Young Samurai: The Ring of Wind (17 page)

Jack saw them move too. Pleased as he was at the news, his smile was tinged with sadness. His friend was coming back from the brink only to face a death sentence from the Shogun.

‘Well done, Miyuki,’ said Jack, laying a hand upon her shoulder. ‘Only your ninja skills could have saved him.’

Completing her chant, Miyuki lay back against the hull, rubbing her temples. She was too exhausted to reply, the intense healing having taken its toll.

‘
Water
,’ Saburo wheezed through dry cracked lips.

Yori ran to the wooden grille and called to the guards. ‘We need food and water.’

‘Drink what’s at your feet,’ snarled one of the guards, barely bothering to look up.

Yori glanced in revulsion at the scum floating over the brackish water. He thought for a moment then worded his reply carefully. ‘Your captain needs us alive for the Shogun. If you let one of us die, I’m sure he’ll be most
displeased
with you. And we all know what punishments await those who displease the captain.’

The two guards exchanged an uncertain look. Huffing in irritation, the first guard got to his feet and disappeared up the steps. He returned with a jug and a bowl of cold rice. Opening a small hatch in the grille, he passed the vital supplies to Yori.

‘That’s your lot,’ said the guard, slamming the hatch shut.

Handing Cheng the rice, Yori lifted the water jug to Saburo’s lips while Jack supported his head. Saburo swallowed eagerly. He even managed a mouthful of rice. The combination was enough to return some colour to his cheeks.

‘Thank you,’ he said. His eyes flicked to Miyuki. ‘I owe you my life.’

‘That must be the first time a samurai has said
that
to a ninja!’ she replied with a fatigued grin.

As the five of them shared their meagre meal, Jack contemplated how they could break out. But their predicament appeared even more hopeless than in the pirate cage. The wooden grille was solid, the iron lock unbreakable, and the guards too far away to subdue. And once in Imabari, surrounded by a garrison of samurai, escape would be all but impossible.

‘I
should
have gone on alone,’ said Jack, looking regretfully round at his friends. ‘It’s my fault you’re in this mess.’

‘It was our choice,’ Miyuki reminded him. ‘We knew the risks.’

‘But you’d have been safe at home by now. Not trapped in this hell-hole.’

‘It’s better to be in chains with friends,’ said Yori, ‘than to be in a garden with strangers.’

Jack sighed. Yori always had an answer. ‘How did I ever deserve such good friends as –’

‘Listen!’ interrupted Miyuki, suddenly alert.

Jack and the others fell silent.

‘I thought I heard the sound of gunfire –’

The distinctive
crack
of a musket rang out, followed by panicked shouts and urgent commands. Above, the beat of the drum grew more insistent and Jack sensed a change in course.

‘What’s happening?’ asked Yori.

Jack was about to reply when the outer hull imploded. Timber shattered apart and a dragon’s face, twisted and scarred with hooked teeth and blood-red eyes, blasted into the bilge. The whole boat jarred under the impact. The two guards shrieked in terror as they were hurled from the steps. Jack and the others were thrown to the floor. By the time they found their feet, the dragon had disappeared and seawater gushed through the breach in the hull. The two guards scrambled up the steps as the bilge flooded.

‘Don’t leave us here!’ cried Cheng, pulling futilely at the grille.

The water level rose around them, while above the thunder of cannon and musket fire filled the air. The
atake-bune
shuddered again, keeling to one side.

Jack front-kicked the prison door. His leg jarred against the unyielding grille.

‘Let me try,’ said Miyuki. She targeted the lock. But that held firm too. She bent to examine it. ‘Maybe I could pick the lock. But I need something thin and pointed.’

They frantically began to search the prison for a loose nail or anything that would serve as a pick. But in the darkness of the bilge, they came up with nothing. The water level continued to rise. It flowed over the ridge where Saburo lay and Cheng quickly sat him up. Jack’s pilgrim jacket floated away. Grabbing it, Jack felt Akiko’s pearl under the lapel.

‘Here!’ said Jack, passing Miyuki the pearl with its golden pin fastening.

Miyuki waded through the water to the grille and began to jiggle the lock. All the time, the sea flooded in through the gaping hole.

Jack and Cheng had to stand Saburo on his feet.

‘I can … move my fingers,’ said Saburo, his lips managing a lopsided smile.

‘Let’s hope you can float too!’ replied Jack, struggling to keep his friend upright.

The water was now chest high and rising. Yori was on his tiptoes. Still Miyuki struggled with the lock.

‘The gold’s too soft … it keeps bending …’

She ducked beneath the surface. Yori began to tread water. There was barely a head’s height between the sea and the bilge ceiling. Saburo spluttered as he struggled to hold his chin up.

‘We’re all going to drown!’ cried Cheng.

Raft

In the confines of the bilge, the water lapped at their mouths. Miyuki still hadn’t surfaced and their air supply was fast running out. The
atake-bune
shook with another explosion.

‘Yori … hold Saburo’s head up,’ gasped Jack. ‘I’ll find Miyuki.’

Struggling to stay afloat himself, Yori managed to get a footing on the narrow ledge and support their friend. Jack took several deep lungfuls of air, then dived. Peering through the murky waters, he spotted a dark shadow against the grille. Miyuki, her feet wedged against a beam, was pushing with all her might at the door. Joining her, Jack could see a piece of timber from the hull had wedged itself across the entrance. Miyuki signed to him that the grille was unlocked. Together they put their weight against it. The door stayed jammed shut. They tried once more. It gave a fraction. They kept pushing. Jack felt his lungs burn with the effort and he could only imagine Miyuki’s desperate need for air.

Little by little, the door edged open … until there was enough space for Miyuki to slip through. Swimming to the other side, she pulled the obstruction away. The door swung clear.

Jack headed back to their stranded friends, while Miyuki, on the verge of drowning, clawed her way up the steps to the hold. Jack found Yori, Cheng and Saburo squeezed into the last pocket of air.

‘Follow me!’ he cried, and the four of them half-swam, half-crawled through the flooded bilge, Jack and Cheng dragging the semi-paralysed Saburo behind them. They scrambled up the steps and burst to the water’s surface. Miyuki was there to greet them and heaved Saburo on to the hold’s deck. He lay there, panting, like a beached whale. Jack and the others clambered out next to him.

‘We
all
owe you our lives now, Miyuki,’ said Jack.

Miyuki laughed. ‘Perhaps you’ll forgive me for this then?’ She passed Jack the black pearl with its gold fastening, twisted and bent beyond repair.

‘I’ll forgive you anything if we escape this ship,’ said Jack, pocketing the pearl.

From above, the clash of swords and the screams of dying men resounded throughout the vessel. The blast of cannon and musket fire assaulted their ears. But even through this barrage Jack noticed the oarsmen’s drum was no longer beating, as if the very heart of the
atake-bune
had been ripped out.

‘Sounds like we’ll have to fight our way out,’ said Jack, struggling to his feet on the listing deck.

He ran over to their canvas bag. Inside were their clothes, pilgrim bags and – to his great relief – the
rutter
. Jack seized his red-handled swords from the pile of confiscated pirate weapons. Miyuki found her
ninjat
ō
and utility belt, tying it round her waist. Cheng rifled through the weapons, selecting a vicious-looking knife and a short sword. Easily spotting his
shakuj
ō
, Yori then searched for Saburo’s swords. He put them inside the canvas bag before fastening it shut.

‘We head straight for the top deck and jump ship,’ instructed Jack.

‘What about Saburo?’ asked Yori.

‘I noticed a rowing boat hanging near the stern. If it’s still there, then we cut it loose and make for the nearest island.’

Nodding their agreement, Yori and Cheng once again carried Saburo between them. Miyuki drew her
ninjat
ō
, ready to beat a path through the Sea Samurai. Holding his
katana
in one hand, Jack grabbed the canvas bag with the other. ‘Let’s go!’

As they climbed the steps, the deck above exploded in a flash of fire and flaming debris. All five of them were blown off their feet and sent hurtling back into the hold. The ceiling caved in, extinguishing all light. Jack felt a sharp pain across his brow and the warm rush of blood as he fell to the floor.

Clamping a hand to his head to stem the bleeding, he shouted into the darkness, ‘Yori? Miyuki? Is everyone all right?’

Dazed groans answered his call.

A flickering orange light returned to reveal a hold full of smoke and dust.

Yori, Cheng and Saburo were in a heap among the ropes and sailcloth. Miyuki had landed on the rice bales. It had just been Jack’s bad luck that his head hit the wooden water barrels. The gash didn’t feel too bad, but they were all scratched and bleeding from splinters of blasted timber.

‘What now?’ asked Cheng, looking in dismay at the destroyed steps.

Their way out was completely blocked by wreckage. Water swirled at their feet. The ship was sinking fast.

Jack glanced back at the hatch to the bilge. ‘We swim through the hole in the hull.’

‘But what about the dragon?’ asked Yori in horror.

‘We don’t have any other option,’ replied Jack, retrieving his
katana
as the light in the hold blazed brighter.

‘I’d rather take my chances with a dragon than this ship,’ said Miyuki. She pointed to the fire spreading through the wreckage towards the stocks of gunpowder in the bow.

Jack handed Yori the canvas bag, then pulled Saburo over to the hatch.

‘Take several slow deep breaths,’ he said, giving Saburo and Yori a crash course in ninja breathing techniques. ‘Clear your lungs completely, then suck in a large gulp of air and hold it.’

Saburo nodded. As soon as he’d taken his last big breath, Jack dragged him into the swirling water, the others following close behind. The blaze of the fire lit up the bilge and Jack easily spotted the hull’s gaping hole, black and jagged like the mouth of a shark.

Miyuki swam through first, Cheng right behind her. Yori was next. He briefly struggled with the canvas bag, which had air trapped inside and was acting like a float. As it cleared the hull, Yori shot up like a cork. Slowed by Saburo’s bulk, Jack was last and had to kick hard. With his arms round his friend’s chest, they made it through the hole. Then Saburo stopped with a jolt. Their eyes met in panic. Jack yanked on his friend, but to no avail.

Looking down, he saw Saburo’s breeches had snagged on the serrated edge of the hole. Jack tugged again. After the third wrench, the cloth finally tore free. But the mistake had cost them precious time and energy. Jack pumped his legs, praying for the surface before they ran out of breath. The darkness of night meant he couldn’t tell how much further there was to go. Then their heads cleared the water and Jack immediately wished they hadn’t. They’d surfaced in the middle of a ferocious sea battle. Captain Arashi’s fleet was being torn apart by a fire-breathing dragon, the flames from his burning ships flickering a hellish orange glow across the Seto Sea.

The dragon charged straight over a
kobaya
in its path, splitting the smaller boat in half and crushing its crew. One of the surviving
seki-bune
fired off a cannon. But the iron ball merely bounced off the spiked back of the beast. The dragon roared flame in retaliation, setting fire to the battleship’s mainsail along with several of the crew. Screaming, the Sea Samurai threw themselves overboard, tumbling like human comets into the water.

As Jack fought to keep Saburo above the surface, dead and dismembered bodies of other Sea Samurai washed past.

‘
Jack!
’ cried Miyuki, swimming over with Yori and Cheng in tow.

Yori was hanging on to the canvas bag and his staff for dear life.

‘We … need … a boat,’ gasped Jack, Saburo’s dead weight slowly slipping from his grasp.

‘Look there!’ cried Cheng, pointing to wreckage from the
kobaya
.

A section of deck drifted near and Miyuki grabbed hold. Clambering on to the makeshift raft, she hauled Saburo to safety, then helped the others. They all collapsed with exhaustion. Unguided and unpowered, the raft was tossed on the waves.

Mercifully, they drifted away from the
atake-bune
just before it exploded, the Seto Sea swallowing the great battleship whole.

Adrift