Chapter 30Hawklan eventually found Loman, sitting dark and lonely by his cold forge. He looked up as Hawklan entered.
‘Was it all for nothing, Hawklan?’ he asked, before the healer could greet him. ‘All those men and women torn from their hearths and their loved ones. All that horror. All that gut-wrenching fear. All those bodies broken and lives casually snuffed out. Was it all for nothing?’ The brutal suddenness of the question made Hawklan stop, leaving the door to the forge ajar. Loman closed his eyes and sat back so that a shadow hid his face. ‘You know, I still wake up sometimes, shaking all over — can’t stop myself.’ He waited on no reassurance. ‘I know what it is well enough. It’s physical exhaustion shot through with stark terror. I’ve been at the heart of the battle again — that
