The Way Of The Dragon (33 page)

Behind the soldier stood a Red Devil. Ripping the spear out of the dying man, the samurai advanced upon Jack. He thrust the trident at his belly. Jack’s
taijutsu
training kicked in and he swiftly evaded the weapon. But the Red Devil snatched back his spear too quickly for Jack to grab hold. The samurai lunged at him again. Jack jumped to the other side, swinging his
katana
round to chop the Devil’s head off. The samurai ducked and drove his shoulder into Jack, knocking him backwards. Jack stumbled over the dying
ashigaru
and fell to the floor.

The Red Devil rushed to stand over him, the blood of his previous victims dripping from his armour. His helmet had two great golden horns and he wore a terrifying
menpō
with fierce saw-like teeth cut into it. Only the samurai’s eyes showed, glinting with bloodlust as he raised his trident to skewer Jack into the ground.

A wooden staff rocketed out of nowhere, deflecting the spear’s lethal points into the muddy earth. Yamato, jumping over Jack, kicked the thwarted samurai hard in the chest. The Red Devil staggered backwards and lost his grip on the trident. Unsheathing a
katana
, he now charged at Yamato but was stopped in his tracks by an arrow. Akiko’s shot penetrated the samurai’s breastplate.

But a single arrow would never be enough to fell such a warrior. Grunting in pain, the Red Devil snapped off the shaft and recommenced his attack. As Yamato battled with the samurai, Akiko hurriedly restrung her bow. Jack jumped to his feet and rejoined the fight.

An experienced warrior, the Red Devil drove them both back. His blows were so violent that Jack’s arms shook with each strike. Akiko let loose another arrow, but the samurai was ready this time, cutting it in half in mid-air. Yamato, stunned at the feat, was knocked to the ground by a surprise front kick. Jack cut at the warrior’s head with his
katana
, but his strike was blocked and he was driven away. The Red Devil, retrieving his trident, raised it aloft to kill the fallen Yamato.

All of a sudden, the glistening tip of a sword thrust out of the samurai’s chest. The Red Devil staggered, coughing up blood, and collapsed to the ground, dead.

‘Best avoid those with the golden horns,’ Sensei Hosokawa advised. ‘They’re the elite warriors.’

He then returned to fight beside Masamoto, who’d dismounted and was decimating any Red Devil who came near with his Two Heavens technique. Sensei Yosa, though, was still on horseback, riding through the battle and picking off the enemy with her deadly arrows. To Jack’s right, Sensei Kyuzo was taking on two Red Devils at once. In an impressive display of
taijutsu
, he disarmed them both before impaling them on one another’s spears. A flurry of snow-white hair revealed where Sensei Nakamura was fighting, tears of grief running down her face as she exacted revenge upon the enemy, her
naginata
swooping through the air like a steel bird of prey. Nearby, the immense form of Sensei Kano could be seen twirling his
bō
, the enemy dropping like flies around him. The only centre of calm in the midst of this chaos was Sensei Yamada, who stood in the middle of a circle of fallen bodies. Jack watched as a Red Devil charged at the Zen master then suddenly dropped to his knees. A second
kiai
from Sensei Yamada finished the warrior off.

Jack spotted Yori wandering unscathed through the fighting, as if in a daze. His sword was raised but no one was engaging with him. He was simply too small to be considered a threat. A Red Devil bumped into Yori, saw the tiny warrior, then laughed. A moment later, the smile had been wiped off the man’s face as Sensei Yosa planted an arrow through his throat.

Breaking through the masses, a number of Red Devils on horseback bore down on the
Niten Ichi Ryū
students. Yori was directly in their path and about to be trampled underfoot. Jack screamed a warning, but he couldn’t be heard above the noise of battle. He sprinted at his friend, shoulder-barging him out from under the horses’ hooves.

Jack dragged Yori to his feet. ‘I told you, stick with us.’

Yori nodded meekly. ‘But no one wants to fight me.’

‘And you’re complaining!’ exclaimed Jack.

‘No, of course not,’ said Yori, giving a nervous laugh.

His eyes suddenly widened in fear. ‘Behind you!’

Jack turned to see a Red Devil charging at them. Having dropped his
katana
in the mud saving Yori, Jack went to draw his
wakizashi
but knew it was too late. The samurai was already bringing his sword round to decapitate him.

‘
YAH!
’

The Red Devil’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed face first in the mud.

Yori, breathing hard from the exertion of his
kiai
, grinned at Jack.

‘No wonder no one wants to fight you, Yori. You’re lethal!’ said Jack, picking up his
katana
before another samurai could attack them.

‘I think I only knocked him out,’ Yori replied, tapping the body with his foot. The Red Devil moaned feebly.

‘Jack!’ cried Akiko, frantically beckoning them to join her and Yamato.

The two of them ran over, only to discover Emi lying on the ground, an arrow protruding from her thigh. She was pale, blood soaking through her leggings and
hakama
.

‘We must protect Emi, at all costs,’ said Akiko, raising her bow.

They immediately formed a defensive circle round the
daimyo
‘s daughter, driving back the advancing Red Devils. But there were simply too many.
Daimyo
Kamakura’s forces were now smashing their way through every rank and file of Satoshi’s army.

The battle had become a massacre.

Encircled by Red Devils, Sensei Nakamura wielded her
naginata
with brutal abandon, her snow-white hair whirling amid a sea of red. Suddenly she disappeared, swallowed up by the enemy.

A soldier bearing a golden
sashimono
ran towards them.

‘
RETREAT
TO
THE
CASTLE!’ screamed the messenger.

A moment later, he was slain by a Red Devil from behind, his blood splattering the golden banner.

‘Fall back!’ commanded Masamoto, cutting his way through the mass of enemy troops with Sensei Hosokawa, Yosa and Kyuzo.

‘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.

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 around, but Yori was nowhere to be seen, his friend’s body lost among the corpses.

‘We have to go,’ said Akiko, resting her hand upon his shoulder. ‘Masamoto-sama’s ordered us to regroup at the barracks.’

‘Why close the gates?’ raged Jack, slamming his fist upon the parapet.

‘The enemy was about to overrun us.’

‘But he was
on
the bridge!’

Jack shook with fury, then broke down in tears, weeping, ‘I’d promised to look after him.’

‘And you did,’ said Akiko, drawing Jack away from the rampart. ‘But it was Yori’s decision to help Taro. His sacrifice saved us.’

When they reached the barracks, Jack was shocked to see that barely half the students had made it back. Many were injured, while others sat around with a dazed, faraway look in their eyes. Their losses had been heavy. Not only had Sensei Nakamura fallen in battle, but Sensei Yamada and Sensei Kano were missing too. Jack wandered over to where Emi lay, her leg now bandaged. Cho was by her side.

‘Where’s Kai?’ he asked, though he feared the answer.

Cho gave a sad shake of her head and wiped a tear away.

‘Jack,’ said Emi, trying to sit up to greet him. ‘Thank you for saving my life.’

‘It’s the least I could do after endangering it last year,’ he replied.

Emi smiled warmly at him. ‘I forgive you for that.’

‘And so do I,’ said a voice from behind.

Jack turned round to see
daimyo
Takatomi, his arm in a sling, accompanied by two of his bodyguards.

‘Jack-kun, I must thank you and your friends for bringing my daughter back to safety. I’m sorry to hear of the loss of Taro and Yori,’ he said, bowing his head in respect. ‘Once this little battle’s over, please join us again for
cha-no-yu
at my castle. We will toast their bravery and remember them.’

‘It would be an honour,’ said Jack, bowing low as the
daimyo
departed with Emi, borne away by his bodyguards. Though he had to suppress a weary smile; only
daimyo
Takatomi would think about holding a tea ceremony in the middle of a war.

‘Samurai of the
Niten Ichi Ryū
,’ said Masamoto, looking battleworn yet defiant. ‘We may have suffered great losses. But the enemy has
not
broken the spirit of the
Niten Ichi Ryū
.’

The scars on his face flared with the emotion of his statement.

‘The virtues of
bushido
you displayed on the field of battle are to be commended. Your courage in the face of danger, and the loyalty shown by those who died to save their comrades will forever be remembered. Such heroism is the cornerstone of our school and why we will
never
be defeated. Remember Sensei Yamada’s words, only by binding together will we remain strong.’

Jack, Akiko and Yamato looked at one another. Though Yori was on all their minds, they realized their continued survival relied upon their trinity remaining intact.

‘As I speak, the Council are planning our counter-offensive. In the meantime, ensure you get some rest. You’ll need your strength for the forthcoming assault. Long live the
Niten Ichi Ryū
!’

The students shouted their response. But with so many of them missing, the battle cry sounded hollow as it echoed off the castle walls. Masamoto and the remaining sensei strode out of the courtyard in the direction of the keep. Jack followed Yamato and Akiko into the barracks.

Settling down in the far corner, he tried to get some sleep. But the distant rumble of cannonfire was a constant reminder that the battle was not yet over. And the empty bed between him and Yamato was the cruel, painful proof that Yori was no longer with them.