The Ring of Earth - Chris Bradford [85]
The darkened room was full of samurai.
At a glance, Jack counted about thirty asleep on the floor. Miyuki indicated for the two of them to sneak through.
Bad idea, mouthed Jack.
Miyuki nodded, but crawled through the window anyway. Slowly and silently, she began to cross the room. Against his better judgement, Jack followed. He stepped lightly on to the wooden floor. Tiptoeing between the sleeping samurai, he prayed all his stealth training would pay off.
He was halfway when a loose floorboard squeaked under his weight. He stopped. So did Miyuki.
But all the samurai slept on, their snoring drowning out his mistake.
Carefully retracting his foot, Jack skirted the offending floorboard and joined Miyuki near the shoji. Her eyes were wide with alarm as she pointed to the floor.
Jack saw that a samurai had rolled over in his sleep and on to her foot. There was nothing she could do – unless they woke him. Miyuki signed for Jack to go on without her, but he shook his head, unwilling to leave her behind.
All of a sudden the man snored loudly like a pig.
This was enough for him to stir in his sleep, and he rolled off Miyuki’s trapped foot. She hastily stepped away and over to the door. Keen to get out of the perilous situation, Jack reached for the shoji. But Miyuki stopped him.
Pulling a vial of oil from her pouch, she greased the runners first. The door slid silently open. Poking her head through, she checked the way was clear before stepping into the corridor with Jack and closing the door behind them.
Jack now took the lead, their way lit by candle lanterns set into the wall. Padding down the corridor, they bore right to a set of stairs. Jack recognized these as the ones he’d been dragged down from daimyo Akechi’s floor. Having got his bearings, he was now able to guide Miyuki to Gemnan’s room. Turning left, Jack found the corridor they’d been looking for.
He took one step then froze as a bird warbled.
It was a Nightingale Floor.
52
GEMNAN
‘Gemnan must have a lot of enemies,’ whispered Miyuki, studying the corridor before them.
Jack slid his foot off the Nightingale Floor and shook his head with dismay. Only now did it come back to him. Singing birds. He’d been so preoccupied with his fate at the time of his capture, Jack had thought all the sounds were coming from outside.
‘It’s impossible,’ he said.
‘For a samurai, yes. But not for a ninja.’
Miyuki placed her toes lightly upon the first floorboard.
Silence.
She moved on to the next, her feet seeming to float above the surface.
‘Follow in my footsteps.’
‘But Soke said only one man has ever done this.’
‘I’m not a man,’ stated Miyuki.
Chastened, Jack did as he was told. Even though he’d perfected floating feet technique on rice paper, he’d never been taught the secret skills necessary to cross a Nightingale Floor. Jack realized he’d have to match Miyuki’s movements exactly. A single mistake – a tear – would bring their downfall.
Sweat beaded on his upper lip as he walked the invisible tightrope down the corridor. Progress was slow. And the longer they took, the more concerned Jack was that a guard would discover them. Distracted by this thought, he overcompensated mid-step and lost his balance. Teetering on one foot, his arms flailing, he fought to put his foot down in the right place.
Miyuki, concentrating on what lay ahead, was oblivious to his plight. Keeling sideways, Jack’s hand found the wall and he managed to regain his balance. Breathing a silent sigh of relief, he continued to follow in Miyuki’s footsteps, taking extra care now.
The corridor seemed to stretch on forever. Then Miyuki stopped.
Gemnan’s door stood before them, the final barrier to their goal. Miyuki pointed to the floorboard bordering the shoji. ‘This one will be fixed,’ she whispered.
They both stepped on it; no sound of a nightingale.
As Miyuki took a moment to oil the shoji’s runners, Jack put his ear to