From this moment, the insulted _savant_ swore vengeance against the vizier and the khalif, and fled to Alamut, where the grand-master still clutched his dagger, beneath which more than one vizier and one khalif had already fallen. As the grand-master, however, did not interest himself with sufficient earnestness in Nassireddin’s revenge, or did not expedite it quickly enough, for the approach of Hulaku drew the attention of the order away from the khalif to the consideration of their own defence; and as, according to all probability, the citadel of the Ismailites would, at length, be obliged to succumb to the hosts of the Mongols, Nassireddin immediately changed his plan and designs. He resolved, in the first instance, to deliver up his master, and the castles of the Assassins, to the advancing victor, in order to ensure, by treachery, the means to his ultimate revenge, and to pave the way for the destruction of the khalif’s throne, with the ruins of the order. He thus extended the prospect of his revenge, and his joy at the fall of his foes took a wider compass. The vizier and the khalif would only have bled under the poniards of the Assassins; the burning brands of the Mongols, however, menaced the conflagration of the capital, and the whole edifice of the khalifat. The lust of destruction must have been great in that mind, which could sacrifice the Assassins to its revenge, because they unsheathed their daggers too slowly for his purpose. By the advice of Nassireddin, Rokneddin Kharshah sent to Baissur Nubin, Hulaku’s general, who had already reached Hamadan, an embassy of submission, and expressing his desire to live in peace with every one. Baissur Nubin answered, that as Hulaku was not far off, Rokneddin would do best to go to him in person. After several messages, it was determined, that Rokneddin should send his brother Shehinshah in Baissur’s suite to Hulaku. Shehinshah addressed himself to Baissur, and the latter gave him his own son, as escort on his way to Hulaku; he himself, however, by command of his lord, entered the district of Alamut, with his army, on the 10th of the month Jemesi-ul-ewel, in the 654th year of the Hegira.[253] The Assassins and the troops of the order occupied a height near Alamut, which they defended obstinately against the Mongols. The rock was steep, and the occupying party numerous. The assailants, compelled to abandon the attack, burned the houses of the Ismailites, and ravaged the fields. While this happened near Alamut, and after Shehinshah had arrived at Hulaku’s quarters, the latter sent an envoy to Rokneddin, with the command as follows:—“Because Rokneddin has sent his brother to us, we pardon him the guilt of his father and his partisans; he himself, who has, during his short reign, as yet proved himself guilty of no crime, shall destroy his castles, and repair to us.”