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valley drop throw.
    The move would have been successful if Jack had been off-balance, but he was still grounded so drove his weight into Kazuki, countering with an inner leg reap.
    Kazuki almost fell, but somehow managed to untangle his leg from behind Jack’s. Kazuki stumbled backwards and Jack pressed forward with his attack.
    Too late… Jack realized he’d been tricked.
    Kazuki’s loss of balance had been a ploy to get Jack to over-commit to his own attack. He was now the target of a sacrifice throw.
    Kazuki rolled backwards, pulling Jack on top of him. At the same time, he thrust his foot into Jack’s stomach, flipping Jack in a large arc over his head.
    Jack had no chance of avoiding Kazuki’s
tomoe nage
stomach throw. Landing hard upon his back on the
dojo
floor, he had the wind knocked out of him for the second time that day. Before he could even snatch a breath, Kazuki had rolled on top and locked down on him in a neck hold.
    ‘Very impressive, Kazuki!’ commended Sensei Kyuzo from the sidelines. ‘See if you can hold him down for a count of ten.’
    Kazuki clamped on to Jack, his right forearm wrapping tightly round the back of Jack’s neck, while restraining Jack’s right arm under his armpit. He spread his legs out to the side and now dropped all his weight on to Jack’s ribcage, digging his head in tight beside Jack’s.
    Jack was pinned to the ground.
    ‘ONE!’ called the sensei.
    Jack rolled into Kazuki, trying to dislodge him, his free hand scrabbling to find purchase on Kazuki’s
gi
.
    ‘Forget it,
gaijin
,’ rasped Kazuki into Jack’s ear, ‘there’s no way on earth I’m letting you up!’
    ‘TWO!’
    Jack flung himself the other way to turn Kazuki over. He used every ounce of strength he possessed, but Kazuki’s legs were spread too wide and his weight prevented Jack rolling him.
    ‘THREE!’
    Jack lay helpless, his energy spent.
    ‘Pathetic!’ taunted Kazuki.
    ‘FOUR!’
    Incensed, Jack renewed his efforts. He shuffled his feet round towards Kazuki’s outstretched legs, drawing his body close to his rival. He tried to trap his rear leg and turn him over. Feeling the movement, Kazuki shifted his legs out of the way.
    ‘You’ll have to try harder than that!’
    ‘FIVE!’
    Jack arched his back, pushing with the balls of his feet to form a bridge with his body. He managed to create a gap between his back and the floor and began to twist into Kazuki, turning his head out of the hold.
    Kazuki forced himself back on to Jack’s ribcage, driving Jack’s body to the floor.
    ‘Squirm all you like. You’ve lost!’
    ‘SIX!’
    Frantic, Jack struggled even harder, but Kazuki’s tightened his iron grip.
    ‘While I’ve got your attention,’ whispered Kazuki into Jack’s ear. ‘I’ve got fresh news for you. A
gaijin
, just like you, has been burnt alive by the
daimyo
Kamakura.’

8
SUBMISSION

    The words slammed into Jack’s brain like a fist and he stopped struggling.
    Was this another of Kazuki’s false taunts? Jack hadn’t yet been able to speak with Masamoto or any of the sensei to discover whether the rumours were true, though he had taken some comfort from the fact that none of the students in the school, aside from Kazuki and his cohorts, appeared to know anything about
daimyo
Kamakura’s declaration against Christians.
    ‘SEVEN!’
    ‘They said his flesh fell off in lumps before he died, like a barbecued pig. Imagine that,
gaijin
!’
    Kazuki’s mocking cruelty was what spurred Jack to retaliate. For a brief moment, he had a flashback of the storm that had shipwrecked the
Alexandria
and the sailor who had been set on fire by lightning. Jack could remember the agony etched on to the dead man’s face and the gut-wrenching smell of charred flesh. His anger boiled over at the thought and a surge of adrenalin flooded through him.
    ‘EIGHT!’
    In one simultaneous movement, Jack arched his body, flung his legs round Kazuki’s back leg and grabbed his opponent’s head