Marco Polo

[first lines]

Hundred Eyes:
In Kung Fu, we say "One hand lies, [attempting blows] the other hand tells the truth." [counter-strikes]

Marco Polo:
Try that again.

Hundred Eyes:
If you one day you make it back to the West, what will you tell men of this strange word, "Kung Fu?" Will you tell them that it means to fight? Or will you say, like a monk from Shaolin [inhales sharply] to summon the spirit of the crane and the tiger?

Hundred Eyes:
[both grunting and panting] Kung Fu. It means, "supreme skill from hard work."

Hundred Eyes:
A great poet has reached Kung Fu. The painter, the calligrapher, they can be said to have Kung Fu. Even the cook, the one who sweeps steps, or a masterful servant, can have Kung Fu. Practice. Preparation. Endless repetition. Until your mind is weary, and your bones ache. Until you're too tired to sweat. Too wasted to breathe.

Hundred Eyes:
[continues dueling] That is the way, the only way one acquires Kung Fu. Unfortunately boy, you have not.

Hundred Eyes:
If the gods are always watching, we might as well put on a good show. The inability to sleep is the curse of the aged and the guilty.

Kublai Khan:
And the gout-stricken.

Hundred Eyes:
Pardon me. I foolishly assumed you were dreaming about your brother's head rolling in the dirt, his body, a feast for vultures.

Kublai Khan:
Do they hate me?

Hundred Eyes:
It is better to be hated for what you are, than to be loved for what you are not.

Kublai Khan:
You're a drunken fool.

Hundred Eyes:
So, kill me.

Kublai Khan:
I have thought about it.

Hundred Eyes:
But you wish to sleep.

Kublai Khan:
I know you want to tell me one of those endless stories from that infernal Chinese teacher of yours.

Hundred Eyes:
No stories tonight, Sire.

Kublai Khan:
No Zen riddles?

Hundred Eyes:
I will offer a truth instead. Had you spared Ariq you would have encouraged other traitors.

Kublai Khan:
His execution was just.

Hundred Eyes:
No. But it was necessary in that moment, to preserve your Empire.

Kublai Khan:
You ease one worry, but aggravate one greater.

Hundred Eyes:
As life is wont to do.

Kaidu:
[addressing women] You will be tested by the royal concubines. The most proficient in the art of arousal will earn the privilege of residing permanently here in our Great Khan's Hall of Five Desires. By "permanently," I mean just that. If selected, you will remain in the Hall of Five Desires until released from royal service. If you are chosen to become a Royal Concubine, all needs will be met. Those not chosen will be delivered to the Ministry of Finance to be sold off to the Khan's court. Those unclaimed by the court will be sold to whorehouses in outer Cambulac. Perform as though your life depends upon it. It most likely does.

Ahmad:
Business done quickly is business done badly.

Kublai Khan:
Do you have brothers?

Marco Polo:
I wish I had. Someone to play with.

Kublai Khan:
Someone to conspire with. Brothers sometime blessing, sometime curse. Like those in your holy book. Cain and Abel? Tell me of them.

Marco Polo:
Sons of Adam. Cain was the first man to be born. Abel, the first to die.

Kublai Khan:
By the blade of his brother, yes?

Marco Polo:
Envious of God's love for Abel, Cain killed his brother, concealed his body and lied to the Lord above.

Kublai Khan:
What became of the murderer?

Marco Polo:
He bore the mark of Cain and was cursed to roam the Earth, endlessly.

Kublai Khan:
To this day?

Marco Polo:
No. He wandered until he could wander no more. So he took a wife, built a house and lived there until it collapsed and crushed him dead. Some say this is an invented story, nothing more. Meant to impart a greater lesson.

Kublai Khan:
Which is?

Marco Polo:
The scholars and historians of Venice are superior to all others across the land. I have not the studies to begin to explore such questions.

Kublai Khan:
Try.

Marco Polo:
It is in our nature to seek our brother's possessions. And be willing to destroy to obtain them.

Kaidu:
Tell us, Marco, do your feasts compare to this?

Marco Polo:
They are different.

Byamba:
Here, we eat the pig. In Venice, they dance with it.

Khutulun:
Marco Polo. What does that mean?

Marco Polo:
"The Great Explorer."

Khutulun:
No. I think it means "Pale Flower."

Marco Polo:
"Flower"?

Khutulun:
You look delicate to the touch.

Marco Polo:
I have killed hundreds of men in battle.

Khutulun:
I didn't say the Pale Flower didn't have thorns.

Marco Polo:
Sharper than a Mongolian's arrow.

Khutulun:
Should I be afraid?

Marco Polo:
Only if you insult me.

Khutulun:
Then I must watch my words. And the women you have conquered. Did they melt in your hands?

Marco Polo:
Like snow in the desert.

Khutulun:
Take me in your hands. [but laughs and slaps him away] Not that! Do you wrestle in Venice?

Marco Polo:
Of course.

Khutulun:
Show me. [wrestling turns to passion]

[last lines]

Kublai Khan:
[having killed an innocent servant rather than Marco] If I let him walk away, he will have his wine six nights from now and say "Khan was lied to by a lowly foreigner and gave that liar his leave." He shares your sin now. He is your scapegoat. Go, Latin. Sleep off the drink.

Prince Jingim:
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.

Empress Chabi:
It is a great challenge, and a greater honor.

Prince Jingim:
You are so at peace.

Empress Chabi:
Peace is found in the heart of the faithful.

Prince Jingim:
How can you be so sure he will wake?

Empress Chabi:
My faith is rooted in what is next for him should he not awaken.

Prince Jingim:
I think too much on this life, Mother, to consider what lies beyond.

Ahmad:
Fathers are destined to disappoint sons, and sons, their fathers.

Marco Polo:
Who are you?

Armed Escort:
There are two answers to that question. The first is I am the owner of the chair upon which you sit.

Marco Polo:
And the second?

Armed Escort:
The last face you will see before descending into darkness.

Byamba:
The army respects you. You attacked at Wuchang against greater numbers.

Prince Jingim:
And I failed.

Byamba:
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.

[last lines]

Kublai Khan:
You defended me courageously even in the face of death.

Marco Polo:
I was one of many, and it pleases me greatly to return and find you well.

Kublai Khan:
Mmm. Have you made your decision regarding the fate of your father and uncle?

Marco Polo:
No, Lord Kublai. I thought - I hoped you might pardon them.

Kublai Khan:
Is pardon punishment?

Marco Polo:
I wished you would spare them.

Kublai Khan:
Why would I do that?

Yusuf:
You are released from this prison. But I am truly free.

[first lines]

Yusuf:
The troops are quartered. Burial preparations are underway for those we were able to retrieve. I have ordered scouting parties to sweep the grasslands, a week's ride away in case Sidao is audacious enough to siege Cambulac. Finally, we are conscripting new troops from the north. I have begun preparations for training. I fear they may be less compliant now, but we shall do what is necessary to bend the willful. My Lord.

Kublai Khan:
Is that truly all? Do you not wish to discuss your counsel? And my disregard of it?

Yusuf:
The Polo matter, are you prepared to proceed?

Marco Polo:
[in chains] Respectfully, Lord Khan we reap what we sow.

Kublai Khan:
You speak recklessly.

Marco Polo:
I speak honestly. You deserve honesty. You believe I should not conquer the West? On the contrary, Lord Khan. The most common law of nature and of man is to take what has been mandated by God or by the swords and arrows you command. You claim both. But you must be prepared for the resistance of the lionhearted. And the West is not weak.

Prince Jingim:
In our culture, your first hunt, as in many things in life, is a very lonely enterprise. You're cast into the wilderness with nothing more than a bow and an arrow, and instructed not to return without meat. For the kingdom. It can take a day, a week. Some never return. What do you think is the most vital trait for the hunter to possess?

Marco Polo:
Please, Jingim, do not mar my final hours.

Prince Jingim:
Patience. I saw its horns first. Grand, stretching to the heavens and catching the morning light. A mighty trophy. I set my arrow, took aim. He was gone. But I had a feeling about him and so I waited another night. It was so cold, I wanted to run home. A handful of kills passed me by. I could have slain them all, returned triumphant, dipped my finger in the fat of the kill, been deemed a man and slept in my own bed. But I waited. As I felt the sun warm me the next morning there it was, passing between the trees. My father was so proud. Patience. Patience to ensure that true aim finds the true target.

Marco Polo:
An innocent target, whose offense was crossing paths at the wrong time, with the wrong person.

Prince Jingim:
Death. Another lonely enterprise. May your God accompany you, Master Polo. You will need it more than I.

Empress Chabi:
You're beyond your years in grace and training. Regrettably, that is found far too infrequently in children your age.

Ling Ling:
My thanks, My Lady.

Empress Chabi:
When I was a young girl, my mother told me it was as if I had been raised by wild yaks, spitting and kicking everyone around me.

Jia Sidao:
You need only this. What do you see?

Boy Emperor:
A bug.

Jia Sidao:
You're most correct, but it is so much more. This mantis that I give to you was one of 300 nymphs, babies about this big. Imagine that, 300. The strongest among them kill the weakest among them until the very best are left. A mere handful. Now, this mantis will leave this life within 10 months of today. You must take this time as an opportunity to learn everything you can. To study, to practice, to absorb all the lessons of the mantis, for there are many. Patience, speed, adaptability, ruthlessness. The traits of a warrior king. Heed my words, my Emperor and you will become as the mantis.

Yusuf:
Altruism still? Even in the face of your execution?

Marco Polo:
Not purely. I'm not afraid to die, but I'm terrified to do so while branded a traitor.

Yusuf:
What is the entirety you spoke of earlier? What else made you stay?

Marco Polo:
The moment the Khan gave me the choice to deliver my father from death. He is a good man.

Jia Sidao:
My Emperor, these men are all that remain of the Red Lotus. Traitors within the kingdom determined to undermine the Emperor's mission, determined to destroy the Emperor and his dynasty. They are your enemy. They are weak. They must be punished. What does the strong mantis do to its weaker brothers and sisters?

Boy Emperor:
[in a whisper] Kill them.

Jia Sidao:
Hmm.

Yusuf:
[concerning Marco] You need that dedication at your service at all times. I am no longer capable of it, nor am I willing. You have the finest engineers in all the world. My final counsel to you is that you put them to work. Construct the Latin's siege engine.

[last lines]

Marco Polo:
I thought I had until dawn.

Yusuf:
The final battle looms. Be decisive in your victory. You are released from this prison. But *I* am truly free. [steps inside the cell]

[first lines]

Attendant:
[entering] Wuchang has fallen.

Jia Sidao:
As expected. Wise to withdraw our troops when we did.

Jia Sidao:
My apologies, Empress, for taking so long to come and visit. I trust your accommodations have been to your liking?

Empress Dowager:
[bitterly] A cell is a cell, no matter the decor.

Jia Sidao:
I could put you in a real cell, Empress, and prove that assumption so very wrong.

Jia Sidao:
[melodramatically] I feel as if I may have sprained my wrist. That's what your champion took out of me. The blind man was more agile, truth be told. Interesting choice for an assassin. I would have selected someone with eyes. Even Fang Zhen seemed surprised by him. Someone had to allow him inside.

Kublai Khan:
Crush the foot and the body will fall. We take the city. Sidao will dirty his knees before me.

Jia Sidao:
You are the military emissary to the Great Kublai Khan?

Yusuf:
I have that honor, Chancellor. I am Vice Regent of the Secretariat.

Jia Sidao:
And a foreigner. You must be as wise as you're ugly and odd.

Yusuf:
Have you ever seen an image of the Roman emperor Claudius? Or the Hunnic ruler Attila?

Jia Sidao:
No. But you're now going to tell me of the accomplishments of ugly men who were underestimated.

Yusuf:
I would not presume to educate you on the wiles of political men, comely or otherwise, Chancellor.

Khutulun:
What tactics do you devise?

Byamba:
We ride as one tumen along the bank. When the archer fires a whistler, we disband.

Khutulun:
"Wolf and crow."

Byamba:
I take wolf, you take crow.

Khutulun:
Because you bested me? You think you will always ride wolf - make me ride crow.

Byamba:
I ride wolf because I have more lancers. You have archers from the steppe.

Khutulun:
[suddenly kisses him]

Byamba:
This is my father's tent.

Khutulun:
[passionately they fall to the floor together] I don't care.

Prince Jingim:
[walks in unexpectedly] Do you strategize for the coming assault? "Wolf rides crow?"

Ahmad:
Your brother made you into a whore for his ambition. Did that bother you?

Mei Lin:
I made myself a whore. And I used him long before he learned to use me. When he was a boy and I a little girl living in the shadow of Xiangyang. I stared at the Walled City, dreaming what life might be like there. What did you dream as a boy?

Ahmad:
I suffered dreamless sleep.

Mei Lin:
Did you come to the Khan's service by choice?

Ahmad:
No.

Mei Lin:
By chance? As chattel? Born of Persia?

Ahmad:
My people were the Fanakati. I'm from Upper Asia, not Persia.

Mei Lin:
And brought to China to serve your conqueror.

Ahmad:
I was too young then to know him as a conqueror. He was my my patron, my benefactor. He became as a father to me, and the Empress, a mother.

Mei Lin:
What happened to your real mother, your true father? Was the Khan their benefactor, too? [turning] How do you serve the monster who slew your brethren and call him father? You worship his whores, concubine and queen. And you are left here as nursemaid while war is waged.

Ahmad:
You attempt to crawl under my skin? I could get under your skin, carve it free, and wear it as a cloak. Better I could walk next door and do the same thing to your daughter. [walks away]

Mei Lin:
What do you mean? Please, what are you What are you saying?

Ahmad:
[responding through the lattice] War is waged on many fronts, Mei Lin...

Mei Lin:
Please! What - what are you saying?

Jia Sidao:
You ask for parley as you stand with an army outside my city walls. How am I to take this?

Kublai Khan:
On bended knee, if you're wise.

Jia Sidao:
I have a wall.

Kublai Khan:
I will obliterate your wall. I will take your fraudulent crown. I will spike your corpse to the gates of my new palace. Or, I will walk through the wall after it is freely opened, accept your surrender, and offer gracious terms for the deposed Chancellor of Xiangyang, and his rebel army. You have power yet to save your people, Sidao.

Jia Sidao:
[clicks tongue] It's unfortunate that it has come to this. So deep into war that we make attempts on each other's lives, and those most sacred to us. I've heard of your favored wife's beauty. Such luminescence should not be taken from us this way. So repugnant. Even your own Vice Regent is against this war. This tactics.

Jia Sidao:
[rising] When an honest man says nothing, you see his heart. I don't question his loyalty to you, but an absence of words speaks loudly. Perhaps he sees something we do not.

Jia Sidao:
[threateningly] I trust I'll find you on the field, Jia Sidao.

Kublai Khan:
My fierce Mongol warriors, so many will perish tomorrow.

Empress Chabi:
Yes. You must rest, Kublai.

Kublai Khan:
Mmm. Genghis said, There's no good in anything until it's finished. Tomorrow the wall that turned back the Mongols for 80 years will fall.

Empress Chabi:
Your men are prepared. And behind them, Mongol women ready to fight if needed.

[last lines]

Prince Jingim:
We advanced, slaughtering every rebel who crossed our path. We reached the wall and pushed towards the weakness, the one the Latin described. We breached the wall with little more than battering rams. But our men were wedged into a dead end. Death rained down upon us. Oil, fire, arrows. Men died. Mongols died, because Master Marco pointed our army into a trap.

Marco Polo:
[on his knees] It was bait, Sire, the weakness in the wall. Jia Sidao drew us into a trap. I am sorry, Great Khan

Prince Jingim:
Why do you feign contrition, Latin? Why are you not at the breast of your master, Jia Sidao? Huh? You delivered us to the devil! You betrayed us! You brought us to our knees at the wall!

Prince Jingim:
Father he has brought us nothing but ruin. You can see it. You can all see it!

Marco Polo:
I devote myself to you, Great Khan.

Prince Jingim:
[drawing his sword] Enough of your twisted talk! You would protect him?

Byamba:
[deflects Jingim's sword]

Prince Jingim:
He is not one of us, brother! He is the rot within our bones.

Byamba:
He reported what he saw as he was asked to do.

Prince Jingim:
Father what shall we do?

Kublai Khan:
Retreat.

[first lines]

Hundred Eyes:
Stop struggling, fool. You were struck by a five-step snake. His venom moves swiftly. Most die before their fifth step.

Marco Polo:
Where is my sword?

Hundred Eyes:
Taken away. Punishment for breaking curfew.

Marco Polo:
I need to go, Sifu. Now. [struggling to get up]

Hundred Eyes:
How do you revenge a snake? You would be a fool to think only one serpent lays in wait. There is always a deadlier strike to come. One should walk away.

Za Bing:
[urinating and groaning] Have you ever sampled the third sex, Latin?

Marco Polo:
[quickly turns and leaves]

Empress Chabi:
Do not let your father doubt you the better man.

Marco Polo:
I *am* the better man.

Empress Chabi:
The better man does not sit in the dark with his woman and his jealousies. The better man stands erect and strong and finds a way to tilt the scales in his favor.

Niccol? Polo:
Marco, listen to me. Despite your dress and visage, you are not one of them. You never will be. You get involved with them, you damage us. You damage the family business.

Prince Jingim:
I am his son and heir and I speak with full authority.

Jia Sidao:
And I, Prince, speak with authority from the Walled City.

Ahmad:
And from whose authority does that flow? The child, the old woman, or the pretender?

Niccol? Polo:
[on their knees] We are still new to the ways of your kingdom.

Yusuf:
Value is the first thing you seek. Risk, the second. The silk worm is sacred, more valuable than gems and gold, Master Polo. Its theft is punishable by death.

Niccol? Polo:
Please, we did not know...

Kublai Khan:
Enough! What is their origin?

Niccol? Polo:
They were not procured by us. A man in our caravan acquired them.

Kublai Khan:
Where is this man now?

Maffeo Polo:
He did not survive the journey, Lord Khan.

Kublai Khan:
And I'm quite confident neither shall you.

Kublai Khan:
I grew hearing tales of the Great Genghis. I knew him only as a small boy, but the man my eyes saw was not big enough. Genghis of my mind he was a giant.

Marco Polo:
Our imaginations outrun us, Sire.

Kublai Khan:
It's the cocoon that gives the silk. Comes out like sweet milk, then hardens. Ugly worm turns into an ugly moth, but leaves such treasure behind. Then some child somewhere crushes the moth, but the silk is still mine. The worm, the silk, the child, all mine. You will be spared. Your father and uncle will be sentenced. Artful color will not alter their character.

Marco Polo:
What is their punishment?

Kublai Khan:
It is on this that I dwell.

Empress Chabi:
[about wriggling silk worm] Such an ugly little creature.

Kublai Khan:
Yet men will kill for it. Risk my wrath. Betray their blood. Because to them it is fortune, not legacy, that changes a life.

Jia Sidao:
[to his amused young daughter] Emperor Yu believed that a woman's feet were the very essence of feminine beauty. This is why he liked Yao Niang. Her feet were small, delicate, perfect. Women with such feet became coveted. Measures had to be taken to keep their feet the perfect size. Three inches long.

[last lines]

Kublai Khan:
Amends must be made for your father's crime.

Marco Polo:
I understand.

Kublai Khan:
*You* will decide his fate.

Marco Polo:
My Lord?

Kublai Khan:
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 will cause you. I know compassion. And you know our laws our customs. You will choose your father's punishment. And then you shall find sleep.

[first lines]

Engineer:
[proudly] The aim could not be more true.

Marco Polo:
[making notes] If the tree line is the wall, and we are two arrow flights scarce, true aim does not matter, does it?

Engineer:
We need to bring the engine closer.

Marco Polo:
Bring it closer, we will become pin cushions. We need a longer arm.

Engineer:
Longer arm is bigger frame. Bigger frame is giant wheel. Bigger rocks. You are making me to build a monster.

Marco Polo:
You were the finest engine builder in Damascus, no?

Engineer:
Yes.

Marco Polo:
Then build me a monster.

Ahmad:
It is said that a nobleman once drowned himself after a night in your bedchamber, because there was nothing left to live for.

Mei Lin:
Tea house songs have a way of growing into fables.

Ahmad:
There will be new songs sung about you, Mei Lin.

Mei Lin:
I hope not.

Marco Polo:
We run, as you say. We make it past the guards, the gate, the mountains and praise our good fortune every day we awaken. Because there will not be a single night in which we are fully certain that a Mongol blade will not find us in our sleep. There is nothing beyond those walls but doubt and fear. All we can change is here in this place.

Priest:
The I Ching says this: Attempt to seize all of China and destruction will follow. The Silk Road you once opened will be overtaken by a black cloud from the West, leaving nothing but weeds and nettles.

Kublai Khan:
You speak any more poetry, Priest, you'll be growing weeds and nettles out of your dung hole.

Empress Chabi:
Mind your nature, husband!

Marco Polo:
Kaidu did not ride with the Khan. If we lose tomorrow, he will become Khan.

Byamba:
Of what? There will be nothing left to rule when Chinese loyalty returns to Jia Sidao. In truth, I fear what may happen should we win.

Boy Emperor:
[about battle noises] Teacher, I'm scared.

Jia Sidao:
Do not fear the wolves of the steppe. They are but wind howling in the night, rattling doors. An emperor does not fear the thunder.

General:
They've broken through, Chancellor.

Jia Sidao:
All walls are built by men's hands and they crumble by them as well. I will commend the Khan just prior to taking his head.

Jia Sidao:
A round-eye? What stake do you have in this fight?

Marco Polo:
Come down and surrender to your Khan.

Jia Sidao:
Surrender the Song dynasty to a Mongol, by order of a European?

[last lines]

Ahmad:
[about painting of the battle] Do you like it? Liu Guandao, esteemed Song dynasty painter. If you do not like it, you do not have to say so.

Kokachin:
I find it exquisite.

[first lines]

Man:
What makes you laugh?

Little Girl:
I'm happy. You make me happy.

Man:
A little extra for you this week, Sunflower. [drops money bag and leaves]

Little Girl:
Come in now!

Young Boy:
[entering from another room] You were long today.

Little Girl:
Go wash your face and hands! [about money bag] Give it back!

Young Boy:
How much do we have?

Little Girl:
I'm busy. When I'm finished counting, I will tell you.

Young Boy:
Do we have enough to go to the festival?

Little Girl:
You're not smart. You never were. Mother and Father said so.

Young Boy:
Don't talk to me like that. I'm your older brother.

Little Girl:
In years only. If it weren't for my work, you'd starve to death in the streets.

Young Boy:
All I said was that I want to go to the festival. Play for a little while only.

Little Girl:
And what do we buy food with?

Young Boy:
Look at all these coins. I'm sure we could spare a few.

Little Girl:
Go, then. But do not return looking for more. Maybe you aren't as stupid as I thought, Sidao.

Little Girl:
[now we hear boy's voice as adult Sidao's] I'm sorry, Mei Lin.

Mei Lin:
I have lied to the Chancellor.

Empress Dowager:
A word of truth lasts forever. A lie lasts only a moment, my child.

Kublai Khan:
You are a Taoist monk. Permitted to eat meat, drink wine, enjoy a woman. Yet you have never taken a wife.

Hundred Eyes:
I devoted my life to the service of the Great Khan and his empire. I only have so much time on this earth. I have never taken a wife because I do my best to avoid disappointment.

Hundred Eyes:
[his advice rejected] You do not listen, do you?

Kublai Khan:
Oh, I do listen. Then I hear what I want to.

Jia Sidao:
There are so many rules. It is the rules that build the walls. To keep us apart. And no matter how we wish to break those walls down the rules allow no margin. So there we are, resting our hands on either side of the divide.

Sorga:
No matter the side, we are just people. That's why I did what I did. For you people.

Jia Sidao:
Do you believe that to be true?

Sorga:
I believe your heart and your mind are true to one another.

Khutulun:
[wrestling] You're not the butterfly I expected.

Byamba:
And you are not the lioness.

Empress Chabi:
You are a free man, Jia Sidao. Free from responsibility, free from blame, free to stake your claim wherever you see fit. *Outside* the palace. You will always be a citizen of the Song.

Jia Sidao:
If only that were true.

Hundred Eyes:
I fear your mind has followed your body into bondage.

Marco Polo:
You do not believe in the cause?

Hundred Eyes:
What one chooses to believe in and what one is compelled to believe in, there is a difference.

Byamba:
War is easy. The waiting will kill you.

Khutulun:
I would never sever you from your blade.

Byamba:
You needn't sacrifice one for the other.

Khutulun:
The other?

Byamba:
We are warriors.

Khutulun:
Yes.

Byamba:
Battle me. [they kiss]

Jia Sidao:
[reciting] I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. Do you know this proverb?

Monk:
All too well.

Jia Sidao:
Do you believe in it?

Monk:
I do not judge the decisions that you have made, and I will not understand until you set a scholar's pen to parchment. [laying pen down defiantly]

Jia Sidao:
[enters ceremony hall bloodied from fighting] Are you prepared to take your throne, my Emperor?

Little Boy Emperor:
Yes.

Kublai Khan:
The Great Genghis, he of the wolf, dreamed of a Mongol empire stretching throughout all of China. I have sought to realize his dream without spilling Mongol blood. I have been patient. My patience has been rewarded with the severed heads of men who have marched beside you. My scholars, ministers advised me to choose peace over war. But I am a proud Mongol. At times peace can only be achieved through cruel war. We begin the expedition to fulfill our destiny.

Kublai Khan:
You noble men willing to die for a cause greater than yourselves, return not with wealth, nor slaves, but with honor. Those of you who do not return will have your names carved in the Secret History of the Mongols. Your wives, children and parents will hold their heads above other Mongols, because in their hearts they know their husbands, fathers, their sons, gave their lives in pursuit of the last dream of our Great Genghis!

Soldiers:
[all chanting] For Genghis! For Genghis! For Genghis!

Kublai Khan:
March!

Title Card:
Kublai Khan, King of the Mongols, reigns over the largest empire on earth. His armies rage across the Silk Road, annihilating every holdout in his path.

Title Card:
Except one.

Title Card:
Chancellor Jia Sidao and his Chinese rebel army are entrenched within the walled city of Xiangyang - they have resisted the Mongol horde for over 30 years.

Title Card:
The Polo family - foreign merchants from Venice - venture into the heart of the Great Khan's war-torn empire.

[first lines]

Village Woman:
[woman crying out in Mandarin]

Niccol? Polo:
[translating] She says it is the work of the barbarian devil king.

Village Woman:
[continuing in Mandarin]

Niccol? Polo:
[translating] Her village was loyal to the rebel Song dynasty. If one does not submit to the rule of the Khan this is what happens. [indicating cruel carnage]

Niccol? Polo:
[to Marco] If you are ever afraid, if ever you doubt your place in the world, follow The Three Sisters and they will lead you home. My only fear is that I might awaken in my bed destined to live a common life once again. The blood of an adventurer courses through your veins. I can see this. You will enjoy the greatest adventure of all. You will meet the richest most powerful king on the face of this earth. The Great Kublai Khan.

Kublai Khan:
Emperor of China? Emperor of Mongolia? I will be Emperor of the World!

Kublai Khan:
[abort previous visitor having been dragged out] A man found in possession of a stolen horse must return it to its owner, add nine horses of the same kind. If he is unable to pay this fine his children must be taken instead of the horses. If he has no children then he must be slaughtered like a sheep. That man has no children.

Kublai Khan:
I was just about your age when I knew.

Marco Polo:
Knew what sire?

Kublai Khan:
That I had to become the man I wished my father was.

Kublai Khan:
You want Mongolia? You come and take it!

Prince Jingim:
General Aruka advised retreat. I gave the order that we turn and fight like Mongols.

Kublai Khan:
Mongols do not lose.

Prince Jingim:
I have thought of nothing else these past days and nights.

Kublai Khan:
A ride preceded by victory is much shorter.

Empress Chabi:
[entering] True words such as these can only be drawn from a well of personal experience.

Marco Polo:
[street urchins grabbing at him] Hey, can we get away from these piss ants?

Sanga:
These are my children. They follow me around like a king.

Marco Polo:
I called Ariq a liar tonight.

Hundred Eyes:
That was foolish. Were your words true?

Marco Polo:
Yes.

Hundred Eyes:
Run now, they will find you. Stay I can train you to survive in whatever world you choose to make your home.

Marco Polo:
This is not my home.

Hundred Eyes:
I understand.

Marco Polo:
Where did the Khan get you from?

Hundred Eyes:
I said I would train you not wallow in nostalgia with you.

Empress Chabi:
Ariq believes he can pleasure your women better than you.

Kublai Khan:
Does that excite you, Empress?

Empress Chabi:
Ariq should be trampled by 1,000 horses and left on a steppe to rot. That would excite me.

Empress Chabi:
Two Eels, One Cave. Do you know this forbidden game? [slowly disrobing before excited soldiers]

Ariq B?ke:
I do not want to be Emperor of China. I do not want to be Ruler of the Face of the Earth. I want to be Khan of Mongolia.

Kublai Khan:
They are one and the same, brother.

[last lines]

Kublai Khan:
[standing victorious on the battle field] Men of Karakorum, it is over! This fight between Mongols is done! We stand together now! We ride together! Every corner of the land beneath this Blue Sky is ours for the taking! Go back to Karakorum. Prepare for war. For soon, we ride toward the south. [men shouting]

[first lines]

Tulga:
My Lady, they are upon us!

Kokachin:
The Khan has come. Run for the desert.

ChangYang:
Lady Kokachin! You're protected by your blood. They will not harm you.

Kokachin:
Harm me? No. Take me into Kublai's harem? Yes. [unsheathes her dagger]

ChangYang:
Is it not better than death?

Kokachin:
No, Nergui. To live under the yoke of a Khan is not better than the Eternal Blue. [impales herself]

ChangYang:
[gasps] Lady Kokachin! [sobbing]

Prince Jingim:
Good New Year to you, brother.

Byamba:
I worry when you call me brother instead of bastard. It precedes a request.

Prince Jingim:
[chuckles] I need not request. I order.

Byamba:
I await your command, Jingim Khan...

Empress Chabi:
[sarcastically] 'Tis a powerful man who injures little children.

Lin Lin:
I miss my mother.

Jia Sidao:
We all do, Sunflower but I've arranged to speed her journey. Now look away, child. [tightens foot bindings]

Lin Lin:
[whimpering]

Yusuf:
I am a servant who has but one function.

Marco Polo:
Which is?

Yusuf:
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.

Marco Polo:
Yet here we are.

Yusuf:
Yet here we are.

Yusuf:
My suspicion of Marco has waned, but for now. To be safe, those whom lack your trust, kill.

Kublai Khan:
There would be few left living if I heed that counsel. Should I trust *you*, Yusuf?

Prince Jingim:
You slayed Ariq single-handedly.

Kublai Khan:
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.

Prince Jingim:
The line is clear.

Kublai Khan:
But not guaranteed, Jingim.

[last lines]

Kokachin:
It is time for Jingim to take a new wife, I think.

Kublai Khan:
A more fertile b*tch, I hope. The rest are barren as my Gobi. I trust you have someone in mind?