Young Samurai 06 - The Ring of Fire (13 page)

Leaving the square, they walked to the outskirts of the village, where the main track petered out at the mouth of a narrow valley. A dirt road snaked its way up the slope and disappeared over a rocky ridge.

‘There’s nothing to stop the bandits here,’ observed Hayato grimly.

‘Then we need a barricade,’ suggested Jack. He scored a line in the snow with his foot, marking the boundary of the village. ‘At this point.’

‘I can build one,’ offered Yuudai, ‘with the help of some farmers.’

‘Great!’ replied Jack, pleased the boy was so willing to volunteer. ‘Toge says the bandits have horses. So it’ll have to be high enough to stop them jumping over and strong enough to resist a charge.’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Yuudai. ‘When I’ve finished, even a dragon couldn’t get past!’

‘Still, we won’t have much warning of an attack,’ Miyuki noted, eyeing the closeness of the valley ridge.

Jack recalled the Grandmaster’s Ring of Fire lesson. This element represented energy and motivation for a ninja and was closely aligned to weapon work. Its key influence was in
kajutsu
– the Art of Fire – which included explosives, gunpowder and the use of fire for diversion and destruction. But Jack had also learnt that it could be more subtle, acting as a ninja’s first line of defence.

Jack pointed to a nearby hill. ‘We need a smoke beacon up there, to give us advance warning.’

‘I’ll ask the villagers to make a woodpile,’ said Yori, ‘and organize a lookout rota.’

‘Thank you, Yori,’ said Jack, already feeling more confident in his role as leader.

‘But what if they attack from a different direction?’ questioned Saburo.

‘Good point. We should also build a watchtower in the square. That way we can keep an eye on all approaches to the village. I’ll take charge of that.’ He turned to Saburo. ‘So, looking through the eyes of the enemy, where’s our next weak point?’

Saburo’s brow crinkled in thought. ‘Probably the road from Okayama.’

The band of young samurai headed back into the village and down to the river, where the icy waters churned and flowed freely from the mountains.

‘This is easier to defend,’ said Hayato with relief, noting the opposite bank was some ten metres away and the river too deep for horses to ford it. ‘Akuma can’t cross here if we dismantle the bridge.’

‘No, we must keep it,’ said Miyuki.

They all looked at her, Hayato glaring with annoyance at being contradicted.

‘We leave it as a trap,’ she explained. ‘Like fish to a cat, the bandits will want to cross here. As they do, we blow it up!’

‘That’s dishonourable!’ said Hayato. ‘A samurai doesn’t fight like that.’

‘Do you think Akuma cares anything for honour?’ countered Miyuki.

Clenching his jaw, Hayato conceded, ‘Probably not. But
what
will you blow the bridge up with?’

‘Gunpowder.’

Hayato eyed Miyuki dubiously. ‘Do you have any?’

‘A little,’ she said, patting a small tube attached to her
obi
, along with various other pouches.

Hayato laughed. ‘That wouldn’t be enough for a firework!’

Now it was Miyuki’s turn to look annoyed. ‘We could make more. All we need is charcoal, sulphur and saltpetre.’

‘Do you think these poor farmers have
all
that?’ mocked Hayato.

Miyuki glared at him and Jack intervened before the quarrel got out of hand.

‘Both ideas are strong,’ he said. ‘If the farmers have what Miyuki needs, then we can go with her plan. If not, we proceed with Hayato’s. Whatever, we’ll have to sacrifice the two houses on the far side and the mill.’

‘You can’t do that!’ said Toge, walking up behind them. ‘Junichi owns the mill. His mother, Natsuko, still lives there.’

‘But we can’t protect everything,’ explained Hayato.

‘Natsuko’s a stubborn old woman.’

‘She’ll be less stubborn when Akuma’s at her door.’

Toge shrugged. ‘I’m telling you she won’t like it.’

21

LOCKED HORNS

As the farmer headed over to deliver the message, Jack asked him, ‘Where’s the next crossing point on this river?’

‘There’s a ford, a few miles to the south,’ Toge replied, pointing towards the paddy fields. ‘That track over there eventually leads to it.’

‘Then that’ll be Akuma’s next route of attack.’

The young samurai trekked across the fields. They followed the network of paths, many only visible as a slight ridge in the snow.

‘Open land is hard to defend,’ muttered Hayato, biting his lip pensively.

‘At least we’ll be able to see them,’ said Jack. ‘And with your bow, you could pick off bandits as they ride in.’

Hayato nodded. ‘But we still need to slow them down. They’ll overrun us otherwise.’

‘We could flood the fields,’ suggested Miyuki.

‘That should work,’ agreed Jack. Such a strategy was part of the ninja’s Ring of Water techniques and he remembered how effective it had been against the army of samurai invading Miyuki’s village.

‘But that won’t stop them,’ argued Hayato. ‘They’ll just use the paths.’

Jack studied the walkways bordering the fields. The ninja would have made them narrow so only one person could pass at a time, and their arrangement would form a maze to slow down intruders. But the farmers’ paths were wide and led directly to the village.

‘How about a ditch?’ suggested Saburo. ‘We could fill it to become a moat.’

‘A far better idea!’ said Hayato, clapping him on the back.

‘It’ll have to encircle the
whole
village,’ noted Miyuki. ‘That’s a lot of work.’

‘Well, I bet Saburo’s the very man to lead the digging!’ said Hayato, dismissing Miyuki’s objection.

Saburo smiled awkwardly, not sure how he’d volunteered for the task but nonetheless pleased with the praise. Yori saw the frustration on Miyuki’s face at being cold-shouldered again, and stepped forward.

‘Hayato, it may be wise to do both,’ he said.

‘Of course,’ replied Hayato heartily. ‘There can never be enough defences.’

‘Which leaves us with the last approach – the forest to the west,’ said Jack, and led the way.

As they walked out of the paddy fields, Jack felt a tug on his sleeve. Neko was beckoning him to follow her.

‘Hold on!’ said Jack to the others, as she steered him over to the pond.

Once there, she gestured to the ice now covering its surface. Jack wondered what her point was, until she stepped out on to the pond and walked straight across it.

‘Neko’s spotted a problem!’ shouted Jack, waving the others over and giving Neko a thumbs-up in recognition. ‘The bandits could circle the paddy fields and cross
here
.’

‘Not if the ice breaks,’ said Miyuki.

‘Who says it will?’ countered Hayato, pulling an arrow from his quiver and tapping the surface. ‘It sounds pretty thick to me. And Neko just walked on it.’

‘We
weaken
the ice first,’ said Miyuki condescendingly. ‘It makes the perfect natural deception.’

‘Are
you
volunteering to go out there and break the ice?’ challenged Hayato.

As the two of them once again locked horns, Yuudai picked up a nearby rock and hurled it high into the air. It landed in the centre of the pond with an almighty crack, smashing through the icy surface and sinking without trace. Tiny fracture lines spidered out from the hole.

‘That should do it,’ said Yuudai, grinning.

Jack laughed. He liked this boy’s attitude. Yuudai took no sides; he simply wanted to get the job done. With the pond’s threat now turned to a defensive advantage and with three angles of attack covered, Jack was beginning to feel more confident about their chances against Akuma.

That was until they entered the forest.

‘This is our greatest weakness,’ declared Hayato, studying the path before them. ‘Lots of cover, little advance warning and countless gullies to bypass any barricade we build.’

Jack and the others fell silent as they all sought a solution. But none was forthcoming. The forest simply provided too many opportunities for an attacking enemy.

‘Leave it to me,’ announced Miyuki.

‘But what
exactly
do you plan to do?’ demanded Hayato.

‘I have a few ideas.’

Hayato was about to protest, but Jack, wishing to avoid another clash of opinion, interjected first. ‘I trust your judgement, Miyuki.’

‘And I won’t let you down,’ she replied, bowing.

Before anyone could challenge her further, Jack went on. ‘Now we’ve a lot of work to do, so you’re each responsible for an approach. Yuudai, north at the barricade; Hayato, east at the bridge; Saburo, south at the paddy fields; Miyuki, west in the forest. Yori, you’re organizing the smoke beacon and can also act as runner between the four posts. I’ll be in the square coordinating the defences and the building of the watchtower. Any questions?’

Yuudai raised a hand. ‘Our plan’s good, as far as it goes. But we’ll still need an army of men to defend each post.’

Saburo nodded in agreement. ‘But we can’t even get samurai to join us. Where will we find an army?’

To everyone’s shock, Hayato and Miyuki replied in unison, ‘We’ll train one!’

22

DEFENCES

For the next week, the village became a whirlwind of activity. Toge helped rally the farmers and Jack split them into four units of eight men, each with their young samurai commander. Miyuki handpicked just three helpers, including Neko, before offering her remaining men to Jack for the construction of the watchtower. One of them was an able carpenter and Jack left him in charge whenever he went to check on progress of the other defences.

Yuudai proved to be a tireless worker and his barricade soon began to take shape.

‘Good work!’ said Jack, testing one of the spiked tree trunks rammed into the ground.

Dropping another beam into a foundation hole, Yuudai wiped the sweat from his brow. ‘We’re halfway done!’ he announced. ‘But we still need to reinforce these pillars, build a wall between them with thorn bushes and add bamboo spikes to prevent charging.’

‘That should keep Akuma out,’ said Jack, impressed with the scale of his fortifications, and they both grinned.

Noticing four farmers struggle with a felled tree, they hurried over. Between the six of them, they managed to manhandle it to the log pile, where two villagers were cutting and shaping the wood for use. The four farmers then collapsed with exhaustion.

‘Well done!’ Yuudai shouted, clapping them on the backs enthusiastically. ‘But no sleep till bedtime!’

Hauling another spiked tree trunk on to his shoulder, Yuudai headed back to the barricade where two men were digging the next foundation hole. Despite their fatigue, the team of farmers dragged themselves to their feet and obediently followed. Jack noted Yuudai’s work ethic and constant encouragement kept everyone motivated and in good spirits.

‘Do you need anything else?’ Jack called to Yuudai.

The boy thought for a moment, the beam still slung across his shoulder as if it weighed no more than a spear. ‘We could do with some hay bales to hide behind as a secondary defence line.’

‘Good thinking,’ agreed Jack. ‘I’ll put Yori on to it.’

Leaving Yuudai and his farmers to their work, Jack headed into the village to see how Saburo was getting on. He found his friend sitting beneath a tree overlooking a pile of earth.

‘Put your backs into it!’ he ordered as he sipped from a cup of green tea.

Kunio’s muddy face popped out of the hole. ‘Can’t we take a break yet?’

‘Do you think Akuma takes a break when raiding?’ asked Saburo.

Kunio scratched at his ear. ‘No.’

‘Then we can’t stop either!’

Sighing wearily, Kunio resumed shovelling with the rest of the men.

‘How’s it going?’ asked Jack.

‘Honestly?’ replied Saburo. ‘Pretty slow. The ground’s frozen solid.’

Jack inspected the shallow ditch that ran part-way along the village’s southern boundary. ‘Any chance you’ll finish this before the black moon?’

‘At this rate, unlikely,’ Saburo admitted. ‘We’re using the excess dirt to shore up the bank on this side, but I can’t see us digging all the way round the village.’