The Horsemen

Great Tursen?

I am here to serve you.

I need you not.

Hear me, chapandaz.

By order of the king himself...

...there is to be held in the city of Kabul...

...the greatest Buzkashi in the memory of living men.

My master and yours, the most excellent Osman Bey...

...has commanded me to appoint six chapandaz...

...who will wear his colours in the great event to come.

The first name is Salih.

He will ride Mizan. Second is Yalavach.

He will ride Gomali.

Third is Budi. He will ride Gordilov.

Fourth is Mangou.

He will ride Babour.

The fifth is Uzouk.

He will ride Abdur.

I have finished.

Great Tursen.

We have not seen Uraz, your son.

Is he not to go to Kabul?

He is to go.

Welcome, master.

Peace be upon thee, Mukhi.

He is truly a beauty, master.

Aye.

He is the fifth generation of his bloodline that I have...

...trained with my own hands. He has been my life.

I shall not have time to train a sixth.

Not in 10 generations, or even in 20, will there be another like him.

Aye.

Do you remember when I brought him to you? You, a boy...

- ...and he, a colt. - I remember.

You've done well...

...both of you.

You shall have my final orders this evening.

As will you, my beauty.

- Great Uraz, I... - Keep away.

Ghulam would talk with you in the coolness of his shop.

- I stay for this fight. - With him is a governor...

...and an official from Kabul. With them is Osman Bey...

Be gone!

Who was that who pushed the boy?

- The one in the cap of a chapandaz? - The same.

My lips are sealed.

Unseal them.

He is Uraz...

...son of Tursen.

Like his father before him, the greatest chapandaz...

...in the three provinces of Meymaneh...

...Mazar-e Sharif and Qataghan.

If I bet against him...

...will I win?

If you wager him for glory, you will lose.

- If for money, you will win. - Good.

If you're wrong, I'll bite your tongue off.

Peace be upon thee.

And upon thee, whoever you are.

Do you favour one of these ugly beasts enough to wager on him?

- I do. - For how much?

As much as you wish.

Which one do you favour?

The choice is yours.

The brown, of course.

Five hundred afghanis.

Five hundred on the black.

- A thousand apologies, great Uraz... - I have given my answer.

- I come when the fight is ended. - It's the great Tursen who asks for you.

Your winnings, stranger.

There can be no winnings until the fight is ended.

The carotid artery of the black is punctured.

The brown will win.

Listen well...

...for I shall be brief.

I have a new stallion ready for the Buzkashi.

He is called Jahil.

The one I speak of is the last of his blood...

...and the finest.

I have decided that Uraz, my son, shall ride him...

...under the colours of Osman Bey...

...in the Royal Buzkashi...

...in Kabul, the city of the king.

Those of you who stand around me...

...and those of you who will presently spread my word abroad...

...if my horse...

...the last of the Jahils, wins the Buzkashi of the king...

...from that day forward, he shall belong to Uraz...

...my son.

I thank you, my father.

If you cannot win on Jahil...

...you cannot win on any horse.

You were the greatest chapandaz in the three provinces...

...but the Royal Buzkashi from all the provinces of Afghanistan...

...is a different and somewhat larger matter.

Even so...

...your horse will win.

For today's first Royal Buzkashi on the field of Bagrami...

...here in the capital city of Kabul...

...by order of His Majesty the King...

...whichever chapandaz among you shall carry the headless calf...

...around the blue flag and deposit it back here...

...in the circle of justice shall receive the king's pennant...

...thus signifying that he is the master chapandaz...

...of all of Afghanistan.

Uraz.

It's Mukhi who calls. Your syce.

What have they put on my leg?

A box to hold it straight.

It was broken.

The Buzkashi. Who won?

We. Meymaneh.

- Meymaneh. - Yes.

- Who carried the goat? - Salih.

That could not be. His horse was half-dead.

Allah inspired him. He saw that Jahil had no rider...

...leaped on his back, seized the goat and planted it in the circle of justice.

Someone put a spell on me.

How else could I be so cursed this day?

You're not cursed. You're blessed. You have Jahil.

Uraz, remember...

...your father swore the horse would be yours if he won, and he did. He won.

Salih and the other Meymaneh men beg your pardon for not coming.

They're at the feast in the king's palace. They'll see you tomorrow.

No.

Here, I shall see no one.

You come to my window with Jahil and my clothes in the middle of the night.

There are guards at the gate.

There's money in the pocket of my chapan.

More than enough to buy them.

If they will not take it, jump the wall, then get me out of here.

You're big enough. You're strong enough.

I understand your heart.

Mukhi!

We must get this evil box off from my leg. Go find a stone.

They said it would make it well.

How will the air get to my skin? How will the sun make the bones knit?

In a box like this, the leg will rot, and I will die.

Take it off.

Rip it! Tear it!

They've bound it like a corpse.

Unbind it.

These sacred words of Mohammed have healed more broken bones...

...than all the foreign doctors of Kabul.

Bind it tight.

Get me some food.

- The bacha, at once, I'll call him. - No.

No one but you. No one.

Yes. Yes.

Naturally, being the first of its kind...

...yesterday's Royal Buzkashi was, of course, a very great event.

But I've seen greater.

Yes. Much, much greater.

It was in the province of Meymaneh long, long time ago.

Will you pass me the cakes, please?

But it could not have been a greater Buzkashi than yesterday's in Kabul.

Now, be patient. It was in the province of Meymaneh...

...under the auspices of my old, old friend Osman Bey.

A very great lord of the North.

It was there...

...that I saw the greatest chapandaz who ever lived.

- Tell us about it, man of wealth. - With pleasure.

You must remember that in those days...

...the Buzkashi was run in the open countryside.

Sometimes for hours, sometimes for a full day.

A full day?

And sometimes into the night.

It was a different time, you must remember.

A time which produced a different breed of men.

The chapandaz of that time, yesterday's Royal Buzkashi...

...would have been a mere preliminary exercise...

...for a larger and much more hazardous event to come.

What can I do for you, Father?

- Father, what can I do for you? - Clear a path for me, boy!

Clear a path!

His name...

...was Tursen.

The great Tursen.

The bravest chapandaz who ever lived.

And the noblest.

Mukhi...

- ...we must go. - But you need sleep.

- I have slept. - And food.

Saddle Jahil. Call the proprietor here immediately.

We have no time to lose.

Come quickly.

Your fee.

Which is the shortest way to the province of Meymaneh?

The best route is the road by which you arrived from Kabul.

I asked for the shortest.

Often it is not the shortest route which leads quickest to the goal.

The shortest road is impossible for a man with a crippled leg.

Allow me to decide who is crippled and what is possible.

The shortest road...

...about which I know nothing but evil legends...

...is the old Bamian Road.

The road of long ago.

There, the days are scorched by the heat of 1000 suns.

And the nights are cold with freezing ice.

How do I find this ancient road?