The Ring of Earth - Chris Bradford [75]
Holding his stump before his eyes, the samurai’s cry of shock was cut short when a ninja’s arrow lodged itself in his throat. The samurai collapsed in a juddering heap at Jack’s feet.
‘Come on,’ Miyuki insisted, dragging Jack towards the farmhouse. She too was wounded, blood running down her arm.
‘But Hanzo!’ he protested. ‘Soke!’
Mounting the embankments on all sides, Akechi’s army surged into the square and overwhelmed the remaining ninja. Neither Hanzo nor Soke were anywhere to be seen.
‘It’s too late!’ cried Miyuki. She pulled Jack inside the farmhouse, where a handful of ninja were making a last stand. Stumbling down the corridor, Miyuki led Jack into the reception room. As she hurried towards the dais, two samurai – one wearing a red menpō with a hooknose, the other a helmet with two spiked horns – burst through a shoji to their left.
‘At last, I’ve caught up with you!’ snarled the horn-headed samurai.
Jack couldn’t believe it, though he recognized the man’s rat-like moustache and bushy eyebrows. It was the samurai from the inn at Shono.
‘You won’t escape me this time, gaijin,’ he growled, raising his katana.
Jack and Miyuki, side by side, swords in hand, confronted their enemy.
Miyuki glanced at Jack with grim finality. ‘To the death!’
45
FIRE IN THE FARMHOUSE
The two samurai bore down on them. Without warning, the one wearing the menpō attacked his leader. In a lightning strike, he chopped at his neck with the edge of his hand. The samurai collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
‘Fall Down Fist?’ uttered Miyuki, more stunned at the technique than their sudden change of fate.
Their samurai saviour pulled off his mask to reveal a girl’s face. The long dark hair was hidden by the helmet, but the half-moon eyes, dark as black pearl, and the rose-petal lips were instantly recognizable.
‘Akiko!’ cried Jack in astonishment and delight.
He rushed forwards, embracing her. For that brief moment, the battle receded into the distance and he was back in Toba.
‘Forever bound to one another,’ she whispered in his ear, returning his embrace.
‘You know this samurai?’ exclaimed Miyuki, her sword still raised.
‘This is Akiko,’ said Jack, as if that explained everything. ‘My closest friend.’
Akiko bowed her head respectfully, though she kept her eyes on Miyuki throughout.
‘We don’t have time for formalities,’ responded Miyuki, barely acknowledging Akiko’s bow. ‘We have to get out of here.’
Their innate distrust of one another was immediately apparent. For one brief moment, Jack wondered whether Akiko, as a samurai, had revealed the location of the ninja village to daimyo Akechi. But Jack trusted her implicitly. Besides, Akiko wouldn’t have wanted to risk her little brother’s life in a mass attack upon the village.
‘I can take you prisoner,’ Akiko suggested, overlooking Miyuki’s slight. Glancing at Jack, she added, ‘Just like Sensei Kyuzo did at Osaka Castle.’
Miyuki laughed at the idea. ‘No samurai will ever take me prisoner.’
‘And I’m afraid it wouldn’t work,’ said Jack. ‘Daimyo Akechi intends to kill us all. And he definitely wants to kill me.’
‘You can’t fight your way past a thousand samurai,’ Akiko argued.
‘We don’t need to,’ shot back Miyuki.
Jack wondered what she had in mind. Escaping disguised as samurai warriors was out of the question. They were trapped in the farmhouse, lacked a second set of armour and, besides, Akechi’s army was on the alert for imposters.
‘You trust this samurai?’ Miyuki asked of Jack.
‘With my life,’ he replied.
‘Then I suppose I’ll have to,’ she said, sheathing her sword. ‘Follow me.’
Miyuki stepped on to the dais. The sounds of fighting drew nearer. Suddenly a figure staggered into the room.
‘Tenzen!’ said Jack with relief, having given him up for dead.
The ninja was battleworn and bloodstained, a nasty gash on his forehead. Seeing