The sword master leant over the balcony and grinned. ‘While you’ve been keeping a lookout for your sister, I’ve had the honour of tutoring Akiko in some more advanced techniques.’ He pointed to her sword hand. ‘By gripping the hilt at the pommel, one can extend the reach of a rapier by a good few inches. That can make all the difference in a duel. But it is a trade-off. One loses some control over the blade work, so you need a strong grip and a skilled hand to pommel effectively.’

‘So Akiko cheated?’ questioned Jack with good humour.

‘No, signor, she won fair and square,’ Signor Horatio replied, ‘and, as you well know, that’s all that counts in a real duel –’

Suddenly the doors into the courtyard burst open and Yori came running in, ushering a young lad ahead of him. ‘Jack! Jack!’ he cried. ‘This boy says he’s seen your sister!’

Jack rushed over, his heart in his mouth. ‘You have? Where?’

The lad, dressed in a leather apron and smock, his hair a tangle of wiry black curls, struggled to get his breath back. (Yori had clearly dragged the witness at high speed across town.) ‘Aye …’ he panted, ‘I seen her … or a girl that looks like that one in that there locket o’ yours.’

‘But where did you see her?’ pressed Jack.

‘In the garden,’ replied the boy, wiping the sweat from his brow. ‘I was ’elping me father deliver a cartload of wine and beer they’d ordered. I think they must be ’aving a party or summut –’

‘But what garden? WHERE?’ demanded Jack in exasperation.

‘Lupus Hall.’

34: Lupus Hall

The coach rattled along the potholed highway, its iron-rimmed wheels making the bones of its occupants shudder. Jack sat rocking between Akiko and Yori; Signor Horatio and Rose perched on the seat opposite. They passed rolling fields, with the earth stubbled and brown after the harvest, and Jack stared impatiently at them out of the window. The coach they’d hired couldn’t go fast enough for him. He gripped the hilt of his katana in one hand; his other nervously thumbed the pommel of the rapier Signor Horatio had lent him. Jack hoped that he wouldn’t have to use them, that he could recover his sister without a fight, but he knew from experience that Sir Toby was rash and quick to take up arms. So he was ready to duel for his sister’s life if it came to it.

‘We’re here!’ the driver called out gruffly.