Ricahard the Lionhead

"What if the Egyptians didn't paint all those pictures of Jackal-headed Gods because they liked the look of them?" He bent his head towards her to add emphasis to his words. "Or because a man with a hawk's head symbolised some particular qualities? What if they just painted them for the same reason they painted everything else? Because they were real?" He nodded as if she had agreed with him. She looked bored and played with her food. But she didn't interrupt him.

"I've been looking on the net and, apparently, they found a lot of mummified remains that they covered up. Mummified things like in the paintings." He paused as if to let her agree. She stroked her hair and said nothing. "And these new pictures they've just found at Thebes, with the cat-headed people? I think these were real pictures of real people - or things, anyway." She said nothing but now she was looking at him. She licked her lips. Her teeth were small and white and sharp. "I think that either they were real and so people believed in them or, maybe people believed in them and so they were real. Either way, they were real. I am sure about this." His eyes were focused on something that wasn't there.

She smiled her sharp-toothed smile and purred.