Original subtitles

# Children of the sun

# See, your time has just begun

# Searching for your ways

# Through adventures every day

# Every day and night

# With the condor in flight

# With all your friends in tow

# We search for the cities of gold

# Searching for the cities of gold

# Some day we will find the cities of gold. #

While trying to escape Pangzi's men surrounding the village,

Esteban and Tao are captured and become prisoners.

He's gone now.

During this time, Zia succeeds in taking off with the Condor to fly

to the rescue of her friends.

Tell me about this great golden bird.

The terrible pirate chief seems willing to do anything

to penetrate the secret of the Golden Bird.

And...and what now?

Head south towards those hills.

Esteban and Tao are sure gonna be surprised when they see the Condor.

And the p-pirates.

What about them?

Oh! Whoa!

Argh!

Argh!

This is your last chance.

You tell me where this golden bird is from

and why we can't even put a dent in it

or you'll be served for dinner.

We don't know!

Tiger droppings! You asked for it.

Who wants to be eaten first?

Good day to you all, sires.

Excuse me for barging in on you all like this.

Oh, pardon me, pardon me.

Oh, no! Why the sad face, my friend?

Life is such a wonderful thing.

Please, allow me to join you.

You seem to be having so much fun.

Are you sure you wouldn't mind?

Oh, what do we have here?

If he likes special treats, I happen to have a meatball.

Hey!

Huh?

- Huh? - Huh?

Ah! Boutang!

Tear this madman into shreds!

Oh, no, no, no. Now, don't be jealous.

I have a little gift for you as well.

Here.

Oh! Silly me. I don't know why I seem to be so clumsy today.

Rah!

A demon! He's a demon!

Gentlemen, I do so enjoy your charming company,

but I think it's time I take my leave.

I do hope no-one has any objection.

Now, enough playing around. Let's go.

Wait, you demon! Let's see if you can stop my arrows.

Hmm.

Now listen carefully.

Get ready to hold your breath, boys.

Right now!

No need to cry, my friends.

I'll come back. Promise!

Don't let them get away.

This way.

Argh!

No!

Uh...

- Oh! - Pirates!

Meanies! Pirates!

The Grand Condor. But...but who's flying it?

I see them! There they are!

Land it here, Zia. Quick! X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:1925900 STYLE

By all the skulls of the dam.

(CACKLES) Look at them run like chickens.

Like r-r-rabbits.

Esteban! Tao!

Look at that. It's Zia and Mendoza. Come on!

- Yeah! - Fast! You must hurry.

Oh!

Argh!

Oh!

Ah.

(GROWLS)

Ah!

Quick! Get on board!

Yah!

Ah!

Hurry up, Esteban!

(LAUGHS EVILLY)

Pull up the ladder, Zia. Quick!

Argh!

Go ahead, take off.

Yah.

I'll catch up. Go!

Oh, Esteban!

Hurry up!

We're l-l-leaving.

Ah!

(GROWLS) Huh?

Tiger droppings.

You won't escape just like that.

Argh!

Argh!

Esteban!

They went that way. Come on!

We never should have interrupted the ceremony of the dragon.

He's right. Just look.

The flames have destroyed all our camp.

We're cursed.

You cowards!

Only the brave will accompany me and get all the gold. X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:09:12.160,MPEGTS:51620300 STYLE

What are we gonna do without Esteban and Mendoza?

Stay on the lookout.

I'm sure we'll find them.

But how?

How can we, with all these trees?

G-g-go b-back again, Zia.

Oh!

Argh!

Oh! What a fall!

Is everything all right, my boy?

Quite a fall there, wasn't it?

Oh.

Uh, yeah, I guess.

And, uh, thanks for everything.

Oh, those pirates deserved a good lesson.

And it is me who should be thanking you for holding on to me.

I'm a bit heavier than I look.

Well, one should never judge a book by its cover.

- Nothing broken? - Huh?

Mendoza! No. I'm fine.

- Mm. - Well, I'll be.

My compass is stuck way up there.

Too bad for your compass.

We best not hang around.

Mm.

Well, that's just not possible.

That compass is precious.

Hmm.

Why, it's thanks to it that I found you all.

Huh?

Hmm.

Huh?

Ah.

Just exactly who are you?

Mm.

Ambroise de Sarle.

But my friends call me Ambrosius.

I am an alchemist and a voyager from France.

Captain Mendoza from Spain.

And me, I'm Esteban.

Fine. Let's get moving.

If the pirates cross the river, they will soon catch up to us.

You need not worry.

Huh?

After what I did to their boats,

they're way behind us, believe you me.

So then, follow me.

I've thought of everything.

Hm. Thought of everything?

But why should we trust you anyway?

Because he saved us.

You're forgetting the Condor, Esteban.

- Oh. - Our friends are looking for us.

If you stay under these trees here, they won't ever find you.

This way.

- Look! - Faster!

We're like sitting ducks out in the open like this.

Oh, come on now.

We're almost there. It's right next to this magnificent rice field.

Oh? Hm?

Oh, look, you guys!

Yoo-hoo!

Hey! Yoo-hoo!

Hey!

Why, how splendid!

Hey! Hey!

It's them! There! Down there!

Yippee!

Hey! Watch out!

Oh, no!

Argh!

Oh! Bravo, you two!

This is your fault!

- Huh? - Huh?

Are you OK, Zia? You're not hurt?

Zia!

Oh!

This incredible flying bird is so fascinating.

- Step aside. - Oh! Oh! I beg your pardon.

But please allow me to examine this young child.

Are you a doctor?

Well, of course.

And also a geologist, astronomer, cartographer

and, needless to say, philosopher.

Mm.

She's fine. She just fainted.

I have just the thing at my place to get her back on her feet.

Your home?

Yes, it's right nearby.

Come along.

Hey, wait for us! X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:14:04.880,MPEGTS:77965100 STYLE

Wow.

And this is my humble abode.

Bravo!

Oh!

You mean you live here on this ship?

But I thought you were a voyager who came from France.

Mm.

Patience. You'll soon understand.

Ah!

Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle.

Oh.

So welcome aboard my vessel.

Whoa! Incredible!

Mm.

Mm.

And now it's time to awaken our sleeping beauty.

Mm.

Where...where...

Where are we? Huh?

The Grand Condor!

It's all right, Zia. Nobody's hurt.

We're here with Ambrosius and...

Ambrosius?

A pleasure to meet you, my child.

Quite a bird that Condor is, is it not?

And not so easy to manoeuvre, no?

Where did you ever find such a marvellous flying machine?

And who built it? You?

Well, actually, we found it.

Pedro, Sancho,

why don't you go stand guard outside?

Now!

Huh? (GROAN)

It's always the same old thing.

Oh, I see, it's a secret.

Oh, I love secrets.

I have plenty myself, you know.

Small ones, big ones.

Gentlemen, if you want some fresh air, it's up this way.

Hm?

Because, you see, I am an alchemist,

and we work in the greatest secrecy.

And the secrets we try to penetrate belong to the universe!

Oh.

But, why, look!

Esteban, look at these symbols.

Boy, oh, boy. How come it's always us, huh?

W-what are you doing, Pedro?

Shh. I'm listening.

Incredible!

Oh, I see you're interested in this book here.

Understandably so.

This is a very precious book.

It's called the Book of Seven Languages.

According to my research,

it comes from a civilisation that no longer exists.

Known by the name of Mu.

- Huh? - Oh!

Oh!

It's a very ancient book that must have travelled the world over.

Each culture, having written precious things

in their own language.

A real treasure that I can't seem to decipher.

Incredible. But...I don't understand.

It looks like the Mu language,

and yet I can't decipher it either.

All of this doesn't tell us what brought you to China.

Oh, I came to meet some alchemist monks of the order of the Templar.

We're going to exchange a few secrets.

Hm.

Uh, what exactly is an alchemist?

The alchemists want to change lead into gold.

And they're also trying to discover the so-called elixir of immortality.

I wasted a lot of time with all that in my youth.

I was so naive.

You didn't succeed?

All of that is for dreamers and poets.

Whereas now I devote my time to something better.

So much better.

Over the course of many years of research, I have discovered

a metal totally unknown, with extraordinarily amazing properties -

orichalcum.

Huh?

Ori-what?

Orichalcum.

This incredible metal is almost like gold.

It looks similar, but its properties are not the same as gold. X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:14:04.880,MPEGTS:77965100 STYLE

It looks similar, but its properties are not the same as gold.

Orichalcum doesn't melt,

but rather accumulates a considerable amount of energy.

Whoa! Hahaha! Exactly like your Condor does with the sun.

You mean to say the Condor isn't made of gold?

That's right, my boy, it's orichalcum.

Oh!

- Huh? - Ah!

- Huh. - My compass is never mistaken.

It immediately detected its enormous mass of orichalcum.

This metal is all of my life.

I'd give anything to find out where it comes from,

who made it, and above all, how.

Argh!

The Condor is not made of gold?

It's worth nothing then.

Oh, it is.

Just know that if orichalcum was well known,

it would be a thousand times more valuable than gold.

What's that you said?

A thousand times more valuable?

Whoa! I bet that they're made of ori-ori stuff, the-the cities.

That's enough, you two.

Go stand guard outside.

But, Mendoza, we're bored up there.

There's nobody in...

Pirates!

Pirates!

I want the children and the little man alive.

And no mercy for the others.

We've got to get out of here before we're trapped like rats.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I wouldn't advise anybody to attack my abode.

It's a little bit special.

Do you have weapons, at least?

(LAUGHS)

Weapons?

But what for?

Huh?

Huh?

Will our heroes finally manage to get free of the pirates?

What incredible secret does Ambrosius the Alchemist possess?

I advise you to step aside.

And what is his astonishing vessel hiding?

You'll find out in the next episode

of The Mysterious Cities of Gold.

Look at these fields at the feet of the Guilin mountains.

They're rice fields.

Rice fields! As in rice?

Exactly.

Rice grows with its feet in the water.

It's the favourite food of the Chinese.

So then, are there rice fields everywhere?

Especially in southern China, where we are now.

Look at the famous Longji terraced rice fields.

Man sculpted the mountains in order to farm every inch of the land.

The spectacle of the watered terraces sparkling under the sun

is a magical moment.

I sure would like to make my nest here!

On the other hand, one has to be pretty courageous

to settle in Longji,

because no vehicles can climb the steep paths of the mountain.

Everything is transported on the backs of men

and women or mules.

So you still want to move here, Kokopetl?

Ah, let me think about it.

Kokopetl's Scoop.

Ambrosius's compass is made of orichalcum.

Uh, what is orichalcum?

Orichalcum is a legendary and mythical metal.

In Greek antiquity, the philosopher Plato

spoke of it as a metal more precious than gold.

Ambrosius and the alchemists went through great lengths

to try and transmute it,

or rather, create it.

Brr! Sounds way too complicated for me.

Bye-bye!

Goodbye and see you soon!