Roland's hands shot out, and they were as quick as ever-his frustrated failure to catch the bug had been only part of his dream. He caught the bowl before more than a few drops could spill. The woman-Sister Coquina-looked at him with round eyes.
There was pain all up and down his back from the sudden movement but it was nowhere near as sharp as it had been before, and there was no sensation of movement on his skin. Perhaps the “doctors” were only sleeping, but he had an idea they were gone.
He held out his hand for the spoon Coquina had been teasing him with (he found he wasn't surprised at all that one of these would tease a sick and sleeping man in such a way; it only would have surprised him if it had been Jenna), and she handed it to him, her eyes still big.
“How speedy ye are!” she said. “'Twas like a magic trick, and you still rising from sleep!”
“Remember it, sai,” he said, and tried the soup. There were tiny bits of chicken floating in it. He probably would have considered it bland under other circumstances, but under these, it seemed ambrosial. He began to eat greedily.
“What do “ee mean by that?” she asked. The light was very dim now, the wall-panels across the way a pinkish-orange that suggested sunset. In this light, Coquina looked quite young and pretty… but it was a glamour, Roland was sure; a sorcerous kind of make-up.
“I mean nothing in particular. “ Roland dismissed the spoon as too slow, preferring to tilt the bowl itself to his lips. In this way he disposed of the soup in four large gulps. “You have been kind to me”
“Aye, so we have!” she said, rather indignantly.
“and I hope your kindness has no hidden motive. If it does, Sister, remember that I'm quick. And, as for myself, I have not always been kind.”
She made no reply, only took the bowl when Roland handed it back. She did this delicately, perhaps not wanting to touch his fingers. Her eyes dropped to where the medallion lay, once more hidden beneath the breast of his bed-dress. He said no more, not wanting to weaken the implied threat by reminding her that the man who made it was unarmed, next to naked, and hung in the air because his back couldn't yet bear the weight of his body.
“Where's Sister Jenna?” he asked.
“Oooo!” Sister Coquina said, raising her eyebrows. “We like her, do we? She makes our heart go… “ She put her hand against the rose on her breast and fluttered it rapidly.
“Not at all, not at all,” Roland said, “but she was kind. I doubt she would have teased me with a spoon, as some would.”
Sister Coquina's smile faded. She looked both angry and worried. “Say nothing of that to Mary, if she comes by later. Ye might get me in trouble.”
“Should I care?”
“I might get back at one who caused me trouble by causing little Jenna trouble,” Sister Coquina said. “She's in Big Sister's black books, just now, anyway. Sister Mary doesn't care for the way Jenna spoke to her about ye… nor does she like it that Jenna came back to us wearing the Dark Bells.”
This was no sooner out of her mouth before Sister Coquina put her hand over that frequently imprudent organ, as if realizing she had said too much.
Roland, intrigued by what she'd said but not liking to show it just now, only replied: “I'll keep my mouth shut about you, if you keep your mouth shut to Sister Mary about Jenna.”
Coquina looked relieved. “Aye, that's a bargain. “ She leaned forward confidingly. “She's in Thoughtful House. That's the little cave in the hillside where we have to go and meditate when Big Sister decides we've been bad. She'll have to stay and consider her impudence until Mary lets her out. “ She paused, then said abruptly: “Who's this beside ye? Do ye know?”
Roland turned his head and saw that the young man was awake, and had been listening. His eyes were as dark as Jenna's.
“Know him?” Roland asked, with what he hoped was the right touch of scorn. “Should I not know my own brother?”
“Is he, now, and him so young and you so old?” Another of the sisters materialized out of the darkness: Sister Tamra, who had called herself one-and-twenty. In the moment before she reached Roland's bed, her face was that of a hag who will never see eighty again… or ninety. Then it shimmered and was once more the plump, healthy countenance of a thirty-year-old matron. Except for the eyes. They remained yellowish in the corneas, gummy in the corners, and watchful.
“He's the youngest, I the eldest,” Roland said. “Betwixt us are seven others, and twenty years of our parents” lives.”
“How sweet! And if he's yer brother, then ye'll know his name, won't ye? Know it very well.”
Before the gunslinger could flounder, the young man said: “They think you've forgotten such a simple hook as John Norman. What culleens they be, eh, Jimmy?”
Coquina and Tamra looked at the pale boy in the bed next to Roland's, clearly angry… and clearly trumped. For the time being, at least.
“You've fed him your muck,” the boy (whose medallion undoubtedly proclaimed him John, Loved of Family, Loved of God) said “Why don't you go, and let us have a natter?”
“Well!” Sister Coquina huffed. “I like the gratitude around here, so I do!”
“I'm grateful for what's given me,” Norman responded, looking at her steadily, “but not for what folk would take away.”
Tamra snorted through her nose, turned violently enough for her swirling dress to push a draught of air into Roland's face, and then took her leave. Coquina stayed a moment.
“Be discreet, and mayhap someone ye like better than ye like me will get out of hack in the morning, instead of a week from tonight.”
Without waiting for a reply, she turned and followed Sister Tamra.
Roland and John Norman waited until they were both gone, and then Norman turned to Roland and spoke in a low voice. “My brother. Dead?”
Roland nodded. “The medallion I took in case I should meet with any of his people. It rightly belongs to you. I'm sorry for your loss.”
“Thankee-sai. “ John Norman's lower lip trembled, then firmed. “I knew the green men did for him, although these old biddies wouldn't tell me for sure. They did for plenty, and cotched the rest.”
“Perhaps the Sisters didn't know for sure.”
“They knew. Don't you doubt it. They don't say much, but they know plenty. The only one any different is Jenna. That's who the old battle-axe meant when she said “your friend”. Aye?”
Roland nodded. “And she said something about the Dark Bells. I'd know more of that, if would were could.”
“She's something special, Jenna is. More like a princess-someone whose place is made by bloodline and can't be refused-than like the other Sisters. I lie here and look like I'm asleep-it's safer, I think-but I've heard “em talking. Jenna's just come back among “em recently, and those Dark Bells mean something special… but Mary's still the one who swings the weight. I think the Dark Bells are only ceremonial, like the rings the old Barons used to hand down from father to son. Was it she who put Jimmy's medal around your neck?”
“Yes.”
“Don't take it off, whatever you do. “ His face was strained, grim. “I don't know if it's the gold or the God, but they don't like to get too close. I think that's the only reason I'm still here. “ Now his voice dropped all the way to a whisper. “They ain't human.”
“Well, perhaps a bit fey and magical, but-”
“No!” With what was clearly an effort, the boy got up on one elbow. He looked at Roland earnestly. “You're thinking about hubber-women, or witches. These ain't hubbers, nor witches, either. They ain't human!”
“Then what are they?”
“Don't know.”
“How came you here, John?”
Speaking in a low voice, John Norman told Roland what he knew of what had happened to him. He, his brother, and four other young men who were quick and owned good horses had been hired as scouts, riding drogue-and-forward, protecting a long-haul caravan of seven freightwagons taking goods-seeds, food, tools, mail, and four ordered brides-to an unincorporated township called Tejuas some two hundred miles further west of Eluria. The scouts rode fore and aft of the goods-train in turn and turn about fashion; one brother rode with each party because, Norman explained, when they were together they fought like… well…