Young Samurai 06 - The Ring of Fire (26 page)

Red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning

The prediction couldn’t be more accurate. Although Akuma had yet to return, the young samurai kept up a vigilant watch while the exhausted farmers grabbed snatches of fitful sleep.

‘Are you certain he’ll come back?’ Junichi asked, scratching his stubbled chin.

Jack nodded and glanced towards the village’s rice store. ‘Akuma has few, if any, supplies. He needs your rice to survive the winter.’

‘Now he knows how
we
feel,’ said Junichi, his expression hardening. ‘But we dealt him a severe blow. I was told eight bandits were killed!’

‘That means nothing to him,’ said Jack, recalling the wounded bandit that Akuma had left to die. ‘He’d sacrifice
all
his men to win.’

‘Maybe he’s decided to raid another village instead?’

‘I doubt it. We’ve just made Akuma very angry,’ argued Jack. ‘And now we don’t have the element of surprise, our next encounter will be even more dangerous.’

Hearing footsteps, Jack turned to see Miyuki approaching from the direction of the forest.

‘Is everything all right?’ said Jack, surprised to see her deserting her post.

‘Neko’s taken over the watch while I rest,’ she explained, rubbing her eyes, bloodshot with tiredness.

‘Do you need me to go and help her?’ he asked.

‘No, she’s got eagle eyes. Nothing will get past her without us knowing about it.’ Wiping the snow from the veranda, she sat down and pulled off her hood. ‘I hear Yuudai didn’t lose a single man during the attack.’

‘Not entirely true,’ said Jack, his expression grief-stricken.

Miyuki looked up at him in shock. ‘Oh no! Who was killed?’

Jack dabbed a dry tear from his cheek and replied in his gravest tone, ‘One of Yori’s straw soldiers.’

Miyuki blinked, then registered what he’d said. ‘A
hilarious
samurai joke!’ she laughed. ‘I suppose that makes us even.’

Getting up, she headed wearily for the farmhouse. ‘Wake me in an hour or so, will you?’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Jack. ‘I won’t let you miss any of the action.’

Miyuki was almost to the door, when the alarm clanged a second time.

‘No chance of that!’ she called, running back.

Up in the watchtower, Yori pointed and yelled, ‘Horses to the east!’

Now on full alert, Jack dashed down to Hayato’s defensive line, Miyuki and Junichi close on his heels. Hayato stood behind the protective wall of hay bales at the eastern entrance, his hand shading his eyes as he looked to the horizon. Silhouetted against the rising sun, the bandits could be seen in the distance, galloping across the plain.

‘It won’t be long before they’re here,’ said Hayato, picking up his bow.

‘Good luck with your shot,’ encouraged Miyuki.

‘I don’t need luck,’ replied Hayato irritably. ‘I’ve practised.’

He selected an arrow from his quiver. A cloth dipped in lamp oil had been bound to the shaft near the tip.

‘I just need to compensate for the arrow’s extra weight and drag, that’s all.’

Jack looked over to the bridge. The wooden target had been removed and the cask of gunpowder was just visible beside the main supporting strut. Although he had every faith in Hayato’s skills, it was still an extremely difficult shot – one made harder by the fact he was firing into the sun.

‘I’ll send for reinforcements,’ said Jack. ‘Just in case.’

He turned to one of the younger farmers. ‘Tell Yuudai we need his second division here
now
.’

Nodding obediently, the farmer dashed away as if his life depended upon it.

Hayato stood by the sentry fire in preparation to ignite the arrow. The bandits were still a good distance off and his timing would have to be perfect. He couldn’t fire too early or else they wouldn’t catch Akuma’s forces in the blast. But if he shot too late, the village would be in serious danger of invasion. And if he missed …

The farmers fell silent as the tension grew.

Jack tried to count the enemy as they approached. Although too far away to be accurate, he judged there were more than thirty left.

Then Jack noticed something odd. A thin stream of smoke was rising from the roof of the mill.

‘Where’s your mother?’ Jack asked Junichi.

‘My mother is stubborn,’ he replied, with a sad but resigned look on his face.

‘Natsuko’s still
there
!’

‘I tried to persuade her so many times, but –’

Jack leapt the line of hay bales. Having seen what Akuma and his henchmen were capable of, he couldn’t leave the old woman to such a fate. He ordered two of the farmers to help him carry the wooden board used to cross the moat during construction.

‘NO, Jack!’ Miyuki cried. ‘You’ll never make it back in time.’

Jack bounded over the wooden board, crossing the thorn-filled ditch in a few strides.

‘Wait!’ called Junichi, running after him. ‘My mother will never listen to you.’

‘She doesn’t listen to you either!’

‘Then you’ll need my help to carry her out. She won’t go any other way.’

Jack didn’t have time to argue and they both sprinted down the road towards the bridge.

45

THE BRIDGE

On the plain, Akuma and his bandits rode ever nearer.

The snow crunched under Jack’s feet as he urged himself to go faster. He flew on to the bridge and almost slipped upon its icy surface. Panting heavily, Junichi struggled to keep up. By the time he reached the river, Jack was already across.

The bandits were now close enough that Jack could make out Akuma by the distinctive red
hachimaki
on his head.

Hammering on the door, Jack cried, ‘Natsuko! Open up!’

‘Coming,’ croaked a voice from within.

The old woman seemed to take an age, while with every second the thunder of horses’ hooves grew louder. Jack was about to kick in the door, when there was a wooden clunk and it slid open. Natsuko’s wrinkled face appeared.

‘It’s about time you paid me a visit,’ she said, turning back inside before Jack could grab her. ‘Come in, breakfast’s almost ready.’

Jack chased after her. ‘We’ve got to go
now
,’ he urged, grabbing hold of her arm.

‘But we’ve not even had
sencha
,’ she said, appalled at Jack’s apparent rudeness.

Junichi ran up to the doorway, breathless. ‘Mother, Akuma is coming!’

She sighed heavily. ‘I told you before, son, I’m too old to be scared any more.’

‘We don’t have time for this,’ despaired Junichi, glancing over his shoulder. ‘He’s almost at your door!’

‘Let him in then,’ she said, brandishing her walking-stick. ‘I’ll give him a black moon he won’t forget!’

‘
Please
, Mother, don’t argue –’

A distant crack of a musket preceded the gruesome thud of a lead shot. Junichi was thrown against the door frame, blood spewing from his mouth. He weakly clutched at his chest as he slid helpless to the floor. Jack ran to him, but Junichi was fading fast, his tattered kimono soaked red with blood. Natsuko tottered over and fell to her knees.

‘I told you to leave me be!’ she sobbed, cradling her dying son in her arms.

Junichi’s face had gone deathly pale and his breathing was laboured. Focusing on Jack, he spluttered, ‘Young samurai … don’t let Akuma win … save Mother … save the village …’

Then his eyes lost the spark of life and he fell silent.

Consumed with grief, Natsuko stroked her son’s hair, no longer aware of the world around her.

Jack could hear the baleful shouts of the bandits nearby. Sticking his head out to check the bridge was still clear, he hurriedly withdrew it as an arrow thudded into the wooden framework. Akuma’s bandits were almost on top of them. Grabbing Natsuko, he threw the old woman over his shoulder and ran for the bridge.

Natsuko protested at being torn from her son. Then she saw Akuma bearing down on them.

‘You devil!’ she cried, raising her stick in defiance. ‘I’ll see you dead before I die!’

Jack’s heart pounded in his chest. Natsuko wasn’t heavy, but she was enough to slow him down. He risked a glance back. High in her saddle, her black hair streaming out behind, Sayomi was drawing her bow and taking aim. The ghostly woman’s lips parted into a hideous smile as she released the arrow.

In sheer desperation Jack threw himself to the ground, Natsuko protesting at the sudden jolt. She shut up when the arrow missed them by a whisker and drove into the icy deck of the bridge.

Sayomi shrieked in frustration and reached for another arrow.

‘GET UP!’ screamed Miyuki from the village’s eastern defence.

Jack and the old woman were now directly in the path of the bandits’ stampeding horses. Using all his strength, Jack rose to his feet with Natsuko and broke into a staggering run. They were completely exposed as he crossed the bridge. Although Kurochi couldn’t reload while riding, Sayomi would have no problems rearming her bow.

At the boundary to the village, Jack could see Hayato and Miyuki arguing over when to shoot the gunpowder cask. He wasn’t yet across, but behind he heard the leading horses clatter on to the bridge.

‘SHOOT!’ he bawled, running with all his might.

Hayato seemed reluctant to fire. But if he waited any longer, the bandits would breach their primary line of defence.

‘SHOOT!’ ordered Jack.

The flaming arrow hurtled towards him.

Jack made a last-ditch effort as it shot past.

Behind he heard a
whoosh
, then a huge explosion. He was knocked off his feet by the blast and landed face first in a ditch by the side of the road. Natsuko dropped next to him, stunned by the detonation.

Dragging her away from the blazing heat, he looked back to see the bridge engulfed in a ball of flame. Its structure had collapsed entirely, preventing any chance of crossing the river. The lead riders and their horses had plummeted into the icy waters and were being washed downstream by the current. While the men struggled to stay afloat, the stronger-swimming horses were able to reach the safety of the bank.

To Jack’s dismay, though, Sayomi had survived. Blown by the blast from her horse, she’d landed upon the mill-side bank. Her hair wild and her pale face blackened with smoke, she swayed unsteadily as her eyes hunted for her missing prey. Kurochi and Nakamura had also escaped the trap and gazed in disbelief at the destroyed bridge.

Through the haze of heat and hell-fire, Akuma roared in fury at being foiled a second time.

46

ICE

‘Be warned!’ Akuma bellowed, seizing a burning fragment of bridge.
‘Farmers who fight fire with fire end up with ashes!’

He threw the flaming chunk of wood into the mill and watched it catch light. Leaving the building to burn, Akuma rallied his bandits and rode south for the ford. Sayomi hung back a while to scan the opposite bank one last time. Infuriated, she spurred her steed on with a kick and galloped after her leader.

Jack stayed hidden in the ditch until certain she was gone, then helped the distraught Natsuko to her feet. Behind him, the farmers were wailing at the loss of both their mill and the head of their village.

‘Junichi was a good man … and brave,’ said Jack, trying to comfort the old woman.

‘I do not weep for my son. In death, there is no suffering,’ she said, staring at the blaze that was her home and now Junichi’s grave. ‘I weep for all those he left behind. With a tyrant like Akuma, it’s those who survive that suffer most.’

Jack helped Natsuko over the wooden board spanning the moat, before leaving her in Sora’s care. Miyuki raced up and immediately began checking Jack for injuries.

‘I’m fine,’ Jack insisted.

‘Hayato almost killed you!’ she exclaimed in outrage, as she brushed charred splinters from his hair.

‘I was following orders,’ said Hayato, striding up behind. ‘Besides, it’s your fault. I always said the plan was
highly
risky.’

‘But it worked,’ reminded Jack, hoping to prevent a full-blown argument. ‘Thanks to Miyuki’s cunning
and
your skill.’