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No, fear not upon this score." Their hands were clasped between the bars and now Gahan drew her nearer to him. "One kiss," he said, "before I go, my princess," and the proud daughter of Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, and The Warlord of Barsoom whispered: "My chieftain!" and pressed her lips to the lips of Turan, the common panthan.
But the young Ghazi, secretly instigated by the weak and anxious monarch, renewed against the Persian the same war of Turan and Iran, of Sunni and Shia, which in the last reign had been waged between the uncle of the one and the grandfather of the other.
They would approach as close as safety dictated in the hope of finding water outside the city; food, too, perhaps. If they did not they could at least reconnoiter the ground by daylight, and then when night came Turan could quickly come close to the city and in comparative safety prosecute his search for food and drink.
And this, then, was the land where, as the poets say, “the nightingale sings, and the rose-tree blossoms,” and where “a flower is crushed at every step!” More truth, we thought, in the Scotch traveler’s description, which divides Persia into two portions—“One desert with salt, and the other desert without salt.” In time we came to McGregor’s opinion as expressed in his description of Khorassan. “We should fancy,” said he, “a small green circle round every village indicated on the map, and shade all the rest in brown.” The mighty hosts whose onward sweep from the Indus westward was checked only by the Grecian phalanx upon the field of Marathon must have come from the scattered ruins around, which reminded us that “Iran was; she is no more.” Those myriad ranks of Yenghiz Khan and Tamerlane brought death and desolation from Turan to Iran, which so often met to act and react upon one another that both are now only landmarks in the sea of oblivion.
This may account for the fact that the races of Turan which have embraced Mahometanism have uniformly adhered to the Sunnite sect the sect most hostile to the Persian Shias not only when they settled in the countries where the Sunnite sect originated, but when they remained in their native regions.
The Túránians are the Scythians of the Greek Historians, who are said, about the year B.C. 639, to have invaded the kingdom of the Medes. Túrán, which is the ancient name of the country of Turkistán, appears from Des Guignes, to be the source and fountain of all the celebrated Scythian nations, which, under the name of Goths and Vandals, subsequently overran the Roman empire.
For an instant the eyes of Tara of Helium blazed as she drew herself haughtily to her full height, and then they softened and her attitude relaxed as she shook her head sadly. "I have it not in my heart to reprimand you, Turan," she said, "however great your fault, for you have been an honorable and a loyal friend to Tara of Helium; but you must not say what my ears must not hear."
"You have seen her?" he asked. "They captured her then? She is in danger?" "She is being held in The Towers of Jetan as a prize for the next games," replied the stranger. "And who are you?" asked Turan. "And why are you here, a prisoner?" "I am A-Kor the dwar, keeper of The Towers of Jetan," replied the other. "I am here because I dared speak the truth of O-Tar the jeddak, to one of his officers."
An immense clamor, and thick clouds of dust, which darkened the skies, announced their approach; and when intelligence of their numbers was brought to Rustem, the undaunted champion smiled, and said to Garáz: "Fortune favors me; what cause is there to fear the king of Túrán? his army does not exceed a hundred thousand men.
Our progress, mark! from far Túrán we came, Through seas of blood to gain immortal fame; And wilt thou now the tempting conquest shun, When our brave arms this Barrier-fort have won? Why linger here, and trickling sorrows shed, Till mighty Káús thunders o'er thy head! Till Tús, and Gíw, and Gúdarz, and Báhrám, And Rustem brave, Ferámurz, and Rehám, Shall aid the war!
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