Chapter 26 : The Gauntlet

Jack dared not move.

Down either side of the dojo were lined the students of the Niten Ichi

Ryū, appearing at first glance to be a ceremonial welcoming party. They

formed a narrow corridor of samurai, stretching from the entrance to

Hosokawa himself at the opposite end.

At various points behind these two rows, Jack noticed the other Circle

of Three entrants. All of them looked thoroughly beaten, some nursing

bruised limbs, others bloody faces. Jack spotted Akiko halfway down the

hall. She didn't look too injured, though she clutched her side, wincing in

pain as she shifted to get a better view of Jack.

'Welcome to the Gauntlet,' greeted Sensei Hosokawa from the far end

of the hall. 'Please join me so we can begin.'

Jack took a wary step forward.

Nothing happened.

He glanced to one side, eyeing a burly student from the year above.

The boy ignored him.

Jack made another move, but the two rows remained stock-still.

Perhaps they were just a welcoming party, with the Gauntlet starting only

once he reached Sensei Hosokawa. Jack began to walk towards the sensei,

but the moment he did, a shout of 'KIAI!' erupted from behind him.

Jack heard the swoosh of a bokken.

Instinctively he ducked, the wooden sword barely missing his

shoulder. Jack spun round, unsheathing his own bokken to protect himself

against any follow-up attack. The student from the year above had been the

culprit and was now bringing his sword back down on to Jack's head.

Jack countered, blocking the strike and swinging his own sword across

his attacker's gut. The blow winded the boy, bending him double. Jack

kicked him hard in the side and the boy fell to the ground.

But no sooner had Jack dispatched his first assailant than a girl broke

from the ranks and thrust a wooden tantō at his stomach. Jack leapt to the

side, parrying the girl's assault with his hand and knocking the knife from

her grip. Slipping to her off-guard side, he brought his own weapon round

in a low arc. The girl jumped to avoid it, but Jack raised the blade at the last

second and caught her ankle. The girl was swept off her feet and landed in a

crumpled heap upon the floor.

A faint rustle alerted Jack to an attack from behind. Two students were

bearing down on him. They struck simultaneously, one sword at his head,

the other at his stomach.

With no time to think, Jack dived beneath the two bokken, rolling

between his assailants. As he passed through, he struck the knee of the boy

to his left, hobbling him. Flipping back to his feet, Jack followed through

with a back kick that caught the other in the kidneys, dropping the boy like

a stone.

As more assailants stepped from the ranks, Jack continued to fight his

way down the centre of the Gauntlet, fending off attack after attack. All his

extra training was now paying off. Each sword movement flowed into the

next, the bokken gliding through the air in a series of controlled arcs and

executing strikes with devastating accuracy.

But with each new wave of attack, Jack became a little slower, a touch

weaker. A sense of dread consumed him as he realized that he wasn't meant

to complete the Gauntlet unscathed. The Gauntlet wasn't about testing his

skill with a sword. It was about his courage and spirit to survive against all

the odds.

Jack was now three-quarters of the way down the hall and had levelled

with Kazuki, who bore a nasty gash on his left cheek. His rival watched

Jack's progress through hooded eyes, one of which was swollen half-shut.

The only other entrant who had got as far as him was Yamato, but it seemed

no one had reached Sensei Hosokawa.

With the end in sight, Jack rushed forwards, but was confronted by a

girl wielding a bō. The girl twirled her staff like a whirling dervish and

prevented him from passing. By the way she moved, Jack could tell she was

as quick as a cobra, and the reach of her weapon gave her a distinct

advantage over Jack's bokken. Jack couldn't even get close. He dodged and

weaved, but was unable to land a single strike.

She thrust her bō at Jack with lightning speed, catching him directly in

the stomach. Jack felt his insides turn over. She whipped her staff up,

knocking him under the chin. He saw stars and almost blacked out. But Jack

instinctively swung his bokken up, somehow managing to deflect what

would have been her finishing blow to his neck.

He staggered backwards, continuing to fend off her attacks, but then

her staff hit his sword hand, breaking his grip, and the bokken went

skittering across the dojo floor.

Defenceless, Jack could only jump from side to side as she drove her

staff at him. He went to slip past her, but was pinioned from behind by

another student in line.

The bō girl grinned and drove forward to deliver her conquering strike.

At the last second, Jack stamped on the foot of his captor, twisting

sideways so that the bō connected with the boy's stomach instead. The boy

yelled in surprise, relinquishing Jack from his grip.

In one fluid movement, Jack seized the boy's bokken and brought it

down hard on to the girl's lead hand. Her bō clattered to the ground.

Jack shoulder-barged her out of the way and charged for the end of the

Gauntlet.

He had made it!

He had run the Gauntlet.

He had managed to complete a trial.

Bruised and battered as he was, he proudly faced Sensei Hosokawa,

who returned his gaze with a satisfied nod of the head. Jack could only hope

that he had done enough to be selected for the Circle of Three. He bowed

his respects to Sensei Hosokawa.

Strangely, there was no applause from the students. The anti-gaijin

sentiment surely hadn't gone so far in the school that they wouldn't

recognize his achievement. Jack was about to look up, when out of the

corner of his eye, he glimpsed the sensei shift his body weight. Something

whistled through the air.

The next thing Jack heard was, 'How many times have I told you…'