Jake got off the waggon wheel to help him find what he needed. In the uncovered trench that had been the hide, Eisenhart was cradling his wife’s burnt head to his chest, rocking it. From the corn, approaching, came the children and their minders, singing “The Rice Song.” At first Eddie thought that what he was hearing from town must be an echo of that singing, and then he realized it was the rest of the Calla. They knew. They had heard the singing, and they knew. They were coming.

Pere Callahan stepped out of the field with Lia Jaffords cradled in his arms. In spite of the noise, the little girl was asleep. Callahan looked at the heaps of dead Wolves, took one hand from beneath the little girl’s bottom, and drew a slow, trembling cross in the air.

“God be thanked,” he said.

Roland went to him and took the hand that had made the cross. “Put one on me,” he said.

Callahan looked at him, uncomprehending.

Roland nodded to Vaughn Eisenhart. “That one promised I’d leave town with his curse on me if harm came to his wife.”

He could have said more, but there was no need. Callahan understood, and signed the cross on Roland’s brow. The fingernail trailed a warmth behind it that Roland felt a long time. And although Eisenhart never kept his promise, the gunslinger was never sorry that he’d asked the Pere for that extra bit of protection.

Twenty

What followed was a confused jubilee there on the East Road, mingled with grief for the two who had fallen. Yet even the grief had a joyful light shining through it. No one seemed to feel that the losses were in any way equal to the gains. And Eddie supposed that was true. If it wasn’t your wife or your son who had fallen, that was.

The singing from town drew closer. Now they could see rising dust. In the road, men and women embraced. Someone tried to take Margaret Eisenhart’s head away from her husband, who for the time being refused to let it go.

Eddie drifted over to Jake.

“Never saw Star Wars, did you?” he asked.

“No, told you. I was going to, but—”

“You left too soon. I know. Those things they were swinging—Jake, they were from that movie.”

“You sure?”

“ Yes. And the Wolves…Jake, the Wolves themselves…”

Jake was nodding, very slowly. Now they could see the people from town. The newcomers saw the children— allthe children, still here and still safe—and raised a cheer. Those in the forefront began to run. “I know.”

“ Doyou?” Eddie asked. His eyes were almost pleading. “Do you really? Because…man, it’s so crazy —”