"Amends must be made for your father's crime." "I understand." "Left to my vice regent, Yusuf, or myself, your father's punishment would be certain." "His thief heart would now be still." "I know the pain this would cause you." "I know compassion." "And you know our customs." "Khagan's law." "You will choose your father's punishment." "And then you shall find sleep." "Don't kill him!" "We must find out who he serves." "How is he?" "Poison of the yellow scorpion." "The healers do not know if he will survive the night." " How many assassins?" " Three." "Where were his knights?" "Many fell this evening, Jingim." "Against three assassins?" "I will convene the war assembly." "Our Great Khan wavers between this life and the next... and we stand here... violated within our own walls and wonder whether we should avenge." "We do not yet know who violated us." "Is there anyone here aside from my friend Yusuf who cannot..." "You overstep your office..." "my Minister of Finance." "Our Lord battles the coward's poison." "I say this..." "I shall stand for him..." "as he has for each of you." "Prince... we do not know if this is the tip of Sidao's sword." "At this very moment, his army could be descending upon us." "We have received no notice from our outposts of any upcoming armies." "Well, perhaps they have been eliminated." "Thousands of imperial guards..." "Mongol knights... a moat, deep and wide, dogs... walls!" "How did this scum penetrate our defenses?" "Walls and guards, dogs and moats." "Prince... the answer to the assassins' identity rests in your question." "They moved underwater and through walls... sensed only by the Khan's horses." "Their tools were climbing hook and shadow." "These demons were trained by the Old Man in the Mountain." "They were Hashshashin." "The Hashshashin... were crushed by my uncle Hülegü long before my birth." "The Old Man and his martyrs are nothing more than phantoms and fables told to frighten children!" "If they were not Hashshashin, they were trained in their ways." "Yusuf is correct in his counsel." "These men are mercenaries." "They could have been hired by anyone for any reason." "Do you advise I send warriors in search of a myth when our true and very real enemy lies in Xiangyang?" "I suggest you open your eyes to the possibility... as your father would." "How many of our guards were slain?" "Can we afford not to search out such a potent adversary?" "We can, blind man..." "because the Old Man is dead!" "Our demons lie south!" "With deference, Prince Jingim... that may not be true." "Who allowed you access to this assembly, Latin?" "Jingim." "Speak." "On my journey to Cambulac," "I passed a village two weeks ride from here named Kochkor." "My guide..." "told of a lone way station." "He was clear that those who speak the name of Hashshashin... were offering their heads to these assassins who are very much alive." "What is your point?" "If this was the Hashshashin..." "we will find them there." "You say you know where this place rests?" "I do." "Byamba... you will ride there with a company under the banner of the Khan." "If Master Polo is correct... track the assassins and confirm the Song rebels' complicity." "In this answer, the scale of war will be balanced." "Steady your heart, Marco." "You are of..." "Prince Jingim!" "If a band of Mongolian soldiers travel as they are, the Hashshashin will see danger... but... if they ride as escorts for a merchant searching for poppy, the flower by which the Hashshashin are said to draw their strength..." "It might play a helpful ruse." "And you, Polo, might get sliced into fine white meat in the process." "Prepare your horse." "Prince... the Khan and I came to terms before the attack." "My father and uncle are to be spared." "I beg you to heed..." "Tonight... your father and uncle are the least of my concerns." "I make no promises for tomorrow." "An attempt has been made on the Khan's life." " Is he alive?" " Some say yes." "Some no." "A party rides to find those responsible." "Master Polo is among them." "I have taught you to blend with every attack." "Absorb your opponent." " When water is poured into a vessel..." " It becomes the vessel." "But the Hashshashin are not common warriors." "The Old Man trains them to enter the shadow- self, the demon- self." "That is their art." "How does one absorb such darkness and yet return to the light?" "Especially one unsure of his place in the world?" "If you seek and find the assassins, you will need to become the vessel." "If you don't go deep enough, they will smell you and kill you." "Go too deep... and you will not return from Eagle's Teaching." "What marks the balance?" "Certainty of self." "I do not go for myself, Sifu." "I go for my father." "Ride beneath the skyline." "The Hashshashin do not wish to be found." "They will find you." "Master Marco..." "a moment, please." "Byamba will travel with a golden tablet." "All gates will open before you." "Why are you telling me this?" "If the Lord Khan dies while you're gone... so does your only advocate." "Take this tragedy for what it is." "Opportunity." "Run." "This... is what happens when we barter with barbarians." "Cruelty must be met with cruelty." "We must lay waste to their cities, their women and children." "We must drive them back into the savage hole from which they slid." "It is time for war." "The Emperor's army is yours to do with as you please... my Chancellor." "You understand it takes time to gather the troops," " to prepare for battle..." " Do you forget who I am?" "I humbly ask that you give the order to mobilize." "If you do not prepare to strike... worse... prepare to be struck." "The Latin may prove Jia Sidao innocent of the attempt." "It may." "Do you not find it odd, Prince... that Master Marco spoke so surely of the assassins' whereabouts?" "So quick to return?" "He does so for the sake of his own father's head." "And that is my point." "What would you not do to realize the dreams of your father?" "Nothing." "The Khan continues to embrace this boy we know so little about." "The West is not ignorant to the Khan's designs." "Would we not plant rot within the foundation of their house and let it fester and collapse upon itself?" "You think he travels to cover transgressions?" "I don't know." "Perhaps grief invades my thoughts." "Has anyone thanked you..." "for saving my father's life?" "Had you and Hundred Eyes not arrived, the Khan would be dead... as would I. So... my thanks to you." "Jingim as Khan..." " You believe he is not fit?" " I never said that." "Do you?" "This is not my home." "I'm a guest." "It's not my place to judge my host." "I hated these as a boy." "Rotten, sour." "My mother made me eat them." "She said they kept me healthy." "And now?" "A superstition before battle." "Of course, she meant they were good for my teeth." "Were you close to her?" "I had to be." "Son of a consort is never fully accepted in court." "Will they let me spill blood on the battlefield?" "Yes." "You?" "Were you close to your mother?" "She died when I was young." "I was raised by my aunt." "I didn't know my father until three years ago." "Son of an adventurer." "Fathers are destined to disappoint sons, and sons, their fathers." "The Khan has disappointed you?" "I'm able to find the difference between the Khan and the man." "Didn't know that was allowed." "What is locked behind the doors of the heart is no one's business but one's own." "So, let's talk about the man, and not the Khan." "Make no mistake... even if we meet under the Blue Sky, I will never open those doors to you." "And I would never knock." "You think by doing this, you can save your father's life?" "I avenge the Khan and hope he shows him favor." "The point of all this was to thank you." "So... thank you." "Ride swift." "Sidao must know." "If he does not know that already." "Have you not considered that?" "The Mongols will look for spies now, seek out conspirators." "You must escape." "Deliver this message yourself." "If Sidao did not give the command..." "I must stay." "My daughter lives or dies by my decision." "I remain." "Who hired you to kill the Khan?" "I am destined for Paradise." "That is all I know and all I will ever claim to know." "You don't want to do that." "If you scream..." "you tear your mouth." "And the more you scream..." "the more damage you do to yourself." "Who hired you?" "I am destined for Paradise." "That is all I know and all I will ever claim to know." "Very well." "Anything?" "He may know nothing." "May know nothing or knows nothing?" "May." "Then flay the skin from his bones until you know." "You heard the Prince." "Let us announce to Paradise..." "your pending arrival." "How did you come to name your son?" "I did not name Marco." "His mother had that honor." "Why?" "I was not present at his birth." "Where were you?" "In the world." "So, you abandoned him before he was even born?" "I was trying to make a name for my family." "Although I did not know him... everything I have done in my life has been for him." "I wanted the world to know the Polo name." "So, for legacy?" "Yes." "His legacy?" "Yes." "Do you think that is what he wanted?" "Do you think that was what he needed from his father?" "Legacy?" "Do you know what your son asked of me just before he left?" ""Keep them alive until I return." "Keep them alive."" "Even after you had abandoned him, after he could have died for your transgressions, he was still concerned for you." "What a fool." "Never the matter." "Marco will fall and you with him." "All right, my merchant friend." "Let us go peddle your wares." "We ride below the skyline." "That is not how we attract the buyers we need." "Done." "The Chinese say..." ""You can name a price for gold... but not for the white jade from the Kingdom of Khotan."" "I do not lie when I say it's the most precious of all gems... and sought by the imperial court." "What do you wish for this..." "white stone?" "The flower that guides the way to Paradise." "I wish to speak with the Old Man." "I guess we said something wrong." "Where are you?" "Wherever he has gone..." "he will return." "I realize now that I had no idea the pressure one is under... turning a son into a man." "Forget all the citizens in the realm." "The responsibility parents have for that one soul." "It is a great challenge... and... a greater honor." "You are so at peace." "Peace is found in the heart of the faithful." "How can you be so sure he will wake?" "My faith is rooted in what is next for him should he not awaken." "I think too much on this life, Mother... to consider what lies beyond." "May I sit?" "If your intent is on trade." "It remains unclaimed." "Perhaps your price is too high." "Everything is open to barter." "What are you offering?" "Opportunity." "For?" "Leaving through that door still standing upright." "And here I was being so gracious." "As am I. I haven't leaned in yet." "Who are you?" "There are two answers to that question." "The first is..." "I am the owner of the chair upon which you sit." "And the second?" "The last face you will see before descending into darkness." "Look around you." "Over the generations, these eaves have shielded the backs of every culture known to man... and as such..." "I know man... the strong and the weak, the bold and the cowardly, the keen and the foolish... and you are strong... bold... and far from foolish enough to track this trouble across my floor... unless you have convinced yourselves through conditioning... that no harm will befall you." "Show me." "The Khan of Khans grants the golden tablet to poppy dealers?" "No... a bureaucrat in the Secretariat with a liking for hashish." "I do not carry the product you seek." "Then what kind of seller are you?" "I am the man in the middle." "We want the Gatekeeper of Paradise." "That man... is far too deadly." "Let us weigh the stakes." "I misread you." "You are a fool." "Continue." "Sidao slaughtered his ambassadors." "My Prince?" "The Song ambassadors we parleyed with... the warriors we freed, they were all butchered returning to Xiangyang." "Sidao lays the blame at our doorstep." "His army prepares for battle." "Diplomacy is dead." "You negotiated a true peace." "Empress Dowager would've embraced it." "Sidao has rejected our truce with steel and blood." "This is a good sign." "Find for me the good in this." "We have clarity of the inevitable." "We know now Xiangyang is divided." "War is how this will end..." "and now is a time to strike." "We do not know if Sidao moved against my father." "We do not know if the Song mobilize to attack or to defend." " We know nothing..." " My Prince!" "My brother, yes, we need not march, but... at least marshal our forces." "We must prepare." "In this, you must not fail." "Gather your generals." "Speak to them as warriors and they will follow you past the gates of death." "As they followed me at Wuchang?" "The army respects you." "You attacked at Wuchang against greater numbers." "And I failed." "But only while daring greatly." "You advanced on a larger army as Genghis would." "Soldiers understand losing is part of the journey... so long as their leader does not believe it the destination." "Your father understands this." "He did not act as if he did." "Would you have him savor defeat?" "No... but to speak as you do... once." "He feels as I do... and he would say it now, had he voice." "Lend him your voice." "Speak for Father now..." "and command as Khan." "Who is the Old Man in the Mountain?" "You certainly are not fond of your throat, are you?" "You will not speak his name... and once I have taken you to him..." "you will never return again." "We have no reason to..." "unless we are invited by you." "You learn well, Europa." "Which way?" "To Eagle's Teaching?" "One can only enter through Paradise." "A secret order formed at the time of the First Crusade." "The Old Man has always lived among them... granting access to Paradise." "Is he a magic man?" "He is a holy man." "I think you trade in black market fables." "That's what I think." "You have a much more genteel personality than your friend." "It takes time..." "but he will soften... eventually." "I will not." "Byamba, do you see?" "It is not the sun." "It's a... golden passage..." "into the heavens." "Marvelous description." "Are they watching us now?" "They have been watching you since before we exchanged names." "You are the Old Man." "Some call me by that name, yes... but I've lived more lives than any man under the sun... and will live many more beyond this day." "And this... is a place of hidden knowledge?" "This is a place of freedom... where no one questions who you are, where you come from, what tongue you speak." "You are welcome as you are, son." "I can return you to Paradise if you wish." "What have you done with our men?" "It is their choice to stay or leave." "Some prefer to stay." "So, tell me, Marco Polo... why did you come?" "To discover or to destroy?" "Give me my men and I will give you the answer." "Discovery." "I came to learn who hired your assassins." "Offer me this knowledge... and you will gain favor with the most powerful man on earth." "The Great Khan lives, then." "And your disciples do not." "Kill us... and the Khan will finish what his ancestors began." "He must find us first." "If I could find you... the Mongols will find you." "They will rain fire, black out the sun." "You will have no peace, no sanctuary... and my Great Khan will prove you mortal." "You are precisely the kind of young man I welcome here." "Clever... spirited... and deserving of Paradise, however you define it." "We do not deal in name and faces... only in coin and anonymity." "And how much coin did the Song Chancellor give you?" "The hand that dropped the purse lives far closer to home, son." "Safe journey, Marco Polo." "How many more days and nights will this continue?" "What do you hope to get from a man..." "we know can give you nothing?" "Nothing but hope... that he might give me anything to use to avoid your war." "You and I are not Mongols." "We are servants." "This is not my war." "Yet you fight for it so rabidly." "And you so rabidly against it." "Why?" "The rebels have not once set foot outside Xiangyang... for any purpose but trade and travel." "They stage raids and they attack my collectors as they ride the realm." "The price of doing business in a treacherous world." "Their army hides behind walls for fear of extermination, a wall that has defied and denied us for 70 years." "Our men will die for no reason... save the ego of the man ordering the breach." "Ego... not armies, destroys empires." "Our Khan is chased to the wall by the ghost of Genghis." "Our Khan still breathes." "The man will soon join his brothers... and if you have your way, Ahmad... so shall we all." "Word from my sister." "Someone has attempted to kill the barbarian king." "We're not alone in our loathing of the Khan." "The devil sleeps soundly tonight." "It displeases me." "But he will survive." "He's fated to do so." "Someone has foolishly stepped upon my path... endeavoring to forge a tributary and force me down it." "The Khan will awaken." "The Mongol horde will descend upon my wall... and my blade... will find its destiny in the barbarian's heart." "You are the only one I might speak freely to... the only one I can trust." "It makes me happy to know I have this with you." "This is my father's private quarters." "The traitor is someone in his service... someone he trusts." "I may know the hand that made these marks." "Whose hand?" "Someone who has passed on." "Two months to the Hindu Kush." "Up, down, give or take a year and you're in Venice." "You have time before the snows fall." "You were killed by the Hashshashin." "You would let me go?" "You are a guest in someone else's home." "You should leave when you wish." "Upon our return, your host may be gone and you would be friendless." "Are we not now friends, Byamba?" "I cannot save you in Cambulac." "Would you defy the Khan?" "No... but this is my home... and if someone were keeping me from it, I would kill to return." "Jingim!" "Our father wakes." "Welcome news, brother." "I will join him." "My head is weak." "It will strengthen." "Perhaps it's best if it did not." "My son seems to have that side well under control." "You could easily have rushed into war." "Few would have questioned the move." "Your control guided you." "I never felt in control, Sire." "Curse of the Khanate." "The kingdom must know that I'm alive and well before we march into war." "Get me to my throne." "It has details of your inner chamber few would know, Lord Khan." "I spend my Khanate embracing enemy cultures." "Treachery grows well in the fertile soil of contempt I've tilled." "Who else knows of this map?" "No one... but Byamba, myself, and its creator." "Circle must remain small." "What of Jingim?" "I do not wish to burden him as of yet." "You say you recognize the scratch?" "I wish to confirm this belief before I tarnish his name any further." "I trust you both to do so." "Follow the map, where it leads, under my aegis." "Bring answers back to your Khan." "Hold, Latin." "You defended me courageously..." "even in the face of death." "I was one of many... and it pleases me greatly to return and find you well." "Mmm." "Have you made your decision... regarding the fate of your father and uncle?" "No, Lord Kublai." "I thought..." "I hoped... you might pardon them." "Is pardon punishment?" "I wished... you would spare them." "Why would I do that?"