The Ring of Water - Chris Bradford [34]
Jack heard a scream from behind and saw Hana being snatched by the gap-toothed bandit.
‘Duck!’ he shouted, thrusting the end of the staff at Hana’s head.
Hana obeyed and the bō struck her assailant in the chest. Wheezing from the blow, the bandit released her and threw his knife at Jack in retaliation. The blade headed straight for Jack’s throat. Only split-second timing and his samurai training saved him. He instinctively deflected the knife with the bō’s shaft.
Furious, the bandit charged at Jack, who flicked the staff’s tip up beneath the man’s jaw. There was a nasty crunch and several more teeth flew out. Then Jack brought his staff whipping round and sent the toothless bandit hurtling into a tree, knocking him senseless.
He now turned to face the fourth robber armed with a staff.
Meanwhile, Ronin was battling with both the leader and the spear-wielding bandit. Hana watched open-mouthed as Ronin toppled, tumbled and turned between his assailants. But at no point could either of them land a strike on the drunken samurai.
The bandit with the spear tried to drive his weapon into the rolling Ronin, and promptly got the tip wedged into the earth. Springing to his feet, Ronin stomped on the shaft, snapping it in two. A drunken fist to the throat brought the fight to a swift end.
Disorientated from all his multiple twists and turns, Ronin’s legs went from beneath him and he collapsed to the ground.
‘Now I’ve got you!’ snarled the furious leader, raising his club to smash the samurai to pieces.
Suddenly Ronin rebounded to his feet, threw out a leg and struck him in the face a second time. The bandit was stopped mid-swing and toppled like a felled tree.
‘Never ever take my saké!’ said Ronin. He peered down at the bandit’s battered features. ‘And I really didn’t think you could get any uglier!’
The vanquished leader could only manage a feeble groan in response.
Ronin glanced over to where Jack was still locked in combat with the final bandit.
‘Come on! We haven’t got all night,’ he complained impatiently.
He leant against a tree to watch the fight, but didn’t have long to wait before Jack disarmed his opponent. One glance at his fallen comrades was enough to convince the bandit to run while he still had the chance.
‘Leave them to lick their wounds,’ said Ronin, tottering off down the road.
Jack and Hana followed close behind, Hana speechless for the first time since they’d started walking that day.
Eventually they stopped by a river and found a suitable and safe spot upstream to camp for the night. Jack built a fire and they gathered by its warmth, while tucking into chestnut-flavoured manjū and sharing a straw container of rice.
‘You were amazing!’ said Hana, admiring Ronin with spellbound eyes.
‘What?’ he grunted, through a mouthful of manjū.
Hana rolled around on the ground, imitating his drunken fighting. She tried to spring to her feet, but only got halfway before landing heavily on her rear. Jack burst out laughing.
Ronin tutted in irritation. ‘That’s not how you do it! Drunken Fist is a highly skilful martial art.’
‘Oh, it can’t be that hard. You just need to get drunk,’ she said, picking up Ronin’s last bottle of saké.
‘Give that here!’ he growled, snatching the rice wine from her grasp. ‘You don’t need saké for Drunken Fist. You need training.’
‘Why don’t you teach us then?’ suggested Hana.
‘I’m no sensei.’
‘Well, I’m no student,’ retorted Hana. ‘Never been taught in my life. That will make you the best teacher I’ve ever had.’
Ronin didn’t answer, just took another slug of rice wine.
‘So where did you learn Drunken Fist?’ asked Jack, having suspected Ronin’s moves were part of a formal fighting style.
‘From