oking more black than
green with the afternoon sun behind it.

"Can it be? Can it be that we have truly won?" Mamelukes cried, running
beside Baibars's horse.

"Baibars! Yah, Baibars!" cried the warriors as Baibars rode slowly over
the field.

"Tell us, Baibars, that we have won!"

As an answer Baibars gestured grandly to his captive stumbling along
behind him.

"Baibars, bringer of victory!"

The sultan's servants were already setting up his gold silk pavilion on
the edge of the battlefield. When Baibars rode before Qutuz, pulling Ket
Bogha, a deafening roar went up from the emirs, the bashis, the
muqaddams, the naqeebs, the troopers.

Daoud glanced at Qutuz and saw that his eyes were wide and his face
pale. He must still be dazed by the outcome of this battle.

But the sultan stepped forward to peer at Ket Bogha as the Tartar
general was freed from Baibars's rope. Qutuz gestured to his men to
untie Ket Bogha. A circle of emirs formed around Qutuz and the Tartar
commander, to hear what they would say to each other.

Qutuz had found time at the end of the battle to have his black beard
combed and oiled and to robe himself afresh. His black and gold khalat
glittered in the hazy sunlight. The Mamelukes had stripped Ket Bogha of
his armor, and he stood before the sultan in a dirty, bloodstained tunic
that had once been a bright blue. His shaven head was round as a ball,
and, like most Tartars Daoud had seen, his short legs were bowed from a
lifetime in the saddle.

Once again Daoud felt sorrow for the Tartar leader, who looked like a
lonely island in the midst of a sea of joy.

Since Baibars spoke both Tartar and Arabic, he stood between the sultan
and the Tartar general to translate.

"You have overthrown kingdoms from the Jordan to the Roof of the World,"
said Qutuz through Baibars. "How does it feel to be defeated yourself?"

Released from his bonds, Ket Bogha paced furiously back and forth before
Qutuz. He started to talk so rapidly the interpreter could not keep up
with him.

Daoud was amazed to see that he actually seemed to be laughing at what
Qutuz had said.

_He still feels the excitement of the battle_, Daoud thought. _And by
walking and talking as he does, he keeps at bay his grief at the loss of
his army. His words are as much for himself as for the sultan and the
emirs._

"Defeat?" said Baibars, speaking Ket Bogha's words. "Oh, Sultan, do not
play the fool by claiming this skirmish as a v