The Way Of The Dragon (31 page)

The other ninja was fleeing along the ledge.

Jack pursued the assassin as more arrows were mistakenly fired at him. The ninja leapt down to the next level, gliding through the air like a bat. Only as Jack reached the eaves did he realize just how far it was between the roofs. But it was too late to change his mind.

Jumping down, he landed heavily. The tiles broke on impact and Jack lost his footing. He tumbled down the slope, past the ninja, towards the edge.

The ninja dived for him, catching hold of his arm as he went over.

Jack now hung from the eaves, swinging high above the ground. Below him, he caught a glimpse of Dragon Eye leaping from the
donjon
‘s lower level to the roof of a nearby building. The distance seemed impossible, but the assassin landed with stealth and disappeared into the night. Jack wouldn’t be so fortunate if he fell from his height.

His heart hammering in his chest, he looked up to see a gloved hand holding his wrist tightly. As he swung in the darkness, two eyes gazed down at him through the slit of the ninja’s hood. There was a moment of recognition.

Then the ninja let go.

Jack plummeted through the air, screaming in terror as the wind whipped past him. A second later he crashed, not into the ground, but on to a lower roof of the keep.

He lay there a moment, too shocked to move.

As he recovered from the fall, he noticed a gleam of steel beside him. His
katana
was caught in the gap between two rows of tiles. Cautiously, he shuffled to the edge and grabbed hold of the handle. With his sword back in hand, he felt his strength return.

Jack got to his feet and sheathed his
katana
. He now had to climb all the way back up to the sixth floor via the precipitous maze of interconnecting roofs. He carefully made his way along the ledge to the corner of the keep. Peering round, he spotted the ninja coming towards him. Unseen, Jack crouched low, hiding in the shadow of the eaves above. He withdrew his
tantō
and waited to ambush the assassin. As the ninja turned the corner, Jack jumped out. He forced him against the wall, holding his knife to the ninja’s throat. The demon blade shone white in the pale moonlight, hungry for blood.

‘No!’ cried a girl’s voice.

Stunned, Jack stared into the ninja’s eyes, black as ebony.

‘
Akiko?
‘ he breathed, almost too scared to utter her name.

The ninja nodded once. Pulling off the hood, Akiko’s long dark hair fell round her shoulders.

‘I… I can explain,’ she stuttered, glancing fearfully at the knife still held to her throat.

‘You’re a
traitor
... like Kazuki!’ said Jack, his hand starting to tremble in shock.

‘No, No! I’m on our side.’

‘Then why dress like a ninja? Why save Dragon Eye?’

‘No, I saved
you
back there,’ Akiko insisted. ‘Dragon Eye had the
tantō
up his sleeve. He was about to kill you.’

‘But I had my sword to his throat. And you attacked me! Why should I believe you? You dropped me off the roof!’

Akiko shook her head vigorously. ‘If I’d wanted you dead, I’d have simply let you fall. Instead I swung you to safety,’ she explained, her eyes pleading with Jack to believe her. ‘Remember the ambush in the bamboo forest? I was the third ninja who saved you.’

Jack felt his heart being torn in two. He dearly wanted to believe her, but his eyes couldn’t deny the truth.

Akiko was a ninja. The enemy.

‘Why not just warn me that Dragon Eye had a knife?’

Akiko looked away, unable to meet his gaze. ‘I couldn’t let you kill him.’

Jack’s mind reeled. Not only was she a ninja, she was protecting Dragon Eye, his father’s murderer. Jack felt a throb of rage and the demon blade in his hand seemed to beg him to draw its razor-sharp edge across her throat.

‘Please take that devil knife away,’ she whispered, terrified by the look in his eyes. ‘I’ll explain everything.’

Jack suddenly became aware of what he was doing. This was Akiko. His best friend. He had to trust her. As if a spell had been broken, he felt his anger ebb away.

‘You can’t kill Dokugan Ryu,’ she said as Jack slowly lowered the blade and put it away. ‘He’s the only person who knows where my brother is.’

‘But Jiro’s in Toba,’ challenged Jack.

‘I’m talking about my baby brother, Kiyoshi.’

‘You told me he was dead.’

‘I said he was no longer with us,’ corrected Akiko.

‘But you pray for him at the Temple of the Peaceful Dragon.’

‘Yes, I pray for his safe return. Dragon Eye kidnapped him the same night he killed Tenno.’

There were shouts from below and they both crouched further into the shadows to avoid being spotted by the archers.

‘My family was visiting Masamoto-sama in Kyoto at the time. I was woken by a noise in the garden and opened the
shoji
to see a black ghost standing over Tenno. He had a
tantō
in his hand. I was only a little girl at the time. I couldn’t save him. I just watched as the ninja thrust the blade through his heart.’

Her eyes filled with tears at the memory and she clenched her fists in frustration. Jack knew what she was going through, having felt that exact same sense of helplessness. It pained him every day to think how he’d stood there, frozen with fear, as Dragon Eye throttled his father with a wire garrotte. He too had been powerless to prevent the murder.

‘Dragon Eye looked at me, blood dripping from his knife. I remember how it left a trail of red spots like rose petals on the white stone path. I ran. I know I shouldn’t have left Kiyoshi all alone, but I was scared. By the time I’d woken Masamotosama, Dragon Eye was gone. So too was my brother.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ said Jack, reaching for her hand to comfort her. ‘But why become a ninja?’

‘That was Masamoto’s idea.’

Jack stared in shock at Akiko. ‘He
knows
about this?’

Akiko nodded. ‘He’s the one who introduced me to the monk at the Temple of the Peaceful Dragon. The monk’s a member of the Koga clan and is a ninja grandmaster. Well, he used to be until he became a priest. In return for a donation to the temple, he was willing to teach me the secret arts of the ninja.’

‘I always suspected that monk!’ exclaimed Jack, remembering the man’s hands that looked like knives. ‘And it certainly explains all your hidden talents! But I can’t believe you lied to me all this time. You could’ve trusted me, you know.’

‘I trust you more than anyone in this world, Jack,’ said Akiko, her hand taking his in earnest. ‘And I never lied to you. It’s just a different version of the same truth. I
did
receive spiritual comfort from the monk, but I also got training in
ninjutsu
. It was vital to my safety that no one knew I was leading a double life.’

‘But why did Masamoto-sama even want you to learn the Way of the Ninja?’

‘After we prevented
daimyo
Takatomi’s assassination by Dragon Eye two years ago, Masamoto-sama realized the tide of peace was turning. He believed that in order to know your enemy you must become your enemy.

‘I jumped at the chance. I felt certain Dragon Eye hadn’t killed Kiyoshi. And I became convinced when the monk told me of a rumour about a boy of samurai status entering a ninja clan in the Iga mountains. I thought if I could infiltrate the ninja, I might find my brother.’

‘But how would you even recognize him after all this time?’

‘I’d never forget Kiyoshi. Even if they shaved off all his hair and called him by another name, I’d always know him. Besides, he has a birthmark like a petal of
sakura
blossom on his lower back.’

She smiled at the thought.

‘So does Masamoto-sama expect you to be an assassin?’ asked Jack tentatively.

Akiko shook her head. ‘My only task is to gather information from the enemy.’

An arrow clattered above their heads.

‘I think it’s time to go,’ she said, slipping her hood back on. With that, she ran off the edge of the roof and disappeared into the night.

The following morning, dressed in battle armour, Jack stood beside Yamato and Yori in the square of the Hokoku shrine. A light rain fell from the weeping clouds and mixed with the tears of the young samurai gathered before the funeral pyre of Takuan.

Masamoto-sama and the sensei of the
Niten Ichi Ryū
formed a semi-circle round the body, now wrapped in a stark-white kimono. Sensei Yamada wafted incense and chanted a
sutra
as the feeble light of dawn entered the courtyard. In the distance, the rumble of cannonfire rolled on.

Once Sensei Yamada had completed the burial rituals, Masamoto addressed the school.

‘The Way of the Warrior is found in death. Takuan was the first to fall. He won’t be the last. But he will always be remembered.’

Jack could hear Emi sobbing. He too had a lump in his throat as he thought of Takuan, his generosity of spirit, his kind-heartedness and, of course, his
haiku
.

Sensei Nakamura stepped forward, her stricken face as pale as her ice-white hair. She gazed at her son one last time, then, with a trembling hand, put a burning taper to the pyre. The wood caught and the flames grew until they consumed Takuan’s body, smoke and ash rising in a cloud towards the heavens.

The students all bowed their heads in his honour and the rain stopped, as if the sky had cried all it could. The sensei then led them in a slow march back up to the barracks, where they formed into their units and awaited Masamoto’s address.

‘Takuan did
not
die in vain,’ announced Masamoto. ‘His death warned us of the ninja attack and saved his lordship Satoshi from assassination. It is such sacrifice and loyalty that may be asked of
all
of you this day.’

Jack already knew Satoshi had survived. After Akiko had left him, he’d managed to climb back up the roofs to Yamato, where his friend had greeted him with relief and revealed that Dragon Eye had failed in his mission. The explosion on the upper floor had only been a smoke bomb, allowing the ninja to escape. And although two members of the Council had been killed,
daimyo
Takatomi had survived, his wound not fatal.

‘My sources reveal that the enemy intend to mount another assault on the keep tonight,’ said Masamoto, glancing in the direction of Akiko, who stood near the back after joining the ranks last. There were dark shadows under her eyes and Jack wondered if she’d had any sleep at all.

‘We now know the ninja entered the castle during the day by impersonating the samurai of
daimyo
Yukimura, and hid in a storehouse until nightfall. They surprised us once and escaped, but they won’t again. The orders of the Council are to meet the enemy on the plains. We are to take the battle to them. Students of the
Niten Ichi Ryū
, we march –
FOR
GLORY!’

As one, the school roared back, ‘
FOR
GLORY!’

Sensei Hosokawa called the students to attention. Each unit then strode out of the courtyard, headed by their sensei.

‘This is a dangerous move,’ muttered Taro as he donned his helmet and
menpō
.

‘What do you mean?’ said Jack.

‘The castle walls must have been breached for the Council to risk open combat like this. I truly hope they know what they’re doing.’

The cannonfire got louder as they crossed the inner moat. Winding their way through the outer defences of the castle, Jack noticed the walls and battlements were bedecked with hundreds of flags and banners. Alongside the multitude of family crests belonging to the samurai fighting in Satoshi’s name, the standards bore images of the Holy Cross, Jesus Christ and even of St James, the patron saint of Spain. The walls were awash with Christian symbols, colourful and defiant against the grey stone of Osaka’s ramparts. Jack could just imagine how incensed
daimyo
Kamakura would be at seeing such a blatant show of Christianity.

As they neared the main gate, the devastation of the battle made itself apparent. At first, it was the odd wall damaged by cannonshot, then a few battleworn samurai with blood splattered on their armour. As the students joined the vast column of troops heading towards the plain, they passed growing numbers of wounded. Men with sword cuts to their faces, others with arrows protruding from their torsos, and some dying slowly, limbs missing or guts spilling out. Moving among them with solemn grace, a number of Franciscan friars and Jesuit priests performed the last rites on those near death.

The young samurai now marched along a road parallel to the outer wall. Above them on the ramparts, archers sent volley after volley of arrows into the sky, while soldiers loaded mangonels and launched rocks and fire pots into the thick of the battle. Jack realized it wouldn’t be long before they too entered the conflict.

All of a sudden, the Tenno-ji Plain appeared through a hole blown in the fortifications and Jack caught a glimpse of the fighting. A haze of smoke. A flash of cannonfire. A moving forest of steel swords and fluttering flags. Screaming samurai by the thousand. A corpse floating in the moat. Then the hellish vision disappeared.

Approaching the main gate, Masamoto called a halt. A Shinto priest greeted them and offered prayers to the war god Hachiman, asking for his divine help in securing victory and protecting the young samurai.

Along with the Shinto priest, several Jesuits and friars stood either side of the entrance, blessing the soldiers with Christian prayers as they passed across the final bridge and on to the plain. Jack was surprised to see Father Bobadillo at the gate. Spotting Masamoto, the priest immediately hurried over and spoke with him.

Jack wondered what the treacherous snake was up to now. Though he’d told Akiko and Yamato about the priest’s dealings with Dragon Eye, there hadn’t been an opportunity to warn his guardian. The problem was he still had no real proof. The fact that Dragon Eye, a master of deception, had told him would be laughed out of court by Father Bobadillo. Besides, Jack’s main concern was to find the
rutter
.