Young Samurai _ The Way Of The Dragon - Chris Bradford [101]
‘No one’s to enter.’
‘But this is Masamoto-sama’s son,’ insisted Jack.
‘Our orders are to let no one through.’ The guard’s hand went to his sword.
‘But ninja may already be inside!’
‘Impossible. The enemy hasn’t even breached the outer walls.’
‘What’s going on?’ demanded a voice. It was Sensei Hosokawa.
‘Sensei!’ cried Jack, waving frantically to their swordmaster.
‘Let them pass,’ he ordered and the guards reluctantly backed off.
Jack and Yamato ran through the gates and up the steps to Sensei Hosokawa.
‘You have to warn Masamoto-sama. There are –’
Masamoto descended the second-floor staircase at that very moment.
‘What are you two doing here?’ he demanded. ‘Why are you not at your post?’
‘The attack outside’s a diversion,’ blurted Jack. ‘Daimyo Kamakura has hired ninja to assassinate the Council.’
‘Trust Kamakura to resort to such tactics,’ he growled. ‘Sensei Hosokawa, inform all the patrols and have a sentry posted at each window. Double the guard round the Council on the sixth floor and –’
‘It’s too late for that,’ said Jack. ‘I think they’re already inside.’
‘Are you certain?’ asked Masamoto, his eyes narrowing.
Jack nodded furiously. ‘I saw several ninja and all the guards on the battlement had been killed before the alarm was raised.’
Masamoto didn’t wait to hear any more. ‘Come on!’
He turned and thundered up the stairs. Jack and Yamato hurried after him, while Sensei Hosokawa barked orders to the guards. They raced along the corridor, up another staircase, past patrols of samurai and up to the sixth floor. By the time the two of them caught up with Masamoto, he was already speaking with the head guard.
‘No, Masamoto-sama, all’s quiet,’ replied the samurai. ‘The daimyo and his lordship are safely in their rooms. I’ve stationed guards outside each door.’
‘Organize an immediate search. Begin with his lordship Satoshi’s floor.’
The guard bowed and ran off.
‘We’ll start on this level,’ Masamoto said, addressing Jack and Yamato. ‘Daimyo Takatomi is our priority.’
They headed down the corridor and bore right. The hallway was dark and shadowy. With all the torches doused, the only light came from the soft glow of candles seeping through the inner paper walls and the pale moonlight that filtered through the slatted windows of the keep. Danger appeared to lurk in every darkened corner. Masamoto led the way.
‘Stay alert,’ he whispered. ‘Daimyo Takatomi’s room is down the next corridor.’
As they hurried along the hallway, an alarm bell rang in Jack’s head. Didn’t the samurai say he’d put guards on every door?
All of sudden Jack slipped on the polished wooden floor and landed with a thump. Masamoto spun round, his two swords at the ready.
‘I told you to stay alert!’ hissed Masamoto, glaring at him.
Not bothering to wait, he ran on, Yamato close on his father’s heels. As Jack scrambled to his feet, his hand touched something sticky and wet. His palm came away slick with blood. He followed the trail, shiny in the moonlight, to a small wooden door. As he undid the latch, out fell the body of a guard, his throat slit open exactly like the sentries on the wall.
‘Back here!’ shouted Jack, trying to stifle his shock.
Masamoto and Yamato turned on the spot and saw the corpse hanging out of the storage room. They ran back down the corridor as Jack slid open the unguarded shoji to an inner room. A man lay sprawled across the tatami-matted floor, a large pool of blood staining the fine rush straw a deep red.
‘Daimyo Yukimura!’ exclaimed Masamoto, pushing past Jack.
The shoji to the adjoining room was ajar. Masamoto flung it aside, only to discover a second member of the Council spreadeagled across the tatami, a garrotte wrapped round his throat.
Hearing a cry for help, the three of them ran back into the hallway and sprinted for daimyo Takatomi’s corridor. The two guards that had been posted outside his door lay dead. Masamoto burst in.
Three ninja surrounded daimyo Takatomi who lay wounded on the floor, blood pouring from a cut to his sword arm. Emi was by