Buoyed by her resilience, they promised to deliver her message if they had the chance.

If only all the farmers were as fearless as her, thought Jack.

Following the riverbank, Miyuki led them across the edge of the Okayama Plain and up into the forested slopes of the mountains. The bandits’ trail wound along a narrow path and over a ridge. They followed it until they came to a fork in the road.

‘Which way now?’ asked Jack, looking at the confusion of prints in the snow.

Miyuki bent down to examine the trail.

‘That way,’ she said, pointing to the left.

‘How can you be so sure?’ asked Hayato.

‘Those are the tracks of a large stag, those of a wild boar and these are horse’s hooves,’ replied Miyuki, indicating each set of prints as if she was teaching a child.

‘They all look the same to me,’ said Hayato, his pride ruffled by her patronizing tone.

Jack shot Miyuki a warning glance, pleading with her to be more tolerant. The last thing he needed was for the two of them to start fighting.

With a heavy sigh, Miyuki took the time to explain to Hayato, ‘I’m not looking at the shape of each print. The first rule of snow-tracking is to identify the animal’s track pattern. Even when the prints are windblown and obscured like this, their gait is often still identifiable by its distinctive arrangement in the snow.’

‘Now I understand,’ he replied, clearly appreciating her insight.

‘And do you see that track?’ she said suddenly, indicating a completely blank patch of snow.

Baffled, Hayato shook his head. Jack also strained to see what she was pointing at.

‘That’s a … ninja trail!’ she exclaimed, bursting into laughter.

Getting the joke, Jack joined in too.

‘I’ll certainly watch out for those,’ said Hayato, managing to crack a smile as well.

Chuckling, Sora trudged past. Despite his age, he was proving as surefooted and hardy as an old mountain goat and had kept up a steady pace since leaving Tamagashi village.

‘And these are bear tracks!’ he said, prodding his walking-stick at a set of huge paw prints in the snow. ‘We should keep moving. Bears can be more dangerous than bandits.’

Miyuki walked over and examined them. ‘They’re fresh!’

At that moment, a low growling was heard coming from the undergrowth. The branches surged forward in a wave towards them and a massive bear, jet black apart from a patch of white fur on its chest, thundered out. Stopping in front of them, it sniffed the air, then snapped its jaws viciously.

‘There’s only one thing more lethal than a bear,’ said Sora, taking several nervous steps backwards, ‘and that’s a hungry bear!’

‘What should we do?’ whispered Jack. ‘Run?’

‘No!’ Miyuki hissed. ‘Gather together so we look bigger, more threatening.’