‘There’s more to that girl than meets the eye!’ said Yuudai, letting loose a great booming laugh at the chaos she’d caused.

Neko, seeing Yuudai applaud her, rang the alarm again. Yoshi shuffled over to the edge of the veranda and addressed the young samurai.

‘Please help our village,’ he beseeched. ‘We’re all children when it comes to fear.’

18 The Reluctant Leader

18

THE RELUCTANT LEADER

That evening, the young warriors received a proper welcome. Sora and his wife gave over their entire house to them, Junichi arranged for straw beds and the contrite villagers brought offerings of rice, fish and steamed vegetables. A roaring hearth fire was built, before Jack and the others were left alone to eat and recover from their journey.

‘This is more like it!’ said Saburo, digging into a bowl of sticky rice.

The six of them ate in contented silence, Neko pouring out tea and water whenever required. Once they’d had their fill, they sat back and listened to the crackle of the fire. Staring into the flames, Jack became lost in his own thoughts – of Akiko, of his sister, Jess, in England, and how one day he’d find his way home.

For a moment, everyone appeared to have forgotten why they were there.

‘So what’s the plan?’ asked Hayato, breaking their reverie.

Jack blinked. ‘I … don’t have one.’

‘But you said earlier you did.’

He smiled sheepishly. ‘That was to convince the farmers.’

There was an exchange of concerned looks all round.

‘Well, you must have some idea,’ said Saburo, abandoning his meal.

Jack shook his head. ‘I really hadn’t thought that far.’

‘Every good leader has a plan,’ observed Hayato.

‘Leader?’ queried Jack.

The five recruits looked unwaveringly at him.

‘This is your crusade,’ said Hayato. ‘You brought us together, so you should lead us.’

Jack felt his mouth go dry and his stomach tighten into a knot. He hadn’t considered the consequence of his actions. He’d simply been driven by a desire to help. Now he found himself unwittingly positioned as their leader – responsible not only for the mission’s success, but for their lives too.

‘I … I think we need to discuss this first.’

‘We could just put it to a vote,’ suggested Yori.

‘Well, I’m for Jack,’ said Miyuki, raising her hand.

‘Me too,’ said Saburo, his hand joining hers.

Hayato’s hand also went up, soon followed by Yuudai’s. Figuring out what was occurring, Neko raised her hand too.

Yori smiled artfully at Jack. ‘You have my vote – so it’s unanimous.’

Jack couldn’t sleep, his mind whirling with worries. The black moon was less than three weeks away and he had no idea how to prevent forty bandits raiding the village with only six warriors.