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Stuck until the wedding, Mark waits and watches, only to see Princess Neit-akrit appear next to the High Priest His work finally finished, what Hugh reveals to his old friend is a piece of year-old parchment which he and his father have spent forty years piecing together. He comes to again several hours later, it is dark but he can just make out his friend waiting in the gloom, soon to leave and walk into the trap that had been set. May Learn how and when to remove this template message. Refresh and try again. All of the internal pages are unmarked, uncreased and tightly bound, the only flaws are some fading to the spine, the front endpaper is missing and some notes to the contents page. Mark shakes off the last effects of the drug, overcomes the priests who have come to finish him off, and escapes.
By the Gods Beloved by Emmuska Orczy. By the Gods Beloved 3. Mark and Hugh are school friends. Mark has visited Hugh's house, whose father is an archaeologist and Egyptologist and where there is an odd museum, complete with mummies. One day, Mark receives word from his friend to 'Come at once if you can'. He finds Hugh has taken over his father's work and is in possession of a secret encoded papyrus that is thousands of years old. H Mark and Hugh are school friends. He has also discovered that the descendants of ancient pharaohs are still living in the Libyan Desert.
The two friends set out at once for Egypt. Their journey involves incredible adventures, strange sights, a beautiful princess and great dangers. Published first published To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about By the Gods Beloved , please sign up. Lists with This Book.
By The Gods Beloved, first published in the UK in , was released under the title The Gates of Kamt in the US. The novel is in the tradition of Rider Haggard's . By the Gods Beloved has 14 ratings and 2 reviews. Surreysmum said: Read in an undated Hodder & Stoughton edition. [These notes were made in ].
Sep 21, Surreysmum rated it it was ok Shelves: The story's told by a Watson-like figure who accompanies the idealistic and physically commanding Hugh Tankerville into and through the desert, past a splendid wasteland of bleached corpses and skeletons, into a sensual and treacherous paradise walled in by mountains as Shangri-la is. Here Hugh Tankerville gets himself engaged to one woman and involved with another Maat-kha and Neit-akrit respecitvely , and although possessed of great power the people consider him "Beloved of the Gods" eventually has to leave the country in order to ensure peace.
Orczy is not in her element here - she is better with the high honourable passions of 18th-century aristocrats and horrors of the French Revolution. There is one rather impressive murder-in-the-temple scene faithful sidekick trapped where he can see but not act, of course , but it drags on a bit too long, and since we are left very ambivalent about Neit-akrit's position in our sympathies, we take leave of her with more cheerfulness that our authoress would perhaps prefer.
Jan 14, Kori rated it liked it. So whatever happened to the original Egyptians? Sure you think you know, conquered by Alexander the Great, beaten by the Romans, assimilated Well no, seems a bunch of them are rumoured to be living in a secret canyon somewhere in the Libyan desert.
Armed with an ancient papyrus two friends Mark and Hugh set off to find them. Fortunately they have a card to play, timing is everything Erica Converso rated it it was amazing Jan 16, Malavika Bondal rated it really liked it Jan 30, The Pharaoh has realised that Hugh loves the Princess rather than his mother and, out for revenge for the Queen stealing his throne from him, he tells her as much — insisting that she will pay for stealing Hugh from Neit-akrit, for the Princess loves Hugh as much as he loves her.
Shaking with rage, the Queen attacks her son and strangles him to death with her bare hands. After seeing everything, the High Priest Ur-tasen condemns Queen Maat-kha for murder and desecrating the temple. She starts to realise that there will be consequences for her actions and declares she will go willingly into the valley of the dead and leave Ur-tasen all her wealth, if only the Priest will separate Neit-akrit and Hugh once she has gone. The Priest makes the Queen promise to the gods that she will do his bidding, which she agrees for she would rather see Hugh dead than with the Princess.
He insists she must go through with the marriage ceremony as if nothing has happened, then when Hugh goes to meet her in the garden after the ceremony, he will find the dead body of the Pharaoh and they will frame him for the murder. Mark has overheard everything and tries to warn Hugh, only to discover he is trapped in the temple and can't get out. Stuck until the wedding, Mark waits and watches, only to see Princess Neit-akrit appear next to the High Priest Neit-akirt, however, has other ideas and defies the Priest to do his worst, for she will not allow Hugh to be blamed for the Pharaoh's murder.
The Priest laughs at her and dares her to summon help knowing it will be his fellow priests who come. Outmanoeuvring the Princess, Ur-tasen then tells her that if she mentions any of what has happened to Hugh, the marriage will go ahead and she will have to suffer losing both her crown and the man she loves. Faced with the impossible choice between death of her loved one or seeing him happy in another woman's arms, the Princess leaves the temple. The smell of burning herbs makes Mark think he can escape but the pungent odour starts to affect him and just before he loses consciousness he realises that he is in a room with the body of the dead Pharaoh.
Mark finally comes round to hear Hugh making his marriage vows. Unable to speak he can only watch as his friend pledges himself to the woman who is plotting his death and shame before sinking into yet another drugged sleep. He comes to again several hours later, it is dark but he can just make out his friend waiting in the gloom, soon to leave and walk into the trap that had been set. Still unable to speak he is helpless to warn Hugh; however, soon Princess Neit-akrit turns up and asks Hugh to help her make a posy from the flowers in the temple.
She is able to manipulate Hugh's love for her to prevent him from going to his bride and being framed for the Pharaoh's murder.
Mark shakes off the last effects of the drug, overcomes the priests who have come to finish him off, and escapes. Mark finds Hugh and tells him everything he has seen.
The two are confronted by Ur-tasen who has captured Neit-akrit as she left the temple at dawn. Ur-tasen threatens to have his priests torture and mutilate Neit-akrit as is the custom in Kamt for women who have committed adultery.
Hugh threatens to use his position as Beloved of the Gods to inspire the people of Kamt to revolt and leave nothing but one vast and burning ruin where Kamt now stands if Neit-akrit is not released. Ur-tasen relents but convinces Hugh that he must leave Kamt if Neit-akrit is to retain her honour and take her rightful place as Pharaoh. Hugh and Mark agree to leave if the priests provide them with supplies and oxen to get them through the Valley of Death and back to their civilisation.
Ur-tasen must go with them as far as the Rock of Anubis as a guarantee at which point he would be released to return to Kamt. Hugh plans to leave without seeing Neit-akrit again, but as Ur-tasen is announcing that Beloved of the Gods has had to leave Kamt to return to the feet of the Gods, Neit-akrit comes up to the platform and leaves a flower-- rosemary for remembrance.
Hugh and Mark make their way back to England where, years later, their adventures in Kamt all start to seem like a dream. Cloud 9 Books Condition: Good with no dust jacket; Bookplate fep. Back eps split at spine. A fantasy novel of ancient Egypt.
Curious Book Shop Published: Fair with no dust jacket. First edition [and relatively scarce thus].
Bleiler [ Checklist page coded D for Lost race]. Fair with no dust jacket Edition: By the Gods Beloved: A Romance Orczy, Baroness London: A "Lost Race" adventure classic about ancient Egyptians in the Libyan Desert, praised by genre expert Everett Bleiler as "Literate, as is always the case with Baroness Orczy's work, and intriguing for its strange psychology of personality. Spine a little faded and spine folds slightly rubbed, but otherwise a sound, tight copy. Interestingly, on the front endpaper is written in pencil: This book is brand new. We have this book in our store house - please allow for a couple of extra days for delivery.
Red cloth stamped in black.