Young Samurai_ The Way of the Sword - Chris Bradford [62]
‘Where have you been all this time?’ demanded Jack, irritable she’d not been around to help.
It was now very late and, apart from Yamato and Akiko, the other students had got bored and gone to bed. No one else but Jack had seen the white ninja. That was fine with Jack. He didn’t want people asking questions. He had even told Saburo that Hiroto had wrecked his room, so that he didn’t have to reveal the existence of the rutter to another of his friends.
‘I was having a bath,’ replied Akiko, looking round the overturned room in shock. ‘What happened here? Has anything been stolen?’
‘Dragon Eye returned,’ replied Jack, gathering up his swords, ‘and yes, something was taken.’
‘Not the rutter!’ she exclaimed.
Jack shook his head.
‘No. Father Lucius’s Japanese dictionary. The one he gave me in Toba. The one that I was supposed to deliver to Father Bobadilla in Osaka when I got the chance. Looks like I’ll have to break that promise.’
‘Why would anyone want to take a dictionary?’ asked Yamato, his brow wrinkling in puzzlement.
‘I don’t think they were looking for the dictionary, do you?’ Jack replied, picking up the Daruma Doll and putting it back on the window sill next to the bonsai. ‘At a glance, Father Lucius’s book could be mistaken for the rutter. I left the dictionary under my futon as a decoy. Whoever took it wouldn’t have known the difference unless they looked inside. I must have disturbed them in the middle of their search.’
‘What? The ninja was in here with you?’ asked an incredulous Yamato. ‘Why didn’t you see him?’
‘He must have been hanging over my head,’ explained Jack, shuddering. ‘See those damp patches on the wall above the door. That’s where snow’s melted. The ninja must have wedged himself between the cross-beam and the ceiling.’
‘It’s possible,’ agreed Akiko. ‘Ninja learn from an early age how to climb and perform acrobatics. Supposedly, they’re taught how to hang on to tree branches with just one finger.’
‘How do you know all this?’ asked Yamato, amazed.
‘So where’s the rutter now if Dragon Eye hasn’t got it?’ Akiko continued, ignoring her cousin.
Jack hesitated. He couldn’t afford to take any more risks with his father’s logbook and was reluctant to tell them. When he had visited Nijo Castle with Emi, he’d managed to excuse himself from her company under pretext of needing to relieve himself. He’d been on his own long enough to hide it behind the wall hanging of the white crane. The rutter was safe for the time being. It was the perfect hiding place, but only as long as no one else knew about it.
‘Jack, you can trust us,’ insisted Akiko. ‘Besides we can help protect it, if we know where it is. Dragon Eye will realize soon enough that he has stolen a decoy and will come seeking the real rutter.’
Jack considered them both a moment longer. They were his friends. His closest friends. He had to trust them and Akiko was right. They might be able to help him. But he wouldn’t tell them everything – not yet.
‘You know I mentioned that I’d returned to Nijo Castle with Emi…?’
‘Yes,’ said Akiko rather coolly.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you at the time, but I’m sure there are things you don’t tell me too,’ added Jack tetchily, allowing the accusation to hang in the air for the briefest of moments. ‘Anyway, I went alone with Emi for a reason. I’ve hidden the rutter inside the castle.’
‘In the castle? But why there?’ Yamato asked.
‘Daimyo Takatomi has made the castle ninja-proof. Where better to hide the rutter from a ninja as devious as Dragon Eye?’
‘Jack, I can’t believe you’ve done this,’ Akiko snapped, glaring at him as if he’d just committed a terrible crime.
‘What do you mean?’ said Jack. ‘It’s the safest place for it. Why are you acting as if I’ve killed someone?’
‘You haven’t yet, but you