CHAPTER 7

Finn woke slowly. The room was hot, and through its small window he could see that the sun was high in the sky. He sat up and stretched, aching in every part of his body, as he looked around the room. Ryu was missing, but the other three lay sleeping. It felt as though his body weighed twice as much as it had the day before, and with some considerable effort Finn rose and wandered through the drapes that hung in place of a door and out into the courtyard.

The monk who had welcomed them in at dawn sat cross-legged under the shade of a parasol.

“Do you feel rested?” he asked gently, looking up as Finn approached him.

Finn nodded half-heartedly and the man laughed.

“You will soon feel better,” he said. “Ryu has been telling me about your adventures. You have all been very brave.” Finn yawned, and the monk turned back to face the open space of the courtyard, watching as a monkey scampered across the ground.

“You are friends of William Blade, I understand,” said the monk quietly, still watching the monkey. “And again the Kurodas try to seize what is not theirs to take. These truly are strange times.”

“Did you know him as well?” Finn asked, suddenly wary.

Before the monk had time to reply Ryu emerged from the temple across the courtyard, deep in conversation with another monk, and as the two men approached Ryu caught Finn’s eye and pursed his lips.

“We need to press on,” he said curtly and entered the room where the others slept. Finn looked at the two monks but their faces gave nothing away. He was beginning to realise that the medieval Japanese did not express their emotions as readily as people back home and he felt strangely awkward all of a sudden. He was relieved when the others emerged from the room, yawning and blinking in the bright mountain sunlight.

“I have spoken with the abbot and he has offered us much that will help,” said Ryu, following the group out of the room. “Provisions and horses also.”

“And Akira?” Arthur enquired. The monk standing beside Ryu shook his head.

“We do not know anyone by that name,” he said. Then, nodding at the friendly monk under the parasol he continued, “but we can offer you a guide to help you across the pass and down into the valley where you will find Castle Kuruyama.” Curiosity flickered at the back of Finn’s mind and then vanished.

“You are very kind sir,” said Ryu, bowing as the others tried to hide their disappointment that they would not be travelling with the great vanishing warrior. “If we succeed in our endeavours we will see to it that your monastery receives a reward.”

“We seek no reward. If Kuroda can be stopped then that is reward enough.”

Ryu bowed again, then set about herding the others back into the room where they gathered their belongings and weapons and then followed Ryu back through the temple and out onto the steps that lead down to the trail. Their friendly monk came with them, carrying a long staff and a sack full of food.

“What is your name, sir?” Tatsushi asked the monk as they each mounted one of the six horses that were waiting for them.

“I have no name,” came the reply. “I renounced it when I joined the monastery.” Again Finn felt a flicker of curiosity but before he could explore it Ryu was barking out instructions again.

“We follow the monk and we do not stop until we are through the pass and back down below the tree line. Now that the Kurodas know they are meeting with some resistance we do not have long before they unleash their fury on the villages.”

They bowed to the abbot who stood at the temple gate and then set off along the mountain trail. To Finn and Arthur the ride was horribly uncomfortable. The horses walked or trotted along the trail, shaking them like bags of bones on top of thinly quilted saddles that offered little comfort. Looking ahead Finn saw how much better their Japanese friends were as riders. The monk in particular was impressive. With his long staff in one hand, reins in the other, and his back perfectly straight he seemed almost as though he were leading some graceful royal procession.

The scenery was beautiful too. A sweep of scree tumbled down the side of the mountain to the left before being swallowed up by the trees they had climbed through, while beyond the forest the ocean glittered in the sunlight. Before long the view was lost. They had reached the pass and were crossing a ridge in between two peaks, the trail snaking out in front of them down the other side of the mountain and into a deep valley, bordered on either side by long spurs of rock.

They reached the tree line after a couple more uncomfortable hours, and heaving sighs of relief Finn and Arthur slid off their mounts to join the others sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree. They were just beginning to enjoy some much-needed refreshment when Ryu sat bolt upright. His eyes rolled up in his head and he fell forward to reveal the shaft of an arrow thrusting up from his back.

With cries of mixed rage and anguish, Tatsushi and Mayuko leapt up as more arrows hissed through the air.

“On your horses and back up the trail,” said the monk calmly but firmly, and they followed his instructions, leaping into their saddles and hunching down behind their horses’ heads. Arthur was in the lead, and as he reached a huge boulder he took cover behind it and dismounted once more before scrambling up the side of the boulder to peer over the top, with Finn not far behind him.

The monk had not moved. He stood calmly by the fallen tree as three menacing men on horseback circled him. With a sick feeling Finn recognised the man who had kidnapped Mayuko. His first thought was for Tatsushi. What would he do if he recognised the man? Looking back down to the bottom of the boulder he saw Tatsushi and Mayuko still mounted and with anger flashing in their eyes as they prepared to charge back down the trail.

Arthur already had his bow strung and Finn scrambled to do the same. For the second time they both took aim at Kuroda’s men, but just as they were about to shoot something extraordinary happened before their eyes. The monk looked straight at the boys and held their gaze. Then in a flash of impossibly quick motion he crouched down, grabbed the end of his staff and drove the other end up in the air to connect with one of the horsemen’s faces. Never once looking away from the boys he gave two more swift thrusts and all three men toppled to the ground.

It was the most explosive, skilful display of close combat that either of them had ever seen, and they lowered their bows, both of them trembling with shock. Judging by the look on Mayuko and Tatsushi’s faces they were equally taken aback while the monk, still gazing up calmly, beckoned them down the trail.

THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR

Bushido, or the way of the warrior, was the code of honour by which samurai were supposed to live. A bit like chivalry for knights in Europe, the idea was that this code would encourage these highly trained warriors to behave with nobility and fairness. Needless to say, it didn’t always work out that way. Here are some of the things that samurai were expected to show:

COURAGE

This is so you set a good example to the rest of the population (or so you will win battles when your Lord needs you to).

FRUGALITY

Living simply and not getting too comfortable so that you can focus on strengthening your character (or so that you never get above yourself and try to steal land or wealth from your Lord).

CHARITY

This is so you don’t act with cruelty to the peasants beneath you (and so the peasants don’t get too annoyed and start a revolution).

LOYALTY

Because it’s good to be loyal, and it’s especially good for your Lord if you are loyal as this prevents you from trying to overthrow him.

HONOUR

Because if your reputation really matters to you then your Lord can easily bring you down by finding some way to disgrace you.

Clearly those are all admirable qualities. Maybe the way of the warrior really was just about being the best person you could be, not just about Japanese rulers trying to control everything. You decide!