701 BCE. Assyria lays siege to Jerusalem, last stronghold of the Judeans.

In an audacious raid, a band of Kushite mercenaries—the Desert Mice—help force the Assyrians back from the gates of Jerusalem. But when a greedy general cheats them of their payment, the mercenaries must turn to plundering the dead: a fabled tyrant and his long-lost tomb.

In crossing an ancient pharaoh, the mercenaries will befoul themselves in an Egyptian power struggle and draw the gaze of a wrathful foreign king. Pursued by scheming nobles and a malevolent torturer, the Desert Mice set sail down the Nile—toward the Valley of the Kings.