The Little Sisters of Eluria recap

In this prequel novella, a young Roland Deschain, still years from being the last gunslinger, rides into the deserted town of Eluria in search of his horse and companions. Attacked and badly hurt by the mutant creatures who linger there, he wakes in a strange open-air hospital tended by the Little Sisters of Eluria, beautiful women in white who prove to be vampiric predators keeping their victims alive only to feed on them. Held helpless and marked for death, Roland finds an unexpected friend in the youngest sister, Jenna, who is bound to the sisterhood by an enchanted cluster of bells but is drawn to him and sickened by what the others are. Defying their leader, Sister Mary, Jenna frees Roland and flees with him. In the escape she is claimed by her own dark nature, dissolving into a swarm of bugs so that he can live. Roland rides on alone, hardened by another loss, continuing the long road that will make him the last gunslinger.

A young Roland Deschain, alone and searching for his horse and lost companions in the days before he became the last gunslinger, rides into the seemingly deserted town of Eluria. The place is not as empty as it looks, and after a violent encounter he is left gravely hurt. He wakes to find himself in the care of the Little Sisters of Eluria, beautiful women in white who run a strange makeshift hospital for the wounded, watched over by their commanding leader. Weak and unable to leave, Roland begins to sense that his rescuers are not what they seem and that the sanctuary he has woken in may be more dangerous than the road that brought him there.

Roland escapes the Little Sisters of Eluria only through the sacrifice of the youngest of them. Sister Jenna, bound to the vampiric sisterhood by the enchanted bells she wears but unwilling to let Roland be drained like the others, defies their leader Sister Mary and helps him slip away while he is still weak. As they flee, Jenna is overtaken by the very nature that ties her to the sisters and dissolves into a swarm of bugs, giving her life so that Roland can keep his. He leaves Eluria behind, alone again and carrying yet another grief, and rides on into the wider world. The novella closes where his larger story is only beginning: a young man already marked by loss and duty, set on the road that will one day leave him the last gunslinger, hunting across a dying world toward the Dark Tower.