章 31: The return of the King of kings

As Khalid retreated his army, he patiently and calmly observed Persians, as they grouped up and were preparing to retreat. He lost way too much than he planned to. More than half of his cavalrymen and two thousand infantrymen laid dead, together with ten thousand dead Persians. His original plan, to annihilate the Persians and march on Hira had to be called off, as his current numbers wouldn't suffice. He had to wait for reinforcements, which would arrive in a few days. He needed time, but not as much time as Persians did. He was angry, blaming himself for not expecting Bahmans arrival. Bahman arrived sooner than anyone thought and basically saved the remaining 15000 Persians together with their general, Andarzaghar, from total annihilation. Khalid had them in his grasp. He only had to push the trigger, make the open palm of his hand into fist. But he didn't. And now, he had to delay his plan to wait for reinforcements and also had to count with Persians forming a new army to fight him. He still had the time in his advantage and wanted to make use of it. But he wasn't so selfless as he may look like. Deep down, he blamed Bahman for ruining his plans and for killing so many of his soldiers. Arabs were didn't have the numbers, as Persians did. Being in enemy territory with friendly territory being behind the desert, Khalid had few options for reinforcement. But Persians were able to quickly and efficiently gather new armies, with their large manpower pool and the closeness of the main population centres. Although Khalid won against Andarzaghar, he lost against Bahman. But he wanted to defeat both of them. Frustrated, he ordered to set up camp and wait for reinforcements. Then, they march on Hira.

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Yazdegerd finally approached Ctesiphon. He didn't know if the people there will accept him, but he didn't have a choice. If he wanted to efficiently lead the war against Arabs, he had to move back to Ctesiphon. With the reports of Andarzaghars defeat in his hand, he approached Ctesiphon with a grim expression. Although Ctesiphon officials were noticed beforehand about the Shahanshah's arrival, Yazdegerd didn't expect much in the way of celebrating his return. And he was right to do so. When they arrived in Ctesiphon, only a crown of people were watching his carriage with him, sitting inside, having his face hidden by a cloth. Some people came to cheer, some were only curious and some were full of disdain. Yazdegerd paid them no attention, only waving every while to keep his image. As he rode through the city, which was much larger than Istakhr, housing over 600 000 people. It was a commercial, cultural and religious centre in the Asoristan, or Persian Mesopotamia. Truly a city worthy of being the capital of Sassanids.

As they arrived in front of the palace, Yazdegerd was in awe. It was not a palace, but rather a complex. Palace of Khosrow I., built during the reign of Khosrow I., was an architectonic jewel. 37 metres high, 26 wide and 50 long, it was by far one of the biggest buildings in Persia, maybe even in the world. He wasn't used to living in buildings this big. It felt kind of lonely, living in that huge complex basically all alone. The caretakers and palace keepers welcomed the young Shah, leading him into his room. It was magnificent. It was large, with a lot of little details and furniture. The walls were decorated with trophies, beautiful swords, sabres and scimitars. There also was a ceremonial armour. His servants then started to bring his personal belongings inside his new room. Together with his belongings, crown of King of kings was also brought inside the palace, but had its place secured near the throne room. Yazdegerd was tired after the long journey, so he just kind of fell into the bed and drifted off to sleep.

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Rostam marched with his army of around 26000 men through Baluchistan region. He didn't encounter any resistance as of yet, but knew that won't last for long. He planned to turn north just before the Kirthar Mountains and march on Herat. He wanted to catch their army, ideally still gathering, off guard and crush them completely. If their army was gone, the siege would go much easily as they'll be desperate and with low morale. If he didn't encounter their army on the way, he could always just siege down Herat. After all, 26000 fully equipped and trained soldiers was a force to be reckoned with. He hoped that everything will go smoothly, or at least within the limits.

Riding along the Kirthar Mountain range, with mountain peaks kilometres tall standing behind them, scouts rode to him, reporting army camping few miles north. Rostam had a bad feeling about this. When asked about their numbers, scouts could only answer with "many." Rostam had to take a look himself. He ordered the rest of the army to set up camp, and then took a few of his bodyguards and rode north, on a small hill that overlooked the camping army. It was great spot for observing them. And he saw them. These "many" were at least 20000 soldiers, if not more. He couldn't count on his numbers that much now. It was obvious this was the army the rebelling nobles gathered to fight against their Shahanshah. He frowned and ordered his men to ride back into the camp. The enemy must've saw them coming – you just can't overlook an army of 26000. There was no way. Rostam had to work with what he had. The mountains were in his back, having nowhere to retreat. If he tried to reposition so close to enemy, he'll be ambushed. He had to take the bargain and try to win without moving around much. The only thing he was lucky about was that the enemy was camping in a small valley, so if he used his Aswaran and the Immortals his Shahanshah gave him efficiently, they would crush the enemy army. He had much to think about but not much time. Tomorrow, the battle shall begin. He mustn't fail.