Niwa Kyoshi (a renowned fighter & swordsman) accompanied by his servant Fukuda Rokuro (also a good swordsman) are travelling to the regional capital on foot. They reach the town of Motowa where laying in wait are some retainers of Lord Wakata; they have been told to kill Kyoshi as it is believed that Kyoshi has dishonoured one of the Lord's relatives.
---oXo---
Kyoshi and Rokuro arrive on the edge of the town of Motowa..
Kyoshi wounds one of them who falls back, another takes his place....
Kyoshi and Rokuro slowly gain ground...
Kyoshi downs one, Rokuro wounds another then turns to face one coming up behind him...
Rokuro downs his opponent as Kyoshi keeps the others at bay...
Kyoshi tries to break through, while Rokuro watches his back...
There too many of them, Kyoshi and Rokuro are 'back to back', they are hard pressed
They get a bit over confident, Kyoshi wounds two of them who fall back, Rokuro cuts one down; giving them some breathing space....
They make an attempt to get down the alleway into the adjacent road...the retainers hang back...
Rokuro pushes his opponent back, while Kyoshi holds back two more....
They make it into the adjacent road...
As Rokuro fights on, Kyoshi gets the measure of his opponents cutting one down and the other falls back...
Kyoshi keeps going, determined to make his way through...
He badly wounds the retainer in his way and moves onto the next one, he now has their leader Raika in his sights...
Kyoshi cuts down the next retainer in his way and comes face-to-face with Raika
Rokura has slowly worked his way up the adjacent road, as Kyoshi fights Raika....
Rokura kills his opponent; Kyoshi badly wounds Raika who retreats....
Raika makes his getaway covered by the remaining retainers....
Now they have their backs to the wall and Lord Wakata's men are closing in....
Raika is out of sight; Kyoshi and Rokura sit down by the river to rest...... a hard fight...
