The Ring of Water - Chris Bradford [78]
‘No!’ cried Hana, putting a hand over his mouth. ‘Remember what that monk said to me when I shouted for you in the Tōdai-ji Temple – Please don’t break the silence.’
Above the cacophony of pounding, Hana cried, ‘The Answer is silence!’
The beating stopped and all eyes fell upon the Riddling Monk. His face seemed to swell, burning bright red with annoyance.
‘Co-rr-ect,’ he spat.
The disciples wailed. Jack stared at Hana in amazement, now glad more than ever to have her company. The headache began to fade like a receding wave.
The Riddling Monk leapt out of his throne and began to pace the floor, muttering, ‘I need a riddle, a riddle of rhyme, a riddle that turns and twists the mind.’
Behind him, Jack heard shuffling and saw the door had been blocked by a group of enraged disciples. A cry of jubilation brought his attention back to the monk, who now danced a jig upon the raised dais of the hall.
‘Riddle me this! The one who makes it sells it. The one who buys it doesn’t use it. The one who’s using it doesn’t know he’s using it. What is it?’
This riddle proved even harder to fathom than the last. Jack’s mind seemed unable to hold thoughts. They kept slipping away like eels, and his headache returned with a vengeance.
Hana fell to her knees. Jack dropped beside her. ‘Hana! What’s the matter?’
‘I … I … I can’t think …’ she stuttered.
Jack realized whatever strange power the monk had, he was working its magic upon them. Driving them to the brink of madness.
49
THE ANSWER
As the vice-like grip on their souls increased, Jack felt as if he was fighting the monk – not with swords, but with the mind, each riddle an attack and every answer a parry. His mind strained under the stress of battle. It was now almost impossible to think of the Answer. Hana writhed upon the ground in agony, gibbering to herself. The disciples chanted louder, beating the floor with their fists.
‘The Answer! The Answer! The Answer!’
Jack clamped his hands over his ears, his brain fit to burst. He felt as if he was dying … The beating sounded like a hammer … Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! … The cooper’s wrinkled toothless face swam before Jack’s eyes … Funny, isn’t it? How the person who pays for the coffin never wants it and the one who gets it never knows …
‘A COFFIN!’ screamed Jack. ‘THE ANSWER IS A COFFIN!’
Silence descended upon the pagoda.
Then a whispering, no louder than the wind, began. ‘Is it? Is it? Is it?’
The Riddling Monk threw his thorny crown across the room in disgust.
‘Co-rr-ect!’ he howled. Distraught, he jumped up and down upon his throne like an infuriated monkey. ‘Riddle me this! Riddle me this! Riddle me –’
‘No more!’ said Jack, drawing his sword and pointing it at the monk. His disciples rushed to protect their master. ‘We’ve answered all your riddles. Now answer me.’
The Riddling Monk stopped, neatened his robes and plonked himself back upon his throne. ‘No need for violence,’ he said, as if he was the one hard done by. ‘Where is it? Here. Do I have it? Yes!’
‘Then hand over the logbook and we’ll leave you, unharmed,’ said Jack as he helped a trembling Hana to her feet.
The Riddling Monk wagged a bony finger at Jack, the mad glint in his eyes back again. ‘No, no, no. You’ve still your first to go,’ he taunted maliciously.
Hana stared at Jack in horror. ‘None of those was your riddle?’
The Riddling Monk’s demented cackle echoed around the hall.
‘Riddle me this, young samurai! What is greater than God, more evil than the Devil? Poor people have it, rich people need it, and if you eat it you’ll die. Tell me this and I shall give it to you.’
Jack and Hana stared blankly at one another. Their faces were beginning to take on the gaunt strained look of the Riddling Monk’s disciples. The web of riddles he’d cast had captured their minds. And each one they escaped only led to a more complex maze. Feeling his mind stretch and rip like a sail in a storm, Jack fought to control his sanity.