At dawn then they sailed over the straits and landed, and having bargained with a wine carrier for two asses they rode off in the direction of the city. Tanil’s heart was filled with joy and love, his voice carolled, his mind hummed like a homing bee. “Surely,” he said, “life is a hope unquenched, a tree of longing. It yields its branches into a little world of summer. The asp and the dragon appear, but the tree buds, the enriching bough cherishes its leaves, and, lo, the fruit hangs.”
But the heart of Fax was very grave within him. “For,” thought he, “this man will surely die. Yet I would rather this than lose the love of Yali, and though they slay him I will bring him there.”
So they rode along upon the asses, and a great bird on high followed them and hovered on its wings.
“What bird is that?” asked the one. And the other, screening his eyes and peering upwards, said:
“A vulture.”
When King Cumac heard that they were come he ordered them to be bound, and they were bound, and the guard clustered around them. Tanil saw that his enemy was now captain of the men, and that the King was sour and distraught.
“You come!” cried Cumac, “why do you come?”
They told him it was to redeem the bond and make quittance.
“Bonds and quittances! What bond can lie between a King and faithless subjects?”
Said Fax: “It lies between the King and my sister Flaune.”