Jack thought for a moment. ‘I honestly don’t know. I’ve been so focused on being reunited with my sister that I haven’t planned what would come afterwards. I believed that once I got home, things would just fall into place. But I’m not sure where I belong now. Perhaps I’m destined to be a pilot like my father.’

‘Always travelling, then,’ said Akiko with a resigned look.

‘Well, that depends upon where you are,’ replied Jack, gazing deep into her eyes.

Akiko tenderly placed a hand on his heart. ‘I am here, always and forever.’

22: The Bailiff

Jack was woken by the stirring of the horses. He sat up, shaking the straw from his hair, and rubbed sleep from his eyes. A faint dawn light seeped through the slats in the barn walls, catching dust motes in the air. The storm had blown itself out during the night, leaving behind only the soft drip of rainwater trickling from the thatched roof. Akiko lay asleep next to him, her face serene; Yori was curled up almost in a ball on his pile of hay; and Rose – was nowhere to be seen.

He looked around for her and found his coat discarded in the hay. A flicker of sunlight alerted Jack to movement outside the barn.

‘Rose?’ he whispered, pushing his arms through the sleeves of his coat. There was a low murmur of voices and the soft squelch of feet in mud. He tensed, straining to listen. Suddenly the barn doors were flung open and a band of constables charged in. Before Jack could react – or Akiko and Yori even open their eyes – they were seized by rough hands and dragged to their feet.

‘Strip them of their weapons and belongings,’ ordered the chief constable, his double chin stubbled like a fallow field, his hangdog eyes mean and wary.

‘Wait! What’s the meaning of this?’ Jack protested, as his swords were taken and his hands bound. ‘We haven’t done anything wrong –’

‘Shut up!’ snarled the chief constable. ‘You’re under arrest.’

Jack stared at the man in disbelief. Yori, bowing his head low in humble respect, said, ‘I believe you may be making a mistake, constable. We’re not the ones you should be arresting!’

‘Really?’ questioned the chief constable. He made a show of looking round the barn. ‘Then who should we be arresting? The field mice? I suppose, you’re small enough to be one!’

The other constables laughed heartily as they secured Yori and Akiko, confiscating his shakujō along with her bow and quiver, and their packs.

‘Lord Robert Percival sent for constables to arrest the highwayman Guy Rakesby and his gang … not us,’ explained Yori timidly.

‘Guy Rakesby, you say?’ The chief constable raised a bushy eyebrow and snorted. ‘Well, good luck to those constables! Rather them than us, eh, boys? We’re here to apprehend vagrants and horse thieves.’