The scarabs had been dispatched on the pharaohs two fastest ships in opposite directions; his most loyal captains instructed to scuttle the crafts and kill the crew when they had sailed for ten days, then blind themselves, lest they somehow find a way home. The stonesmith and his sons had been executed, all his writings burned. All this to save his kingdom from ruin, pharaohs twin brother thought, smiling, as he turned the two smooth pieces of stone, pulsing with eldritch energy, in his hands.
