The black woman who was now two women (again) sat on one of the beds and folded her hands in her lap. Like on a sled, Like on a sled, the woman's Susannah part said. the woman's Susannah part said. I'll push, you steer. And remember, Susannah-Mio, if you want my cooperation, you give me some straight answers. I'll push, you steer. And remember, Susannah-Mio, if you want my cooperation, you give me some straight answers.

I will, the other replied. the other replied. Just don't expect to like them. Or even understand them. Just don't expect to like them. Or even understand them.

What do you- Never mind! Gods, I never met anyone anyone who could ask so many questions! Time is short! When the telephone rings, our palaver ends! So if you'd palaver at all who could ask so many questions! Time is short! When the telephone rings, our palaver ends! So if you'd palaver at all- Susannah didn't bother giving her a chance to finish. She closed her eyes and let herself fall back. No bed stopped that fall; she went right through it. She was falling for real, falling through space. She could hear the jangle of the todash chimes, dim and far.

Here I go again, she thought. And: she thought. And: Eddie, I love you. Eddie, I love you.

STAVE: Commala-gin-jive Commala-gin-jive Ain't it grand to be alive?

To look out on Discordia When the Demon Moon arrives.

RESPONSE: Commala-come-five! Commala-come-five!

Even when the shadows rise!

To see the world and walk the world Makes ya glad to be alive.

6TH STANZA.

THE CASTLE ALLURE.

ONE.

All at once she was falling into her body again and the sensation provoked a memory of blinding brilliance: Odetta Holmes at sixteen, sitting on her bed in her slip, sitting in a brilliant bar of sun and pulling up a silk stocking. For the moment this memory held, she could smell White Shoulders perfume and Pond's Beauty Bar, her mother's soap and her mother's borrowed perfume, so grown-up to be allowed perfume, and she thought: It's the Spring Hop! I'm going with Nathan Freeman It's the Spring Hop! I'm going with Nathan Freeman!

Then it was gone. The sweet smell of Pond's soap was replaced by a clean and cold (but somehow dank) night breeze, and all that remained was that sense, so queer and perfect, of stretching into a new body as if it were a stocking one was pulling up over one's calf and knee.

She opened her eyes. The wind gusted, blowing a fine grit in her face. She squinted against it, grimacing and raising an arm, as if she might have to ward off a blow.

"Over here!" a woman's voice called. It wasn't the voice Susannah would have expected. Not strident, not a triumphant caw. "Over here, out of the wind!"

She looked and saw a tall and comely woman beckoning to her. Susannah's first look at Mia in the flesh astounded her, because the chap's mother was white. white. Apparently Odetta-that-was now had a Caucasian side to her personality, and how that must frost Detta Walker's racially sensitive butt! Apparently Odetta-that-was now had a Caucasian side to her personality, and how that must frost Detta Walker's racially sensitive butt!

She herself was legless again, and sitting in a kind of rude one-person cart. It had been parked at a notch in a low parapet wall. She looked out at the most fearsome, forbidding stretch of countryside she had ever seen in her life. Huge rock formations sawed at the sky and jostled into the distance. They glistened like alien bone beneath the glare of a savage sickle moon. Away from the glare of that lunar grin, a billion stars burned like hot ice. Amid the rocks with their broken edges and gaping crevices, a single narrow path wound into the distance. Looking at it, Susannah thought that a party would have to travel that path in single file. stretch of countryside she had ever seen in her life. Huge rock formations sawed at the sky and jostled into the distance. They glistened like alien bone beneath the glare of a savage sickle moon. Away from the glare of that lunar grin, a billion stars burned like hot ice. Amid the rocks with their broken edges and gaping crevices, a single narrow path wound into the distance. Looking at it, Susannah thought that a party would have to travel that path in single file. And bring plenty of supplies. No mushrooms to pick along the way; no pokeberries, either. And bring plenty of supplies. No mushrooms to pick along the way; no pokeberries, either. And in the distance-dim and baleful, its source somewhere over the horizon-a dark crimson light waxed and waned. And in the distance-dim and baleful, its source somewhere over the horizon-a dark crimson light waxed and waned. Heart of the rose, Heart of the rose, she thought, and then: she thought, and then: No, not that. Forge of the King. No, not that. Forge of the King. She looked at the pulsing sullen light with helpless, horrified fascination. Flex ... and loosen. Wax ... and wane. An infection announcing itself to the sky. She looked at the pulsing sullen light with helpless, horrified fascination. Flex ... and loosen. Wax ... and wane. An infection announcing itself to the sky.

"Come to me now, if you'd come at all, Susannah of New York," said Mia. She was dressed in a heavy serape and what looked like leather pants that stopped just below the knee. Her shins were scabbed and scratched. She wore thick-soled huaraches huaraches on her feet. "For the King can fascinate, even at a distance. We're on the Discordia side of the Castle. Would you like to end your life on the needles at the foot of this wall? If he fascinates you and tells you to jump, you'll do just that. Your bossy gunslinger-men aren't here to help you now, are they? Nay, nay. You're on your own, so y'are." on her feet. "For the King can fascinate, even at a distance. We're on the Discordia side of the Castle. Would you like to end your life on the needles at the foot of this wall? If he fascinates you and tells you to jump, you'll do just that. Your bossy gunslinger-men aren't here to help you now, are they? Nay, nay. You're on your own, so y'are."

Susannah tried to pull her gaze from that steadily pulsing glow and at first couldn't do it. Panic bloomed in her mind (if he fascinates you and tells you to jump) and she seized it as a tool, compressing it to an edge with which to cut through her frightened immobility. For a moment nothing happened, and then she threw herself backward so violently in the shabby little cart that she had to clutch the edge in order to keep herself from tumbling to the cobbles. The wind gusted again, blowing stone-dust and grit against her face and into her hair, seeming to mock her.

But that pull ... fascination ... glammer glammer ... whatever it had been, it was gone. ... whatever it had been, it was gone.

She looked at the dog-cart (so she thought it, whether that was the right name or not) and saw at once how it worked. Simple enough, too. With no mule to draw it, she she was the mule. It was miles from the sweet, light little chair they'd found in Topeka, and light-years from being able to walk on the strong legs that had conveyed her from the little park to the hotel. God, she missed having legs. Missed it already. was the mule. It was miles from the sweet, light little chair they'd found in Topeka, and light-years from being able to walk on the strong legs that had conveyed her from the little park to the hotel. God, she missed having legs. Missed it already.

But you made do.

She seized hold of the cart's wooden wheels, strained, produced no movement, strained harder. Just as she was deciding she'd have to get out of the chair and hop-crawl her ignominious way to where Mia waited, the wheels turned with a groaning, oilless creak. She rumbled toward Mia, who was standing behind a squat stone pillar. There were a great many of these, marching away into the dark along a curve. Susannah supposed that once upon a time (before the world had moved on), archers would have stood behind them for protection while the assaulting army fired their arrows or red-hot catapults or whatever you called them. Then they'd step into the gaps and fire their own weapons. How long ago had that been? What world was was this? And how close to the Dark Tower? this? And how close to the Dark Tower?

Susannah had an idea it might be very close indeed.

She pushed the balky, gawky, protesting cart out of the wind and looked at the woman in the serape, ashamed to be so out of breath after moving less than a dozen yards but unable to help panting. She drew down deep breaths of the dank and somehow stony air. The pillars-she had an idea they were called merlons, or something like that-were on her right. On her left was a circular pool of darkness surrounded by crumbling stone walls. Across the way, two towers rose high above the outer wall, but one had been shattered, as if by lightning or some powerful explosive.

"This where we stand is the allure," Mia said. "The wall-walk of the Castle on the Abyss, once known as Castle Discordia. You said you wanted fresh air. I hope this does ya, as they say in the Calla. This is far beyond there, Susannah, this is deep in End-World, near the place where your quest ends, for good or for ill." She paused and then said, "For ill, almost surely. Yet I care nothing for that, no, not I. I am Mia, daughter of none, mother of one. I care for my chap and nothing more. Chap be enough for me, aye! Would you palaver? Fine. I'll tell you what I may and be true. Why not? What is it to me, one way or the other?" almost surely. Yet I care nothing for that, no, not I. I am Mia, daughter of none, mother of one. I care for my chap and nothing more. Chap be enough for me, aye! Would you palaver? Fine. I'll tell you what I may and be true. Why not? What is it to me, one way or the other?"

Susannah looked around. When she faced in toward the center of the castle-what she supposed was the courtyard-she caught an aroma of ancient rot. Mia saw her wrinkle her nose and smiled.

"Aye, they're long gone, and the machines the later ones left behind are mostly stilled, but the smell of their dying lingers, doesn't it? The smell of death always does. Ask your friend the gunslinger, the true true gunslinger. He knows, for he's dealt his share of it. He is responsible for much, Susannah of New York. The guilt of worlds hangs around his neck like a rotting corpse. Yet he's gone far enough with his dry and lusty determination to finally draw the eyes of the great. He will be destroyed, aye, and all those who stand with him. I carry his doom in my own belly, and I care not." Her chin jutted forward in the starlight. Beneath the serape her breasts heaved ... and, Susannah saw, her belly curved. In this world, at least, Mia was very clearly pregnant. Ready to burst, in fact. gunslinger. He knows, for he's dealt his share of it. He is responsible for much, Susannah of New York. The guilt of worlds hangs around his neck like a rotting corpse. Yet he's gone far enough with his dry and lusty determination to finally draw the eyes of the great. He will be destroyed, aye, and all those who stand with him. I carry his doom in my own belly, and I care not." Her chin jutted forward in the starlight. Beneath the serape her breasts heaved ... and, Susannah saw, her belly curved. In this world, at least, Mia was very clearly pregnant. Ready to burst, in fact.

"Ask your questions, have at me," Mia said. "Just remember, we exist in the other world, too, the one where we're bound together. We're lying on a bed in the inn, as if asleep ... but we don't sleep, do we, Susannah? Nay. And when the telephone rings, when my friends call, we leave this place and go to them. If your questions have been asked and answered, fine. If not, that's also fine. Ask. Or ... are you not a gunslinger?" Her lips curved in a disdainful smile. Susannah thought she was pert, yes, pert indeed. Especially for someone who wouldn't be able to find her way from Forty-sixth Street to Forty-seventh in the world they had to go back to. "So shoot! shoot! I should say." I should say."

Susannah looked once more into the darkened, broken well that was the castle's soft center, where lay its keeps and lists, its barbicans and murder holes, its God-knew-what. She had taken a course in medieval history and knew some of the terms, but that had been long ago. Surely there was a banqueting hall somewhere down there, one that she herself had supplied with food, at least for awhile. But her catering days were done. If Mia tried to push her too hard or too far, she'd find that out for herself.

Meantime, she thought she'd start with something relatively easy.

"If this is the Castle on the Abyss," she said, "where's the Abyss? I don't see anything out that way except for a minefield of rocks. And that red glow on the horizon."

Mia, her shoulder-length black hair flying out behind her (not a bit of kink in that hair, as there was in Susannah's; Mia's was like silk), pointed across the inner chasm below them to the far wall, where the towers rose and the allure continued its curve.

"This is the inner keep," she said. "Beyond it is the village of Fedic, now deserted, all dead of the Red Death a thousand years ago and more. Beyond that-"

"The Red Death?" Susannah asked, startled (also frightened in spite of herself). "Poe's Red Death? Like in the story?" And why not? Hadn't they already wandered into-and then back out of-L. Frank Baum's Oz? What came next? The White Rabbit and the Red Queen? Red Death? Like in the story?" And why not? Hadn't they already wandered into-and then back out of-L. Frank Baum's Oz? What came next? The White Rabbit and the Red Queen?

"Lady, I know not. All I can tell you is that beyond the deserted village is the outer wall, and beyond the outer wall is a great crack in the earth filled with monsters that cozen, diddle, increase, and plot to escape. Once there was a bridge across, but it fell long ago. 'In the time before counting,' as 'tis said. They're horrors that might drive an ordinary man or woman mad at a glance."

She favored Susannah with a glance of her own. A decidedly satiric one.

"But not a gunslinger. gunslinger. Surely not one such as Surely not one such as thee. thee."

"Why do you mock me?" Susannah asked quietly.

Mia looked startled, then grim. "Was it my idea to come here? To stand in this miserable cold where the King's Eye dirties the horizon and sullies the very cheek of the moon with its filthy light? Nay, lady! 'Twas you, so harry me not with your tongue!"

Susannah could have responded that it hadn't been her idea to catch preg with a demon's baby in the first place, but this would be a terrible time to get into one of those yes-you-did, no-I-didn't squabbles. idea to catch preg with a demon's baby in the first place, but this would be a terrible time to get into one of those yes-you-did, no-I-didn't squabbles.

"I wasn't scolding," Susannah said, "only asking."

Mia made an impatient shooing gesture with her hand as if to say Don't split hairs, Don't split hairs, and half-turned away. Under her breath she said, "I didn't go to Morehouse or and half-turned away. Under her breath she said, "I didn't go to Morehouse or no no house. And in any case I'll bear my chap, do you hear? Whichever way the cards fall. Bear him and feed him!" house. And in any case I'll bear my chap, do you hear? Whichever way the cards fall. Bear him and feed him!"

All at once Susannah understood a great deal. Mia mocked because she was afraid. In spite of all she knew, so much of her was was Susannah. Susannah.

I didn't go to Morehouse or no house, for instance; that was from for instance; that was from Invisible Man, Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison. When Mia had bought into Susannah, she had purchased at least two personalities for the price of one. It was Mia, after all, who'd brought Detta out of retirement (or perhaps deep hibernation), and it was Detta who was particularly fond of that line, which expressed so much of the Negro's deep-held disdain for and suspicion of what was sometimes called "the finer post-war Negro education." Not to Morehouse or by Ralph Ellison. When Mia had bought into Susannah, she had purchased at least two personalities for the price of one. It was Mia, after all, who'd brought Detta out of retirement (or perhaps deep hibernation), and it was Detta who was particularly fond of that line, which expressed so much of the Negro's deep-held disdain for and suspicion of what was sometimes called "the finer post-war Negro education." Not to Morehouse or no no house; I know what I know, in other words, I heard it through the grapevine, I got it on the earie, dearie, I picked it up on the jungle telegraph. house; I know what I know, in other words, I heard it through the grapevine, I got it on the earie, dearie, I picked it up on the jungle telegraph.

"Mia," she said now. "Whose chap is it besides yours? What demon was his father, do you know?"

Mia grinned. It wasn't a grin Susannah liked. There was too much Detta in it; too much laughing, bitter knowledge. "Aye, lady, I know. And you're right. It was a demon got him on you, a very great demon indeed, say true! A human one! It had to have been so, for know you that true demons, those left on the shore of these worlds which spin around the Tower when the Prim Prim receded, are sterile. And for a very good reason." receded, are sterile. And for a very good reason."

"Then how-"

"Your dinh is the father of my chap," Mia said. "Roland of Gilead, aye, he. Steven Deschain finally has his grandson, although he lies rotten in his grave and knows it not."

Susannah was goggling at her, unmindful of the cold wind rushing out of the Discordia wilderness. " wind rushing out of the Discordia wilderness. "Roland ...? It can't be! He was beside me when the demon was It can't be! He was beside me when the demon was in in me, he was pulling Jake through from the house on Dutch Hill and fucking was the me, he was pulling Jake through from the house on Dutch Hill and fucking was the last last thing on his mind ..." She trailed off, thinking of the baby she'd seen in the Dogan. Thinking of those eyes. Those blue bombardier's eyes. thing on his mind ..." She trailed off, thinking of the baby she'd seen in the Dogan. Thinking of those eyes. Those blue bombardier's eyes. No. No, I refuse to believe it. No. No, I refuse to believe it.

"All the same, Roland is his father," Mia insisted. "And when the chap comes, I shall name him from your own mind, Susannah of New York; from what you learned at the same time you learned of merlons and courtyards and tre-bouchets and barbicans. Why not? 'Tis a good name, and fair."

Professor Murray's Introduction to Medieval History, that's what she's talking about.

"I will name him Mordred," said she. "He'll grow quickly, my darling boy, quicker than human, after his demon nature. He'll grow strong. The avatar of every gunslinger that ever was. And so, like the Mordred of your tale, will he slay his father."

And with that, Mia, daughter of none, raised her arms to the star-shot sky and screamed, although whether in sorrow, terror, or joy, Susannah could not tell.

TWO.

"Hunker," Mia said. "I have this."

From beneath her serape she produced a bundle of grapes and a paper sack filled with orange pokeberries as swollen as her belly. Where, Susannah wondered, had the fruit come from? Was their shared body sleepwalking back in the Plaza-Park Hotel? Had there perhaps been a fruit basket she hadn't noticed? Or were these the fruits of pure imagination?

Not that it mattered. Any appetite she might have had was gone, robbed by Mia's claim. The fact that it was impossible somehow only added to the monstrosity of the idea. And she couldn't stop thinking of the baby she'd seen in utero in utero on one of those TV screens. Those blue eyes. on one of those TV screens. Those blue eyes.

No. It can't be, do you hear? It cannot be! cannot be!

The wind coming through the notches between the merlons was chilling her to the bone. She swung off the seat of the cart and settled herself against the allure wall beside Mia, listening to the wind's constant whine and looking up at the alien stars.

Mia was cramming her mouth with grapes. Juice ran from one corner of her mouth while she spat seeds from the other corner with the rapidity of machine-gun bullets. She swallowed, wiped her chin, and said: "It can. It can be. And more: it is. Are you still glad you came, Susannah of New York, or do you wish you'd left your curiosity unsatisfied?"

"If I'm gonna have a baby I didn't hump for, I'm gonna know everything about that baby that I can. Do you understand that?"

Mia blinked at the deliberate crudity, then nodded. "If you like."

"Tell me how it can be Roland's. And if you want me to believe anything you tell me, you better start by making me believe this."

Mia dug her fingernails into the skin of a pokeberry, stripped it away in one quick gesture, and ate the fruit down greedily. She considered opening another, then simply rolled it between her palms (those disconcertingly white palms), warming it. After enough of this, Susannah knew, the fruit would split its skin on its own. Then she began.

THREE.

"How many Beams do there be, Susannah of New York?"

"Six," Susannah said. "At least, there were. I guess now there are only two that-"

Mia waved a hand impatiently, as if to say Don't waste my time. Don't waste my time. "Six, aye. And when the Beams were created out of that greater Discordia, the soup of creation some (including the Manni) call the Over and some call the "Six, aye. And when the Beams were created out of that greater Discordia, the soup of creation some (including the Manni) call the Over and some call the Prim, Prim, what made them?" what made them?"

"I don't know," Susannah said. "Was it God, do you think?"

"Perhaps there is a God, but the Beams rose from the Prim Prim on the airs of magic, Susannah, the true magic which passed long ago. Was it God that made magic, or was it magic that made God? I know not. It's a question for philosophers, and mothering's my job. But once upon a time all was Discordia and from it, strong and all crossing at a single unifying point, came the six Beams. There was magic to hold them steady for eternity, but when the magic left from all there is but the Dark Tower, which some have called Can Calyx, the Hall of Resumption, men despaired. When the Age of Magic passed, the Age of Machines came." on the airs of magic, Susannah, the true magic which passed long ago. Was it God that made magic, or was it magic that made God? I know not. It's a question for philosophers, and mothering's my job. But once upon a time all was Discordia and from it, strong and all crossing at a single unifying point, came the six Beams. There was magic to hold them steady for eternity, but when the magic left from all there is but the Dark Tower, which some have called Can Calyx, the Hall of Resumption, men despaired. When the Age of Magic passed, the Age of Machines came."

"North Central Positronics," Susannah murmured. "Dipolar computers. Slo-trans engines." She paused. "Blaine the Mono. But not in our world."

"No? Do you say your world is exempt? What about the sign in the hotel lobby?" The pokeberry popped. Mia stripped it and gobbled it, drizzling juice through a knowing grin.

"I had an idea you couldn't read," Susannah said. This was beside the point, but it was all she could think of to say. Her mind kept returning to the image of the baby; to those brilliant blue eyes. Gunslinger's eyes.

"Aye, but I know my numbers, and when it comes to your mind, I read very well. Do you say you don't recall the sign in the hotel lobby? Will you tell me that?"

Of course she remembered. According to the sign, the Plaza-Park would be part of an organization called Sombra/North Central in just another month. And when she'd said Not in our world, Not in our world, of course she had been thinking of 1964-the world of black-and-white television, absurdly bulky room-sized computers, and Alabama cops more than willing to sic the dogs on black marchers for voting rights. Things had changed greatly in the intervening thirty-five years. The Eurasian desk clerk's combination TV and typewriter, for instance-how did Susannah know that wasn't a dipolar computer run by some form of slo-trans engine? She did not. of course she had been thinking of 1964-the world of black-and-white television, absurdly bulky room-sized computers, and Alabama cops more than willing to sic the dogs on black marchers for voting rights. Things had changed greatly in the intervening thirty-five years. The Eurasian desk clerk's combination TV and typewriter, for instance-how did Susannah know that wasn't a dipolar computer run by some form of slo-trans engine? She did not.

"Go on," she told Mia.

Mia shrugged. "You doom yourselves, Susannah. You seem positively bent on it, and the root is always the same: your faith fails you, and you replace it with rational thought. But there is no love in thought, nothing that lasts in deduction, only death in rationalism." your faith fails you, and you replace it with rational thought. But there is no love in thought, nothing that lasts in deduction, only death in rationalism."

"What does this have to do with your chap?"

"I don't know. There's much I don't know." She raised a hand, forestalling Susannah before Susannah could speak. "And no, I'm not not playing for time, or trying to lead you away from what you'd know; I'm speaking as my heart tells me. Would you hear or not?" playing for time, or trying to lead you away from what you'd know; I'm speaking as my heart tells me. Would you hear or not?"

Susannah nodded. She'd hear this ... for a little longer, at least. But if it didn't turn back to the baby soon, she'd turn it back in that direction herself.

"The magic went away. Maerlyn retired to his cave in one world, the sword of Eld gave way to the pistols of the gunslingers in another, and the magic went away. And across the arc of years, great alchemists, great scientists, and great-what?-technicians, I think? Great men of thought, anyway, that's what I mean, great men of deduction deduction-these came together and created the machines which ran the Beams. They were great machines but they were mortal mortal machines. They replaced the machines. They replaced the magic magic with with machines, machines, do ya kennit, and now the machines are failing. In some worlds, great plagues have decimated whole populations." do ya kennit, and now the machines are failing. In some worlds, great plagues have decimated whole populations."

Susannah nodded. "We saw one of those," she said quietly. "They called it the superflu."

"The Crimson King's Breakers are only hurrying along a process that's already in train. The machines are going mad. You've seen this for yourself. The men believed there would always be more men like them to make more machines. None of them foresaw what's happened. This ... this universal exhaustion."

"The world has moved on."