Jack clasped the hilt of his katana, deliberating whether to draw it or not. ‘If we defeat the doctors, we still have the constables to deal with. This could turn into a bloodbath.’

Yori swallowed nervously and held out his shakujō like a talisman against the three approaching wraiths. ‘He who fights and runs away may turn and fight another day.’ He glanced up at Jack. ‘That’s what Sensei Yamada would say anyway.’

‘Well, I don’t have a weapon,’ said Rose matter-of-factly, ‘and I ain’t that keen on catching the plague either. So I agree with Yori – let’s scarper!’

Turning on their heels, Jack and his friends fled down the street towards the river. The plague doctors swooped after them, moving swiftly over the mud and puddles that pockmarked the road. The constables followed cautiously, a good twenty paces behind.

Before they saw the river, they heard it, a great roaring torrent fed by the storm. Debris, branches and even thick logs were borne upon its wild white waters. As Jack and his friends drew closer, an arched wooden footbridge materialized out of the gloom. Putting on a spurt of speed, Yori and Akiko reached it first. But Rose, crying out, stumbled along the way and Jack had to catch her. Taking her hand, he helped her onwards, but she still struggled to run.

‘What’s the matter?’ he asked, noticing her face was screwed up in pain.

‘My leg!’ she cried, wincing.

Jack looked down and saw a shuriken embedded in the back of her calf. He quickly prised it free, blood blossoming on her smock. With Rose’s arm over Jack’s shoulder, they hobbled on – the plague doctors rapidly gaining on them. Jack stopped at the bridge where Akiko and Yori waited anxiously.

‘You go on with Rose,’ he urged his friends. ‘I’ll hold them back.’

‘You can’t do it alone!’ said Akiko, as Yori handed Rose his staff as a crutch and took Jack’s pack.

‘No time to argue,’ Jack insisted above the roar of the river. ‘Just GO!’

As his friends disappeared across the bridge, Jack unsheathed his katana and turned to face the advancing plague doctors. They halted several paces from him and drew their weapons too.

‘Come on, then,’ Jack baited, his katana at the ready. ‘Let’s see whether you really know how to use that sword!’

The plague doctor with the katana strode forward and took up a left-handed waki-gamae stance.

Jack had his answer.