Young Samurai _ The Way Of The Dragon - Chris Bradford [111]
All of a sudden, the glistening tip of a sword thrust out of the samurai’s chest. The Red Devil staggered, coughing up blood, and collapsed to the ground, dead.
‘Best avoid those with the golden horns,’ Sensei Hosokawa advised. ‘They’re the elite warriors.’
He then returned to fight beside Masamoto, who’d dismounted and was decimating any Red Devil who came near with his Two Heavens technique. Sensei Yosa, though, was still on horseback, riding through the battle and picking off the enemy with her deadly arrows. To Jack’s right, Sensei Kyuzo was taking on two Red Devils at once. In an impressive display of taijutsu, he disarmed them both before impaling them on one another’s spears. A flurry of snow-white hair revealed where Sensei Nakamura was fighting, tears of grief running down her face as she exacted revenge upon the enemy, her naginata swooping through the air like a steel bird of prey. Nearby, the immense form of Sensei Kano could be seen twirling his bō, the enemy dropping like flies around him. The only centre of calm in the midst of this chaos was Sensei Yamada, who stood in the middle of a circle of fallen bodies. Jack watched as a Red Devil charged at the Zen master then suddenly dropped to his knees. A second kiai from Sensei Yamada finished the warrior off.
Jack spotted Yori wandering unscathed through the fighting, as if in a daze. His sword was raised but no one was engaging with him. He was simply too small to be considered a threat. A Red Devil bumped into Yori, saw the tiny warrior, then laughed. A moment later, the smile had been wiped off the man’s face as Sensei Yosa planted an arrow through his throat.
Breaking through the masses, a number of Red Devils on horseback bore down on the Niten Ichi Ryū students. Yori was directly in their path and about to be trampled underfoot. Jack screamed a warning, but he couldn’t be heard above the noise of battle. He sprinted at his friend, shoulder-barging him out from under the horses’ hooves.
Jack dragged Yori to his feet. ‘I told you, stick with us.’
Yori nodded meekly. ‘But no one wants to fight me.’
‘And you’re complaining!’ exclaimed Jack.
‘No, of course not,’ said Yori, giving a nervous laugh.
His eyes suddenly widened in fear. ‘Behind you!’
Jack turned to see a Red Devil charging at them. Having dropped his katana in the mud saving Yori, Jack went to draw his wakizashi but knew it was too late. The samurai was already bringing his sword round to decapitate him.
‘YAH!’
The Red Devil’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed face first in the mud.
Yori, breathing hard from the exertion of his kiai, grinned at Jack.
‘No wonder no one wants to fight you, Yori. You’re lethal!’ said Jack, picking up his katana before another samurai could attack them.
‘I think I only knocked him out,’ Yori replied, tapping the body with his foot. The Red Devil moaned feebly.
‘Jack!’ cried Akiko, frantically beckoning them to join her and Yamato.
The two of them ran over, only to discover Emi lying on the ground, an arrow protruding from her thigh. She was pale, blood soaking through her leggings and hakama.
‘We must protect Emi, at all costs,’ said Akiko, raising her bow.
They immediately formed a defensive circle round the daimyo’s daughter, driving back the advancing Red Devils. But there were simply too many. Daimyo Kamakura’s forces were now smashing their way through every rank and file of Satoshi’s army.
The battle had become a massacre.
Encircled by Red Devils, Sensei Nakamura wielded her naginata with brutal abandon, her snow-white hair whirling amid a sea of red. Suddenly she disappeared, swallowed up by the enemy.
A soldier bearing a golden sashimono ran towards them.
‘RETREAT TO THE CASTLE!’ screamed the messenger.
A moment later, he was slain by a Red Devil from behind, his blood splattering the golden banner.