Young Samurai _ The Way Of The Dragon - Chris Bradford [82]
Kazuki spun round, his eyes wide with shock. Drawing his swords, he charged at his enemy.
‘YAH!’
Kazuki stopped in his tracks. He tried to lift his katana again.
‘YAH!’
Kazuki dropped to his knees, his face ashen, groaning as if a spear had been thrust through his body.
‘No more! You’ll kill him,’ shouted Jack.
Yori, his lungs full for another attack, slowly released his breath. Jack got to his feet and retrieved his swords.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked, seeing Yori shuddering.
Yori blinked, as if awoken from a trance, and nodded weakly. In a tiny voice he replied, ‘I couldn’t fail you again.’
‘And you didn’t,’ said Jack, putting his arm round Yori. ‘I guess Sensei Yamada was right, even the smallest breeze can make ripples on the largest ocean.’
Jack indicated the immense Nobu out cold on the floor and they both laughed from a combination of exhaustion and relief. But they stopped when they noticed Kazuki had managed to stagger to the doorway.
Leaving Hiroto still groaning in the corner and Nobu unconscious, Yori and Jack hurried after Kazuki. By the time they reached the door, the traitor had disappeared among the chaos of battle.
A huge cry sounded as a fresh wave of young samurai poured in through the Niten Ichi Ryū gates.
At the head of the column was Yoshioka.
Masamoto rallied his students together in front of the Southern Zen Garden, each group led by a sensei. Jack and Yori ran over and joined the ranks to face their new enemy from the Yoshioka Ryū. Tired, battleworn and vastly outnumbered, Jack realized there was little hope for them now.
‘We’ll fight to the last samurai standing!’ shouted Sensei Kyuzo, raising his katana.
The Niten Ichi Ryū bellowed in response, firing up their courage for the final assault.
The Yagyu Ryū, confident of victory, roared back. But the students of the Yoshioka Ryū didn’t join in the battle cry. Instead, they unsheathed their swords and attacked the students and sensei of the Yagyu Ryū.
Suddenly the invaders were on the defensive and being driven back. The tide of battle had turned.
Their advantage lost, the Yagyu Ryū beat a hasty retreat.
The Niten Ichi Ryū cheered their unexpected allies and joined in routing the enemy. Soon the courtyard was cleared and the gates closed against further attacks.
Jack and the others lowered their swords with relief, glad to have survived the raid.
But the cost of victory had been high. Sensei and young samurai of both schools lay bleeding and dying in the courtyard, while all around the Niten Ichi Ryū continued to burn.
36
AFTERMATH
The dawn sun bled through the smoke-laden sky, staining the clouds a watery red. A solemn silence hung over the Niten Ichi Ryū as the survivors tended to the wounded and salvaged what they could from the burnt-out buildings.
Jack kicked aside the smouldering ruins that had been the Shishi-no-ma. His room had been completely destroyed, his bokken, bonsai and clothes ravaged by the fire. For once he was glad Dragon Eye had the rutter. It would have been burnt to a cinder otherwise. But now he possessed nothing save the kimono on his back and Masamoto’s daishō.
Crouching down, he spotted a charred scrap of paper buried in the ash. Pulling it free from the blackened inro case, he held the remains of a child’s drawing. His sister’s scribble of their family. The picture had been obliterated. Jack let the scrap fall back into the dying embers.
He could no longer hold out hope of returning home to Jess. Not when a war threatened to consume Japan. It wasn’t just the fact that battles would bar his way. The Niten Ichi Ryū had been attacked and, having vowed to follow the Way of the Warrior, it was his duty to defend his school’s honour. Bound by the code of bushido, his loyalty to Masamoto and his friends had to take priority over his long-held dream of going home.
The inro that had contained the picture was all but destroyed. Tossing the case aside, he heard a rattle as it landed. Picking it up again, he found Akiko’s pearl inside. Miraculously,