‘Who knows,’ said Jack, shrugging, ‘but you can bet it’s not to see the fireworks. Come on! Let’s find out what he’s up to and stop him.’

‘But he’s a ninja!’ exclaimed Saburo.

‘And we’re samurai!’

Jack sprinted across the thoroughfare to the gangway. After a moment’s hesitation, the rest of them joined him, with Saburo trailing reluctantly behind.

‘Saburo, you’d better stand guard with Yori,’ suggested Jack, to Saburo’s evident relief.

The remaining four then cautiously made their way across the narrow wooden bridge to the gate.

‘Do you think it’ll be open?’ queried Akiko. ‘What if he went over the wall?’

‘Only one way to find out,’ said Jack, and he pushed on the heavy wooden door.

It swung open without resistance.

Jack peered into the inky blackness. He couldn’t see a thing. Taking a deep breath, steeling himself for an ambush, he swiftly slipped inside.

Before he had gone two paces, he tripped and fell face down on a hard stone floor.

‘Jack, are you all right?’ asked Akiko, alarmed at his muffled grunt of pain.

‘Yes, fine,’ he whispered back. ‘You can come in. I fell over the guard, that’s all. He’s dead.’

The others found him kneeling over the dead body of a samurai.

‘There’s another one behind the door,’ said Jack.

Kiku let out a stifled yelp as she caught sight of the body of the second samurai, headless.

‘It looks like he was killed with his own sword,’ said Yamato, as Akiko drew Kiku to her.

‘Kiku, go back to the others,’ ordered Akiko in a sharp whisper. ‘Raise the alarm with Masamoto and tell him what is happening,’

She nodded mutely before skirting the decapitated samurai to slip out of the door, then ran off towards the Imperial Palace.

‘What now?’ asked Yamato.

‘We find him and we stop him!’ said Jack with ominous finality.

He began to scan the open courtyard for movement.

‘Or we find a guard that’s still alive who can raise the alarm,’ added Akiko, concerned at Jack’s intentions.

‘Too late for that,’ said Jack, pointing to a black shadow barely visible by the battlements. ‘There he is! Next to that wall, on the far side of the courtyard.’

Looking around, Jack spotted the katana of the headless samurai on the floor. Snatching up the bloodied sword, he ran off in the direction of Dragon Eye, leaving Yamato and Akiko staring after him.

‘This is insane!’ said Akiko, ‘He’s going to get himself killed.’

‘Not if I can help it,’ said Yamato, hunting the darkness for the other samurai’s katana.

‘But neither of you have ever used a real sword before!’