When Sohrab retired from the battlefield and night draped over the White Fortress, the aged Gozhdaham summoned his scribe to draft a grave dispatch to King Kay Kavus. After rendering high praises unto the Almighty, Gozhdaham revealed the terrible turn of Fortune and the arrival of a vast Turanian host. At its helm stood a youth no older than twelve years, whose cypress-like stature surpassed tall trees and whose countenance shone like the blazing sun. Gozhdaham wrote that this young titan possessed the chest of an elephant and the ferocious grace of Sam the Rider; when he brandished his Indian blade, neither mountains nor oceans could constrain him. He recounted how the brave Hajir had galloped forth, only for Sohrab to pluck him effortlessly from his saddle in the blinking of an eye, holding him captive yet unharming his life. Gozhdaham warned the King of Kings that unless Iran's armies marched immediately, no warrior on earth could withstand this force, and fortress walls would crumble before his unstoppable haste.
Once the dispatch was sealed under the cover of darkness, Gozhdaham dispatched a fleet-footed courier with strict instructions to slip past the enemy lines before dawn. Thereafter, Gozhdaham and his people packed their belongings, silently abandoning the fortress via secret mountain paths and fleeing toward the heartland of Iran. As the sun rose over the dark peaks, Sohrab gripped his spear and rode out toward the ramparts, only to find the battlements eerily deserted. The remaining townsfolk opened the gates, submitting willingly to his mercy.
Meanwhile, the messenger reached the royal court, and when the letter was read before Kay Kavus, profound dread gripped the monarch's heart. He convened the great paladins of the realm—Tus, Goudarz, Giv, Gurgin, Bahram, and Farhad—and read the alarming report. Realizing that no living warrior in Iran save Rostam could match such monstrous power, the realm's elders unanimously agreed that Giv must ride post-haste to Zabulistan. There, he would deliver the news to the elephant-bodied Rostam, summoning the great champion to stand once more as the unbreakable shield of the Kiānian throne.