Young Samurai: The Ring of Wind (26 page)

‘The foresail’s up,’ announced another ninja pirate.

‘That’s not good enough!’ snapped Skullface. ‘We won’t harness enough wind to make an escape. We
need
the mainsail.’

‘I’ll fix it,’ offered Jack.

Skullface eyed him doubtfully.

‘I was a rigging monkey. I know what I’m doing,’ he insisted.

Skullface nodded and Jack ran off, leaving Li Ling to tend to the unconscious captain. Jack launched himself at the nearest shroud supporting the main mast. Hand over hand, he scaled the rigging with practised ease. Skullface gave the order to trim the foresail and took hold of the tiller; the canvas caught the night breeze and the
shuinsen
pulled away from the jetty. Below, Jack could hear the angry shouts of samurai and the blast of muskets. He prayed none of them looked up – he’d make easy pickings for a sharpshooter.

Jack reached the masthead. Although the Chinese junk sail worked in reverse to the square-rigged
Alexandria
– the canvas being raised rather than lowered – he immediately spotted the problem. The halyard block was damaged, its sheave cracked. In the Wind Demons’ rush to raise the mainsail, the halyard had slipped off the broken sheave and jammed.

‘Give me some slack,’ Jack called down, securing the rope on a cleat to hold the sail in place. With great difficulty, he worked the halyard free and realigned it. Releasing the cleat, he then instructed the Wind Demons to unfurl the sail slowly. Inch by inch, the sail’s yard spar rose up the mast. At the same time, the Sea Samurai on the other vessels were raising their sails and dropping their oars, determined to give chase.

From his vantage point, Jack could see across the entire harbour. The first
seki-bune
had left the jetty to block their escape. But, with its rudder sabotaged, the ship had no steerage and it ploughed straight into the harbour wall. As they passed one of the immense
atake-bune
, it made no attempt to pursue them. The holes drilled in its hull by Captain Hebi’s men had done their job and the ship was sinking fast. But, instead of abandoning ship, the quick-thinking samurai captain ordered his men to open fire. Cannon and musket shot strafed the
shuinsen
’s deck. Wind Demons dived for cover as the red bamboo guardrails and bulwarks exploded in a shower of splinters and iron shot. Even Jack had to shelter behind the mast as a number of arrows and bullets whistled past his head. Below, the screams of wounded ninja pirates pierced the night. But Skullface ordered no retaliating fire. Faced with an entire garrison, as well as the Sea Samurai force, their only hope lay in escaping the confines of the harbour. They were ahead of the surviving Sea Samurai ships, but they still had to sail past the castle and its formidable bank of cannon.

‘Back to your stations!’ commanded Skullface. ‘They won’t dare sink a Red Seal ship.’

But Skullface was wrong.

Lanterns burnt inside the castle, and through the loopholes Jack could make out silhouettes working furiously to load the cannon. It would be touch-and-go if the
shuinsen
made it through in one piece.

As they reached the harbour entrance, a loud boom thundered from the castle’s direction. This first explosion was followed by the blast of several more cannon. Jack instinctively ducked, vainly shielding himself from the approaching iron shot.

But nothing hit the ship. Jack looked up to see the castle half in ruins where all the cannon had backfired.

‘WANIZAME!’ roared Skullface, brandishing his sword in triumph. The rest of the crew cheered in salute of their fellow ninja pirates, who’d accomplished their mission with devastating effect.

The
shuinsen
entered open water without further resistance. By now, the mainsail had been fully raised and trimmed towards the wind. The ship immediately picked up speed and pulled away from Hikari Harbour.

Behind, Jack could hear the heavy beat of drums as the samurai crews rowed after them. Powered by oar and sail, they were quickly gaining on them. One of the
seki-bune
was forging ahead of the others when it came to a juddering halt, its bow suddenly veering off to one side. There was a wrenching of wood and half the jetty was dragged into the sea – the
seki-bune
’s anchor having been tied to the harbour structure.

But that still left two
seki-bune
and a fearsome
atake-bune
in pursuit. These appeared to have escaped the Wind Demons’ sabotage tactics. As they raced after the
shuinsen
, the armed samurai on-board shot arrow and musket at the ninja pirates fleeing in their rowing boats. The Wind Demons paddled hard for the safety of their own ships, but they were being picked off one by one … until Captain Kujira’s
Killer Whale
rounded the headland and lay down a barrage of suppressive cannon fire.

Glancing back towards the harbour, Jack spotted a blaze coming from the top tower of the castle. For a moment, he thought this was the work of Captain Wanizame’s crew … then he realized it was a distress beacon, its rising flames visible for miles.

Sea Fog

Jack scanned the dark skies from atop the main mast and located the pole star. The
shuinsen
had struck a course dead south. Behind, a lone
seki-bune
pursued them. The other two Sea Samurai ships had been intercepted by the Wind Demon vessels and they were now engaged in a full-scale sea battle. The thundering blast of cannons rolled across the water and the muzzle flash of guns lit the sky like a distant storm.

The
seki-bune
kept coming, relying upon its oarsmen for speed, its main mast having been crippled in the firefight. But the wind-powered
shuinsen
, weighed down by its precious cargo, was considerably slower. Only its head start on the
seki-bune
was preventing their immediate capture. Skullface gave orders for every inch of sailcloth to be raised, planning to maintain their advantage for as long as possible in the hope that the samurai crew would eventually tire.

As the chase went on, they soon lost sight of their fellow Wind Demons and their fate in the battle remained unknown. But the castle beacon continued to burn brightly on the horizon – sending its distress call into the night sky.

Jack stayed aloft, keeping an eye on the stars and committing their course to memory. If he and his friends did manage to escape from Tatsumaki’s clutches, then he needed to know their way back to land from Pirate Island. But such a prospect was becoming more and more unlikely as the heavy beat of the oarsmen’s drum increased and the
seki-bune
gained on them.

‘Load the stern cannon!’ ordered Skullface.

Tiger and Snakehead went below, just as a hail of steel-tipped arrows peppered the deck. The
seki-bune
had drawn into firing range and the Wind Demons were forced to take cover. Jack had a bird’s-eye view of the Sea Samurai priming muskets and preparing to launch a second volley of arrows. Then a heavy boom resounded from within the
shuinsen
. It was followed by the splinter and crack of wood and the cries of injured men. But no Sea Samurai on the upper deck were hurt. Tiger and Snakehead’s aim had been purposefully low, the shot destroying the oars along the enemy’s port side. Disabled, the
seki-bune
rapidly fell behind.

The Wind Demons gave an almighty roar of defiance. Nothing could stop them now. They’d stolen the Shogun’s Red Seal ship! Then Jack caught a flicker of a sail on the horizon. He looked harder and five more sails emerged from behind the shadow of an island, the pale moonlight reflecting off a golden shell on their white canvas.

‘
SUIGUN
TO THE SOUTH!’ cried Jack, realizing the beacon’s call had been answered.

Dawn broke and the Sea Samurai patrol were closer than ever. Following Jack’s warning, Skullface had grabbed the tiller and immediately altered course west. But a short while later, across the waters, came a deep resonating tone like the call of a primeval bird. Jack, who’d been ordered down from the rigging, shuddered at the unnerving noise.

‘It’s a
horagai
, a conch-shell trumpet,’ Li Ling had explained, still nursing the unconscious Captain Kurogumo. ‘The
seki-bune
must be signalling our position to the patrol.’

With the benefit of both sail and oar, it hadn’t taken long for the Sea Samurai to find them.

‘We’ll never escape now,’ growled Tiger, eyeing their relentless pursuers.

The day not yet begun, a chill rose up from the cold sea, but the wind blew warm and moist. Jack had experienced such conditions countless times before and began to search for further signs. He smiled to himself when he spotted the haze on the horizon.

‘Head north,’ said Jack to Skullface.

‘That way lies land,’ replied Skullface, ignoring his suggestion.

‘And sea fog.’

Skullface laughed mockingly. ‘I thought you knew how to navigate,
gaijin
. We won’t be able to see a thing!’

‘Exactly,’ replied Jack. ‘And nor will the Sea Samurai.’

Skullface instantly understood, but didn’t like the idea one bit. ‘We could run aground or hull ourselves on rocks.’

‘There must be charts in the captain’s cabin,’ said Jack. ‘If you can pinpoint where we are, I can pilot you safely through the fog.’

Skullface glanced back at the ever-advancing samurai fleet and cursed. He turned to Tiger. ‘Get the
gaijin
what he needs.’

The ninja pirate returned with both chart and compass. Having calculated their position and studied the chart, Jack instructed Skullface to take a bearing north-north-west.

The Sea Samurai fleet altered their course accordingly and the race was on.

The bank of sea fog seemed impossibly far away, its presence too indistinct to judge their distance from it. But the closing gap between the
shuinsen
and Sea Samurai was all too easy to gauge. The drums beat faster, the oars dug deeper, and distance grew shorter as the Sea Samurai realized the Wind Demons’ intention and tried to stop them.

‘We’re not going to make it,’ said Snakehead.

The Sea Samurai bore down on the
shuinsen
in a final burst of power.

Then a sudden gust of wind wafted a billowing cloud of fog towards the Wind Demons and they were enveloped within its whiteness. The bewildering fog was so thick that the ninja pirates could not see from bow to stern.

‘Head east,’ said Jack, holding the compass before Skullface’s eyes.

Skullface leant upon the tiller and the Wind Demons trimmed the sails. Unable to see the white canvas, they pulled on the sheets until they could no longer hear the luffing of the sails. Jack counted time in his head. When he thought the
shuinsen
had gone far enough, he instructed, ‘Lower the sails, drop anchor and silence your men.’

‘What?’ said Skullface, incredulous.

‘Just do it!’ hissed Jack.

Grudgingly, Skullface gave the order. The sails were furled and the
shuinsen
came to a halt. Blinded by the fog, the Wind Demons had only their ears to rely upon to warn them of the Sea Samurai’s approach.

At first, all that could be heard was the lapping of the waves. Then, in the foggy distance, there came the creak of a ship and the splash of oars. The drums had been silenced, no doubt so that the samurai captains could detect the
shuinsen
. Other ships could be heard further off, but this one was close enough to hear the hushed voices of the samurai on deck.

‘We were right on their tail!’ rasped a voice in annoyance.

Jack held his breath, terrified of making even the slightest sound as the Sea Samurai ship rowed directly towards them. Skullface glowered at Jack, convinced that he’d doomed them to die.

The faintest of silhouettes passed perpendicular to their stern, then disappeared again in the fog. The sound of paddling receded into the distance. The Wind Demon crew gave a collective sigh of relief.

‘Raise the foresail only,’ whispered Jack. ‘Continue on an easterly course, but slowly.’

‘But we’re behind the enemy, why not just head south?’ said Tiger.

‘We can’t leave the fog bank yet. They’re bound to have left one or two lookout ships to attack us as we emerge. We have to put some distance between us and them first.’

On Skullface’s command, the crew quietly went about raising the anchor and sail. The
shuinsen
crept through the fog, playing a fraught cat-and-mouse game with the Sea Samurai. When they heard a ship ahead, Jack had to alter course. He studied the chart, but for the most part had to navigate by instinct, guessing their progress and praying he was right. The
shuinsen
wove between hidden islands and rocky outcrops, the deadly obstacles looming out of the fog like monsters of the deep before diving back into the white swirling mist.

Muffled by fog and distance, they heard the crunch of wood, followed by shouts of anger.

Skullface grinned. ‘That’s one less ship to worry about.’

Jack scrutinized the chart again. ‘If I’m right, we should be far enough away from any lookout ship now and can use this island as cover, before heading south.’