The Way of the Sword

by Unknown

  ‘Do you think you can stand?’

  ‘I’ve tried… It’s no use,’ gasped Yori, his eyes screwed up in agony. ‘Go and get help.’

  ‘I can’t leave you here. You’re already shivering. We have to get you off the mountain now.’

  ‘But I can’t walk…’

  ‘Yes, you can,’ said Jack, slipping an arm round Yori’s waist. ‘Put your arm over my shoulder.’

  With great effort, Jack got Yori back to his feet.

  ‘But I’ll slow you down,’ protested Yori, ‘and you won’t complete the challenge.’

  ‘I can’t see where I’m going anyway. I lost my lantern to that stupid boar. So we need each other. Don’t you see, together we have a chance of finishing,’ persuaded Jack, smiling his encouragement. ‘Look, I’ll support you, if you hold the lantern to light our way.’

  They took a few faltering steps and stumbled. Yori cried out in pain as they fell against a tree.

  ‘This is stupid,’ wheezed Yori. ‘We’ll never make it at this rate.’

  ‘We’ll make it. We just need to find our rhythm.’

  Jack looked away before Yori could see the doubt in his eyes.

  The lame leading the blind, thought Jack. What hope did they honestly have?

  Jack and Yori were lost.

  Having agreed that the safest and quickest way down was to follow the route that had been given to them, they’d been making good progress and had been encouraged by the fact that they’d found the next four shrines with little problem. But the twentieth shrine was proving elusive.

  ‘The book definitely says turn right at the stone lantern to reach the stream,’ said Jack.

  Exhausted and frustrated, he was tempted to throw the guide away. They had reached a junction of four paths in the forest. Yet there was no mention of a crossroads in the directions they had been given.

  ‘So where’s the stone lantern?’

  ‘Perhaps we missed it?’ offered Yori weakly.

  ‘Wait here,’ instructed Jack, lowering Yori on to a nearby rock. ‘I’ll have another look. There were some smaller paths further back.’

  Jack retraced their steps and eventually found the stone lantern concealed behind a pile of foliage. The branches were freshly broken so Jack knew it wasn’t an accident of nature that had hidden the marker.

  ‘Kazuki!’ he spat in disgust. Just the sort of dishonest tactic his rival would play to ensure his own success and Jack’s failure.

  Fuelled by anger, Jack ran back to collect Yori.

  * * *

  By the time they reached the stream where the twentieth shrine stood, Jack’s last pair of straw sandals were mush around his feet. With every step he now suffered from a sharp pain in his left foot, but tried to hide the discomfort from Yori.

  ‘Take mine,’ said Yori, slipping off his own sandals.

  ‘What about you?’

  ‘I can’t go on any more, Jack.’

  Yori’s face was now a pallid sheen of sweat and Jack could see his friend had lost a lot of blood.

  ‘Yes, you can,’ replied Jack, shouldering more of Yori’s weight despite his own overwhelming exhaustion. ‘Sensei Yamada once told me “there’s no failure except in no longer trying”. We must keep trying.’

  ‘But it’s nearly dawn.’

  Jack looked at the sky. The rain had petered out and the horizon was beginning to lighten. In the valley below, the grey-white silhouette of the Castle of the White Phoenix was now visible.

  ‘But I can see the castle. We’ve visited all the shrines and just need to get to the temple. We can make it. It’s not that far.’

  Jack felt Yori collapse in his arms, limp as a rag doll.

  ‘There’s no point in us both failing,’ wheezed Yori, his breathing rapid and shallow. ‘You go on. Complete the Circle.’

  In his exhaustion, Jack was almost persuaded by his friend’s fevered logic. The Circle was his path to the Two Heavens. The Circle was the key. He had strived for it the whole year, worked too hard to let it slip through his fingers now. On his own, he could still make it.

  Jack studied the pale face of his friend and smiled sadly. With the last of his remaining strength, he lifted Yori on to his shoulders.

  ‘The Circle can wait.’

  40

  THE EYES OF BUDDHA

  Jack collapsed into Akiko’s arms.

  A crowd of students rapidly gathered round the temple’s main entrance trying to get a glimpse of Jack, covered in mud and carrying his injured friend upon his back. Two monks hurried over and rushed the unconscious Yori away.

  By now, the early morning sun was clipping the temple’s rooftops, but it hadn’t yet entered the courtyard. Jack shivered uncontrollably from the cold.

  ‘What happened? Where have you been?’ Akiko demanded, worry etched in her face as Jack fell to his knees, too tired to stand on his bruised and bloodied feet. ‘We were back hours ago.’

  Jack didn’t answer. Instead he stared at Kazuki, who had come up behind Akiko. His rival had washed and was dressed in a clean robe. He looked fresh and almost unaffected by the night’s exertions. Arms crossed, Kazuki observed Jack’s shattered form with amused curiosity.

  Jack’s whole body shook, no longer with cold, but with fury.

  ‘Your cheating almost killed Yori!’ he managed to gasp.

  ‘You’re delirious, gaijin. I didn’t cheat. I finished first because I was the best,’ Kazuki replied, giving him a contemptuous sneer. ‘It’s you who’s failed. Don’t blame me, you pathetic gaijin.’

  ‘He hasn’t failed yet!’ snapped Akiko, glaring up at Kazuki. ‘The sun’s rays haven’t reached Buddha’s eyes. He still has time. Come on, Jack.’

  Akiko, not caring about the mud getting on her fresh robe, began to half carry, half drag Jack towards the steps of the main temple.

  ‘NO! LEAVE HIM!’ came a cry.

  Akiko stopped in her tracks. Jack lifted his head to the see the white-robed High Priest standing at the top of the steps, his hand outstretched, ordering them to stop. Behind him through the open shoji doors of the shrine, hidden in shadow, Jack glimpsed the wooden Buddha.

  ‘You cannot help him. If he wants to continue in the Circle, then he must complete the journey by himself.’

  ‘But he’ll never make it,’ pleaded Akiko.

  ‘That’s for him to decide, not you. Put the boy down,’ instructed the priest.

  Akiko gently lowered Jack to the ground and stepped away, her eyes brimming with tears.

  Jack knelt where he was. A numbing exhaustion pinned him down as if the weight of the entire sky had dropped upon his shoulders. The Buddha statue was no more than fifty paces away, but it could have been the other side of the world for all he cared. He had expended his last ounce of energy in his desperate marathon to save Yori’s life.

  Inside, the monks began to chant the Mantra of Light and Jack could see the rest of the school, the sensei and Masamoto waiting to see what he would do. The High Priest beckoned Jack on with a single wave of his hand, then turned and entered the shrine as if expecting him to follow.

  Jack didn’t.

  He couldn’t.

  He simply had nothing left. This time Jack knew it was not a pain barrier he could break through. This felt like a canyon, a vast vacuum of energy, a void impossible to leap across.

  Kazuki knelt down next to him, an arrogant smile upon his face, and whispered gleefully in Jack’s ear, ‘You’ll never make it.’

  The sun was halfway down the temple roof and Jack could see it inching its way over each tile. Kazuki was right. It would require a superhuman effort to reach the Buddha in time.

  Jack stared dejectedly at the ground in front of him. In his exhausted daze, he watched an ant crossing his path, dragging a leaf five times its size. The little creature struggled, pulled, pushed and prodded, but despite the enormity of the task it didn’t give up.

  There’s no failure except in no longer trying.

  Sensei Yamada’s w
ords resounded in his head. Jack glanced up and saw the old Zen master staring at him from the doorway of the temple, his eyes radiating belief in him.

  ‘Come on, Jack! You can do it!’ cried Yamato, running down the steps towards him, Saburo at his side.

  ‘Come on, Jack!’ echoed Saburo.

  ‘It’s not that far,’ Akiko encouraged, her hands outstretched, desperately willing him on.

  With a Herculean effort and the supporting cheers of his friends, Jack managed to get to his feet. He staggered forward, repeating the mantra with each step, ‘There’s no failure except in no longer trying. There’s no failure except in no longer trying. There’s no failure…’

  Jack dragged one foot in front of the other, his legs as heavy as if a ball and chain had been attached to them. He was falling forward more than walking, but each step carried him closer and closer.

  He was at the temple steps now, crawling up them. His friends continued to shout their encouragement, but their words were a distant wash in his ears. The only sound that he was conscious of was the ever-cycling chant of the white-robed monks. The nearer he got, the stronger their mantra became, seeping into his muscles like an elixir.

  Now he was inside the shrine.

  But so too was the sun.

  It had risen above the line of the mountains and now shone brightly on the back wall of the temple, its beam catching motes of dust in the air as it descended towards the Buddha’s eyes.

  The school, in awe of Jack’s supreme effort, were utterly silent as they watched him lurch towards the shrine.

  Jack reached out as the sun illuminated the Buddha’s eyes. At the same time, the monks ceased their chant. Jack felt the cool sensation of the wood and the smoothness of the Buddha’s belly. He smiled briefly before collapsing at the statue’s feet.

  ‘You can never conquer the mountain. You can only conquer yourself,’ began the High Priest, once the congregation had settled back into the temple following lunch. ‘The first challenge of the Circle of Three tested the physical body, taking it to its very limit. Five of you succeeded in reaching the temple before the first light of dawn struck the eyes of Buddha, thus demonstrating your dominion over the body.’

  Jack swayed on his feet, dizzy with exhaustion. He’d been given food and water and allowed to rest, but it hadn’t been long before they’d woken him again and brought him back to the main temple with the other Circle entrants.

  ‘The Body challenge should have proved to each of you that the mind rules the body. The body can keep going as long as the mind is strong.’

  The priest studied each of them with his fathomless eyes, checking they had comprehended this life lesson.

  ‘Once you realize this, there are no limits to what you can achieve. The impossible becomes possible, if only your mind believes it. This truth forms the basis of the second Circle challenge. But first Masamoto-sama wishes to speak.’

  Masamoto stood and approached his students, his stance proud and mighty as he appraised Jack and the others.

  ‘I’m honoured to have such strong samurai in my school. The Niten Ichi Ryū spirit burns bright in all of you.’ He clasped Jack’s shoulder with his sword hand and Jack felt the immense strength of the great warrior. ‘But today that spirit burnt brightest in Jack-kun.’

  Everyone’s eyes fell upon Jack.

  Jack didn’t know where to look, except directly into the scarred face of Masamoto, who returned his gaze with paternal pride.

  ‘Jack-kun demonstrated true bushido. When he sacrificed his chances for a fellow samurai in need, he displayed the virtue of loyalty. In bringing that same samurai down off the mountain, he showed courage. He not only conquered himself, but I am of the mind that he conquered the mountain by denying it Yori-kun’s life.’

  The school bowed as one, honouring Jack’s achievement.

  Jack glanced around, uncomfortable at being the centre of such attention. Akiko smiled warmly at him, while Tadashi, clearly exhausted from the first challenge, only managed a brief nod of the head in acknowledgement of Jack’s achievement. Yori wasn’t in the line. He was still recovering from his injury, being tended to by a monk whose medical knowledge was renowned. Jack had been told that Yori would need time to recuperate, but the signs were good and he was responding well to the monk’s herbal remedies.

  ‘No allowance, though, can be made for the boy’s fatigue,’ interjected the High Priest, bowing respectfully to Masamoto. ‘The path of a Tendai monk is never-ending, so the challenge of the Mind must begin forthwith.’

  41

  MIND OVER MATTER

  The waterfall thundered down from the second highest peak in the Iga mountain range, cascading in one long roaring curtain of white. Over the centuries, it had gouged a narrow high-sided ravine into the mountain, as if some god had driven a mighty axe into the rock and cleaved it apart.

  The monks, students and sensei stood in a large semicircle round the churning rock pool at the base of the fall. They held their hands together, praying in honour of the mountain spirits and the ancient kami of the waterfall, while the High Priest recited a Buddhist blessing and scattered salt as part of the purification ritual.

  Jack, dressed in a fresh white robe, looked on with the other entrants, each of them petrified at the prospect of this second challenge. They were to stand upon a large flat rock under the waterfall for the time it took a stick of incense to burn through, using only the power of the mind to defeat the physical. In doing so, they risked the very real danger of death due to freezing in the icy waters.

  With the rites over, the priest beckoned the five remaining young samurai to line up along the ledge that ran behind the fall.

  First to enter, Jack kept his back close to the rock face, being careful not to slip on the slimy stone. The spray billowed everywhere and his thin monk’s robe was soon plastered to his body. The cold damp air revived him, but he wasn’t looking forward to stepping under the freezing falls. On the other side he could just make out the semi-circle of spectators, their forms and faces distorted and twisted by the turbulent veil of water. It was as if he was peering into an asylum of Hell.

  The others followed close behind, each of them staring in terrified awe at the torrent. Then, with a wave of his arm, the High Priest signalled for the challenge to commence. Bowing as one, the five entrants stepped from the ledge and entered the waterfall’s thunderous power.

  Jack almost blacked out, instantly overwhelmed by the numbing cold.

  He had to fight the urge to escape the furious cascade as the water smashed on to his head as hard as hailstones. He tried to resist the flow, but his muscles were being pummelled into heavy knots of tension.

  There was no way on earth he could last a stick of time.

  Frantically, he mumbled the mantra he’d been taught to ward off the cold, but it was no use. He was simply too weakened from the Body challenge. His mind had gone blank, he was hyperventilating and his whole being was racked with convulsing shivers. He was vaguely aware that Harumi had exited the waterfall, its power too great for her to bear. Jack felt himself caving in too.

  He desperately clung on to the challenge, determined to outlast Kazuki at the very least. But it was no use. His body couldn’t take much more of this punishment. He would have to leave.

  His feet, though, refused to move.

  Something deep within him defied the waterfall. Defied his own will.

  The impossible becomes possible if only your mind believes it.

  Jack gave one final mental push, trying to detach his mind from the bone-chilling pain. He summoned up the mantra again, but was doubtful whether a Buddhist chant would help a Christian heart. Nevertheless, he repeated the mantra faster and faster until it became a continuous circle of words:

  My mind is limitless,

  a horizon never ending,

  a sun never setting,

  a sky forever stretching…

  Amazingly, by focusing his mind on the mantra, he felt his body transform.
With each turn of the phrase, his muscles became softer and more supple so that the waterfall no longer hurt. For a brief moment, the pounding water felt as gentle as a mountain spring.

  Then he lost all feeling.

  The strange thing about this numbness was that he also lost all care. He didn’t mind any more. He realized that the mantra had transported him into one of the curious Buddhist states of meditation. Regardless of his own beliefs, he was experiencing the strangest sensation of his consciousness opening up to the universe around him.

  He lost all sense of time.

  Had a stick of incense burnt down yet?

  A moment later he lost his concentration as Tadashi, escaping the waterfall, bumped into him. The collision disrupted his trance and his body turned instantly ice cold. Despite his best efforts to regain his previous meditative state, Jack was forced to give up.

  ‘Di-di-did I make it?’ stammered Jack, stepping out of the falls.

  ‘Of course you did, you frozen idiot!’ replied Yamato, laughing incredulously and handing him a dry robe. ‘You’ve been under for ages. The monk has already lit a second incense stick.’

  ‘A-A-Akiko?’ shuddered Jack.

  ‘She’s still in there, along with Kazuki.’

  Akiko and Kazuki shimmered within the cascade of water like ghosts. Jack resigned himself to the fact that Kazuki had defeated him once again, but that didn’t mean his rival had to win.

  Come on, Akiko, willed Jack. Outdo Kazuki!

  Akiko was struggling to keep her footing on the slimy rocks and Jack’s heart leapt for her as she slipped. Miraculously, despite the pounding of the water, she regained her balance.

  Then, without warning, Kazuki crumpled and fell.

  Two monks rushed to retrieve him, carrying him out of the falls and rubbing him vigorously with a thick robe. As Kazuki came round and shakily got to his feet, the school applauded his valiant effort. Jack joined in the clapping, but more in support of Akiko. She still stood under the torrent, at one with the waterfall, her hands clasped in front of her, her lips constantly moving with the mantra.