Moonshadow (16 page)

On arrival, for some reason his target hadn't sensed him resting inside the garden's thick wall of vines. Or perhaps he had, mistakenly thinking the energy he felt belonged to the girl? The Deathless had bided his time, watching the boy nestle into the vines a few paces to his left.

He had thought himself gifted with the best timing and luckiest break ever. Then, just as he'd prepared to make his move, that pesky girl had passed by and somehow, his target
had
known it. Now, hell itself was breaking loose and the opportunity was lost.

A deep voice the other side of the wall cried, 'Who cares? Surround them both!' It was Akira, springing his little trap. The Deathless walked up to the outer wall, then turned and sat down, putting his broad back against it.

'Go ahead, fools,' he said to himself. 'Take down the girl and have your last try at the boy. You need each other's help. I work alone.' He cocked his head to one side, listening. 'But feel free to tire him for me first.' The Deathless rubbed his sword shoulder. 'Soon, young man, we'll dance,' he grinned. 'Then one must fall.'

EIGHTEEN
Mud and
smoke

'What are you doing, Nanashi?' The girl gaped at him.

He put his back to hers. 'It's Moonshadow,' he muttered quickly, raising his sword and pointing its tip at the nearest samurai rider's whirling chain. 'We'll settle
our
matter later!' Moon turned and gave her a determined glance. Their eyes met for an instant. 'I won't let them take you, Yuki.'

Her face glowed with a mix of surprise and delight. 'Snowhawk,' she nodded, then she turned her back to his, her expression growing fierce once more.

'I said
surround
them!' Akira growled. 'Space yourselves evenly!'

The tallest samurai rode closer, controlling his horse's reigns with one hand. He pulled the animal to a sliding halt on the muddy street then launched the end of his rotating chain at Moonshadow. The eight-sided weight flashed past Snowhawk, grey links noisily snaking out behind it. Moon dropped into a crouch and the weight whiplashed just above his head as its chain snapped taut. He flicked up the blunt edge of his sword, trying to tangle the chain, but it was quickly yanked out of range. The samurai reeled it in, then started the weight spinning again.

Turning fast on his horse, the short samurai moved behind Snowhawk and lined her up with the grey vertical disc of his spinning chain. He lurched forward in the saddle, releasing the weighted end. It flew at her.

'Down!' Moon yelled. Snowhawk threw herself into a forward roll. The weight flicked the end-strands of her hair as she tumbled away.

Akira ran to fill a gap in the circle of attackers, raising his sword as he dropped into a combat stance. Its tip pointed at Moon's throat.

'You and I, boy!' Akira shouted confidently. 'Come on, just us . . . how about it?'

Jiro scrambled around the moving circle until he was behind Moon. Moonshadow sensed a presence at his back and turned his head. Jiro raised a shuriken in each hand. He waited until Moon glanced back at Akira again, then he hurled the first one.

Out of the corner of his eye, Moonshadow saw Snowhawk's mouth tighten. Her sword rose fast. Abruptly she lunged at him. For a split second he thought it meant betrayal and instinctively raised his own sword. Then he heard the
fff
of a shuriken closing on his head from behind and he knew. Moonshadow froze. Snowhawk's blade swished past his head to block the shuriken with a loud
clang
. The spent black throwing knife spun away in a high arc, plunging into the walled garden.

Jiro lobbed his second shuriken, aiming for Snowhawk. She was ready for it and dodged, gripping Moon's sleeve and pulling him out of harm's way. The shuriken streaked near the pair's heads then narrowly missed Akira. It glanced off the wall, close to the assassin's elbow, before spiralling into the mud.

'Do that again Jiro,' Akira shouted with a red face, 'and I
will
kill you!'

'Yeah, sure,' Jiro called indifferently, taking new shurikens from his jacket.

The tall samurai prepared to let fly once more with his chain. His partner made ready to launch a simultaneous attack from a different angle.

'Two at once!' Moonshadow hissed in her ear. 'That way!'

He and Snowhawk jumped, as hard and high as they could, in the direction of the wall. The two weighted chains rocketed across each other with an edgy grinding sound, almost tangling right where their targets had stood. The two samurai pulled the chains apart and reeled them in fast.

Snowhawk and Moon landed beside the wall but were given no time to think. Akira rushed them. Jiro raised a shuriken in each hand, shuffling sideways as he tried to set up a throwing angle without Akira in the line of fire.

'Take the offensive,' Snowhawk grunted. 'Push through them to the shrine!'

Moon gave her a nod and then bounded forward to meet Akira, who looked pleased that his foe seemed keen to fight. But as Moon closed in, he stretched out and hacked fast with the tip of his sword, at the same time launching himself into a powerful jump.

Akira was startled by the tricky move and, as he raised a block to Moon's flashing blade, Moon somersaulted over him then hit the ground running. Akira turned and gave chase. Moon dashed alongside the wall for the great red gate of the shrine.

He looked back. Snowhawk had just blocked a shuriken attack with her blade and now she was running in a zigzag at Jiro. Jiro grinned and skipped backwards, drawing a dagger.

Moon spun about and traded several cuts and blocks with Akira. Then the two faced off, swords extended, each waiting for the other to make a move and, hopefully, a mistake. Moonshadow glanced sideways. How was
she
doing?

Jiro had backed away from Snowhawk, dagger in one hand, a shuriken in the other. The two watched each other now with equally ferocious, scheming eyes. He was preparing to throw, she to block. Another tense stand-off.

Hoofs stamped and gouged the mud as the mounted samurai took up new positions, their chains whirling again. Moon snorted with resolve. This couldn't go on. Eventually, he and Snowhawk would be worn down, then
brought down
with those chains. He sprang backwards out of Akira's sword range and caught Snowhawk's eye. She glanced at Jiro's hands then back at Moon.

When their eyes were briefly locked, Moonshadow mouthed the word
gate
. He held a fist against his belly and flicked his fingers open quickly, suggesting an explosion.

Snowhawk gave a tiny nod then resumed watching Jiro's twitching shuriken hand.

The samurai closed in, this time both targeting Moonshadow. Akira stole a sideways look at them then stepped back out of the field of fire. Moon's hand flashed into his jacket, fingers closing around the smoke bomb.

'Now!' he shouted. He drew the percussion-triggered pellet and hurled it hard at the ground near Akira's feet. Unsure of what was coming at him, Akira bounded to one side, sword swooping across his belly, ready to block.

The smoke bomb went off with a low
hiss.
Jiro threw his shuriken. The samurai launched their chain weights. Moonshadow and Snowhawk each vaulted into the plume of smoke as it quickly expanded along the wall. In seconds it was a dense white cloud.

He heard Snowhawk give a sharp cry of pain. His stomach knotted. Had that last shuriken found its mark? Through the cloud came two heavy
thuds
as weights hit the wall nearby. The white cloud grew larger still and Moon could tell his bomb's smokescreen powder was about to run out. Suddenly Snowhawk loomed in front of him. With gritted teeth she pulled a shuriken from one shoulder.

'I'm hit,' she whispered angrily, 'but it's nothing, I can still fight!'

'You in there, girl?' Jiro's mocking voice pierced the white fog. 'I got you, didn't I? Oh, that's right . . . did I forget to mention? I really wanted a win this time, so you know what I did? I had the points of
these
shurikens dipped. In sleeping potion!'

'He's bluffing,' Moon hissed. Snowhawk covered her wound, shaking her head.

'Feeling tired yet?' Jiro gave a high-pitched giggle. 'Here! Try some more!'

A blindly thrown shuriken whizzed through the cloud. It ricocheted off the wall near their heads. The pair bobbed low. Moonshadow gestured quickly.

'Jump for the gate,' he panted, speaking into her ear, 'the shrine, then
uphill
.'

Despite her injury, Snowhawk's face lit up as she grasped his meaning. If they fled uphill to where the streets were both steep
and
muddy, these samurai would have trouble controlling their horses.

Side by side they leapt hard for the shrine gate, half-hidden already by the smoky curtain, just as the tip of Akira's sword sang through the white fog where Moon's head had been.

They ran through the grounds of the shrine, shurikens blurring past them. Hurdling over a low fence, the duo tore uphill along a street of fancy homes where the town's wealthy merchants lived. With every footfall they splashed each other with dark mud and water.

Moon saw Snowhawk start to lag behind him as they pounded higher. He muttered a curse on Jiro. The gangster hadn't been bluffing. The potion was affecting her already.

The street ended at the foot of the sake brewery, where the pair ran for the cover of the three massive wooden vats. They crouched together behind a thick upright beam that was part of one vat's support tower. Moonshadow leaned out, peering downhill.

Snowhawk rubbed her shoulder. 'I hate being so close to the castle again.'

'Me too,' he panted heavily, 'but this must be the only dry ground left in town. We need to lose them before we leave Fushimi, or we'll only wind up fighting them in some field or forest, with a lot fewer places to hide.'

'Agreed. Can you see them?' Snowhawk gasped, her eyes gliding left and right.

'No, but we can't relax,' he warned her. 'They could be flanking us as we speak. There are back lanes you can't see from here. They run from near the shrine to the far side of the brewery. Wait!' He turned his head sharply. 'I think I heard a horse!'

Snowhawk grabbed his arm. He looked at her.

'I feel someone behind us,' she whispered.

Moon leapt to his feet and turned, raising his sword.

Under the vat farthest away, Akira was striding towards them, his blade at the ready.
The man in
black.
He must have circled behind the brewery. Perhaps trying to flush them out. Moon looked quickly in all directions. So where were the others?

'Run,' he told Snowhawk, 'back onto the street, head downhill again. Remember about the horses, avoid flat ground.' She shook her head. 'Go!' he snapped, pushing her.

She hesitated, then crept between the beams that supported the vats. Moon watched her weave past the outermost uprights to the mud before he turned.

'Come! I'm in the mood now,' he gestured to Akira. 'Let's get this over with!'

Akira flashed his cold smile. 'It was nice never knowing you,' he said. He took a deep breath and rushed Moon.

Once he was within sword-reach, Akira dropped to one knee, turning his weapon and hacking hard left to right on a horizontal plane. Moon knew the shin-cutting move and jumped over the flashing blade. As he landed he brought his own sword down fast, aiming for Akira's head, but the experienced foe recovered from his swing with blinding speed. Akira's sword turned, darted up and blocked Moon's attack.

The shinobi swords locked together with a dull ring then slid noisily down each other's lengths until their square hand guards
clanked
together. Moon found himself face to face with Akira as each of them tried, leaning in hard, to force the other one back. He knew they both had the same plan: push the foe off, free the sword, strike at close range.

Moonshadow forced Akira back a step. Akira snarled at him, teeth gnashing with effort. Then Moon heard Snowhawk roar a battle cry out on the street.

'Go on!' Akira's eyes twinkled, his head shone with sweat. 'Turn, have a look!'

Ignoring the bait, Moonshadow gave a furious thrust. Akira went with the shove's momentum, pulled his sword free of the clench and slashed for Moon's neck. Moon narrowly ducked the cut, which lopped off a muddy bundle of his hair. He spun around and darted quickly through the support beams to the street. Moon knew Akira would follow. It didn't matter. This might be his only chance to rejoin Snowhawk.