The Way Of The Sword (2 page)

Of course, Jack dreamed of going home and being with his sister, Jess, the only family he had left, but these dreams often became nightmares infiltrated by his nemesis, Dragon Eye. The ninja wanted the
rutter
, his father’s navigational logbook, at any cost, even if that meant killing a boy Jack’s age.

The little wooden Daruma Doll with its round painted face continued to stare at him in the darkness, its lone eye mocking his predicament. Jack recalled the day Sensei Yamada had instructed him to paint in the right eye of the doll and make a wish – the other to be added only when the wish came true. Jack realized to his dismay that
his
wish was no closer to fulfilment than when he had first filled in the eye at the beginning of the year.

He rolled over in despair, burying his head in the
futon.
The other trainee warriors were bound to have heard his cries through the paper-thin walls of his tiny room in the
Shishi-no-ma
, the Hall of Lions.

‘Jack, are you all right?’ came a whisper in Japanese from the other side of the
shoji
door.

He heard the door slide open and recognized the dim outlines of his best friend Akiko and her cousin Yamato, the second-born son of Masamoto. They slipped inside quietly. Dressed in a cream silk night kimono, her long dark hair tied back, Akiko came and knelt by Jack’s bed.

‘We heard a shout,’ continued Akiko, her half-moon eyes studying his pale face with concern.

‘We thought you might be in trouble,’ said Yamato, a wiry boy the same age as Jack with chestnut-brown eyes and spiky black hair. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’

Jack wiped his brow with a trembling hand and tried to calm his nerves. The dream, so vivid and real, had left him shaken and the image of Jess being snatched lingered in his mind.

‘I dreamt of Dragon Eye… He’d broken into my parents’ house… He kidnapped my little sister…’ Jack swallowed hard, trying to calm himself.

Akiko looked like she might reach out to comfort him, but Jack knew Japanese formality prevented any such outward displays of affection. She offered him a sad smile instead.

‘Jack, it’s just a dream,’ said Akiko.

Yamato nodded in agreement, adding, ‘It’s impossible for Dragon Eye to be in England.’

‘I know,’ Jack conceded, taking a deep breath, ‘but I’m not in England either. If the
Alexandria
hadn’t been attacked, I’d be halfway home by now. Instead, I’m stranded on the other side of the world. There’s no telling what’s happened to Jess. I may be under the protection of your father here, but she has no one.’

Jack’s vision blurred with tears.

‘But isn’t your sister being looked after by a neighbour?’ asked Akiko.

‘Mrs Winters is old,’ said Jack, shaking his head dismissively. ‘She can’t work and soon she’ll have run out of the money my father gave her. Besides, she could have become sick and died… just like my mother! Jess will be sent to a workhouse if there’s no one to care for her.’

‘What’s a workhouse?’ Yamato asked.

‘They’re like prisons, but for beggars and orphans. She’ll have to break stones for roads, pick apart old ropes, maybe even crush bones for fertilizer. There’s little food, so they end up fighting over the rotting pieces just to eat. How could she ever survive that?’

Jack buried his head in his hands. He was powerless to save what remained of his family. Just as he had been when his father had needed his help fighting the ninja who had boarded their ship. Jack punched his pillow, frustrated at his inability to do anything about it. Akiko and Yamato watched silently as their friend vented his anger.

‘Why did the
Alexandria
have to sail into that storm? If her hull had held, we wouldn’t have been shipwrecked. We wouldn’t have been attacked. And my father would still be alive!’

Even now Jack could see the wire garrotte, slick with his father’s blood, Dragon Eye wrenching back on it harder as John Fletcher struggled to get free. Jack remembered how he had simply stood there, his body paralysed with fear, the knife hanging limp in his hand. His father, gasping for breath, the veins in his neck fit to burst, desperately reaching out to him…

Angry with himself for his failure to act, Jack threw his pillow across the room.

‘Jack. Calm down. You’re with us now, it’ll be all right,’ soothed Akiko. She exchanged a worried glance with Yamato. They had never seen him like this.

‘No, it’s not all right,’ replied Jack, slowly shaking his head and rubbing his eyes in an attempt to clear his mind of the nightmarish vision.

‘Jack, it’s no wonder you’re sleeping so badly. There’s a book under your
futon
!’ exclaimed Yamato, picking up the leatherbound tome he’d spotted.

Jack snatched it out of his hands.

It was his father’s
rutter
. He’d kept it hidden under his
futon
since there was no other place he could conceal it in his tiny featureless room. The
rutter
was his sole link to his father and Jack cherished every page, every note and every word his father had written. The information it contained was highly valuable and Jack had sworn to his father to keep it secret.

‘Easy, Jack. It’s only a dictionary,’ said Yamato, taken aback at Jack’s unexpected aggressiveness.

Jack stared wide-eyed at Yamato, realizing his friend had mistaken the
rutter
for the Portuguese-Japanese dictionary the late Father Lucius had given him the previous year. The one he was supposed to deliver to the priest’s superior, Father Bobadillo, in Osaka when he got the chance. But it wasn’t the dictionary. Though they both had similar leather bindings,
this
was his father’s
rutter
.

Jack had never told Yamato the truth about the
rutter
, even denying its existence to him. And for good reason. Until their victory and reconciliation at the inter-school
Taryu-Jiai
contest that summer, he’d had no reason to trust Yamato.

When Masamoto had first adopted Jack, Yamato had taken an instant dislike to him. His older brother, Tenno, had been killed and he saw Jack as his father’s attempt to replace his eldest son. To Yamato, Jack was stealing his father from him. It took a near-drowning experience for Jack to convince Yamato otherwise and to bind them as allies.

Jack knew it was a risk to tell Yamato about something as precious as his father’s
rutter
. And Jack had no idea how he would react. But perhaps now was the time to trust his new friend with the secret.

‘It’s not Father Lucius’s dictionary,’ confessed Jack.

‘What is it then?’ asked Yamato, a perplexed look on his face.

‘It’s my father’s
rutter
.’

‘Your father’s
rutter
!’ exclaimed Yamato, confusion turning to disbelief. ‘But when Dragon Eye attacked Akiko’s house, you denied all knowledge of it!’

‘I lied. I had no choice at the time.’

Jack couldn’t bring himself to meet Yamato’s eyes. He knew his friend felt betrayed.

Yamato turned to Akiko. ‘Did you know about this?’

Akiko nodded, her face flushing with shame.

Yamato fumed. ‘I don’t believe it. Is this why Dragon Eye keeps coming back? For a stupid book?’

‘Yamato, I would have told you,’ said Akiko, trying to calm him, ‘but I promised Jack I’d keep it secret.’

‘How can a
book
be worth Chiro’s life?’ he said, rising to his feet. ‘She may only have been a maid, but she was loyal to our family. Jack’s put all of us in danger because of this so-called
rutter
.’

Yamato stared in silent rage at Jack, the old hatred flaring in his eyes. To Jack’s horror, Yamato turned to leave.

‘I’m going to tell my father about this.’

‘Please don’t,’ Jack pleaded, grabbing Yamato’s kimono sleeve. ‘It’s not just
any
book. It must be kept secret.’

‘Why?’ Yamato demanded, looking down at Jack’s hand in disgust.

Jack let go, but Yamato didn’t leave.

Jack wordlessly passed him the book and Yamato flicked through its pages, glancing at but not comprehending the various ocean maps, constellations and their accompanying sea reports.

Jack explained the significance of its contents in hushed tones. ‘The
rutter
is a navigational logbook that describes the safe routes across the oceans of the world. The information is so valuable that men have died trying to get their hands on this book. I promised my father I would keep it secret.’

‘But why’s it so important? Isn’t it just a book of directions?’

‘No. It’s much more than that. It’s not only a map of the oceans. My father said it’s a powerful political tool. Whoever owns it can control the trade routes between all nations. This means that any country with a
rutter
as accurate as this one rules the seas. That’s why England, Spain and Portugal all want it.’

‘What does that have to do with Japan?’ Yamato said, handing the book back. ‘Japan’s not like England. I don’t think we even have a fleet.’

‘I don’t know.
I
don’t care about politics. I just want to get back to England one day and find Jess. I’m worried about her,’ explained Jack, caressing the leather binding of the logbook. ‘My father taught me how to use this
rutter
so I could be a pilot like him. That’s why, when I do leave Japan, the
rutter
is my ticket home. My future. Without it, I have no trade. Much as I love training in the Way of the Warrior, there’s little call for samurai in England.’

‘But what’s stopping you leaving now?’ challenged Yamato, his eyes narrowing.

‘Jack can’t just go,’ interjected Akiko on his behalf. ‘Your father’s adopted him until he’s sixteen and of age. He would need Masamoto-sama’s permission. Besides, where would he go to?’

Yamato shrugged.

‘Nagasaki,’ answered Jack.

They both stared at him.

‘That’s the port my father was piloting us to before the storm blew us off course. The port might have a ship bound for Europe, or even England.’

‘But do you even know where Nagasaki is, Jack?’ asked Akiko.

‘Sort of… there’s a rough map in here.’

Jack began to flick through the
rutter’
s pages.

‘It’s in the far south of Japan in Kyūshū,’ said Yamato impatiently.

Akiko rested her hand on the logbook, stopping Jack’s search for the map. ‘With no food or money, how would you get there? It would take you more than a month to walk from Kyoto.’

‘You had better start walking now then, hadn’t you?’ Yamato said sarcastically.

‘Stop it, Yamato! You two are supposed to be friends, remember?’ said Akiko. ‘Jack can’t simply walk to Nagasaki. Dragon Eye’s out there. At school, he’s under your father’s protection and Masamoto-sama seems to be the only person the ninja fears. If Jack left here alone, he could be captured… or even killed!’

They all fell silent.

Jack put away the
rutter
, padding the
futon
back over the top. It was such a poor hiding place for something so precious and he realized he needed to find a more secure location for it before Dragon Eye returned.

Yamato slid open the door of the room to leave. Glancing back over his shoulder at Jack, he asked, ‘So are
you
going to tell my father about it?’

They held each other’s stare, the tension between them growing.

Jack shook his head. ‘My father went to great lengths to keep it hidden. On-board ship he had a secret compartment for it. Not even the Captain knew where my father held his logbook. As his son, it’s my duty to protect the
rutter
,’ explained Jack, knowing he had to get through to Yamato somehow. ‘You understand duty. You’re samurai. My father made me promise to keep it secret. I’m bound to that promise.’

Yamato nodded ever so slightly and slid the door shut again, before turning back to him.

‘I now understand why you haven’t told anyone,’ Yamato said, unclenching his fists as his anger finally died down. ‘I was annoyed that you hadn’t told me. That you didn’t trust me. You can, you know.’

‘Thank you, Yamato,’ replied Jack, breathing a sigh of relief.

Yamato sat back down next to Jack. ‘I just don’t understand why you can’t tell my father. He could protect it.’

‘No, we mustn’t,’ insisted Jack. ‘When Father Lucius died, he confessed that someone he knew was after the
rutter
and would kill me for it.’

‘Dokugan Ryu, of course’ said Yamato.

‘Yes, Dragon Eye wants the
rutter
,’ agreed Jack, ‘but you told me ninja were employed for their skills. Somebody’s hiring him to steal the
rutter
. It could be someone Masamoto-sama knows. Father Lucius was part of his entourage, so I can’t afford to trust anyone. That’s why I believe the fewer people who know about it, the better.’

‘You mean to say that you don’t trust my father? That you think he may want it?’ Yamato demanded, offended at the implication.

‘No!’ replied Jack quickly. ‘I’m saying if Masamoto-sama had the
rutter
, he might be murdered for it like my father was. And that’s a risk I can’t take. I’m trying to
protect
him, Yamato. At least, if Dragon Eye believes I have it, he’s only after me. That’s why we
must
keep it secret.’

Jack could see his friend weighing the options and for one horrible moment he thought Yamato was still going to tell his father.

‘Fine. I promise I won’t say anything,’ Yamato agreed. ‘But what makes you think Dragon Eye will come after it again? We haven’t seen him since he tried to assassinate
daimyo
Takatomi during the Gion Festival. Maybe he’s dead. Akiko wounded him pretty badly.’

Jack recalled how Akiko had saved his life that night. They’d spotted the ninja entering Nijo Castle, the home of Lord Takatomi, and followed him. However, Dragon Eye overcame Jack and was about to sever his arm when Akiko had flung a
wakizashi
sword to stop him. The short blade pierced Dragon Eye’s side, but the ninja had barely flinched. Only the timely arrival of Masamoto and his samurai had prevented the assassin from retaliating. Dragon Eye escaped over the castle walls, but not without promising he’d be back for the
rutter
.