- Capt. Marcus Grisham: I guess I was more than you expected.
- The Queen of Swords: [points sword at his groin] You could be a little less.
- [first lines]
- [during a sword fight, Torres thrusts his dagger against Tessa's throat]
- Torres: A flick of the wrist and I could kill you!
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: And lose your best pupil?
- [Tessa witnesses the unjust execution of her father's trusted servant by firing squad]
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: That was murder!
- Col. Luis Montoya: There is a difference, senorita, between an execution and murder - it is called the law... and here, I *am* the law.
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: I'm sending a message back to Spain. Once they learn what is happening here in California...
- Marta: They don't already know? Spain is still recovering from the wounds left by Napoleon. She doesn't care about some primitive outpost.
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: And the ones who could help - the Dons - they do nothing... growing fat while their people starve.
- Marta: You expect them to be different?
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: My father was.
- Marta: And he died.
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: What are you saying?
- Marta: Don Alvarado, the finest horseman in California, falls from his horse and dies? People talk - especially your own servants with no ears.
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: People lie.
- Marta: But the guards do not. They tell me he died at the hands of another.
- [to Grisham who is in bed with another man's wife]
- Col. Luis Montoya: Ah, there is nothing like an execution to fire the blood, eh?
- Don Gaspar Hidalgo: You are a woman - beautiful, yes - but only a woman without means, so I tell you this for your own good...
- [whispering]
- Don Gaspar Hidalgo: Questions make enemies.
- Capt. Marcus Grisham: Tessa, I remain concerned for you.
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: You are too kind.
- Capt. Marcus Grisham: A woman all alone - no home, no money. You need protecting.
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: I quite agree. I'll get a dog.
- Capt. Marcus Grisham: Murder? What murder?
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: My father's. Haven't you heard?
- Capt. Marcus Grisham: Oh. No, that was an accident. Who said anything different?
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: People.
- Capt. Marcus Grisham: People? What people? Tell them to come forward.
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: They won't. They're too afraid.
- Capt. Marcus Grisham: Of what?
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: That they, too, might suffer a similar... accident.
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: Papa... you were murdered. Who?
- Don Rafael Alvarado: One man held the gun, but there were many fingers on the trigger.
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: The Queen of Swords - me?
- Marta: How should I know?
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: But you said...
- Marta: I say a lot of things. What do you see?
- [Tessa stares into a mirror and sees her image dissolve to that of a woman in black riding like the wind]
- [last lines]
- Marta: Do you realize where this path will lead?
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: [nodding] To my destiny.
- Don Rafael Alvarado: [voice] Never alone, my little angel. You will see justice is done!
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: Marta, I just had...
- Marta: ...the strangest dream. Yes, I know. It's all here - your destiny.
- [Tessa turns a tarot card]
- Maria Teresa Alvarado: The Queen of Swords.