Yuudai raised a hand. ‘Our plan’s good, as far as it goes. But we’ll still need an army of men to defend each post.’

Saburo nodded in agreement. ‘But we can’t even get samurai to join us. Where will we find an army?’

To everyone’s shock, Hayato and Miyuki replied in unison, ‘We’ll train one!’

22 Defences

22

DEFENCES

For the next week, the village became a whirlwind of activity. Toge helped rally the farmers and Jack split them into four units of eight men, each with their young samurai commander. Miyuki handpicked just three helpers, including Neko, before offering her remaining men to Jack for the construction of the watchtower. One of them was an able carpenter and Jack left him in charge whenever he went to check on progress of the other defences.

Yuudai proved to be a tireless worker and his barricade soon began to take shape.

‘Good work!’ said Jack, testing one of the spiked tree trunks rammed into the ground.

Dropping another beam into a foundation hole, Yuudai wiped the sweat from his brow. ‘We’re halfway done!’ he announced. ‘But we still need to reinforce these pillars, build a wall between them with thorn bushes and add bamboo spikes to prevent charging.’

‘That should keep Akuma out,’ said Jack, impressed with the scale of his fortifications, and they both grinned.

Noticing four farmers struggle with a felled tree, they hurried over. Between the six of them, they managed to manhandle it to the log pile, where two villagers were cutting and shaping the wood for use. The four farmers then collapsed with exhaustion.

‘Well done!’ Yuudai shouted, clapping them on the backs enthusiastically. ‘But no sleep till bedtime!’

Hauling another spiked tree trunk on to his shoulder, Yuudai headed back to the barricade where two men were digging the next foundation hole. Despite their fatigue, the team of farmers dragged themselves to their feet and obediently followed. Jack noted Yuudai’s work ethic and constant encouragement kept everyone motivated and in good spirits.

‘Do you need anything else?’ Jack called to Yuudai.

The boy thought for a moment, the beam still slung across his shoulder as if it weighed no more than a spear. ‘We could do with some hay bales to hide behind as a secondary defence line.’

‘Good thinking,’ agreed Jack. ‘I’ll put Yori on to it.’

Leaving Yuudai and his farmers to their work, Jack headed into the village to see how Saburo was getting on. He found his friend sitting beneath a tree overlooking a pile of earth.

‘Put your backs into it!’ he ordered as he sipped from a cup of green tea.

Kunio’s muddy face popped out of the hole. ‘Can’t we take a break yet?’

‘Do you think Akuma takes a break when raiding?’ asked Saburo.

Kunio scratched at his ear. ‘No.’

‘Then we can’t stop either!’

Sighing wearily, Kunio resumed shovelling with the rest of the men.