He explained how he had chosen the army’s encampment—a flat stretch of land, well hidden from the enemy by the colossal chain of the Alborz Mountains. One of his main concerns was whether the assault should take place in the evening when the enemy did not have the advantage of light in an unfamiliar terrain, or at dawn after the Persian army was rested from a long and arduous march.

“Speed is of the essence,” the Shah said. “There is a chance of treachery among our own men.” He remembered a past when soldiers in his father’s army had joined the enemy in hope of extravagant rewards. But he had to wait for the beginning of spring to melt the ice from the tortuous paths of the mountains and to avoid the destructive avalanches. “We must sustain strict secrecy. Post pickets around the Rostam Valley to stop spies from sneaking in or out of the area.”

After many long evenings with his military officers and with Gold Dust in the privacy of his quarters, the Shah had a solid strategy and an invincible army. The battle line of the Persians, now that it was assembled, would prove to be an undeniable force. “For the enemy who lacks the sophisticated tactics of our army,” the Shah boasted, “attempt at retreat along those rugged passes would be disastrous.”

And he did not reveal, even to Gold Dust, how her casual statement about a bunch of mint had sent his apothecaries into a frenzy of preparations to enhance his already complex and monumental war plan.

29

The ice began to melt on the mountains when agents of the Shah returned with news from the frontier. They had seen the strange creatures from afar as they held their daily practices around the hills.

“Contrary to rumor, they are tall,” the agent announced, stroking his sparse beard with his plump, freckled fingers. “They have scaly chests, and although their bodies don’t resemble the heavyset Tartars, they joust their swords and string their arrows as Tartars do. But, Your Honor, we can’t explain the muzzles that spew gasses at intervals and why the fumes don’t trouble their partners.”

The Shah’s shout drained the blood from the agents’ faces. “What are we to make of this? Are these men? Half-men? Monsters? What lies under their masks?”

“We could not move closer,” the agent replied. “If detected, we would have endangered our plan of secrecy.”

In the space of fifteen days the entire empire lay under severe bondage, while the military recruited young men and supplies. Arms were fashioned, provisions stored, and taxes levied.

Tons of mint was gathered from farms and villages around the capital.

The Shah summoned the palace apothecaries and ordered them to concoct means to nullify the effect of the gasses.

Advised by his apothecaries, the king and his soldiers, for months, gathered around sulfuric bonfires to accustom their lungs to putrid vapors. They consumed powdered bezoar and hyacinth-stone with large amounts of freshly baked bread to be able to absorb toxic elements and to counteract the effect of the fumes.