As the radiant sun dipped behind the western horizon, Giv’s heart grew heavy with foreboding, for his brother Bahram had not returned from the blood-soaked field. Turning to young Bizhan, Giv declared that they must not hesitate; they had to ride into the gathering dark to learn Bahram's fate before it was too late to weep. Together, the two champions rode like a tempest toward the battlefield—a grim expanse drowned in crimson, littered with severed limbs and fallen warriors. There, amidst the carnage, they found Bahram cast down upon the earth, his body shattered, his blood pouring into the dirt. Tears of rage and sorrow spilled from the eyes of Giv and Bizhan as they bent over the fallen lion.
When Bahram momentarily stirred to consciousness and opened his blood-clouded eyes, he besought Giv: 'When you shroud my face within the coffin, see that you exact my vengeance upon the treacherous Tazhav!' He revealed how Piran and the champions of Chin had first encircled him, but it was Tazhav who dealt the grievous mortal wound without regard for their past lineage. Hearing this, Giv's soul caught fire with grief. He swore a sacred oath by the Almighty, by the white day and the lapis lazuli night, that his head should not part from his Roman helmet until Bahram's blood was repaid. Mounting his warhorse with an Indian steel sword in hand, Giv rode into the abyss of the night.
As Tazhav rode forth from the Touranian vanguard, isolated from his host, Giv lay in wait. With sudden and terrifying swiftness, Giv hurled his twisting lasso, catching Tazhav around the waist and plucking him clean out of his saddle. He dragged the villain, binding his hands tightly. When Tazhav begged for mercy, asking what crime had brought this hellish night upon him, Giv struck him with two hundred lashes, roaring: 'Fool! In the garden of vengeance, you planted a tree whose trunk drinks blood and whose fruit is severed heads!'
Dragging the bound Tazhav back to the dying Bahram, Giv declared that justice was at hand. Tazhav whimpered, offering to spend the rest of his life as a slave tending Bahram's tomb. Bahram, faint and merciful in his dying moments, suggested that his killer need not taste death on this very day. But young Bizhan could not restrain his fury; seeing his noble uncle bloodied and broken, Bizhan seized Tazhav by the beard and severed his head like that of a helpless bird.
With his vengeance fulfilled, Bahram drew his final breath and passed into eternity. Giv wept bitterly over his brother's body. The host constructed a majestic royal tomb (dakhmeh). Bahram's body was embalmed with precious musk and ambergris, clad in rich Chinese silk, and laid upon an ivory throne with a golden crown suspended above his head. The entire Iranian army donned the garments of mourning, lamenting the tragic loss of their brave and honorable knight.