‘You should rest, signor,’ Signor Horatio advised, as Jack limped over to the arena. ‘Those cuts are deep and need tending.’

‘I’ll be fine,’ said Jack, wincing. His only thought was to find his friends and rescue Jess, and he began carefully climbing down into the baiting pit to recover his swords.

By now, the bulldog had died from its injuries, but the same couldn’t be said for its last victim. Hazel lay moaning and weeping beside the animal, her arm still clamped in its jaws. Jack took his daishō back from her, and her knife for good measure, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave her like that. Prising the dog’s jaws apart, he freed her arm, then tore a strip of cloth from her ragged sleeve and bound her wounds to stem the bleeding.

‘You have a good heart,’ observed Signor Horatio with approval. ‘Not many men would show such mercy to their enemies.’

‘She’s not my enemy,’ replied Jack, his mind fixed on his real foe: Sir Toby. As he tied off the makeshift bandage, he heard the familiar jingling of a prayer staff. Then Yori appeared in the arena, followed by Akiko and Rose.

‘We heard about the bear-baiting …’ panted Rose, ‘and someone being thrown into the pit … and knew it could only be you!’

Yori’s eyes widened at the carnage of matted fur, spilled guts and bloody carcasses strewn across the arena. ‘You survived this?’ he gasped.

‘Barely,’ replied Jack, handing Rose the knife. ‘Here,’ he said, ‘you have this, Rose. It could come in useful.’ Then, with Akiko’s help, he clambered out of the pit.

Akiko stared, aghast, at Jack’s tattered and bloody shirt. ‘Are you badly hurt?’ she asked.

Jack grimaced in pain. ‘My chest feels like it’s been raked with a hoe and my back whipped with a cat-o’-nine-tails, but I’m alive, thanks to this gentleman.’

Rose cast an admiring eye over the fancifully dressed stranger. ‘And who might you be?’ she asked curiously.

‘Signor Horatio Palavicino, at your service, signorina!’ replied the swordsman, bowing low with a flourish of his feathered hat. He took Rose’s hand and kissed it lightly. ‘Ah, un angelo mandato dal cielo!’

Rose’s cheeks flushed. ‘I’ve no idea what he said, but it sounded divine!’

Yori inspected Jack’s wounds. ‘Jack, we should go back to the inn so I can tend to these.’

‘They can wait,’ said Jack firmly. ‘I’ve found Jess!’

‘Really?’ exclaimed Akiko, her face lighting up. ‘Where is she?’

‘That I don’t know!’ Jack replied in fierce frustration. ‘She was taken away in a coach – by Sir Toby Nashe!’

Akiko, Yori and Rose all stared at him in dumbfounded disbelief.

‘What would Sir Toby be doing with your sister?’ asked Yori.

Jack’s expression turned thunderous. ‘I fear he’s the one who’s been courting her.’