Young Samurai: The Ring of Sky (25 page)

But it was too late to turn back now. Okuni
was showing her castle pass to the guard. Satisfied, the guard beckoned the troupe
through. Jack shuffled forward. The unit of samurai eyed each of the dancers. But they
weren’t looking for an escaped
gaijin
. They were simply admiring the
girls. And Jack was quickly ushered through, none of them giving
him
a second
glance.

Astounded to have made it past, Jack
breathed a sigh of relief … until Miyuki whispered, ‘One down, six more
to go.’

With each gate, however, Jack became more
and more confident of success. The samurai soldiers, distracted by the beauty of the
troupe, relaxed and lowered their guard. All the men were eager to please rather than be
obstructive. With
Okuni and Junjun leading the way, they breezed
through each checkpoint.

‘Last gate,’ Miyuki whispered to
Jack as the
kabuki
troupe proceeded along the road to the castle’s main
entrance. A full detachment of samurai guarded this gateway. Armed with swords and
spears, they lined either side two deep. Beyond them lay Kumamoto city and freedom. For
Jack, the temptation to run was almost overwhelming. But he forced himself to maintain a
steady pace. The last thing he wanted to do now was trip over.

The guards leered as the troupe promenaded
by, the girls smiling demurely and giggling with all the attention. Okuni at the head of
the group handed over her castle pass to the chief guard, a hairy man with a bristling
beard, heavy jowls and bulbous eyes. He gave the scroll a cursory glance and waved her
through, more interested in her protégée than any paperwork.

Akiko and Miyuki stuck close to Jack’s
side, hoping to shield him from direct view. Jack kept his eyes demurely to the ground,
while making every effort to walk in tiny feminine steps. Ahead, Benkei was already
through the gate. Another ten paces and Jack would be too –

‘STOP THERE!’ ordered the chief
guard.

A criss-cross of steel spear tips forced
Jack to a startled halt. The spears separated the troupe in half. His heart hammered in
his chest as the chief guard strode straight over to him.

With his bulging eyes, the man looked Jack
up and down.

‘What’s your name?’ he
demanded.

Flustered, Jack offered what he hoped was a
coy sweet smile as he thought of a suitable name. Then, remembering Benkei’s
birds, he replied in a high-pitched, squeaky voice,
‘S … S … Suzume.’

The chief guard thumbed the hilt of his
sword as he considered this name. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack noticed Miyuki
reaching into the folds of her kimono sleeve, where she concealed a knife. He felt Akiko
tense, ready to pounce too. They would have to make a break for it.

The chief guard leant in close to
Jack’s face. ‘Well, my little sparrow,’ he breathed into his ear,
‘you certainly caught
my
eye.’

Jack yelped as he felt his bottom get
pinched.

‘Fancy visiting my nest one
day?’ the man asked, grinning like the fat slimy toad he was.

‘Certainly not!’ Jack replied
with as much grace as he could muster. ‘This little sparrow’s flying south
for the winter.’

Acting offended by the proposition, he
boldly clip-clopped past the chief guard and parted the crossed spears with his gloved
hand.

‘Come back soon, my little
sparrow!’ called the chief guard, admiring his departure from behind.

Not likely
, thought Jack, hurrying
out through the gate as fast as his wooden clogs could carry him.

40
 
 

‘We made it!’ exclaimed Benkei,
giving a little skip as the
kabuki
troupe turned a street corner and the castle
gate disappeared from view.

Miyuki shook her head gravely.
‘We’re not out of trouble until we’re on-board the ferry and halfway
to Shimabara.’

‘I still can’t believe your
escape plan worked,’ said Jack, grabbing hold of Akiko’s arm to steady
himself as they kept up their hurried pace. Okuni led them through the deserted city
streets towards the harbour. Dawn was still a few hours off, but they needed to ensure
they were on the first boat out of Kumamoto.

‘It almost didn’t when that
guard took a liking to you,’ said Akiko, shaking her head in disbelief.

‘Some men have very unusual
taste!’ remarked Miyuki. ‘Anyway, I can’t take all the credit for the
plan. Benkei was the one who suggested using the
kabuki
troupe for
cover.’

‘Then we owe you our lives,
Benkei,’ said Akiko, bowing her head, repentant for having doubted his
loyalty.

He acknowledged her praise with a humble
shrug. ‘All in a day’s work for Benkei the Great!’

The
kabuki
troupe crossed the bridge
over the Shira River and turned down a side street.

‘But how did you and Miyuki meet each
other in the first place?’ asked Jack.

‘I recognized your friends, of
course,’ said Benkei, grinning like a Cheshire cat and pointing down the road.

Jack and Akiko both came to a stunned halt.
Tethered outside one of the inns was Akiko’s white stallion. Beside the horse
stood a rotund young samurai with bushy eyebrows and a beaming smile. And next to him a
small boy in monk’s robes carrying a
shakujō
ringed staff. Their shadowy
appearance in the darkened street made them look like ghosts.

‘
Saburo … Yori …
’ gasped Jack, almost too
scared to say their names out loud in case the spell was broken.

Arms open wide, Jack ran towards his
friends, and promptly fell flat on his face as one of his
geta
tripped him up.
Rushing over, Saburo and Yori helped him back to his feet.

‘Steady there, young lady,’
smirked Saburo, trying to stifle his laughter at Jack’s comic tumble and feminine
appearance. ‘These streets can be dangerous at night. Never know who you might
meet!’

Jack looked from Saburo’s face to
Yori’s and back again, still not quite believing his friends were real.

‘Akiko!’ cried Yori in delight,
as she now joined the unexpected reunion.

‘It’s
very
good to see
you too,’ she smiled, bowing to them both. ‘Jack told me you’d died at
sea.’

‘We almost did,’ said Saburo, a
grim look passing across his face.

‘So how
did
you escape the
storm? Or even find me?’ asked Jack.

‘Time for all that later,’ cut
in Miyuki, collecting her pack from a pile beside the inn’s entrance. ‘First
let’s catch that ferry.’

‘After our last experience, I hope
there aren’t any pirates this time!’ said Saburo, handing Akiko the reins to
her horse and picking up his own bag.

Akiko tenderly stroked the stallion’s
mane, tears welling in her eyes. ‘I never thought I’d see Snowball again.
Thank you, Saburo.’

‘It’s not me you should thank.
Yori was the one to recognize him.’

‘I spotted your family’s
kamon
on the saddle and thought Benkei had stolen your horse,’
explained Yori.

‘But I hadn’t!’ Benkei
interrupted, hastily defending his honour.

‘Then what were you doing with all
their belongings, hightailing it out of Kumamoto?’ challenged Saburo.

‘Keeping them safe,’ he replied,
offering Jack and Akiko his most sincere smile. ‘After getting the travel permits,
I returned to the inn and saw the samurai patrol on the doorstep. So I hid in the
stables. Once they were gone and the innkeeper was busy celebrating his future reward, I
sneaked back into our rooms.’

‘So it was the innkeeper who betrayed
us,’ said Akiko in disgust, ‘even though we paid him off!’

Benkei shook his head. ‘It was
actually his wife, Momo.’

‘I
knew
I was being
watched,’ said Jack, recalling the too lifelike eyes of the
koto
player
in the screen painting.

‘Anyway, I grabbed all our packs, your
swords and bow, and made off on the horse. I wasn’t thinking where I was going,
just trying to –’

‘You got my pack?’ interrupted
Jack. ‘I thought the
daimyo
had taken everything.’

Yori stepped forward, cradling the bag with
its precious cargo. ‘I’ve been looking after it for you.’

‘Then it’s been in safe
hands,’ said Jack, smiling at his dear friend as he felt the reassuring weight of
the
rutter
inside.

Reunited, he gazed in turn at Yori, Saburo,
Miyuki and Akiko. His circle of friends was complete – as if another perfect
ensō
had been drawn in his life. ‘It’s so good to see you
all … alive!’

‘Are you coming?’ urged Okuni,
who’d been waiting anxiously with her girls. As leader of the troupe, she was only
too aware of the danger she’d put them in by aiding the escape of a sworn enemy of
the Shogun. Now they’d finished loading their belongings on to two handcarts and
were keen to depart.

Saddling Akiko’s horse with their
packs, Jack and his friends rejoined the
kabuki
troupe and headed west along
the main road out of Kumamoto. Still in disguise as a dancer, Jack couldn’t be
seen to carry any weapons, so his swords were also strapped to the saddle. Akiko and
Miyuki walked alongside him to prevent any further mishaps, while Saburo and Yori
followed behind, leading the horse.

The harbour was some distance beyond the
outskirts of the city. So by the time they’d navigated the streets, avoiding the
night patrols, and reached the mouth of the river, the early glow of dawn was visible on
the horizon. Jack could hear the gentle wash of waves, as the velvet-black sky retreated
to reveal
the rippling bay before them. The silhouettes of four large
wooden ferries were visible alongside a line of fishing boats moored to a broad stretch
of dock. As they approached the harbour, a checkpoint loomed into view. A bamboo barrier
straddled the road, beside which sat a reed-covered hut and a small wooden
bunkhouse.

‘What about travel permits?’
Jack asked Benkei. ‘Are the ones you got still valid?’

‘Afraid not, but there’s no need
to worry,’ Benkei replied confidently. ‘Travelling performers don’t
need them. We should pass straight through without too much question.’

As the procession reached the barrier, a
bleary-eyed harbour guard emerged from the hut.

‘Halt!’ he growled. Unshaven and
with hangdog jowls, the man leant wearily upon his spear and gave a huge yawn.

Inside the bunkhouse, Jack could see at
least a dozen other samurai snoring away. All were heavily armed, even if they
weren’t yet awake.

‘Why are you all up so early?’
the harbour guard demanded gruffly. ‘The sun’s not even risen!’

‘I need to guarantee places for my
whole troupe on-board the first ferry,’ replied Okuni brightly, introducing her
girls with a flourish of the hand.

But the bleary-eyed harbour guard failed to
be impressed. ‘You’re performers, eh? What,
all
of you?’

Okuni nodded. ‘You may know of us. My
dance troupe performs
kabuki
all over Japan.’

The harbour guard snorted. ‘Never
heard of such a style. You’ll have to prove your talents. You, girl, show us what
you can do.’

He gestured with his spear, but no one moved.
Jack wondered why the performer hadn’t begun her dance. Then his stomach knotted
into a ball of shock as he realized the harbour guard had pointed at
him
.

‘Suzume is a little
shy … she’s still learning the routines,’ said Okuni hurriedly.
‘How about Junjun? She’s our best dancer.’

‘A
shy
performer?’
queried the harbour guard, ignoring Okuni and eyeing Jack suspiciously. ‘The girl
had better dance well or
none
of you will be on that ferry.’

41
 
 

The harbour guard stood unsmiling, arms
crossed, waiting for the show to begin. The other samurai now emerged from the bunkhouse
to see what the commotion was all about. They blinked in heavy-eyed surprise at the
presence of so many girls, before gathering round in anticipation of the early morning
performance.