- [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]