Страница 6 из 91
“They brought your woman’s rolling chair back here to honor her. And you. So why do’ee speak in anger?”
“Because it’s not supposed to be all banged up, and she’s supposed to be in it,” Eddie told the old man. “Do you ken that, Henchick?”
“Anger is the most useless emotion,” Henchick intoned, “destructive to the mind and hurtful of the heart.”
Eddie’s lips thi
Jake was looking at the place on the road where Be
Beside the place where Be
He wanted to get going, wanted this part of the East Road looking at his back. He also wanted not to have to look at Susa
Long polished wooden rods were pulled from another wagon. They were thrust through metal sleeves on the undersides of the engraved boxes. The boxes were called coffs, Jake learned. The Ma
They started up the path, which was still scattered with hair-ribbons, scraps of cloth, and a few small toys. These had been bait for the Wolves, and the bait had been taken.
When they reached the place where Frank Tavery had gotten his foot caught, Jake heard the voice of the useless git’s beautiful sister in his mind:Help him, please, sai, I beg. He had, God forgive him. And Be
Jake looked away, grimacing, then thoughtYou’re a gunslinger now, you gotta do better. He forced himself to look back.
Pere Callahan’s hand dropped onto his shoulder. “Son, are you all right? You’re awfully pale.”
“I’m okay,” Jake said. A lump had risen in his throat, quite a large one, but he forced himself to swallow past it and repeat what he’d just said, telling the lie to himself rather than to the Pere: “Yeah, I’m okay.”
Callahan nodded and shifted his own gu
Jake shook his head. He didn’t know.
The path was okay. A good deal of loose rock had shaken down on it, and the going was arduous for the men carrying the coffs, but in one respect their way was easier than before. The quake had dislodged the giant boulder that had almost blocked the path near the top. Eddie peered over and saw it lying far below, shattered into two pieces. There was some sort of lighter, sparkly stuff in its middle, making it look to Eddie like the world’s largest hard-boiled egg.
The cave was still there, too, although a large pile of talus now lay in front of its mouth. Eddie joined some of the younger Ma
But now it’s left the same way, and it’s just an old door that doesn’t—
Eddie tried to stifle the thought and couldn’t.
—that doesn’t go anywhere.
He turned to Henchick, disgusted by the sudden welling of tears in his eyes but unable to stop them. “There’s no magic left here,” he said. His voice was wretched with despair. “There’s nothing behind that fucking door but stale air and fallen rock. You’re a fool and I’m another.”