- King Edward: Tell me, when you refuse me your loyalty because I am a Norman, have you not considered that I have no choice in the same matter - that I must be king for Norman and Saxon alike whether I like it or not. Do you, Saxon, not owe something besides hatred to the same cause?
- Walter of Gurnie: Oh, how do we find your tent?
- Bayan: Scholar, if any man in my army can't tell you where my tent is, our poetic young bowman can use him as a target.
- Bayan: At least I'm good enough to know, no war was ever won that was fought in the same way as the war before it.
- Tristram Griffin: I was thinking about going with you.
- Walter of Gurnie: To Cathay?
- Tristram Griffin: Well, where's that?
- Walter of Gurnie: Well, it's a long way from your forest.
- Tristram Griffin: Well, maybe Sarah would like it there.
- Walter of Gurnie: Now, don't talk too lightly about it, Tris,. If we should go to such a place, the chances are all you'll get out of it is that, in the end, you'll be hung by a Mongol instead of a Norman.
- Tristram Griffin: Well, if it comes to that, I'd sooner give the pleasure to somebody I don't know than a Norman I hate.
- Walter of Gurnie: A far land it is then. I guess this is the beginning.
- Bayan: That's the only way you can ever sleep soundly, you know, when your enemy's sleep is eternal.
- Tristram Griffin: Who is this Bayan general, the one with all the eyes?
- Lu Chung: Oh, he's the greatest soldier in the world. The great Khan borrowed him from Persia for his war against China. He will conquer the world one day.
- Bayan: A bowman and a scholar, both without a country. It's just possible you two could be of service to me. I'll think about it. It's your move.
- Bayan: Think. I have a new plan for war. Find a flaw in it if you can. It's a plan for China. Many men have tried to conquer China, but she swallowed them all. Strike a blow into a great, soft pillow. The pillow gives with the blow, and the force is spent. You can't conquer geography. Occupy a country, and what happens? Your soldiers become jailers, and you're that much weaker. What do we do? Think, scholar. We don't occupy at all. We strike and strike on. Destroy. Strike at the very heart of China - Kinsai. Destroy the government. Destroy the will to resist.
- Bayan: What's the matter, Englishman? We won today. But you have no joy in the victory. Why? It's the business of battle. It's very simple. Kill the enemy. A soldier must like to kill. No man can follow me who hasn't the belly for that.
- Walter of Gurnie: [after the battle] I saw you at the beginning. You and your bowman against those fire tubes.
- Tristram Griffin: They sounded like the anger of God! I think perhaps they were! They're killing every man, woman, and child in the district like harvesters through a field of grain! They pull their heads forward by the hair for the ax. Not one left alive! Like harvesters cutting wheat!
- Bayan: You can refuse to go if you want to. The risk is great enough.
- Walter of Gurnie: No. I'll go, my Lord.
- Bayan: It's settled then.
- [as Walter turns to go]
- Bayan: Scholar? Maybe I'm a little sorry I thought of this journey for you, but be sure of this: if they kill you, I'll kill 10 of them for every hair on your head... I have a strange feeling I may not see you again... If that's true, I'll miss you, Scholar... I don't miss many men.
- Walter of Gurnie: Well, for your sake, I'll try not to get killed.
- Simeon Beautrie: To this said Walter of Gurnie, he bequeaths his black boots of Spanish leather with the golden leopards.
- Anthemus: When you send presents to the great Khan, he demands nine times nine of everything - silks, jewels, women. I had to find 81 of the most beautiful women of this land.
- Wilderkin: We have gone into trade. A belted knight of Gurnie in trade - dealing in armorers' iron and swine. And just like he does everything else, not a word to anyone. One morning, the horses were gone and the swine came. And then the iron. And when they wanted to know where he wanted it put - he told me to have them put it in front of the gate. They didn't know what he meant, but I did. If we were going to be in trade, put it out where the world could see. If there's a price to pay, pay it. And when he walks by it - he looks neither to the right nor to the left.
- Anthemus: Search them! If there is nothing of value, cut off their hair to make a pillow for my feet. I will have something for my trouble.
- Tristram Griffin: Now, what heathen...
- Walter of Gurnie: The Crusades have given these people reason enough not to love Christians. Besides, we're not looking for trouble. We're looking for the biggest merchant with the biggest caravan to the farthest places.
- Tristram Griffin: He'll likely be the biggest pirate too.
- Walter of Gurnie: That mighty general is camped right over that hill with his army. We're camped here so that wild crew of his... doesn't get a look at the women we brought with us.
- Anthemus: Because it is all for the Khan, it will travel under the protection of the army of the great General Bayan himself. Bayan of the Hundred Eyes.
- Tristram Griffin: I don't know why they didn't build me to fit a camel better or build a camel to fit me better.
- Lu Chung: I wouldn't consider offering your services to Bayan. His men are trained to love killing. They would enjoy cutting a Christian's throat.
- Walter of Gurnie: Why is she called the Black Rose?
- Lu Chung: That's the name they've given the clove, the most precious of the spices.
- Lu Chung: I have a message for you, from the Black Rose.
- Walter of Gurnie: And who would the Black Rose be?
- Lu Chung: She is the sister of my kindly master.
- Walter of Gurnie: Well, that's fine.
- Lu Chung: She wishes to escape. She say she is going to England and that all Englishmen are gallant and you will be glad to help one of your own blood.
- Walter of Gurnie: Unless you do as I say, I'm gonna send you back to the women's tent.
- Maryam: No. We'll do just as the miracle said - or - or I will tell them I'm here. All they will do to me is send me back with the other women. But they won't be so kind with you, I think. Now I think you will look to see if you think I am beautiful.
- Walter of Gurnie: All right, all right. You're beautiful.
- Bayan: What I can't touch doesn't exist. You conquer, or somebody conquers you. That's all there is to it.
- Walter of Gurnie: Oh, it's not gonna work. What are we gonna do now? I guess the only thing to do is just to sit here and wait for the ax to fall.
- Walter of Gurnie: Well, I'll tell you one thing. I'm sick of lost causes. If he conquers the world, at least we'll be on the winning side for a change.
- Maryam: I hoped you would begin telling me about England. What is it like there? Is it very beautiful?
- Walter of Gurnie: I don't know.
- Maryam: Do you think it's beautiful, Tris?
- Tristram Griffin: Yes, I think it's beautiful. The most beautiful place in the world. It smells good. The forest, the English soil. It's clean. The rain washes it that way, I suppose. It's so clean, it's fragrant with it.
- Empress of China: Now are there two of them, or are there not? Are their skins fair, or have you no eyes? Is there such a prophecy, or is there not? Is it your duty to know such things, or is it not? Do not argue with me more in this matter.
- Chinese Captain: I'm commanded to tell you that if you have any desire - you have only to express the wish.
- Walter of Gurnie: What is this place?
- Chinese Minister: It is the Palace of Her Unlimited Magnificence.
- Maryam: He doesn't mean everything he says. I think he doesn't really know what he wants. But I don't know what to do about it.
- Tristram Griffin: Where are you going?
- Walter of Gurnie: You can't just walk out of here without a plan. I'm gonna find out how to get to China.
- Tristram Griffin: I don't see what you're so particular about. It took me a half an hour to convince four girls they weren't going to bathe me.
- Chinese Captain: This house is called... the Abode of Everlasting Felicity. I hope it does not fail that name.