Genghis: Lords Of The Bow Quotes
"They give him too much honor with their fear."
"They fight yet, my lord. They have stood against the charge and their arrows sting the men of Genghis, hurting them."
"That is good, Kokchu, but I should go back down to them, to give them heart."
"How else could the dogs of Genghis have reached this hill, if not over Naiman dead?"
"Tell them to live, that they might see where this Genghis takes us all."
"Perhaps he will be merciful with my sons once he has killed me."
"You have fought well. Surrender to me and I will welcome you at my fires. I will give you honor."
"This is not a time of death, shaman. We are one people and there will be no more battles between us."
"They have kept us apart for a thousand generations... That is the past. I have brought us together and they will be trembling."
"I will not spill blood here, but I will not need my brother's shadow."
"Honor has been satisfied. There is no grudge between us."
"I am satisfied with my part in this, brother."
"You too are marked, Temuge. I cannot believe you were part of this."
"If my brother was made to kneel, Woyela, you will not stand again."
"We came here as tribes. We leave as a nation."
"There are no tribes under the sky father. There is only one Mongol nation."
"What is the purpose of life if not to conquer? To steal women and land?"
"We will ride into the dry country, taking all the water we need for one sudden strike."
"The earth mother will know her sons and brothers have found their inheritance and she will rejoice to hear thunder on the plains."
"If we are to cross the desert, we will need to collect water and feed for the horses."
"Once I have the oath, there is nothing more holding us to this place."
"It is about time they did more than allocate food and water for the men."
"The stones had never been used before. Most were moss-covered from years of lying ready on the wall."
"We have sent the dogs running," Shen Ti said, recovering.
"I will leave the bodies for the rest of the day, lord, to be certain none of them are faking death."
"Get back to your positions and be ready for another attack."
"Trade would be strangled for a generation and punishment raids would be sent out against every Uighur settlement."
"He would not like to be among them, he thought."
"There will be no talking and not one of you will go more than fifty paces, even if there are emeralds the size of duck eggs lying in the sand."
"The land might have seemed as peaceful as any other morning."
"Generations of peace had made them more adept at bullying favors from city prostitutes than martial skills."
"Let him but show one trace of nervousness and they would feel the storms of panic that blew through the slums and streets of the city below."
"Anything of note in the throne room became market gossip before the sun set."
"With the sort of wooden shield we used against the fort, we could protect men long enough to hammer through the canal openings."
"The tribesmen did not rest, or stop for food."
"It was foolish to think they were completely private."
"The canals pass into the city, lord, through tunnels barred with iron."
"If they have been built by men, they can be destroyed by men, I am certain of it."
"Iron will not touch you, lord. Stone will not break you. You are the Wolf and the sky father watches."
"The wildest of them engaged the guards with swords, looping in and out again like stinging insects."
"Caught away from the city, it was slaughter."
"Blood ran down the shaft onto his hand and dried there, gumming his fingers together."
"Genghis laughed at the sight of the bedraggled men standing in the shadow of Yinchuan."
"As Genghis walked he could see the fragments of torn and broken armor on the ground."
"My father told me always to keep the peasants fed."
"Words are not heavy. It does not take more than one of you to carry my reply."
"He could hardly keep her in the same ger as Borte and his sons. So fragile a girl would not survive."
"Goats can be milked many times but killed only once."
"You will have to leave your bow here. You can bury it in the river mud before dawn."
"If you have ever wondered if you were the only coward in a world of warriors, know that they feel the same, to the last man."
"Your body does not rule you. It is a stupid beast that knows nothing of the works of men. It is merely the cart that carries you."
"The sea of grass was larger than he had ever realized, and part of him hungered to see new things."
"Learning it brings its own calm, so that you have conquered fear and your flesh."
"I am home now and there are many things I must do. I will not leave again for many months."
"The moon rose as a frozen sliver of white, casting only a faint sheen on the water."
"You are too old to be a dock guard. In your hands you have enough to buy retirement, a smallholding perhaps, with a wife and chickens."
"As Kokchu had taught him, he prayed to the spirits to guide him safely through the dark waters of the days to come."
"If we are discovered at the gate, or the silk is found, we must run and find a place to hide in the city."
"Whatever was going to happen, whether it was a search of the carts that would end in his death or a quiet entry into Baotou, it would happen soon."
"I could only guess what Chen Yi had in mind for them as they walked back to eat."
"It would not do for the soldiers to see him sweat on a cold morning."
"Life is struggle, master. Is that not also what the Buddhists believe? On the plains of my home, the weak die early. It has always been that way."
"Let the flames come to Baotou. I will stand alive on the ashes when they are done."
"I have lived too long with a foot on my neck, Quishan."
"The wheel of fate does not care for the plans of men."
"The breaking of chains begins with a single link."
"I could smell his guilt, my son. It is something you could learn."
"The question will not arise. I will destroy them there, and when the winter has passed, I will travel to their homeland and burn the last of them from the earth."
"What does any man want but power over you, little one?"
"No Mongol force has ever come past the outer wall before, Imperial Majesty."
"To defeat the enemy, we must know them, my lord, Son of Heaven."
"They talk of this Genghis as beloved of their gods."
"I will travel to each of the cities and spread ashes on my skin and make offerings in atonement."
"Power over you, little one. What does any man want but that?"
"I have trained many of the officers and I tell Your Majesty they will not fail."
"There is no one to hear us here," she said lightly, worsening his agitation. "You fear conspiracy, Ho Sa, where there is none."
"All men die," Yao Shu replied before Ho Sa could speak. "Our lives are no more than a bird flying through a lighted window, then out again into the darkness."
"The strong rule, Chen Yi. Those who are not strong dream of it."
"My word is iron. When all else is lost, there is still that."
"I have never been inside a city, except to burn it down," Genghis replied.
"Most men are like sheep," he went on. "They are not as we are."
"The cities will not surrender if there is no benefit to them."
"We cannot feed them," Genghis replied. "They can still be useful if they soak up the arrows and bolts of our enemies."
"It will be faster for them than starving to death."
"To the north and south, the second Chin wall ran across the mountains... Preserved in ice, it wound its way through distant valleys, a gray snake in the whiteness."
"There is no way through," Taran shouted over the wind. "Perhaps Beriakh and the others had better luck. We should go back."
"Vesak was an old man of more than thirty, while Taran had yet to see his fifteenth year."
"He felt Vesak's hand on his shoulder, then the older man was trotting again and Taran staggered on, trying to match his pace."
"He caught himself by hammering his knife into a fissure, his hand nearly slipping from the hilt as he jerked to a stop."
"He wore sheepskin gloves, but his fingers were still frozen as he packed his mouth with snow and sucked on it."
"Taran felt his senses sharpen, his heart beginning to lose its sluggishness."
"The cold fell away and Taran stood, ignoring the writhing figure of his friend."
"I cannot stand," Vesak murmured. "Let me sit here while you go further on."
"You must find the back trail, boy," Vesak whispered.
"He would not be shamed in front of the older warrior."
"Genghis watched the young boy, amused at his ravenous appetite."
"The prisoners they had taken from the cities still numbered in their thousands, despite the war games Khasar had made them play."
"He thought through his plans once more, but there was nothing else to do."
"He would not show mercy when the battle was over."
"The thought of being hemmed in and unable to charge brought a sick feeling to Genghis's stomach."