‘Got one!’ cried a delighted Kurochi, who stood beside Akuma reloading his musket.

Jack raced over to the lifeless man. An arm had been blasted off, but it still made a convincing samurai in the dark. Pushing the straw dummy back into position, Jack taunted, ‘You missed, snake head!’

Kurochi swore in disbelief. Furiously packing the gunpowder into the barrel, he reloaded his musket with a lead ball, aimed and fired.

This time the gunshot took off the dummy’s head … and Jack’s almost with it.

‘I never miss!’ shouted Kurochi.

But even though the musket had made an impact, the bandits were failing to make any dent in the farmers’ defences.

Realizing he was losing men and gaining nothing, Akuma bellowed, ‘FALL BACK!’

The surviving bandits hurriedly withdrew to their horses.

Pulling hard on his reins, Akuma turned and rode off into the mountains, his men following close behind.

‘They’re retreating!’ cried a farmer in amazement.

‘We’ve WON!’ exclaimed another.

Exhilarated by their combat experience, the villagers started to shout in delight.

But Jack and Yuudai knew different. The battle had only just begun.

44 The Mill

44

THE MILL

The sun bled above the horizon, bringing with it a crimson dawn. As Jack stood with Junichi in the village square, he was reminded of the mariner’s weather lore:

Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight

Red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning

The prediction couldn’t be more accurate. Although Akuma had yet to return, the young samurai kept up a vigilant watch while the exhausted farmers grabbed snatches of fitful sleep.

‘Are you certain he’ll come back?’ Junichi asked, scratching his stubbled chin.

Jack nodded and glanced towards the village’s rice store. ‘Akuma has few, if any, supplies. He needs your rice to survive the winter.’

‘Now he knows how we feel,’ said Junichi, his expression hardening. ‘But we dealt him a severe blow. I was told eight bandits were killed!’

‘That means nothing to him,’ said Jack, recalling the wounded bandit that Akuma had left to die. ‘He’d sacrifice all his men to win.’

‘Maybe he’s decided to raid another village instead?’

‘I doubt it. We’ve just made Akuma very angry,’ argued Jack. ‘And now we don’t have the element of surprise, our next encounter will be even more dangerous.’

Hearing footsteps, Jack turned to see Miyuki approaching from the direction of the forest.

‘Is everything all right?’ said Jack, surprised to see her deserting her post.

‘Neko’s taken over the watch while I rest,’ she explained, rubbing her eyes, bloodshot with tiredness.

‘Do you need me to go and help her?’ he asked.

‘No, she’s got eagle eyes. Nothing will get past her without us knowing about it.’ Wiping the snow from the veranda, she sat down and pulled off her hood. ‘I hear Yuudai didn’t lose a single man during the attack.’

‘Not entirely true,’ said Jack, his expression grief-stricken.