The Road to The Dark Tower (25 page)

Callahan’s strong beliefs concerning venal sins are hard to rationalize with his own suicide in Detroit. Roland doesn’t know enough about Catholicism to raise this issue, though, and arguments about saving Susannah’s life or all of creation won’t sway Callahan. Roland regrets raising the subject, for in doing so he’s eliminated a possible solution to their problem. Callahan tells him, “It won’t be first time you mistook your will for ka, would it?”

Eddie is nervous about the passage of time in New York. He believes that the world containing the rose is a special reality where they can’t double back. Each time they cross over, it will be later. They can’t afford to miss the July 15 deadline.

He has a simpler plan than the one they discussed outside the Calla. He believes Tower will sell them the vacant lot for a token amount—a dollar—because he’s been waiting for them to come along. Even though Tower thinks he’d be better off without the lot, he’s kept it all these years, in much the same way that Father Callahan has guarded the black Wizard’s Glass.

Eddie and Roland take Black Thirteen to the Doorway Cave in Jake’s bowling bag. Roland waits in the cave with bullets in his ears to block out the cave’s voices.

Three weeks have passed since their last trip to New York. Eddie finds two of Balazar’s thugs, George Biondi and Jack Andolini, threatening to burn Tower’s valuable books unless he will make a verbal commitment to sell the lot to them after their option expires. Eddie surprises the men, whom he knows from his own time, though they won’t know him for another decade. He uses his knowledge of Andolini’s family to intimidate the thug before sending him back to Balazar. He’s sufficiently brutal to make Balazar’s chief lieutenant believe the message he is to deliver: Calvin Tower is off-limits. Eddie invents a new company and tells Andolini that Tower will be selling the lot to Tet Corporation, not Sombra.

After Andolini is sent on his way, Tower comments that some of Eddie’s diction reminds him of language from a book by Benjamin Slightman Jr.
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The cover shows a building that resembles a wooden Quonset hut. On the title page, the book is called
The Hogan,
but the cover says
The Dogan,
a word that doesn’t exist. Tower tells Eddie that this and other printing mistakes make the book valuable.
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Tower begrudgingly agrees to sell the vacant lot for a dollar, with the promise of fair market value later. Aaron Deepneau is a lawyer, as ka would have it, and Eddie tells Tower to get him to draw up the contract. Once he recovers from his scare, though, Tower has second thoughts, displaying the stubbornness that kept him from selling to Sombra long ago.

He finally agrees that if Eddie can tell him the name on a piece of paper in an old envelope with Tower’s great-great-great-grandfather’s name and the
UNFOUND
hieroglyphics on it, he’ll do as Eddie asks. Another riddle for Eddie to solve, this one affecting the fate of all of creation. He guesses true: The paper says “Roland Deschain, of Gilead, The line of ELD, GUNSLINGER.”

Eddie knows how Balazar will react to Andolini’s report and warns Tower to get out of New York until July 15. Tower resists until Eddie finally convinces him of the danger he’s in. Eddie instructs him to have Deepneau write the zip code of where they’re going on the vacant lot’s fence. Before Eddie leaves, Tower convinces him to transfer a shelf of his most valuable books through the
UNFOUND
door. He correctly assumes that Balazar will burn down the store when he discovers Tower has left town.

Jake takes it upon himself to figure out why Benny Slightman’s father and Andy are sneaking around at night. Oy leads him along the path Slightman took toward Thunderclap, where they find a Quonset hut resembling the Dogan from Benjamin Slightman’s novel.

Inside the North Central Positronics outpost—which he accesses by guessing the entry code—Jake finds a bank of monitors. Of those that still work, some show different parts of the Calla, explaining how the Wolves know where the townspeople hide their children or if they plan to resist. Fortunately, the ka-tet held most of its palavers out of sight of these cameras.

On another monitor Jake sees Andy and Slightman approaching. From his closet hiding place, he learns that Slightman is cooperating with Andy to guarantee Benny’s safety. His son’s twin sister is dead, making Benny especially vulnerable to the Wolves.

Andy relays an intelligence report to Finli O’Tego at Algul Siento
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—where the Breakers are being held—and reveals the real reason he warns the townspeople about the Wolves: He enjoys the grief it brings them. “Each tear’s a drop of gold.” Shortly after meeting the robot, Eddie had
suspected Andy’s pleasure at the discomfort of humans, but he didn’t follow up on it.

Jake understands the conflict of duty. In spite of their friendship, he must report Benny’s father as a traitor, thinking it might be a worse betrayal than when Roland let him fall to his death. His dilemma is complicated by the fact that he’s never been good at making friends his own age and now he has a good one he will have to let down.

After he reports what he learned, he begs Roland to spare Slightman. Roland says he’ll do what he can, but he’s not sure it’s a mercy because Slightman will be through in the Calla if they win.

As the day of the battle draws near, Roland sends Callahan to New York to retrieve the zip code of Tower’s destination. Only one day has elapsed, but The Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind has been torched. Callahan hears the voice of the rose for the first time and understands the nature of Roland’s quest. He feels part of their ka-tet.

While Callahan is in New York, Roland finds
’Salem’s Lot
on Tower’s bookshelf in the cave. He keeps his discovery secret—even from readers—not wanting to distract the ka-tet from the upcoming battle.

Eddie accompanies Callahan to the Doorway Cave the next time. While Callahan delivers a note to Tower and Deepneau in Stoneham, Maine, Eddie notices something sewn into the lining of the bowling bag Jake found in the vacant lot, but the voices in the cave distract him from exploring further.
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Callahan realizes that he can no longer see Eddie through the open doorway. He returns just in time to save Eddie from jumping off the edge of the cliff, having been convinced by the voices that he could fly to the Tower.

The time comes to learn how the Calla-folken want to proceed. Roland gathers them at the pavilion where he danced the commala. Tian, plagued by worries about what he’s set into motion, fears Roland will perform the death dance this time.

After asking the first two questions again, Roland poses the third, crucial question: Do you seek aid and succor from us? The townspeople respond with a resounding yes, except for a few dissenting voices and abstentions. Much of the plan Roland lays out is a lie, since he knows that Slightman will report what he says to whoever is in charge of the Wolves.

With Tian’s help, the night before the battle Eddie sets a trap for Andy and shoots out the robot’s eyes. He guesses the robot’s access code based
on Jake’s experience at the Dogan and shuts him down permanently. Rosa suggests they bury him beneath the floor of Father Callahan’s privy. Roland believes Andy killed Benny’s sister to make someone in the village vulnerable to being coerced into spying on his own people, and suspects that the robot has been doing something similar for generations.

Slightman realizes he’s been uncovered, partly because of what they’ve done to Andy and partly because he’s sensed a change in the way Jake relates to him. The morning of the battle, he asks Roland what will become of him. Roland tells him that if he fights hard to save the children, and the ka-tet defeats the Wolves, Roland won’t expose him as a traitor. However, he says the best thing that could happen is for Slightman to die a hero. That way there’s no chance Benny will ever find out that his father sold out for a pair of glasses and some other trinkets.

Slightman tells Roland about the Breakers,
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humans with extrasensory powers who eat normal food but also need something extra to nourish their mental talents. The only source of this brain food is twins, who possess a chemical that links them mind to mind. Slightman doesn’t realize that the Breakers are working to destroy the Tower.

Finally, Roland reveals what he and the ka-tet have known since Eddie’s talk with Gran-Pere: The Wolves and their horses are robots. Their hoods cover tiny rotating dishes like the one atop Shardik and his robotic menagerie.

The moment a cloud of dust in the distance heralds the Wolves’ arrival, things start to go wrong. Jake, Benny and two other children are trapped in the open while leaving a false trail. Roland knows what’s happening but leaves Jake to handle the situation. He can’t justify risking the hundred children hiding in the rice fields for four, even if one of them is his surrogate son.

Roland’s fears about Susannah bear out. Her water breaks before the battle begins. Mia tries to take control, but Susannah fights her. She promises to help Mia with the baby if Mia will allow Susannah to finish her part. Rather than struggle in the middle of a war, Mia agrees.

The Wolves enter Roland’s trap. The gunslingers and the Sisters of Oriza, a total of seven defenders, arise from the blind and attack their sixty-one opponents (19 upside-down), dispatching many of the Wolves before they realize they’ve been misled.

Margaret Eisenhart is the first defender killed, beheaded by one of the Wolves’ glow sticks, reminiscent of a
Star Wars
light saber.
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Her head lands next to Benny Slightman, surprising him into leaping from cover only to be destroyed by a sneetch.
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Later, Roland asks Father Callahan for a blessing against the curse Vaughn Eisenhart promised to bring upon him if Margaret died during the battle.

Eddie, Jake and Roland, assisted by Rosa, destroy most of the remaining Wolves. Jake, enraged by Benny’s death, turns into a killing machine, much like Roland was in Tull. Eddie and Roland leave the last two Wolves for him. He in turn leaves the last one for Susannah, who couldn’t follow them up the path.

Lucky Seven

Seven is a mystical number in many cultures, but the seven defenders of the Calla refer directly to
The Magnificent Seven
. Susannah lost seven minutes as Mia in New York. Andy the robot is seven feet tall. Seven weeks have elapsed at the beginning of the book since the ending of
Wizard and Glass
. Mia was promised seven years with her chap. Young Stephen King was seven when he was sent to the barn as punishment. Walter’s tarot reading consisted of seven cards, and seven Losers stood against the creature in
It,
who commented on the number’s talismanic quality. And, of course, there are seven volumes in the
Dark Tower
series.

As Roland predicted, “you’ll wonder what all the planning and palaver was for, when in the end it always comes down to the same five minutes’ worth of blood and stupidity.” He tells the people of the Calla that they now know the secret of how to defeat the Wolves, though they’ll probably never see them again.

In the confusion following the battle, Mia takes charge of Susannah’s body. After she wrecks Susannah’s wheelchair, she transfers to an ATV that someone—probably Andy before he was decommissioned—left for her, so she can make it up the hill to the Doorway Cave. When she passes through, she takes Black Thirteen with her, sealing the door.

Rosa notices Susannah is missing, and the ka-tet follows her trail. Along the way, Eddie finds the hand-carved wooden ring that Susannah wore around her neck because it was too big for her hand. Mia had no use for it and cast it aside, but told Susannah that the Crimson King is on her trail and she doesn’t want Eddie’s scent associated with her. “Later, if ka wills, you may wear it again.” [DT6]

When the ka-tet reaches the cave and realizes the door is locked against them, Roland shows them
’Salem’s Lot,
saying it represents the heart of perhaps the greatest mystery. Jake recognizes the author’s name
from the deli board outside Tower’s bookstore. The church on the dust jacket resembles both the Calla Gathering Hall and the Stoneham Methodist Meeting Hall, which Father Callahan saw earlier.

Like Sancho Panza from
Don Quixote,
who also discovers he’s a character in a book, Father Callahan doesn’t understand how someone could have written a story that contains details only he knew, things that happened when he was alone. Unlike Don Quixote, Callahan isn’t concerned over whether he has been portrayed accurately or adequately in the novel. Don Quixote knows he’s real; Father Callahan is no longer sure.

Apart from being Father Callahan’s creator, Stephen King will become an increasingly important presence in the series. His fate and ka are inextricably commingled.

The ka-tet still has a dual imperative. Where once they had to save the Calla from the Wolves and protect the rose, now they have to find Susannah and protect the rose. The rose, which represents the Tower, is ultimately the more important task, but Roland has softened enough to accept that he cannot ignore one of his ka-tet as he once abandoned Jake in the name of his quest. The linear nature of time in Keystone Earth means they have to carefully plan their strategy. They can’t go back to fix any mistakes they make, a catchall of time-travel stories.

Wolves of the Calla
’s ending is not as much of a cliff-hanger as the ending of
The Waste Lands,
but it leaves some pressing business—the question of Susannah’s pregnancy—unfinished. King says the fifth and sixth books of the series “both end on notes that [make] you really want to know what happens next.”
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