The Talisman Trilogy, #3
Other Worlds Than These
by Stephen King and Peter Straub
Contents
Chapter 6
Overview
Mary, detoxing in Destry’s cell, unleashes rage and warns Jack he’ll die if he leaves without her. Jack and Pay depart by bukka toward Riven, camping in hostile emptiness. Pay reveals Ayden abducted him via a Central Park portal and explains George Elgin’s uneasy role under Youngblood. Crossing Ellis-Breaks, they sense reality thinning before spotting an astonishing sight ahead.
Summary
In Pernil’s jail, Mary, filthy and shaking with withdrawal, attacks Pay with insults and threatens violence, then abruptly prophesies that Jack will die in Riven, the Blasteds, or the Gullet if he leaves without her. Constable Destry urges Jack and Pay to go, promising Mary will calm, and secures Jack’s tote for Youngblood.
Jack and Pay depart in the bukka with supplies, heading into barren country. Pay, wounded by Mary’s words, declares himself no hero. They camp by a dubious stream, eat tinned fish and crackers, and listen to distant, inhuman cries. By the fire, Pay recounts how Ayden Hestin abducted him after a hot 1976 Dangerfield’s set, marched him at gunpoint to Central Park, and shoved him through a shimmering portal into Mid-World.
At dawn they move on. Jack minds the horses and brews tea; the men fry hominy and continue along the Riven Road. The landscape grows emptier; helio posts stand like telegraph poles. Jack recognizes Ellis-Breaks and remarks that reality here feels “only an inch deep,” which Pay echoes as thin frosting over darkness.
To pass time, Jack presses for details about George Elgin. Pay explains Ayden recruited George as Youngblood’s “efficiency expert” to align books and curb skimming. Initial fixes aside, George failed to streamline operations and fell from favor; Youngblood twice set the Blessings—Nemo and Nymo—on him, biting him badly.
As they roll deeper into Ellis-Breaks, Pay suddenly spots something ahead on the Riven Road, drops from the wagon in astonishment, and falls to his knees, exclaiming that it is indeed real—leaving their discovery hanging as they approach.
Who Appears
- Jack SawyerLeads the journey to Riven; resists Mary’s demand to go; drives the bukka; prompts Pay’s revelations.
- Payton "Pay" OrvilleShaken by Mary’s tirade; recounts Ayden’s 1976 abduction; details George’s role; spots a shocking sight ahead.
- MaryDetoxing prisoner; viciously berates Pay, then prophesies Jack’s death if she’s left behind.
- Aaron DestryConstable who contains Mary, equips the bukka, and safeguards Jack’s tote for Youngblood.
- Ayden HestinYoungblood’s enforcer; abducted Pay at gunpoint in 1976 and brought him through a portal.
- George ElginIneffectual ‘efficiency expert’; managed books but failed to streamline; bitten by Youngblood’s dogs.
- Governor YoungbloodDezi’s ruler; cruelly amuses himself by setting the Blessings on George; beneficiary of Jack’s diplomacy.
- Nemo and Nymo (the Blessings)Youngblood’s large dogs; used to intimidate and injure George Elgin.