The Ring of Earth by Chris Bradford

Author:Chris Bradford
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780141332536
Publisher: Penguin Books, Limited
Published: 2010-10-01T11:28:15.287131+00:00

27

SOKE’S STUDENT

Clouds were gathering on the horizon, and the sun appeared like a blood-red eye peering over the mountaintops when Jack confronted the Grandmaster outside his house.

‘Is it true?’ he demanded.

Soke leant heavily upon his cane and sighed deeply, the weight of the world seeming to rest upon his bony shoulders. He looked at Jack with eyes sorrowful and full of regret. For once, the Grandmaster appeared as frail and old as his age.

He nodded slowly. ‘Yes … Dragon Eye was a student of mine.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘Would you have stayed if I had?’ asked Soke.

‘Of course not.’

Jack had considered leaving the moment Miyuki had told him. How could he trust the man who’d taught his arch-enemy? The one who’d been the source of the deadly arts that had killed his father?

‘Then you have your answer,’ replied Soke, seating himself on the bench in his yard.

Jack was confused. Was the ninja playing some cruel game with him, like a cat taunting a mouse until it died of fright? The Grandmaster surely knew of the rutter and its importance. He was just biding his time to strike.

‘What do you want from me?’

Soke smiled kindly. ‘Only to help you.’

‘But why?’

‘Please sit,’ said Soke, patting the bench beside him. ‘Then I’ll explain everything.’

Reluctantly, Jack sat down, keeping a wary distance from the Grandmaster.

Soke took a deep breath and began, ‘Dragon Eye, or should I say Yoshiro as he called himself then, came to our village much like yourself – alone, a fugitive of the samurai. He’d been a farmer until his village was ransacked during the Nakasendo War. He’d lost his eye in an arrow attack. Out of compassion we took him in –’

‘Yoshiro wasn’t his name,’ Jack corrected. ‘And he wasn’t a farmer. He was Hattori Tatsuo, a samurai lord. The defeated daimyo of northern Japan. And he pulled the eye out himself.’

Soke blinked, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. Then he gave a hollow laugh, thumping the ground with his walking stick. ‘That explains a great deal. I had my suspicions the man was more than he claimed to be. He was a master of deception, possibly the most talented student I’ve had the honour of teaching.’

Jack visibly recoiled at the praise the Grandmaster had just heaped on his enemy.

‘Only in respect of his skill,’ Soke added quickly. ‘Dragon Eye never embraced ninniku. He didn’t understand the importance of a pure and honest heart to being a true ninja.’

‘So why teach him at all?’

‘I didn’t realize what a rotten core he had. And he was such a natural at ninjutsu I even contemplated him succeeding me as Grandmaster!’ Soke shook his head in disbelief that he of all people could so easily be deceived.

‘But then I saw his true nature on missions – his cruelty, the pleasure he took in killing. I hoped to change him, guide him back on to the true path. But it was too late; he’d learnt all he needed and left to form his own ninja clan.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.