Set by Alessa Thorn

Epilogue

The night was hot and oppressive, and the dry, dusty wind blew relentlessly over the desert and into Saqarra.

Tahirah's back was aching as she got up from her work desk, where she had been huddling for hours over a tray of tiny, ancient objects carved from bone and stone, wood and dazzling lapis lazuli.

So much to catalog and figure out.

The diggers had found the cache of objects just after lunch, and she had barely moved since. The canvas tent she worked in gave her shade in the day, but it did nothing to keep the heat out.

She grabbed a cold bowl of stew and flatbread from her table, dinner that someone had brought her hours before that she had forgotten about, and went outside to try and cool down.

The Pyramid of Djoser rose up in front of her. Its ancient, stepped structure glinted with silver moonlight.

Almost everyone had gone back to the city for the night. Only Tahirah and a few of the guards remained. They were happy for the hours of pay she would give them, and she was glad to work undisturbed.

Djoser was still giving up priceless treasures, and Tahirah felt honored to be working on such a sacred necropolis. Some days, she felt like all she had was mysteries to solve. Tahirah was bone-tired but still thought that every find, no matter how small, was worth it.

Taking her dinner with her, Tahirah walked up the path, sat down at the pyramid base, and leaned her back against the limestone.

Even after five years working there, she still had moments when she felt so privileged and grateful that tears sprung to her eyes. She shut her tired eyes and tilted her head against the still warm stone.

"My house of the dead, how I love you," she whispered.

When Tahirah opened them again, a dark shadow was standing on the other side of the pyramid, watching her. Her heart leaped to her throat, and she was about to call out for the guards when the shadow moved, and she let out a laugh.

"Oh, it's just you again," she said as the sleek black dog trotted closer. The dog had been turning up at night for as long as she had worked there. No one else had seen it, but stray dogs were common, so they hadn't paid the story much attention.

Tahirah knew it was the same animal because it looked like the jackals painted on so many tomb walls. High pointed ears, with a narrow muzzle, it moved with a predator's grace. Its silvery grey eyes were striking in a dog or a wolf, so Tahirah never forgot him.

"Why do you hang around here?" she asked, sitting down again. The dog tilted his head at her as it lay down. She tossed it a piece of soggy flatbread. It sniffed at it before eating it and looking at her expectantly.

Tahirah held out the bowl to it. "Here, I'm not hungry anyway."

The jackal trotted over and sat beside her. It was the closest it had ever been to her. She wanted to stroke its silky black fur but wasn't game enough. It put its head in the bowl and ate the remaining stew in three large bites.

"Good boy," Tahirah said. She leaned back against the stone, staring at the stars. "Stay a while, there's only the night and the dead out here, and both make good company."

Trapped inside the jackal, the god Anubis sat with the woman, looked up at the stars, and could only agree.