Chapter 21Clutching the black sword protectively to his chest, Isloman stared up blankly. Then he screwed up his eyes as if to penetrate some particularly obscure shadow. A torch moved, and Hawklan’s face came clearly into focus. He was flanked on the left by Dacu, tense and concerned, and on the right by Tirke, shocked and obviously struggling to keep control.
Briefly it occurred to Isloman that they were all dead and in some mysterious afterworld, but before he could fully register the scene, a familiar voice sounded gleefully by his ear. ‘Get up, dear boy, get up. You’re not hurt. He’s back. He just woke up and chased them all away.’
‘Hawklan?’ Isloman whispered, his voice sounding odd in his own ears after the noise of the Alphraan and the deep silence he had woken to. ‘You’re awake.
