Chapter 6: Useless Filth
Soleia pinched her lips tightly together, her thoughts running wild.
"Injured?" she echoed. "How?"
"We were camping for the night when we ran into some thornhounds," Ralph explained.
"You're saying that someone who was able to defeat a dragon and return practically unscathed nearly fell to a thornhound?" Soleia deadpanned. The more Ralph explained, the more ludicrous she felt the story was.
"There was an estimated number of forty thornhounds in that one pack," Ralph said. "In comparison, there were only five men. It was a scouting team led by His Grace ahead of the rest of the battalion. Only the Duke and one other came back alive, and even he was badly injured, eventually succumbing to his injuries."
Ralph pursed his lips tightly together, causing Soleia to frown.
"What else are you not telling me?"
"That was where he met Miss Elowyn," Ralph finally said. That caused Soleia to look back at the stairs where the two had disappeared, her frown deepening the more he spoke. "She was the one who returned him to safety after he went missing for a month."
"But thornhounds don't usually linger around the southeastern side of Vramid," Soleia muttered under her breath. "How did they―"