Chereads / Young Samurai Book 1 The Way Of The Warrior / Chapter 5 - Chapter 4 : The Land Of The Rising Sun

Chapter 5 - Chapter 4 : The Land Of The Rising Sun

The whole crew had battled all night to keep the ship afloat, though it had

seemed a futile attempt. Seawater had flooded the bilge and Jack had

worked alongside the men frantically attempting to pump it out, but the

waters rapidly rose past the level of his chest. He had desperately fought to

control his panic. Drowning was a sailor's worst nightmare, a watery grave

where crabs crawled over your bloated body and picked at your cold,

lifeless eyes.

Jack retched over the Alexandria's side for the fourth time that morning,

remembering the way the dark brackish water had lapped at his chin.

Holding his breath, he had still kept pumping. But what other choice had

there been? Save the ship or drown trying?

Then fortune was on their side. They reached the safety of a cove. The

ocean had suddenly calmed, the Alexandria eased down and the water level

quickly fell away. Jack recalled sucking in the rancid air of the bilge like it

was the sweetest mountain breeze as his head cleared the surface and he

heard the heavy whomp of the anchor being dropped.

Recovering now on the quarterdeck, the pure sea air cleared his head and

his stomach began to settle.

Jack stared out to sea, her waves now gently lapping around the hull, the

roar of the tempest replaced by the early morning call of seabirds and the

occasional creak of the rigging.

He let his mind drift with the peace of it all. Within minutes a glorious

crimson sun peaked above the ocean to reveal a spectacular sight.

The Alexandria lay in the centre of a picturesque cove with a towering

headland that jutted out into the ocean. The bluff was swathed in lush green

cedar trees and red pines, and a glorious golden beach rimmed its inner bay.

The cove's emerald-green waters were alive with an ever-shifting rainbow

of coloured fish.

Jack's attention was drawn by something catching the morning light on

the peninsula. He lifted his father's spyglass to his eye to get a better look.

Among the trees stood an exquisite building that appeared to have grown

out of the rock itself. Jack had never seen anything quite like it.

Perched upon a massive stone pedestal were a series of pillars made of

deep-red wood. Each pillar had been painstakingly gilded in gold leaf with

images of what appeared to be dragons and exotic swirling symbols.

Resting upon these pillars were intricately tiled roofs that curled up towards

the heavens. At the very peak of the highest roof was a tall thin spire of

concentric golden circles that pierced the forest canopy. In front of the

building, and dominating the bay, a huge standing stone thrust up from the

ground. This too was engraved with the same ornate symbols.

Jack was trying to figure out what the symbols were, when he glimpsed

movement.

Next to the standing stone a glorious white stallion was tethered, and in

its shadow, barely reaching the height of the saddle, was a slim dark-haired

girl. She appeared as ephemeral as a spirit. Her skin was as white as snow,

while her hair, black and mysterious as jet, cascaded down past her waist.

She wore a blood-red dress that shimmered in the haze of the early morning

light.

Jack was transfixed. Even at this distance, he could feel her gaze. He

raised his hand hesitantly in greeting. The girl remained motionless. Jack

waved again. This time the girl bowed ever so slightly.

'Oh, glorious day!' exclaimed a voice from behind. 'One so much

sweeter for the passing of the storm.'

Jack turned round to see his father admiring the ruby-red disc of the sun

as it rose over the ocean.

'Father, look!' cried Jack, pointing to the girl on the peninsula. His father

glanced up and searched the headland.

'I told you, son! This land is gilded with gold,' he said jubilantly, pulling

Jack to him. 'They even build their temples with the very stuff…'

'No, not the building, father, the girl and…' But the girl and the horse

had disappeared. Only the standing stone remained. It was as if she had

been carried away on a breeze.

'What girl? You've been too long at sea!' teased his father, a knowing

smile on his lips, which quickly faded as if stolen by a forgotten memory.

'Far too long…'

He trailed off, gazing mournfully at the headland.

'I should never have brought you, Jack. It was foolhardy of me.'

'But I wanted to come,' insisted Jack. 'Like you said, to be the first

Englishman to set foot in Japan.'

'Your mother – God rest her soul – would never have allowed it. She

would have wanted you to stay home with Jess.'

'Yes, but my mother didn't even allow me to cross the docks without

holding her hand!'

'And for good reason, Jack!' he replied, the smile returning to his lips.

'You were always one to seek out adventure. You'd have probably jumped

aboard some ship bound for Africa and we wouldn't have seen you again!'

Jack suddenly found himself enveloped within one of his father's

massive bear hugs.

'Now here you are in the Japans. And, by my life, son, you proved your

mettle last night. You'll be a fine pilot one day.'

Jack felt his father's pride in him seep into his very bones. He buried his

head into his father's chest, wanting never to be let go.

'Jack, if you did spy someone upon the headland, then we had best

remain on our guard,' continued his father, taking the spyglass from Jack.

'Wako ply these waters and one can never be too vigilant.'

'What are wako?' asked Jack, pulling his head away.

'They're pirates, son. But no ordinary pirates. They're Japanese pirates,

disciplined and ruthless,' explained his father, scanning the horizon.

'They're feared in all places and have no qualms about killing Spanish,

Dutch, Portuguese and English men alike. They're the very devil of these

seas.'

'And they are the reason, young man,' interrupted the Captain from

behind, 'why we must make haste and repair the Alexandria. Now, Pilot,

did you get the damage report from the First Mate?'

'Yes, Captain,' replied Jack's father as he and the Captain made their way

to the helm. 'It's as bad as we feared.'

Jack remained close by, catching snatches of their conversation while he

continued to search the headland for signs of the mysterious girl.

'The Alexandria's taken quite a beating…' said his father.

'At least two weeks to get her into proper shipshape…'

'… I want the Alexandria seaworthy by the turn of the new moon.'

'… that's barely a week away…' protested his father.

'Double shifts, Pilot, if we are to be spared the fate of the Clove…'

'… dead to the last man. Beheaded – each and every one.'

The news of double shifts did not go down well with the men, but they were

too afraid of the Bosun and his cat-o'-nine-tails to complain. For the next

seven days, Jack, along with the rest of the crew, laboured like galley

slaves, the sweat pouring off them in rivulets under the hot Japanese sun.

While repairing the foresail, Jack found himself often gazing up at the

temple. Shimmering in the heat haze, it appeared to be floating above the

headland. Every day he had been on the lookout for the girl – but he was

beginning to think he'd imagined her.

Perhaps his father was right. Maybe he had been too long at sea.

'I don't like this. I don't like this at all,' complained Ginsel, rousing Jack

from his daydream. 'We're a trader ship with no sail. We've got a cargo of

cloth, sappanwood and guns. Any pirate worth his salt is going to know

we're a prize for the taking!'

'But there's over a hundred of us, sir, and we have cannon,' pointed out

Christiaan. 'How could they possibly beat us?'

'Don't you know nothing, you little sea urchin?' spat Piper, a thin, bony

man with skin that hung off his scrawny frame like dry parchment paper.

'This here is the Japans. The Japanese ain't no defenceless, bare-breasted

natives. They're fighters. Killers! You ever heard of the samurai?'

Christiaan shook his head in mute reply.

'The samurai are said to be the most deadly, evil warriors to walk this

earth. They'll kill you as soon as look at you!'

Christiaan's eyes widened in horror. Even Jack was taken aback by the

terrifying description, though he was well aware of Piper's reputation as a

teller of tall tales.

Piper paused to light his small clay pipe and sucked lazily on it. The

sailors all huddled closer.

'Samurai work for the Devil himself. I've heard they'll chop your head

off if you don't bow to them like serfs!'

Christian gasped… a few men laughed.

'So if you ever meet a samurai, lads, bow low. Bow very, very low!'

'That's quite enough, Piper! Less of your scaremongering!' interjected

the Bosun, who had been watching them from the quarterdeck. 'Now get

this boat shipshape – we must be ready to sail by sunrise tomorrow!'

'Aye, aye, Bosun,' the men all chanted, hastily returning to their duties.

During the night, there was a growing uneasiness among the crew. Rumours

about samurai and wako had spread like wildfire, and the watch had sighted

black shadows moving through the forest.

The next day, all eyes were fixed on the shore and, despite the coastline

remaining completely deserted, there was a feverish anxiety to the way the

men worked.

It was close to dusk by the time the Alexandria was fit to sail. The Bosun

called all hands on deck and Jack waited with the rest of the crew to hear

the Captain's orders.

'Gentlemen, you have done a fine job,' announced Captain Wallace. 'If

the wind is fair, we sail in the morning to Nagasaki and our fortune. You've

all earned yourselves an extra ration of beer!'

The whole crew let out an enthusiastic cheer. It was rare for the Captain

to demonstrate such generosity. As the cheering died down, though, the

watchman from the crow's-nest could be heard shouting.

'Ship ahoy! Ship ahoy!'

They all turned as one and looked out to sea.

There, in the distance, was the ominous outline of a ship… bearing the

red flag of the wako