Finding the body of Ajax. I haven’t seen him anywhere yet. I’ll have to order a more thorough search.’

‘Assuming he stayed to fight to the end.’

‘You still think he had something to do with those horsemen that were seen earlier?’

‘It’s possible.’

Macro shook his head. ‘I think we would have noticed if he had ridden out of here, right through our patrols. It’s not his style. Not from what I recall of him.’ Macro’s expression darkened as he briefly recalled his period of captivity. ‘Ajax would rather make a stand than run off and leave his men to die. Trust me, he’s here. We just have to find him.’ Macro nudged a severed forearm with the toe of his boot. ‘Or what’s left of him.’

He looked round the courtyard again and shook his head. ‘Have to hand it to them, this lot fought to the last. Not one prisoner. If the rest of the Nubian army is anything like this then we’ll have quite a fight on our hands when we finally meet.’