‘Why me?’ complained the ninja pirate.
‘Because you’re a rigger and –’
‘SUIGUN!’ cried the lookout on the foremast.
The pirates all froze.
‘Where?’ shouted Captain Kurogumo, baring his shark teeth in displeasure.
‘Sea Samurai to starboard,’ replied the lookout, pointing towards a nearby island.
From Jack’s perch atop the main mast, he too spied a fleet charging out of a hidden bay. Its flagship was an immense atake-bune with a giant golden shell emblazoned upon its mainsail. The boat was flanked by three smaller seki-bune battleships and four open-decked kobaya galleys. This had to be the patrol from Imabari. Judging by their sudden appearance and the speed of their attack, they’d been lying in wait for the pirates.
‘MAN YOUR STATIONS!’ the captain commanded.
The ninja pirates instantly forgot about Jack as the ship erupted into furious activity. The Wind Demons raced to their positions, seizing weapons, donning breastplates and raising defences. Black brocade curtains were lined along the gunwales, fire buckets lit and set upon the deck, muskets primed. In a matter of moments the unruly pirates were transforming into a well-drilled fighting machine.
The Sea Samurai surged across the waves, powered by the thrust of their oars and the wind in their sails. The insistent beat of the boats’ drums grew louder and more urgent. On the top decks, Jack saw rows of archers preparing to launch their first volley.
This was just the opportunity he and his friends had been praying for. Amid the chaos of battle they could make their escape. Jack threw himself for the rigging just as the opening salvo of arrows hailed down – some were on fire, aiming to set the sails ablaze. Jack caught hold of a rope, swinging in mid-air, before he wrapped his legs round and slid hand over hand down to the deck.
With all eyes on the attacking Sea Samurai, Jack picked his way through the pirates towards the cage. He spotted Manzo’s kumode lying beside him and snatched it up. Taking the last few paces at speed, Jack rushed the guard and slammed the wooden end of the grappling iron into his jaw. Not expecting an attack from behind, the guard dropped like a felled tree.
As his body thumped to the deck, there was a bloodcurdling roar. Jack looked up, thinking his escape attempt had been discovered. But the three seki-bune had closed round the Black Spider and the Wind Demons were sounding their battle cry. The air was filled with the crack of muskets, the acrid reek of gunpowder and the whoosh of flaming arrows. A deep boom rolled like thunder as a cannon was fired. A moment later, a huge geyser of water foamed over the bow of the Black Spider. Another deluge of arrows rained on to the deck. Three ninja pirates cried out as the steel tips found their target.
Several arrows clattered off the bamboo cage, one passing through and impaling a Korean prisoner in the arm. Inside, Miyuki and Yori huddled over Saburo’s body. Jack noticed neither of them were performing Sha and Miyuki had given up breathing for him.
He was too late!
Jack rammed the bear claw of the kumode into the gate’s bars. Throwing all his weight against it, he forced the lock apart and the gate sprang open. He darted over to his friends.
‘Is Saburo … dead?’ asked Jack, almost too afraid to utter the fatal word.
Miyuki turned to him, her face drawn and exhausted. ‘No, I think he’s over the worst of it … but we still need to keep an eye on him.’
Letting out a sigh of relief, Jack smiled at his incapacitated friend. Tugging his pilgrim jacket from the bars, he said, ‘We have to escape right now. Do you understand?’
Saburo blinked twice.
Miyuki grabbed Jack’s arm. ‘Saburo can’t swim. How do you expect to get him off the boat?’
‘We tie him to a barrel and tow him.’
‘It’s too dangerous,’ argued Miyuki. ‘He’s still paralysed. If he swallows just one mouthful of water, he could drown.’
‘We’ve got no choice. There’s an island nearby. We escape now … or die at the Wind Demons’ will –’ An explosion rocked the boat, wood splintering as a cannonball ripped through the deck. ‘Or by the hands of the Sea Samurai!’
Arrows peppered the brocade curtains, shredding them and setting others alight. In the background, the atake-bune loomed closer, turning its guns broadside.
‘The decision is not for us to make,’ said Yori.
The three of them looked to Saburo.
‘Do you want to swim for it?’ asked Jack.
Two blinks.
21
Repel Boarders
Lifting Saburo on to their shoulders, Jack and Miyuki staggered out of the cage. The other prisoners had already fled, all except the lice-ridden Korean slave.
‘Get out of here while you can,’ urged Jack.
But the Korean merely sat in the corner, picking at the scraps in the cooking pot and observing the battle. He sniggered each time a ninja pirate was wounded or killed.
‘And miss this?’ he cackled. ‘Revenge never tasted so sweet.’
The atake-bune fired its cannon. The mid-section of the starboard gunwale exploded in a shower of splintering wood, bone and flesh. The Korean applauded the destruction.
Leaving the slave to relish the battle’s bloody progress, Jack and the others stumbled away. Yori was out front, holding the kumode to fend off any ninja pirates. But the Wind Demons were all intent upon repelling the Sea Samurai. They were ditching the burning curtains and firing a barrage of arrows and musket shot at the enemy ships. Several of the pirates carried handheld cannon that they rested on the bulwark. Lighting the fuses, they bombarded an advancing kobaya, dismembering the samurai crew on-board and sinking the boat.
‘Hurry!’ urged Jack as one of the seki-bune came alongside the Black Spider. Its mainsail had been dropped and the mast lowered to form a bridge on to the pirate ship. But Saburo was a dead weight, his feet dragging behind as they struggled over to the barrels on the port side.
Grappling irons were thrown and the Black Spider held fast. A heavy iron ball bounced on to the deck before them, a short fuse burning fiercely.
‘TAKE COVER!’ screamed Miyuki, dropping Saburo beside a pile of coiled ropes and diving on top of him.
Jack and Yori threw themselves next to their friends just as the horoku bomb detonated. Iron shards tore in all directions, shredding canvas, timber and pirates alike. As the smoke cleared, screaming filled the air and a massive hole was blasted in the deck. Sea Samurai were clambering across the seki-bune’s bridging mast.
‘REPEL BOARDERS!’ cried Captain Kurogumo, who wielded a fearsome crossbow. He fired off a bolt. It struck the first samurai in the chest, passing straight through to kill the samurai behind as well. They both toppled into the sea between the two boats.
As the captain reloaded, another wave of samurai charged on to the Black Spider and the Wind Demons engaged them in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Jack raised his head above the cover of the ropes, which had been ripped to ribbons by the horoku’s devastating destruction. The Sea Samurai fought tooth-and-claw for supremacy of the Black Spider and, as the Wind Demons were pushed back, the route to the bow became blocked.
‘We need our weapons,’ said Miyuki.
Jack nodded, also aware that he couldn’t jump ship without his father’s rutter. He saw Cheng rush past with a bucket of sand to douse a fire taking hold near the mast. Jack ran over and grabbed the pirate boy.
‘Where are our belongings?’ he demanded.
Shocked to see Jack and his friends free, Cheng hesitated to reply.
‘Our weapons!’ urged Jack. ‘We just want to escape.’
Looking round at the Wind Demons’ desperate situation, Cheng came to a decision. ‘In the captain’s cabin. Follow me.’
‘Stay there and protect Saburo,’ Jack called to Miyuki and Yori as he raced after Cheng.
They sprinted towards the ship’s stern, passing Manzo who sat rubbing his bald head, staring in utter disbelief at the battle raging around him. Skullface and hi
s gang were embroiled in a bitter conflict with a unit of Sea Samurai. Although they were outnumbered, they fought like wild animals, hacking the invaders to pieces.
Reaching the cabin, Cheng slid open the door and led Jack down a corridor. Inside it was dark and cool, the sounds of fighting seeming distant as they ran to the far door.
The captain’s cabin was simple and understated. There was a tatami straw bed in one corner, several seating cushions and a long, low wooden table. Light filtered in through bamboo slats and Jack could see his swords and Miyuki’s utility belt laid out across the table’s surface. Their canvas sack was beside it on the floor, along with their pilgrim bags. Jack quickly hunted through them for the rutter. But it wasn’t there.
‘What are you looking for?’ asked Cheng.
‘A logbook,’ replied Jack, his panic rising.
‘Is this it?’
Jack turned to Cheng, who stood beside the bed. There lay the rutter, its pages open. The captain had evidently been trying to decipher it, when he’d heard the commotion on deck earlier.
‘Thank you,’ said Jack, relieved, as Cheng handed him the logbook.
Wrapping it carefully in its waterproof oilskin, Jack placed the rutter inside the canvas bag along with all their other belongings. Jack slipped his swords through his belt and grabbed his straw hat. Even in the midst of the battle, he didn’t want to stand out.
‘If any of the crew stop us,’ said Cheng, helping Jack pick up the bag, ‘I’ll say you forced me at knife point.’
Jack nodded and grinned. ‘I was going to anyway!’
Above them, the sound of feet thundered across the upper deck.
‘Enemy to the stern!’ came a cry, followed by the clash of swords.
‘We’re running out of time,’ said Jack, hurrying down the corridor.
He and Cheng emerged into the sunlight. The Black Spider was swarming with samurai. Yet still the Wind Demons fought on.
‘Summon the dragon!’ ordered Captain Kurogumo, firing off his last crossbow bolt before drawing his sword to behead an unfortunate samurai.
The lookout lit the fuse of a black cylinder attached to the foremast. It sparked, then a bright red flare shot up into the sky, blazing a trail of smoke that would be seen for miles. Not wanting to be around when the sea dragon made an appearance, Jack ran as fast as he could to Miyuki and the others. He handed Yori his shakujō and Miyuki her ninjatō.
‘We can’t fight and hold Saburo,’ said Miyuki.
‘I’ll help carry him,’ offered Cheng.
Putting Yori’s staff under Saburo’s arms, Yori and Cheng managed to lift his inert body off the ground. Jack and Miyuki drew their swords and began to fight their way through the confusion of combat. Pirate or samurai, they didn’t care – just as long as they edged closer to the barrels.
They were almost to the bow, when a fresh unit of Sea Samurai boarded the Black Spider, forming an impenetrable barrier of swords and armour. The unit’s commander confronted Jack, blocking his path with his katana.
‘There’s no escape … pirate boy.’
22
A Pirate’s Punishment
Jack stood, head bowed, on the deck of the atake-bune flagship. His friends were by his side, Saburo at his feet, immobile but breathing steadily. The surviving Wind Demons, bloody and beaten, were next to them – including Captain Kurogumo, with Skullface and his gang. They were all held in check by a contingent of samurai guards, armed with spears.
Their situation had gone from bad to worse. Not only had the Sea Samurai captured them but they believed Jack and his friends to be ninja pirates!
The guards parted to let through a samurai in blue ceremonial armour. The man’s face was stern and his stare as cold as stone. His cheeks were pinched and he had a pencil-thin moustache that drooped either side of a downturned mouth. On his head, he wore an ornate helmet with a large golden shell-crest set upon its peak. And in his right hand, he held a short stick with a hard brass tip, storm-tossed waves decorating its surface.
‘I’m Captain Arashi, commander of daimyo Mori’s naval forces.’
At this news, there was a sharp intake of breath from several of the pirates. Captain Arashi preened his moustache between finger and thumb, apparently satisfied with the response. ‘I’m glad you’ve heard of me – or at least, my reputation. If you cooperate, it’ll make your punishment far swifter … although no less painful.’
He planted the tip of his stick under the jaw of the nearest Wind Demon, Crux, forcing the pirate to look him in the eye.
‘Where’s your pirate base located?’
Crux remained tight-lipped. With crippling speed, Captain Arashi rammed the brass tip into Crux’s throat. The ninja pirate staggered backwards, choking loudly and gasping for air.
‘I only ever ask a question once,’ stated Captain Arashi. ‘And I expect a truthful answer.’
Crux glared at the samurai before spitting blood at the man’s feet.
Captain Arashi shook his head with disappointment. He turned to two of the guards. ‘Keel-haul this one.’
Crux’s eyes widened in horror as he was seized and his hands bound behind his back. The two guards dragged him over to the starboard bulwark. They tied a stout line under his arms and around his chest. The line had been threaded through a block hung from the lower yardarm and passed under the ship. The end of the rope on the port side was fastened to Crux’s ankles.
‘Hoist him,’ ordered the captain.
The two guards raised Crux off the deck and clear of the starboard bulwark. As he swung above the water, the other pirates looked grimly on.
‘May this be a lesson to you all,’ said Captain Arashi, indicating for the guards to let go of the line.
Screaming, Crux dropped out of view and plunged into the sea.
‘Are they drowning him?’ whispered Yori in alarm.
Jack, who’d heard of the punishment of keel-hauling from other sailors on-board the Alexandria, shook his head. ‘No, it’s far worse than that.’
The two guards pulled on the line until it went taut. Then, hand over hand, they hauled in the rope from the opposite bulwark. At one point, the line appeared to have stuck on the keel and they needed help to yank it free.
Crux eventually reappeared on the port side … or what was left of him.
Yori covered his eyes, nearly fainting from shock. Crux’s body had been dragged across the barnacles on the hull. The rough shells had grated the skin and flesh from Crux’s stomach, chest and face. The pirate was completely unrecognizable, his crucifix tattoo the only remaining clue to his identity. Blood poured from the open wounds.
‘A fitting punishment for a pirate,’ said Captain Arashi with satisfaction.
He let the tortured pirate hang there for all to witness the gruesome fate that awaited them. A spluttering of breath was heard from Crux’s torn lips. Half-drowned, the ninja pirate wasn’t dead yet.
‘And again!’ said the captain, indifferent to the man’s suffering.
The Wind Demons stood in sickened silence as their fellow pirate was hauled under the ship once more. This time, all that emerged from the sea was a ragged carcass of lifeless flesh.
Captain Arashi approached the next Wind Demon in line.
‘Where’s your pirate base located?’
Despite the grisly threat hanging from the yardarm, the pirate didn’t answer. It became apparent to Jack that the Wind Demons must have their own code of honour. Like bushido or ninniku, these men had made an unbreakable oath that bound them to silence, even in the face of torture and death.
‘Cut off his hands,’ ordered Captain Arashi, his patience at an end.
A samurai stepped forward, katana drawn. ‘Hold out your arms.’
The pirate refused, so another guard forced his limbs into position. The katana’s steel blade flashed through the air; the punishment over in the blink of an eye. Two soft fleshy lumps thudded on to the deck. A second later, the pirate began shrieking in agony, clutchi
ng his bloody stumps to his chest.
‘He’s bleeding all over my ship,’ complained the captain. ‘Throw him to the sharks.’
Jack was starting to reel from the sadistic brutality of Captain Arashi. The Sea Samurai were proving as cruel and heartless as the Wind Demons. Jack held out little hope that the captain would show either him or his friends a single ounce of mercy.
A third pirate refusing to answer was pulled from the line and bound, shirtless, to the mast. A muscular samurai held a short rope of nine waxed cords, each with a small knot in the end.
‘One hundred lashes,’ commanded Captain Arashi.
Jack gasped. That number was a death sentence.
The samurai commenced the flogging and the pirate screamed as the knotted rope whipped across his bare back and tore into his skin. By the time four dozen lashes had been inflicted, the pirate’s back resembled raw meat.
Yet still the punishment continued … 49 … 50 … 51 … 52 …
The flesh became mangled and the pirate hung limp from his bindings.
… 74 … 75 … 76 …
The pirate no longer screamed. Flogged to death.
Captain Arashi approached Yori, who stood trembling before him. ‘I hope you won’t need persuasion, little one.’
Yori looked up with fearful eyes. ‘But we’re not pirates. We’re samurai!’
Captain Arashi raised an eyebrow in amusement. ‘I haven’t heard that one before.’
‘It’s the truth. We were held prisoners by the Wind Demons.’
‘I only have your word for that. Why should I believe you? My commanding officer informs me that you were fighting his men.’
‘We were only trying to escape from the pirates’ ship.’
Captain Arashi backhanded Yori across the jaw. ‘I despise people who lie.’
‘We’re not lying,’ pleaded Yori, a thin stream of blood running from the corner of his mouth. ‘We’d been on a pilgrimage to Shikoku Island when our boat was attacked …’
Young Samurai: The Ring of Wind Page 10
