The next action-packed novel in Wilbur Smith's new Egyptian series Global bestselling author of River God and The New Kingdom, Wilbur Smith, returns with the next epic book in his brand-new Ancient Egyptian series. FROM THE SHADOWY UNDERWORLD A NEW THREAT WILL RISE Since becoming Nomarc, Piay has thrown himself into pulling the city of Memphis back from the brink. The once starving inhabitants have been fed, a new school for Royal Princes and the sons of aristocrats has been established, and Piay has been recovering the many riches looted by the Hyksos. But when the heavily-guarded vault is found locked with the body of a murdered scribe inside - the mark of Anubis, god of death scrawled in his own blood - panic sweeps the city. Only the wisest man in all Egypt can solve this mystery: Piay's mentor, the great Mage Taita. To Taita's reckoning the culprit can only be one person: a new enemy known to be the wisest and cleverest in the Lower Kingdom, obsessed with Egypt's history and grandeur. For many years, this person worked to undermine the Hyksos and since then their reputation as a criminal mastermind has spread across the Lower Kingdom in awed whispers. As Taita works to track down the new and dangerous threat, his enemy has another plan: to draw Taita in and ultimately destroy him so they can become the true guide of Egypt's fortunes - the Dark Pharaoh.