When the messenger sent by Houman reached Piran, revealing the state of affairs, the Turanian commander's blood boiled with fury. Without a moment's pause, he mobilized his host beneath the mantle of the night, driving them forward like a rushing flood while the realm slept. As dawn tore through the pitch-black veil of darkness, the rising dust of the Turanian war-horses obscured the peaks of Mount Hamavon.
Piran ordered Houman to hold his position, then rode toward the Iranian lines with a heart filled with malice and a mind resolute on vengeance. He called out mockingly to Tous, the proud commander of the Iranian vanguard, belittling his months of futile warfare and pointing to the fallen princes of Goudarz's line. He taunted Tous for taking refuge upon the stony heights like a wild mountain goat. Tous, unyielding, replied that Piran's words were hollow lies—that it was Piran who kindled the flame of strife by betraying Siyavash, and that the retreat to Hamavon was merely a strategic tactical shift due to scarce provisions. Tous warned him that King Kay Khosrow, along with Rostam and Zal, was already marching with an ocean of armor, destined to erase Turan from the world.
Piran then encircled the mountain, cutting off all pathways for food and fodder to starve the Iranians into submission. Houman urged an immediate all-out assault, but the elder Piran believed the encircled, hungry enemy would soon beg for mercy without further bloodshed. Yet within the Iranian camp, the venerable Goudarz spoke to Tous with grim clarity: provisions would last but three days, and a slow death by famine was unworthy of noble champions. Goudarz proposed that as dusk fell and the azure cloak of night draped the sky, a chosen force of elite horsemen should descend the slope and launch a fierce night attack. Moved by this warrior resolve, Tous divided his forces—entrusting the flanks to Bizhan, Sheidoush, and Khorad, and handing the blessed Kavian Banner to Gostaham, preparing his men to conquer or die upon the altar of fate.