Belladonna

deceive the river about why you seek, the river will take you."
    I could die doing this, Michael thought as he stared at the boat. "Nothing is ever simple around here, is it?'
    "Ephemera is as simple as the heart," the River Guardian replied. "Go or leave?"
    He was about to tell the River Guardian the words meant the same thing. Then he realized they didn't, not the way the creature meant them. He could go to the island or leave this part of Sanctuary. What was unspoken between the two words was that if he left he would never find what he sought,
    "I'll go."
    Only one seat in the stern. Guess these things aren't meant to hold more than one person, Michael thought as he gingerly stepped into the boat and settled himself in the center of the seat. He gave a moment's thought to slipping off the travel pack and placing it in the bow of the boat, then decided against it. Except for his whistle, now wrapped in a clean square of cloth, the pack and everything in it was a loan from Sebastian or Teaser, and he didn't need it bouncing out of the boat when he hit rough water.
    And he had no doubt there would be rough water.
    One of the River Guardians removed its robe and handed the garment to a companion before it slipped into the water next to the boat. Another River Guardian lifted the leather collar from the stone post and tossed it to the one in the water, who slipped the collar over its head.
    It swam against the current, pulling the boat to the center of the river. When they got to that point, the distant spume seemed to pull into itself, giving Michael a good view of what waited to test him.
    The river above him split, divided by a large spar of land. The falls he'd seen had been awesome enough, but these ...
    Walls of water. A huge half circle of white thunder falling to the river with nothing to break its long descent. Churning water and wild currents filled the bowl formed by those falls. And the spume of mist that rose from the center of that wild water marked the spot that held the prize — if he could survive the river long enough to reach it.
    Suddenly the collar and rope were tossed into the boat and he was adrift, alone, with the currents tugging at the boat, pushing him back down the river, away from the place he needed to go.
    The heart is the sails, the will is the tiller, Michael thought. I seek the Island in the Mist, Against all logic and reason, the small boat began moving against the current. On either side of the river, he caught glimpses of buildings shaped from the native stone, blending in so well it was hard to tell where the intentionally created began and the naturally created ended. He wished someone else could steer the boat so he'd be free to just look at the world around him. But every time his attention strayed for more than a few seconds, the boat floundered.
    Well, he'd just keep his mind on his business. When he reached the island, he'd be able to stand on the shore and look his fill at the falls and the river.

    Except he couldn't see an island, and he was now close enough to the walls of water that the currents were vicious.
    What do you seek? It might have been a thousand voices whispering the question — or only one.
    "I seek the Island in the Mist." It seemed right to say the words aloud, to give them the weight of his voice, Why do you seek?
    "Heart's hope lies within Belladonna. I seek Belladonna. I seek her help in fighting the Destroy—"
    Insanity or rage. It didn't matter. The river turned against him. It flung the boat out of the water, sending it smashing back down into savage currents that were intent on killing him.
    What do you seek?
    "I seek —" Why was this happening? He was being honest about what he sought!
    A wave crashed against the boat, almost knocking him into the river. He flung himself to his knees, grabbing the side of the boat with one hand while the other fumbled to slip the leather collar over his arm to give him that much connection to the boat.
    What did he seek? Caitlin Marie. The answer to a riddle. Help defeating the Destroyer of Light before it consumed the parts of the world he knew.
    The currents changed, knocking him this way and that.
    What do you seek?
    Like a series of pictures, the world changed around him. For a moment, he was surrounded by fog, and he could hear the voices of doomed men forever lost. A moment later, he was gliding over a mist-filled lake toward an island he could barely see —
    and didn't want. A moment after that, he saw