Wolves of the Calla

"Hile, gunslinger," the man who had been walking beside Overholser said, and this one actually dropped to one knee, with his head down and his brow resting on his fist. "I am Tian Jaffords, son of Luke. This lady is my wife, Zalia."

"Hile," Roland said. "Let me be Roland to you, if it suits. May your days be long upon the earth, sai Jaffords."

"Tian. Please. And may you and your friends have twice the-"

"I'm Overholser," the man in the white Stetson broke in brusquely. "We've come to meet you-you and your friends- at the request of Callahan and young Jaffords. I'd pass the formalities and get down to business as soon as possible, do ya take no offense, I beg."

"Ask pardon but that's not quite how it is," Jaffords said. "There was a meeting, and the men of the Calla voted-"

Overholser broke in again. He was, Susa

"Charyou tree," Roland said mildly, and although Susa

"Come reap, yessir, say thankee." Off to one side, Callahan was gazing into the woods with a kind of studied patience. Behind Overholser, Tian Jaffords and his wife exchanged an embarrassed glance. The Slightmans only waited and watched. "You understand that much, anyway."

"In Gilead we were surrounded by farms and freeholds," Roland said. "I got my share of hay and corn in barn. Aye, and sharproot, too."

Overholser was giving Roland a grin that Susa

"My friend, you need to see an audiologist," Eddie said.

Overholser looked at him, puzzled. "Beg-my-ear?"

Eddie made a there, you see? gesture and nodded. "Exactly what I mean."

"Be still, Eddie," Roland said. Still as mild as milk. "Sai Overholser, we may take a moment to exchange names and speak a good wish or two, surely. For that is how civilized, kindly folk behave, is it not?" Roland paused-a brief, underlining pause- and then said, "With harriers it may be different, but there are no harriers here."

Overholser's lips pressed together and he looked hard at Roland, ready to take offense. He saw nothing in the gunslinger's face that offered it, and relaxed again. "Thankee," he said. "Tian and Zalia Jaffords, as told-"

Zalia curtsied, spreading invisible skirts to either side of her battered corduroy pants.

"-and here are Ben Slightman the Elder and Be

The father raised his fist to his forehead and nodded. The son, his face a study in awe (it was mostly the guns, Susa

"The Old Fella you already know," Overholser finished, speaking with exactly the sort of offhand contempt at which Overholser himself would have taken deep offense, had it been directed toward his valued self. Susa

"These are my trailmates," Roland said. "Eddie Dean and Jake Chambers, of New York. And this is Susa

Nonetheless, she gave Overholser and the rest of them a demure little smile and made her own invisible-skirts curtsy. She thought hers as graceful in its way as the one made by Zalia Jaffords, but of course a curtsy didn't look quite the same when you were missing your lower legs and feet. The newcomers had marked the part of her that was gone, of course, but their feelings on that score didn't interest her much. She did wonder what they thought of her wheelchair, though, the one Eddie had gotten her in Topeka, where Blaine the Mono had finished up. These folks would never have seen the like of it.

Callahan may have, she thought. Because Callahans from our side. He -

The boy said, "Is that a bumbler?"

"Hush, do ya," Slightman said, sounding almost shocked that his son had spoken.

"That's okay," Jake said. "Yeah, he's a bumbler. Oy, go to him." He pointed at Ben the Younger. Oy trotted around the campfire to where the newcomer stood and looked up at the boy with his gold-ringed eyes.

"I never saw a tame one before," Tian said. "Have heard of em, of course, but the world has moved on."

"Mayhap not all of it has moved on," Roland said. He looked at Overholser. "Mayhap some of the old ways still hold."

"Can I pat him?" the boy asked Jake. "Will he bite?"

"You can and he won't."

As Slightman the Younger dropped on his hunkers in front of Oy, Susa

But Oy suffered himself to be stroked, even stretching his long neck up so he could sample the odor of Slightman's face. The boy laughed. "What did you say his name was?"

Before Jake could reply, the bumbler spoke for himself. "Oy!"

They all laughed. And as simply as that they were together, well-met on this road that followed the Path of the Beam. The bond was fragile, but even Overholser sensed it. And when he laughed, the big farmer looked as if he might be a good enough fellow. Maybe frightened, and pompous to be sure, but there was something there.

Susa

FOUR

"I'd have a word alone with'ee, if it does ya," Overholser said. The two boys had walked off a little distance with Oy between them, Slightman the Younger asking Jake if the bumbler could count, as he'd heard some of them could.

"I think not, Wayne," Jaffords said at once. "It was agreed we'd go back to our camp, break bread, and explain our need to these folk. And then, if they agreed to come further-"

"I have no objection to passing a word with sai Overholser." Roland said, "nor will you, sai Jaffords, I think. For is he not your dinh?" And then, before Tian could object further (or deny it): "Give these folks tea, Susa

This phrase, new to all their ears, came out of Roland's mouth sounding perfectly natural. Susa

"We have food south aways," Zalia said timidly. "Food and graf and coffee. Andy-"

"We'll eat with pleasure, and drink your coffee with joy," Roland said. "But have tea first, I beg. We'll only be a moment or two, won't we, sai?"

Overholser nodded. His look of stern unease had departed. So had his stiffness of body. From the far side of the road (close to where a woman named Mia had slipped into the woods only the night before), the boys laughed as Oy did something clever-Be

Roland took Overholser's arm and led him a little piece up the road. Eddie strolled with them. Jaffords, frowning, made as if to go with them anyway. Susa

Jaffords looked at her doubtfully for a moment, then came with her. "P'raps I could build that fire up for you a bit, sai," Slightman the Elder said with a kindly look at her diminished legs. "For I see a few sparks yet, so I do."