Chapter Summaries

After Nitocris gave Ye Ting her electrum dagger as a symbol of leaving her past behind and entrusting her future to him, he realized what she meant and decided to reforge the dagger into a magical gift for her. He found her in the bath, where she worried that he had rejected her, then revealed himself and reunited with her.

• Nitocris accepted Ye Ting's embrace and kissed him, then gave him the electrum dagger that had belonged to her brother and served as her weapon of revenge.
• Ye Ting understood the dagger as Nitocris's way of entrusting her future to him and decided to reforge it into a magical item for her.
• Ye Ting went to Nitocris's room, used a locating spell to find her in the bath, and entered invisibly.
• Nitocris complained that Ye Ting had missed her hint and feared he rejected her because she had once been Merenre II's queen.
• Ye Ting revealed himself with the familiar words from their first meeting, and Nitocris joyfully threw herself into his arms.

After Nitocris and Ye Ting affirmed their love, dozens of Egypt’s most powerful nobles and officials were found murdered in their homes. The discovery revealed that every powerful noble in Egypt had been killed, setting the stage for a political upheaval.

• Nitocris realized Ye Ting had heard her private thoughts, and he reassured her of his love and promised to protect her.
• Nitocris and Ye Ting embraced, while across Memphis dozens of powerful princes and nobles were murdered in their homes and their households were knocked unconscious.
• An official investigating his superior’s death found the Chief Justice and other officials dead in the same manner.
• Under the pharaoh’s orders, Memphis’s city guards searched the city and discovered that every powerful noble in Egypt had been killed in their home.

After Egypt’s nobles were assassinated, rumors spread that they had murdered Merenre II and that Horus had avenged him. Ye Ting’s plan with Nitocris aimed to turn popular support for the Pharaoh into a power base that could keep the nobles’ followers from seizing control.

• News of the nobles’ deaths spread through Memphis, along with rumors linking their deaths to Merenre II’s murder and Horus’s vengeance.
• Ye Ting had helped spread the rumors as part of his plan with Nitocris to prevent the nobles’ followers from retaliating or taking power.
• Ye Ting explained that Nitocris needed a broad base of supporters, since killing the nobles alone would leave Egypt’s political and administrative problems unresolved.
• Ye Ting told Nitocris that the people of Egypt could be her power base because they revered the Pharaoh and already viewed her favorably.
• Nitocris’s concern for agriculture and the people’s livelihoods had earned her a reputation that surpassed the standing of the ministers and priests.

Nitocris and Ye Ting used rumors and public resentment to turn Egypt’s common people against the officials who had usurped power. The terrified ministers hesitated to claim vacant positions, giving Nitocris time to build popular support as she prepared her decisive move.

• Nitocris spread the truth about the dead ministers and priests among the common people, who condemned the officials and called for the Pharaoh to restore order.
• Public anger and fear of the mysterious assassinations kept the surviving officials from fighting over vacant positions.
• The officials suspected Nitocris or her new bard had killed the nobles, but feared they could not defend themselves from similar attacks.
• Several incompetent officials confessed their sins and begged Nitocris for mercy outside the palace, strengthening the rumors and drawing public attention.
• Nitocris gained overwhelming influence among the common people and prepared to make her final decisive move.

Memphis’s citizens and officials gathered to witness Nitocris appointing and dismissing officials with the people’s approval. While the decree excited the public and alarmed or amused the officials, they believed Egypt’s corrupt bureaucracy would prevent Nitocris from reclaiming lasting power.

• The citizens of Memphis gathered outside the palace, eager to take part in Nitocris’s public selection of officials and priests.
• Officials feared, opposed, welcomed, or mocked the decree according to how they thought public approval would affect their prospects.
• Nitocris’s opponents believed her influence over the people and soldiers would force officials to comply temporarily, but would not let her choose candidates outside the entrenched bureaucracy.
• The officials arrived at the square and waited for Nitocris to appear.

Nitocris addressed the people of Egypt, apologized for their hardship, and vowed to improve their lives. The crowd’s support shifted into condemnation of the ministers, leaving them alarmed beneath her throne.

• Nitocris arrived at the square and took her seat as the people cheered and voiced their hopes for better lives.
• Remembering Thoth’s warning about the people’s power, Nitocris resolved to change their circumstances while officials feared her growing influence.
• Nitocris stood between Thoth and the unseen Medjed and used magic to quiet the crowd.
• Nitocris introduced herself by her royal titles, acknowledged Egypt’s hardship, and bowed to apologize to the people.
• The crowd defended Nitocris and blamed the treacherous ministers, leaving the officials uneasy as they sensed something was wrong.

Nitocris told the people that corrupt officials still threatened Egypt and revealed that the public gathering was meant to eliminate their network. She explained that she had been powerless to govern until the corrupt officials’ deaths, leaving the assembled ministers trapped as she continued her speech.

• Nitocris thanked the people for trusting her and admitted that her inaction had allowed corrupt officials to harm Egypt.
• Nitocris warned that the dead officials had countless accomplices across the government, temples, army, and court who could choose new leaders.
• The ministers realized Nitocris had gathered them to wipe out the corrupt faction, while the surrounding people and soldiers left them no clear means of escape.
• Nitocris told the people she had wanted to abolish taxes, enact beneficial policies, and punish criminals but had been unable to issue decrees beyond the palace.

Nitocris accused Egypt’s officials of conspiring to strip her of power and enslave the people, turning the assembly in Memphis against them. She rallied the crowd to judge the officials, leaving the appointment assembly transformed into a public trial.

• Nitocris revealed that ministers had sidelined her and claimed nearly the entire bureaucracy sought to seize the pharaoh’s authority.
• She accused corrupt nobles of monopolizing government positions, exploiting ordinary Egyptians, and plotting to overturn policies that protected the people.
• The crowd believed her accusations and demanded that the officials be driven from office, while the officials and their compromised commanders grew fearful.
• Nitocris asked the people to help judge the officials, and the gathered Egyptians roared their willingness to hold a public trial.

Nitocris held a public trial for Memphis's officials and used magic to uncover specific evidence of their crimes. She began with Meketre, a financial official who had hoped to become Finance Minister, and left him stunned as a court clerk read out detailed charges.

• Memphis's high-ranking officials gathered for appointments and became Nitocris's prisoners.
• Some officials assumed Nitocris lacked evidence because she had no spies or loyal subordinates.
• Nitocris had used hypnosis to learn the officials' secrets and prepared charges before the trial.
• Nitocris put Meketre, a candidate for Finance Minister, on trial.
• A court clerk read out detailed charges against Meketre, including bribery and improper appointments.

At Nitocris's public trial, Meketre believed his crimes had been exposed by his former accomplices and surrendered rather than defend himself. After she sentenced him and his family, he offered to reveal other criminals in exchange for mercy for them, alarming the officials who had worked with him.

• Meketre met the foreign bard's golden gaze and briefly felt overwhelmed, then realized only seconds had passed.
• Meketre concluded that former accomplices had betrayed him by giving Nitocris details of his crimes.
• Nitocris asked Meketre to defend himself, and he surrendered because the charges were too specific to deny.
• Nitocris sentenced Meketre to become an offering to Sobek, confiscated his property, and ordered his family to perform hard labor.
• Meketre begged Nitocris to spare his family and offered information about other criminals, prompting panic among the officials.

Nitocris accepted Meketre’s offer to name accomplices in exchange for sparing his family from hard labor, and he exposed dozens of corrupt officials. Ye Ting and Nitocris had engineered his belief that his colleagues betrayed him, and the officials he accused began exposing others in turn.

• Nitocris silenced the officials who tried to interrupt Meketre and promised to spare his family from hard labor if his information proved useful.
• Meketre named dozens of officials and their crimes, shocking the public and angering those he accused.
• The chapter revealed that Nitocris had gathered evidence through magic and Ye Ting had used a suggestion spell to make Meketre believe his colleagues betrayed him.
• Ye Ting’s suggestion led Meketre’s accused colleagues to believe he had secretly allied with Nitocris, so they began naming more officials.
• The officials’ accusations spread as a chain of perceived betrayals, and more people were brought onto the platform.

Nitocris purged Memphis’s corrupt officials and rebuilt its government with the few remaining honest clerks, while Ye Ting used magic to help them learn their new duties. The court began functioning again, but Egypt remained divided, and Nitocris planned to deal with the rebellious governors later.

• Ye Ting watched the accused officials expose one another, and Nitocris sentenced the guilty to execution, hard labor, or exile.
• Nitocris appointed a new commander for the city guards and ordered the imprisonment of corrupt officials and confiscation of their estates.
• Nitocris promoted low-ranking clerks and created temporary departments to recruit and train new officials.
• Ye Ting cast intelligence and endurance spells on the novice officials as Nitocris guided them through their work.
• Nitocris used the confiscated wealth and forced labor of corrupt officials to stabilize Memphis, while leaving rebellious nome governors for later.

Four years after the Great Judgment, Nitocris had restored Memphis through reforms, irrigation, and abundant harvests, and she prepared to lead its army to reunify Egypt. As her soldiers gathered outside the city, the chapter described how Ye Ting’s guidance had transformed Memphis’s administration, agriculture, and weapons, and it ended as the army’s greater power was about to be revealed.

• Nitocris expanded Memphis’s farmland with new canals and drip irrigation, bringing repeated harvests and building up grain stores.
• Nitocris used Memphis’s stability and food supplies to attract refugees and assemble an army to reunify Egypt.
• Nitocris appeared before tens of thousands of soldiers in a golden chariot, accompanied by Ye Ting, whom many regarded as her sage and adviser.
• The soldiers praised Nitocris as the Pharaoh of the People for purging corrupt officials and restoring peace and prosperity to Memphis.
• Ye Ting’s new smelting methods, metal armor, and improved bows had modernized Memphis’s army, and the chapter hinted at an even greater force in its ranks.

Ye Ting established a school for Egyptian rune magic in Nitocris’s former underground palace and trained gifted temple youths as apprentices. Their training produced Egypt’s first War Mage Corps, which Nitocris intended to make the decisive force in her unification campaign.

• Ye Ting researched Egyptian divine runes and began converting them into magic runes to build a magical system for Egypt.
• Ye Ting recruited more than a hundred magically gifted people from Memphis’s temples, including former priests and temple orphans.
• Nitocris gave Ye Ting the underground palace she had once built for revenge, and he turned it into a workshop and classroom.
• Former priests became teaching assistants, helping the youths learn rune magic and mature into apprentices.
• Ye Ting’s apprentices formed Nitocris’s War Mage Corps, Egypt’s first organized corps of mages.

Ye Ting trained Egyptian apprentices in rune magic and presented mages as agents of the gods, strengthening their devotion and loyalty to Nitocris. The apprentices formed factions devoted to different Egyptian gods and became capable of serving as mage corps in war.

• Ye Ting explained that wisdom, rather than magical knowledge alone, had made him powerful, and he freely taught the Egyptians his magic.
• Ye Ting portrayed Egyptian mages as scholars and agents of divine power, inspiring the apprentices to study magic with fervor.
• Ye Ting used the apprentices’ devotion to the gods to encourage loyalty to Nitocris, whom he described as Egypt’s highest high priest.
• The apprentices divided into factions devoted to different gods and specialized in the corresponding rune spells.
• The first generation of apprentices advanced quickly and became capable of joining wars as mage corps.

After inspecting Memphis’s army, Nitocris rallied her soldiers to campaign across Egypt and led the march herself. She then dropped her commanding Pharaoh persona while talking with Ye Ting, whose flirtatious remark embarrassed their female guard.

• Ye Ting and Nitocris inspected Memphis’s chariots and siege engines, then had the equipment dismantled for transport.
• Nitocris addressed the soldiers, praised Memphis’s recovery over the past four years, and declared that the Pharaoh’s glory should spread across all of Egypt.
• The soldiers cheered as Nitocris led tens of thousands of troops onto the campaign, with her chariot at the front.
• Nitocris asked Ye Ting whether her speech had impressed him, and he praised her before making a suggestive remark.
• The female guard driving the chariot wanted to cover her ears as Ye Ting and Nitocris chatted behind her.

Nitocris led Memphis’s army south, bringing cities and nomes back under her rule while centralizing Egypt’s government. As her forces approached Herakleopolis, intelligence revealed that its governor, Melibra Aheito, had been building strength to claim the throne, and Nitocris prepared to crush his ambition.

• Melibra Aheito trained troops and strengthened Herakleopolis while waiting for Egypt’s chaos to let him seize the pharaoh’s throne.
• Nitocris marched south from Memphis, capturing cities and nomes as they submitted to her army.
• Nitocris removed disloyal nobles and officials, confiscated their property, and rewarded loyal families with posts in Memphis.
• Nitocris left central officials and troops to govern the reconquered regions alongside local officials, strengthening Memphis’s control.
• Nitocris used grain-trading caravans to gather intelligence and learned that Melibra Aheito posed a threat as her army neared Herakleopolis.

Melibra Aheito learned that the Pharaoh's army from Memphis had reached Herakleopolis, despite his belief that Nitocris's forces could not organize an attack. Seeing the army camp beyond the walls, he realized the nomes between Memphis and Herakleopolis had likely already been conquered.

• Melibra Aheito watched his female slaves dance until a soldier interrupted to report enemies approaching Herakleopolis.
• Melibra questioned the soldier and learned the approaching force was the Pharaoh's army from Memphis, identified by its banners.
• Melibra ordered weapons and supplies assembled and hurried to the city walls.
• Melibra saw the Pharaoh's army camp in the desert and concluded that it had likely conquered the nomes between Memphis and Herakleopolis.

Meribre decided to meet Nitocris’s army in a decisive field battle, convinced that his rested, well-equipped troops could defeat her exhausted forces and help him claim the throne. When he faced Nitocris’s army, its equipment and bearing stunned him, leaving his confidence shaken as the battle began.

• Meribre reasoned that Nitocris’s army was exhausted and undersupplied, and chose to fight it in the field the next morning.
• Meribre tore up Nitocris’s surrender letter and declared that he would fight a decisive battle.
• Meribre assembled his army, including fifty chariots, and imagined defeating Nitocris and making her his queen.
• Meribre led his troops onto the battlefield and was stunned by the strength and appearance of Nitocris’s army.

Meribre faced Nitocris's vastly superior army and realized he had underestimated the female Pharaoh, but he chose to attack rather than retreat. As the forces approached, Nitocris halted at long range and her mobile catapults began testing their aim against the Herakleopolis army.

• Meribre surveyed Nitocris's armored chariots, heavy infantry, cavalry, and machines, and admitted that his own army was outmatched.
• Meribre rejected the idea of retreating and ordered the army of Herakleopolis to advance first.
• Nitocris marched her army forward, then ordered it to halt when the opposing forces were about one hundred and fifty paces apart.
• The Pharaoh's slaves loaded a sphere into a mobile catapult and launched it into the rear of Meribre's formation, killing two soldiers.
• Meribre welcomed the shot's impact at the rear, unaware that it was only a ranging shot before the real assault.