Carse permitted his features to relax somewhat.
“Very well, then. See that they are returned to me here and at once!”
Hishah rose. “Yes, Lord. I will go now to Caer Dhu to do your bidding.”
The Dhuvian glided toward the inner door and was gone, leaving Carse in a secret sweat of mingled relief and apprehension.
XVII. Caer Dhu
The next few hours were an eternity of unbearable tension for Carse.
He demanded an apartment for himself, on the ground that he must have privacy to draw his plans. And there he paced up and down in a fine state of nerves, looking most ungodlike.
It seemed that he had succeeded. The Dhuvian had accepted him. Perhaps, he thought, the Serpent folk after all lacked the astoundingly developed extra-sensory powers of the Swimmers and the winged men.
It appeared that all he had to do now was to wait for the Dhuvian to return with the weapons, load them aboard his ship and go away. He could do that, for no one would dare to question the plans of Rhiannon and he had time also. The Sea Kings’ fleet was standing off, waiting for all its force to come up. There would be no attack before dawn, none at all if he succeeded.
But some raw primitive nerve twitched to the sense of danger and Carse was oppressed by a foreboding fear.