The Ring of Earth - Chris Bradford [48]
He was now literally fighting for his life.
Miyuki didn’t let up and nearly penetrated his defence on several occasions. Then Jack spotted his chance. Miyuki over-committed to an attack, her sword remaining extended a little too long. Jack swiftly executed an Autumn Leaf strike, twice hitting the back of her blade.
The ninjatō clattered to the ground.
Disarmed, Miyuki fumed at Jack as the crowd applauded his supreme skill. Jack bowed in humble acknowledgement.
But Miyuki wasn’t finished. Striding over to Kajiya’s forge, she snatched a manriki-gusari chain hanging from a beam. Spinning the weapon above her head, Miyuki threw the weighted end at Jack. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the surprise attack and managed to block it with the back of his katana. But the links wrapped round the blade and Miyuki jerked the sword from his hand.
Now Jack had only the wakizashi to defend himself with.
Whirling the chain again, Miyuki called out, ‘What are you going to do now, samurai?’
Without hesitation, Jack flipped the sword over in his hand and threw it at her – just like Masamoto had once done to him.
The short sword flew like a shuriken through the air. Miyuki, in mid-swing, her arms above her head, was an easy target. The wakizashi struck her dead-centre in the chest, and she was knocked to the ground.
Mountain-to-Sea technique. To attack in a manner that wouldn’t be expected.
A gasp of astonishment was followed by more applause, everyone realizing that if the sword had been thrown point first, the result would have been fatal. Jack, glad as he was to beat Miyuki, hadn’t wanted to hurt her. He walked over and offered his hand. ‘You fought well.’
‘You were lucky!’ she growled, ignoring his outstretched hand as she got to her feet.
‘Samurai skills, more like,’ said Jack, retrieving his swords.
Miyuki looked daggers at him. Shonin approached with Momochi and Soke, the Grandmaster beaming with approval at Jack’s performance.
‘That was most enlightening,’ said Shonin. ‘Thank you.’
Bowing, Jack readied himself for the inevitable onslaught of questions about the Two Heavens. He’d have to be careful not to reveal too much to the tiger.
‘Masamoto-sama must not only be a great swordsman but a great teacher,’ Shonin acknowledged. ‘The Two Heavens is a truly remarkable sword style. But I wouldn’t say invincible.’
With a brief nod of his head, Shonin strode off to the farmhouse, engaged in deep conversation with Soke.
Jack stared after the two ninja, open-mouthed.
‘I thought Shonin wanted to learn the Two Heavens,’ said Jack, more to himself than anyone in particular.
Momochi heard him and laughed.
‘Shonin didn’t want to learn how to do the technique,’ he said, a sly grin on his face. ‘He wanted to learn how to defeat it.’
Jack’s heart sank as he realized the implications. A tiger as intelligent and cunning as Shonin could work out how to climb the tree for himself – or simply cut it down.
‘Shonin was looking for weaknesses in the technique,’ Momochi went on, gloating at Jack’s evident alarm. ‘That demonstration has just saved many a ninja’s life.’
Momochi swaggered off to join Shonin and Soke.
Jack bitterly regretted his decision to display the Two Heavens. He could only pray Masamoto would forgive him for this serious error of judgement. At least the ninja were only intending to use their knowledge for defence, rather than to attack samurai.
‘You were amazing!’ exclaimed Hanzo, scampering over excitedly. ‘Tengu technique! I can’t wait to learn it.’
‘Very impressive,’ Tenzen agreed.
‘I had a good teacher,’ replied Jack, allowing himself a smile as Hanzo mock-fought with two imaginary swords. ‘Masamoto-sama’s the greatest samurai swordsman in Japan. Courageous, noble –’
Miyuki laughed scathingly. ‘A samurai, noble?’
‘Yes!’ said Jack defiantly. ‘He taught me bushido.’
‘Bushido!’ spat Miyuki, squaring up to Jack. ‘You believe in that lie?’ Miyuki’s defeat in the demonstration had evidently roused her anger. ‘You need to be told the truth about