Belladonna

Everyone waited for an answer.
    And the song that was Raven's Hill turned dark and jagged.
    Without some help, we're not going to get out of here alive, Michael thought as he studied the faces of the men around him —
    some he had known for most of his life.
    Lee sat back in his chair, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small, smooth stone. "What does a sorceress do that a Magician doesn't?"
    Bad question. Beads of sweat popped out on Michael's forehead.
    "Are you a Magician then?" A man at the next table stood up and cracked his knuckles while he gave Lee nasty grin.
    "No, I'm not," Lee said calmly, rubbing his thumb over the stone. "But I can tell you this. If the Magicians and sorceresses in your ... country ... walk away from you, you won't survive a month. Because they not only protect you from Ephemera, they protect you from you own hearts. That thing you saw in the harbor killed most of the Landscapers and Bridges in my part of the world — and the world is going mad because of it. Before you blame someone else for your ill luck, consider this: Nothing comes to you that doesn't live within your own heart. That is the way of the world."
    "You're begging for a lesson," the man snarled. As he took a step toward them, Lee threw the stone at him. The man caught it, an instinctive action ...
    ... and disappeared.
    Another wave of silence filled the tavern. So fast, Michael thought. It happens so fast. "Where did he go?"
    Lee pushed away from the table. Everyone in the tavern tensed — but no one dared move.
    "I don't know," Lee said. "He crossed over to whatever landscape most reflected who he was at that moment."
    "So he'll be able to come back?"
    A sick, nasty expression flickered across Lee's face, like a note that was out of tune and out of tempo. "Depends on whether or not he can survive what lives within his own heart."
    Michael rose to his feet. "How can you be so callous with a man's life?"
    "Callous?" Lee let out a harsh bark of laughter. The nastiness gave way to something darker and more honest — and more painful. "He comes at us, wanting to shed blood, with everything in him resonating a pleasure for inflicting pain, and you think I'm callous? Don't stand there and tell me you couldn't feel it . Not when you were that close to him. And the truth is, if he really belonged here, nothing would have happened when he caught that stone. Nothing, Michael. That's how the world works.
    And if he didn't belong here but wanted to stay, something would pull him away from this place, no matter how hard he tried to hold on. That, too, is the way of the world."
    "All right, fine," Michael said, just wanting to get them out of there before the other men began to consider the odds.
    "No, it is not all right!" Lee shouted. "My sister is going to die trying to save Ephemera from the Eater of the World. So is yours. So are you. You're Ephemera's defense against It, so you are going to die, Michael. And then they are going to die." He swept his hand out to indicate the men in the tavern. "There is nothing they can do to fight something that was formed out of the darkness that lives in human hearts. They can gather armies to fight this thing, but without the sorceresses and Magicians that they hold in such contempt, their own fear will kill them. Their own despair will consume them. Their own doubts will devour their families. Do you know what is out there, Magician? Do you want to know what the Eater's landscapes hold?"
    No, he didn't.
    "The bonelovers look like ants, but they're as long as your forearm. They're called bonelovers because that's all that's left of anyone who stumbles into their wasteland. The trap spiders are big enough to pull a full-grown man into their lairs. The wind runners are as big as dogs and have jaws powerful enough to crush bone. The death rollers —"
    "Stop it," Michael said. "Stop it now. That's enough."
    "— are like the crocodileans, which are native creatures that live in the rivers of warmer landscapes. But the death rollers are bigger, meaner — they are crocodileans swelled by human fear. That's what is out there, Michael. That's what is going to sink its teeth into your villages and your people. You think these are, stories. I've lived with the truth of it all my life. I trained in the school where the Eater had been caged. I felt Its presence under all the currents of Light that flowed through the school. But all those currents of Light, all those hearts ..." Lee's eyes