The Ring of Earth - Chris Bradford [23]
‘What are you doing?’
‘Training,’ he replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
‘For what?’
‘Holding on. You need to be strong to climb walls. Sometimes you might have to hold on for hours before you can escape. I bet you can’t hang on as long as I can!’
Jack smiled. There was something compelling about the boy’s enthusiasm, and also something very familiar. Hanzo reminded him a little of his good friend Yori. Deciding he’d had enough of thinking, Jack put down his swords and pack, and climbed the tree. Shimmying along the branch, Jack dropped down beside Hanzo and clung on with his fingers.
‘So how long do we do this?’
Hanzo grinned. ‘Until one of us falls in.’
As they both dangled over the pond, Miyuki appeared.
‘You’ve decided to hang around then?’ she smirked.
‘For a little while,’ Jack replied. ‘Thanks for saving me this morning.’
‘Don’t thank me. I was under orders. I’d have left you to your fate.’
‘No, you wouldn’t,’ said Hanzo, shocked. ‘Shonin said Jack’s one of us.’
‘He’s not a ninja,’ replied Miyuki dismissively. ‘A samurai doesn’t have the skill or pureness of heart to be a real ninja.’
‘Of course he does. Jack’s King of the Tengu!’
‘Is that right?’ she mocked.
‘Apparently,’ Jack replied, swinging nonchalantly from the branch, his old skills of hanging from the yardarm as a rigging monkey quickly coming back.
Miyuki glared up at him. ‘You think what you’re doing now makes you a ninja? That’s kids’ training.’
Still smarting from his defeat at hand-to-hand combat, Jack felt compelled to challenge Miyuki. ‘You’re just scared I could beat you.’
‘No!’ she shot back. ‘Samurai always think they’re so superior.’
Miyuki leapt cat-like into the tree and climbed on to the branch next to Jack’s. She positioned herself opposite him.
‘You think this is easy. The real test is whether you could do this under the pressure of battle.’
‘Why would I be hanging from a tree in the middle of a fight?’ asked Jack.
Miyuki rolled her eyes in irritation. ‘It could be a castle wall or a rock face. Whatever, you wouldn’t last a minute.’
Jack thought of Yamato clinging to the balcony in Osaka, while he’d been desperately holding on to the rope from which Akiko dangled. He’d been faced with an impossible choice, but he hadn’t let go. ‘What makes you so certain of that?’
Miyuki lifted her leg and kicked Jack in the stomach.
Taken by surprise, he couldn’t avoid the attack. The foot connected and a blast of pain rocketed through his midriff. Absorbing the impact, he somehow managed to cling on to the branch with his fingertips. Miyuki tried again, this time roundhouse-kicking him in the thigh. But Jack had regained his hold and was ready for her. He raised his knee, blocking the attack, then swung both his feet at Miyuki.
She let go with one arm and swayed out of the way. Using her free hand, she reached over and hammered Jack’s knuckles with her fist. Jack was forced to release his grip, grabbing further down the branch. It began to bend under his weight.
Meanwhile, Hanzo was laughing in delight at the acrobatic tree fight.
Miyuki swung herself across to another bough to get a better angle of attack on Jack. The two of them fought in mid-air, each trying to gain the advantage.
Scissor-kicking him, Miyuki wrapped her legs round Jack’s waist. She tugged on his body, trying to dislodge him. Jack struggled to keep hold, his strength now rapidly fading. As a last-ditch effort, he released one hand and grabbed for Miyuki’s wrist. He yanked her grip loose at the same time as she pulled him from his branch. They both tumbled through the air, entangled in one another’s grasp, and fell into the water.
Jack came up gasping, Miyuki beside him. She stared daggers at Jack.
Hanzo dropped from the tree on to the bank. ‘I win!’ he shouted with glee.
Miyuki ignored the jubilant Hanzo.
‘You should leave, samurai,’ she seethed. ‘Before you really get hurt.’
‘You’ve just convinced me to stay,’ Jack replied, smiling amiably. ‘You make a fine sparring partner.’
‘Great!’ said Hanzo,