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‘Yes…’ spluttered Yamato, ‘but… that was before my father found out and dismissed us. He would never forgive me if we tried to capture Dragon Eye ourselves.’

‘We’re not attempting to capture him,’ appeased Akiko. ‘We simply need to locate his camp and tell your father.’

‘I still think it’s a bad idea. What about the mysterious black ninja who saved Jack? That makes no sense.’ Yamato stared gravely at the two of them. ‘Have either of you thought that the reason we’re discovering these clues is that Dragon Eye wants us to find him? That he’s leading us into a trap?’

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as the possible truth sank in. Then Akiko dismissed the idea.

‘Ninja don’t just fight samurai. They fight one another too. The black ninja was probably from a rival clan and the green ninja out of their territory. Yamato, you probably turned up just in time to save Jack’s life.’

Yamato looked unconvinced.

‘If we don’t go, what else are we going to do?’ implored Jack. ‘With his dislocated shoulder, Kuma-san said he won’t be fit to travel to Toba for at least another day or so.’

‘He’s right,’ agreed Akiko. ‘If we take the horses, we could get to Shindo and back in a day. Jack can ride with me. Kumasan wouldn’t question us about visiting a nearby temple.’

Yamato remained tight-lipped, turning his attention to the glorious sunset instead. A stillness settled over the tea house as the sun clipped the top of a mountain peak. Golden rays of light fingered into an indigo-blue sky that hung like a silken kimono above the hazy range of mountain ridges and darkening valleys.

As the light began to fade, Jack made one last plea.

‘This is our one and only opportunity to find Dragon Eye before he finds us again.’

‘But he has no reason to return. He’s got your rutter,’ countered Yamato.

‘The logbook is encrypted. Only I know how to decipher it,’ Jack revealed. ‘Once Dragon Eye realizes this, he will be back.’

Jack knew the ninja was enlisting the help of a Chinese cryptologist, but he doubted the man could easily break a code written in such an unfamiliar language. It would take time. The question was: how long?

Dragon Eye might lose patience and decide to break Jack instead.

5

MOTHER LOVE

‘I’ve a very bad feeling about this place,’ muttered Yamato, his right hand anxiously clasping the shaft of his bō staff.

Shindo’s only road was deserted. Dust swirled in lonely eddies and disappeared between a row of rundown shacks that appeared as if they’d been dumped from the sky then forgotten. Though the day was warm and sunny, heat and light seemed to shun the village and the interiors of every abode remained dark and uninviting.

‘It’s a ghost town,’ said Jack, a chill running down his spine as they tethered their two horses and entered the lifeless village.

‘Not quite,’ whispered Akiko. ‘We’re being watched.’

Jack and Yamato exchanged nervous glances.

‘By whom?’ Yamato asked.

‘That little girl for one,’ replied Akiko, nodding towards a thatched hut on their right.

Hidden in darkness, a small dirty face with wide fearful eyes peeked out at them, then disappeared. Akiko headed over to the shack, looking back over her shoulder when Jack and Yamato failed to follow.

‘Come on, you two. I think you can handle a little girl, can’t you?’

Shamed by their lack of nerve, they both hurried after her.

Akiko peered into the darkness beyond the doorway, then called, ‘Hello? Excuse me?’

Inside, they could hear a rattling wheeze of breath like a dying dog’s. Suddenly a man’s hollow-cheeked face appeared at the door.

‘Leave us be,’ he snapped. ‘We’ve nothing to give you.’

The little girl they’d seen earlier was now hiding behind the man’s legs, her eyes fixated on Jack’s blond hair. Jack smiled at her.

‘We’re sorry to disturb you, but we don’t want anything,’ explained Akiko.

‘Where is everyone?’ Yamato asked.

‘They left. You should too.’

The man began to push the flimsy door of his hut closed.

‘But we’ve come to find Kunitome-san,’ Jack insisted.

The man stared at Jack as if noticing his presence for the first