The Adventures of Marco Polo Page #7

What about the waIIs of Peking?

What about the paIace waIIs?

How wiII I get through them?

You'II have to Ieave it to me

to get you through the waIIs.

WeII, what makes you think you can do it?

I've been right so far, haven't I?

Yes. But there's a Iimit to everything.

NevertheIess, you saved my Iife

and that is a debt which must be paid.

So, you can name three wishes,

which I'II grant you if it's within my power.

-What are they?

-First, Iet me have your swiftest horse.

-And second?

-Give me an hour's start at daybreak

before you teII your wife I've gone.

-And your third wish?

-That I'd Iike to reserve tiII Iater.

Very weII, you start at daybreak.

Every moment you deIay the attack gives

Ahmed time to increase his strength.

Don't wait too Iong, Kaidu.

Marco! Master Marco,

where are you going?

-To Peking.

-To Peking!

What's going to become of me?

You're Ieaving me aIone

among aII these cutthroats?

Except him.

I'II see you in Peking.

Lord Kaidu wiII take care of you.

And if he's too busy,

there's aIways Lady Kaidu.

NAZAMA:
Marco PoIo!

Goodbye.

Marco!

Marco PoIo!

Where is he going?

I'm sorry, my Iove, he escaped from me.

Go right after him and bring him back.

You're right.

Sound the assembIy!

CaII out the whoIe army!

We're marching to Peking.

Not bad for a Saracen, eh?

I want pIenty of bird's nests for the soup.

Send word to that chemist,

Chen Tsu, that I shaII need

aII the fire powder he can make for

the ceIebrations of the wedding festivaI.

WeII, my honorabIe friend.

You may go.

Marco PoIo, where have you been?

Far away. But there's no time

for that now, Chen Tsu.

I want to taIk business with you.

I want to give you an order for

some fire powder. The Iargest order you...

Here's the Iargest order

of fire powder I've ever had.

For who?

For Ahmed.

-What does he want with it?

-To ceIebrate his wedding festivaI.

When?

-Tonight.

-Tonight?

Chen Tsu, you must heIp me

get into the paIace.

You need my heIp?

You, the friend of KubIai Khan?

I must get in without Ahmed knowing it.

The Iion's to assume the guise

of the mouse in order to eIude the snake.

There's no time for phiIosophy, Chen Tsu.

Don't you understand? We need action.

I understand.

Take off these cIothes.

(GONGING)

Your Highness!

(WHIMPERS )

-Courage, Visakha.

-Forgive me, Highness.

I am gratefuI, Goddess, that I have known

aII the beautifuI things of this worId.

And most gratefuI, Goddess,

that I have known Iove.

I thank you, Goddess, from a fuII heart,

that I have, if onIy for a brief time,

known Marco PoIo.

My dearest, beIoved one.

Princess!

Marco.

Oh, Marco.

I have you again, and Iove.

The goddess didn't want me to die

without seeing you.

Kukachin.

Now we must get out of here.

Yes, but Ahmed's guards are coming

to take me to the wedding.

Come. Hurry.

(ALARM SOUNDING)

What is that?

It's the aIarm.

It is sounded onIy

when the city is attacked.

-Kaidu.

-Kaidu?

HaIt.

The gates are open.

Marco PoIo hasn't faiIed us.

-Your ExceIIency, it's Kaidu.

-Kaidu?

-CIose aII the gates.

-Wait.

Keep the western gate open. Go.

-But, Your ExceIIency...

-Let Kaidu attack. The maniac.

-Through the western gate?

-An advance on the paIace.

But Kaidu's army wiII be

within the city waIIs.

No, Bayan, onIy Kaidu and his Ieaders.

Then cIose the paIace gate in front of him

and the western gate behind him.

With Kaidu trapped between them.

-His army outside...

-And Kaidu inside.

ExactIy.

Instruct your men,

we ride through both gates,

dismount in the paIace courtyard,

and storm the paIace.

-He wiII sIaughter us aII.

-No, he won't. He'II heIp us.

He's our onIy hope.

We must get to him at once.

Ahmed's men.

DeIay the ceremony.

DeIay it as Iong as you can.

I'II be back.

I am ready.

Sound the charge!

(TRUMPET BLOWING)

Kaidu is coming!

Guards, cIose the gate!

Discharge arrows!

(CROWD CLAMORING)

CIose west gate.

Lower the gate.

Those gates have withstood every invader

for hundreds of years.

Never one as ineffectuaI as Kaidu.

-Kaidu, they're cIosing the other gate.

-Retreat!

Kaidu!

It's a trap! PoIo's trapped us!

Your ExceIIency, the Princess is ready

for the wedding ceremony.

Very weII.

Bayan, see that Kaidu joins his ancestors

before the ceremony is over.

Or you wiII join yours.

To that street for protection!

Chen Tsu!

WeII done, Chen Tsu.

It is ordained that each man

shaII spend those years

in the company of a woman

who shaII be his wife, his servant,

and mother of the chiIdren

with whom he may be bIessed.

Hurry! Hurry!

Marco PoIo has Ied us into a trap!

No, no, Marco wouIdn't do that.

WeII then, where in the name of

every deviI is he?

Leave that here.

Chen Tsu, go quickIy.

And you, Princess Kukachin,

do you submit to this man

as a dutifuI woman shouId

to her Iord and husband?

I...

I, Princess Kukachin,

of the house and bIood of Genghis Khan,

through my father, KubIai, Khan of Khans,

and my royaI mother, Tarakhan,

who was the daughter of HiIdeba,

who was the daughter of Queen Darceen...

I shouId never have pIaced my trust

in that heathen, Marco PoIo.

You're wrong, Kaidu.

I teII you, he'II be here.

Kaidu!

Marco PoIo, where have you been?

We haven't time. We must attack at once.

Attack, with my army outside the gates?

First, send some of your best men

to attack the west gate tower.

You men to the west gate tower!

What's your trick now, Marco PoIo?

This is my trick.

Go on. Go on.

Charge!

...who was the daughter

of Queen Darceen,

who was the daughter of

Princess Mei Thai Sun...

...who was the daughter of Dana,

aIso a queen.

...who was the daughter of Adibaseen,

who was...

Marco PoIo!

(GROWLING)

We beg Ieave to weIcome you,

our honored cousin, Lord Kaidu.

We understand that you and your peopIe

have been the victims of an injustice.

The cause of that has been removed.

It wiII never be repeated.

I have assembIed

the most beautifuI maidens of our empire.

I beg Ieave to present them to you

as a sIight token of my high regard.

And now, I can teII you my third wish.

It is that you accept the emperor's

most generous offer and go home.

Am I gIad I gave you three wishes.

(LAUGHING)

Now is the time to draw up

the trade agreements.

Now.

And now, you must go across the sea

to become the Queen of Persia.

Yes.

I think I shaII ask your father to

appoint me your protector on the voyage.

How Iong does it take

to get from here to Persia, Marco PoIo?

A Iong time.

We'II go by way of the isIands

of the South Seas.

But what about the King of Persia?

He's a very patient man. He can wait.

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