The Ring of Water - Chris Bradford [27]
Hana shook her head. ‘What family? I’ve survived on my own for as long as I can remember.’
Jack suddenly felt compassion for this girl thief. Like him, she was an orphan, but at least he’d been fortunate enough to experience family life. Hana had no one. And despite the traumatic loss of both his mother and father, as far as he knew he still had Jess waiting for him in England.
The memory of his sister broke his melancholy and spurred him to act.
Realistically, he couldn’t give up on his quest. Without his swords he was defenceless. Without money he’d starve. And without the rutter, he had no future. Although the pearl wasn’t essential for his journey, it was for the peace of his heart. Retrieving the gem was the first step in recovering not only his possessions, but hopefully his memory too.
A complete blank still remained about what had happened to him. How had Manzo and his friends overcome him? He was a trained samurai warrior who’d fought in major battles and survived. He possessed the skills of a ninja and was in disguise at the time. Perhaps he’d been ambushed? Or maybe there’d been a whole gang of them? The only way to find out was to follow the clues he had, to get his life back piece by piece.
And the first piece was Akiko’s pearl.
He vowed to himself to try one more time to retrieve it, then he’d go to Kyoto to find his swords, before hunting down those who had the rutter. Once it was in his possession, he’d resume his journey to Nagasaki.
‘I must get back the pearl,’ said Jack.
‘I’ll help you,’ Hana offered.
‘Thank you, but you don’t need to,’ replied Jack, realizing the girl had enough problems of her own.
‘But I want to,’ Hana insisted. ‘It’s my fault you don’t have it now. Besides, I want to teach that merchant a lesson. He swindled me … and called me a nobody!’
Jack saw the defiance in her eyes and, deeper down, the hurt the merchant’s cruel dismissal had inflicted.
All of a sudden, Ronin sat up and announced, ‘We can make the merchant return your pearl – willingly.’
‘How?’ asked Jack.
‘To start with, I need to get a job.’
16
THE GAMBLER
Clouds had gathered and a persistent drizzle fell from the sky as Ronin looked for a suitable place to shelter for the night. They kept to the outskirts of town, but most buildings appeared occupied.
‘When will it ever stop raining?’ complained Hana, hugging herself for warmth.
Suddenly up ahead a door opened and light spilled into the rain-washed street. A man stepped out, looking thoroughly dejected. From behind him raucous shouts of ‘Odd!’ and ‘Even!’ punctuated the night air. A moment later, these were replaced by cries of elation mixed with groans of disappointment.
‘A gambling den,’ Ronin hissed as the three of them ducked into a side alley to avoid being seen.
The man slammed the door shut, then morosely wandered down the road. As he drew near, Hana gasped. ‘I recognize him.’
She squinted harder. Dressed in a dark blue kimono, the man’s topknot hairstyle indicated he was a samurai, although he wasn’t carrying any swords.
‘I think he’s the man I stole your pearl from,’ whispered Hana.
‘Are you certain?’ asked Jack, feeling a small thrill of hope at their unexpected good fortune.
Hana nodded. ‘This isn’t a big town. There aren’t that many samurai around.’
Ronin strode out of the alley and into the man’s path.
‘Do I know you?’ enquired the man, trying to make out Ronin’s face in the darkness.
‘No! And you don’t want to,’ Ronin replied, grabbing the man by the scruff of his kimono and dragging him into the alley. ‘But you do know this samurai!’
The man’s eyes widened in shock when Jack removed his straw hat to reveal his blond hair and foreign face.
‘But … but … we left you for dead,’ spluttered the man.
‘Not dead enough,’ said Jack, clenching his fists in anger. He fought to restrain himself, calling upon the discipline Masamoto had ingrained in him. ‘Where are my belongings?’
Overcoming his initial shock, the man stared defiantly at Jack and remained