The Dark Tower

“He became your dinh?”

“Dinh of the entire United States. AndJohnson got the job when Ke

“Shot? Do you say so?” Roland wasinterested.

“Aye. Shot from hiding by a coward namedOswald.”

“And your United States was the mostpowerful country in the world.”

“Well, Russia was giving us a run for ourmoney when you grabbed me by the collar and yanked me into Mid-World, but yes,basically.”

“And the folk of your country choose theirdinh for themselves. It’s not done on account of fathership.”

“That’s right,” she said, a little warily.She half-expected Roland to blast the democratic system. Or laugh at it.

Instead he surprised her by saying, “Toquote Blaine the Mono, that sounds pretty swell.”

“Do me a favor and don’t quote him, Roland.Not now, not ever. Okay?”

“As you like,” he said, then went onwithout a pause, but in a much lower voice. “Keep my gun ready, may it do ya.”

“Does me fine,” she agreed at once, and inthe same low voice. It came out Does ‘ee ‘ine, because she didn’t evenwant to move her lips. She could feel that they were now being watched fromwithin the buildings that crowded this end of The King’s Way like shops andi

“And was he a good dinh, this Ke

“Well, not everyone thought so, certainlythe nut who shot him didn’t, but I did,” she said. “He told folks when he wasru

“Oz-walt.”

She nodded, not bothering to correct him,thinking that there was nothing to correct, really. Oz-walt. Oz. It allcame around again, didn’t it?

“And Johnson took over when Ke

“Yep.”

“How did he do?”

“Was too early to tell when I left, but hewas more the kind of fella used to playing the game. ‘Go along to get along,’we used to say. Do you ken it?”

“Yes, indeed,” he said. “And Susa

Two

Here The King’s Way ended, spilling into awide cobbled fore-court that had once no doubt been guarded as assiduously by theCrimson King’s men as Buckingham Palace was by the Beefeaters of QueenElizabeth. An eye that had faded only slightly over the years was painted onthe cobbles in scarlet. From ground-level, one could only assume what it was,but from the upper levels of the castle itself, Susa

Same damn thing’s probably painted atevery other point of the compass, too, she thought.

Above this outer courtyard, stretchedbetween two deserted guard-towers, was a ba

WELCOME, ROLAND ANDSUSANNAH!

(OY, TOO!)

KEEP ON ROCKIN’ INTHE FREE WORLD!

The castle beyond the i

Susa

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“Listen to those fellows, for a start,” hesaid, and nodded toward the main doors on the far side of the castle’s cobbledforecourt. The portals were ajar and through them now came twomen—perfectly ordinary men, not narrow funhouse fellows, as she had ratherexpected. When they were halfway across the forecourt, a third slipped out andscurried along after. None appeared to be armed, and as the two in frontapproached the bridge, she was not exactly flabbergasted to see they wereidentical twins. And the one behind looked the same: Caucasian, fairly tall,long black hair. Triplets, then: two to meet, and one for good luck. They werewearing jeans and heavy pea-coats of which she was instantly (and achingly)jealous. The two in front carried large wicker baskets by leather handles.

“Put spectacles and beards on them, andthey’d look exactly like Stephen King as he was when Eddie and I first methim,” Roland said in a low voice.

“Really? Say true?”

“Yes. Do you remember what I told you?”

“Let you do the talking.”

“And before victory comes temptation.Remember that, too.”

“I will. Roland, are you afraid of em?”

“I think there’s little to fear from thosethree. But be ready to shoot.”

“They don’t look armed.” Of course therewere those wicker baskets; anything might be in those.

“All the same, be ready.”

“Count on it,” said she.

Three

Even with the roar of the river rushingbeneath the bridge, they could hear the steady tock-tock of the strangers’bootheels. The two with the baskets advanced halfway across the bridge andstopped at its highest point. Here they put down their burdens side by side.The third man stopped on the castle side and stood with his empty hands claspeddecorously before him. Now Susa

“Hile, Roland of Gilead!” said thedark-haired man on their right. “Hile, Susa

“One’s ugly and the others are worse,” hiscompanion remarked.

“Don’t mind him,” said the righthandStephen King look-alike.

“ ‘Don’t mind him,’” mocked the other,screwing his face up in a grimace so purposefully ugly that it was fu

“May you have twice the number,” Rolandsaid, responding to the more polite of the two. He cocked his heel and made aperfunctory bow over his outstretched leg. Susa