His gaze turned to the band of mercenaries at the edge of the Mountain Clans, who had also suffered injuries.
"There were more than thirty mercenaries in their group to begin with. They'd taken a job searching for traces of Lannister remnants and bandits near Harlon Castle. They were all veterans, so they put up a good fight."
The Hound continued, "We lost more than a dozen men right at the start, but we had a huge advantage in numbers, so we wore them down and killed several of them too. Then their temporary leader took an arrow and fell. Only then did the rest choose to stop fighting."
"I thought they could fight, so I told them I was going to King's Landing on your orders. I also picked out a few things you'd told me before and passed them on. After their leader died, the rest talked it over again, and in the end, they all said they were willing to come with us."
"They said times were hard for them now. Since the war ended, there'd been far fewer contracts, and most were caravan escort jobs that paid little and took a long time. If they wanted better pay, they had to take jobs like this one, where they might have to fight at any moment."
"So after hearing what I had to say, they thought about how they weren't getting any younger. They'd be risking their lives either way. If they worked for you, Your Grace, and got a chance to earn some merit down the road, they might even become nobles and have something to pass down to their families."
The Hound stopped there. He had never been a man of many words, nor was he good with them. If being rescued by those Mountain