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‘Leave me,’ Emi groaned, unable to stand. ‘Save yourselves.’

‘No,’ said Jack. ‘We’re all bound to one another, remember?’

Sheathing his swords, he lifted her to her feet. Emi almost passed out with the pain.

‘Time to go!’ said Akiko urgently, firing off several arrows.

The five of them retreated in the direction of the castle with thousands of other fleeing troops, fighting a rearguard action. But their progress was hampered, not just by the wounded Emi but by the churned-up terrain. The Red Devils were rapidly closing in, threatening to cut off their escape route to the main gate.

‘We’re not going to make it,’ said Yamato, as a squad of Red Devils broke free and charged at them. Taking Emi’s other arm, he helped Jack carry her, hoping that together they could outrun the enemy.

Taro, who’d already reached the bridge, spotted them struggling towards safety. He ran back, both swords raised high.

‘Keeping going,’ he said. ‘I’ll hold them off as long as possible.’

He stood his ground as the squad of Red Devils bore down on him. His katana and wakizashi became a blur, the Two Heavens technique annihilating any samurai who ventured near. But reinforcements were not far behind and Taro was in danger of being overwhelmed before the five of them could reach the bridge.

‘Taro needs help,’ said Yori, running off.

‘No!’ screamed Jack, but it was too late.

Yori took up position beside Taro, yelling kiai after kiai at the advancing force. The two of them slowed the enemy’s progress enough for Jack, Emi, Yamato and Akiko to cross the bridge.

‘Yori! Taro, come on!’ shouted Jack.

They turned and ran.

Exhausted and out of breath from the fight, Yori’s little legs wouldn’t carry him fast enough.

The enemy were closing in on him.

He slipped and fell.

Taro stopped and, turning back, withdrew his swords.

‘What’s does he think he’s doing?’ exclaimed Yamato.

‘He’s sacrificing himself for Yori,’ said Akiko, a tear running down her cheek.

Taro made his final stand upon a small rise.

Red Devil after Red Devil fell, as he held back the tide of enemy samurai. Then an immense Red Devil with twisted gold horns drove a spear into him. Taro staggered under the blow, but kept fighting. He managed to take out a few more of the enemy, before the gold-horned samurai cut him down with the massive blade of a nodaichi sword. Taro crumpled to his knees. Showing no mercy, the samurai chopped Taro’s head from his shoulders. The Red Devils swarmed over him and advanced on the castle.

Jack could only stare at where Saburo’s brother had fallen, shocked by the sudden and brutal loss.

But Yori was still on the plain, running for all he was worth.

‘COME ON!’ screamed Jack.

The thought of his loyal and courageous friend suffering such a gruesome death was too much to bear.

Suddenly the massive doors of the outer wall began to close.

‘Wait!’ he begged the guards. ‘Yori’s still out there.’

‘I’m under orders,’ growled the gatekeeper.

Yori was flagging, his strength sapped by all his kiai attacks.

The gates were drawing ever closer.

Jack willed his friend on.

Through the narrowing gap, he saw Yori stumble on to the bridge.

But behind, an avalanche of red samurai threatened to engulf him.

The doors slammed shut with a thunderous clang.

‘Noooo!’ cried Jack, hammering his fists against the barred gates.

50

PAPER CRANE

Barging the guards out of the way, Jack dashed up the stairs of the gate tower to the ramparts. He discovered hundreds of soldiers firing arquebuses, launching arrows, and hurling rocks at the enemy. On the plain, stranded knots of Satoshi’s samurai fought bravely on, while daimyo Kamakura’s forces continued their advance, bringing up their siege machines and cannon.

Below him, a seething mass of Red Devils launched an assault on the castle gate. The drawbridge had been raised, but they’d begun to fill in the moat with the bodies of the slain, piling them higher and higher.

Jack looked desperately