The Ring of Earth - Chris Bradford [19]
Jack’s only thought now was of escape. He wouldn’t allow himself to be held prisoner by the ninja, not if he could help it. His pack was in the corner as he’d left it, the rutter still safely tucked inside. But his swords were nowhere to be seen.
Silently, he moved to the shoji and peeked through. The hearth room was empty. Grabbing his pack, Jack slid open the door and tiptoed through to the doma. The voices grew louder. The ninja were right outside the entrance.
‘The boy’s more trouble than he’s worth,’ hissed a voice Jack recognized as Momochi’s.
‘You can’t deny he’s a skilled fighter.’ It was Tenzen. ‘I’ve never seen Miyuki so riled.’
‘That makes him more dangerous. He’s not to be trusted.’
‘As I said,’ interrupted Soke, ‘I’ll deal with him in the morning.’
Jack had no intention of staying until then.
He hunted the house for his swords, but they weren’t anywhere. As much as it pained him and went against the samurai code, he’d be forced to leave without his weapons. It would be simply too risky to search an entire ninja village.
But he needed something to defend himself with. Among the farm tools he found an old knife and tucked it into his obi. Then he searched the doma for a means of escape. The single shuttered window was clearly too small; the thatch roof too compact to break through. That left the entrance door as the only exit. Then he noticed the candle in the doma flickering as if caught in a breeze. But the window was closed. Ducking down, Jack spotted a missing wall panel under the raised timber floor through which the breeze was entering. He crawled under the boards, pulling his pack after him.
The gap opened on to the paddy fields behind the house. He shoved his pack through, but the hole proved too small for him. Furiously, Jack dug away at the earth. He knew he didn’t have much time. Someone was bound to check on him soon. With great effort, he pulled himself through. Shouldering his pack, he darted along the edge of the nearest paddy. If he could just reach the treeline, they’d have little chance of catching him.
Weaving his way up the slope, he headed for the temple. With no direct route through the terraced fields, the going was tortuously slow and he’d barely made the village boundary when he heard Hanzo shout.
‘Grandfather, the tengu’s gone!’
Jack stumbled on to a wide path and ran for his life. His lungs burnt for oxygen as he climbed the steep valley side. Reaching the temple, Jack took one final glance back. He couldn’t see any ninja following him, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there, hidden by the darkness.
The forest was pitch-black and Jack had to rely on all his other senses to navigate his way through. He tried to remain calm, but his panicked mind imagined ninja at every turn. Trees transformed into devilish apparitions. Shadows pursued him. Invisible assassins revealed their presence in the snap of a twig or the rustle of leaves.
But no one materialized to stop him.
After an hour, he was forced to rest. Thankfully, dawn was approaching and the sky was getting brighter. In spite of his paranoia, he hadn’t seen or heard any pursuing ninja. Miraculous as it seemed, he’d escaped.
Swigging the last of the water from his gourd, Jack realized he was ill-prepared for a long journey. He’d lost his swords, possessed only a little rice, and had no idea of his location.
Guessing that Soke had taken him south from Shono into the Iga mountains, Jack judged his best chance now was to head west. Hopefully, he’d find a road leading to the town of Iga Ueno. Two years ago, Jack had visited the Tendai Temple there for the Circle of Three challenge. The monks would surely remember him and be willing to provide sanctuary. If his luck was in, Sensei Yamada and Yori might even be there by now.
With a destination in mind, Jack’s resolve strengthened. He looked to the sky. It was hard to gauge east accurately with the mountains still obscuring the rising sun. But as long as he had the morning light to his back, Jack knew he would be heading in the right direction. He set