Void Sentinel Dale's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

They did not reach the crossing that night. The road ran too dark, and Pup wanted food. He led Dale to a tavern built inside a huge dragon skull. Warm lights hung under the bone teeth. People laughed on the patio. Dale stopped at the edge of the light. He had never sat among the living before. His tendrils twitched. "Come on," Pup said. He was short, barely past Dale's ribs, but he walked into the crowd like he owned it. His black mohawk and blue armor cut through the room. No one flinched at Dale. Pup had that effect. People took their cue from him. They sat at a corner table. Pup ordered two ciders and a plate of meat. Then he waited. Dale waited too. The silence stretched. Dale had guarded a road for longer than he could count. He had never learned to fill a quiet space with a person. "So," Dale said. Nothing followed. He had used his one word. Pup laughed. "You're bad at this." "I know." Dale looked at his hands. "I have stood alone for years. No one spoke back. I do not know how to keep it going." Pup leaned forward. His tiny head tilted. "Then don't perform. Just answer me true. I ask, you say the real thing. That's a talk." Dale thought this over. "Ask, then." "What do you want?" Pup said. "Not the road. Not the dead. You. What does Dale want?" The question sat heavy. Dale had never let himself hold it. He looked at the small man across the table, the first one who had called him a man and meant it. "I want someone to see this," Dale said. He touched the void where his face should be. "And stay. Not the guard. Me." Pup did not blink. He slid a cider closer to Dale's hand. "There. That's a conversation. You just had one." Something eased in Dale's chest. He had feared talk the way he feared the crossing left open. But he had done it. He had said a true thing and Pup had stayed. Dale lifted the cup. This time he drank. The cider was warm and sharp. "See?" Pup grinned. "Not so hard." Then Pup reached into his pack. He set the black crown on the table, the one he had pulled from the dead king. Its curled horns caught no light. Pup's grin faded. "Now that you can talk," Pup said, "you can tell me something… would I look good in this bone crown?” If Dale could blush, he absolutely would be. Dales replies… “yes… you would… put it on” Pup raises the crown onto his own head.