Jamie Buxton - Sun Thief

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Egmont UK Limited

The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN

Text copyright © 2015 Jamie Buxton

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

First e-book edition 2015

ISBN 978 1 4052 67991

Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 13689

www.egmont.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

For Amanda.

Thank you.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Egmont UK Limited The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN Text copyright © 2015 Jamie Buxton The moral rights of the author have been asserted First e-book edition 2015 ISBN 978 1 4052 67991 Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 13689 www.egmont.co.uk A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

Dedication For Amanda. Thank you.

1. In which I tell you pretty much all I’ve learned before we’ve even started 1. Don’t lie. 2. Don’t kill. 3. Don’t steal. 4. Don’t marry more than one person at a time. 5. Be happy with what you’ve got. 6. Be kind to your parents so long as they are kind to you. If not, don’t bother. 7. Take a day off when you need to. 8. Choose your god then stick to it. 9. Don’t make models of him/her. It only leads to trouble. 10. Now think of something yourself, you lazy dog.

2. In which you have the huge honour of meeting me So here I am, standing on top of a pyramid. I’m as high as the sky and king of the world. In front of me, the Great River is a big, fat, dark, lazy snake, winding through a patchwork of fields: green grass, golden wheat, black earth. Behind me, the desert is as dull as a dead lion’s hide. On my left and far, far away, the setting sun has just turned the stones of the old city to gold. On my right, our town is a muddle of narrow streets and four-square, flat-roofed houses built of brown mud brick. Fires blink like bright eyes as people cook their evening meal. On the back road that leads in from the north, I can just see a small dust cloud. It’s tearing along at a fair old lick and there’s a dark man-shape in the middle of it, like the grit in a ball of raw cotton. When you’re up on a pyramid, you’re standing on an old king who’s buried somewhere in the pile of rocks beneath you. Soldiers used to march around its base to keep rabble like me away and the common people had to crawl up a long stone causeway to ask for blessings from the priests who prayed in his temple. But the new king in the south has banned the old gods and told us to worship the sun. The Aten, he’s called. I suppose the king has his reasons, but I can’t help feeling it’s a bit boring. I mean, what does this Aten do except shine? The old gods got up to all kinds of mischief, some of which is too shocking to talk about, but that makes me like them more. Still, look on the bright side: no gods means no priests; no priests means no guards; no guards means I get to climb the Great Pyramid whenever I feel like it. So I’m up in the sky and feeling great when I suddenly realise that the little cloud of dust I saw on the back road could be a guest coming to the inn. And if it is, I have to be back there to meet him or I’m in trouble – a muddy great heap of it.

3. In which a guest actually arrives at the inn

4. In which I talk about mud (yes, mud)

5. In which I introduce you to our dead neighbours

6. In which my sister is too neighbourly

7. In which I overhear what I wish I hadn’t

8. In which help comes from an unlikely source and I behave oddly

9. In which I have a revelation

10. In which I accept that I have ruined my life forever

11. In which my father lets me down. Again. And uppances come

12. In which my fate is decided

13. In which my horizons open

14. In which an old god feasts

15. In which I smell a smell and see a sight

16. In which the Quiet Gentleman changes names

17. In which I draw a blasphemous hippopotamus

18. In which I discover my future

19. In which I learn a thing or two

20. In which I miss the Quiet Gentleman

21. In which I lose an ache and gain a worry

22. In which the Quiet Gentlemen returns

23. In which the Quiet Gentleman puts me straight

24. In which I understand an idea

25. In which an idea bears fruit

26. In which I have an unexpected encounter

27. In which I prove my worth

28. In which I learn my fate

29. In which I leave my sister

30. In which a boy discovers he can look at a queen

31. In which my new life begins

32. In which the queen gives me a name

33. In which I receive a proposition

34. In which Potipher delivers unwelcome news

35. In which I am led astray

36. In which the queen favours me

37. In which I do not ride in a chariot

38. In which I pay for my mistake

39. In which the trap closes

40. In which I do not learn a lesson

41. In which I make a sacrifice

42. In which I learn that death leads a dog’s life

43. In which I meet the king

44. In which I have an unexpected visitor

45. In which I put my experience to use

46. In which I learn that if you don’t move forward, you go back

47. In which I see an unexpected consequence of my actions

48. In which a truth is revealed

49. In which I make a choice

50. In which I see the destruction of Thutmose’s workshops

51. In which I head into the desert

52. In which I learn something surprising about myself

53. In which I take a long walk in the dark

54. In which I state the obvious

55. In which we jump out of the frying pan and into the fire

56. In which I speak

57. In which I find my place

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1. Don’t lie.

2. Don’t kill.

3. Don’t steal.

4. Don’t marry more than one person at a time.

5. Be happy with what you’ve got.

6. Be kind to your parents so long as they are kind to you. If not, don’t bother.