John Flanagan - The Emperor of Nihon-Ja

'Look down there,' she said in a barely audible voice. 'Don't stand up!' she cautioned. 'You might fall!'

On hands and knees, Evanlyn moved to the edge of the platform and looked down through the lower branches to the ground below. The snow around the base of their tree was patterned with multiple tracks, where a large animal had circled the trunk repeatedly. Off to one side was an indentation in the snow, where that same animal had lain, waiting for them, watching them.

'You heard nothing?' Alyss asked and Evanlyn, her eyes wide with horror, shook her head.

'Not a thing,' she said, then remembered, 'Once, just before the dawn, I thought the wind seemed to gust a little louder. But that was all.' She indicated the carcass of the pig. 'I never heard that happen! And I swear I was awake all night.'

She trembled with fear as she recalled how she had wanted to climb down from the platform during the night.

'My god!' she said softly. 'I wanted to climb down! It could have been waiting then!'

Alyss nodded. Her stomach was tight with fear as well. They had no way of knowing how long the huge creature – whatever it was – had been lying watching them from the base of the tree.

Eventually, gathering their courage, they climbed down from their perch and studied the tracks in the snow.

'It looks like some kind of giant cat,' Evanlyn said. She couldn't stop glancing back over her shoulder as she studied the paw marks. Alyss had moved to look at the depression where the creature had lain in the snow.

'It must be at least four metres in length,' she mused. 'I wish Will was here. He'd make more sense out of these tracks.'

'I wish he was here too,' Evanlyn said. But she was thinking more about the reassurance that Will's powerful longbow and grey-shafted arrows could provide. Alyss glanced quickly at her, then, as she understood Evanlyn's meaning, the suspicious frown on her face cleared. She rose and moved across to where the pig lay, stiff and cold now. Evanlyn followed her nervously, her hand on the hilt of the sword she wore. Alyss prodded the pig with the haft of one of her spears. It seemed to have been killed by one raking sweep of giant claws across its throat.

'The Terror killed it. But it didn't try to eat it,' she muttered. 'Or take the carcass with it.'

Evanlyn glanced at her fearfully. 'What does that mean?' she asked, although she thought she knew the answer.

'The Terror didn't want the pig raising the alarm. Aside from that, it wasn't interested in the pig. It was stalking us.'

'Next time,' Halt said, 'we won't get off so lightly.' They had lost only six men in the battle, with another dozen wounded, four badly. In contrast, they had captured over seventy swords, armour breastplates and helmets from the fallen Senshi – and there were many more of Arisaka's men injured as well.

As Shigeru's Senshi and the Kikori warriors were retreating up the narrow pass, Halt had detailed Mikeru and a dozen of his followers to obliterate the tracks leading back to the mouth of the secret entrance. The teenagers did this by dragging large pieces of canvas, sourced from the enemy's abandoned tents, across the snow over a wide area in front of the gully. Mikeru was a very handy person to have around, Halt reflected. He was keen, energetic and he used his initiative. A small group of Senshi from Shigeru's bodyguard remained on watch in the narrow gully, in case the enemy happened to stumble over the entrance.

Now the leadership group were reviewing the battle in Shigeru's cabin. Halt had just voiced the thought that was in most of their minds.

'Arisaka is no fool,' Shigeru agreed. 'He won't rush in blindly, the way Todoki did. He will look for ways to defeat these new tactics devised by Chocho.' He nodded at Will, who frowned slightly at the term but knew that now wasn't the time for a language lesson.

'What we have to do is put ourselves in Arisaka's place,' Halt said. 'Try to work out how we would counter the tactics used by the two gojus.'

'Four,' Will said, and when Halt's eyes swung to him he elaborated. 'We'll have at least two hundred men trained by the time the valley is open again.'

Selethen nodded in confirmation.

'Good,' said Halt. 'But we'll still be outnumbered and this time we won't have the advantage of surprise. Arisaka will know how we're going to fight. So if you were him, what would you do?'

Selethen cleared his throat and the others all looked at him.

'We discussed this in Toscana,' he pointed out. 'Heavy weapons or artillery could break up the goju's formed ranks. Once they lose their integrity, the Senshi can fight in their usual style – one on one.'

'Arisaka has no heavy weapons,' Halt replied. 'And no way of getting any up through the mountains.'

'True,' Selethen admitted. 'Then archers would be the next best thing.' He turned to Shigeru. 'How many archers do you think he could muster?'

The Emperor considered the question for a few seconds.

'Perhaps thirty,' he said. The rank and file Senshi didn't practise archery. It was a skill reserved for the nobility.

'Thirty archers can do a lot of damage,' Will put in.

Horace leaned forward. 'But the kame counters that effectively,' he said, referring to the tortoise formation Will had taught the Kikori.

'Not if they can flank us and then attack from the rear,' Selethen said. 'The second rank will have to turn and face the new attack – and that destroys the kame formation. They can't keep their shields up over their heads if they're facing a flank attack.'

Horace made a dismissive gesture. 'Then we choose a spot where they can't flank us. The valley below the palisade is narrow enough for that. Or we can simply wait behind the palisade itself.'

'We can't do that,' said Halt. 'We'll have to take the fight to Arisaka. He'll have reinforcements coming from the south. With enough men, he could take the palisade. But the problem is…' He tailed off, not wishing to voice the thought that was in his mind.

Shigeru looked at him. 'The problem, Halto-san?'

Reluctantly the Ranger answered. 'We can't afford to simply sit behind the palisade and fight a defensive battle indefinitely. If we do that, Arisaka will win. Ideally, he'd like to wipe us out. But if that's taking too much time, he'll simply leave enough men here to keep us bottled up, then march south and claim the throne. He can say you're dead and nobody will be any the wiser,' he told the Emperor.

Shigeru nodded thoughtfully. 'And once he has claimed the throne, it will be twice as hard to unseat him.'

'Exactly. So we need to force him to fight – to make him think it will be worth his while. And if we're to do that, we need to second-guess him, and work out how he'll counter our tactics.'

'In broad terms,' said Will slowly, 'he'll need to smash our shield wall – and outflank us at the same time. Correct?'

The others nodded agreement and he continued.

'We know he has the numbers to outflank us if we fight him on open ground. If he can attack us, but still keep us at a distance, he'll force us to advance. After all, our stabbing blades are only effective at close range. And if we advance from a prepared position to get to close quarters, we expose ourselves to a flanking movement.'

Horace was following his line of reasoning thoughtfully. What his friend said made sense. 'But how can he attack us and keep us at a distance at the same time?' he asked.

'I was thinking of something like the Macedon Phalanx,' Will said.

Shigeru noted the sudden, simultaneous intake of breath from Halt, Horace and Selethen. They all nodded thoughtfully.

'What is the Macedon Phalanx?' he asked.

'The Macedons were warriors who developed a highly effective formation called the Phalanx,' Halt explained to him. 'It consisted of warriors armed with long, heavy lances, up to four metres long. They could smash through the front rank of an army before the enemy could make any reply.'