Part 15

When Rostam returned from Mazandaran, the king at once made ready for battle. He hauled his royal tent out beyond the city and led the whole army toward the open plain. An army so vast the sun vanished from sight, swallowed by a black cloud of dust rising up. No sea could be seen, no plain, no mountain; the ground groaned in agony under the horses' hooves. The army pressed on in that surging march, never pausing, never wasting a moment on the way.