Young Samurai _ The Way Of The Dragon - Chris Bradford [120]
Jack, taking advantage of the ninja’s lapse in concentration, sliced upwards with his katana. Dragon Eye’s reactions were razor sharp, and he leant away from the lethal blade, bending like a reed in the wind.
But he wasn’t quite fast enough.
The kissaki of Jack’s sword cut through the hood of the ninja’s shinobi shozoku.
Until that moment Dragon Eye had always been a faceless one-eyed nightmare to Jack. Now the assassin stood before him, exposed.
Hattori Tatsuo might have been a handsome man, for he possessed a strong jawline and well-defined cheekbones, worthy of admiration at any lordly court in Japan. His face, though, was a terrible sight to behold. Ravaged by the smallpox of his youth, the skin was horrifically scarred with lesions as if the flesh had rotted away. And, where his poxed eye had once been, was now a ragged black hole.
Dragon Eye glared at Jack with his remaining green eye.
‘To look upon my face is to look upon death itself,’ he snarled. ‘Die, young samurai!’
Attacking Jack with insane ferocity, he slashed with Black Cloud, seeking to decapitate him. Jack brought his katana across to block the strike.
Their two swords clashed.
Black Cloud shattered the Shizu blade in two.
As Jack stared in shock at the useless stub of sword he now wielded, Dragon Eye kicked him in the chest.
Landing upon a blazing tatami, Jack screamed as his hand entered the flames, forcing him to drop his wakizashi. He rolled away from the fire, but was stopped by the edge of a blade.
‘Kunitome swore on his life that this was the best sword he’d ever made,’ said Dragon Eye, inspecting Black Cloud with grim satisfaction. ‘He was right. Now kneel, gaijin.’
Faced with the kissaki of the ninjatō, Jack got to his knees.
He’d failed. Despite all his Two Heavens training, Dragon Eye had proved too powerful an adversary.
Dragon Eye raised Black Cloud aloft, pausing a moment to allow a malicious grin to spread across his ruined face.
‘I’m going to take immense pleasure in beheading you.’
55
AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE
Recalling Masamoto’s Two Heavens training – obtain victory by any means and with any weapon – Jack silently slipped the ninja tantō from the back of his obi.
‘You once told me,’ said Jack, as Dragon Eye relished his coming moment of triumph, ‘Never hesitate.’
Jack sliced the demon blade across the ninja’s leg.
Crying out in shock and pain, Dragon Eye staggered back.
Jack jumped to his feet, knife in hand. But Dragon Eye recovered faster than he’d expected. Black Cloud flashed like a bolt of lightning towards his neck.
All of a sudden the wall to their right exploded as a cannonball ripped through the chamber. The hunting scene was obliterated and flaming chunks of wall flew through the air, knocking Jack and Dragon Eye off their feet.
Jack landed on the devastated balcony, pieces of gold leaf falling around him like snow. Completely disorientated, his head ringing, Jack stared down at the ground eight floors below. He could see Red Devils swarming like ants across the courtyard and Jack felt a sickening wave of vertigo pulling him over the edge.
He rolled away, gasping for breath, the deadly tantō still in his grasp.
To his left lay Dragon Eye, barely conscious.
He crawled over to him.
‘Now your time has come,’ said Jack, raising the knife to deliver the killing blow.
He would avenge his father’s death.
End the nightmares.
Kill the ninja.
The Devil blade seemed to pulse in Jack’s hand like a heartbeat.
The name etched into the steel glinted red in the fires, calling to him.
Kunitome. Kill. Kill. Kill!
Far in the recesses of his mind, Jack heard the warning of the tea-house owner.
Such a weapon hungers for blood, impels their owner to commit murder.
Jack felt its power.
The bloodlust was almost overwhelming.
Jack held the tantō high above his head.
But his hand was stayed by the memory of Sensei Yamada on the night Jack had chosen to follow the Way of the Warrior. His Zen master had explained the essence