Sohrab

As the liver-rending dagger laid bare the tragic reality of blood and lineage upon the dust, and young Sohrab lay wallowing in his own gore, Rostam—broken with grief—turned to the noble Gudarz. He bade the veteran champion race swifter than the wind to the court of King Kay Kavus and deliver the agonized plea of a distraught father. Rostam urged Gudarz to remind the monarch of his lifetime of unyielding devotion and legendary deeds; if ever those exploits held value in the King's eyes, Kavus must now grant a single vial of the miraculous Noshdaru from the royal vault—the divine panacea capable of knitting torn flesh and banishing death—alongside a cup of royal wine. Rostam hoped that through the King’s royal fortune, the youth might be healed to stand as a humbled, loyal defender before the Iranian throne.

Gudarz sped like a gale across the plains and poured Rostam's heart-rending plea into the ears of Kay Kavus. Yet the King's heart was a dark cavern of paranoia and petty resentment. Kavus reasoned that if this elephant-bodied youth survived and his formidable strength was united with Rostam's unrivaled power, the royal throne would be imperiled, bringing ultimate doom upon his reign. Reminding Gudarz of Sohrab’s previous scornful defiance—when the youth had insolently asked 'Who is Kavus and who is Tus?'—the monarch refused to believe that such a fierce warrior would ever bow under the shadow of the royal Homa.

Seeing the monarch’s dark, unyielding malice, Gudarz turned back like swirling smoke and returned to the grieving champion. He warned Rostam that the evil disposition of King Kavus was a withered, ill-omened tree bearing only bitter fruit. Gudarz counselled that Rostam must ride to court in person, using his towering presence to illuminate the King’s darkened soul and extract the panacea before time ran out.