NationStates Jolt Archive

(OOC – If you are familiar with the Dark Tower books by Stephen King, please TM me if you’d like to join in. This will be a STRICT ROTATION RP!!! If not familiar with the books, you can still play a character below. And yes, you're going to have to read the whole thread :-)

Current Characters Needed:

Eddie Dean - a recovering heroin addict from mid 80's New York, brought to Mid-World to be trained as a gunslinger, whether he likes it or not

Sussanah Walked - A double-leg amputee from mid 1950's New York, brought to Mid-World to be trained as a gunslinger, whether she likes it or not

Jake Chambers - A 15 year old boy from the same time and place as Eddie. He's already died in this thread, but he will return)

IC:
In Mid-World, things had moved on…

The great machinery and ways of the old ones had fallen still and silent over the last few centuries. Reminders of that better (or maybe worse) time lay strewn everywhere, and the very fabric of time had begun to erode.

Once great civilizations had fallen by the wayside and begun to crumble. People no longer believed in things like cars and skyscrapers, until of course they came upon the ones that were still standing.

Animals and people showed intermittent mutations that over the last few years had begun to slow. The world, whatever had happened, was healing itself.

Gilead was once a bustling city that ruled all of the outer and inner baronies, from the great wastelands to the cities of Lud and Grimm. Now, crumbling slowly, it was the last bastion of civilization, and the only place in the world where a traveler could find help.

The high council of Gunslingers used to rule the world with an iron hand, doling out justice with a fair hand. There used to be hundreds of them in every town but after the great uprising they had all returned to Gilead, to the council. And one by one they had grown old, taken their place on the council, and then died.

But not all of them. There were two left. And they had been summoned.

Roland, son of Steven and Arynth, daughter of Diane, stood in the Hall of Grandfathers and waited for the head councilman to speak.

“You are both to leave Gilead at once.” The old man said, speaking slowly and ignoring their stunned faces. “You are to seek out the one thing that may save this world from itself. The one thing that has eluded generations of gunslingers in the past.

You are to find the Dark Tower.”

Silence filled the hall as the Roland and Arynth pondered their mission. Countless had gone in search of the Tower, and never returned. But the sense of duty that had been drilled into them since their birth would not be denied.

“We will go,” Roland said, speaking for both of them even though he had never met the girl beside him.

“Yes you will,” the old man spoke. “You are ka-tet, and will be guided toward your destiny by things you will never understand. You may pick up travelers along the way, or see things you thought didn’t exist. You may meet people who are born gunslingers, but never had the benefit of training. Train them. Show them the way so that if you die they will continue. Be steady on your path.”

The old man turned and walked away, leaving the two of them alone.

“I’m Roland,” he said holding out his hand. “I don’t believe we’ve met before today. Are you sure you want to do this?”

She smiled and gently took his hand. "I know who you are," she replied somewhat shyly. "You passed the test at 14. You're already a legend, aren't you?" She blushed, then remembered her manners. "My name is Arynth. As for going on this mad quest, which will surely end both our lives...well...that's ka, isn't it?"

She sighed heavily and looked around the Hall, drinking in its every little detail...the tables of the feasts pushed against the side of the wall looking lonely and disused, the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, seeming to watch them, even the small crack that had appeared in the corner. "I don't think I'll see this place again," she mused. "At least, not as it is." She sighed heavily again, and turned to her new companion.

For the first time she really looked at him, and she was drawn to his eyes. Gods, how blue they were! Not even her own mother had eyes that shade. "Watch yourself around this one," she thought, and tried to bite back a giggle. She still had some growing up to do.

She shouldered her pack, sucked up her courage. This was no time for schoolgirl fantasies. She knew this was a quest to end all quests, and she welcomed it. She grinned at him.

"Shall we go?"

Roland stared at the girl before him, struck by her courage. He was embarassed that she had heard of him and what he had already been through. And her smile did something to him...something inside....something outside the boundaries of ka.

"I reckon we should be off." Roland said, looking at her waist and noticing the well-oiled sandalwood revolvers that were as old as time itself. He hoped she knew how to use them, but of course she did, or she never would have passed the test.

"I suggest we head west through the Waste Lands," he said. "Until we encounter the path of the beam. When I was a child I thought the Dark Tower was nothing but a myth."

They walked outside, Roland noticing how fluidly she moved her body, and how her eyes missed nothing. They stopped at the town supply room and filled their water skins. They also gathered various items to stuff in their purses, such as beef jerky and flint. They loaded as much ammo as they could carry and walked to the edge of town.

"What's that?" Roland asked, pointing at a man standing five hundred yards away from them. He was dressed all in black, and just looking at him Roland felt a shiver in his belly. As he spoke, the man turned and began running in the direction they were to follow...

Arynth glanced briefly at Roland, then ran a couple yards ahead to climb a tall rock, and watched the man until he was out of sight. "He's heading West!" She cried. "Cuss it!" She scrambled down from the rock and returned to Roland. "He didn't seem to have many supplies, though. Will he be trouble? Who do you think he is?"

She hitched her gunbelt up a notch tighter. How awkward it still felt! She didn't think she could ever get used to the great weight of those guns, and the weight of responsibility that came with them. She fingered the sandalwood grips nervously, then quickly stopped. She shifted her purse, and without knowing why, bent over to pick up a perfectly round, white stone.

Turning to Roland, she nodded. "we should get started before we lose too much daylight."

OOC: Can I join? I'll become one of pyshics for the Aballah...

"I know not who the man was," Roland said. "But something inside tells me that we'll find out."

They began walking west into the dying sun, and they walked for hours in silence. Roland kept wanting to say something, but he sensed a nervousnesss about her and didn't want to spook her. They reached a small plateau and Roland stopped.

"I think we should camp here for the night. Help me gather some devil grass for a fire."

As they worked, Roland's eyes caught mvoement against the inky black sky. Without thinking, he drew both guns and fired once, smiling slightly as a dead Hawk dropped from the sky.

"Dinner," he said. "Tell me about yourself while I get it ready." He began to pull the feathers out of the mighty bird.

OOC: Can I join? I'll become one of pyshics for the Aballah...

Check your TM's

OOC: I meant a breaker for the Abbalah... Sorry if I spelled it wrong, I haven't read the book in a year...

ooc: I don't mind if fg doesn't ;)

IC
She gave an ironic smile as he cleaned the bird, but said nothing. She knew he would ask. She knew she would have to tell, but why was it always so hard?

"Well," she began, "I'll tell you what I may..."

"As a little girl, I dreamed of becoming a gunslinger, but my father forbade it. He was a very cruel man. My mother, however, was delighted, and encouraged me to spy on the training that was taking place. Every morning, I'd sneak out to the yard, then in the evening, practice what I'd learned in an abandoned shed." Arynth smiled, remembering. "I worked so hard."

"Then my father found out one night. He was angered, calling me names, yelling at me for disobeying. My mother defended me, saying we needed somebody to protect us. He went into a rage...he...he beat her." Her heart swelled as it always did on recalling this night. She willfully pushed back any tears that tried to surface. She quickly glanced up at Roland, his calm eyes regarding her. She found her courage in them, and moved on.

"Anyway, I ran for help. There were two gunslingers passing by, I grabbed them. They took my father's guns away and sent him west. I took formal training, but that's another tale in itself. I know not why they chose me for this quest."

She stood up and stretched, the last statement echoing in her mind. Why did they choose her? She supposed she'd never know. "Is yon rooster cooked yet? I'm starved!"

(OOC: FCN, sure jump on in, but i think for a little while we're going to be crossing the desert in search of the man in black, a la the first book. Keep an eye on the thread and jump in where you may. Or, play the man in black. Might be interesting to get some 3rd person from him when he knows he's being pursued.)

IC:

"Cooked through and through, it is." Roland said, feeling pained from the distraught look in her eyes as she told the story. He expertly skinned the bird and divided it between the two of them. The bird tasted slightly of the devil-grass.

"I had heard parts of your story from my friend Alain. I wasn't sure I beleived it until now. That was very brave of you. And I see you have not forgotten the face of your...mother. I think that's why they chose you," he said, thinking that he was very glad they had. Already he felt protective of her, and also some other feelings that he was trying not to think about. Ka would take care of everything, it always had.

When the meal was finished, Roland rolled some tobacco and offered it to her. They leaned back and began looking at the stars, and Roland's mind drifted to the man in black he had seen earlier in the day.

"I beleive that we need to follow that trail of the man in black. It may take us out of our way, but I think he has some answers for us. I just hope we're ready to hear what he has to say."

She nodded slowly, staring into the firelight. "The man in black is the starting point, all right. I know that as much as I know to come inside when it rains." She finished her cigarette, threw the remains into the fire, and stood up.

Grinning at him, her blue-green eyes glinting in the light, she said "We have a pretty piece of work to do, Gunslinger. Maybe we should have a good rest before the work begins."

Arynth unrolled her bed and climbed in. Up above, Old Mother and Old Star were shining on opposite ends of the horizon. "What wonders have they seen?" she murmured aloud.

She turned in her bed and watched Roland making camp. "What wonders has he seen?" she thought. She watched him for a very long time before falling asleep.

In the morning Roland awoke and lay silently, feeling the last vestiges of night being chased away by the new dawn.

He gently roused Arynth and handed her one of the water skins. They sat for a few moments and then cleaned up their camp. When they walked off, the only sign they had ever been there was the strange patterns on the sand from the burning devil-grass.

They walked for hours under the blazing sun, trying to ration their water. When Roland figured that they had made about fifteen wheels, they came upon the leavings of a campfire, surrounded by footprints. It was impossible to miss.

"The man in black is toying with us." Roland said, meeting her eyes. They walked on for two more hours and Roland heard a strange noise. It sounded like singing. It was ten minutes more until they saw the glow of another fire, and the sun was just gliding below the horizon when they came upon it. A strange man with shocks of red hair tumbling over his shoulders spotted them and looked terrified. Behind him stood a clay hut and a small row of corn.

"Hail, gunslingers." he said. "I thought I'd seen the last of your kind."

"Life for your crop." Roland said.

"Water's free, but you'll have to pay for the beans."

"We've got gold."

"I ain't got no change for gold," the strange man said contemptously.

"We're not asking for any," Roland said. As he spoke, a strange bird landed on the roof of the hut. Beans, beans, the magical fruit. it began to screech.

"That's Zoltan." the strange man said.

Roland walked off to find a place to releive himself, and as soon as he dissapeared the strange man approached Arynth.

"Your friend, he has a closed face. Do I have something to fear from him?"

She looked to the place where Roland had disappeared. "Mayhap, stranger, if the stories are true. Mayhap we all do."

She had gathered wood for the fire, while the man picked a few scrawny ears of corn and a handful of beans. When Roland had returned, the stranger had put his cast iron pot on to boil. Now Arynth went out to do her necessary. The bird flapped overhead, cawing out its nonsensical song. "Gods, it's a raven!" She made the sign of the evil eye to ward it off. The raven only cawed louder and flew into the hut.

When she returned, the farmer was telling Roland about the desert.

"It's very far. No one knows exactly. May take weeks to cross. May take months. Then again, it might take days. Time's funny. It slips sideways."

He stood up and grabbed three bowls sitting near the pot. He began to ladle out the mash, handing a bowl to both Arynth and Roland. Arynth took a sip from her waterskin.

"The man in black?"

"He came, and went. Same as you. Might've been five days or six. Didn't give a name, didn't ask for one. Zoltan took a liking to 'im." He gestured to the bird, who was now sitting on his shoulder.

Roland was looking through the farmer as they talked. His eyes seemed to change from blue to steel. "It's the Tower," she thought. "It's starting to take hold of him, if it hasn't already. The Tower, and the man in black."

The farmer prattled on for a couple more minutes about his crop and his bird, then noticed Roland's lack of attention. He turned his gaze on Arynth.

"Thankee-sai for the meal." She hoisted her purse and went outside to catch the last remainder of daylight. Zoltan flew to the roof. "Forgive us our trespasses!" he cawed, before putting his head under his wing.

"Indeed." Arynth thought.

Roland thanked the man for the meal and gathered his purse, then followed Arynth.

"I don't think we should spend the night here. I've filled the skins and I left a gold peice on his cot. Let's be off."

She nodded her assent and they began walking west again, even though the light was dying. It was clear that Roland wanted to put as much space between them and the hut before it was too dark to walk. Without any warning, he began to speak.

"The year I won my guns, I was sent to a town called Hambry by my father. My two best friends, Cuthbert and Alain joined me. Although they had not yet passed their tests, they were given their guns honorarilly, and I was to lead them to Hambry to report on the progress of the Good Man, who was opposing the work of the Affiliation and gathering an army. I was supposed to find out if Hambry was still loyal to Gilead

Things were not at all right in Hambry, and our band of three didn't make things better. I met people of unspeakable evil, and people whose hearts were good. I also...fell in love." Noticing the shock on her face, he hurredly continued. "She's dead now. She was burned to death because I made a mistake, and couldn't protect her when it mattered the most. Still, I did my duty and never forgot the face of my father. I still feel her inside of me, though."

He stopped walking and turned to look at her in the dying sunlight. Her skin seemed alive, and her eyes danced with an internal light. "You remind me of her." he said softly.

"We have all seen the ways of Ka, and I have seen more than most. I overheard what you said to the man back there, and I want you to know that you have nothing to fear from me. The stories swirl about me like so much wind, but if you have something to ask, then do so. And don't beleive everything you might have heard."

With that Roland began walking again, waiting to see how she would react.

BUMP for interest. I'm surprised more people haven't read these books...

She chewed this over before replying. Then the rumors were true, he had done all those things. Still, he was a gunslinger, and she knew had she been in his position, she probably would not have done any different. Gunslingers were supposed to be harsh an calculating. It was a fact she had not yet reconciled to herself.

Arynth put a hand on Roland's shoulder.

"I'm sorry for your lost love," she said quietly. "I may be sorry for our likeness. I can't imagine what you went through, but you stood and were true. They would not have sent you otherwise."

It wasn't enough, not by far, but she couldn't open her heart to him. At least, not yet. Not when she was so unsure of it herself.

"Everything will be as ka wills." Suddenly she laughed. "All we can do is smile back!"

OOC: Are you guys in an inn?

OOC: Are you guys in an inn?

Uhhh...no, we're actually wandering across the desert... :?

IC:

They walked a few more wheels and then made camp in the dark night. Roland had a fire going shortly, and after a dinner of jerky they lay down. Arynth had seemed tired and full of thought for the whole time, so Roland quickly turned over and went to sleep.

As he slept, Roland had a dream that made his heart almost burst in his chest.


Flying low to the ground, swooping in the wind with nothing but mere thoughts. Green valleys and yellow desserts. High rock walls and glistening thinnies. He glided over the sleeping forms of himself and Arynth in the Desert, flew on and passed the running man in black. They were close to him, close indeed.

Old Mother and Old Father shone in the sky like beacons, and he angled toward them, ever onward. His speed increased and began to frighten him. He flew through dark clouds and broke through, something ahead of him, a small dot that grew as he approached.

Grew into the Tower.

Roland’s sleeping body twitched and he cried out in the High Speech.

A voice spoke as he circled the lower levels of the tower, climbing higher with every second.

Roland, son of Steven. The tower holds nothing for you and will end in your hideous death.

Never! Roland cried. I will grasp it before I die and shut off the evil that has taken this world even if it costs me everything!

The tower will always stand over all

Never! Roland screamed to his dream-sky. It will not STAND!!!!!

From the side of the tower on the twentieth level a large door opened, revealing an inky blackness beyond. Roland flew towards it, seeing something inside, something too blurry to make out…and right before he hit…


Roland awoke, shivering in the cool desert air. He looked at the sleeping form of Arynth, the small smile on her face as she slept. This was only their second night on their journey, and already he loved to look at her. He longed to lay next to her, but could not find the courage to.

He turned away from her and was back asleep in moments.

In the morning, he shook her awake gently and handed her a water skin again. After gathering their thoughts for a moment, they were off again.

OOC: I've read some Dark Tower stuff, *TAGGED WITH EAGERNESS*

OOC: I've read some Dark Tower stuff, *TAGGED WITH EAGERNESS*

Kecha, we welcome you. Would you like to play the Man in Black?

That night as she lay down, she thought her old thoughts again. Why was she chosen? Roland's answer had seem as good as any, yet she still had doubt. She supposed she always will.

She thought of her mother and the few back home still counting on them. They must succeed...they must! Not too much was known to her, but what was known was frightening. Should they fail, should they not reach the Tower at all, all hope of love and light would be lost. That much was certain.

Roland was breathing heavily in his sleep, dreaming. A gentle smile rose to her lips as she pulled her blankets over her head. Her mothers words rang in her head. All will be well, my darling, all will be well. Were those meant for her, or Roland?

Awhile later, Arynth awoke in a flash. Roland was muttering, then screaming in sleep.

"Never! It will not STAND!!!!!!!"

She quietly joined his side and took his hand. That voice, his voice...Gods, she pitied whoever was on the receiving end of that cry. Powerful, strong, commanding...sane. He muttered and shook, then grasped her hand as if it were keeping him from falling. Then he relaxed. She felt him stirring to awakeness, and ran back to her own bed before he could discover her.

She lay in a light sleep, her ears straining for any more sound from him. There was no more.

Roland shook her awake, and they were soon off. He's quiet today, Arynth thought as they trudged through the desert. The Tower has taken him, and Gods have mercy, it might be taking me. She stopped suddenly, seeing for the first time.

"Roland...look!" She pointed into the distance. "Is that...is that a waystation? In the middle of the desert??"

"Mayhap it is," Roland said, staring at the shimmering sight, so out of place after days in the flat hard desert.

As they got closer, Roland could make out a large windmill, something the Old Ones had left behind when the world moved on. Next to it was a small structure that looked like a decrepit shack. The small traces of an old road were visible on the hardpan surrounding the buildings, but it trailed off into the desert and dissapeared, another reminder of times past.

They approached the windmill first, as their skins were empty. Surprisingly, they found a small hand pump that still worked, and they each took long drinks. They filled their skins and headed towards the shack. Then Roland heard the small sounds of footprints on gravel, and he and Arynth drew their guns at the same time with inhuman speed.

"No!" A voice cried out, and they were shocked to see where their guns were pointing.

A small boy dressed in a strange uniform of navy blue fabric and short pants that were cut off at the knees. He had the blackest hair that Roland had ever seen.

Roland kept his guns pointing at him, thinking Is it a trick? Something the Man in Black has conjured for us? How did he get here?"

As he was thinking, the boy took a small step backwards and fainted, falling to the sand.

Roland and Arynth rushed to him, but he was not hurt, just out cold. They dragged him into the shade of the shack, and splashed water in his mouth and over his head.

"He's badly dehydrated." Roland said. "I don't think he was strong enough to use the pump. What do you make of him?"

"He's not from In-World. I don't even think he's from Mid-World. I've never seen garb like that. She pointed to the boy's pants and shoes.

The boy stirred, then muttered. Arynth quickly holstered her guns so as not to scare the boy, but she lightly kept her hand on its smooth sandalwood grip. Just in case. She looked straight into Roland's eyes.

"This is the work of the man in black. I can feel it."

The boy opened his eyes and slowly looked from her to Roland with an expression of mingled confusion and fear.

"Who are you?" he asked with a cracked voice. Roland looked at Arynth and nodded to her. She noticed he still held his guns.

"We won't hurt you." she said. "We're friends." At least for now. ran through her mind, but she shut that voice up in a hurry. "The question is, who are you?.

The boy sat up. She offered him water, but only a little. The boy turned and looked at Roland with open curiosity. She saw him look at his guns, pointed at the boy, without fear. She even thought she saw a faint glimmer of a smile playing about the boy's lips. Rolands eyes were mercifully expressionless.

"My name's Jake. Jake Chambers. I...I..." he shook his head, then continued his open stare at Roland. "I died." he finished.

Roland holstered his guns.

Roland traded a glance with Arynth, feeling the silent communication working through their eyes. So strange how their small ka-tet had already bonded and they could speak without words.

He took a bullet out of his belt and held it in his hands. "Jake," he said. "I'd like you to take a nap, and I'll help you get there. Just watch my hands."

As he spoke, he began turning the bullet around and around his fingers, with dizzying speed. He noticed that Arynth was watching, and he shook his head slightly until she averted her eyes. Within moments, Jake was asleep.

"Jake, please tell us what happened to you." Jake began to speak, haltingly at first.

New york...I live in New York and I was on my way to school. I was carrying my book bag with the lunch that the maid made for me and I was crossing a street when I felt a hand on my back, pushing me into the road. It was a taxi, and i saw it and he saw me, but it was too late. The taxi hit me and I fell down. I was looking at the skyscrapers all around me and they looked like big towers reaching toward the sky. Then I heard a voice...Let me through, it said. I'm a priest. He stood over me and I remember this horrible smell, and I remember that he was smiling. And I closed my eyes and when I woke up I was here, underneath the windmill. I was very thirsty but I couldn't work the pump. I stayed underneath the windmill and the next day the priest came out of the desert. He didn't stay long, and I didn't come out. I couldn't even move I was so afraid.

"How long ago was he here?" Roland said anxiously.

I don't know. Two days maybe. Time is funny here.

"Do you want to remember this when you wake up?"

No, i want to sleep

"O.K. Jake. When I clap my hands, you'll fall into a deep sleep and won't remember any of this when you wake up in the morning."

Roland clapped his hands, and laid Jake's body on the floor, trying to make him comfortable. He beckoned to Arynth and they walked off a short way.

"That doesn't make any sense, his story. It seems to have taken place in another world. And apparently the man in black can move between those worlds...And what the hell is a taxi?"

She shrugged. An image came to her mind of a great winged serpent, such as was told to her in stories by her nursemaid, but she knew that was wrong.

"I know not. Roland...what do we do with him? We can't leave him here, but I think it unwise to take him with us. Something's not right. Why did the man in black bring him? For what purpose?" And then, something occured to her, but she didn't know how to ask. "Have you dreamt of him?"

She immediately regretted this question, but what was done was done. She went back to Jake and knelt by him, smoothing his dark hair. Roland might have looked like this as a child. The thought somehow pleased her. Rolands eyes were on the both of them, she could feel the weight of his gaze.

Roland watched both of them, but his eyes were mostly on Arynth as she made the small movements on the child that signaled a great mother waited inside of her. He decided then and there that he would stop being such a coward, and the next time they were alone he would tell her how he felt about her.

Roland's mind moved to the problem of the child. He had not dreamt of him, but he did seem familiar somehow. Something inside those lost eyes had cried out to Roland. He walked over to the group.

"There are three choices with him. Kill him, leave him, or bring him. I don't want to kill a helpless child, and to leave him would mean the same. Something is telling me to bring him, and mayhap that something is Ka," he said, with a meaningful glance at her. "He wont' wake up till morning, so I think I'll check out that shed over there and see if it holds anything of use. Want to come along?"

She nodded her assent and rose to join Roland. Ka was at work here and now, for certain. She could almost feel it turning inside her. Roland, the boy, this place. As long as she could feel it, she would not be afraid of the world moving on. And as long as Roland was with her.

The dark, dank shed sat like a wart on the desert landscape. There was a hatch in the corner. Arynth walked over to it and opened it. Thankfully, enough light shone in so the bottom was visible. "There's a cellar, but no ladder." Her nose wrinkled up in distaste as a fetid smell wafted up from below. Roland looked down. A shadow the size of a rat scuttled around below. A rat with 6 legs. Her face pouted with disgust. "Muties. Ugh."

Arynth pulled her length of rope from her pack and tied it around a sturdy looking pillar. "Me, or you?"

Roland looked into the dark hole and knew he wouldn't let her go down alone.

"I'll go," he said, and began lowering himself down the rope. When his feet his solid ground, he looked up and noticed that he had gone down about 12 feet. He stood rock still and waited for his night eyes to begin working.

After a time, he could make out some shelves on the side of the walls, and he walked over to them. Old cans of food sat with inches of dust on them, and he grabbed as many as he could. He yelled to Arynth and began tossing the cans up to her waiting hands. When he was finished, he was about to climb back up the rope when he sensed a presence in the room. The room began to shake slightly, dirt falling onto his head from the ceiling.

"I'm O.K.," he called to Arynth, who must be worried. At that moment a tremndous BOOM shook the room, and Roland fell to his feet in shock. he heard a voice begin to speak

R-r-r-r-r-o-o-o

Roland looked frantically for the source of the voice, but could see nothing. Suddenly, he understood and stood up and drew his guns.

"This is Roland Deschain of Gilead, son of Steven. Speak if you will Demon, but do it quickly. My patience is short."

Roland

"That's right. What do you want."

There will be a great journey. The man in black awaits you eagerly on the other side of the mountains.

"What does he want?"

To tell your fortune

"And the boy?"

He'll die a thousand deaths and you will never see the Tower."

Reflexively, Roland began to fire his guns at that last sentence, and a small cloud of pink dust rose fromt he ground and fell again. The shaking of the room and the voice stopped at once, and the room felt empty again. Roland kneeled to the floor, and his fingers touched something that felt like a jawbone. He stuck it in his pocket and grabbed at the rope, hauling himself into the light.

The top of his head appeared over the rim, and she cried out his name. "Gods, I thought you might have collapsed! Are you hurt? Is it dead?"

She helped him up and looked him over. He didn't appear hurt, but his face still wore an expression of defiance.

"I heard what it said. We will stand at the Tower. We will catch the man in black." She looked into his eyes and held him there. She took his hand and plucked the jawbone from it. She turned it over and nodded, and gave it back. She let her touch linger a little, and turned away. I'm falling for him. His strength, his defiance, his pride...these I need to learn, and he can teach me. I would have him teach me well.

Arynth looked out the door to where the boy, Jake, still lay sleeping. We're like pieces being pushed around in a game of Castles, she thought. The boy, the boy was another key.

She turned and began packing up the cans of food.

Roland watched her trying to keep busy while he thought about her touch. Just a simple finger on his hand, and had forgotten the terror he felt down below. As she gathered the cans, he longed to reach out for her and put his lips on hers...but he felt the time was not right. Perhaps tonight around the fire.

He helped her with the cans, and they carried them back out to where the boy slept.

"We still ahve a few hours of daylight left. I'll see if I can scare up some meet to go with yon cans." With that he grabbed his purse and wandered away from the Way Station, thoughts of Arynth heavy on his mind.

Within an hour, he had shot two hawks and began walking back.

***On a cliff in the distance***

A man is sitting staring out towards Roland's campsite, waiting for a chance...

Soon after he left, Jake awoke. He looked better, alert and fresh. "You guys are on a quest?"

"Yes Jake. We are searching for the man in black." No need to tell him more than needed. She didn't want to frighten the boy. She felt, somewhat uncomfortably, that was Roland's job.

She told him instead of where they came from. About Gilead, the Great Hall, training. She described the feasts of Wide Earth and Year's End

"It's like a fairy tale," he said, a little awed. Arynth smiled.

"Your world sounds like a fairy tale to me, Jake. Perhaps, some night, we can trade stories."

"And...him. Is he dangerous?"

"Roland?" She pondered this. "Yes Jake, he is. But only when he has to be, and never to us." A shadow grew in her mind, but she quickly pushed it away before it could reveal itself.

A shadow emerged from behind the waystation, and she tensed. It was only the gunslinger, returning with his kill. He prepared the birds and roasted them. Arynth was slightly amused to see Jake's distaste at this task.

They ate in silence, Jake stealing peeks at Roland occasionaly. Away to the west, the faint outline of the mountains was visible. Arynth got up to gather more devil grass for the fire, and to spend some time with her thoughts

Roland noticed the boy looking at him as he finished eating. Arynth walked off so Roland rolled some tobacco and offered it to Jake, who refused.

"I don't smoke," he said.

"No harm to that." Roland said.

"Are you a cowboy?"

"What is a cowboy?"

"You know, like horses and gunfights at the saloon. Bank robberies and trains."

"Trains?" Roland asked, thinking of something that had come to him in a dream a few weeks before. A large pink train...then it was gone. "No, I'm not a boycow. I'm a gunslinger. Me and Arynth are among the last of our kind."

"Is this earth?"

"What's earth?"

"Uh, the uh, planet where I was from."

"This place is called Mid-World."

"And we're looking for the priest?" Jake asked.

"Yes, the man in black. We must speak with him."

"Why?"

"He can help us somehow on our path to the tower. We will hold palaver with him and he will tell us what he can."

"Aren't you afraid of him?"

"No." Roland said assuredly, and instantly Jake felt better. "You'll come with us in the morning and we'll see what happens next. You should get some sleep, because we have to walk many wheels tommorow."

"Is that like a mile?"

"I don't know what a mile is." Roland said soberly, and Jake turned and feel promptly asleep. Roland looked around for Arynth, and saw her small form walking back to camp. He stood and walked to meet her, and as they drew closer to each other they both stopped.

Roland took one more step toward her, holding her steady gaze. He felt his arms relax and he began to reach toward her, looking for the slightest sign of encouragement - and then changed his mind, afraid of rejection. "The boy is sleeping," he said. "We'll leave in the morning."

"Good." she said, and started to walk away. She stopped a couple paces and turned to him. His dark hair, the intensity in his eyes, the set line of his jaw made her feel so warm. She wanted him.

The night wore on and she closed her eyes for sleep. She dreamt of Roland. He stood facing her, smiling, reaching for her. She put her hands on his shoulders, then slipped them around his neck. She kissed him gently. A warmth started growing from her belly, then slipped all over her body. He had brought his hands up to her neck...
then they closed about it.

Gasping for breath, Arynth looked at Roland. He was transforming, growing taller and slimmer. A man with a very pale complexion, pink cheeks, and eyes that changed color grinned back at her.

Am I interrupting something? Good! Now listen...you will die. The boy will die. He will be your undoing. Stop him. Stop the gunslinger. Claim the Tower as your own prize.

His hands squeezed tighter, his face leering. The man howled his glee. She felt herself beginning to slip. Then, in an instant, he was gone.

She awoke screaming. Immediatley, she got up and ran away from the camp. Tears were coursing down her cheeks. "He knows!" she sobbed to Old Mother. "Oh Great Ones protect us, he knows!" She sat down and leaned her head against an old bale of hay. And like a child, she wept.

Roland awoke to the noise of Arynth screaming, and immediately drew his guns, looking for a target. The boy was still sound asleep, and he caught a glimpse of Arynth running away. He hurriedly pulled his boots on and ran after her.

She had stopped near a bale of hay, and leaned against it crying like a child. He walked to her, softly announcing his presence so as not to scare her. He kneeled next to her and gently pulled her in close to him, wrapping his arms around her. He rocked her gently back and forth, humming softly under his breath until she quieted. An hour or so may have passed as they sat there under the inky night sky, rocking slowly.

When she finally moved and looked at him, the moon caught her eyes and they seemed to be sparkling. Their faces were so close, and she looked so hopeful and innocent. Roland leaned forward, and their first kiss couldn't have been made better by all the gods above. She tasted like peaches, and felt so soft that Roland had to tell himself to be gentle, lest he hurt her.

She looked up at him, breathless. He started to speak, then stopped. She touched his face. The dream surfaced in her mind, briefly
You will die. He will be your undoing
then faded. "He means to stop us," she whispered, not exactly knowing who "he" was, only knowing it was true. "He will do everything he can to destroy the Tower." She shuddered

"We...I...better get back to sleep." Arynth blushed in the moonlight. A cool breeze was blowing across the desert, yet she felt warm. Surprised by her own daring, she took his hand and kissed his palm, then held it against her cheek for a moment. Then she returned to the fire.

She lay awake, waiting to hear his footsteps. When she was sure he returned, she rolled over and went to sleep.

Roland walked back to camp slowly, savoring the feeling of holding her in his arms. He hoped he hadn't scared her at all, and looked forward to what the next day would bring. With these thoughts on his mind, he slept a wonderful dreamless sleep.


The next morning, they awoke and had a small breakfast of canned fruit from the stores below the way station. The three of them then began to walk, with Jake between them. Within two hours, the way station had dissapeared from sight.

Roland and Arynth forced themselves to take small breaks as they walked out of consideration for the boy, who was obviously not in the greatest shape. The gunslingers could have walked for months without complaint, bt the boy kept developing stiches in his side and blisters on his feet. To keep his mind occupied, Roland and Arynth took turns talking to him, telling him stories about their world.

"When I was 14," Roland began, "I was still in the gunslinger's class. I was an apprentice, and was not allowed to carry guns until I passed the final test. Most people took the test at around 18 or so, some much later."

"What was the test?"

"We had to best our teacher in some way. His name was Cort." As Roland spoke the name, an unmistakable sadness crept into his voice.

"So you couldn't become a gunslinger without beating him?"

"Aye."

"He must get beat up a lot." Jake said with a smile. Roland smiled back.

"Yes, but Cort could take it. He'd just heal and show up for more the next day."

"How did you beat him?"

"He never expected my choice of weapon. Most used bow and arrows, or cutlasses. I chose my pet Hawk, David."

"Like David and Goliath!" Jake said.

"I know them not. But at the end my bird was dead and Cort was in a bad way. I took my guns that very night."

"What made you try him so soon?"

"That's a story for another time." Roalnd said suddenly, with a glance at Arynth.

The three kept walking, and as the sun went down the sand suddenly became grass, and the mountains loomed in front of them.

"We're to meet him on the other side," Roland said with utter conviction.

"We're gonna climb over these mountains? They look like the Rockies."

"Look over there," Roland said. "It's a tunnel of some kind. I'll wager it goes all the way through. We'll camp out here tonight and go in at first light."

As the trio begin to painstakingly move through the mountains, they are followed by a man, a dark man, a evil man...

None of them got much sleep that night. There was a wind which, when blown through the tunnel opening, made a sound so desolate and lost, made her almost want to weep. Jake kept throwing nervous glances at the tunnel, as if he expected it to lead to the gates of Hell. Which, perhaps, it did. Only Roland seemed the most at ease, but Arynth could tell that some part of him wanted to be away from there as much as she and Jake did.

Then there was the man in black.

She could feel his presence, she didn't think he was terribly far off now. And behind his presence, another more terrible thing awaited them. In the distance, a wolf howled. Voices of lost spirits, her mother once told her. She didn't think that was too far from the truth. Not on this night.

They took turns keeping watch and feeding the fire, but they were all wide awake. Arynth briefly closed her eyes at one point, but was awoken by the ghost voice of wind in the tunnel. By the first hint of day, they were all ready to go on.

The tunnel was dark, but warm. Neither she nor Roland knew exactly where they were leading, but they never let on to Jake. Cort had taught her that panic is a very dangerous disease of the mind.

After a couple hours of hard walking, they rested and ate a bit of jerky. Even though her eyes had adjusted, she didn't look too hard into the shadows to see what might be lurking there. Jake had gone around the corner to relieve himself when Arynth and Roland were startled by his cry.

"You guys! Come here, look!"

In an instant, they were on their feet, hands on their guns. Arynth rounded the rock wall and saw a small pinprick of green light off in the distance. Suddenly, the color changed to orange, then to red, and then returned to green. She turned to Roland.

"Is it some sort of wizard's magic?"

Roland drew his guns at seeing the light, so out of place in the darkened tunnel. "We'll have to get closer," he said. They began walking again, and in a few moments had come up to the source of the light, both of the gunslingers wary of it, and Jake hiding behind them.

"It's an electric light, like I saw once in the Hall of Grandfathers. I'd never seen one this strange color." Behind him, Jake peeked out his head.

"It's a traffic light!" he said. "You guys don't know-" But then he broke off. Of course these people, with their strange guns and deserts wouldn't know the first thing about cars, let alone a highway system and directive lights. Then he looked at the floor behind the light. "Look!" he said. "It's railroad track and an hand cart!"

Roland and Arynth looked at the strange contraption, clearly puzzled. Jake climbed upon top of it and started to show them.

"You just push this handle up and down, the cart will glide along the track. We don't have to walk anymore until the track runs out."

"I don't think we should trust this machine," Roland said. "Something feels strange about it." And then he drew his guns again at hearing a sound behind him, and noticed that Arynth did the same.

Out of the darkness from which they had come, the sound grew louder. It was the sound of footsteps. Roland peered hard into the gloom, trying to make it out when something burst forth and charged them.

Roland fired twice into the head of the thing, and the muzzle flash was enough to discern a horribly deformed human being with gray skin and three eyes.

"Slow mutants!" he said. "Where's there's one theres a thousand. On to the cart, no choice now."

THe three of them clambered onto the hand cart and began pushing the handle. Within moments the scene behind them had receded. Roland put a comforting hand on both Jake and Arynth's shoulders as they glided forth into the unknown.

OOC - Looks like it's time for Jakes exit, but I don't remember how it happenss exactly, and I don't have the book with me...can you write his demise?

They pumped the handcar for a little while longer, then Roland slowed it down. The track before them had been broken up and was no longer useful. "Looks like we walk!" Jake said, almost cheerfully.

Arynth noticed the darkness decreasing bit by bit. A tiny point of bright sun, almost too small to be noticeable, floated before them. "We're almost through!" she cried triumphantly, then stopped.

Before them, a huge chasm opened up, spanned only by the delicate webworkings of the tracks. The bridge looked as if it would fall only with the faintest breath. Hundreds of feet below, they could hear water churning against the corroded steel. Jake scampered out first, followed by Roland.

She took a deep breath. She had always hated heights, and she was more terrified of what she could not see below. She took tiny, delicate steps, almost as if she had just learned to walk that morning.

Jake called out warnings before them. "There are two boards missing here, you'll have to jump!" Arynth did, and almost lost balance. Roland shot out a hand to steady her. She wished she could have read his gaze in the dark.

"We're almost to the other side!" Jake called out. "Just a little futher..." his voice fell silent.

"Jake?" Arynth asked. "What is it?" But she already knew.

The man in black stood on the other side of the trestle, his hands on his hips, grinning madly.

Roland drew both his guns and fired a full 12 shots at the man in black, but he wasn't surprised in the least when not a single one hit him. As the man in black laughed, Roland edged forward and saw Jake hanging off the end fo the broken track, the bottomless abyss below him.

Roland had the choice of following the man in black or saving Jake, and as he looked at the boy, Jake knew what his choice was to be.

"Go then," Jake said. "There are other worlds than these." With those last words, Jake's handhold on the track failed, and he plummetted into forever.

Roland grabbed Arynth and threw her to the other side of the chasm before leaping himself. The man in black laughed again and began to race towards the end of the tunnel, towards the light.

Roland and Arynth followed, Roland weeping softly.

Arynth was in despair. How could things go wrong so quickly? Not 5 minutes ago, Jake was with them, daylight was ahead, and they had caught up to the man in black. Now both Jake and the man in black were gone. And Roland...as much as her head didn't want to admit it, Roland seemed broken.

Their ka-tet was broken.

She couldn't find words for the silently weeping man trudging beside her towards the growing daylight. By his own admittance, he had ended dozens, if not hundreds of lives already. But the boy, they boy had been theirs. She lowered her head and let her own tears fall for Jake.

They emerged from under the mountains. The light hurt their eyes. She suggested they stop for a minute to re-adjust to the outside world, and he had not disagreed.

"We need to focus our khef." A hot blood boiled up inside her for the very first time. Now, she knew, what it was truly like to be a gunslinger. She wanted to kill. "He needs to pay for what he did." Her eyes narrowed. "He will pay dearly."

Roland seemed to regard her for a moment. They moved on.

OOC: Does anyone know the name of that black dude in the Black House? I can't find my copy of the book... :oops:

(OOC) Lester "Speedy" Parker in our world, don't remember his Territories name though.

OOC: Then I am him... I'll try to find his Territories name and then I'll join in...

IC: The dark man watched the proceedings, wary to mask his presence from all involved. He absent-mindedly touches the gun at his belt...

OOC - FCN, since it seems you don't really know the books too well, and the quality of your RP is somewhat below par, I'd like to thank you for your time and ask that you shuffle off into the night. Perhaps we can work together on another RP one day. Thanks!



Roland took one last look back at the spot where Jake had fallen, and got the distinct sense that they had not heard the last of him. He nodded to Arynth and decided that he would move on. He hoped Arynth did not think less of him for mourning the boy, but Roland had come to love his innocence quite quickly.

They came to the end of the tunnel, the man in black stood in a small green clearing. They were on the other side of the mountains now, the desert behind them. The crisp air held the hint of the sea.

"Ahh, gunslingers. Glad you could make it. Come, we shall hold palaver."
the man in black said.

Roland and Arynth walked over to him and Roland could feel the heat of anger pulsing off of her. He kept his eyes on her gun hand, trying to let her know that it would be useless. If the man in black wanted them dead, they would be already.

They sat in a small circle on the clearing, and man in black fluffed his cloak a little. A large dead rabbit fell our fo the bottom.

"Start a fire and cook it," the man in black said. "If you don't mind enchanted meat."

The guy takes the gun and places to his head and says, "Adios amigos..."

He pulls the trigger and blows his brains out... The bang is heard throughout the mountains...

OOC: Sorry... Wanted to go out with a bang... :D Excuse the pun...

OOC: Parker's name was Parkus in the Territories... and i wish i could join this but unfortunately i do not have the time it would take to devote to something as wonderful as this at the moment.. I think I would make one hell of an Odetta :wink: Good Luck I will be watching this 8)

(OOC) Uh-oh...sometimes I forget we're bein' watched :? Maybe we'll catch ya next time around, Silver. ;)

(IC)

"I have no appetite." Arynth said in a voice that sounded foreign to her own ears. The man in black tittered. "Of course, of course!" he cried. "I just thought you might want to keep up your strength for our little...chat. Being polite, you know."

"If you were so concerned with politeness, you'd tell us who you are and why you're here, and let us get on with our quest."

At this, the man in black howled his wolf laughter. "Haha! A gem! A true gem! I shall miss you when you're dead!"

She heard Roland shift subtley in his seat, but he said nothing yet. They both kept their gaze locked on the man in black.

"Very well, then. I'll introduce myself, we'll have a nice fire and chat, then some pie and ice cream for dessert." He grinned, then threw back his hood.

Roland and Arynth both gasped. She recognized him from her dream, the high pink cheekbones, the insane smile, even the dark hair. But his eyes weren't glittering. Then she looked again. The smile was insane, but it wasn't the same one, and he wasn't quite as pale. No, this wasn't the man from her dream, but someone very close to him. Too close. She stole a sideways glance at Roland, who was staring unbelieveably. Well, Roland seems to know him well, [i]she thought.

The man in black nodded at Roland. "Yes, my lad. My name is Walter."

"I think we've met." Roland said, fixing Walter with a gaze that would kill a mortal.

"Have we now?" he croaked.

"Yes. I remember it clearly. Back in old times, when a cook named Hax at Gilead was charged with treason. They sentenced him to death and I caught sight of a man like you watching as they hung him. You were with Maerlyn, my father's magician."

"What a memory you have, gunslinger."

"Aye."

"I'd like to tell both of your fortunes. To save time, I'll do both at once." Walter said, taking tarot cards out from underneath his cloak. "You may not like what I have to say, but listen you must."

Roland and Arynth stared at each other for a moment, wondering what they would hear about each other. Finally they gave other a small nod, and Roland took her hand in hers. Walter flipped the first card. It showed a small cherub with a bow and arrow, surrounded by daisies.

"Love, for both of you. It hasn't arrived yet, but it will - And it may make or break your quest." The next card was a man hanging from a gallows.

"Death, but not for either of you. At least, not yet. You will both have to slay the weak and the mighty as you make your way." The next card showed a man chained to a tree.

"Ahh, the prisoner. He is infested by a demon. The name of the demon is Heroin."

"What demon is that?" Roland asked.

"You shall see." The next card showed a lady with two heads and no legs.

"The lady of Shadows. Fear her. She may kill you both, or mayhap you'll kill her, or maybe you'll be friends."

"Ka." Roland said, and he felt Arynth grip his hand tight.

"And the last card,"Walter said, slipping it. And it showed -

"The TOWER!" Walter suddenly screamed, and it began to rain, with flashes of impossible bright thunder. Roland and Arynth stepped back from him drawing their guns.

"You will not see! You shall ever attain it! The Good Man will not let you! Tick Tock ticktockticktock!!!!!!!" They could make no sense of the ramblings from the man in black. Finally, they began to fire at him, praying that the bullets would find their way through his magic.

All 12 shots him in the chest, blowing him backwards like a rag doll. As he fell, a pink gas began to seep from his body. They tried to run away from it, but it was too late. Stumbling against each other, they fell and went to sleep.

When they woke, the body of the man in black was a pile of bones beside them...

She felt as if she had been asleep for ages. Her joints would barely move and her throat felt full of gravel. Roland was stretching his arms and shoulders. The grinning skull of Walter sat by the side of the rode, in her mind she could still hear his mocking laughter. 'The TOWER! You will not see! You shal never attain it!" Why was nothing in her life ever easy? "Because ease is for royalty, that's why," she muttered under her breath. She turned and saw Roland watching her questioningly.

"Never mind, I was just talking to myself."

Arynth sighed. The real quest had just begun, she felt it. The boy had been the key that unlocked it. Oh Jake!

They refilled their waterskins at a little spring and slowly continued West.

As they walked, the went through the last foot hills of the mountains, the smell of the sea growing stronger with each step. The cries of sea birds began to echo through their heads, and they walked in silence, each of them thinking about what Walter had said, and the long path that awaited them.

Before long, they climbed the last hill and the sea was before them. It stretched to the infinite horizon, waves of an angry gray striking the shore in a rhythm that would last for eternity. Save the sea birds, there was no life. The white sand marched alongside the sea until it blurred in the distance.

"I guess we'll walk along the beach," Roland said, wincing when he thought of walking miles through the sand. "We still have a few hours of daylight left."

Arynth nodded her agreement and they began to walk, both of them acutely aware that the boy Jake was missing. Roland turned to admire Arynth walking, and before he could think it through, the words were out of his mouth.

"Walter dealt the Love card. What are your thoughts on that?"

The setting sun warmed her as she looked out at the endless blue. His question startled her a little bit, she hadn't thought there was any other option. "Well, mayhap it's good...er, I mean, I wouldn't mind..." she stopped, completely flustered. She turned and looked at him, his eyes resting heavily on her. "If we were to reach the Tower hand in hand, so much the better. I suppose ka would let us know otherwise."

They rested a while on the beach. Arynth could not take her eyes off the ocean. She had never imagined anything so beautiful and expansive. What's on the other side? she wondered.

Roland had gone to gather some grass for a fire, and she had carved a makeshift spear with her knife and a nice long branch she had found. The fish she caught were filling and sweet.

After the meal, they sat watching the waves roll to shore. "What do you think of his fortunetelling?" she asked him

"I think that some of the things he has foretold have already taken place," Roland said with a meaningful look at her. "He seemed very surprised that we got the Tower card. I can't tell if that's a trick or we will actually reach it. Strange that he didn't mention the boy..."

After a while, they both lay down in the sand and tried to sleep. Sand in the desert, sand on the beach, ye gods, when will it all end? Roland thought.

Some hours later, Roland dreamt of strange sounds being made in his vicinity. It sounded like insane questions being repeated over and over again.

And then he awoke screaming, a horrible pain in his left hand. As he opened his eyes in darkness, his ears registered the crashing of the waves, the slightly less than full moon on the horizon. Next to his hand was one of the ugliest creatures he had ever laid eyes upon, a huge mixture of a lobster and a crab. He sat up, startling it, and it began to talk.

Dad-a-chock? Did-a-chum?

Still vaguely aware that he was screaming and that Arynth had woken, he went for his guns. For some reason he was only able to grab his right, and he quickly fired two shots at the thing. It flew backwards and was still. Turning behind him and looking at the shoreline, he saw a dozen more of the lobstrosities, all heading his way. He saw with horror that the tide was coming in too, and both of their purses were about to be soaked by a wave. He reached for them and fumbled again with his left hand, not knowing why it wasn't working right. Both purses took a healthy blast of seawater, some of it soaking him as well.

Did a chum? Dad-a-chock?

"Let's go!" Roland screamed at Arynth, who was gathering their beds together in a heap. They ran together back towards the mountain, away from the lobstrosities and their endless questions.

When they had run far enough, they both collapsed in a tired heap, and for the first time Roland looked at his left hand. His middle and index finger were both gone, neatly chewed off.

Looking at Arynth, he fainted dead away.

"Roland! ROLAND!!" There was no response. She quickly tore off a piece of her blue shirt, then wrapped what remained of his right hand. Then she tied it with her hair band.

She stood up, facing the water. The lobstrosities continued to boil out of the ocean and crawl around on shore. They never seemed to advance beyond the high tide mark. One particular lobster-thing was feasting on the body of its fallen comrade. She drew her guns and advanced cautiously. The lobsters ignored her until she fired two rounds at them. Then they all retreated. Good, she thought. At least they'll learn to keep their distance.

She found a little stream down the beach. She walked to it, turning around every few seconds to keep an eye on Roland and the lobstrosities, then filled the skin with extra cool water. When she returned, she mopped Roland's face with the water, and shifted him to a more comfortable position. With the first light a full moon pulling itself over the horizon, a glimmer caught her eye in the far distance. It stood upright, and had a rectangle shape. Too tired to think anymore upon it, Arynth curled up against Roland and fell asleep. Her guns were within reaching distance, should the lobstrosities return.

Roland dreams were a strange mish-mash of thoughts. They jumped from subject to subject:

Flying over a desert town, the name of Tull written on a sideboard

Being eaten alive by the lobstrosities

A boy in Gilead, watching his mother dance

Him and Arynth naked, watching a sun rise

A small boy walked in the city

The tower, exploding into nothingness.

He awoke and immediately looked at his hands. Small red lines had begun to swell up to the skin, starting at the spot where his fingers used to be and marching up his forearm. He didn't feel good at all. With his left hand, he tried to take his gun out of the holster, but kept dropping it in the sand. I'm strictly a right handed gun now, he thought.

He then opened his purse, noticing that almost all the shells he had had been soaked by the seawater. He began seperating the ones that wouldn't fire from the ones that would, and saw pitifully that he had only 21 shells that weren't wet at all, and almost a hundred that were.

He began watching the sun, waiting for Arynth to waken, wondering if she could ever love a one-handed gunslinger.

Arynth awoke to find Roland watching the sun. She sat up and took his right hand. "Let me see." He pulled back but she frowned at him and held on. "Gunslinger, I have some healing. Now let me help or suffer." She unwrapped his wound.

The tissue was starting to heal, but the red lines running from his hand up past his wrist were worrisome. Blood poisoning. She knew a couple remedies, but nothing that would cure it completely, and certainly nothing she would be able to find way out here in the middle of gods knew where.. She put a fresh bandage on it. Then she saw the pile of shells.

"Is that all that's left? Man Jesus, that won't last us a week!" Roland still sat, lost in his thoughts. She sat and put her arms around him. "All will be well, if we remember the faces of our fathers. Come." She helped him to his feet and they started walking the length of the beach, towards the object still far off.

As the day wore on, Arynth became increasinly worried about Roland. He said very little, and walked slower. They took frequent rests. The red lines had marched forward quite noticeably. She did not point this out. The object got closer and bigger. She recognized it as a door, and Roland had concurred. Fear crept up her belly and her spine. Doors in the middle of nowhere were generally not very good things.

When they reached the door, she saw it hung suspended in mid air. It was attached to nothing. Written across the front of the door in the High Speech: "THE PRISONER."

She turned to Roland with wide eyes.

Roland thought back to the words Walter had spoke:

"Ahh, the prisoner. He is infested by a demon. The name of the demon is Heroin."

Roland stepped around the door, noticing that when he looked at it from behind, it disapeared. "I think if someone else were here, they would not be able to see yon door." Arynth nodded, waiting for Roland to open it.

He stepped up to it, grasped the knob in his diminished left hand, twisted and pulled.

He uttered his third scream of the day, closed the door, and fell back in disbelief.

"Roland, what?" She was terrified. With one shaking hand, she pulled her gun and opened the door. And she too screamed.

Distance. Clouds. Air. She saw through the door land and earth zooming by from a very great height, higher than any mountain she could think of. so THIS is what Old Mother must see from her place. Now that she actually knew, the thought did not comfort her.

Then the view changed. It swept up smoothly, so she could make out paneling, and only blue sky. Perhaps a window. The view moved on to some sort of chair with a row of buttons on one arm. A man's hand pressed the green one. She saw Roland, convinced that he somehow was doing that. He looked as incredulous as she felt. There was a woman in the door, seeming to look straight them, but positioned off to one side. She smiled and talked, but neither Arynth nor Roland could hear what she was saying. The woman was also dressed in the strangest garb Arynth had ever seen.

Then it clicked. They were looking through someone else's eyes.

Taking one step forward, she reached her hand toward the door.

And Roland grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her back and closing the door once more.

"We're looking through the eyes of the prisoner." Roland said. "If we step through that door, we don't know what will happen."

Arynth just looked at him and Roland nodded. "I guess we have no choice," he said. They clasped hands, opened the door and stepped through.

Inside the prisoners mind, they could look behind them and see their bodies laying on the beach, the water beyond them. They could communicate through their minds, no speaking neccessary. They had no substance, just two souls.

The prisoner was asking the army steward for something, and Roland found that he could read his mind, could file throug his thoughts and find what he needed to know.

It seemed that the prisoner was on a sky carriage, flying from some place called Miami to another place New York. The sky carriage was fascinating, but Roland sensed he had little time. The prisoner was carrying his demon with him, a demon called heroin. The demon made him feel good sometimes, but when he wasn'table to dance with his demon he began to feel horrible. Roland learned that Eddie was depressed and had considered killing himself.

Apparently the demon was not allowed on board the sky carriage, and if he was caught with it, he would be arrested. The army steward already suspected him, Roland could tell by the way she looked at him.

He transmitted his information to Arynth, and asked what they should do.

BUMP - Amended First Post, soliciting characters! YOU MUST TM BEFORE JOINING SO I CAN WORK OUT THE ROTATION!!!!!

BUMP AGAIN - Still looking... :shock:

We need him free. The Demon has to disappear. We have to get rid of it, or he will be apprehended.

A female voice from overhead spoke up. "Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. We will be making our approach to New York La Guardia shortly. Please make sure your gear is stashed securely, your tray tables and seatbacks in their upright and locked positions. The Captain will be turning on the fasten seat belt sign soon, so go ahead and make your way back to your seats. Thank you for flying United Airlines, it has been a pleasure serving you."

Arynth panicked. They only had a few minutes before the Prisoner would be escorted off the plane. She quickly searched his mind for anything that might help. She communicated to Roland that she was going to try and speak with him directly. She found his name.

Eddie.

The young man jumped and looked around.

Eddie Dean, do not be afraid. Do not react. Do not draw attention to yourself. Just listen, and stay calm.

Eddie relaxed into his seat a bit, but was still uneasy. She understood, and sympathized. Hearing voices in your head was usually never a good sign. But she had to make him understand.

They know about your Demon...your heroine. They will come after you. We can't let that happen. Look at yon army soldier. She has been watching you this whole time. She communicated this last bit with a mental image, and received the word "stewardess" in return.

Until that point, Eddie thought he had gone mad. Then he did what the voice told him, and he knew it spoke the truth. Insane or not, this was a truthful voice. He listened.

We need to make a plan to get rid of your demon. We will need your help. Trust us. We will palaver a minute, and return to you. Sit tight.

Eddie wondered bewilderingly who the "we" who needed his help actually were.

*bump*

Roland stepped forward slightly into the mind of the prisoner and used his eyes to look around the inside of the sky carriage. The plane was filled with people, all of them dressed strangely and not a single one carrying a weapon. What kind of trusting sheep are these?

Finally, he saw a small door with a sign written on it. Some of the letters were the High Speech, but others he could not make out. He consulted the prisoner's mind, and figured out that the sign said Privy, or outhouse, or bathroom. Taking a bath was the last thing on Roland's mind, but he consulted with Arynth.

Prisoner, go into yon Privy. Do not call attention to yourself.

Eddie, still feeling like he was going mad, got up and walked into the bathroom. The stewardess who had been giving him the eye saw him and walked over, blocking the door.

"Sir, you'll have to return to your seat, we're about to land."

"I'm gonna be sick!" Eddie yelled in her face, and pushed roughly past her. He opened the lavatory door and rushed inside, locking it behind him.

"Son of a bitch!" the stewardess exclaimed, then went forward to tell the captain.

Inside the bathroom, Eddie first looked into the mirror, and was shocked to discover that his eyes seemed to be three different colors at once...

Eddi hadn't been fooling the stewardess, at least not completely. He really did feel sick. Arynth came forward.

Eddie, turn around. See.

He turned, and started. A door was floating right behind him, leading to a picturesque beach. Two bodies lay on a sandy beach, one male, one female.

We will take your demon there. It will be safe.

No! Eddie cried. She replied, calmly, maddeningly reasonable.

Eddie, no time to argue. Obey, or die.

Alright, Alright! Christ! Who are you people?

There will be plently of time for that later. Get rid of the demon.

There was pounding on the small metal door. "Sir! Come out, sir, the passengers are leaving." They won't touch me until all the passengers are gone. He told the voice. He ripped open his shirt and she saw in the mirror his chest had been wrapped with some sort of sticky ribbon. Two bags of white stuff were held securely under his arms.

Good, Prisoner. Now cut.

With what?? He mentally shouted at her. She quickly consulted with Roland for a brief minute, then returned.

Go through the door. NOW. No questions.

Eddie shook his head in disbelief. Man, things had gotten fucked up. He regarded the door suspiciously, then walked through.

After going through the door, the three of them lay on the beach. Roland and Arynth were the first to their feet, pulling Eddie to his. Roland retrieved his knife from his purse, noticing how much the red lines on his left arm had traveled. He had begun feeling slightly dizzy, and an ache in his stomach hinted at a long spell of vomiting to come.

He roughly turned Eddie around and began cutting the tape which held the bags to his chest. Eddie squirmed.

"Be still, prisoner! We have no time for antics." from the door, they could hear the stewardess pounding on the lavatory door.

They got the bags off of him and threw them on the sand. Eddie looked at the two people with wonder, both of them dressed like some sort of cowboys, each with two wicked guns in crisscrossed holsters on their hips. The girl was beautiful, but the man looked vaguely frightening. Neither of them were people he would willingly mess with. Without further ado, they shoved him back through the door, following afterwards into his mind.

Eddie sat down on the toilet seat just as the door busted open, revealing an angry pilot, two stewardesses and three customs policeman.

Without a word they grabbed him and put handcuffs on him, and Eddie struggled until he heard the vocies in his head again.

You have done nothing wrong that they know, prisoner. Let them do as they will and you'll be free. There's something we need you to do for us.

Eddie spent the next three hours in a U.S. Customs interoggation room, being asked the same questions over and over again. Finally, without any evidence, they released him. He immediately left the airport concourse and took a cab to his apartment.

Once inside, he locked the door and began screaming out questions.

"Who are you people? What do you want?"

With all the gentleness she could summon, she told him.

Eddie, we are gunslingers. We represent the White in our world, but we are the last of our kind. We are on a quest, and we need your help.

Why me??

We do not know, we know only you were drawn. I am Arynth, and he is Roland. Prisoner...Eddie...he is not well.

"I noticed!" Eddie said aloud, then laughed. "He didn't look well at all."

He needs medicine. There is nothing in our world that may help him, but do you know of anything? Please...we don't have much time. Please, Eddie.

Eddie was about to tell them to get the hell out of his head, but paused. She really cares about him, he thought.

"All right, all right," he muttered. "I do know one thing. Keflex. And maybe some aspirin." As he walked outside, she recoiled inside his mind. So many things were happening all at once! People of all shapes and sizes were wandering around, metal coaches of different colors everywhere, (she read the word "car" in his mind) and buildings that seemed to stretch up forever. She turned Eddie's head around, and was relieved to see the door floating behind them.

Eddie, we have no time. Night is falling fast.

Roland and Arynth were in Eddie's mind as he walked down the quiet city street. Roland felt so much better inside of Eddie, and he kept looking back at his damaged sick body laying on the beach. Then, looking through Eddie's eyes, he saw something that could help them.

On the corner in front of them stood two teenagers, leaning against the wall and appearing to be waiting for something. Roland could tell just by looking at them that one of them had a gun.

He stepped forward, taking total control of Eddie and pushing him back into his own mind. He walked straight towards the youths and stopped four feet from them. They looked at him with interest.

"What you want, man? You looking to buy something, maybe?"

Without speaking, Roland punched the one who had spoke directly on his nose, hearing it break under his fist. As the man fell down in pain, Roland pivoted and kicked the second one in the crotch as hard as he could. He quickly reached and patted down the bodies, finding a small revolver. He put it in his pocket and started walking down the sidewalk again.

I don't think anyone saw me, he thought to Arynth. The gun is garbage, but better than nothing.

Roland began to consult Eddie's mind as he walked, and following the prisoner's mumbled directions, found himself standing in front of a store that had a bright electric sign out front. "Guns and Ammo" it proclaimed in it's warped High Speech. He took a single bullet out of the revolver, and verified that it would fire through his guns.

He entered the store quickly, and scanned it with his eyes, seeing only one person standing behind a counter. Roland pulled the revolver out of his pocket and pointed it at the man.

"Shopkeeper," he spoke through Eddie's mouth, holding up the bullet. "I want to have as many of these as you can give."

The man looked shocked, but since he didn't want to die, he held his hands up and decided to give the strange man whatever he wanted. "I have thousands of them, do you want them all?"

Roland could scarcely beleive it. What a mad storehouse of riches this world is. "I'll take two hundreds rounds please."

The shopkeeper reached udnerneath the counter and gathered four boxes of ammunition, passing them to roland. The gunslinger gathered them in one hand, and left the store without a word.

He followed some more directions from the Prisoner and made a similar stop at a store called "RX" There he stole a full bottle of something called Keflex and another bottle of aspirin.

He left the store at a full run, going down an alley with all his possesions in a strange plastic purse. He heard a siren behind him, getting closer and he knew that the gunslingers of this world were after him. Without hesitation, he looked back and stepped through the door.

And woke up in his own body, on the beach. The door had dissapeared...

"Roland!" She ran to where he lay. The lines in his arm had spread almost all the way up, and she knew it was now or never. "Eddie, give me the medicine." Eddie handed her bottle, and was slightly amused to see she couldn't open it. He took it back and shook out two pills which Roland dry swalloed. To the West, the sun had slipped down. Off in the distance, but noticeably coming closer, the lobstrosities chucked their questions to one another.

Roland tried to rise, but wasn't able. She tried to help him up herself, but needed another pair of hands. She could feel his sickness baking off him in slow waves of heat. "Eddie, take his other arm." Eddie didn't move.

"Eddie, for your father's sake, help me! They're coming!"

"No. Nuhuh. Nope. I'm done taking orders. I don't know who you think you are, lady, but I want out. I helped with the pills, he used me for bullets. I did my part. Send me back."

"I can't." she said bleakly. "You're with us whether you would or no."

"Then you've got yourselves a problem."

Gods, how childish he was! The lobstrosities were close, she could now see them tumbling about the waves, Roland was weakened, and Eddie was acting the part of a belligerent child. She had no more time for games. She pulled her gun and pointed it at him.

"You will help take him up the beach."

"Go ahead and shoot. I have nothing left anyway."

As the two of them bickered, Roland crawled - slowly, yes very slowly, towards the bags of demon-powder. They needed Eddies help, and there was only one way to get it. He grabbed the bags, and with all his remaining strength threw them at Arynth and lay still.

"Prisoner! This devil powder is going to go into the water unless you do exactly as she tells you!"

Arynth grabbed the bags, and made as if to throw them toward the water. Eddie looked at her, and thought about charging her. She read his mind and cocked her gun. He would either help or die, he suddenly realized. Without a word he leaned down and grabbed two of Rolands arms, pulling him away from the shoreline.

Arynth told him to stop when they were far enough, and then sent Eddie to look for grass for a fire. As he did that, she checked on Roland to make sure he was sleeping comfortably, and then she walked back to the lobstrosities, keen on killing some for dinner.

She returned with three huge lobster-things under her arm. Eddie was still off gathering grass, but she kept an eye on him. He hadn't earned her trust...yet. She sat beside Roland. Seeing him weakened like this, in his body, but not in his mind, comforted her. He was fighting the infection with everything, and she admired him for it. Her eyes softened while watching him, and she tentatively smoothed his hair back.

"We will rest here for the night, then move on to the next door at daybreak." She paused, then added. "If you're feeling better."

Eddie returned with the grass. She built up a good fire and roasted the meat. She was happy to see Roland eating, even if it was only just a little. Eddie nibbled and said nothing. After dinner, she got up and took a walk to gather her thoughts.

Roland silently watched her leave, figuring she needed some time alone. He turned to look at Eddie, who was staring at him with murder in his eyes.

"Welcome to Mid-World, Prisoner." Roland croaked, his body still hurting but he did feel better. He had taken three more of the Keflex.

"Don't call me that!" Eddie screamed at him, standing up.

"I cry your pardon," Roland said tonelessly, waving Eddie back down. "I'm sure you have questions, probably a lot more than i can answer. But ask them if you must."

"O.K., here's one. WHAT THE FU** IS GOING ON? One minute I'm in a plane, and the next minute these two crazy cowboys have stolen my drugs and taken me through a secret door, and now I'm on a beach in the land that time forgot!"

"Calm yourself, you whining flea! Ka has brought you here to learn, and to follow the path."

"Ka?! What the hell is that? What does it matter? Where's your friend, i want my drugs back."

"She got rid of them hours ago." Roland said. "You were too busy sulking to notice."

"Great. Well you both owe me 50 thousand dollars."

"Heh. If you find a place you can spend it, i'll gladly give it to you," Roland said with a small smile.

"Why am I here?" Eddie asked, taking a deep breath.

"You're to help us find the Dark Tower. We will draw one more person, and then train you both."

"Train? Train us to be what?"

"Gunslingers." Roland said simply.

"Uh-huh. Gunslingers...right." Eddie stood and began to walk away, but then turned back. "The woman. She your wife?"

"No." Roland said. "And that's a shame."

"Gotcha," Eddie said, and walked a few feet away and sat down to watch the water.

She had needed the walk to cool her blood. It had taken all her strength and training to have put her gun away, and not fire a bullet into Eddie Dean's heart. Why had they drawn him? What was so special about this kid? (In reality, Arynth was not any older than Eddie, but she didn't see it that way.)

But he was a prisoner, and once freed, he might be of some use. She clung to that idea and hoped he'd free himself soon, because they would need him before long.

She was still a little hungry, so she reached into her purse for a bit of jerky. Her hand brushed against something cold and smooth. A bullet!. However, she pulled out the white pebble she had taken from the courtyard the morning their ka-tet and gone forth from Gilead. Tiredness washed over her, and longing for home. For the first time, she wished to be done. It was quite clear that matters were only going to become more difficult. She wanted to cry off.

No, my love. Stay focused, see this through to the end. Her mother's voice spoke. Finish what you start, and be true. A piece of old lullaby ran through her mind

Take time to thrive, my ray of hope
In the garden of Dramore
Take heed, young eaglet, til thy wings
Are feathered fit to soar
A little rest, and then the world
Is full of work to do

She hung her head in shame. I will not cry off. As long as Roland is with me, I can use his strength. If I love him, I will be true.

She headed back to camp with her heart considerably lighter, and feeling more hopeful than she had in days. Eddie was asleep, Roland was sitting up in his bedroll and watching the fire. The light was reflecting in his eyes, and the fever had given his cheeks a high flush, making him look very young. Her heart filled with this sight. She sat down next to him. He turned to her, and she kissed him fully.

*bump*

*one more bump*

Roland was surprised by her forthrightness, but did not pull away. Instead, he gave himself fully to the kiss, wishing the Eddie was not here so that they could do more. How he longed to hold her near him for a whole night. But first he needed his strength.

When the kiss was over, they both stared at each other with small contented smiles on their faces. After a while, Roland took another Keflex. He was amazed at how quick it seemed to be working. He was also amazed at how quickly he was getting used to having only eight fingers.

"I know he's a little annoying," Roland spoke softly. "But I sense a born gunslinger in his eyes and movements. He will be an asset, i think, once he get's over his demon."

At that moment, Eddie walked back into the glow of the fire. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked.

"No." Roland and Arynth said at the same time, then they looked at each other with a smile.

"Sure." Eddie said, not beleiving them at all. "Tell me about this place. It looks at feels like earth, but we don't have any maneating lobsters where I'm from."

"Earth? That's what Jake called your world."

"Who's Jake?"

With a heavy heart, Roland told Eddie the story from day one of their quest, across the desert, the way station, the man in black.

"So you let him fall? I guess I know where I stand now." Roland could not meet his eyes.

Arynth checked her anger. It would do no good. "Let's get some sleep," she said shortly. She threw a blanket at Eddie. "Stay close to the fire. Who knows what else is out there?"

"Yeah, great." Eddie muttered

They slept the night through, although the lobstrosities kept chattering to each other. At first light they awoke and headed down the beach. Roland was able to walk, but Arynth wanted to take it slowly. Eddie ranged ahead.

In the early afternoon, they came upon another door almost exactly like the first one. "THE LADY OF SHADOWS" was written across the front. Arynth slowly pulled the door open, and saw rows of jewelry. She looked to Roland, who shrugged. Eddie's face was disbelieving.

The Lady of Shadows, here we go. Arynth thought.

Roland stepped through without hesitation, eager to speed up their task.

The mind of Susannah Walker, a 28 year old black women living in New York City of the 1950's. Both legs gone below the knee, she's in a wheelchair at a department store called Macy's.

She wheels herself along, looking at the nice jewelry on display. When no one is looking, she snatches a handful and puts it inside her purse.

The gunslinger smiles, admiring her cunning.

"Susannah." he speaks to her, inside her mind. He immediately notices that her heart rate increases, and he watches as she decides to ignore the voice.

"Susannah, my name is Roland. I need you to go someplace where you can be alone."

Susannah nervously takes another handful of jewelry, her concentration so shot that she doesn't bother to looka round. She is noticed by a store manager, who immediately signals a security guard.

Roland steps forward slightly and mvoes her eyes so she can see the oncoming threat. She panics, and begins to wheel away, dropping her purse. Hundreds of dollars in gold spills onto the floor.

Roland steps forward all the way, taking control. The wheelchair is a clumsy thing, but he quickly masters it, wheeling in and out of aisles. How strange it feels to be without ones legs, he thinks. He can feel Susannah, outraged at the back of her own mind, struggling to be free of him.

Soon, he finds himself at a dead end of aisles, the security guards long behind him. He turns - and sees the door, waiting. He plunges towards it, wheelchair and all - and is through.

Back on the beach. Now there are four.

Susannah Walker was screaming, and Eddie had knelt beside her trying to calm her. Mayhap there's some use for him after all, she thought sourly.

She sighed. She would have to fix her disklike for Eddie Dean. The Tower must be reached with their ka intact if they were to survive, and she didn't want to be the one to break it.

Susannah had fainted in her chair. Eddie and Roland were having a discussion about something, so Arynth joined them.

"...can't just steal her!" Eddie was saying. "She's a human, we're not all going to take off down the beach with her still out cold! At least wait for her to wake up and explain things to her before we move!"

"Eddie," Arynth said gently, "We all have no choice. She can't go back to her world, yon sea-creatures will come back, we don't have enough shells to protect us all, and time is moving faster. We must hurry. If you wish, you can explain things to her when she wakes up. But now, we all have to move on."

"Well, great. That's just great. I'm stuck all the way out in the middle of this f*cking beach in the world of Hell's waiting room with Clint Eastwood and his f*ckng cheeleader!!"

Gods, I think it's impossible. I'll just settle for not killing him for the moment. And remarkably, she started to giggle.

(OOC: ROFLMAO over the Clint Eastwood and his cheerleader thing. I know we're not supposed to RP somebody elses character, but since it's the two of us we should ponder relaxing that rule. What say ye, sai?)

IC:

Roland looked at Arynth as she laughed, knowing her thoughts were the same as his. He winked at her slightly, so Eddie wouldn't see.

"We'll wait till she wakes up, Eddie. But Arynth is right. We can't go back, neither can she. Our path is to the Tower."

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS STUPID TOWER?"

"The place where all worlds meet, begin, and end."

"AND HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?" Eddie yelled. "What if's its just a Taco Bell or something?"

"It is not shaped like a Bell, Eddie. And in time you will understand. For now, gather grass for a fire. I want you to get our dinner tonight as well." he said, with a sidelong look at Arynth. If we are to teach him, then we'd better start now. I like him no more than you, but in time we will kill for him.

"What now?! Do I kill one of those lobsters with a pointy stick?" Eddie asked, and real fear was behind his eyes.

"No," Roland said quietly. "You'll use this." As he spoke, he drew his left gun with his diminished left hand. This is useless to me he said to himself, holding the gun awkwardly and thinking of the blood it had spilt. He tossed it underhand to Eddie, who caught it and held it like it was on fire. He looked up at Roland, and for the first time since his arrival into Rolands world, there was gratitude in his eyes.

(OOC: oops, yeah, I show my newishness at this whole thing ;) Until someone else comes along *hint hint any readers* It'll do fine, I wot. and mmmm...Taco Bell)

IC:

Eddie had gathered a handful of grass, then he and Roland sauntered off down the beach to where the lobster-things would emerge. Arynth pushed Susannah's chair up the steep bank away from the water. She rested with her back against a log and waited for the sun to fall.

Soon after darkness came, she heard three swift cracks. Gods, let him have aimed true. She thought ruefully. Roland would still be a thousand times quicker to draw than Eddie, even with some fingers missing, but she worried (however unconsciously) that Eddie would shoot his own foot. Susannah opened her eyes at the sound of the gunshots and looked around. Arynth anticipated her questons and prepared for them. Where am I who are you what am I doing here that she had heard both from The Boy and The Prisoner. Before Susannah could even open her mouth, Arynth spoke.

"You are in mid-world. We are gunslingers and drew you to us in our time of need. You will help us in our quest for the Dark Tower. Susannah blinked with surprise. "You're sure gonna have to do a whole lot better than that." Arynth nodded, agreeing with her. "I don't understand it completely myself. Mayhap I can do better on a full stomach." She pointed to the silhouettes of two men walking up the beach. And, she noticed, none of them limping.

With the fire blazing and their bellies full, Arynth and Roland prepared for their evening smoke. Susannah watched this ritual with narrow eyes, Eddie watched with feigned boredom. After a while, Arynth stood up and signalled to Roland with a subtle gesture. I would palaver with ye alone.

Roland and Arynth took their evening tobacco and walked away from the pinprick of light that was their fire. They began to walk down the beach, keeping a respectful distance from the water and the lobstrosities. At first they walked in companionable silence, but as Arynth turned to him to speak, he leaned forward and slipped his arms around her waist.

"I think that the man in black's prophecy has come true," he said, his lips brushing hers. The way her body felt pressed against his was maddening, and he leaned forward a touch more for a kiss.

*****

Eddie and Susannah sat at the fire, staring at each other with blank eyes, neither knowing what to say. It was her who finally broke the silence.

"I never seen a gun like that." she said, pointing at the revolver that Eddie had lain beside him.

"Me neither," Eddie said. "It's looks older than time itself, and gives a hell of a kick when you fire it."

"How long have you been here?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. Time's funny here, but it feels like years."

"Are you....from - "

"Yeah, I'm from New York, but I'm from New York of 1987."

"Bullsh*t." she said, rocking back in her wheelchair.

"Beleive what you will," Eddie said, surprised at how quick he had picked up Roland's patterns of speech.

"Where are they?" she said, craning her head to look down the beach.

"I think they wanted to be alone." Eddie said, looking at Susannah. Her beauty had not escaped him.

"Yeah, they seem pretty hot for each other," she agreed.

His touch first surprised, then warmed her. As she met his second kiss with eagerness, she reached up and put her arms around his neck. She was trembling, but not out of fear or embarassment. Hadn't she been dreaming of this moment since that first day, long ago, in the Hall of the Grandfathers?

Sadly, achingly, she broke off the kiss and sat down on a log. He sat beside her, his steady gaze never wavering. She saw a spark in his eye. Arynth had wanted to tell him everthing. How their new addition to their ka-tet had frightened and worried her, and how much more worried she would be once they were armed. How she had dreamed of the Man in Black, not Walter, but the other, more insane and even darker man. She wanted to tell him how much she cared for him, how deep her regard. Well, at least this last she could do, in a fashion.

She turned and kissed him, softly at first, but as her passion awoke, it turned fierce. She kissed his face, his hands, all over. As he had done to her, she linked her hands behind his back and pressed herself against him. "And this time, I will NOT let go."

Roland sensed all the things going through her head, so strong was their own ka-tet, seperate from the others. As they kissed, he ran his hands over her body, finally savoring the feel of her curves, feeling her warm sweet breath all over him. He looked into her eyes, letting her know that he could not stop. He slowly began to undress her, kissing each new peice of flesh as it was revealed.

They lay down on the sand, and she undressed him quickly. As they joined together, Roland was not surprised to find that the Tower was the last thing on his mind for the first time in his life. He gave himself completely to her, and their cries drowned out the lobstrosities.

When it was finished, they lay still, exhausted on the sand. Roland could feel her smile against his shoulder as she leaned against him. He kissed the top of her forehead, and when she looked at him, he smiled.

"I love you, Arynth."

Her smile broadened into a grin. She felt completely relaxed, tranquil. Her mind had quieted. Ka felt like this, she knew. "And I you, Roland." When they returned to camp, Arynth boldly unrolled her bed right next to his, climbed in, and fell asleep.

Early morning came too soon. I could have slept the day away for the first time she thought. She got up and stretched. Eddie was helping Susannah clean up. Arynth sensed a connection being formed between them, and that was good. Mayhap there would be something more, something that would calm Susannah's seemingly fierce nature, and Eddie's wild prankishness. Or it could just be that everything reminded her of lovers this morning.

She turned to her own love strapping on his gunbelts. It brought her great comfort to know he felt about her as she did about him. A weight was lifted off her mind, and she felt she could get on to the next part of business, whatever it might be.

When they were almost ready to move, Eddie sidled up next to her. "Hey, just a question. Do you have any idea where we're going now? I think our way west is kind of blocked, unless one of you two has some snorkeling gear."

"We're going up the mountain to get fresh supplies. There's fresh water, herbs, mayhap even fresh meat, if there are no muties. And if you two are to reach the Tower, you'll have to learn how to think and defend. You'll begin your training shortly."

She left Eddie standing there. Before he could say another word, she slung her bag around her shoulders and started walking.

Eddie volunteered to push Susannah's wheelchair over the beach, so Roland set out after Arynth. He enjoyed walking behind her, watching the turns of her head as she tried to look at everything all at once. Beautiful, smart, funny, and one hell of a gunslinger he thought.

As they walked, he could hear Susannah and Eddie speaking softly, and occasionally some laughter. He was glad that the two of them had hit it off so well, it would make the following quest that much easier. He wished that he could tell them that he knew how they felt, knew what it was like to lose one's home forever. He thought about the day Gilead had fallen, and how scared he had been of the future. Looking up, he noticed Arynth looking at him with an impish smile on her face, which he returned.

By the time the sun had almost reached the horizon, they had entered the base of the woods in front of the mountains. Roland had told them all to enter quietly, and they did a masterful job of it. He heard nothing to suggest that the forest was inhabited by anyone but them. They picked a nice clearing next to a fresh stream, and they all drank deeply of it. Roland walked off to try and find dinner, leaving them to set camp. As he left, he blew Arynth a small kiss.

All three of them gathered wood for the fire. The sticks were small and thin on the outer edge of the forest, but at least it wasn't the deadly devilweed. Arynth was impressed at how deftly and quietly Susannah moved on her own through the brush. It was apparent that Susannah already had gunslinger instincts, she would just need some formal training to bring them out in full. After returning to camp, Arynth showed Eddie and Susannah how to build the fire so it would last for hours with only few sticks added. Roland soon returned with two large hares slung over one shoulder.

After dinner, they all traded stories. Eddie told about his older brother, Henry, and what terrible and powerful influence he had had over Eddie, his life as a junky, and how, thankfully, he was recovering. Susannah told how she lost most of her legs by being pushed in front of an oncoming subway train. (This last bit sent a coldness creeping through Arynth, and she moved closer to the fire.)

Arynth and Roland recounted their tales, starting out from Gilead so long ago. She noticed a faint pain in his eyes when talking about Jake, and she supposed it would never quite fade. However, all this was necessary if they were to share khef. There should be no dark secrets among them.

"Sleep your last very well. In the morning, your training begins."

That night, Roland awoke to find that he was pleasantly snuggling against Arynth, and fell back asleep with a smile. Too bad the others are here he said to himself.

Dawn broke, and they all heard the small animals and birds coming back to life in the forest around them. They each had water and some leaves Roland had found for breakfast. After a short time, Roland led the two recruits away from the camp a small way. He had them sit on a fallen log and began to teach the ways of the gunslingers, explaining how they had descended from Arthur Eld. He spoke of the numberous lives that gunslingers had saved, about other quests they had undertaken.

"The most important rule is this: First we smile, then we lie, then we fight. What this means is that although we are trained to kill anyone, anywhere without the slightest hesitation, we don't do it for no reason. Nay, drawing your guns should be the last option."

As the day went on, Roland taught them the best way to draw, Eddie and Susannah taking turns with Rolands left gun. He taught them how to break down and clean any gun, how to make sure it's aim was true.

"That's enough for today," he said. "Arynth should have dinner ready. Tommorow she'll be training you."

They walked back, Roland pleased with the days progress, and the two 'prentices staggering under the weight of their new knowledge.

Dinner was quiet but good, Susannah and Eddie looking particularly tired. Arynth covered a smile and looked at Roland. 'Tis a pity they never met Cort. He would have taught them the true meaning of exhaustion.

Later, she slept and dreamt. Pink, there is pink. A beautiful alive pink, that thrums and is good. It's the partner of The White. Roland breaks through the pink, yet it is not quite Roland. It is the Eld himself. He and the pink fade. His form is now a shadow, and the pink is dusty. Malicious. It's dying and devouring everything in its death.

Arynth awoke with a start, and was surprised to see day peeking through and everyone already awake and moving. She quickly splashed water on her face to wake her up. Giving Roland a little wink as she went, she led the 'prentices into the clearing like a mother duck leading her young. Her own training came back to her, her self-taught and more formal learning.

Seven big boulders were set up in the clearing at varied places. Quite reluctantly, she handed Eddie her gun and bid him shoot. He fired off a couple shots, but only hit four of the targets. Susannah had about the same result, as Arynth had expected.

"Now why didn't you hit all? Your minds were not ready. When you pull the trigger, your minds must be closed. Not focused, not even concentrating, but closed. React on pure instinct, do not consider." This was what had scared her the most, but it was a crucial lesson. The feeling of grayness as her hands loaded, shot, reloaded, until there was no more. She hated giving up control, but it had to be done. "Do ye ken?"

Eddie paused. "Yeah, like in Top Gun. 'If you think, you're dead.' Right? You gotta be cool like Maverick."

Arynth nodded. "I know not what mavrick is, but your first part is right."

Susannah was confused as well. "Top Gun?"

"Damn cool movie. Need for speed and all that. You really missed out."

Arynth shook her head and steered them back to the matter at hand. "Listen well, both of you: To still your mind, you must speak and understand."

"I do not aim with my hand. He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I aim with my eye.

"I do not shoot with my gun. He who shoots with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind.

"I do not kill with my gun. He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. I kill with my heart."

She took a deep breath and looked at them. They seemed frightened. As well they should be. This is a frightening world.

They each said the litany and she watched as their minds grew steadily to that gray. In the early afternoon, both Susannah and Eddie had managed in hitting all the targets, so she led them back to camp.

Roland watched them return, and Eddie gave him a thumbs up sign.

While the group had been gone, Roland had busied himself with thier campsite. He had made two booties for Susannahs stumps out of the rabbit hide, and had made two docker's clutch's for both of the prentices. He had also found a small deer, and as they returned from the training it was sizzling atop the fire. He had also found a batch of Muffin Balls growing not far away, and had put two on each person's bedroll. They would make a tasty treat after dinner.

As the group settled in, he motioned for Arynth to join him a short distance away. When they were alone, he kissed her deeply and held her for a time.

"What I have to say you may not like." Roland said. "But I don't think we have a choice. In a few days they will be ready. I've already given Eddie one of my guns. I think you should give one of yours to Susannah." He stopped, seeing her about to protest. "A gunslinger needs a weapon, and we only have four. When we get more, we'll both take ours back. These two may be learning fast, but they'll never have the true right to wear our guns. Cort would not approve."

He saw that she agreed reluctantly, and they kissed a little more. He arched an eyebrow at her and smiled mischeviously. "Do we have to go back right now?" he asked.

She grinned and pressed in close. "Nay cully, mayhap we can stay yet awhile." They laid down in the soft grass, and she did not feel any of the shyness or timidity that was felt the first time. She discovered that undressing for him was enjoyable, and a small fire went through her blood where their bare skin touched together. Every place his lips touched, she pushed herself to meet them. One single thought of I want to be his, I need to be his raced through her mind. She gave herself to him. Then, as he entered her and she pushed her thighs against him, the thought changed. He's mine! He's my man! She rocked against him, feeling that she would die if they had to stop. They came together, long and sweet, Arynth feeling completed and in ecstacy.

Roland dozed in the cool breeze. Arynth watched him sleep, noting the rise and fall of breathing, inhaling the sweet scent of his skin. She [i]did love him. She loved him so much she could almost physically feel it. It was sitting there in her chest like a great ball, spreading all the way out to him. She hoped he could feel it too.

After awhile he awoke and they headed back to camp. Arynth suspected that Eddie and Susannah might have been together an-tet but said nothing. She lay down in her roll for a short nap, watching Roland. My man, she thought again before drifting off into a light sleep, knowing that this was one of the happiest days in her life.

Back at the camp, Roland rolled another cigarette and watched Arynth slowly fall asleep. While they had made love, he couldn't help but look into her eyes the whole time - like their eyes were having one silent conversation while their bodies had another. The force of his love was so strong that he felt he would come apart sometimes at the strain of it. A very small portion of his mind at the back of his brain had begun to wake, and that portion kept wishing that this quest for the tower was no more. That they would be able to find a small home somewhere - leaving the troubles of this world behind them, subsisting only on love itself.

There will be water if God wills it. he thought, before laying down and allowing sleep to take him.

The next morning, Roland and Susannah woke first, and they went off to practice her lessons. Susannah and Eddie were both born gunslingers, but Susannah seemed to be a little faster, her aim a little truer. Roland couldn't help but wonder about all the people who had a gunslinger inside of them, waiting to come out.

They fired shots for a half hour or so, and the sound of the reports covered up the sound of trees falling and crunching, some ten wheels away...

Eddie and Arynth stayed close to camp. Earlier he had helped her gather roots and leaves, and a few more of those muffin balls that she couldn't get enough of for some reason. They reminded her of her mother's round-pastries so much. Now she was cleaning her guns, and Eddie gone off a pace to sit and whittle something out of a branch he had found. Well, that's fine. We all need our little amusements. She thought.

She listened to the reports of the guns with great interest. Susannah was getting to be a remarkable shot. She would probably need her own gun before soon. Arynth stared at the big revolver she was cleaning, and hoped (somewhat selfishly) that it wouldn't be too soon.

As she cleaned, she let her mind drift. Roland, the Tower, the Dark Man (as she had come to think of him). It never occured to her before now that ka might not let them reach the Dark Tower. Mayhap ka had its own plans for the dissemblence of reality. She shook her head to clear it of these blasphemous thoughts, and went on.

She got up to take a break in the far bushes. A flock of crows wheeled overhead. The raven at the old farmer's house immediately came to mind. She wondered idly when he died and how. The gunshots sounded deeper, more close together...then she noticed they seemed to be coming from the wrong side. Now it was clear they weren't gunshots, but something quite large moving toward the clearing, uprooting trees. "EDDIE! She screamed, running back to the clearing, hitching her pants up as she went.

Arynth stopped on the very edge, horrified by what she saw. A bear, at least a bear that would easily fill the Great Hall and perhaps more. Squirming worms seemed to be oozing out of its nose. A metal hat seemed to be whirring around. Gods! A Guardian!!

Her guns were right underneath the bears paw, disassembled. Luckily, the bear seemed not to notice either her or the guns. It was concentrating on Eddie, who was madly scrambling up the tallest tree.

She turned and fled, screaming Roland's name.

Roland heard his love screaming for him in a way that minded him of Susan Delgado, all those years ago. A cold fist of icy apprehension gripped his stomach and twisted. He had drawn his gun without realizing it.

With the other, dimished hand, he pulled Susannah up and quickly held her to his hip. She already held his other gun in her hands. Roland began moving toward the sound of Arynth's voice, and as he did he began to hear the sound.

The sound of twigs snapping, but much louder. Maybe the sound of trees snapping. Lots of them.

Part of him began to sense a large force moving through the forest. Something huge.

He and Susannah had walked quite a ways from camp, so Roland had a lot of ground to cover. As he came to a rise, he could see their campsite, a quarter wheel away. And the could see the bear.

His mind instantly locked on the fact that his father and Cort had not been pying to him all those years ago. There were Guardians of the Beam. There was a Tower.

He lifted Susannah up so that she sat on his shoulders like a child. The hat, Susannah! Hit the metal hat, for your fathers sake! And be true!"

Susannah eyed the beast with cold determination. And she said her lesson.

"I do not aim with my hand. He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I aim with my eye.

"I do not shoot with my gun. He who shoots with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind.

"I do not kill with my gun. He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. I kill with my heart."

At the last word, she let loose a single round. And her shot was true.

The metal hat on top of the bear, which Eddie Dean would have said looked like a satellite dish, disintegrated. The bear roared once, twice, and fell down like his legs were cut from underneath them. The ground shuddered with the impact, and all was still.

OOC: You advertise that we need to read the first post and the first post says we have to read the whole thread. Grr!

OOC: You advertise that we need to read the first post and the first post says we have to read the whole thread. Grr!

hehe, sorry bout that. Nedd to read first post to get a character, and you need to read it all to know where to start, may it do ye fine.

Eddie had climbed out of the tree while Roland, Susannah and Arynth slowly circled the body of the bear. Worms continued to slither out its nose and mouth, and from somewhere deep inside, a mechanical whirring was heard.
"Guys, come look at this!" Susannah called. All three walked around to where Susannah pointed. One one of the bear's hind legs was a metal plate. There were words engraved there, Arynth could see.

NORTH CENTRAL POSITRONICS LTD.
Granite City
Northeast Corrider

Design 4 GUARDIAN
Serial # AA 24123 CX 755431297 L 14
Type/Species BEAR
SHARDIK

**NR**SUBNUCLEAR CELLS MUST NOT BE REPLACED**NR**

Arynth stared at the bear. "So the Guardians are real? I never thought, even when I was a child..." then broke off. "What's a Guardian?" Eddie asked.

"Well, when I was quite little, and Roland may correct me here, my nursemaid told stories of the Guardians...twelve animals who ringed the edge of the earth, protecting the Path of the Beam."

"You lost me again." Eddie muttered.

"Then I shall try again. Look upward, both of you." They did. They saw, amazingly enough, a strip of sky where the clouds raced away from them. "That is the beam. Think of it as a wheel. There are twelve paths from the outer ridge, they connect in the center, and go on to reach the other side." She hunkered down and drew in the dirt, circling the place where the twelve lines crossed. "Do 'ee know what this is?"

"The Tower," Susannah said, almost hushed.

"You say true. I reckon if we follow this beam, we will reach the nexus. And the Dark Tower." She threw a significant look to Roland, as if seeking praise for this deduction. He nodded once.

"Arynth speaks true." Roland said to them, still in awe of the great hulk of bear before them. As Eddie and Susannah spoke to each other about what had happened, Eddie saw him embrace her, congratulating and thanking her for such a fine shot, the first shot she had made in anger.

Roland moved to Arynth and took her into his arms. "I was very worried about you," he said softly, and as they held each other they both cried quietly, thinking about what could have been lost.

After a while, Roland addressed the group again.

"We need to back trail yon bear, find his nest. That will be the beginning of the Beam. Uncertainty is now but an old friend for our ka-tet. We have a Path to follow to the very end. Come what may."

They all straightened their backs a bit, glad that some direction had been dealt to this group. They set off for camp again, this time to pack and say goodbye to their temporary home.

As they followed the path that the great beast had beat through the forest, Roland held Arynth's hand and thought about the future.

They followed the back trail most of that day. The undergrowth had become quite thick in most parts, and pushing the chair was hard work. They each took turns pushing, but they were all tiring quickly.

Arynth walked alongside Roland, holding his hand. She smiled at him and gave it a soft squeeze, careful of his newly healed hand. A feeling of strength flowed through her, she didn't think she'd been this joyful since she left home. They would go along the Path of the Beam, find the Tower, and fix what needed to be fixed. And her love would be beside her the whole way. She touched upon Roland's confidence, and it elated her further. For some inexplicable reason, she felt like running. All will be well.

The wheelchair became stuck in a briar. Eddie cursed as he freed the spokes, but Susannah told him to wait. "You all just go on ahead. I'm gonna stay here, it'll go faster that way. Eddie started to protest, but Arynth stopped him. "I'll stay here with you, Susannah. Two is better than one if there's trouble. And this time, my gun will stay right on my hip. "Mayhap we might even find some dinner."

Roland and Eddie kept walking, leaving the two of them alone. As they walked, the stench of the bear got stronger and stronger. At last, they came upon a large cave that had seemingly been dug out of the ground. It was dark inside, but they could hear strange mechanical gears working.

They edged closer, Roland's and Eddie each holding one of the guns. The closer they got, the more their eyes adjusted to the gloom. What they saw surprised them.

There were five miniature robots, scurrying around the cave floor in an endless circle. There was a rat, a cat, a snake, a turtle, and something that looked like a ball. The robots paid no attention to the gunslingers, and each of them had a miniature metal hat much like the one the bear had been wearing. Roland turned to Eddie and smiled grimly.

"I think you know what you have to do." he said.

Eddie nodded and put the gun back in it's holster. He spread his legs a little and started at the robots, his eyes half closed. In his head, he was saying his lessons.

In a blur, his hand dropped to his hip and grabbed the weapon. In two seconds, he had let off five rounds, each of them striking a different animals metal hat. They all gave a shriek and fell over on their sides, dead, or whatever passed for it.

Eddie turned to Roland with a smile on his face, not noticing the flapping sound above his head. Without a word Roland's hand dropped to his hip, and Eddie had a moment to think: Holy shit, he can't be that fast! I'm o.k., and Susannah's great, but he's is amazing! And then the gunslinger had let off a single round, killing the flying mechanical bat that had been about to take off his head.

Roland gave Eddie a smile of his own as they began exploring the cave. They found nothing of interest, but it was definitely the beggining of the Beam, as the sky showed them above. They turned around and walked back to the women. Eddie thinking of Susannah, Roland thinking of Arynth, each of them wodnering how to get their women alone tonight.

Arynth and Susannah had busied themselves with making a camp. Susannah was a very quick learner, and had a fire all ready and blazed by the time Arynth tramped down the earth. They had even spotted a bird's nest, so there would be eggs with their supper tonight. Arynth couldn't even remember the last time she had eggs.

She found it difficult to talk to Susannah. She had never really had any girl friends, even as a child. She prefered to play with the boys to the great disapproval of her father. And because of this, her mother, of course, encouraged her.

Just as she was about to ask Susannah a question about her old life, she heard gunshots way off in the distance. They both tensed. Susannah turned to her, clearly worried. "Do you think they need help?" Arynth closed her eyes and concentrated, reaching out to touch Roland's mind briefly. Her strength of the Touch had grown over the past few days. She turned to Susannah and shook her head. "I sensed no danger. Mayhap they were just practicing." And Eddie learning another lesson as well. She saw the doubt and worry still on Susannahs face. "I'll tell 'ee what. If they're not back within an hour, we'll go after them." Clearly, they didn't have the Touch in Susannah's where, but she would learn to use it and trust it, too.

They sat by the fire and waited in silence. Finally, Susannah asked "How long have you known him?"

"Roland? Sometimes it feels like forever!" She laughed. "Truly, though, the first day we met was the day we began this journey. I had seen him and heard of him, of course, he was a sort of...well, a sort of legend. That, and my very good friend Alain was one of his as well. My father forbade me to speak with him. Told me if he ever heard so much as a rumour that I was hanging around with that "boy," he'd flog me and send me West. My father and his didn't get along so well, you see.

"So I was overjoyed when my own father got sent West. But before I completed my training, all the gunslingers had been sent out to battle. The storied they told were horrible, treachery on both sides, massacre...only a few returned to Gilead alive. Alain..." she paused, trying to push back her tears. "Alain wasn't one of them. I've always wanted to ask Roland what happened, how he survived, but of course I never will. It would be too painful a subject. And I'm not sure I really want to know."

She sat, staring into the fire. Susannah scooted over to her side, put her hand on Arynth's. "You picked a hard man to love, sug." she said softly.

A couple yards away, they could hear the men returning.

Roland's keen ears had caught the tail end of the ladies conversation as they approached the camp, even though Eddie was blathering away as usual. How do I tell her about Alain? About that last bloody battle, and how Alain hadn't been there, his death a tragic accident. How to explain how I got away?

They entered the clearing, each of the men heading towards their women. He wasn't surprised to see that Eddie and Susannah shared a long kiss, and not to be outdone, he and Arynth shared one of the same.

Over dinner, Eddie told the story of the cave, and they held a short palaver about the old Line of Arthur Eld. After dinner, Roland rolled two cigarettes, noticing his tobacco was running low. He winked at Arynth and they walked off into the darkness together. "We'll be back in a few turns of the clock," Roland said over his shoulder to Eddie, in order to give them an idea of how much privacy they would have. He passed a cigarette to Arynth and lit it for her.

They walked a half wheel away and found a short fallen log upon which they both sat.

"I'm sure you're wondering about Alain. It pains me to talk about it to this day, so I hope a short version will suffice. I thought about lying to you, but that would break our ka-tet right in two wouldn't it?" He took a long drag on his cigarette. "Alain was killed my myself and Cuthbert Johns, on the eve of a large battle in which Cuthbert also was killed. It was an accident, he surprised us -" Rolands vocie choked as he relived that day.

Arynth was at first embarassed that he had overheard, then shocked. She saw the pain on Roland's face, and felt it reflected in her own. She threw her arms around him and held him tight. "Cry your pardon." she whispered. It was all she could think of to say that would even remotely convey everthing. "I know you loved him well, and he you."

She tilted his head up with her finger under his chin, and kissed him hard. She felt she had to make up for his loss, and for making him remember things he would just have soon forgotten. She made love to him then, over and over, with all her strength, will, and spirit. She gave everything she had, knowing it would not even be enough

They rested, Arynth lying with her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat, Roland resting his chin on top of her head and cupping her breast. For every tale he's ever told, there are probably ten more he would keep to himself. I hope to break that. Whatever gods there are, please let him not suffer anymore. He's been through enough to last a hundred lifetimes. She closed her eyes and listened to his breathing.

When they returned to camp, she slid into his roll next to him, and fell asleep with him in her arms.

(OOC: Six or Seven times in two days...haven't had this much fun since high school :wink: :D :oops: )

Roland awoke in the morning, still being held by her. Inhaling her scent was the finest waking-up he could imagine, and he could still feel the traces of their love making on his body. He felt younger and stronger than ever. Even his diminshed left hand didn't bother and enrage him as it normally did.

After an hour or so for breakfast and camp cleaning, they packed up and began to walk along the path of the beam. As they walked, Eddie kept his eyes down, still whittling with Roland's knife on that strange branch he had picked up days ago. Roland suspected that the time would come where Eddie would reveal what he was doing, and even more importantly, when they would have to use whatever it was in their quest.

The sun was high and pleasant in the sky, and the cries of birds echoed through the forest. They all took turns pushing the wheelchair over the ruts on the path, each of them taking time to look at the Path of the Beam above them, how clouds and birds were momentarily pushed off course by the sheer power of it.

He kept catching Arynth's eyes, sharing small smiles, winks nad secrets with her. He felt their own internal ka growing all the time, and though again that soon they wouldn't have to speak at all. For the first time, he had found something mor eimportant than the tower, something that he would renounce said tower for in a heartbeat, if only to make her smile for an instant.

And sometimes, he found himself thinking of Jake. He thought that the boy had been another born gunslinger, and he would have like to have trained him. He suspected that the rest of them would too, for training someone else is always a way to improve your skills.

A mutie deer suddenly burst out on the path ahead, it's two heads looking in different directions. He could have taken it himself, but he waited to see which of his ka-tet would be the first. Not surprisingly, it was Arynth, her huge gun blazing as Eddie and Susannah had just cleared their holsters.

"Practice makes perfect, my 'prentices." Roland said with a grin, and a nod at Arynth. "Yon gunslinger makes slow pokes of us all. Well, plenty of meat tonight! Let's make camp."

(OOC: Aren't we in a little mood today :twisted: :wink: )

(OOC: Sorry, but there is a reason for that. I'll try to stop. I promise. *picks up magazine* :shock: )

Arynth laughed and sidled up to Roland. "Mayhap if someone wasn't distracted with something else," she whispered and gave him a fond squeeze. They all helped in gutting and cleaning, and soon had meat crackling over the fire. Roland and Arynth traded nursery rhymes with Susannah, while Eddie worked on his carving. Arynth felt relaxed. This was her family now, the first one she'd had in a very long time. She would protect it.

They lay down for sleep. Each took a turn keeping watch, and was slightly annoyed when Eddie shook her for her turn. She hated leaving the warm bed with Roland beside her. Well, it would make it all the better when she could return.

She sat on a rock, listening to the night. Far off in the mountains, a wildcat screamed. She sat perfectly still, with her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms hugging them for warmth. The wildcat screamed again, sounding eerily feminine, then fell silent. She watched the stars turn overhead, wondering exactly how something so great as this time and place and universe could ever be in danger. Whatever was threatening reality must be greater than reality itself. She shivered, but not with cold, and got up to put more wood on the slowly dying fire. She heard a sound and dropped her hand to her gun. It was only Eddie, moaning in his sleep and rolling over. Dreams, she thought. This world is full of dreams.

When she felt her joints stiffen with the chill and could not keep her eyes open any longer, she awoke Susannah then crawled back in beside Roland. Sleep came quickly.

At breakfast, Eddie looked troubled. He looked morosely at the piece of wood which had begun to take some shape, although Arynth could not quite tell what. "Eddie, what is it?"

He gulped. "It's the kid. I saw him last night. He's going to try to come through."

( *sighs* boys. :roll: )

*bump, because I'm bored*

The three listened as Eddie related his dream of the night before.

The boy was walking through the streets of New York City, alone. He had just ditched school after turning in an assignment, something he was terribly worried about. He keeps thinking of Roland and the Way Station, not sure if it was real or fake. He thinks he may be going crazy.

He wanders about the city, a smile on his face because of the beautiful day. He enters a book store and buys two books, but he doesn't know why.

He trips, bloodying his knee, and decides to head home. His and his parents get into a huge fight, and for once Jake stands up to his father. He finally goes to his room, alone and thinking of many things.

"I don't know what it means," Eddie says. "And I have no idea how he's going to cross over, but something tells me he will."

"I think that you're right, Eddie. Otherwise you wouldn't be carving that key." Roland said. As he spoke, Susannah sat near Eddie and began to comfort him. "I also think you should hurry up and finish it, for the time we may need it is approaching."

They moved slowly that day, stopping whenever Eddie had an idea for the key. Roland, Susannah, and Arynth would watch, silently, waiting. Finally, they just made camp and let Eddie work.

Arynth watched him with worried eyes. She saw the sweat coming off his brow and the frantic way in which he kept pushing his hair out of his eyes. She felt pity for him, and wanted to offer encouragement, but she held back. He would either do it, or he wouldn't. And, well, it was up to ka, wasn't it? She could tell by Susannah's eyes that she had been thinking the same thing. Arynth was glad for their love. It did make some things easier, at least.

Night was drawing near, and she felt something stirring in her. Something is going to happen, and soon. Something that has the potential to be our ruin, if not handled right. She stood up. "I'll go look for food," she announced, then walked away.

Roland was torn between going with her for a few moments alone, but in the end he felt the other members of his ka-tet needed him more. As Eddie worked on the key furiously in the firelight, Roland walked quietly over to Susannah.

"How's he holding up?" he asked softly so Eddie would not hear.

"He's ok. He's dreaming of this kid, I think he feels something for him."

"Don't we all?"

"Yes, I feel it too. How will he get here? Will he have to die again?"

"I know not, but I do know that the time of his drawing is coming near. Within the next day or two we will have another in our ka-tet."

"Well, I hope he brings his own gun," Susannah said with a cold gunslinger-like smile.

"So do I," Roland said with one of his own.

Arynth came back from her walk with two hares, although none of them had heard a gunshot. When asked how she caught them, she only smiled and pointed at a rock on the ground.

They ate in silence that night, listening to the sounds of the woods. When they slept later on, they all dreamt of the boy.


He wakes in his room, knowing from the dead silence that it is the middle of the night. Without a conscious decision, he rises from his bed and dresses. He packs a small backpack with a few days of clothes and the two books he purchased earlier that day. He sneaks into his fathers study and steals his weapon, feeling not at all scared of the vicious peice of metal. The gun and ammo for it goes into his pack, and he scrawls a quick good-bye note to his parents. He sneaks out of the house and down to the street, knowing he shall never see his room, his parents, or his school again.

Arynth muttered in her sleep, watching the boy and shadowing his steps. Jake! she cried out, but he did not hear. She looked around, still fascinated with this world she had seen through Eddie Dean's eyes. She wished not to be doing anything here in a hurry for once, so she would be able to stop and know all the wonders she had seen. But at least for now, she would keep up with Jake.

Jake had paused on the sidewalk and went into a shop. Arynth saw they were selling books, and Jake had chosen two, although she could not read the titles through the window. He had some polite conversation with two men, one rather fat and the other rather skinny. Jake left the store and stood by her on the sidewalk, seeming to consider something. Then he turned around and went back in. He came out the second time and walked down the street and turned the corner, then stopped. Arynth stopped just behind him.

There was a fence guarding an empty lot. Jake had decided to climb over the fence, and Arynth thought she knew why. A sharp tingle had started in her, and was working its way up and down her body. It was like when Roland held her close, only more intense. She felt if she didn't find the source of that heat, she would die. She peeked over the fence...

And immediately woke up. Completely frustrated that she had not been able to see the source, she began to weep a little. Eddie had woken too, and was looking straight at her. Her hopes began to rise. She silently went to him.

"Eddie, did you feel it?"

"Yes."

"What was it?"

Eddie looked at her like a child who has just seen his first shooting star...full of wonder and awe. "It was a rose. The most beautiful thing that I have ever seen. Or probably that there ever is." Arynth felt a sharp pang of jealousy, then subsided. She would see it, she knew. They all would. "I would hear more about this, but let us wait until they arise." She nodded towards Roland and Susannah, still asleep. She slipped quietly back into her own bed and dreamt of roses until the first hint of dawn touched the horizon.

They all awoke and held a breakfast palaver while Eddie and Arynth told of their dream, which Roland and Susannah had also shared. There was a lot of hypothesizing that threatened to go on all day.

"Enough talk." Roland said. "There'll be water if God wills it."

They packed up and moved on throughout the forest, the pleasing smell of pine trees all around them. Susannah's chair moved easily over the soft bed of pine needles, and the sun filtering through the leaves above gave a small feeling of comfort.

Ye gods Roland thought. If only we didn't have to do this, we could settle down right now, build a large house and make a farm. But then time would move on around us. And the world would shrink and come to ruin, and the Tower would fall without our help It was these thoughts that he had every day, it seemed. Before falling in love with Arynth, he would have shuddered to think these things.

After they stopped for a quick lunch, they walked for two hours more before Eddie called a halt.

"We still have quite a few hours of daylight left." Roland said mildly.

"No, we need to stop here. I will finish this key and use it, tonight."

They made a quick camp and Eddie moved off to have privacy to work on the key. As he did, Susannah took a nap and Roland and Arynth moved off to find the place where Jake would try to come through...

They walked silently and easily through the forest. She tried using the touch on the boy, but quickly gave up. It seemed using it was not possible between worlds. Or maybe I'm not strong enough. This last she quickly disregarded and went on.

How will you know when you come to the right spot?
We will feel it.
How will you know it's the right time?
We will feel that, too.

She smiled and slipped her hand inside Roland's. Both her mother and Vannay had tried to teach her the use of logic and reason, but in the most important things (the touch, other worlds, love) it came down to feelings and intuition. One of her father's favorite sayings had been "Smarts will only take you so far. Guts will take you farther." She didn't know if that were true or not, but it felt like it now.

Before she could take another step, Roland held her back. She looked around and saw. "Christ and the Man Jesus" she whispered fearfully. A cold tingling had begun to crawl up her spine. A circular clearing lay before them, with stones ringed around the edges. She felt the cold blowing in her face. "Jake is going to come through a Demon Ring."

Oh Jake!!

Roland and Arynth walked around the clearing, hesitant to actually step inside of it. Roland sensed the evil looming from it, but there was something else too. A certain kind of hunger, that which a man feels for a woman. He was instantly filled with the desire to get Arynth as far away from this place as he could. He could feel a presence, and it had it's eyes on her.

He heard a noise behind them and whirled, and was surprised to see that Susannah had snuck up on them.

"What the hell is that?" she asked

"It's a demon ring," Roland said. "This is where Jake will come through. And I think that you'll need to help, Susannah."

"I found the keyhole on the way here," she said. It's in a tree stump over yonder."

At Rolands urging, she led him and Arynth over to an old and rotten tree stump. Halfway up from the bottom, a glint of metal surrounded a small opening, and Roland could see that it would fit Eddie's key perfectly, if he ever finished it.

They walked back to camp to find Eddie still working on it. He looked up, and stared at Roland questioningly.

"We found a demon ring," Roland said. "And a keyhole. At some time I think we'll have to put the key in, and that should activate the ring. But, someone will have to be in the center of it when we turnt he key, in order to help Jake through and mayhap battle the demon. I think it should be Susannah." Because it's sure as hell not going to be Arynth Roland thought to himself.

A gasp went up around the camp, mostly from Eddie and Arynth, but they did not protest. Roland wandered off to find dinner for the night, leaving them to their thoughts.

They sat around the fire in silence for a bit, Arynth watching Roland way into the woods long after he had gone. Eddie was violently jabbing his knife at the wood, cursing under his breath. Finally, he flung the key and the knife away "Motherf*ck!" he cried. "I am never going to get this thing right." He stalked away to pick up the key and his knife and collapsed in front of the fire, his head in his hands.

Susannah slid next to him and wrapped him in her arms. "Is that all, sugar? It isn't, is it?" Eddie shook his head. "Christ, Suze. Why you? I mean, he didn't even give us a chance to discuss it. And I have no idea what it's going to do to you." Arynth, who knew perfectly well what the demons did, said nothing. She looked Eddie in the eye and held his gaze. "Hear me well, gunslinger. We are ka-tet, one from many. I swear to you, no harm will befall Susannah." "Fine," Eddie replied. "But I will tell you this: If Susannah gets hurt, or...or worse, then ka-tet or no, Tower or no, I will kill him" Arynth nodded, knowing this was not to be the case. As if you could, she thought. As if any of us could.

She sat on the other side of the camp, rolling a smoke. She watched Eddie working again on his key slowly and carefully, Susannah still holding him and whispering words in his ear. Arynth silently thanked the gods for her man.

Roland came back with a dead fox, and passed it to Susannah who was trying to learn how to skin them. He sat next to Arynth and rolled his own smoke as the meat was placed over the fire.

"I love you," he said to her, not sure if he had said it at all today. He smiled as he received the answer he was looking for.

As the light of the fire grew dim, Eddie finally pronounced that the key was as good as he could make it. He passed it around to everyone, who nodded and congratulated him on his skill. Before long they all went to bed, but their slumber didn't last long.

In the dead of night, a low humming sound began to peirce the forest. The four gunslingers were on their feet and had drawn their guns before the first echo had arrived. Silently, Eddie picked up the key and walked in to the forest, knowing the rest would follow him to the demon ring.

Arriving in the clearing, Susannah walked into the center of the ring, trying to ignore the cold feeling that seemed to be running up and down her legs. Eddie looked at her for a time, then wandered over to the tree stump and put the key int he hole. It fit perfectly.

He gave a look at Roland, who was standing slightly in front of Arynth as if to protect her. He gave a nod, and Eddie turned the key...

Arynth felt it-hungry, powerful, masculine. The invisible demon rushed over her, pausing. She clung to Roland, burying her head in his chest, and his arms protected her. Alone in the center of the ring, Susannah started yelling. "HEY!! OVER HERE!!" The demon, sensing the easier target, moved on.

Arynth reached out with all her concentration and tried to touch the boy. He was there, very faint, but getting stronger. She saw him in an old abandoned house, saw spiders the size of her fist falling all over him. The house, like the demon, was hungry. It would catch him and kill him.

"He's coming, but he's in trouble. He's heading for a door, but he's being chased."

As Eddie turned the key, a door shape drew itself in the center of the ring. Roland reached to open it, and as he did, Arynth saw another door shape behind that one. That's the one Jake has to open himself. She touched Jake again, and saw that a big shape, seeming to be made out of plaster and wood, was lumbering behind him, reaching out its claws. Jake was almost to his side of the door, fumbling for his key...he dropped it, then found it just as the monster grabbed his leg. Jake kicked off his pants and jammed the key into the door.

"He's got it!" Arynth cried. "Be ready!"

Roland kneeled over the door, arms outreached, waiting for Jake. Susannah was now yelling, although in pain or triumph, Arynth could not tell. The door to Jake's world opened, Jake came tumbling out, Roland grabbed him and heaved him out of the hole.

Arynth thought she had never seen Roland so relieved.

OOC - Nice puppet :-)

IC:

As soon as the boy was through, the presence of the demon had faded immediately. The two doors had disapeared, and the low throbbing hum of the forest had winked out. Jake clung to Roland, shivering without his pants.

"Promise you won't let me go again," Jake said.

"I promise, Jake. By all the gods that were and ever will be, I will not allow harm to come to you."

Slowly, Jake separated and Roland introduced him to everyone.

" This is Eddie, from your when and now a gunslinger. And this is Susannah, from before your when. She is a gunslinger too."

"Wow. You've been busy while I've been I've been gone."

"And we'll be busier still. You must be trained before we can continue."

"I'm gonna be a gunslinger?"

"Oh yes. Ka demands it. Susannah, are you ok?" Roland asked.

"Yeah, sugar, I'm all right. Haven't had that much fun since I was a teenager."

"Very well. We could all use a rest. We'll move a few wheels away from the demon ring and then make camp for a week or more."

Everyone nodded their assent, and they went back to pack up their things.

(OOC: thankee-sai :D)
IC:

They walked the rest of the afternoon, laughing and talking, relieved that Jake was unharmed. It was the happiest all of them had been so far, and Arynth was content. Jake looked to Eddie with admiration, Susannah with affection, and Roland with awe bordering on reverence. She hoped he would be able to keep that innocence for a while longer. It was quite refreshing.

Eddie and Jake traded stories of New York, with Susannah adding a comment here or there. Arynth listened with great interest, she wanted to learn all she could. New York was so much more interesting and exotic than the baronies she had read in her study book.

They made camp in the early evening. Roland was showing Jake how to build the campfire, and Arynth watched with gentle eyes. That's how he would be if he had a son. We could have children, and a family. The thought pleased and excited her. Well, there's plenty of time for that later. I have all the family I could ever want right here. She didn't think she had been around so many gunslingers for so long since Alain and Cuthbert.

Eddie and Susannah had gone off by themselves, so Arynth sat beside Jake and smiled at him. "Welcome back, Jake. It's wonderful to see you again." And hugged him.

"It's good to be back," Jake said. "I feel more...real...than I've felt in a while."

The fire subsided and Jake rose to throw another few logs on it, looking at Roland to make sure he was doing it right. Roland smiled and went back to pulling peices of rabbit and deer skin out of his bag. He hoped to make Jake a new pair of pants by sundown when it would get much colder.

Jake went back to Arynth and took his bag with him. He reached into it and pulled out the box of ammo and the gun, which was a 9mm Ruger.

"I took this from my dad. I figured you guys could use it," he said, handing it to Arynth.

"Not us, Jake." Roland said. "That will be your gun. And we will teach you how to use it."

"I'm not sure I want to be gunslinger." Jake said in a small voice.

"You have yet to realize that you already are. We just have to find the gunslinger inside of you and bring him out. Arynth will hold the gun for now, but you'll use it tommorow for the first time."

Jake nodded and stood up to walk for a bit through the woods, leaving Roland and Arynth alone.

She lay her head on Roland's shoulder and stared at the dancing shadows from the fire. What must it be like, she wondered, to be so young and to be literally pulled into another world? Did he have a choice? Do any of us?

She lifted her head and looked at Roland. He is our leader, our dinh But how much choice does he actually have, and how much is controlled by ka? The thought startled her. She realized that she had been deluding herself into believing that her lover, her protector, was above ka. This was not so. Ka was above everything. It would take him from her, if needed. She lowered her head and blinked back tears.

Suddenly, she hugged him fiercely and kissed him over and over, desperate to let him know how much he meant to her.

Roland kissed her eagerly, wishing that the others weren't so close. How he longed to spend a few days kissing and holding her, making her feel his love. It would have to wait until they others weren't so close.

They lay down on their bed rolls, holding hands and staring at the sky.

******

Jake wandered through the forest, marveling at how alike it was to the Ramble in Central Park. The same birds, the same trees. Sometimes he could close his eyes and pretend that he was back at home.

Is that what you really want? his inner voice demanded. These people love you, they'll die for you! Your parents never even knew you were there, never cared! Jake had to admit to himself that he never wanted to return to his "when".

"Screw it." he said aloud.

"Ew! It!" A voice squeaked off to his right, and he turned quickly in surprise. A small creature about the size of a large racoon was in the woods, staring at him and not moving. Jake instantly knew the animal meant him no harm. He was pretty, with slightly tangled brown hair and gold rimmed eyes that shone with intelligence. And it had spoken.

"Hi boy!" Jake said with the glee of a child that receives a puppy.

"Oy!" The thing said, and ambled closer. Jake reached into his pocket and withdrew a small peice of jerky that Roland had given him. He gave it to the animal, which took it gingerly. Jake began to walk back toward camp, and of course the animal followed.

OOC: Can I join later as Munshun or Mr. Monday, the demon behind the Fisherman and Albert Fish...

Hmmm...not familiar with the characters, but join in when you'd like.

Jake returned to camp to find the rest of them roasting some meat over the fire. Arynth and Roland were stitching some skins together for clothing, and Susannah was cleaning the guns. Only Eddie noticed Jake and his new friend walk into camp. He jumped back. "Whoa! What's with the eewok?" Roland and Arynth looked up, and started laughing.

"A billy-bumbler! I haven't seen one in ages!" Jake nodded. "He followed me back here. He talks and everything!" Jake noticed Eddie watching it distrustfully. "I don't think he bites," he added.

"Come over here, boy!" Arynth called.

"Oy!" the bumbler barked, then padded over to her. "You know, Jake, bumblers are supposed to be good luck. They're awfully trig. My grandda told stories of ones who were able to sniff out gold."

"Old! Oy!" The bumber said and ran back to Jake. Oy rolled over on his back, and Jake scratched absently. She smiled at Roland. "Mayhap it won't hurt to have a four legged member added to our ka-tet."

Eddie still seemed wary of the creature, but gave it one quick pat. "Hey Jake, what diid you bring in your pack?" He pointed to the backpack Jake had carried through with him.

"Oh, just some stuff." He opened the pack and rummaged through, pulling out two books. He bought those in the store. Arynth realized. Jake held up the books. Arynth and Roland had difficult reading the strange lettering, so Susannah read them aloud. "Charlie the Choo Choo and Riddle-de-dum, jokes and puzzles for everyone."

Looking at the cover of Charlie the Choo Choo, Arynth felt a ripple of apprehension. The cover showed the front of a locomotive with a grinning, viper-like expression on it. It was pulling cartloads of children which appeared to be screaming. She didn't like it at all. She quickly looked around the fire and saw the others felt the same way. "Best put that away for later, honey." Susannah said. Jake did as he was told.

No, I don't like that train one bit.

After putting the books away, Jake sat on the ground and began to play with the billy-bumbler. "I think I'll name him Oy," he said. "He seems to like saying that. Do you like that Oy?" Oy seemed tog rin and then he ran off into the woods, leaving Jake looking crestfallen.

"Don't worry Jake," Roland said. "Did you feed him anything?"

"Yes, some jerky."

"He'll be back. Probably taking a toilet somewhere." Jake giggled. Sure enough, Oy came back in a few moments and settled in next to Jake and went to sleep.

Roland and Arynth finished their skins and gave them to Jake, who tried them on.

"They fit great, how'd you know my size?" Roland and Arynth just smiled at each other.

"You look like a real cowboy, now." Eddie said.

"Eddie, tommorow I think you and Susannah should give Jake his first lesson. It would be good for you both."

"You want us to train him?" Susannah asked. "We're barely gunslingers ourselves."

"You've got your guns, and you've shown you know how to use them. Remember Shardik, after all."

"Shardik?" Jake asked. They began telling Jake their tales of everything that had happened since the way station. Their palaver lasted long into the night, and by the time they went to sleep, the six-member ka-tet was firmly entrenched in their mission together.

The next morning was a busy one for the group. Arynth and Roland had left to set up a makeshift shooting gallery for Jake. "Or at least that's what they said" Eddie whispered to Susannah. When they returned, the chores were being done with Jake helping out and occasionaly tripping over Oy.

Jake felt very jittery. It wasn't every day you became a gunslinger, after all. Arynth felt think, and sympathized with him. Even in her and Roland's own time, it was very difficult. But they had had friends their own age to help them through the tough times. Even Eddie and Susannah had had each other to lean on in their own time. Jake was alone.

They made their way to the range, Arynth and Roland sitting a distance away to observe. Susannah took the Ruger and showed Jake how to load and reload quickly, how to hold the gun steady while aiming. Eddie taught Jake to say his lessons and to learn them well. Arynth thought she had never seen Eddie so serious, and approved.

"...I kill with my heart." Jake recited, then squeezed out five quick shots. Oy, who had been at Jake's heels, jumped back and barked with surprise. They went to look at the targets, and Arynth was stunned. Not only had Jake hit all five stretched rabbit skins, he had hit the center of every single one. Arynth gave Roland a sidelong look, and even though his face was composed and even as ever, she thought she had detected a hint of the amazement she had felt. Eddie, however, was not so subtle.

"Hot damn, boy! You're getting dinner from now on."

Susannah smiled and hugged him. Jake, however, looked a little queasy. Those could have been people, he thought.

They walked back to camp, Arynth feeling very strong with her ka-tet.

That night during dinner, Jake was very quiet. Oy sat between his legs as Jake fed morsel after morsel or deer meet to him, saving little for himself.

"What troubles you Jake?" Roland asked, but Jake seemed hesititant to answer in front of the group.

"We are ka-tet." Roland said. "You should not and cannot hide anything from us, even the deepest thoughts in your head. In return, we shall always listen and help you with the smallest problems. If that mean hard labor, hard thinking, or hard shooting, then that's what it will be. You should not feel embarrased."

Eddie and Susannah were shocked at Roland making such a long soliloquy, but felt comforted that he had put into words what they all felt.

"I don't understand." Jake said. "I never fired a gun before in my life. How did I do what I did today?"

"There's a gunslinger in all of us, Jake. But it's stronger in some than others. And there's some of us who are already gunslingers, and just need to be taught a few things for it all to fall into place."

"I can't imagine killing anyone. I don't want to." Jake said.

"Mayhap you won't have to. But if you have to, you will, and after you'll say thankee that you had the skills."

"But, at the Tower...whoever controls it...we're going to have to kill people there arent' we?"

"Mayhap not. Mayhap we'll have to kill thousands on the way there, and we'll find it standing empty. Mayhap we'll all die without seeing it."

"You don't beleive that do you?" Eddie asked.

"There'll be water if God wills it. If Ka wills it."

"Ka-Ka!" Eddie said, and they all laughed.

"All we can do Jake is take it one step at a time. This forest grows short, and when we move on again we'll be moving on the beam, the very essence of Ka. Who knows what we'll see?"

Miles away from the group of gunslingers.

Kitec Stryde was a confused man right now. For the past several nights he had been having dreams, dreams of a group of gunslingers. Voices called out to him, telling him to search for them and to meet up with them. As he thought about what to do, he worked on his custom pistol, making sure it was in shape. He had never net a real gunslinger in his life, but he was a pretty good shot. Should he listen to his dreams? "Well, I don't have anything better to do. Might as well go lookin' for 'em. Can't hurt. Besides, I got a feeling something's gonna happen. Something big."

Kitec packs up his stuff, holsters his gun, and starts hiking.

(OOC - Welcome to you! We've been waiting for someone to jump in on this...are you familiar with the books?)

OOC: Sorry to say, not really. But, this seems a very interesting thread, so I thought I'd join in.

IC: Kitec continued to search for the gunslingers. Suddenly, however, he became aware of the fact that he wasn't alone. He unholstered his pistol, and turned around. "Who's there!?! Show yourself!" He was answered with growls, as 3 demons walked out of the bushes. "Ah, damn...."

Shots ring out, echoing through the landscape.

Almost as one, the five gunslinger's hands dropped to their hips as they drew their weapons. The shots were far off, but still too close for comfort for a group of people who had seen no others for months.

"What was that, Roland?" Eddie asked

"Three pistol shots, about five wheels away. If the wind wasn't to us, we wouldn't have heard them at all I reckon."

"Coming this way?" Susannah asked.

"Mayhap." was all Roland said. He turned to Arynth and gave a small wink. "Stay close." he said. Then he turned to look at Jake, who was holding the Ruger in his hands as his eyes searched the forest around him.

"See what I mean, Jake?" Roland said to him, and Jake seemed very surprised at himself.

Now Kitec was REALLY pissed!! He had blown one of the demons to hell, but now he was on the run, wounded, being chased by two demons. One in the trees and one on the ground. He whirled around and aimed upwards as the demon in the trees leaped down at him. It was dead before it hit the ground. Then, the last demon rushed at him from the ground. Before he could get his gun around, the demon slashed him, knocking him down. Kitec screamed in pain, but kept his grip on his gun as the demon came at him again. He only had one more bullet in his gun, so it was going to have to count! He took careful aim.....BOOM!

The demon collapsed, with a massive hole in its forehead. Kitec groaned, struggling to get up. Not happening. Kitec swore softly as he passed out.

OOC: I gotta go to class, so I'll leave it here for today. CYA!

When more shots rang out, the gunslingers didn't even falter a step. They knew that Ka would bring them answers if it so chose.

The next few days passed quickly, during which Jake's training was completed. On the fifth day of Training, Jake had gone out into the woods with Oy for a short walk, and when he came back the four gunslingers were standing in a semicircle, waiting for him.

"What is it?" Jake asked, nervous and worried that he had done something wrong. Roland spoke first.

"Jake Chambers of New York, Son of Elmer. Do you hereby swear to uphold the post of gunslinger, from now until your dying day?"

Jake stood up straight and blinked back a tear. "I do."

"Do you swear to help those in need and not accept payment or reward?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to protect and honor your ka-tet, and I as your dinh?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to never forget the face of your father?"

"I do."

Roland reached behind his back and brought out the Ruger in a freshly made docker's clutch.

"You have earned your gun then, and may your heart always be true." With that, he handed over the weapon and Jake stopped being an apprentice. "Welcome to the line of Eld."

Eddie, Arynth, Susannah and Roland broke into cheers and applause as Jake put on his weapon. As he did, something changed inside of him. A certain something that had been asleep his whole life felt the weight of the metal on his side and grinned internally. He was ready, for whatever Ka would bring.

"Don't we have a Tower to find?" he asked with a smile.

"That we do." Roland said, grabbing for Arynth's hand and squeezing it tightly. "That we do."

They packed up their camp, and returned to the path of the beam.

(OOC - I guess we'll come upon Kitec as we walk, but let's let Arynth reply for now.)

(OOC: Welcome Vyse :D )
IC:

Arynth's mind had been a turmoil since she heard those shots off in the distance. Guns were rare in mid-world. People were rare in mid-world. Now, walking along the path of the beam, Roland held Arynth's hand and squeezed it, but she did not feel reassured.

Jake was walking beside Eddie, who was pushing Susannah's chair. Oy padded along, stopping to sniff here and there at a particularly good patch of grass. Jake felt grateful for the bumbler's company. At least here was someone he could take care of.

They topped a hill and stopped short. Away in the distance, in a river valley, was the faint outline of a city. The three New Yokers felt their spirits rise, and became excited. Arynth felt a hint of optimism. Most cities were dead now, but they might find something useful for them, mayhap more guns. Mayhap a quick way to the Tower.

While the other three were chattering away, Arynth froze. She felt Roland do the same beside her. Someone was coming, if not near. She cautiously reached down for her gun.

Kitec had regained conciousness, had currently was staggering around, in great pain. He didn't really know what to do. He could make a break for his city, but then what about the gunslingers he was sensing? He still had the sense that he MUST find them, before its too late. So, Kitec continues to track them.

OOC: Yay, a free period!

OOC: Hey, how bout Kitec's from the city that the gunsligers see off in the distance?

(ooc: I have no objection :wink: )

OOC: alrighty then. Let's continue.

Kitec continued to stagger along. He had almost caught up with them. He trotted through the forest, until.... he saw a small group standing on the top of a hill. It must be them!! "Hey! You there! What's your business in these lands?"

OOC: argh! the free period is over! gotta go!

They kept walking along the Path of the Beam, towards the city, as they waited for the other presence to reveal themselves. The city itself was huge, as close a thing to civilization as Eddie and Susannah and jake had seen since leaving their beloved New York.

As they walked, the city itself seemed to expand slightly, and details could be made out. Large spires of glass and metal rose toward the sky, and causing the overhead sun to glint off them in dizzying ways.

They came to an ancient metal signpost, stuck on the right side of the path. It might have once been straight, yellow, and reflectable at night, but now it was nothing more than a rusting artifact, bent 30 degrees backward and sandblasted by years of weather. The world had moved on. Three letters could still be read, all of them large and bold.

L U D

They each took a turn looking at the sign, then began to move off again. As they did so, the brush ahead of them rustled and a man stumbled out of the woods, shouting at them.

Eddie and Susannah, walking in front, were the only ones who had drawn their weapons.

"Hello stranger," Roland said as the dinh of the ka-tet. "We mean no harm, merely on our way to yon Lud."

Eddie and Susannah were surprised to both see a pistol aimed at them when they drew their weapons. They hadn't even seen the stranger move when he drew the two pistols. "No harm, huh? Then what's with the guns?" Kitec looks at the group, examining their faces. "The name's Kitec Stryde," he said as he holstered his weapons, willing to trust these people," and I believe you're the people I've been looking for."

Eddie and Susannah might have been impressed witht he man's handling of his guns, but Roland and Arynth had been gunslingers for a long, long time. Arynth looked at Roland questioningly, and he shook his head.

"All right Mr. Stryde, why are you looking for us? And how did you know we'd be here?" Roland said.

" Been having dreams for a while now. Strange ones. You've been in them. I got the sense something big was happening, and that I had to be there to help. And as for being able to find you....well, let's just say my people have some powers you've probably never seen before. Like tracking life signatures. Trust me, in these demon infested lands, you can't just be a quick shot to survive for very long."

Off in the woods, there was a loud roar.

"And speaking of surviving, I suggest we get moving. It won't take long to get to the city, and I can get you in. Oh, by the way, what're your names?"

Arynth's eyes narrowed, clearly not trusting the stranger. "Take us to yon city, and then mayhap there'll be time for names and a bit of palaver." Her hand had never left her side. "If we're going to go, then let us go. Talking's done." She shifted her pack a little and moved on, Jake following her with Oy trotting at his heels.

"Not very trustful, are we? That's a shame, since it seems we'll be together for a while. Oh well, follow me."

Kitec turned around, opening his back to them as he guided them onwards, seemingly trusting them completely.

As soon as the strange man turned his back, Roland drew his weapon and shot him in the head from behind. The loud boom of the shot startled everyone except Arynth, who appeared to have been expecting it.

"I think we can find our own way without this strange person." Roland said, and the others nodded. They continued on their way towards Lud.

(OOC - Vyse, I thank you for making at attempt, but me and Arynth have discussed this and we think we'd rather stick to the books as far as we can. Keep an eye on the thread, and in another 10 pages or so you may be able to find a way back in. Thanks anyway! And sorry about your hat... :lol: )

Well, could have asked me to like, leave the group in the city. Thanks a lot. :( I think I'm the second guy who's tried to join this, and you killed us both off. How're you gonna get people to join in if you blow away everyone who joins?

(OOC: Actually, the first guy killed himself. Please don't take this personally. And regarding other people joining, well that's up to Ka isn't it? There'll be water if god will's it, Sai - but for now may your days be long upon the Earth. Farewell)

The group made its way towards the city. The river grew closer and wound its way to their left, drifing off towards the south. Late in the day, they came to the edge of an old abandoned town. At least, it lookedabandoned, but Arynth didn't think it was. Not really.

She could feel eyes peering at her from behind doors and over windows. Everyone else felt it too, even Oy, who kept peering around from side to side. Eddie felt nervous, his hands itching to go to the gun that Roland had lent him, now hanging on his side. With all his force of will, he linked his hands behind his back and walked on.

"They're watching us." Susannah muttered, barely audible.

"Yes they are. But do nothing. If they want to hurt us, they'll let us know. And mayhap they're too afraid and will just let us pass."

"Just knowing they're there is giving me a complex." Eddie said. "Christ, I would only feel better if I could see them!."

"You can!" Jake whispered to him. "Just look out of the corners of your eyes."

Eddie did, and was surprised to find he could see them. Or at least, their swift movements.

As they walked through the dusty main street, (or what there is of one, Eddie thought) they came to the town's intersection. A figure emerged from one of the storefronts. It seemed to Arynth to be the oldest woman she had ever seen, all hunched over and escorted by two tall men.

"Hail Gunslingers!" the old woman cried. "For the White! The Eld has returned!"

"Well Met!" Roland cried, and eagerly stepped forward. His ka-tet spread out and surrounded him. The gentlemen helped the old lady towards them, and Roland could see that she was blind.

"Let me feel!" she cackled. "Let me feel the face of the Eld!"

Roland leaned forward and stepped close to her. She ran her hands first along his face, and then gently over his body until she reached his gunbelts.

"Jake. Make sure of the safety and give her the Ruger." Roland said, and Jake did so and handed it to her.

"It's shooting iron, all right, though I've never had one like it." She handed the gun back to Jake.

"We're on our way to Lud. Would you mind telling us about it?" Jake asked, showing the man the boy had become.

"Surely will!" The old woman cried. "But first food and drink. Come now! Inside and we'll have a feast and palaver. I've been waiting for a gunslinger. Everyone said they had gone. But I beleive. Talitha Hines beleives!"

"Shut up, Talitha." One of the men behind her said good naturedly. They group was led into Talitha's house and into the kitchen, where already cooking was underway. When the meal was served and eaten, tobacco was brought out and everyone had a smoke, even Eddie and Susannah.

"Ask your questions about yon Lud. I'll speakee true as I can to aid ye."

"Well, who lives there first of all?" Eddie asked. Arynth leaned forward, eager to hear and remember every word.

Talitha cackled and took a sip of coffee. "Well now, let's see. It was in my grandda's day that the troubles started. There were only a handful of people living there to begin with, ya ken, when a group of harriers came through and tried to take it for theirselves. The city folk, the Grays, fought for it, aye. The invaders, the Pubes, were run underground, but there's still many a-time we hear gunshots. Ain't that right, Bill?"

The old man sitting to her right nodded. "Ayup. None that live here has been in the city, nor even close to the bridge for nigh on eighty year." The old man paused, looking at the gunslingers. "We leave them alone and they leave us alone. Mayhap they'll all kill themselves."

"Nay," Talitha cried. "They'll not kill theirselves. Blaine won't let 'em."

Arynth jerked, and saw Jake, who had begun to fall asleep, do the same. "Blaine?" He asked in a small voice.

Roland saw the surprise on Jake's face and shook his head slightly. It wouldn't do to tell these people all they knew. They could discuss whatever Jake had on his mind when they were alone.

"Ay, Blaine." Talitha said. "Most young folks now think she's a myth, but I saw her once. A shimmering pink horse...fast as blazes...and she could fly..."

Roland could make no sense of a flying horse, and figured he would have to wait until he saw it for himself.

"Blain rules the Pubes and the Grays, drives them against each other. It's nothing but madness over there. Madness and the machinery of the Old Ones. Must you go there?"

"Aye." Roland said simply. "We must."

"Along the Path of the Beam, I reckon." One of the older farmers said.

"Mayhap," was all Roland would say.

"Are ye trying to find that wretched Tower, sai?" Talitha spoke softly. A quiet fell over the room, but not in Roland's eyes - which began to blaze with their inner power.

"What do you know of the Tower, old mother?"

"I know that it's close. But far. I can see it in my dreams, ken? And it's no place that I would want to go."

"Ka." Roland said, and the old woman smiled.

"I've seen many a man dying with that word on his lips."

"Mayhap you'll see five more. But we go our way."

"We do, don't we gunslinger?" she said.

The conversation died after this last exchange, and sicne it was late in the day the townfolk offered them a place to sleep for the night. The weary band, who had been sleeping on the dirt for so long, readily agreed. Roland and Arynth got their own private room, as did Eddie and Susannah. The lights were soon extinguished.

Arynth relished the thought of sharing a bed with Roland. It made their relationship seem more official somehow. After love, she snuggled against his back and fell asleep.

She had a confusion of dreams that night. Most of them took place on a pink background, with a high mechanical laughter ringing in her ears. She woke up just before dawn, her heart beating quickly in her chest. She turned over to see Roland fast asleep. She kissed his brow and fell back asleep, his deep, even breathing calming her and pushing her dreams from her mind.

In the morning, she awoke and dressed, leaving Roland to sleep in. She stepped outdoors and stretched, loving the feel of the cool breeze on her skin, and the way her back and shoulders crackled. She heard footsteps behind her, and turned to see Eddie walking toward her.

"Are we leaving today?" He asked. Arynth nodded, She saw the glimmer in his eyes, and was reminded of Roland's own. The Tower had taken hold of him, too. Gods help us all.

"After breakfast, Eddie. Mayhap we'll reach yon bridge by nightfall, or sooner if luck is with us."

"Why don't we just go around, if Lud is in such turmoil. We can't, can we?"

"No Eddie, I don't think we can. Ka would stop us. I think we may have business with this Blaine."

"Blaine's a pain, and that's the truth." A voice said behind them. Arynth turned to see Jake (and Oy, of course) staring off into the direction of the city with a dreamy expression on his face. He shook his head and lost that look. "Talitha said to tell you guys breakfast is ready. I'm starved."

They all went in to breakfast.

The breakfast meal was hearty, but strangely silent. Roland suspected that the people in this small town in the shadow of Lud were scared of the future. For a moment, he thought of staying for a few days to help them in some way, but the inner voice of Ka was speaking loudly, pointing them to Lud.

After breakfast, they helped clean up and the whole town gathered outside to say goodbye. Roland walked up to Talitha last and kneeled in the dusty road.

"May you bless our voyage, sai?" Talitha face lit up as she blessed them all and wished them well.

"When you get to the Tower, speak the name of Talitha proudly. And give this to Jesus," she said, handing over a large silver crucifix.

"If I see him, I'll hand it over," Roland said seriously, and then the ka-tet was back on the road again.

"I felt bad for them," Jake said. "They're afraid of the city, aren't they?"

"I think so," Eddie said. "But maybe we can get rid of whatever they're afraid of."

"I have no wish to be dragged into the politics of this area." Roland said. "If our needs coincide with theirs, so be it. But, I think we should concentrate on finding this Blaine contraption that the book speaks about."

They walked for a few hours, the sun shining brightly upon them. The Path of the Beam was above in full force, even the clouds oveying dutifully. It was easy to see that the Path went straight through the city.

As they crested one rise, the group stopped and stared ahead of them. They could see the river Send, traveling east to west in front of them and glinting in the sunshine. Directly stretched across it was a huge suspension bridge that looked hundreds of years old.

"My god!" Eddie said. "It's the damned Brooklyn Bridge! I hope to hell there's a seven-eleven on the other side of it."

"Is it safe to cross?" Susannah asked Roland.

"I guess we'll have to see," Roland said as they began to head toward it.

They took their first tentative steps across the bridge, Roland in the lead, carrying Susannah, Eddie and Jake following, and Arynth bringing up the rear. There was a footpath on the side that seemed fairly stable. A very hard wind blew against their faces, gently nudging the bridge from side to side. Some of the suspension cable had begun to fray away, and Eddie didn't think this bridge would never see another hundred years.

Arynth's mind flew back to the trestle under the mountains, and watched Jake like a hawk. There were parts where the concrete had fallen away, exposing a grid of thin ironwork beneath. Jake jumped over these easily, with Oy in his arms. Eddie, however, looked rather pale. "I hate heights." He muttered.

They came upon a wide patch of concrete missing, maybe ten feet long. "We'll have to walk the iron." Susannah said. Jake looked overjoyed at this prospect. He seeemed to have forgotten his adventure under the mountains, which Arynth was quite thankful for. Roland and Eddie crossed, then waited for Jake. Jake put the bumbler down and took a few uneasy steps, then seemed to gain his confidence and fairly flew across. Oy looked across the wide chasm to Jake and barked. "Ake!"

"Come on, Oy. It's easy, you can do it. To me, Oy!"

"Oy!"

The bumbler crossed, Arynth following behind. I'd never in all my life thought I'd be an entourage for a four-footed. A particularly strong gust of wind smacked her in the face, and she just saw Oy sliding towards the edge of the bridge, scrabbling to hang on with his claws. Before anyone was able to stop him, Jake dived over the gridwork to grab Oy as he fell off.
Arynth saw his hand reach out, saw Oy's incredibly strong jaws clamp down in the boy's hand. She dove across the grid and grabbed his ankles. She felt him sliding out of her grasp.

"Eddie! Help me for your father's sake!"

Eddie's fear of heights seemed to have vanished as he ran to her. She was getting weaker now, she didn't know how much longer she could hold on. Gods, not again! But this time it'll be me who lets him fall. Eddie slid in beside her and leaned over to haul Jake up by his midsection. All four tumbled backwards onto solid concrete and a huge oof! of exertion. Jake hugged Oy to him, only now noticing the pain where the bumbler had clamped on. Eddie and Arynth had been puffing, but were unhurt. She turned to smile at Roland, and froze.

A laughter floated over to them on the breeze. A man stood at the end of the bridge leading into the city. To the New Yorkers, he was dressed as the world's most insane and filthy pirate.

"Ay, wery good show indeed!" The pirate called out jovially. "Ticky told me ye'd be here, and be here ye are. Tis a good thing ye didn't let his prize slide, cullies.

Arynth gave a deep sigh and drew her gun.

"Gasher's me name, so it is. I've come for the boy."

"You've come for a chest full of lead if you take one step toward us," Roland spoke in the High Speech, his gun in hand. Eddie and Susannah had also drawn theirs, and spread out in a semicircle. A huge gust of wind buffeted the bridge and it swayed perilously. Gasher seemed unaffected.

"Chest full of lead, eh? Oh that's trig you maggots. Trig quite."

"Wanna try it?" Roland said, and all four of them cocked their weapons.

"Nay, I don't have to." Gasher said, and he reached behind his back and brought out something that looked to Eddie like a futuristic grenade. He pulled something out of it and tossed it aside, and Jake watched as the small peice of metal tumbled through the breeze and fell into the river. " 'Tis a grenado. Shoot me, cullys, and it'll bring down the whole bridge."

Silence as another gust of wind swept the bridge. Above them, Eddie could faintly hear one of the cables let go. Roland studied the thing in Gasher's hand, and had to admit to himself that it could be real.

"You'll kill yourself too then." Jake said defiantly, putting Oy down on the floor and drawing the Ruger.

"Oh, I'd rather die than speakee to Tick that I done failed. Come along boy, you're friends will be fine without ye."

"Jake, come to me."

Jake walked over, scared at the look on Rolands face. Gasher looked as if he had all the time in the world.

"What is it?"

"If you don't go, we all die." Roland said softly so that only Arynth and Jake could hear him. "But your ka'tet will be right behind you, and we will not stop looking for you until we find you."

"C'mon boy, Ticky's waiting and he'd really wants to palaver with ye."

"Give me the gun, Jake, and leave whatever trail you can."

Jake handed the Ruger over and bravely walked away from the group toward Gasher. Oy made to follow him, but Eddie called him back. Gasher grabbed Jake roughly by the arm, threw the grenade at an iron support beam, and ran into the city of Lud.

Eddie grabbed Susannah and the three of them started running as soon as the grenade left Gasher's hand. The blast pushed them through the air onto solid ground. The Lud side of the bridge crumbled, then fell into the river.

They dusted themselves off, and looked into the city. "We're going after him, right?" Eddie asked. "I mean, we have to go get him. We're not going to leave him, are wel?"

"No Eddie, Jake will not be left behind." Arynth said. "But we will have to split up. We shoul sent a party after Jake, and a party to find yon mono."

She turned to Roland, looking at him questioningly.

Roland stood with his hands on his hips, looking at the huge crumbling city. I will not lose this boy again. Hopefully he knows that

"Me and Eddie will go find Jake. You two find Blaine."

"How will we find each other again?" Susannah asked, clearly not wanting them to separate.

"When we find the boy, I'll fire into the air. When you hear it, keep firing every three minutes to lead me."

"What about Oy?" Eddie asked, as the bumbler was still staring at the spot where Jake had dissapeared.

"He goes with me. It's time for yon bumbler to prove himself." He gave Arynth the Ruger and leaned in close to her. "I love you. Please be careful."

With that, Roland and Eddie and Oy were off towards Lud.

They watched their men disappear into the city. Roland, take care. Come back to me soon. Susannah climbed into her wheelchair. "Come on, sug. We better get ourselves moving. I have a feeling when they come, they're going to come on the run." They made their way into Lud.

Arynth saw a sign written in the high speech on the edge of town. "THIS WAY TO CITY CENTER." She looked to Susannah

"I'm sure Blaine the Mono is this way."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'd set my watch and warrant on it."

Susannah nodded and they followed the signs. Arynth felt very nervous. This was nothing like the New York she had seen. There were windows broken, buildings burned, garbage everywhere. While she had seen a few of these things in New York, that city still had a life about it. This one felt like a tomb.

"It's like one of those old horror movies," Susannah said. "Like Attack fo the Mole People. They're here, aren't they? I can feel them."

Arynth said nothing, but pushed on. She could feel them too, but these folk were a lot more dangerous than those of River Crossing. They turned down a long street, and Arynth stopped up short. "Oh my dear Jesus in heaven, " Susannah whispered. The street was lined with lamp posts. Hanging by the neck from each lamp post was a corpse. From the far end of the street, the rhythmic sound of drums was heard through speakers up on poles. Arynth's courage faltered for a minute.

[i]Were that you were here, Roland[i] she thought, and pushed Susannah towards the drums.

Upon reaching the first city block, with it's massive skyscraping piles of rusting iron and broken glass, Roland had stopped abruptly, startling Eddie. He had walked off the side of the path, and returned carrying Jake's backpack. The fabric that normally hung from his shoulder was ripped, but everything inside appeared intact.

"So he tore it off the kid and threw it into the bushes, huh?" Eddie asked.

"Yes, and I was hoping he would."

Roland walked over to where Oy was waiting patiently on the path. He came close to the bumbler and bent down with jake's backpack, holding it in front of the animals nose. Oy dutifully smelled it.

"Jake." Roland said.

"Oy! Ake!" the bumbler cried happily.

"Take us to Jake."

"Ake!" Oy said, and turned and began running down the path into the city. He looked back only once to make sure that him and Eddie were following.

They were.

As soon as they became surrounded by the canyon of buildings, they also became aware of the eyes in the shadows. Eddie studied everything, mentally comparing it to the streets of his beloved New York.

No sidewalks, but it is paved. The doorways look a little weird, and some of the buildings seem to be coated in rubber. Big megaphones perched at the top of every building. No streetlights, telephone poles, or public toilets. The roads arent' straight, but then neither are the buildings. Graffiti everywhere that would have made any New Yorker scoff at the amatuerishness of it. GRAYS DIE and PUBES SUCK and HAIL THE KING whatever that meant. Fleeting movements in the shadows as they ran. Are they armed? Are the even hostile? Something told Eddie that these people weren't going to offer them breakfast.

Oy stopped suddenly and began barking at a manhole cover in the ground. It was rectangular and had the strange twisted letters of the High Speech upon them. Roland looked all around, then bent and opened the hole easily. He went down inside, Oy was passed down and Eddie followed. The hole closed above them automatically.

The drums grew louder and rattled Arynth's ears. They were now directly beneath the pole, and saw for the first time a crude gallows erected. A group of people was heading towards it, surrounding it. One of them, a man, produced a hat. A woman reached in and brought out a stone. "Spanker!" she called out. "It's your turn!" An old man hobbled up to the gallows, slipped the noose around his neck, and waited. Arynth and Susannah were horrorstruck, but unable to turn away. A loud Crack! sounded across the street, and Spanker swung back and forth, legs kicking weakley.

"You monsters!" Susannah screamed. The mob (for that's what it really is, Arynth thought) turned toward them and advanced. A couple rushed forward, brandishing knives and sharp sticks. Arynth and Susannah pulled their guns and started shooting their would be attackers. Six bodies fell before the mob recoiled, fully realizing who the intruders were and what their business was.

"You" Arynth gestured towards a woman with her gun. "And you. Step forward. The rest of you maggots go on your way and leave us be."

The crowd dispersed, leaving the man and woman and two gunslingers. "You two will take us to the Cradle of Blaine. Do it or die."

"I will not!" The man shrieked. "Blaine will kill us all!"

"You'll do it," Susannah said in a voice Arynth hadn't heard her use before, "Or you die right now, never mind Blaine. And from the things I saw, you're not too far from hell anyway."

"We'll show ye where the Cradle lie. But no more. We'll not go inside."

"Fine. You walk no more than 20 paces ahead of us."

The man and the woman started off, holding hands, clearly terrified for their lives. Arynth pushed Susannah behind them, Susannah keeping her gun trained on their backs.

In the sewer underground, Oy had halted for a moment getting his bearings, but in no time he was off again, this time at lass than a jogging pace.

To Eddie, the sewers looked like part of an old subway system, although the walls were lined with pipes of the like he had never seen. Some of them glowed, the first signs of electricity that Eddie had seen in a blue moon. Roland walked ahead of him slightly, following the sure nose of the bumbler without comment.

*******

Jake's nose hurt.

Gasher had hit him a total of seven times, all in the face, on their strange travel from the surface. Jake wasn't certain what caused the man to keep hitting him, but he figured it didn't matter. If Jake was a no-armed and no-legged mute and sightless bag of guts, he still would have been pummeled.

Ka his mind spoke, and he felt insane laughter rising in his chest. He fought it back with the bitter pain from his nose. Laughter might get him killed, if he wasn't already on the way to the slaughter house.

He had been half-led half-dragged down the streets of Lud above, had been thrown down a manhole in a sewer that had no smell. Through a blur of passageways that snaked in and out of each other in a mad ballet of architecture. Finally down another level where the pipes dissapeared and strange rows of computer monitors were piled on both sides of the path, their faces gray and unknowing.

Another room flashed by, piled high with silver spoons. Nothing but a huge pile of spoons...and another room that seemed to hold only bones but was thankfully gone before Jake could see more. As he thought this, he received another smack on the nose.

"No sightseeing, cully. We've got a trig schedule to kepp, we do."

The man and woman stopped up in a plaza in the center of the city. The woman pointed towards a building lined with statues. It reminded Susannah of the Parthenon.

"Yon's the Cradle. And be damned to ye." The woman said, and turned and fled. The man followed quickly.

"I suppose we should fire a shot, to let them know where we are," Susannah muttered, and fired her gun into the air. With that done, they made their way into the Cradle.

It was dimly lit inside by faded orange lights. Swallows swooped in and out, making high pitched chirps. They walked across a wide platform to a chain link fence guarding the track. Beyond the fence, a pink bullet shaped train was sitting idly. Blaine. Jake's voice spoke up in Arynth's mind Blaine's a pain and that's the truth.

They went outside to sit on the steps and wait for Roland and Eddie to return with Jake.

Somewhere far above them, Eddie heard the gunshot. Christ, that was fast! What'd they do, take a taxi?

Roland trudged on through the sewer pipe in all its gleaming madness. Moments before, he thought he had heard the sound of a large steel door being slammed shut no too far ahead of them. He walked behind Oy, whose nose was glued to the ground. Eddie could swear that the bumbler knew exactly what they were doing, and could sense the urgency of their task.

Finally, they came to another bend in the corner and found the steel door. They approched it cautiously, and Roland put his head against it.

*******

Jake had been administered three more vicious slaps across the face until they came to the door that Gasher knocked on.

"Password!" A voice called from inside.

"Jeez, Frick. It's Gasher. Let me in!" for emphasis he slammed Jake's body against the door, which echoed only slightly.

"Need the password, Tick says."

"Fine. Swiss Cheese, ya fu*ker!"

The door opened soundlessly, and Jake was led into the strangest room of his life.

Something had caught Susannah's eye in the Cradle. She wheeled over to it to get a closer look. "Arynth, come here."

Arynth joined her and saw where she pointed. A panel filled with buttons labeled with numbers from one to one hundred was lit up in blue. "What do you suppose this means?" Arynth asked. Susannah shook her head.

"Do you think they've found Jake yet?" Susannah asked.

Arynth closed her eyes and tried to use the touch to find out. She felt Jake, felt him overwhelmed with exhaustion and a bit scared. She touched Roland, who was filled with determination. He and Eddie were getting closer, she felt.

"No, they haven't found him, but they will soon. Mayhap we better get this Mono ready. I have a feeling they'll be coming fast. Now the question is, how do we do this?"

She looked gloomily at the pink bullet mono sleeping behind the fence. Susannah had begun to explore the cradle in a more thorough manner. She found an intercom which looked to her like something she had seen in a sci-fi movie. There was a big button which she pushed, and spoke into it. "Hello?" she said timidly. The intercom immediately lit up in a bright red color, which surprised her, as she hadn't expected it to work at all. So they were both doubly surprised when a loud male voice came out.

"WELL HELLO THERE YOURSELF!"

Arynth and Susannah looked at each other with wide eyes.

Hmm. Ya know, if I didn't know better, I'd say that this thread died. Kind of disappointing, it died at a good part. Oh well.

Jake looked around wondrously at the room. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling in what looked like computer monitors. Most of them were broken, some were black and dead, and few still glowed with life. Their light combined with a torch hung from the celing illuminated a man sitting on what looked like a throne in the center fo the room. He was tall, gaunt, and bald. One of his eyes was missing and his teeth jutted out of his mouth at crazy angles. Around his neck, he wore a huge clock that reminded Jake of an old Beastie Boys video.

"Greetings, cully." he said, his hypnotic eye staring directly at Jake. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Tick-Tock Man. You look like you're from another world. What is your name?"

"Jake of New York, son of Elmer." Jake said, hesitantly, wishing one of his friends was there to help him.

"New York. I have heard of this place. You're not from Mid-World then, are you?"

"No, sir."

"Sir? That's good. Gasher, I think you should call me sir also."

"Eat me, Ticky." Gasher said, then went back to picking his nose.

"Jake, tell me something. Do you know anything about bipolar circuits?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Outside the strange room, Roland and Eddie still listened at the door. They had no idea how many people were inside or if they were armed, but he knew that didn't matter. One of their ka-tet was inside. And if Ka said that they would meet too much resistance trying to save him...well that was ka.

They made their plans together, and then began scratching softly at the door, out of sight of the peephole.

Jake looked around wondrously at the room. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling in what looked like computer monitors. Most of them were broken, some were black and dead, and few still glowed with life. Their light combined with a torch hung from the celing illuminated a man sitting on what looked like a throne in the center fo the room. He was tall, gaunt, and bald. One of his eyes was missing and his teeth jutted out of his mouth at crazy angles. Around his neck, he wore a huge clock that reminded Jake of an old Beastie Boys video.

"Greetings, cully." he said, his hypnotic eye staring directly at Jake. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Tick-Tock Man. You look like you're from another world. What is your name?"

"Jake of New York, son of Elmer." Jake said, hesitantly, wishing one of his friends was there to help him.

"New York. I have heard of this place. You're not from Mid-World then, are you?"

"No, sir."

"Sir? That's good. Gasher, I think you should call me sir also."

"Eat me, Ticky." Gasher said, then went back to picking his nose.

"Jake, tell me something. Do you know anything about bipolar circuits?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Outside the strange room, Roland and Eddie still listened at the door. They had no idea how many people were inside or if they were armed, but he knew that didn't matter. One of their ka-tet was inside. And if Ka said that they would meet too much resistance trying to save him...well that was ka.

They made their plans together, and then began scratching softly at the door, out of sight of the peephole.

(OOC: Welcome back...Mid-World has missed you :D)
(IC:)
Susannah pushed the button again with Arynth looking on worriedly from behind. "My name is Susannah Walker, and this is Arynth. We're gunslingers. Who are you?"

"I AM BLAINE THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE! FEAR ME!" A high, electronic cackling followed, chilling Arynth to her bones.

"You're the Mono?"

"YES. BUT I AM SO MUCH MORE. HOWEVER FOR BRIEFNESS WE'LL SAY I'M JUST BLAINE THE MONO."

Susannah looked at Arynth. "What do we do now?" she asked in a fearful tone.

"I guess we only have one choice." Arynth pushed TALK. "Blaine? We have friends who are coming. We need to get out of Lud. Will you take us?" The panel flashed red and blue, then went dark. Just as Arynth had given up hope of a response, it flashed red and stayed. Blaine's booming voice issued strongly from it and bounced around the Cradle.

"ASK ME A RIDDLE FIRST"

Susannah and Arynth started. Susannah hadn't known what to expect, but this was the last thing on her mind. "A riddle, Blaine?"

"A RIDDLE! YOU DO KNOW WHAT RIDDLES ARE, DON'T YOU? AND MAKE IT A GOOD ONE OR I SHALL BE ANNOYED."

Horrifyingly, Arynth found her mind drawing blank on riddles. She had heard mayhap a thousand in her days in Gilead, but was unable to recall a single one. Just nerves, and pressure. Roland would know, though. Susannah looked relatively calm. She pushed TALK.

"Ok Blaine, I have one for you. I hope it's good enough. Here goes: There is a thing that nothing is, yet still has a name; It's sometimes tall and sometimes short, it joins our walks and joins our sports, and plays at every game. What is it?"

"A SHADOW, OF COURSE. AN EASY ONE, BUT NOT BAD. NOT BAD AT ALL."

Susannah sighed with relief. Arynth addressed Blaine next. "Blaine? May we board and wait for our friends now?"

'NOT YET, 'LIL LADY. I HAVE A RIDDLE YOU MUST SOLVE TO GET ME GOING. AND IF YOU FAIL, I WILL KILL YOU BOTH AND YOUR FRIENDS WHEN THEY ARRIVE."

Arynth and Susannah exchanged troubled looks. Arynth now knew why their escorts had not wished to cross into the Cradle. However, if Roland and Jake were coming, there was only one way out of this godforsaken city. She nodded to Susannah, who replied. "Yes Blaine, we accept." The high laughter rang throughout the rafters and made both women cover their ears.

"EXCELLENT! I'VE ALWAYS LOVED A GOOD DIVERSION. NOW HERE IS YOUR RIDDLE: IF YOU WANT TO LEAVE YOU'LL HAVE TO PRIME THE PUMP TO GET ME GOING, AND MY PUMP PRIMES BACKWARD."

The red light went out and Blaine fell silent. Susannah and Arynth were all alone and silently despairing.

"I've never heard of dipolar circuits." Jake said, and Gasher immediately slapped him across the back of the head with his forearm. The pain was isntantaneous, and shot a pint of adrenaline into his heart. Things began to slow down, and his sense became more and more acute.

And that was why he heard the scratching before anyone else. It was coming from the steel metal entrance door, and growing louder every second.

Roland. his mind cried at once. He won't let me fall again. He's come to help. Another part of his mind began telling him that he should act normal.

"Stop hitting me!" he screamed at Gasher, who looked completely shocked. In the awestruck silence, the scratching at the door was amplified and immediately noticed by the man calling himself Tick Tock.

"Gasher, I think we have a rat at the door. Dinner is served."

Gasher gave Jake a push against a nearby wall, and ehaded towards the door like he had been through this drill before. He grabbed a club that was hanging from a rawhide lace on the wall, and unlokced the steel door. As soon as the last lock had been thrown, the door suddenly was thrown open from the outside, crashing into Gasher with tremendous force. He was thrown back, into the same wall he had slammed Jake against only a moment ago.

Jake did his part to help his friends. He got down on the ground and tried to make himself as small as possible. He knew that Roland would enter the room with guns blazing.

And that's exactly what happened.

Roland and Eddie entered through the doorway with their identical guns leveled. They stood there for a moment, their gunslinger eyes sweeping the room continously, like a few robots gathering data out of the air. Without speech, Rolands gun turned to Tick -Tock, and Eddie's turned to Gasher. Almost as one, both guns fired - giving the two mole people third eyes on their foreheads. The gunshots echoed fiercly in the room, temporarily making Jake deaf.

When the noise had faded and the stiff smell of cordite infested the air, Jake felt himself being picked up and hustled out of the room.

"Thankee-sai." was all he could say.

"I haven't a clue." Arynth told Susannah in a small voice. "How do you prime a pump backwards? Mayhap we have to walk backwards somewhere so we can see a pump..." She sighed heavily, sitting before the panel and resting her head in her hands.

"Prime..." Susannah muttered. "Prime. Pump primes backwards. She stopped suddenly, her face lit up with joy and excitement. "Arynth! I have it! Pump primes backwards!! Help me to the panel, quickly!"

"Susannah, are you sure you..."

"Yes girl, now help me before we all die." She shuddered. Arynth picked Susannah up and held her to the number panel. "Prime...prime numbers backwards. Remember backwards or we're all screwed...." She continued in this manner, quietly talking to herself and squinting at the number panel for several minutes. Arynth was about to ask if Susannah wanted to be put down when Susannah started pressing buttons.

"Susannah..."

"You hush, child. I'm doing the right thing, don't you worry. Prime numbers, backwards from one hundred to one."

Arynth could feel Blaine listening while Susannah continued to press and mutter. Well, Susannah must be on to something, or else we'd be dead. She tried hastily to touch Jake or Roland, to see where they were or what they were doing, but she wasn't able to. Too nervous she thought, before turning her attention back to Susannah.

"Done!" Susannah cried triumphantly. The panel flashed bright red. Behind the fence, the mono started emitting a low rumbling that reminded Susannah of airplane engines. Arynth had never heard anything like it, and kept her hand on her gun. Just in case.

'YOU DONE WELL, 'LIL MISSY. NOW COME ABOARD AND HOPE YOUR FRIENDS MAKE IT."

"We're not stepping one foot into that thing without Jake, Eddie, and Roland!" Arynth screamed. "And what do you mean "hope your friends make it?? Why wouldn't they?"

"I'M BORED WITH THIS CITY. ITS PEOPLE ARE STUPID. I'M GOING TO RELEASE A POISON GAS IN TEN MINUTES TIME THAT WILL SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE CITY AND KILL ANYONE WHO COMES IN CONTACT WITH IT. SEE YOU LATER, ALLIGATOR. AFTER AWHILE, CROCODILE. DON'T FORGET TO WRITE."

"We have to go after them!" Susannah shrieked. "Arynth, we have to!!

Arynth shook her head. "We stay right here. It would do no good if they showed up while someone was out wandering around looking for them. We have no time." Susannah walk/crawled to the top of the stairs and looked out, searching the streets for any sign of movement. Arynth sat on the platform to wait. Inside, she started to feel the first pangs of panic.

Roland, be swift! We have very little time to spare!

As Roland, Eddie, Jake, and Oy scrambled through the dark sewers underneath Lud, they began to sense that time was running short. This far underground, they wouldn't have heard if anything had happened to Arynth and Susannah. The older gunslingers' faces betrayed their fear for their loves. Jakes battered face showed fear but determination, while Oy's face showed nothing but love and exhiliration.

"HOWDY PARTNERS!" A vocie suddenly boomed, echoing fiercely off the concrete walls. The band stopped dead in their tracks, and guns were drawn.

"Who speaks to me?" Roland commanded in the High Speech.

"THE ONLY CHANCE YOU'LL EVER HAVE TO LIVE."

"I am Roland of Gilead, son of Steven. Speak if you will, but tease me not."

"GILEAD IS NO MORE"

"This I know."

"GIVE ME A RIDDLE."

"Why?" Roland asked, his tone of voice calm and even.

"IF I LIKE IT, I'LL LET YOU LIVE."

Roland thought for a minute, and then spoke. "What has four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs at night?"

"A PERSON, OF COURSE. BUT A GOOD RIDDLE NONETHELESS. DO YOU KNOW MORE OF THESE RIDDLES, YOU SUPPOSED GUNSLINGER?"

"I know many more. And my companion here has a book from his world which contains many I do not know."

"DOES HE? WELL, SADDLE UP! ALL ABOARD!"

As he disembodied voice spoke, the metal ceiling above them began to groan and twist, until a large section popped free and was pulled upwards by unseen hands. A small metal sphere dropped down out of the hole, and began to hover directly in front of them.

"FOLLOW." The voice said, and sphere began to move. Within moments, the sphere had led them outside again, and it began to move faster. Several of the Lud inhabitants appeared to have been waiting for them, but when they saw the metal ball they quickly ran in the opposite direction.

After five minutes of brisk walking, they came upon the cradle, a magnificent sight for people who had spent so much time in the woods.

"Arynth!" Roland cried, seeing his love. He began to run faster than the ball would go.

"Roland!" She cried, tears springing into her eyes. She flung herself into her gunslinger's arms. She let all her emotions out in that embrace, hugging him fiercely to her. Then she turned to Jake. "I'm so glad you're safe," she told him. Eddie was holding Susannah as she told them all about Blaine.

"...and then he said we only had a little bit of time before he released a gas and..." she trailed off and glanced nervously at the open door to the mono. As if it sensed Susannah's gaze, the voice of Blaine immediately spoke up.

"YES GUNSLINGERS, GLAD YOU ALL COULD MAKE IT. STEP ABOARD IF YOU WISH. IF NOT, I'LL HELP YOU TO THE CLEARING AT THE END OF YOUR PATH."

They filed aboard one by one. On the other side of the door was a huge room. It reminded Susannah of her great aunt's parlor. There were rows of couches along one side, tables on the other. A chandelier hung from the ceiling and a baby grand piano stood in the corner. Behind them, the door slid shut.

"WELCOME ABOARD THE BARONY COACH. I THOUGHT YOU WOULD APPRECIATE THE LUXURIOUS ACCOMODATIONS. NOW PLEASE, TAKE A SEAT. I HAVE ONE MORE TASK TO DO AND THEN WE WILL BE ON OUR WAY."

They settled into their couches, Oy sniffing around the coach. Arynth put her hand on Roland's shoulder and waited. She could feel the mono slowly rolling forward, and heard a slow hissing from behind.

"YOU ARE THE LAST TO LEAVE LUD ALIVE, ISN'T THAT LUCKY?"

Susannah closed her eyes and whispered a prayer. To the front of the coach, there was a panel with six dots connected by zigzag lines. Jake went up to the front to read "Lud, Candleton, Rilea, Falls of the Hounds, Dasherville, Topeka. Those are stops, right?"

"USUALLY, YES!" Blaine chimed in gleefully. "HOWEVER NOT ON THIS RUN. THIS IS THE LAST RUN OF BLAINE THE MONO. I GO TO THE CLEARING AT THE END OF THE PATH, AND I WILL TAKE YOU WITH ME!" Blaine's laughter was shrill enough even to make Oy scramble for cover. Arynth sat in silence, trying to comprehend what she had just heard. It was Eddie, however, who spoke first.

"Not again. This is f*ckin' lame." He sighed.

Roland surveyed the interior of the cabin with calm, detached eyes. Oy was padding around sniffing everything with curiosity, and Jake watched him with guarded eyes. Eddie and Susannah sat together across from him, neither of them showing fear. Next to him, Arynth seemed to be staring at nothing.

"Do you mean to kill us, Blaine?" Roland asked, as if he would ask if it was going to rain for fair day.

"OF COURSE. I FIND THIS LIFE DREADFULLY BORING. IT IS TIME TO DIE."

"Couldn't you drop us off first, then continue on your path?"

"WHAT FUN WOULD THAT BE PARDNER?"

"Perhaps there's something we could offer you?"

"LIKE WHAT?"

"Susannah tells me you're fond of riddles. When I was still living in Gilead we used to have Fair-Day, and one of the most interesting parts of this day was the great Riddling. The one who was able to answer the most riddles or ask the most stumping ones won the biggest goose in the barony."

"I WOULD HEAR MORE OF THIS RIDDLING."

"Year after year, my teacher Cort would bring home the goose. He knew a great many riddles from all over the lands, and he even invented a few hundred."

"I WISH HE WAS HERE." Blaine said.

Me too. Roland thought. "I used to pay great attention to at these fairs, and I know many riddles. In addition, my companion Jake has a book of them from his world."

"YOU HAVE SOMETHING IN MIND I TAKE IT."

"Indeed I do. Our lives will be our goose. We will ask you riddles from now until the end of your run in Topeka. If we stump you, you stop and let us out. If not, kill us all as you wish."

There was fifteen seconds of silence in the cabin, Eddie looking at Roland with fear in his eyes.

"VERY WELL, ROLAND OF GILEAD, SUSANNAH AND EDDIE AND JAKE OF NEW YORK, AND OY OF MID-WORLD. I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLANGE. LET THE RIDDLING BEGIN!"

?? Oh, the thread didn't die! YAY!!

Riddles, Arynth though. It all comes down to this. She sighed and addressed Blaine. "Before we begin, may we have a chance to palaver?"

"AGREED. YET KEEP IN MIND TIME GROWS SHORT. TOUCH THE PANEL ON THE WALL IN FRONT WHEN YOU WANT MY RETURN."

The red light on the panel faded away, leaving the ka-tet alone. They hunkered around in a circle on the floor. "Guys?" Jake whispered. "I have an idea. I know now I was meant to have it." He reached into his pack and pulled out a book. He handed it to Susannah.

"Riddle-De-Dem, Jokes and Riddles for Everyone." She grinned. "This might do the trick!"

"The hardest ones are in the back," Jake said. "But the answers are torn out."

Arynth smiled at him. "I don't think that matters much, Jake. Blaine is a super machine, but all machines have a weakness. We just have to find his. We'll just work our way through the book. If we haven't stumped him by then, we'll come up with another plan." Grim determination set in her face. "Are we ready?" Everyone nodded, even Oy.

"Let's rock and roll." Eddie said.

Jake ran to the panel and gave it a light tap. "Blaine? We're ready now."

"OH GOOD! I WAS ALMOST FALLING ASLEEP." He chuckled. "WHO STARTS FIRST?"

Arynth looked to Roland, and winked. "If only Cort were here," she said.