‘Yes, they must be very sharp,’ agreed Kunio, smiling awkwardly as he snatched his hand back.

Wanting to change the topic from himself, Jack asked, ‘Tell me, who’s the girl?’

Kunio glanced over his shoulder as if he’d forgotten she was there. ‘Her name’s Neko. We call her that because she acts like a cat.’

Jack observed Neko struggling on valiantly through the snow. He wanted to help her with her load, but he realized his status as a samurai prevented him taking on such menial tasks. He had to act according to his role and couldn’t risk raising any further suspicion among the farmers.

Nonetheless, Jack demanded of Kunio, ‘Why aren’t you helping her?’

Kunio’s face creased in bafflement. ‘Why should I?’

‘Because you’re stronger than her.’

Grinning, Kunio puffed his chest out at the compliment. ‘True, but I wouldn’t want to tire myself out. It’s a long way to Tamagashi.’

Jack shook his head in disbelief. He wondered if the girl had any say in this. ‘Neko doesn’t talk much, does she?’

Kunio laughed. ‘Of course not. She’s a deaf-mute and stupid.’

Jack’s heart went out to the girl. Now he knew why she hadn’t told the farmers about him. But she still could have woken them. Neko had proved herself an unlikely ally.

Neko looked up and caught Jack’s eye. She grinned slyly at him, then tapped her nose as if to say his identity was her little secret. Jack realized the girl might not have all her senses, but she was tough, tenacious and certainly not stupid.

4 Black Moon

4

BLACK MOON

Tamagashi village was a ramshackle collection of thatched houses perched on the edge of the Okayama Plain. To its north rose an immense mountain range that dominated the skyline and seemed to squash the settlement by its very size. Fanning out to the west was a sprawling cedar forest, while to the south a patchwork of paddy fields, barely visible beneath the snow, traced their way on to the plain. As they approached from the flatlands of the east, Jack couldn’t see anyone working the fields and the village appeared to be abandoned.

Passing a couple of rundown farmhouses and an old mill, they came to a wide fast-flowing river. The wooden bridge creaked uneasily as the five of them made their way across, following the main track beside some paddy fields and into the village itself. Skirting a large pond, they entered the central square. Here, Jack had an even greater sense of a ghost town. No one greeted their arrival, but he noticed shutters and doors opening a crack, eyes peeking fearfully out at the mysterious samurai.

‘What’s everyone afraid of?’ asked Jack.

‘Nothing,’ replied Toge, a little too quickly.

Smiling awkwardly, Sora explained, ‘They’re busy preparing their supper, that’s all.’