‘Carnifex should never have crossed me,’ he said. ‘Now we will see if Victor Delacroix was right.’ He waved towards the dam and saluted. ‘Goodbye, my emperor.’

He shunted the switch across and James was sickened to hear a muffled boom from below. He felt like weeping. This shouldn’t be happening. He had failed.

A few stones and smaller rocks dropped from the ledge into the lake with feeble splashes and then nothing.

Silence hung over the mountains.

James’s spirits lifted. He looked at Amy. There was a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

Zoltan laughed crazily. ‘He was wrong,’ he cried. ‘Victor was wrong. Carnifex is the better engineer after all. It seems that his dream will stand.’ He laughed again and cursed the lake in Hungarian.

It was then that James felt the ground shift beneath his feet, as if he were standing on the back of some huge beast waking from a deep sleep. There was a crack, a sound like ice breaking, deep within the mountain, and the air seemed to split around them as a shock wave passed through it. It hit James in the chest and he could feel the effects of it through his whole body.

There came another long crack, then another and another, like rolling thunder. It was awesome, a tearing and ripping sound on a massive, unimaginable scale. The ground gave another giddy lurch and James actually saw ripples pass through it.

Then there was silence again.

Time seemed to have stopped. The world was waiting. The whole area had gone completely quiet. No insect or bird made a sound.

James realised he was holding his breath.

28

28

The Magyar’s Revenge

Down below, at the palazzo, Ugo had heard the sound and felt the mountain quake. He looked up at the dam, towering tall and white in the sun. His great pale brow creased.

‘Ita fua cussu?’ he said. What was that?

The question was aimed at no one in particular and no one replied.

He frowned and sniffed. It was probably nothing.

There was work to be done. His guards had rounded up the last of Zoltan’s men and herded them on to the piazza by the ruined funicular railway.

He turned to the captain in charge of the execution squad. ‘When you are done,’ he said, ‘you will get rid of the bodies and wash the stones. Clean the whole palazzo. I cannot stand this filth.’ He stepped forward and raised one arm. ‘Now, prepare your guns,’ he said. ‘When my hand drops, open fire.’

Stefano and Vendetta had heard the explosion, too, and some instinct told them to run.

‘Aio caida!’ Stefano yelled. Come on. He dragged the girl up the mountainside as fast as he could, away from the ravine.