Young Samurai 06 - The Ring of Fire (28 page)

Where’s Miyuki?
Jack signed.

With a bloodstained hand, Neko pointed to the forest. Jack peered round the barrier. Kurochi and seven bandits were cautiously edging along the main track in single file. But there was no sign of Miyuki.

He tried not to worry about her, realizing she was probably well hidden. Yet seeing the bandits approach unopposed, he couldn’t help question the effectiveness of her defences. With his
katana
at the ready, he urged the other three farmers to unsheathe theirs and prepare to engage.

The bandits’ confidence grew, the further along the snowy track they came. Clearly believing Akuma’s diversion had drawn all the
ronin
to the southern boundary, the leading bandit began to stride towards the village.

Then he was gone.

In the blink of an eye, the man had completely vanished from the path. Kurochi and the other bandits came to an abrupt halt, all of them sharing the same shocked expression. Even the farmers were surprised by his sudden disappearance.

Then a pained moan rose from the hidden pit. ‘My legs … my legs … they’re broken!’

‘Spread out!’ ordered Kurochi, making a sweep of the forest with his musket.

His remaining six men fanned out. They kept their eyes on the ground, worried they too might fall into another snow-covered trap.

Rebuking himself for even doubting Miyuki, Jack now watched their advance with eager expectation. As the bandits worked their way through the undergrowth, he wondered who the next victim would be. He didn’t have to wait long. One man was concentrating so hard on where he was placing his feet that he never saw what hit him. Pushing his way between two bushes, he triggered the release of a pre-sprung branch. It snapped back into place, striking the bandit in the forehead with such force that it sent him flying backwards. He rebounded off a tree trunk and dropped unconscious into the snow.

The other bandits were now petrified of making
any
movement.

‘Keep going!’ urged Kurochi, although he remained where he stood.

A grunt of pain alerted Kurochi to the loss of a third man. He lay slumped on the ground, having apparently been attacked by a mound of snow.

The four bandits left were frozen with fear as they imagined death awaiting them in every bush, tree and snowdrift. But Kurochi wasn’t so easily put off. He raised his loaded musket and took careful aim.

Jack’s heart leapt into his mouth when he realized his intended target. As Kurochi pulled the trigger, Miyuki burst from her hiding place.

The snowdrift exploded behind her.

‘Kill that ninja!’ roared Kurochi, reloading, furious to have missed his quarry.

Miyuki sprinted for the shelter of the barrier. A bandit followed in hot pursuit, wielding a vicious spiked club. Jack and Neko urged Miyuki on as she bounded headlong through the undergrowth. But the bandit, even faster, gained on her and swung his club. Jack shouted a warning. Miyuki ducked and switched direction.

The bandit cursed and raced after her. Too far from the barrier, Jack realized Miyuki would never reach them alive. The bandit swung his deadly club at her head again. But it never made contact. Like a startled bird, the man flailed as his feet were whipped from under him. Screaming in terror, he flew high into the forest canopy. Caught by the hidden snare, the bandit was left swinging back and forth with little hope of escape.

Weaving her way along the path, Miyuki avoided all her other traps then jumped high over the thorn ditch, somersaulting to land safely on the other side. Before Kurochi had another chance to aim at her, she dived behind the barrier and rolled to a stop beside Jack.

‘That was a little
too
close,’ she panted.

‘Where are
you
going?’ shouted Kurochi as his three surviving bandits beat a hasty retreat.

‘No one said anything about ninja!’ cried one of the men.

‘This area’s a death trap!’ said another, terrified.

The third bandit, running as fast as he could, didn’t even bother replying.

For a brief moment, Kurochi considered his chances of surviving a forest full of hidden traps. Then his better judgement prevailed and he hurriedly followed his fleeing men.

As the first bandit found his way to the path, he cried out in pain and began to hop around.

‘
Tetsu-bishi?
’ asked Jack, with a knowing smile.

Miyuki nodded and Jack almost felt pity for the men trying to escape the minefield of
tetsu-bishi –
iron spikes – hidden beneath the snow.

‘They won’t come this way again,’ said Miyuki confidently. ‘As the Grandmaster taught me –
a scared enemy is as good as a dead enemy
.’

49

SHOT DOWN

‘Why doesn’t he just give up?’ Sora asked in desperation.

He stood with his spear unit beside the moat, red-faced and breathless from fending off another of the bandits’ advances. It was now late afternoon and Akuma’s dogged determination was wearing the farmers down. While used to long hours labouring in the fields, they didn’t have the mental and physical stamina to fight for prolonged periods.

‘Akuma won’t stop until he’s won … or dead,’ replied Jack, flicking blood from his blade. ‘But as long as we keep fighting, he
won’t
win!’

Having failed to outflank them by the forest entry, Akuma had focused all his forces on the southern moat. His first assault had been quickly repelled. Despite the bandits’ savage charge, the farmers had kept them at bay, the combination of spears, thorns and ditch proving effective. But Jack soon realized that Akuma had been merely testing the farmers’ nerve – the bandit leader withdrew his forces before losing a single man. Then with calculated precision, Akuma selected different sections of the moat and sent groups of bandits to attack in turn, probing for weaknesses in the farmers’ defence.

Shouting broke out from Jack’s far right. The farmers under Saburo’s command rushed to defend their quarter. The detachment of bandits on the other side of the moat clashed violently against the spears. Some deflected the thrusts, while others attempted to cut their way through the thorn bushes.

A farmer stepped forward to drive his spear into the nearest bandit when an arrow lanced his neck. Choking as blood gushed forth, he toppled into the moat.

‘Father!’ cried a farmboy, dropping his spear and rushing to pull him out.

The ominous
crack
of a musket echoed across the fields. The farmboy was blown backwards as the deadly shot ripped through him.

Saburo’s unit began to break up, their courage crumbling in the face of such destructive force.

‘Keep your lines!’ ordered Saburo, having to battle a bandit who’d breached the moat. Blocking the man’s sword thrust with his
katana
, he kicked the bandit squarely in the chest and sent him flying back into the thorn bushes. Flailing like a fish caught in a net, the bandit struggled to escape. A woman, howling with rage, ran from behind the ranks and grabbed a spear.

‘This is for my husband!’ she cried, harpooning the man. She pulled out the spear and thrust again. ‘And that’s for my son!’

Then she fell to her knees, sobbing beside her murdered family.

Saburo dragged the woman away before she too suffered the same fate.

The farmers fought on, but their resolve was weakening as an arrow brought down another farmer.

Hayato ran up to Jack and Yori. ‘Akuma’s waging a war of attrition,’ he said gravely. ‘He’s got Kurochi and Sayomi picking us off one by one.’

‘We
must
keep up morale,’ insisted Jack. ‘Our only chance is to keep fighting.’

‘But if we continue to lose men like this, they’ll soon be too scared to even approach the moat.’

‘I don’t see that we have any other choice.’

Hayato bit his lip in frustration, lost for an alternative too.

‘To kill a snake, you have to cut off its head,’ observed Yori.

Jack and Hayato exchanged glances, both appreciating the danger such a tactic entailed and both a little surprised that Yori had been the one to come up with it.

Looking across the fields to Akuma, Jack asked, ‘Hayato, can you get him with your bow from here?’

Hayato shook his head. ‘He’s out of range. Always is.’

‘Then you need to get closer.’

‘Even if I got past the bandits, Kurochi or Sayomi would kill me first –’

A musket shot rang out.

‘NO!’ cried Yori, his eyes widening in horror.

Jack spun round to see Saburo falling to the ground. At the same time, Akuma launched a second group of bandits to attack the left end of the moat.

‘Hayato, take your unit to stop them,’ Jack ordered, as he and Yori ran the other way to Saburo’s aid.

Dropping down beside their friend, they found him lifeless.

‘Saburo!’ cried Jack, removing the mask from his face.

His friend didn’t respond. Yori began to pray as they frantically tried to revive him. Jack was in shock himself. He couldn’t imagine losing Saburo like this. He should never have asked his friend to join this suicidal mission in the first place.

With their commander down, Saburo’s unit started to flounder and gaps appeared in their defence. Taking advantage of the loss of leadership, the bandits stormed the moat. At the opposite end, Hayato fought to keep the second wave from breaking through.

With the farmers split between two battles, Akuma’s strategy had succeeded and he now sent a third and final division of men to attack the undefended centre. They immediately went to work on the thorn bushes, hacking at them with their axes and swords.

The bandits fighting Saburo’s unit were the first to breach the defences. The lead invader carved his way through the farmers, causing bloody chaos as he slaughtered all in his path.

Yori, enraged with grief, leapt up and faced the oncoming bandit.

‘YAAAH!’ he screamed.

The bandit crumpled as if he’d run straight into a brick wall.

Drawing his breath, Yori prepared to unleash another devastating
kiaijutsu
attack. Meanwhile, Jack searched for Saburo’s wound to stem any bleeding.

‘YAAAH!’

‘Tell Yori … to stop shouting,’ groaned Saburo, groggily opening his eyes. ‘My head’s ringing … like a temple bell.’

Jack stared in disbelief at his fallen friend. ‘You’re alive!’ Then he spotted the lead shot – embedded in Saburo’s helmet.

‘Help me up, Jack,’ said Saburo, stunned but otherwise unharmed. ‘This armour weighs a ton!’

The farmers cheered in amazement at seeing their commander rise to his feet.

‘Better safe than sorry,’ said Saburo, tapping his helmet. After swaying unsteadily for a moment, he regained his balance and focus. Holding his sword aloft, he rallied his men together, then with a loud
kiai
charged the invading bandits.

Jack called to his Sword unit and mustered them to defend the centre. Everyone’s spirits had been lifted by Saburo’s miraculous survival and all the farmers fought with renewed vigour. But a hole had been cut in the moat’s central defences and the bandits now clambered through.

Jack with his Sword unit intercepted them. The fighting was brutal and the farmers’ sword skill no match for the bandits’ battle-hardened experience. A farmer on Jack’s left crumpled under the tremendous blows from one attacker. Jack ran to his aid but was too late to save him. The bandit, as big and ferocious as a bear, went to skewer another poor farmer on the blade of his
nodachi
.

‘No!’ cried Jack, jumping between them, both his
katana
and
wakizashi
drawn.

‘Your head’s mine,
gaijin
,’ growled the bandit as he swung his massive sword at Jack’s neck.

Jack blocked the attack with his own short sword, his arm jarring under the force. At the same time, he thrust his
katana
at the man’s stomach. But the bandit’s armour proved too thick and the tip of his blade deflected harmlessly to one side.

Laughing at Jack’s failure to cause little more than a scratch, the bandit kicked him in the chest. Jack went sprawling in the snow. The bandit then lumbered forward to slice him head to foot. Without a second to lose, Jack flipped to his feet and cross-blocked the attack with both his swords.

Realizing any thrust to the bandit’s protected torso was pointless, Jack cut to the head with his
katana
instead. The bandit instinctively raised his sword arm to block it and that’s when he exposed the weak point in his armour. With devastating accuracy, Jack drove the tip of his
wakizashi
between the joint in its metal plates. The bandit grunted in pain as the blade plunged deep into his flesh.

With his sword arm now out of action, the bandit knew he stood little chance against Jack’s Two Heavens technique and rapidly retreated to the safety of the plain. To Jack’s surprise, the other bandits followed close on his tail. The women of the village – having seen the Sword unit in trouble – had rushed forward and were hurling rock after rock at the invaders. The ferocious bombardment drove them backwards, allowing for replacement thorn bushes to be dragged quickly over to plug the gap in their defences.