The Ring of Water - Chris Bradford [64]
Shaking his head in despair, Ronin could no longer watch the game. It was clear they were doomed. His eyes darted to the six guards who stood nearby. There was a chance he could overpower one, maybe two of them. But without his swords any escape attempt was sheer suicide.
‘That’s an illegal move!’ declared Kanesuke tersely.
Ronin’s attention was brought back to the board and he saw that Jack had put a Black within one of White’s ‘eyes’.
‘With no liberties, you’re committing suicide,’ explained daimyo Sanada with glee.
‘But doesn’t my stone capture that piece?’ Jack asked innocently, pointing to the adjacent White trapped against the edge.
Ronin took a second look at the gameplay and gasped. ‘A false eye!’
Although Jack’s stone appeared to be surrounded, he actually had captured one of White’s. The daimyo, having been distracted by Jack’s unconventional strategy, fumed at his error in judgement. Whatever he did now, he could no longer save this group since it was enclosed on all sides by Black. On Jack’s next move, the other ‘eye’ was filled and he imprisoned the false living group – along with the three key White stones. Like an entire constellation of stars dying at once, Jack had surrounded a quadrant and taken it prisoner.
The game entered the final phase … with everything to play for.
The battles over stones and fights for territory were bitter, each and every liberty hard won. Jack no longer consciously thought about strategy. He just relied upon his instinctive reading of the board.
Daimyo Sanada pushed into the one remaining gap in Black’s wall of defence, but Jack quickly shut him out, preventing further capture. The boundaries between White and Black were now fixed. The daimyo recognized there were no more stones left vulnerable to attack and he passed on his next move, handing Jack a White prisoner as required by the rules. Jack passed too, surrendering one of his own Black stones in return.
‘Game over,’ stated Kanesuke, and the count of unoccupied liberties and prisoners began.
40
LIFE AND DEATH
Jack sensed he might snatch an unthinkable victory. And he could see it in the daimyo’s eyes too. After all the conflicts, the balance of Black and White was too close to call.
Stooping in to count, Kanesuke stumbled and fell into the table, scattering the stones everywhere.
‘You fool!’ exclaimed daimyo Sanada, with something that sounded like relief. ‘How can we judge the score now?’
Kanesuke bowed his head in shame, but Jack caught the crafty grin on his face.
‘Jack won,’ stated Ronin.
‘There can be no winner!’ the daimyo snapped. ‘The count was incomplete.’
‘Black conquered White by two points.’
‘You couldn’t see from over there.’
‘But I did!’ snarled Ronin, getting to his feet. Two guards seized him before he’d even taken one step towards their lord.
‘The game is forfeit,’ declared daimyo Sanada. ‘Take them away.’
‘But that man fell on purpose!’ Hana protested as she was dragged across the courtyard. ‘You cheated!’
The daimyo, stepping into her path, grabbed her by the throat. For a second, Jack thought he would order Hana’s immediate execution.
‘No one accuses me of cheating,’ he said in a cold tone, reaching for his sword. ‘Especially a hinin!’
Hana didn’t back down. ‘Your word … is your bond!’ she spluttered.
‘I should kill you right now for your insolence. But I am a man of honour and respect the bushido code,’ he said, letting her go. ‘Our agreement was if the gaijin won, I’d set you free. But unfortunately there was no winner.’
‘Then play again,’ she said, shrugging off the guards.
Daimyo Sanada turned to Jack. ‘As entertaining as the game was, I have business to attend to. Another time perhaps. Yet, in fairness, I will give you the chance to win your freedom.’
The daimyo asked for Kanesuke’s money pouch. Emptying the coins on to the table, he then picked up two Go stones from the ground and put them in the cloth bag.
‘Choose a stone,’ he said, presenting the money pouch to Jack. ‘A white means life.