The Ring of Water - Chris Bradford [71]
‘It’s time to claim my reward!’ he declared, aligning his sword with Jack’s neck.
As the blade arced towards him, time stood still for Jack … then the steel tip of another blade pierced Botan’s chest. Groaning, the samurai clutched at his heart and fell to the ground, dead.
Ronin stood there, thunderous and bloodstained. Shoda lay motionless at the foot of the apple tree. Hana, shaking like a leaf, appeared unharmed. Ronin took a step forward. Jack hurriedly got to his feet and raised his sword. Ronin may have just saved his life, but the samurai was no longer to be trusted.
‘What now?’ Jack demanded, his temper fired up by the heat of battle. ‘Are you going to drug me? Kill me? Steal my swords? Or have you been after the rutter all along? You’ve been leading me round and round. Never getting anywhere! You’re not a samurai. You’re a drunk and a liar!’
45
MOUNT JUBU
‘You’re right, Jack,’ admitted Ronin, a dark look on his face. ‘Though I never lied to you, I have failed you. Like I failed my father. And I failed myself. No master wants a drunkard for a samurai. I don’t deserve to bear these swords.’
Ronin drove his katana into the earth. It stuck there, quivering with the force of his rage. Picking up his half-empty bottle of saké, he strode off into the pouring rain.
Hana ran over to Jack. ‘Where’s he going?’
‘To the nearest inn, probably,’ said Jack, tearing a strip of cloth from Botan’s kimono to bind his bleeding arm.
‘But he didn’t say goodbye.’ Tears now mixed with the raindrops running down her face. ‘Ronin, come back!’
Ronin kept walking, the bottle pressed to his lips.
‘We’re better off without him,’ replied Jack, taking another swatch of cloth and applying it to Hana’s bleeding ear. ‘He can’t be trusted. He was part of Botan’s gang.’
‘I don’t believe it,’ said Hana, turning on Jack. ‘Ronin saved my life. He killed Botan saving yours!’
‘He also drugged me and stole my possessions.’
Hana stared aghast at Jack. ‘If that’s true, why’s he been helping you?’
‘Because he couldn’t remember robbing me in the first place! But you heard him; he had the rutter. And, for all we know, he would have taken everything again and killed me for the Shogun’s reward.’
‘That’s not the Ronin I know,’ protested Hana, defiantly folding her arms.
Jack went over and wrenched the shuriken from the tree. He knew he wasn’t making perfect sense. Before Botan appeared, Ronin had just been about to walk away without accepting any payment. True, the samurai was flawed – volatile, unpredictable and ruled by the bottle – but he wasn’t evil. Jack sensed a deep loyalty and feeling of duty in the man’s heart. After everything Ronin had done for him, Jack now regretted the things he’d said in the heat of the moment. But none of it changed the fact that Ronin was responsible for his predicament.
Jack collected the other four shuriken and put them in their pouch. Another of his possessions found. Only the rutter remained. And if Ronin had been telling the truth, then Jack knew where to look for the person who had it.
‘I’m going back to Kizu,’ announced Jack. ‘Hopefully, I can retrace my steps back to the Shinto shrine where I met the Riddling Monk.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ said Hana.
‘No, I need you to warn Akiko. This monk shouldn’t be too hard to find, unless he really is a myth and I dreamt him.’
‘He’s no myth,’ Hana revealed. ‘He lives in the old abandoned temple on Mount Jubu, north-east of Kizu, on the other side of the river. No one’s crazy enough to go there. But …’ She swallowed and seemed to go a little pale. ‘But I could guide you in its direction and head to Toba afterwards.’
‘Let’s go then before anyone else turns up,’ said Jack, pulling his damp kimono around him.
He took off down the path before realizing Hana wasn’t following him. She still stood beside Ronin’s katana, her head bowed.
‘What are you waiting