The Way Of The Sword (29 page)

Despite his disorientation, Jack recognized the deep thrumming voice of Sensei Kano.

‘Not just your blood, but the blood of your many victims. Ninja. How I despise your kind.’

‘You’re too late to save the boy,’ hissed Dragon Eye, silently slipping a
shuriken
from his belt as the samurai approached. The ninja threw the deadly silver star at Sensei Kano. ‘Or yourself, for that matter!’

The
shuriken
spun through the air with a faint whistle.

The sensei had no time to avoid it. Instead he shifted his staff in front of him and the silver star lodged itself in the wood, striking at a point directly in line with his throat.

‘Predictable,’ scoffed Sensei Kano.

He then thrust the end of his staff at Dragon Eye, targeting his stomach. Stuck in the narrow passage, the ninja’s only choice was to throw himself flat against the wall. He barely avoided the attack. With lightning speed, Sensei Kano struck again. Dragon Eye tried to deflect it, but the tip of the
bō
caught him in the ribs. He grunted with pain and staggered backwards.

Jack’s eyes weakly followed Sensei Kano as he stepped over him and drove Dragon Eye further and further back into the dead end.

The ninja was trapped.

The staff was too long and Sensei Kano too swift for Dragon Eye to retaliate. Jack realized that the ninja would soon have nowhere to retreat to and then Sensei Kano could deliver the killing strikes that would finish his enemy’s life.

For Jack, though, his life was also fast approaching its end. The crushing pain in his chest was intensifying and his breathing only came in fits and starts. His head felt as though it would crack open like an egg. Blackness crept in at the edges of his consciousness and fingered its way across his vision. He just hoped he would live long enough to see Sensei Kano defeat his father’s murderer, the seemingly invincible Dokugan Ryu.

Sensei Kano shot his staff at the ninja’s groin. This time Dragon Eye leapt into the air, spreading his legs wide so that he straddled the gap between the two buildings. The
bō
passed harmlessly underneath. Impossibly, Dragon Eye then ran above Sensei Kano using the upper walls as leverage.

Sensei Kano thrust his staff skyward, but missed.

Dragon Eye scuttled overhead like a cockroach and Jack, in his delirious state, felt raindrops falling on him like iron pins. He watched them shower down from the heavens and heard them tinkle on to the ground before realizing that they were real. The area around Jack had been carpeted by the ninja with sharp triangular metal spikes, designed so that one point always faced up.

Dragon Eye reached the end of the alley and dropped back down to the ground.

‘Come on, blind man. Let’s see how you fight in the open,’ he dared.

Sensei Kano charged down the alleyway at Dragon Eye. Jack tried to warn him of the danger, but all he could manage was a feeble croak. At the last second, Sensei Kano planted the end of his staff in the mud and vaulted over Jack. He landed neatly at the entrance to the alleyway, safely clearing all the deadly spikes.

‘Tetsu-bishi
, how uninspired,’ commented Sensei Kano. Jack desperately wanted to laugh at Dragon Eye’s failure, but the pain proved too great.

Infuriated, the ninja thrust a spear-hand strike at Sensei Kano’s throat. The samurai deflected it with his
bō
, then swung the staff round into Dragon Eye’s midriff.

Surprisingly, the ninja didn’t try to evade it. Instead he absorbed the blow, trapping the staff between his arm and body. Taking Sensei Kano by surprise, he then pulled the huge samurai off-balance before driving him backwards into the alleyway. Sensei Kano remained on his feet, but took one step too many to regain his centre and his rear foot landed on a metal spike. The
tetsu-bishi
went straight through his thin-soled sandal, spearing his flesh.

Sensei Kano dropped to the ground, crying out in shock.

Dragon Eye was on him in an instant. He stamped on the staff, snapping it in two. Then he front-kicked Sensei Kano full force in the face. Jack heard the sensei’s nose break and blood gushed out.

‘Did you honestly believe you could defeat
me
?’ said Dokugan Ryu, grabbing hold of Sensei Kano’s head to expose his throat for the killing blow. ‘Don’t you know that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king?’

With the speed of a cobra, the ninja chopped the knifeedge of his hand at Sensei Kano’s windpipe with the intention of snapping it.

Despite his disorientation and pain, Sensei Kano instinctively blocked the attack. Taking hold of Dragon Eye’s wrist, he locked the ninja’s lead arm and thrust a spear-hand into his face. The ninja barely avoided the counterstrike, but managed to retaliate with a vertical fist punch at the samurai’s barrel-sized chest. Sensei Kano’s greater strength allowed him to absorb the blow and fight his way back into a standing position.

Through a haze of excruciating pain, Jack watched as the two warriors battled at close range in lethal
chi sao
. The first to make a mistake, Jack knew, would be the one to die.

The speed of their attacks and counters was so fast that Jack only saw their arms as a blur. Their skills were evenly matched and each strike was met with a block, each trap with a counter. Neither gave any ground.

‘NINJA!’ came a cry.

Dragon Eye glanced up the main passageway and saw a vanguard of castle samurai approaching. Disengaging from Sensei Kano, he vaulted the alley wall with a single mighty leap on to the roof. Taking one last look at Jack, he spat, ‘There won’t be a next time,
gaijin
. For you, at least!’

A moment later he was gone, a shadow in the night.

Sensei Kano hobbled over to where Jack lay slumped against the wall. ‘What’s that ninja done to you?’

Jack could hardly breathe now. The world was dim and distant, Sensei Kano’s face seemed to be at the opposite end of a long dark tunnel. His heart still thudded hard, but had slowed as the pressure had built. He thought his whole chest was about to explode.

‘Death… Touch,’ Jack somehow managed to gasp.

‘Dim Mak!’
breathed a horrified Sensei Kano.

Immediately, the great sensei ran his hands over Jack’s body. Having found what he was feeling for, he pulled Jack forward and, in five rapid strikes with the tips of his fingers, hit Jack at key points on his back and chest.

Like a new spring dawn, Jack’s body jerked into life.

He drew in a great breath as his lungs expanded wide. The pressure in his chest vanished as if the gates of a mighty dam had been opened, and his blood flowed through his body in one life-giving flood. His eyesight rushed back and he could now see the bloodstained, bearded face of Sensei Kano, his fingers searching for Jack’s pulse in his neck.

‘I’m all right, you can stop now,’ said Jack wearily as his sensei began to massage his chest.

‘I can’t. I must ensure your
ki
is flowing freely.’

‘But how do you know what to do?’

‘I learnt the black art called
Dim Mak
from the same blind Chinese warrior who taught me
chi sao
,’ explained Sensei Kano quietly.

He began to work on Jack’s limbs.

‘Dim Mak
is the source of the ninja’s Death Touch technique. Think of it as the opposite side of the coin to acupuncture. While acupuncture heals using pressure points and nerve centres,
Dim Mak
destroys. You’re extremely fortunate to have survived, young samurai.’

He carefully picked up the weakened Jack like a bear cub in his huge arms.

Before heading back to the temple, the great samurai took a moment to pull out the bloody metal spike that had speared his foot.

‘Probably poisoned,’ he mumbled, inspecting the
tetsubishi
. ‘I’ll need to keep this for the antidote.’

Tadashi ran over to Jack. Pale-faced and sweating, his eyes as wide as saucers, he garbled something incomprehensible then passed out at Jack’s feet.

Jack looked down at the comatose traitor. He had little sympathy for his old training partner and false friend who had cheated twice during the Circle of Three. He deserved his fate.

Two monks rushed over and dragged Tadashi to his feet. One threw water over him to try to revive him. The boy spluttered, opened his eyes, screamed at something unseen, then fainted again.

Feverish whispering broke out among the school as they pondered what could have caused such shock and terror in Tadashi during his Spirit challenge.

‘What on earth’s up there?’ asked Kazuki of the High Priest, pointing to the craggy peak of the highest mountain in the Iga range.

This third peak loomed over the small grassy plateau where the final Circle of Three entrants now stood, guarded by a ring of troops from the Castle of the White Phoenix in case of another ninja attack.

‘Don’t ask yourself what’s at the top of the mountain, ask what’s on the other side,’ the priest replied cryptically. Then he pointed at Jack. ‘You’re next.’

Jack stepped forward but was held back by Akiko, who had placed her hand on his arm. ‘Are you sure you should be doing this?’

‘I’ve come too far to turn back now,’ he replied. But Jack’s physical and mental fatigue were obvious in the heavy roughness of his voice and the watery glaze to his eyes.

‘But you almost died last night,’ she pleaded, squeezing his arm gently.

Jack, comforted by Akiko’s concern, replied, ‘Sensei Kano says I’ll be fine. Besides I can rest all I want after this final challenge.’

‘That’s if you make it. You saw the state of Tadashi. Whatever’s up there is not for the faint-hearted. You’re not invincible, Jack, however much you may wish you were.’

‘I can do this,’ Jack asserted, as much for his own reassurance as Akiko’s.

She let go of his arm and bowed to hide her fears. ‘Be careful, Jack. Don’t lose your life in a rush to live.’

Jack had been given nothing but a fresh white robe to climb to the top of the mountain. He had asked if he could take his swords or at least some water for the Spirit challenge, but the High Priest had replied, ‘All you need, you already carry with you.’

As Jack set off up the path that wound its way to the peak, he was cheered by his fellow students, all wishing him luck for this final challenge of challenges. He spotted Yamato, Kiku and Saburo shouting their encouragement and, behind them, Emi and her friends waving enthusiastically.

He then passed the line of sensei and bowed his respects to each of them in turn. Sensei Kano was not among the teachers. He was recovering in the temple under the supervision of the medicine monk. The
bō
master had been correct in his assumption that the iron spike was poisoned. Once his wound had been cleaned and bound, he had drunk an evil-smelling antidote concocted by the monk. He had been sick all night as a result. Laughing as he threw up for a fourth time into a nearby bucket, the
bō
master had assured Jack that this was all part of the purging process.

Last in line was Sensei Yamada. The Zen master stepped forward and handed Jack a small
origami
crane.

‘From Yori,’ he explained with a cheerful smile. ‘He wanted you to carry it for luck. He also wanted you to know that he is feeling much better and will be returning to Kyoto with us tomorrow.’

‘That’s great news,’ replied Jack, taking the paper bird. ‘Any final words of advice, Sensei?’

‘Follow the path and you won’t get lost.’

‘Is that it?’ said Jack, surprised by the plain nature of the Zen master’s answer.

‘Sometimes that is all that’s required.’

• • *
    

The path was stony and difficult, wending a steep zigzag up the mountainside. A rock gave way under Jack’s foot and a small avalanche of dust and stone clattered down the slope.

He paused to take a much-needed rest and sat down at the edge of the path. The storm of the previous night had passed and a hot spring sun now warmed his aching bones.

Above him, a hawk soared in the clear blue sky and Jack recalled Sensei Yamada’s reading of his dream. The bird represented strength and quick-wittedness. Surely, this was a good sign.

Looking over the wide valley basin, Jack could see the school watching him from the grassy plateau below. Up here everything was so calm and peaceful, the air fresh and pure. Life gained a new perspective at this height, he thought. The big became small, his worries disappeared into the distance and the horizon promised new beginnings.

When Sensei Kano had returned with him to the temple after the ninja attack, Jack had been relieved to see that Akiko was already there, safe and sound, along with Yamato, Saburo and everyone else, even Kazuki.

Both Jack and Sensei Kano had been rushed to the temple’s medicine monk to be checked out. While Sensei Kano was busy throwing up as a result of the purging potion, Jack was given a sedative to reduce his pain and help him sleep. As he drifted off, Jack overheard Masamoto discussing the raid with the commanding officer of the Castle of the White Phoenix. The Commander believed it to be a raid by a local ninja clan. Jack had groggily mumbled Dragon Eye’s name and the Commander had nodded as if he already knew. He confirmed to Masamoto that such attacks by Dokugan Ryu’s clan often occurred when there were visiting dignitaries like Masamoto himself.

In the morning Jack had discovered that there had been a unanimous decision to continue with the Circle of Three. Masamoto had announced that no ninja clan would prevent the
Niten Ichi Ryū
completing an ancient samurai tradition. Under armed guard, Jack and the three remaining competitors were led up to the start point of the third and final challenge.

Jack glanced up at the craggy peak that thrust like an arrowhead into the sky. Somewhere up there was the Spirit challenge.

What had terrified Tadashi so badly that he had returned a quivering wreck? Jack couldn’t believe that the challenge was any worse than having his heart nearly explode inside his chest with the Death Touch.