The Ring of Water - Chris Bradford [31]
‘I’ll need more than luck,’ he replied, echoing Hana’s own words. He’d been crazy to let Ronin talk him into such a ludicrous plan. The man had been drunk at the time. But what excuse did Jack have – apart from sheer desperation?
A candle flickered three times from an upstairs window. It was too late to pull out now. Ronin had given the signal.
In the pale light of the moon, they ran across the road and scaled the wall. As they passed through the garden, Jack caught sight of his own reflection in the pond and almost leapt out of his skin. His face was stark and flaking like old parchment. The bean paste had dried to a dark berry-red, all the more vivid against his flour-whitened kimono, which was hanging off him more ragged and ripped than ever.
For the first time, Jack felt a glimmer of hope.
This disguise might just work.
Hana urged him on. Climbing up to the balcony, Jack felt a breeze and the telltale drops of rain. Storm clouds were rolling in. They’d have to be quick. Once in position, he nodded to Hana.
With theatrical flamboyance, Hana flung open the shoji to the bedroom and Jack howled at the moon. Startled cries greeted him as the merchant and his wife sat bolt upright on their futons. Shock turned to terror when they set eyes upon the phantom of the gaijin samurai.
‘Return! Return! Return!’ rasped the ghostly Jack, letting his voice rise and fall like the wind.
The merchant was the first to recover. ‘W-w-what do you want?’
Jack stretched out one limp hand, pointing to his wife’s head.
‘The pearl! The pearl! The pearl!’
The wife scrabbled away from the evil spirit, her screams awaking the rest of the household. On cue, the door from the hallway burst open and Ronin appeared, sword in hand.
‘But … I killed you!’ he exclaimed, his face the picture of abject horror.
‘Vengeance! Vengeance! VENGEANCE!’
At that moment, the sky flared with forked lightning. It couldn’t have been planned better. Silhouetted against the storm, Jack took on a demonic appearance. An almighty thunderclap shook the house to its foundations and the heavens opened.
But the effect would be short-lived.
Jack felt the rice flour washing off his face and the red-bean paste running from his clothes. He began to panic as the ghostly illusion disintegrated before everyone’s eyes. But the wife screamed –
‘His face is melting!’
Seizing upon her delusion, Jack howled, ‘So will yours! Return the pearl!’
The lady wailed at the prospect of losing her beauty in such a hideous manner.
Jack decided he’d done enough. Before his disguise completely vanished in the rain, he signalled to Hana. She slammed the door shut and they both clambered on to the roof. A moment later, the shoji flew open again and Ronin charged out.
‘The onryō … he’s gone!’ exclaimed Ronin, his voice horror-stricken. ‘But it’ll be back … they always come back!’
19
BAND OF THREE
The black pearl sat in Jack’s hand, an old friend returned.
‘The merchant’s wife literally begged me to take it away,’ explained Ronin with a roguish smile on his face. He sat down beside Jack in the middle of the storehouse and helped himself to some cold rice he’d bought for breakfast.
‘I can’t believe they fell for it,’ said Jack, unable to take his eyes off Akiko’s pearl for fear it was a dream.
‘Did you see their faces!’ Hana exclaimed, pulling an expression of extreme terror and imitating the wife’s voice. ‘He’s melting!’
Convulsed with laughter, Hana rolled around, clutching her stomach. Jack, however, felt a little guilty. But he reminded himself that no one had been hurt, no theft had occurred and the pearl was back in his possession. It had been an elaborate plan, but one that ensured they weren’t pursued by dōshin. There was certainly more to Ronin than met the eye.
‘Thank you, Ronin, I’m indebted to you,’ he said, carefully pinning the precious gem to the inside of his kimono.
The samurai bowed his head in acknowledgement. Finishing his rice, he washed it down with a large gulp of saké, then looked out