The Ring of Earth - Chris Bradford [71]
That evening, Jack sat with Soke and Hanzo, and they enjoyed a simple but solemn meal together. The rice Soke had selected was laid out upon a small shelf that acted as the farmhouse’s kami shrine. Everyone washed their hands and Soke led them in prayer for a good harvest. Then in reverential silence he presented himself, Hanzo and Jack with a few grains. In turn, they tasted the rice.
A satisfied grin appeared on Soke’s face. ‘The rice has grown well again this year,’ he announced.
That night Jack went to bed content, but utterly exhausted. However, by the afternoon of the third day, Jack really knew what it meant to be tired. His muscles were knotted and aching, and the sapping heat had drained his strength. He’d thought being a rigging monkey on-board the Alexandria had been tough work, but that was nothing compared to the backbreaking labour of a rice harvest.
Matters weren’t helped by the weather. There wasn’t even a breeze to alleviate the unrelenting heat of the sun. And the ground, baked hard, was now cracking into a dusty-brown mosaic.
Jack took a water break, resting under the feeble shade of a tree. Shiro was already there, apparently dozing.
‘I warned you your arms would drop off,’ Shiro muttered from beneath his straw hat. ‘You should conserve your energy. Never know when you might need it.’
Miyuki joined them.
‘It’s so hot today,’ she gasped, wiping her brow.
Jack nodded, taking a long swig from his water gourd. As he did so, he noticed a column of hazy smoke rising from the ridge into the cloudless blue sky. ‘Too hot,’ he said. ‘Looks like a forest fire’s started.’
Miyuki squinted in the direction Jack was gazing.
‘That’s no fire. It’s a smoke beacon!’ she said, her eyes widening in alarm. ‘We’re under attack!’
43
INVASION
‘How did they find us?’ Miyuki exclaimed as the alarm was raised throughout the village.
‘Who knows?’ said Shiro, glancing sideways at Jack.
Jack felt a cold slither of dread run through him. It can’t have been his fault. Even if daimyo Akechi had somehow got his hands on the note, the message had been carefully coded.
‘All that matters is they have,’ stated Tenzen as he kicked away at a dam and allowed the paddy fields to flood again.
‘But why now?’ asked Miyuki. ‘When we’re in harvest?’
‘That’s exactly why. Our guard is down. We’re tired. Akechi’s been waiting for this moment.’
A battalion of armoured samurai materialized from the forest to stand upon the ridge in one unbroken line. Raising their swords aloft, the countless blades catching the blazing sun, they gave an almighty battle cry. It echoed through the valley.
This was answered by another.
Jack was almost stopped in his tracks at the sight of a second battalion marching up the valley road, the column stretching into the distance like an immense dragon’s tail.
‘They certainly haven’t come to negotiate a surrender,’ said Tenzen. ‘This’ll be a fight to the death. Gather your weapons. My father will need us all in the village square.’
Splitting from the others, Jack ran to Soke’s farmhouse. The first wave of troops had already begun to descend the slopes. But the Ring of Earth was proving an effective defence. The steep valley sides and lack of paths hampered their advance. Some samurai were even falling over themselves, their armour hindering them.
Jack flung open the door to the doma. In the hearth room, Soke had raised a section of the floorboards, beneath which Jack could see a whole host of hidden weapons – swords, knives, shuriken, shuko claws, chains, and even a small bow and quiver of arrows. The entire time Jack had been living in the house, he’d had no idea this compartment existed. The shock on his face must have been apparent.
‘Although I hope for the best,’ said Soke, fishing out a large