Carse, helpless himself but one in feeling with the dark thing within him, felt that dark one’s wild anxiety. He heard the ringing voice that was not his own shouting out above the clamor.
“ Wait! You are afraid because I am Rhiannon! But I have not come back to harm you!”
“Why have you come back then?” whispered Emer.
She was looking into Carse’s face. And by her dilated eyes Carse knew that his face must be strange and awful to look upon.
Through Carse’s lips, Rhiannon answered, “I have come to redeem my sin—I swear it!”
Emer’s white, shaken face flashed burning hate. “Oh, father of lies! Rhiannon, who brought evil on our world by giving the Serpent power, who was condemned and punished for his crime—Rhiannon, the Cursed One, turned saint!”
She laughed, a bitter laughter born of hate and fear, that was picked up by the Swimmers and the Sky Folk.
“For your own sake you must believe me!” raged the voice of Rhiannon. “Will you not even listen?”
Carse felt the passion of the dark being who had used him in this unholy fashion. He was one with that alien heart that was violent and bitter and yet lonely—lonely as no other could understand the word.
“Listen to Rhiannon?” cried Emer. “Did the Quiru listen long ago? They judged you for your sin!”