‘Wait!’ he said. ‘Junichi’s called a vote.’

‘All those in favour of turning the gaijin in, raise your hands,’ instructed the village leader.

The elderly farmer’s arm shot straight up, followed by several others.

From his restricted view through the rear wall, Jack couldn’t see how all the villagers were voting. But there seemed to be a lot of hands.

‘Those against.’

Yuto’s hand went up, followed by Sora’s, then the farmer’s next to him. More arms were raised. Junichi began to count off the vote as Sora frantically encouraged others to follow his lead. Jack felt beads of sweat forming on his forehead. With his friends by his side, he didn’t fear the farmers. But he did fear the Shogun’s samurai. And their noose was once again tightening around him.

‘That settles it,’ declared Junichi. ‘We agree to ignore the Shogun’s order, whatever the consequences …’

Jack breathed a sigh of relief. His faith in the farmers had paid off.

‘Well, there’s a surprise!’ said Hayato, raising his eyebrows. ‘Farmers displaying honour and loyalty.’

As they returned to the farmhouse for breakfast, they spotted Kunio running up the road, waving his arms wildly. He stumbled in the snow, got up again and dashed over to them. He was breathing so hard he could barely speak.

‘I … saw … them …’ he panted. ‘BANDITS!’

30 Scouts

30

SCOUTS

‘Black Moon’s come early!’ exclaimed Junichi, bursting from his farmhouse to see what all the commotion was about. The villagers around him began to panic.

‘My moat’s not finished,’ said Saburo in alarm.

‘Nor’s the bridge,’ added Hayato, pulling his bow off his back.

Jack noticed the metal rings on Yori’s staff trembling. Although Yori put on a brave face, he knew his friend was not at heart a warrior. But he wasn’t the only one to be nervous. All the young samurai looked tense. The moment of truth had come and there was no turning back. Ignoring his own fear, Jack attempted to reassure them.

‘We’ve trained for this. We’re samurai –’ he glanced at Miyuki – ‘and ninja! Now gather your units and take up your positions as planned. We still have the element of surprise on our side.’

Turning to Yori, he placed an encouraging hand upon his shoulder. ‘Stay with me. I’ll need your wisdom during the battle.’

Heartened by Jack’s confidence in him, Yori held on tighter to his shakujō.

‘Kunio, sound the alarm,’ ordered Jack.

‘But there’s only … two of them,’ explained the breathless farmboy.

Upon hearing this, Hayato halted in his tracks. ‘Junichi, you said there’d be forty.’

Junichi nodded. ‘Usually there are.’

‘You can leave them to me then,’ offered Yuudai with a grin, rolling up his sleeves. ‘I’ll have them for breakfast.’

‘They could just be a scouting party,’ said Miyuki. ‘We don’t want to forewarn Akuma of our presence.’