Young Samurai: The Ring of Sky (17 page)

Before the bandits got close, he threw the
rock concealed in his right hand. With sharp accuracy gained from his
shuriken
training, he struck the scrawny bandit in the centre of his forehead. The stunned man
stopped dead in his tracks and collapsed face first in the dirt. Next, Jack kicked up
the earth at his feet, sending a clod into the eyes of the
kama
-wielding
bandit, stalling his attack. As the bearded bandit took a swipe with
his
chigiriki
, Jack dropped into a crouch, the flail passing over his head, and
rolled towards the blinded
kama
bandit. He performed a spinning sweep kick,
knocking the man’s legs from under him, and followed up with an axe kick. His heel
struck the fallen bandit’s solar plexus like a blacksmith’s hammer, cracking
a couple of ribs. Wheezing for breath, the bandit let go of his lethal
kama
to
clutch his crushed chest.

Jack dived away as the bearded bandit lunged
for him again. The
chigiriki
whipped through the air, just missing his
shoulder.

‘I’ll pound you into a pulp,
samurai!’ vowed the bandit, bringing the flail down as if he was beating a
drum.

Jack leapt aside. With lightning speed, he
roundhouse-kicked the bandit in the thigh. The man staggered under the blow, but kept
his feet. Jack had judged this one would be his toughest opponent and kicked him again.
Howling in pain, the bandit foamed at the mouth as he swung his flail in furious swipes.
The
chigiriki
shot towards Jack’s head. He ducked at the last second, the
iron tip rocketing past and clipping the bark of a nearby tree. Chunks of wood flew in
all directions.

Roaring in frustrated fury, the bandit swung
again and again. Jack was forced on the retreat, the
chigiriki
whipping either
side of him as he dodged to left and right. There was no chance to retaliate – just
survive. Then, in an overzealous attack from the bandit, the spiked weight of the flail
became wedged in the fork of an overhanging branch. With the weapon temporarily out of
action, Jack charged at him with Demon Horn Fist. His head collided with the man’s
gut and the bandit staggered backwards, losing his grip on the
chigiriki
.
Jack then launched a barrage of punches and body kicks. Yet however
hard Jack hit him the man wouldn’t go down.

The bandit front-kicked Jack in the chest,
sending him barrelling into a thorn bush. As Jack fought to untangle himself, the bandit
rushed back to the tree and yanked out his
chigiriki
. He whirled the weapon
above his head and strode towards Jack, intent on fulfilling his deadly promise. Jack
still struggled to free himself.

The bandit was about to crack his skull in
half when there was a surprised grunt of pain. Then he toppled forward to land with a
heavy
thud
.

Benkei stood over the bearded bandit, a
broken branch in his hands.

‘What took you so long?’ asked
Jack, breathless from the fight.

‘I was waiting for the right
moment,’ replied Benkei, resting his foot triumphantly on the back of the
unconscious bandit.

At this, the girl came running over and
prostrated herself in front of them.

‘
Arigatō gozaimasu
,’
she sobbed and began to repeatedly bow her head to the floor in gratitude.

Realizing she might never stop, Benkei
asked, ‘What’s your name?’

‘Junjun.’ She glanced up at him
with eyes still red from tears.

‘Well, Junjun, there’s no need
to cry any more … or bow,’ reassured Benkei. With a flick of his wrist,
he conjured up a pink flower and handed it to her. ‘You’re safe with
us.’

The unexpected appearance of the blossom
brought a shy
smile to Junjun’s face. She stared at him with a
combination of relief, thankfulness and awe.

‘I’m Benkei the Great,’ he
announced, clearly enjoying the hero worship.

‘You
were
great!’ she
breathed, unable to take her eyes off him.

More than happy for Benkei to receive the
credit and attention for the rescue, Jack used the moment to adjust his hat and keep his
face hidden from the girl.

‘What were you doing in the forest on
your own?’ asked Benkei.

Junjun, clasping the flower to her chest,
replied, ‘I was returning from an errand … promoting our
kabuki
show in Ōzu.’

‘
Kabuki?
’

Junjun nodded enthusiastically.
‘It’s a new style of dance and drama from Kyoto. Okuni, our troupe leader,
is the founder of the style. It’s proving
very
popular.’ She
pointed down the road. ‘We’re holding a show this evening in town. Perhaps
you’d like to join us as my honoured guests.’

‘A dancing troupe!’ exclaimed
Benkei, his eyes twinkling with excitement. ‘We’d love to –’

‘That’s very kind of you,’
cut in Jack, ‘but we have to move on.’

Benkei turned to Jack, his expression one of
protesting dismay.

Junjun tried to hide her disappointment.
‘Well, if you change your mind, we’re performing in the market square. Now I
must get back for rehearsals, otherwise Okuni will worry. Thank you for coming to my
rescue.’

Junjun bowed her farewell, then scampered off
down the road.

‘Be careful!’ Benkei shouted
after her. Then he glared at Jack. ‘Why can’t we see the
kabuki
show? Life shouldn’t be all fight and no play. We’re staying the night there
anyway. And Junjun seemed lovely …’

Jack regretfully shook his head.
‘I’d be easily spotted and you certainly stand out in a crowd. It’s an
unnecessary risk.’

‘And fighting three bandits
isn’t a risk?’ shot back Benkei.

Jack didn’t reply. He’d suddenly
noticed the scrawny bandit with the ponytail was missing.

28
 
 

‘Time to go!’ said Jack,
retrieving his pack from behind the tree.

Their dispute forgotten, Benkei picked up
the supply bag and they both hurried down the road in the direction of Ōzu. But they
hadn’t gone twenty paces when a group of men stepped from the forest and blocked
their path. Jack and Benkei turned to head back the other way, only to discover they
were surrounded.

‘That’s the samurai who attacked
us!’ whined the scrawny bandit, a nasty red welt marking his forehead.

The bandit gang, armed to the teeth, closed
in on Jack and Benkei.

‘I told you we should have gone with
Junjun,’ said Benkei, unnerved by the lethal array of weapons that now encircled
them: serrated knives, studded clubs, samurai swords, spiked chains and barbed
spears.

Jack unsheathed both his
katana
and
wakizashi
. This time there would be no avoiding a bloody confrontation.

‘I’ll cut a path through,’
he hissed under his breath, ‘then we’ll make a run for it.’

Benkei nodded his agreement at the plan. But,
as Jack raised his swords to attack, a net dropped from a tree above. Its weight knocked
them to the ground and the mesh entangled their limbs. Jack fought to cut through the
ropes, but the bandits leapt on them in an instant, quickly disarming him.

‘The samurai is
a … 
gaijin
!’ exclaimed the scrawny bandit in shock as
Jack’s hat became dislodged.

The gang crowded closer to gawp at their
remarkable catch. Then they stepped away as a brute of a man barged his way to the
front. Shaven-headed with a thick scar across his right cheek, he was dressed in a
mismatch of stolen samurai armour: a red and white breastplate, brown shoulder pads and
black shinguards. In his right hand, he carried a bloodstained battleaxe. From the
fearful respect shown by the other bandits, he was evidently the leader of the
outlaws.

‘I hear you ruined the entertainment,
gaijin
,’ he snarled.

‘Your men didn’t appear to be
enjoying the show,’ replied Jack, secretly trying to work his hand into his pack
so he could retrieve a
shuriken
.

The leader stepped on his wrist.
‘
Don’t
try any games with me.’

Jack gritted his teeth as the bandit leader
twisted his foot and crunched the bones in Jack’s hand.

‘You’re a very sought-after
individual,’ he continued. ‘I’ve never known so many samurai patrols
in this forest. And to think that
I
found you –’

‘Give that back!’ cried a
bandit.

The leader fumed as two of his men began
arguing over the possession of Jack’s
katana
.

‘I got to it first,’ spat the
other bandit, steadfastly holding on to the handle.

A tussle broke out between them and punches
were thrown.

‘Enough!’ declared the leader,
bringing his axe crashing down. The two men jumped apart a split second before the axe
head cleaved them in half. ‘The sword’s now mine.’

He snatched the
katana
from the
bandit’s grasp. Inspecting its gleaming blade, his eyes lit up at the name etched
upon the steel.

‘A
Shizu
sword!’ he
uttered in astonishment. ‘These are legendary. I’ve heard they can slice
through three warriors in a single stroke!’

‘Impossible,’ declared a
potbellied bandit with a drooping moustache. ‘No blade can do such a
thing.’

‘If it’s sharp enough, it
could,’ said a bandit with buck teeth.

‘Never. At some point, the sword would
get stuck in bone.’

An argument erupted among the bandits as
they debated the possibility of such a feat.

‘
Quiet!
’ shouted the
leader, his face purple with rage at his men’s disorder. ‘There’s only
one way to prove the legend. We need to test these swords … properly. By
tameshigiri
.’

The suggestion was greeted with enthusiastic
shouts. A moment later, Jack and Benkei were hauled from the net and laid upon the
ground. Held down by several strong pairs of hands, they were helpless as their ankles
and wrists were bound with rope. Jack was then staked to the earth, Benkei thrown on top
and his body tied to Jack’s.

Neither of them could believe what was
happening.

‘If I’d known he was going to
test swords on
us
, I’d have
swallowed stones to stop
the blade,’ muttered Benkei, humour his only defence against his rising panic.

Jack struggled to free his hands. He’d
been quick enough to tense his muscles when the bandits had bound him, so he now had a
little slack in the knots. Working his wrist back and forth, he tried to pull out a
hand. But the rope was still viciously tight and he felt his skin scraping off as he
yanked at the bonds.

‘But we need one more body,’
said the buck-toothed bandit.

‘Of course,’ agreed the leader,
grinning. ‘Where’s that dancing girl?’

Two bandits dragged a screaming Junjun from
the forest and began to lash her to Benkei.

‘No!’ pleaded Benkei, his eyes
wide in shock at seeing the dancer recaptured. ‘She’s done you no harm. Let
her go.’

‘I would if I could,’ sighed the
leader in mock sympathy. ‘But we need to
prove
the legend.’

‘Then put her beneath us,’ urged
Jack, realizing Junjun would have the greatest chance of survival there. He also hoped
if the bandits changed their positions, he might get an opportunity to fight his way
free.

‘Such gallantry when facing certain
death,’ remarked the leader, nodding approvingly. ‘You are a true
samurai.’

Ignoring their pleas, he took several
practice swings with the
katana
. The blade whistled through the air, its
razor-sharp edge glinting like a guillotine. Junjun fell silent with fear, her tearful
eyes following the steel as it rose and fell. In her hand, she still clasped
Benkei’s flower.

‘What about the reward for the
gaijin
?’ asked the potbellied bandit. ‘Shouldn’t we keep
him alive?’

The leader shook his head and smirked,
‘Dead or alive, the order said. Besides, the Shogun might double the reward if I
cut him in half!’

The bandit gang laughed heartily at their
leader’s joke. But Jack didn’t find their predicament funny in the least.
They were bound to stakes, at the mercy of a brutal bandit. Try as he might, he
couldn’t untie his hands and soon all three of them would be slaughtered like
pigs.

The bandit leader stood over them,
contemplating his cut.

‘Should I aim for the chest, stomach
or hips?’

‘The stomach,’ advised the
buck-toothed bandit. ‘Less bone. Only their spines to chop through.’

Nodding in agreement, the leader lined up
the
katana
with Junjun’s bellybutton, then raised the sword above his
head. ‘Let’s hope for your sake,
gaijin
, the legend isn’t
true.’

At that moment, Jack pulled his right hand
free, but it was too late. The
Shizu
blade was already slicing down.

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