"My Lady, they are upon us." "The Khan has come." "Run for the desert." "Lady Kokachin." "You're protected by your blood." "They will not harm you." "Harm me?" "No." "Take me into Kublai's harem?" "Yes." "Is it not better than death?" "No, Nergüi... to live under the yoke of a Khan is not better than the Eternal Blue." "Lady Kokachin!" "Do we have to attend?" "Your absence would be noted." "Khutulun... that wrestling whore from the west." "Please expel any of your contempt within the confines of these walls, Princess." "Why is she coming here?" "I do not know and it does not matter." "You will conduct yourself as you always do... with graciousness." "You may have more in common than you imagine." "That's doubtful." "You lost another trinket." "A bracelet." "It slipped off my wrist as I rode." "A poor decision to wear it on my whip hand." "Yes, a poor decision." "You take great risk to avoid a greater danger, I understand." "In celebration of this New Year... perhaps you would allow me to eliminate this danger... with my sword." "I do not." "Father." "An auspicious day for departure." "Tsagaan Sar." "What you did saved our lives." "I know this." "Your uncle knows, too... but will not confess it." "I fear..." "I will require another New Year to repay the debt I owe." "The Khan will never allow you back into the Imperial City." "We will meet again." "Rot here, nephew..." "with your devils." "We go to the Silk Road to die." "The brothers Polo have lost their golden tablet." "Yes." "Imperial pass rescinded." "I know." "No lodging, no fresh horses, no vittles." " They are vulnerable now to bandits." " Byamba, I know." "It's nothing they do not deserve." "We should go." "The Great Khan will be expecting an answer before the White Moon." " We must offer him a head." " We must offer him the right head." "Polo!" "Did you come to greet me?" "I'm touched." "Did you miss Khutulun?" "The sun felt warmer on my face this morning." "Now I know why." "I'm to present myself to the Great Khan." "Come, witness the pomp." "We are called to duty, Lady." "Come." "Escort me or I will tell the Khan of your disrespect." "Plans been finalized for the festival?" "They have." "The games will commence." "Good." "Hmm?" "The Latin's mission to Kochkor..." "I sent him." "I would like a report." "Did he return with a discovery?" "He and your brother learned as much on their trek as Yusuf did flaying the skin off the assassin's bones." " And that is all?" " That is all." "Khutulun awaits your audience." "Hmm." "She dressed as a warrior or a lady?" "The former." "I love that girl." "No, no, no, no." " Are you aggrieved, Jingim?" " I am fine, Mother." "Then be fine." "Spirits high for our Khan and our kingdom." "Let us find resolution before the White Moon." "I come here, Khagan... as emissary for my father, Kaidu of Karakorum." "You are welcome, Khutulun." "Rise." "Sire... we were pained to hear of the cowardly assault on the Great Khan's person." "It is my father's request and my wish... that I remain with my horsemen in Cambulac as protector of the Great Khan." "Kaidu seeks to ensure your safety." "I'm your servant." "I have ample protection." "But I welcome your presence." "I accept your horse, your sword, your spirit." "You are home." "We're deeply honored, my child." "I invite you to rest... then join me and the ladies of the court." "I require no rest, Lady Chabi." "Lead and I will follow." "We tour Cambulac in preparation for the Festival of the White Moon." "You will accompany us." "I am... deeply honored." "A word with you, Blue Princess." "Why did you not listen to me?" "Why did you not run from this place?" "I want to know why you ride the grasslands alone at night." "I want to know who you leave the stones for and why." "That is none of your concern." "I cannot protect you if you do not talk to me." "Marco..." "I planted the serpent." "I did not know it was you." "I fear discovery." "Of what?" "Tulga... the man you confronted." "He is a survivor of the Bayaut." " He's your subject?" " Was." " Does Za Bing know?" " That is why he allows my rides." "And abdicates his duty." "I forbid him from handling the gems." "I will not compromise my friend." "I will carry the gems from now on." "You wish not to compromise your friend?" "Imagine what would happen to him should you go missing now." "Good New Year to you, brother." "I worry when you call me "brother" instead of "bastard."" "It precedes a request." "I need not request." "I order." "I await your command, Jingim Khan." "What news from Eagle's Teaching?" " None to speak of." " None... or none you will speak of?" "None." "We're talking about my father." "I will know what danger he faces." "Our father." "I share news of danger with him alone." "I disclose to the Khan." "It is for the Khan to report to the Prince." "That is the order of things." "You want to know about Eagle's Teaching, ask Father, brother." "If you know something..." "the burden is on you to defend him." "And I will... with my life." "And if something happens to our father..." "I will be the one to take it." "What did Jingim want of you?" "Amends made before the White Moon." "There are no answers here, Byamba, only pain." "The most important answer may lie within." "We must confirm it to understand our next steps." "Sanga's family has lost everything." "Get..." "Get..." "Stay if you wish." "Can I see your mother?" "White devil." "Urla, come!" "Take the children." "My condolences." "Forty days, Latin." "Forty days is the mourning period." "Too late." "I was away at war." "That was some time ago, Master Polo." "Find a better reason for your absence." "I have none." "Goland, I'm sorry for what happened to Sanga." "More sorry for what I'm about to ask." "Did Sanga ever travel to Kochkor?" "Do you suspect a dead man of another crime?" "You wish to resurrect him, Christian?" "Crucify him once more?" "He stole and he was punished for it." "I did not sentence him... and I did not kill him, Goland." "And my husband did not send himself to Kochkor." "But he did go?" "He collected taxes." "Every second fortnight, he rode." "My husband was an honorable man." "Question the man who sent Sanga to Kochkor before you question that." "Leave us... please." "We distribute 100,000 loaves of bread every month... goat milk and yak meat when the Great Khan's herds are fat." "The people are fortunate for your grace, My Lady." "We take care of our wards... and they revere the Khan as their father." "Today, they honor us by working tirelessly to prepare for the White Moon festivities." "Something wrong, Blue Princess?" "I was merely observing the peasants' devotion, their love for their royal benefactress." "Do you question their devotion and their love?" "I do not." "Stop." "Does Lady Kokachin wish to speak on the topic of the common people?" "I apologize, Empress, for speaking when not bid to do so." "Do so... now." "Has Her Lady walked the villages of Cambulac without her guard?" "I have not." "The Empress' perception of the city is tempered." "The people love the Khan because he eases their pains, fills their wants... but the cause of those pains and wants is never permanently stamped out." "That can breed resentment." "Did you resolve such matters differently when your family held power..." "Blue Princess of Bayaut?" "My relations with our people, Lady Chabi, were somewhat more direct." "Is that so?" "I mean no offense... but the Great Khan should know the minds of his people before he walks among them tomorrow." "The Khagan has my sword and my shield." "I will meet minds with metal, My Lady." "The Great Khan is secure." "Is the pain bad today, child?" "The child suffers, Chancellor." "As do we all... but seeming cruelty can bring beauty." "Pain purifies and leads to peace." "These are lessons my sister taught me when I was a boy." "The girl is too old for binding." "We would have started at an earlier age were that her father's want." "The Emperor's gone." "I am her uncle." "It is my want." "'Tis a powerful man who injures little children." "I miss my mother." "We all do, Sunflower... but I've arranged to speed her journey." "Now..." "look away, child." "Are you mad?" "Never contact me." "You will get us both killed." "Out." "Now." "Why are you here?" "Jia Sidao took me into the palace..." "after you left." "He sent me." "He has new orders, Mei Lin." "I am to stay until this mission is complete." "Sidao offers this." "Tiger root." "Safe to the touch, but if ingested, it's enough to fell a horse." "This message says nothing of my daughter." "Speak." "He bound her." "He will do worse if you fail." "An assassination?" "What he asks of me is impossible." "What else did you find in Eagle's Teaching... besides impure gold?" "We found evidence that Sanga hired the Hashshashin." "He didn't choose to go." "He was sent." "We thought you might offer guidance." "Because he worked for me?" "Sanga worked for many." "From Cambulac to... yes, Kochkor." "The Hashshashin deal in more than death... black market trade, silk, coin, salt... and currencies I do not countenance." "Opium, hashish." "You suspected and did nothing?" "I cannot eliminate corruption..." "and I will not condemn without proof." "If Sanga were running black market goods throughout the realm, he'd need agents... soldiers, horsemen... imperial guard." "You have seen my soldiers." "They toil before the abacus." "I certainly do not command the imperial guard." "That's Vice Regent Yusuf's domain." "I simply state fact." "Thank you, Ahmad." "Why did you finally report Sanga?" "You reported his transgressions to me." "Had I not, it would have been you or I unjustly trampled in the dirt." "How do preparations for the boy's coronation fare?" "I trust seating arrangements are managed?" "No awkward pairings?" "Lord Li cannot tolerate Prelate Chan." "Leave us, please... everyone." "The Dynastic Council has chosen to dismiss you, Sidao." "We appreciate your service to the Emperor... but it is time for you to step down." "Have you anything to say?" "You have no authority." "You are an old woman with a dead husband and no power." "You have nothing." "I have a champion." "Do you know Fang Zhen of the Red Lotus Society?" "By reputation." "A peasant farmer." "A scholar- warrior of the highest order... a Song dynasty loyalist..." "a hero, Sidao." "Because he was poor... a man of the people." "He is not me." "I shepherded this city, this empire through a time of tumult... and that time has not passed." "The Mongols will return." "If they return, they will settle terms of peace... and negotiate those terms with him." "Welcome... to the fortress..." "Fang Zhen." "Chancellor." "Empress..." "I have been too long away." "Take your pets and your porcelain, Sidao... and return to the rice paddies." "It is poor form to disturb a man at prayer." "We are here on the orders of the Khan, Vice Regent... not your God." "A serious matter." "We apologize for the disturbance..." "but the Khan has entrusted us." "Do you remember Sanga, the collector of taxes?" "He was executed on your orders." "My father and uncle committed a similar crime." "They were branded." "My Khan favors you, Marco... thus spared your father and uncle." "That was his choice, not mine." "But the Khan had no hand in Sanga's end." "Respectfully, death was your decree." "You could have branded his palm, severed his hand, taken an eye." "I could do these things to you for challenging the dictates of the Vice Regent." "We think..." "We think Sanga was sent to Eagle's Teaching... a proxy for a greater power... the agent who delivered instructions for the murder of the Khan." "And you suspect Sanga was my proxy?" "In the absence of the Khan, the Vice Regent would control Cambulac." "This is true until the Kurultai elected the next Khan of Khans." "What motive have I, then?" "Vice Regent, we do not accuse." "We seek advice." "The Great Lord trusts you." "He does, Master Marco." "I am trusted... because I lack ambition." "I desire no... riches..." "so I'm incorruptible." "I have no blood claim to the throne, so there is nothing to which I may ascend." "I am a servant who has but one function." "Which is?" "I speak truth." "It is this respect I show my Khan." "My days are driven by this alone." ""How do I best serve Kublai and his kingdom?"" "There is... clarity in service... but you..." "lack this." "Yet here we are." "Yet here we are." "But with what true purpose..." "does the Khan send you?" "How will you earn his trust?" "Think on that as you take your leave." "Is my father safe?" "Why ask me, Jingim?" "Did you ask our father?" "I did." "He trusts Byamba." "He trusts the Latin and offers me silence." "Whatever they found in Kochkor was of no consequence." "He doesn't want to burden you with trivialities." "He doesn't trust me with the truth." "And what would you do with it, Jingim?" "What would you do if you had a target for your rage?" "I would let my Mongol heart guide me." "I would kill!" "The Great Khan knows this." "If there is some truth to hold from you, he does so because he knows your heart." "Let your father protect you." "Let me, your brother, protect you... until we find a true target." "Untrue by an inch." "Untrue by an inch, untrue by a mile." "It is in the split moment when all four hooves leave the ground." "Breathe and send." "When you first arrived, you had too little yin, too much yang." "And now, too much yin..." "not enough..." "Not so simple." "Do not strive for the center." "Just breathe..." "with your horse... and your arrow." "The Khan expects an answer." "What answer to give?" "The cripple, Yusuf, is beyond reproach." "Yusuf hides behind his words." "Is that what you'll report?" "Untrue by an inch... untrue by a mile." "I have no story to tell, Sire." "I believe my friend, Sanga, traveled to Kochkor... but I do not know on whose command... if anyone's." "What are your suspicions?" "I must say nothing... for fear that I may condemn an innocent." "All I know..." "is someone seeks your head." "Many do, Latin." "But my children have been spared sight of me far too long." "Take your leave." "Your children want you alive, Sire." "Do you still suspect him?" "A weaker man would surrender a name to deflect suspicion from himself." "As would a man burdened with guilt." "I believe him to be neither." "The boy has changed greatly since coming to us." "He did not come to us, Sire." "He was left..." "A fact that bears recall." "You suspect the Latin's father?" "Did he abandon his son to serve his purse... or his pope?" "So, what course of action tomorrow?" "We have detained and questioned your guards and staff." "I believe them innocent." "My suspicion of Marco has waned... but for now, to be safe..." "those whom lack your trust... kill." "There would be few left living if I heed that counsel." "Should I trust you, Yusuf?" "Hmm?" "We will play another time." "Where's your European playmate?" "He's an innocent in this world, isn't he?" "And you and I are not?" "No... we are warriors." "I fear our world strips him of what innocence still remains." "Then we do him a favor." "The world is not kind to the weak and the guileless." "Would you like to wrestle me?" "There are no witnesses, save Tengri." "Do you think you can beat me?" "I think you wish me to." "Not today." "Are you afraid?" "I simply hear the blade's song right now." "Where you go?" "Where are you going?" "Come." "If it pleases the Khan." "If it pleases the Queen." "Hmm?" "It does not please the Queen." "Pitiable event on this blessed day of Tsagaan Sar." "It seems life has left her too soon." "The Khan's consorts must not cry." "It clouds the eyes and ruddles the complexion." "Death is life." "Now is not the time for tears." "Will you return to your village, Chancellor?" "I was too grand for it when I was part of it." "I've grown grander since." "I have been an admirer of yours... from afar... from the battlefield." "You have been an annoying thorn in Kublai's side for many years, Fang Zhen, frightening his tax collectors, burning his crops, storing weapons in loyalist settlements, settlements that bear the brunt of the Khan's brutality" "after you've moved on." "I've long admired you as well." "I tire of warfare." "Before or after Empress Dowager offered you my title?" "War is pointless." "It never ends." "Yes... the warrior who rejects war." "Empress is more intelligent than I suspected." "You... more foolish." "We are like- minded, Chancellor..." "in our need to defend Xiangyang." "I will do so until my final breath." "Peace is possible... and it begins, Jia Sidao..." "with our peaceful transition." "Is it time?" "It is, Father... but I did not advise your attendance." "What can be done has been done, Jingim." "You worry like your mother." "Vice Regent Yusuf himself concurs with me." "Yusuf is worse than your mother." "We do not yet know who conspired against Your Greatness." "Rumor breeds fear." "My people do not know if blood courses through my veins... or if my body rests with Genghis in Burkhan Khaldun." "I must show them their Khan." "You are concerned you are seen as weak." "Mmm." "I cannot afford to bolster these perceptions." "There is no question, Father." "You slayed Ariq single- handedly." "Why was that necessary?" "Why did my brother challenge me?" "He saw me as weak." "Despite what I did..." "people still... rumor of my decline... and they worry for succession." " The line is clear." " But not guaranteed, Jingim." "You will be opposed at the Kurultai when the time comes." "Kaidu..." "Nayan... many feel entitled to my throne." "The throne is mine and I will ascend to it." "There is nothing I desire more than this." "But you fear I will fail." "You must prove yourself to the Khanate." "Until you do..." "until you silence all doubters..." "I must be strong." "And so today..." "you risk yourself?" "I fulfill my duty." "Rally my people." "To inspire your strength." "Am I such a burden?" "You're my son." "Tulga..." "I spoke to Kokachin." "I did not come to hurt you." "I came to help you." "You lie." "I know who you are." "One of the Bayaut..." "a survivor of the massacre." "I know she protects you." "I protect her." "No more." "If I found you, someone else will find you." "It will be your undoing and hers." "You risk the Princess." "The Princess is all I have." "You love her." "There was an arrangement..." "long ago." "We are to be together." "I will bring you the stones." "You will not see Kokachin." "But you will live." "All bow down and worship at once your Lord." "God save and keep our Lord long with joy and gladness." "Long live the Khan of Khans!" "Urla." "No line up for water on the night of the White Moon." "I'm sorry for what happened to your father." "As you said, you did not sentence him... and if he was a thief, he was deserving of punishment." "Sanga was a good man." "What do you think he did?" "What was it Ahmad sent him to do?" "I cannot answer that." "Never again breathe that suspicion." "For your family's sake... never." "Move on." "Help your family to find a future without him." "The bracelet is delivered." "I am most grateful." "I will repay your gesture in the future." "You can repay it now..." "with the answer to a question." "How is it that a peasant weds a princess?" "No royal marries beneath their station." "Then Tulga is delusional?" "I could not be with Tulga, Master Marco, any more than I could be with you." "You avoid a direct answer to my question, Blue Princess." "Silence is no shield, Kokachin." "If you expect me to deliver the gems to your subject," "I need to know if that subject is mad." "He is not." "Then there are nuptials to be arranged." "Is the Khan aware?" "You lack humor, Latin." "I intend none." "I am deceived." "It is time for Jingim to take a new wife, I think." "A more fertile bitch, I hope." "The rest are barren as my Gobi." "I trust you have someone in mind?" "Stop!"