The Capture of Nozar

When Nozar heard that Qaren had left, he turned and rode after him at once, burning to catch up. He galloped hoping to survive this evil day, hoping the turning sky would not trample him underfoot. When Afrasiab learned of him, that he had set his face toward the desert, he gathered his army and set out at a run, rushing after him like a lion, burning to strike. When he closed in tight on the king, he found both a chase and a battle at hand. Just as he came, so he sought a way to strike a head from its crown, a head from its shoulders. From dark night until the sun rose high, Afrasiab kept wheeling in combat with Nozar. The world went dim with the dust of the horsemen, and in the end Nozar was taken captive. He and twelve hundred of his famous men, as if the earth had no room left to hold them. They searched hard for a way and tried to flee, yet they only tangled themselves deeper in the snare of doom. Such an army, bound in chains, he brought before the mighty king. Even if the heavens sat and shared their secret with you, you would still find no escape from their turning. The same sky grants the crown and lofty throne; the same sky brings darkness and misery. It behaves like an enemy and like a friend by turns: sometimes you get its kernel, sometimes only its husk. Even if your head brushes against the black clouds, in the end your dwelling place from it is the dust. After that Afrasiab gave the command: through cave and mountain, desert and water, search until you find Qaren the warrior, so that he does not slip free from this gathering. When he heard that Qaren had left before all this, he grew enraged over the matter of the royal harem. That affair filled Afrasiab with grief; food, rest, and sleep all deserted him, because Qaren had escaped him with his life. He writhed in that pain and grew suspicious. He said to the renowned Visa: 'Steel your heart against the death of your son, for when Qaren son of Kaveh joins battle, even the leopard slows its haste before him. You must go with your belt bound tight, with an army made ready and full of skill.'