“Tell me, before I begin reading! The dog/cat doesn’t die at the end of the story does it?” The novel reader’s (or movie watcher’s) greatest dread.

It’s an unwritten law readers have in a story - DON’T let anything bad happen to the hero’s beloved pet! If it's a breach of trust for adult readers, its doubly so with younger readers! Here are four Egypt underworld adventures where pets are off-limits to catastrophe!

THE SARCOPHAGUS. Snakeback. (A Rhodesian Ridgeback in “The Sarcophagus” "Fetch!" Snakeback gave a bark and took off across the sand. He’d watched the dog stretch itself in a run. The dog had sighted the arrow and had locked on its flight. The arrow must have gone about four hundred yards, Ryder estimated. He'd lost sight of its fall. Snakeback would be gone for a while. It would come back with the shaft of the arrow gently held in its jaws, looking as if it had been shot through the muzzle, with the fletching sticking out on one side of its mouth and the arrowhead on the other and its round amber eyes flashing a challenge, daring him to shoot the arrow again...

(Snakeback was a Rhodesian Ridgeback or African Lion Dog, a sturdy breed with a snake of fur running along its back in the opposite direction to its sleek, wheaten-coloured coat. Bred from European mastiffs and the African Hottentot hunting dog. Snakeback was tough and protective, a dog built to attack lions, with a deep muzzle, long straight legs and the ability to run all day in the heat of the sun without a drink of water.)

(And for young-ancient Egypt readers:) THE MUMMY MONSTER GAME. “Spy, their family cat observes the three children Josh, Amy and cousin Harry as they play their scary Egyptian computer game “The Mummy Monster Game”.. "His name is Spy," Josh tells. "because he likes to creep up on us and spy on us with his yellow eyes."

TOMB TRAVELLERS Dogstar, Philip’s pharaoh hound, accompanies the tomb travellers on their journey as they try to rescue his beloved Egyptologist Uncle William from the underworld (You see, Uncle William died and had his most precious relic buried with him, an ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead Scroll – trouble was, it’s a passport to the underworld and that’s where Uncle William’s ended up! (Dogstar, Phillip's dog, was itself an animal of ancient Egyptian descent, a tall, sleek running dog known as a pharaoh hound, white in colour with rich tan markings, a sharp face and pointed ears that were spear-shaped like a jackal's. Dogstar had also been a present from Uncle William, given to Phillip when it was a puppy)

THE PRINCESS WHO LOST HER SCROLL OF THE DEAD. Nefera and her cat “Miu”- in the ancient Egyptian underworld.

“A cat, a ghostly shape, like a wisp of furry golden smoke, went flitting across their path.” Nothing could save them now. Nothing except a wisp of furry, golden smoke with whiskers and bright yellow eyes and claws that flashed at the snakes. “Miu!” Nefera said, in a choking voice. A big golden cat sprang to their side, spitting and growling. Cats hated snakes and snakes feared cats. In legend it was the cat that destroyed the great serpent of the underworld. The reptiles shrank from her claws, slithering away. The cat circled the group, scattering snakes on all sides. When she had made a clearing for them, she came to brush her furry, comforting warmth against Nefera’s legs as she circled her protectively. The snakes stayed out of reach.