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Mahrukh Magic-Eye II
The magic birds Afrasiyab had ordered to monitor the doings of Prince Asad and Mahrukh Magic-Eye witnessed everything from their perches in the forest trees. They had seen Mahrukh Magic-Eye's arrival, the killing of sorcerers Rahdar and Faulad, the gathering of the armies and their reception, and the announcement for recruitments for war. They now returned to Afrasiyab and gave him a detailed report of the events.
Enraged, Afrasiyab sent a note by a magic slave to Empress Heyrat in the City of Disregard to return urgently for consultations.
Heyrat arrived on a magic throne with her slave girls, attendants and companions. Afrasiyab said to her, 'O Empress, regard the ingrate Mahrukh Magic-Eye, who plans to fight me. She is enlisting an army and has joined hands with the Conqueror of the Tilism. If I ordered a single magic fairy of the Bridge of the Magic Fairies to blow its trumpet, the entire creation would fall unconscious from its blast. I find the very notion of Mahrukh Magic-Eye planning to do battle with me laughable.' Heyrat answered, 'Emperor, I shall send for Mahrukh Magic-Eye and persuade her to see sense. I will see that she never dares even think of fighting Your Excellency.'
Afrasiyab answered, 'Very well. Send for her and try to reason with her. I exercised restraint due to the fact that she is your relative, but I also held back since I am the master and she the subject. The founders of the tilism have written that a time would come when the subjects and slaves of the Emperor of the Tilism would rebel against him and resolve on war and carnage. It is mentioned that at that juncture it would bode well for the emperor to show leniency and indulgence and avoid armed conflicts, for he stands to suffer most from them. O Heyrat, I swear these considerations alone kept me from combat and conflict, otherwise I would have effaced the existence of these rebels in a trice.'
Heyrat answered, 'There's no doubting the reasons for your restraint.'
She sent a note to Mahrukh MagicEye which read
'O Princess, it would bode well for you not to engage in conflicts and war with someone whose salt you have eaten and under whose nurturing shadow you have spent your life. As a token of munificent protection and lordly indulgence towards you, you are hereby ordered to present yourself upon the receipt of this august edict to submit your allegiance as a slave of the emperor so that I may have your trespasses forgiven by him. In the event of your continued defiance and aggression, even I, a worthless slave of the all powerful emperor, will crush you like an insignificant ant. You will take heed from this warning if you wish your continued well being, and submit your immediate compliance. End of message and kind regards.'
Heyrat gave the letter to a magic bird to take to Mahrukh Magic-Eye. The bird arrived in Mahrukh's court carrying the letter in its beak and sat in her lap. Mahrukh took the letter from its beak and asked the bird, 'Who has sent you?' The magic bird answered, 'EMPRESS HEYRAT.' As Mahrukh Magic-Eye read the letter her face was drained of blood and she trembled with fear. When Amar Ayyar saw her in this state he took the letter from her hand and read it, then angrily tore it up and wrote a reply in these words
'All praise is due only to God and His Prophet! Hear and be informed, O Heyrat and Afrasiyab, that I am the Bearder of Sorcerers and the Beheader of Magicians. Mine was the dagger that slit the throat of renowned sorcerers and took their lives even when they took refuge in the depths of seas. There's no accounting of the number of sorcerers I have killed nor of the grand and mighty kings renowned to the highest heavens carried away on coffin planks from their thrones by my agency.
'I am that King of Tricksters
Who exacts tribute from kings
Believe me when I say my notoriety
Shines brightly like the sun in the praises sung by men
When I decide to sprint on a day
I burn the world with my fiery pace
Never would the Zephyr keep pace with me
I could touch West and return in half the time
Those who heard my deceitful song
Soon bid adieu to their lives
I am the one to pull out shoes from dead asses
From death itself I have often taken credit
Do not let my ungainly looks deceive you
Into thinking I am not adept in my art
The one whom I marked for my own
Surely relinquished all hopes for his life
I am a calamity for women and men
I am the Angel of Death of my time
'It is incumbent upon you to present yourselves at the august door of Queen Mahjabeen Diamond-Robe along with Princess Tasveer and Prince Badiuz Zaman. Queen Mahjabeen Diamond-Robe, who is the sovereign of the tilism, will have your transgression forgiven by Amir Hamza, the Lord of the Auspicious Planetary Conjunction. In the event of you contravening the commands expressed in this edict, I promise that I will have your noses cut at the tip, your faces blackened, and have both of you mounted on an ass and paraded in these dominions as sure as my name is Amar.'
Amar Ayyar handed this note to the magic bird and said to him, 'Tell that whore and strumpet Heyrat that I will soon shave off her hair. That harridan should feel free to do as she likes and exert herself to the best of her ability. God shall protect us.'
The magic bird returned to Heyrat. After delivering Amar's letter and conveying his message word for word, the bird said, 'MAHRUKH MAGIC-EYE STARTED TREMBLING UPON READING THE LETTER BUT A THIN, GANGLING MAN SITTING BY HER TORE UP YOUR LETTER AND WROTE A REPLY IN THE FORM OF THIS ABUSIVE MESSAGE.'
Heyrat carried the letter before Afrasiyab and said to him, 'You spoke the truth when you said these rebels would not desist from mischief mongering unless they were punished. Regard how disrespectfully they answered my letter. That common trickster and thief has addressed many an inauspicious word to both you and me.'
When Afrasiyab took the letter from her hand and read it, his face turned crimson with rage. He bit his lips in anger and said, 'An ant only grows wings when her death is near. That whore Mahrukh Magic-Eye has invited great trouble on her head.'
