第40节

Their exhortations were lost under a longer and much louder,

stomach-clenching rumble of subterranean thunder which caused loose

earth and stones to slide down the fissured slopes. Some of the

exhausted warriors lost their footing, the rest clung on grimly until

the mini-avalanche ceased then clawed their way upwards with a new

sense of urgency.

A circular depression appeared in the lake at the point on which Mr

Snow's powers were focused. For a moment, the water appeared to be

draining down a huge plug-hole then the depression became elongated,

spreading quickly to either shore. Now it seemed as if a vast

bottomless trench had opened up into which the whole lake was emptying

itself.

The three Yama-Shita wheel-boats began to drift helplessly towards it,

like empty matchboxes being carded along a rain-filled gutter towards a

cavernous drain.

Then there was another clap of thunder. But this one was

mind-splitting not just ear-splitting, and it was twinned with an even

more violent earth-tremor that threw everyone who was standing to the

ground.

Only Mr Snow remained upright, surrounded by an eerie vertical shaft of

light composed of shifting planes that changed colour as they

intermeshed. To those who dared to raise their heads from the ground,

he appeared to be standing on the threshold of the world beyond, in

thrall to the spiritual powers that flowed through his rigid body.

Another rumble of thunder. The trench-like depression splitting the

surface of the lake filled abruptly and rose to become a vast wall of

water as the sunken bed was pushed upwards by a convulsive subterranean

eruption.

Rising two hundred feet into the air, the wall of water tilted and fell

forwards towards the shore, creating a giant tidal wave whose foaming

edge dwarfed the wheel-boats that lay in its path.

Neither the frenzied orders of Samurai-General Shinoda, nor the

seamanship of Captain Yukinagi could save the vessels or their crews.

Picked up and, pinned at an impossible angle against the curving front

of the wave, the wheel-boats were carried at sickening speed over the

sand-bar and the western shore of the lagoon then smashed and ground to

pieces in the breaking surf that spread for several miles over the land

beyond.

The beached wheel-boats of the non-belligerent Ko-Nikka and Se-Iko

suffered the same fate. Everyone on shore, Prime-Cut, Judas-Priest and

the other collaborators in the war-council, the advancing hordes of

D'Troit, C'Natti and San'Louis, the samurai cavalry - all were swept

away and drowned or battered to death in the vicious undertow.

Only those who had reached the top of the bluffs, or had managed to

scramble more than a hundred feet above the shoreline were spared. The

tidal wave, sweeping down on the sand-bar had gained extra height as it

was forced against the bluff, carrying the stragglers away as it

passed.

The bulk of the force who managed to reach the northern shore escaped

with their lives but there was no cheering, no celebration. The

circumstances surrounding their deliverance were so awesome, the scale

of death so overwhelming, the survivors fell wordlessly to the ground,

overcome with grief and sheer physical exhaustion.

Mr Snow was one of them. Awesome-Wells and Boston-Bruin ran towards

him. For several agonizing minutes they thought he was dead. The

lighter parts of his skin were greyish-white, and his almost weightless

body, cradled in their arms, felt like a sack of loose bones.

Eventually his eyes fluttered open, but they too were drained of

life.

Awesome-Wells took hold of Mr Snow's hands and squeezed the unresisting

fingers. 'Old One! Old One!

Do you know who I am?"

Mr Snow's eyes searched slowly for the speaker but seemed unable to

focus on the faces of those who knelt over him. His lips moved

soundlessly.

Awesome-Wells placed his ear against them to try and catch what looked

like the last words the Old One might utter.

'Is it...over...?"

'Yes. Most