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TWO

Take went to what he was sure would be his death res Roland Deschain, his true father, had said Battles that last five ends that live a thousand years And You needn't die happy when your day comes, but you inning to end and ka is always served

Jake Cha with a satisfied mind

THREE

Also with crystal clarity His senses were so heightened that he could s flesh but the rosemary hich it had been rubbed; could hear not only the calm rhyth brainward on one side of his neck and descending heartward on the other

He also re that even the shortest battle, fro to those taking part Tirew elastic; stretched to the point of vanishh he hadn't

Now he did

His first diought was that there were too many of them-far, far too many He put their number at close to a hundred, the majority certainly of the sort Pere Callahan had referred to as "low men " (Some were loomen, but Jake had no doubt the principle was the sa them, all less fleshy than the low folken and so weapons, their complexions ashy and their bodies surrounded in dim blue auras, hat had to be vampires

Oy stood at Jake's heel, his s low in his throat

That sh the air was not pork

FOUR

Ten feet between us any tiive, Pere-so Jake had said out on the sidewalk, and even as they approached the ht, putting the required distance between them

Jake had also told hi as he could, and Callahan was opening hisjust that when the voice of the White spoke up inside again Only one word, but it was enough

Skoldpadda, it said

Callahan was still holding the Ruger up by his right cheek

Now he dipped into his breast pocket with his left hand His awareness of the scene before hi coeycrimson electric flalass containers of a brighter, Halloweenish orange, the glea roo at a long banquet table There was a sense in here-Callahan wasn't sure exactly what provoked it, the various tells and sti themselves after some bit of excitement: a small kitchen fire, say, or an automobile accident on the street

Or a lady having a baby, Callahan thought as he closed his hand on the Turtle That's always good for a little pause between the appetizer and the entree

"Now come Gilead's ka-mais!" shouted an excited, nervous voice Not a human one, of that Callahan was almost positive It was too buzzy to be human Callahan sahat appeared to be so at the far end of the roo jeans and a plain white shirt, but the head rising from that shirt was painted with sleek feathers of dark yellow Its eyes looked like drops of liquid tar

"Get the shouted, and brushed aside a napkin Beneath it was some sort of weapon

Callahan supposed it was a gun, but it looked like the sort you saw on Star Trek What did they call them? Phasers? Stunners?

It didn't matter Callahan had a far better weapon, and wanted to s and the glass container with the candle in it from the nearest table, then snatched away the tablecloth like ahe wanted to do was to trip over a swatch of linen at the crucial moment Then, with a nio, he stepped onto one of the chairs and from the chair to the table-top Once on the table, he lifted the skoldpaddavnth his fingers supporting the turtle's flat undershell, giving theood look at it

I could croon soht Becomes You" or "Left My Heart in San Francisco "

At that point they had been inside the Dixie Pig for exactly thirty-four seconds

FIVE

High school teachers faced with a large group of students in study hall or a school asseers, even when freshly showered and groomed, reek of the horroup of people under stress emits a similar stink, and Jake, with his senses tuned to the most exquisite pitch, smelled it here

When they passed the maitre d's stand (Blackmail Central, his Dad liked to call such stations), the s's diners had been faint, the s back to normal after some sort of dust-up But when the bird-creature in the far corner shouted, Jake had sly It was a h like blood to incite his temper and his emotions Yes, he saeety Bird knock aside the napkin on his table; yes, he saw the weapon beneath; yes, he understood that Callahan, standing on the table, was an easy shot That was of far less concern to Jake than theweapon that eety Bird'sthe first of his nineteen plates and amputate the head in which that mouth resided, when Callahan raised the turtle