your command in this matter, but I shall carry it out on the
condition that, if the Franks are victorious, you permit me to
surrender the citadel to the victors." Kherboga replied, "I trust
your discretion and your faithfulness in this matter, and shall
firmly support whatever you choose to do." After the fort had been
provisioned, the ill-fated prince returned to his camp, where some of
his Turks, having stripped a poor foot-soldier of his arms, brought
them to Kherboga to make sport of us. The sword was filthy with rust,
the bow was black as soot, the dull lance was covered with the smoke
of many years. Joking, they said to him, "Here are the weapons with
which the Frankish army will defeat us." Smiling, Kherboga said to
them, "Will they depopulate the East with with these shining,
powerful arms? Will the far reaches of the Caucasus submit to these
men? Will the unarmed Franks be able to take away from us the lands
which the Amazons once held, and which our ancestors once claimed?"
He spoke, called scribe, and said, "Write as quickly as possible the
same letters on different pieces of parchment, so that they may be
sent throughout the provinces of Persia, to our Pope, to the lord and
king of our Persians, to the governors and to our military peers in
the different areas." This is the tenor of what he wrote:

To the magnificent lord and king of the Persians, to the blessed Pope,
and to all of those sworn to fight a holy war against the Christians,
Kherboga, prince of his army, wishes health and victory. Fathers
and lords, I am grateful that the supreme divinity continually
provides us with good fortune, and offers us victory everywhere over
the enemies of the people. We are sending you three weapons which we
have taken from the Franks, so that you may see what with what
equipment those who wish to drive us from our country fight. I would
like you to know that I am besieging the Franks, who intend to