The Way Of The Dragon (3 page)

But he didn’t look back.

He hit the forest track and ran for his life.

Eventually he slowed down, checking the canopy above and behind him. It was difficult to tell but it appeared he’d given the two ninja the slip. Jack hurried back in the direction of the village, worried that Akiko might also be in danger.

Out of nowhere, a ninja dropped like a panther in front of him.

Jack held up his improvised bamboo sword and prepared to defend himself.

The ninja calmly raised his hands.

But not in surrender. Both palms were armed with metal claws. The ninja’s
shuko
were used to aid climbing, but also proved lethal weapons, their four curved spikes capable of ripping through flesh and lacerating any enemy.

Jack didn’t wait. He struck first.

The ninja didn’t even flinch as the stem cut down towards his head.

Then inexplicably Jack’s arms came to an abrupt halt.

Glancing up, Jack saw that his improvised sword had collided with an overhanging bamboo stem. A long weapon was useless in such confined surroundings.

The ninja hissed and, in the blink of an eye, he swiped with his claws, catching both of Jack’s outstretched arms. Jack grimaced as eight bloody lines were scored into his skin, forcing him to drop the piece of bamboo.

Ignoring the pain, Jack front-kicked the assassin in the chest.

The ninja, not expecting such a powerful and rapid kick from a mere boy, was thrown backwards into a clump of bamboo. Jack followed up with a jumping side-kick, but the ninja leapt above it and shot up the bamboo stem like a monkey.

Jack, recalling his own days as a rigging monkey on-board the
Alexandria
, grabbed hold of the bamboo as if it were a mast and clambered after the ninja. He pursued the assassin high into the canopy, astounding the ninja with his unexpected agility and confidence at climbing. The ninja fled.

Jack jumped from stem to stem after him.

At this height, the bamboo was green and flexible and Jack swayed towards his enemy. He caught him hard in the gut with a front kick. The ninja lost his grip under the force of the blow, crying out as he tumbled through the leaves to the ground far below.

The ninja lay motionless, sprawled in the thicket, one leg twisted at an impossible angle, and Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

He began to drop back down, when the second ninja suddenly emerged out of the foliage below him, brandishing a sword. Jack heard a sharp crack as the ninja sliced through the stem he was holding on to.

Jack plummeted towards the earth, the wind whistling past his ears. His hands grabbed blindly for anything to break his fall. Somehow he caught hold of another stem, but this bamboo was young and bent under his weight. He continued to fall. The bamboo finally gave way and snapped. Gravity took hold and Jack dropped like a stone for the last five metres.

The impact knocked all the breath out of him.

As he lay there dazed, he heard something land close by.

Glancing behind, he saw the green ninja stalking him, his
shuko
claws primed to strike and rip the skin from his back. Jack crawled on all fours, desperate to get away. The ninja crouched winding up to strike.

Jack pulled himself to his feet and stumbled into the thicket, but he knew he had little chance of survival. His fate was sealed as a third ninja dropped down in front of him and blocked his escape.

This ninja wore a black
shinobi shozoku
.

For a moment, no one moved.

Then the black ninja kicked Jack in the chest, throwing him backwards. At the same time a
shuriken
knife plunged into a bamboo stem right where Jack had just been standing.

Before Jack could register what had happened, the black ninja attacked him again. This time sweeping him off his feet. He landed hard upon the ground only to see the green ninja above him, in mid-strike, his
shuko
claws swiping through thin air instead of gouging deep into Jack’s back.

The green ninja hissed in frustration, then glared in furious amazement at the black ninja. He struck with his claws, but the black ninja blocked and countered with a lightning spear-hand thrust to the throat. The green ninja gagged and staggered backwards. He went on the attack again, swiping with his
shuko
, but the black ninja stood his ground, calmly drew a
tantō
and sliced a cruel line across the green ninja’s chest. Staring down in shock as blood soaked his chest, the green ninja backed away, then fled in panic into the thicket.

The black ninja turned on Jack, blade in hand.

Jack stared up in terror.

‘Jack!’ came a cry.

The black ninja didn’t hesitate.

Flicking the blood from the blade, the ninja leapt up a bamboo stem, disappeared into the canopy and was gone.

Moments later, Yamato burst through the thicket to find Jack lying on the ground, his arms bloodied and his face a curious combination of fear and disbelief.

‘Are you all right?’ demanded Yamato, his
bō
staff raised to fight. ‘I found Orochi dead. What happened?’

‘We were attacked by ninja and they killed him,’ replied Jack, grimacing as he inspected his wounds. Though the score marks weren’t deep, they were painful. ‘Then they came after me, but… but I was saved by another ninja.’

‘Saved? Are you sure you haven’t fallen on your head?’ said Yamato, helping him to his feet. ‘The ninja are our sworn enemy.’

‘I’m sure of it. Twice this ninja stopped the other one killing me.’

‘Well, I’ve never heard of a guardian ninja!’ laughed Yamato. ‘Whatever the reason, you should be grateful.’

‘Yes. But what
is
the reason?’

‘Who knows, but we’d better get back to Akiko if ninja are around.’

‘First, let’s search this ninja,’ replied Jack, going over to the prone body of the fallen assassin.

‘But what about Akiko?’

‘It won’t take long. Besides, she can handle herself.’ They both knew this to be true, though Jack didn’t want to admit that she was still weak from her poisoning and therefore vulnerable. He would have to work quickly.

‘What are you looking for?’ asked Yamato.

‘I don’t know,’ answered Jack, rifling through the man’s garments. ‘A clue of some sort.’

Yamato looked around uneasily, worried the other ninja would come back. Jack beckoned him over.

‘Look at this.’ Jack held up the man’s hand. ‘A finger’s missing.’ He pulled off the cowl to reveal the ninja’s face. A thin stream of blood ran out of the corner of the man’s mouth.

‘So what?’ said Yamato.

‘Don’t you recognize him? He was one of the customers who entered the bar after us. No wonder Orochi ran. He must have known they were after him.’

Jack continued to search the ninja. He found a length of hooked climbing rope attached to the back of his belt, five
shuriken
stars, some
tetsu bishi
spikes in a pouch and an
inro
case containing several pills and some unidentifiable powder. On the man’s hip was a
tantō
.

Jack unsheathed the knife, cursing as the blade cut into his thumb.

‘Careful, Jack!’ said Yamato. ‘It could be poisoned.’

‘Thanks for the warning,’ replied Jack grimly, sucking the blood from his wound.

The blade gleamed maliciously in the forest light. A series of
kanji
characters could be seen etched into the steel.

‘What does that say?’ asked Jack, whose knowledge of
kanji
was still limited despite Akiko’s daily tuition.

‘Kunitome!’ growled the ninja who had come to. He seized Jack by the throat. ‘It’s the name of the maker of the blade.’

Jack gasped for air, the fierce grip of the ninja crushing his windpipe. Too shocked by the man’s unexpected revival, Jack forgot all his training and futilely tugged at the man’s hand.

Yamato rushed forward and kicked the ninja in the ribs, but the assassin refused to let go. Jack’s face turned bright red, his eyes bulging. Yamato lifted his
bō
staff and struck the ninja’s broken leg. Writhing in agony, the ninja released Jack and Yamato quickly dragged his friend beyond the assassin’s reach.

‘A samurai stealing,’ the ninja spat, in between pained gasps. ‘How dishonourable!’

‘We weren’t stealing. We were looking for clues,’ croaked Jack, getting unsteadily to his feet. ‘I needed to know who you were and where Dragon Eye is.’

The ninja gave a throaty laugh and more blood bubbled from his lips.

‘We should turn him in, Jack. Take him to Ueno Castle,’ suggested Yamato, uneasy with interrogating a ninja. It was as dangerous as taunting a wounded lion. ‘They’ll get the truth from him.’

‘No,’ Jack countered. ‘But maybe he’d be willing to tell us about Dragon Eye in exchange for his life?’

‘No samurai can command my life,’ replied the ninja, removing a dark round bead from the
inro
on his belt.

Popping it into his mouth, he bit down hard on the poison pill and his lips started to foam.

‘You’ll never find Dokugan Ryu, young samurai,’ he croaked with his last breath. ‘But he’ll find you…’

‘
THAT
was a stupid idea!’ exclaimed Yamato, ignoring the
sencha
offered to him by Akiko. ‘Once again you almost got yourself killed!’

‘But now we know where Dragon Eye’s camp is,’ Jack protested. ‘It’s near Shindo. That’s less than half a day’s journey from here. We can’t give up now.’

Jack looked to Akiko for support. She finished sipping her tea and was about to speak, but Yamato broke in.

‘All you have is the name of a village and a temple. Do you think we’ll simply drop in and find Dokugan Ryu and his ninja clan enjoying afternoon tea? Anyway, Orochi was a thief and probably lying. It’s a miracle we got Akiko’s pearl back.’

‘But this lead’s got to be worth chasing,’ insisted Jack. ‘It was fate when we bumped into that tea merchant. We were
meant
to find Orochi. The fact that ninja attacked us and Orochi got killed is proof we’re on the right path.’

‘No! We’re already in enough trouble with my father as it is. I can’t risk it again. He would never forgive me. And then we’ll
never
return to the
Niten Ichi Ryū
!’

Yamato ended the conversation by turning his back on Jack. He stared out across the ravine from their tea house to the rocky heights opposite. Located on a ridge beside the Tokaido Road, the Kameyama tea house commanded a spectacular view and attracted numerous visitors from Kyoto. Following the glorious summer day, the tea house was packed with travellers watching the sun set over the rugged beauty of the mountains.

Jack moodily toyed with the dead ninja’s
tantō
, its gleaming steel marked only by a patch of dry blood where Jack had cut his thumb the day before. After the ninja had committed suicide with the poison pill, Jack had decided to keep the blade. Besides, it was the only weapon he now possessed since their suspension from the
Niten Ichi Ryū
.

He didn’t blame Masamoto for his decision. He realized now that he’d been foolish to try and hide the existence of his father’s
rutter
from the one man who could truly protect him from Dragon Eye. But Jack had thought he’d been protecting his guardian Masamoto by keeping it secret. Jack’s father had made him swear not to tell anyone of the logbook’s existence; had entrusted him with the code that kept its information safe from prying eyes. It had been his responsibility to ensure the
rutter
never fell into the wrong hands. At the time Jack hadn’t known whom to trust with such a valuable and sought-after possession, so he hadn’t told anyone. And that was why he’d hidden it in
daimyo
Takatomi’s castle.

The
rutter
was also his last link to his father and his only chance of a secure future. He’d had to do all he could to protect it. If one day he ever did reach the port of Nagasaki, his experience as a rigging monkey and his ability as a navigator would hopefully gain him passage on-board a ship bound for England where Jess, his little sister, was still waiting for his return.

Or at least he hoped she was. Without a family in England, her future was as uncertain as his. But with the
rutter
he could look after both of them as the respected pilot of a ship, just like his father had been before Dragon Eye murdered him in cold blood.

The deadly steel of the
tantō
seemed to throb in Jack’s hand at the very thought of Dragon Eye garrotting his father. Revenge flashed through his mind. Everything Jack held dear to him had been taken by that ninja – his father, the
rutter
and almost Akiko’s life too.

When Jack and his father had set out with the Dutch crew of the
Alexandria
from England four years ago, they had dreamt of discovering new lands, making their fortune and returning home heroes. Not for one moment had Jack thought he would end up alone, in a dangerous foreign land, training to be a samurai warrior.

But now he wouldn’t even be doing that.

‘Where did you get that knife?’ demanded the owner of the tea house, breaking Jack’s thoughts as the old man cleared away their cups of
sencha
.

‘We found it… in a forest,’ Jack replied, the question taking him by surprise.

The proprietor’s beady eyes studied him with an unsettling intensity. He clearly didn’t believe Jack.

‘Do you know what that is?’ the old man enquired, his gaze not leaving Jack’s face, almost as if he was unwilling to look back down at the knife.

‘It’s a
tantō
...’

‘Yes, but not just any
tantō
...’ The proprietor drew closer and spoke under his breath, not with reverence, but with fear. ‘That knife was forged by the swordsmith Kunitome-san.’

‘We know,’ interjected Yamato, annoyed by the owner’s prying. ‘It says so on the blade.’

‘You know! Yet you still keep it?’

‘Why not?’ asked Jack, baffled by the owner’s strange behaviour.