The King was about to dismiss the council, when a messenger rode up from the east in great haste. He was from the pickets stationed near the battlefield. The King waited till he had dismounted and drawn near.
“A message, gracious King, from Captain Mardux of the scouts!” cried the messenger, bowing low till his hands touched the earth.
“Speak!” commanded the King.
“The captain is approaching with a company of Touran princes, who come to the Great King to tender submission. He has halted at the outer limits of the camp to await your orders. Shall he slay them or bring them hither?”
“Bring them hither!”
The messenger again bowed low, backed from the circle, and sprang on his horse. As soon as he was gone, the King said:
“It will be best not to inform these men of the death of Cyrus. No lie need be spoken. But I am the King. Cyrus is not dead but sleepeth. Send hither an interpreter.”
Gobryas, to whom the last command was spoken, departed to summon an interpreter. Meanwhile the King caused a purple-covered chair to be brought out and placed on a platform made of camp-chests covered with a costly rug. In this he seated himself, and with his son at his right hand, Otanes at his left, and the other nobles near, all dressed in glittering mail and fully armed, he was ready to receive and impress the coming delegation. A glittering crown of gold studded with gems, high and pointed, like the miter of a priest, was placed on his head. In his hand was a scepter, a silver rod tipped with a golden pomegranate. Right royal was his aspect; and the stern countenances of his captains added to the impressiveness of the scene.
Captain Mardux, a stout, bluff soldier, who had won his promotion from the ranks by prowess and shrewdness, presently rode up with a company of cavalry, escorting five men of swarthy countenance, long-haired, almond-eyed, mounted on powerful ponies, sitting on goatskins instead of saddles, and clothed in silken garments and pointed fur caps. The captain caused them to dismount and led them before the King, where, in obedience to an expressive gesture of the captain’s hands, they threw themselves flat upon the earth in salutation. Here they lay face-downward while the captain reported as follows:
“These dogs, O King, came to us with hands in air, showing themselves unarmed and asked to be taken to the Great King. I know some words of their language and so understood that they come as messengers from the Tourans.”