‘I guess I am in a killing mood after all,’ snarled Guy, raising his staff high over his head to crack Jack’s skull like an egg.

Yori broke from his hiding place in the bushes and leapt to Jack’s defence. As the staff came hurtling down, Yori deflected the lethal strike with his shakujō – then countered with a thrust of the bronze spear tip, the rings jangling as he hit the upright-man in the solar plexus. Winded, Guy staggered away – but he soon recovered and flew into a furious rage. A David-and-Goliath battle ensued as Yori fought the onslaught, matching the thief blow for blow. The young monk couldn’t match his enemy for strength, though, and was soon forced into a retreat.

Jack, tasting blood from a split lip, struggled to his feet. He had to help Yori. However, a young robber with a cudgel had other plans for him. Jack ducked as the club almost took his head off. Another swipe nearly bust his nose. A third came down like a hammer …

Akiko appeared in the clearing, an arrow drawn on her bow. She let it loose, the arrow flying so fast and true that it went straight through the young robber’s raised arm and pinned him to a nearby tree trunk.

‘Now don’t run off!’ said Jack with a grin, leaving the poor lad hanging by his skewered limb.

But Jack wasn’t out of danger yet. The two robbers dressed as the lord and lady confronted him with rapiers. Mindful of their weapons’ lethal reach, Jack unsheathed his katana and wakizashi and began to fend off their thrusts. While the robbers quickly proved to be no swordsmen, two against one meant Jack couldn’t afford to drop his guard for a single moment. He deftly dodged one thrust, deflected another and blocked a third. Then he slashed right with his katana and left with his wakizashi, creating space between his two opponents. Moving into position, he baited them to lunge. One tried to run him through the chest, the other through the back, but Jack nimbly skipped aside and the two men impaled themselves instead.

‘What happened to the plan?’ Akiko cried, as she side-kicked one muscle-bound ruffian into a gorse bush and elbowed another in the face.

‘We’re on to Plan B,’ replied Jack, clashing swords with a bare-chested brute of a man.

Akiko drew an arrow from her quiver. ‘What’s Plan B?’

‘Fight for our lives!’ said Jack, blocking a vicious slash to his head, then retaliating with an upward cut and scoring a line of blood across his attacker’s chest.