Section 7: Tus and the Death of Forud

When Bahram returned, he said to Tus: May wisdom stay the companion of your pure soul. Know that this Forud is the son of the king, of Siyavash, who was killed though he was innocent. He showed the marks that prove his bloodline descends from Kavus and from Kay Qobad. King Kay Khosrow gave you clear counsel: do not go circling around Forud, son of Siyavash. The cruel Tus answered him this way: I am the one who holds this army, its horns and its drums. I told you to bring him to me; do not go pleading his case at all. If he is a king, then who am I? Why does he sit up on that mountain, and for what? Some Turkish boy, black as a crow, has blocked the army's path like this. I see nothing in these headstrong sons of Gudarz but men who bring only harm to the troops. You were frightened of one worthless rider; he was no raging lion up on the highlands. He saw the army and turned back to trickery, and pointlessly measured every rise and fall of the slope.