Belladonna

Isle. A broken life — and not an innocent one.
    "What were you before you came to the White Isle?" Merrill whispered.
    "After all the years we've worked together and lived together ... and now you ask me." Shaela smiled bitterly. "What do you believe I was?"
    A sorceress. She looked at the scarred face, the blind eye and wondered, for the first time, if the wounds might have been deserved.
    Why am I thinking this? she wondered, feeling off balance and a little desperate. Why am I wondering about a friend when I need her emotional strength and purpose of will. Why... ?
    Then she knew. She didn't need to look at the stern or the water beyond the ship. It was so easy to picture a black stain on the sea, moving with the tide, coming closer and closer to shore.
    Somehow, the Destroyer had reached into her mind and heart and was planting doubts, dividing her from her Sisters.
    "I think your plan will work," Merrill said.
    "And why would you think that?"
    "Because the evil pursuing us doesn't want me to believe in the plan — or in you."
    "Merrill?" Shaela's voice was sharp with worry. "Have you been tainted by the evil out there?"
    "Touched but not tainted," Merrill replied, trying to smile. "I'll be all right. And we'll reach Lighthaven and perform the ceremony in time to stop the Destroyer from consuming the White Isle. I'll leave the preparation to you. I think you understand best what we need to do. I will gather the other five Sisters."
    Shaela lightly touched Merrill's arm. "Heart's hope lies within belladonna. We don't have to understand what it means. We just have to believe it will save us."

    Merrill nodded. Almost to the wharves now. Almost home.
    But it's foolish to be hasty, whispered a solicitous voice. Foolish to hurry through something so important.
    Yes, it would be foolish to hurry. Especially when they weren't even sure of how to do what needed to be done.
    Best to think carefully. For the good of all. So important. And you ... So responsible for whatever happens.
    Leader. But not as good a leader as Brighid had been. Never as good.
    No , not as good, the voice whispered sadly. There is too much darkness in you, too many ... unnatural ... desires.
    Merrill sucked in a breath. Not true! Not true!
    But something outside of herself wanted her to doubt her decisions enough to hesitate. And that meant any delay — even the time it would take to reach Lighthaven — would be enough to destroy all chance of them succeeding.
    "We can't wait," Merrill said as the ship docked and the gangplank was moved into place. "We're going to have to take whoever we can find to make up our circle. Sailors, shopgirls, anyone."
    "And what are we going to tell those people?" Shaela asked.
    "We'll tell them we found the magic that can save them from what is coming, but it won't work without their help."
    Which was, Merrill thought as she walked down the gangplank, nothing less than the truth.
    She maintained a calm facade as minutes ticked away while she and Shaela selected the spot for the circle and considered who among the people present at the wharves and warehouses would be suitable participants. But underneath was the now-incessant drumbeat of hurry, hurry, hurry.
    The Eater of the World drifted through the water, letting the sea carry It toward the land ahead that blazed with currents of Light.
    There was no hurry. The Dark currents on the island were swelling rapidly and now tasted of fear — and the certainty that It could destroy the humans who lived on the island. Even the ones who guarded the Light.
    So easy to slip into that one female mind and plant a seed of suspicion in her heart where trust originally had been sown. But that trust, carelessly given and just as carelessly tended, had shallow roots and was not strong enough to survive when attacked.
    That female wanted to save the Place of Light, wanted to believe the magic she had acquired from the ... sorceress ... would be able to defeat It.
    But the female had become a battleground. Her heart cried out with the need to save the Light. Her mind didn't truly believe the magic would save anything — or anyone. And because what her mind believed was just as strong as what her heart wanted, Ephemera would not answer.
    It amused Itself for a little while, moving toward a ship or fishing boat, then savoring the fear when the humans realized the shadow in the water was no longer following the sea's currents but moving toward them with purpose. Cries of warning