Unfound

Collision and Palaver

"Now he lifted Roland's gun and the Barony Coach suddenly filled with its thunder. He put all six rounds into the hole, fanning the hammer with the flat of his hand in the way Roland had shown them, knowing only that this was right, this was proper. . . this was ka, goddammit, fucking ka, it was the way you ended things if you were a gunslinger. He was one of Roland's tribe, all right, his soul was probably damned to the deepest pit of hell, and he wouldn't have changed it for all the heroin in Asia."

The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass

Eddie Dean had thought he'd heard someone walking behind them for days. Roland had known it. From the moment Severus Snape had spied on their hurried lunch outside of the place where they had faced the man called Oz (who had really turned out to be Marten Broadcloak, or as he called himself now, Randall Flagg or maybe Richard Fannin) and Jake's dreaded Tick-Tock Man. Any of them would have gladly shot the Tick-Tock man, after his abuse of Jake in the City of Lud, but it had been Eddie and Susannah that had actually done the deed, and they knew much less than Roland (or Oy, for that matter) of Jake's ill-treatment at the hands of Tick-Tock and Gasher. They had been preoccupied with Blaine the Mono.

Roland was perhaps less surprised than the others on the subject of the suicidal but brilliant monorail; Eddie, who he often thought of as ka-mai, or ka's fool, used Blaine as another subject to joke about when he ridiculed how this world clashed with his own. The Nozz-A-La incident today showed just that, though it had actually made Jake laugh, and when Jake laughed, Roland didn't mind. And in the end, he had to grudgingly admit, it had been Eddie's foolishness that had saved them from Blaine.

"Say, kiddies!" Eddie had shouted in a bright voice, not completely devoid of hysteria, after he had fried Blaine's circuits and they had crashed violently into the Cradle of Topeka, Kansas. "Today we're studying Wacky Geography of Mid-World. You see, boys and girls, in Mid-World you start in New York, travel southeast to Kansas, and then continue along the Path of the Beam until you come to the Dark Tower . . . which happens to be smack in the middle of everything. First, fight giant lobsters! Next, ride the psychotic train! And then, after a visit to our snackbar for a popkin or two. . ."

He shook his head. He knew Eddie had a serious side, too, which the former heroin junkie would bring forward when he needed to. In fact, Eddie's more serious side seemed to be associated with his junkie days, when Roland had met him smuggling cocaine through customs for Enrico Balazar in the city of New York in the year of 1987. Then the drug's hold had loosened (not after terrifying withdrawals on Eddie's part - one of which had ended with a knife at Roland's throat - but Roland had been too sick at the time to care much), and Eddie Dean had become the man Roland Deschain could now call his fellow gunslinger and friend, even if he was like Cuthbert Allgood and would die laughing like the fool that he was.

It was Susannah that was worrying him. She had been quiet and aloof after they had escaped from Blaine, and she had been displaying all the signs of wanting to tell him something and not knowing how to say it. He was reminded of when he had first brought Susannah over into this world from 1963 New York (although she had been Odetta Holmes and Detta Walker then), and how they had finally managed to bring her two personalities together into one, Susannah Dean. Detta Walker (the crazy bitch) occasionally turned up, but her presence was kinder now that she was here to help. He could always tell which was her, of course, by her bogus accent (All God's chillun got shoes, she had said), but Detta was no longer the murderous fury that she had once been.

And Jake, who had been transported into this world first by his death, to meet Roland at the Way Station; Jake, who Roland had then let fall to his second death beneath the mountains; Jake, who Roland had saved from ever dying in his own world by taking possession of Jack Mort; Jake, who had made his mind turn against itself as both memory tracks (Jake died; no, Jake lived) warred with their own memories; and then, at last, Jake, who Eddie had pulled from the final door, safe and sound into the world he was in to stay. Jake, among all of the ka-tet, had been with Roland the longest - Jack Mort had pushed him into the street in front of a car one fateful morning - and then in another track of his memory, which had happened just the same, Mort had not. He had tried to explain to Eddie and Susannah many times what it was like to know two things at the same time, but could not find the words to describe it. Letting Jake die once had been the hardest thing he ever had to do; he could not do it again, under any circumstances. He could still hear Jake's dying words in his head: Go then, there are other worlds than these. . .

The boy was walking along now, impervious to his thoughts, with Oy trotting along beside him. The billy-bumbler had proved valuable in the passing days, and Roland was more than convinced that the little creature loved Jake as much as he did. He was getting more talkative with every day, more so than any bumbler Roland had ever come into contact with, and he knew that Oy was one of the most intelligent of his kind. Meeting a bumbler that still knew how to "talk" (all they really did was mimic sounds) was no coincidence, he knew, and Oy had proved to be a godsend in Lud and in the Wizard's Palace.

"Ake!" the bumbler barked, as Jake went off the path rather suddenly as if he'd seen something. "Olan!" Oy turned his gold-ringed eyes on Roland as if reprimanding him. Jake was gone for a few more minutes and then Roland heard his familiar step crunching through the leaves.

Jake trotted up to Roland, looking somewhat perplexed. "Hey, Roland, look what I found." He held out the canteen-like object that Snape had transfigured only days before. "And it's half full." The boy shook it as if to emphasize his point. "See, I thought I heard something in the trees, and. . ."

"Jake, it's unwise to go off by yourself. I would have thought you learned that in Lud." He paused and looked at Eddie, standing by his wife. "However, I've known we were being followed for several days now. I think Eddie has, too. I'm pretty sure whoever it is means no harm, but I can't be certain. We should wait for him to show himself."

"Jeee-zuss," Eddie drawled, "I knew he was there, Roland. I was expecting you to tell me his mother's maiden name and phone number." Roland ignored him. Jake stifled a grin.

"My mother's maiden name is Prince," said a quiet voice from behind them. "But I don't really see how that would be of any help." Oy barked once, and then was silent. Roland turned and inspected the tall, black-haired man coming towards them without much alarm. He'd heard his footstep before the man had even come out of the trees. His hair hung to his shoulders, and his black eyes gazed coldly at them. However, Roland also detected a glimmer of interest in those eyes, and unlike Harry Potter before him; he sensed that this man was capable of feeling. His accent was one Roland had never heard, but he suspected that it may be an accent of the provinces up towards Kashamin.

"Is that an . . . English accent?" Susannah asked, perplexed. The man nodded.

"Sooo . . ." Eddie said, his voice dripping with amusement, "when are you from, my friend? World War II era?" He inspected the man's long black robes. "The Dark Ages, maybe?"

"1999," he said clearly. "My name is Severus Snape." Jake looked extremely nervous and had turned a bit pale, but he said nothing.

"Jake, honey, what's wrong?" Susannah asked gently.

The boy just shook his head. "Nineteen," he muttered, but would say no more, despite Eddie's prodding. Roland, too, was unsure of what to make of the situation, but didn't feel comfortable bringing it up until he knew more.

Eddie looked a bit disconcerted, but said, "Ok, kid, chill out." He turned back to Snape. "So, is this how they dress in the nineties? You see, in the '87 we were dressing a little back in time, but we hadn't quite gone medieval yet."

Snape shook his head, and Roland thought he could see the hint of a smile on his face. "I'm from the wizarding world of Britain," he said simply, as if it explained everything. When Eddie simply looked at him imploringly, he continued, "We live apart from the Muggles and dress in more . . . traditional . . . wear."

"Muggles?" Susannah asked, as if the word was a bit distasteful.

"Non-magical people. I take it each one of you are."

Susannah grimaced. "Sounds like good old-fashioned racism all over again to me." She glanced around at the others. "Any of you have any magical powers I don't know about?"

The tet looked around at one another. "I can't do magic," Jake said after a length of time, with a shrug of his small shoulders and a grin.

"I can!" Eddie exclaimed in the booming announcer's voice he often reverted to when he was being sarcastic. "Have any of you seen the quarter trick?" He pulled a bullet from his belt and proceeded to maneuver it into the 'magic trick' where he pulled it from behind Jake's ear. "See, it can be done with a bullet, too, as we're lacking for change here in Mid-World. . ."

"Eddie, stop with your foolishness," Roland said, not unkindly. Telling Eddie that particular phrase was a habit by now.

"Yeah, that's what we call sleight of hand, sugar," Susannah said, with a hint of Detta Walker gleaming in her dark eyes. Eddie opened his mouth as if to protest, but Snape had aimed his wand at the bullet in Eddie's hand, and he shut his mouth immediately as the bullet rose in the air and hovered above their heads.

"I think it's time we had a little palaver, Roland," he said after a moment.

Roland nodded. "I think that would be wise, Eddie." He turned to Snape, his eyes curious. "You are not Marten, or Maerlyn, or whoever he says he is these days. I can see that. However, I have been taught not to trust Wizards or magicians over the course of time." Then he turned and began stalking off to build their campfire, as it was already getting dark.

"You know," Eddie said, beginning to tramp after him with Susannah, Jake, Oy, and Snape in tow, "this has been an interesting couple of days. We defeated the world's smartest computer, rode in the world's fastest train - and all at the same time! Then we got to Kansas from the city of Lud - which," he turned to Snape, "I hope isn't in your world, because it's not a lot to look at, man. Then, we hiked along the Kansas turnpike, went through the fabric of reality with bullets in our ears, and hiked right up to the Land of Oz. By way of the turnpike, of course. Oh, and let's not forget Roland's huge flashback right in the middle, which seemed to last a couple days and when we went to stand up only seemed to have lasted about five minutes."

"Time's screwy over here," Jake said, wrinkling his nose.

"Rewy," Oy muttered wrinkling his velvety muzzle in imitation of Jake.

Susannah grinned. "He's goan be stringin' full sentences together 'fore long, Jake." Jake returned her grin with one of his own, bright on his young face.

"Good boy!" he exclaimed, for no apparent reason.

"Oy!" the bumbler agreed, looking up at him with his enchanting eyes.

"We're all from New York," Eddie was telling Snape. The other man looked at him with eyes that didn't seem all that surprised. "Just different years. I'm from 1987, Suze is from 1963, and Jake's from 1977. We found this little guy -" he gestured at Oy. "-- shortly after pulling Jake out of a doorway I drew in the dirt." Snape raised his eyebrows. "Well see, there was a demon. . ." Susannah rolled her eyes.

"Leave the storytellin' to Roland, honey."

"And Roland," Eddie continued as if he hadn't heard, "is actually from around here, in good old Gilead, although he did say it was . . . how far Suze? Twenty years from here?" Susannah made a noncommittal grunt and Eddie went on, "Anyway, the guy's been wandering to this 'Dark Tower' for God knows how many years. . ."

"Around twenty, I'd guess," Jake said with another snigger.

"Yeah, Jake, but he said his palaver with Walter was about a hundred years. . ." Jake eyed him doubtfully. "and he aged ten years overnight. Don't forget that little gem. So. . ." he did some labored math, "that puts Roland at about a hundred and forty, give or take a few years.

"This. . . palaver. . . you speak of," said Snape, unfamiliar with the word, "This man Walter could have put an aging spell or a sleeping spell on him, correct?"

"Well," said Jake, "Walter is a wizard. . ."

They had reached the place where Roland was beginning to build the fire for the night, his face a mixture of worry and a small amount of anger. Snape walked up to him fearlessly, leaving Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy standing behind him. He looked Roland directly in the gunslinger's ice-blue eyes and said:

"I'm not here to harm you. I think you know that. You want to know why I'm here and how it happened, and to be honest, so do I."

Jake looked startled. "Hypnotize him, Roland! Like you did to me at the Way Station!" When Jake had been pushed in front of the old Cadillac in 1977, he had died and arrived at the Way Station, where he'd met Roland for the first time. The gunslinger considered and then turned to the sallow man before him.

"Do you have any objection?"

The man considered for a moment, and then shook his head. Roland nodded and pulled a bullet from his pocket, and began rolling it along the backs of his knuckles, an old gunslinger trick. Snape watched, amused, and then coldly as the emotion left his face and was replaced by a calmness that few ever saw on that cold face.

"Roland. . ."

"Shut up, Eddie."

"Voldemort," Snape said softly, his face in a sneer. Eddie looked doubtful, and Jake looked rapturous, like a student studying a fascinating subject. "He killed me," Snape continued. "Nagini bit me in the neck, and I was bleeding to death. . . and then Potter . . . he appeared from under than cloak of his, and I gave him the memories. . . the memories of his mother. . ."

His black eyes opened, fully awake now, and a change could be heard in his speech that signified he was no longer in a trance. No calmness remained on his face, only anger. "I served under a dark wizard, as a spy for the light. The leader of the light, a man named Dumbledore, asked me to kill him, as he was already dying and it would save a boy's soul. . ." His eyes flitted sideways and then back to his audience, watching intently. "I continued under the Dark Lord, but after he realized that Dumbledore's wand was in fact the powerful Elder Wand, and he killed me, as I was its master. Or so he thought." He paused, and then said, "I have a story to tell."

Roland nodded. "I thought you would, but let's wait. I know you haven't been here long, but I've had enough storytelling lately."