Rangers of Linwood (The Five Kingdoms Book 1)

by LeAnn Anderson

  In the mornings, Tesni was now up to three miles on her morning runs. Because she still could not keep up with Arya’s five miles, she ran with Fiona, whose endurance was about the same as her own.

  The day before Tesni’s tenth birthday, however, the girls did not come back from their morning run on their own. Arya returned to find Ryder in tears, Tesni missing, and Fiona in Enid’s tent, sitting up but with a massive gash in her leg.

  “Branwen went after them when it was well past their normal return time,” Enid explained. “She found Fiona injured and unable to walk and brought her back. She couldn’t find Tesni.”

  “It was so odd,” Fiona added. “We never heard the horses coming. When we saw them, though, I realized why. They were sent by Agrona. She has spells on her horses so that they move silently and without leaving a trail. One of them slashed my leg so that I couldn’t run for help, and another one grabbed Tesni.”

  “I’ve just been waiting for you,” Ryder said. “I’m afraid I’ll do something stupid if I go after her alone.”

  “Don’t worry, Ryder,” Arya said after hearing everything. “We will rescue her and bring her home, and her birthday party tomorrow evening will go on without any more problems.” In her mind, she was already trying to figure out how to get more security around Tesni.

  As fast as they could, Arya and Ryder got their horses ready and mounted off, riding hard towards Agrona’s castle.

  

  Tesni was not impressed by Agrona’s latest attack. The woman seemed to get less intelligent as time went on. Yes, the two henchmen who had grabbed her from her run that morning had certainly had nerves of steel to be taking Tesni so close to the camp. She and Fiona were nearly within sight.

  Agrona, however, did not seem to even be really trying. The witch was down to straight threats, as far as Tesni could tell, and the girl was starting to get frustrated.

  “Look,” she said at last, “I am never going to work for you. You might as well give up. Besides, even if I was willing to steal for you, I don’t even know what it is that you want stolen or what it looks like.”

  Agrona looked at Tesni, angry with the girl’s insolence. “It is a golden orb, you foolish child. It is about as large as both of my fists combined, and studded in emeralds. It sits in the Ranger camp. Don’t tell me that Arya and Ryder haven’t told you about it?”

  “If they haven’t told me about something, then I’m not ready for the information,” Tesni said defiantly. “I’m sure very few even know about it. Maybe Father and Arya don’t even know, themselves, and you are delusional. That’s what Arya calls you.”

  The way Tesni referred to Ryder raised Agrona’s interest. She had been wondering how the girl had gotten out of the curse that had been placed on her. She had been certain that the child was an orphan. What else would she have been doing with the Thieves Guild? She knew that Alastar Redleaf wasn’t the girl’s father, only a guardian. Alastar had admitted as much during her interrogation of him.

  And yet, now, here was Tesni, proudly referring to Ryder Greenblade as her father. She had been very specific in the wording of the curse, which meant that Ryder had, indeed, sired the child now before her. That meant the servant girl, Cliona, was Tesni’s mother. She remembered, now, seeing Ryder come up to the palace to visit Cliona regularly for a few weeks eleven years prior. She, herself, had helped Cliona through the birth when the midwife, busy with Agrona’s sister-in-law, had been unable to attend the young lady-in-waiting.

  Queen Rhiannon’s child had been stillborn, of course. Agrona had seen to that. But Cliona hadn’t known about Agrona’s ambition, had sworn her eternal gratitude. The memory gave Agrona a new road of attack. “You know,” she said at last, “it would pay off the debt you owe me.”

  “What debt?” Tesni asked. “You have never done anything except trick, threaten, and try to bribe me.”

  “Oh, of course, you wouldn’t remember,” Agrona said, “but I saved your life, once. It was the day you were born. The cord was wrapped twice around your neck. You were not even breathing. I, myself, breathed life back into you. You owe me your very life, Tesni.”

  “Then take it. I still choose death before dishonor.” Tesni knew that she was probably treading into dangerous territory, but she was certain the odds were in her favor. “You will let me live, though. If I die, you have no chance at getting the orb you seek. You said so, yourself. You said that there was a prophecy that I was the only one who could fetch it for you.”

  Agrona grabbed Tesni around the neck. “Just because I can’t kill you, that doesn’t mean that I can’t make you suffer. I am not above using the same methods on you that I used on Alastar in order to make him talk.”

  Tesni narrowed her eyes. “I dare you.”

  The result of Tesni’s words was instantaneous. She was dragged by two guards down to the dungeon. Her wrists were tied to a hook so far above her head that she had to stand on her toes, on a stool. She was facing the wall, and she felt her jacket cut off of her. Then she felt the back of her shirt cut away.

  The first sting from the whip made her cry out in pain. Had Agrona really put Knives through this? If so, Tesni could understand, suddenly, why he had given in and provided her with the information she wanted to know.

  The guard gave her ten good lashes. Tesni could feel blood trickling down her back as Agrona came to her side. “I can stop them,” she said. “I can make sure that no whip touches you again. Just join me. Steal the orb for me. Bring it to me, and you will never know pain again.”

  “Never.”

  Agrona stepped back, and ten more lashes were administered. By the end of it, Tesni was in tears. She was whimpering and crying out for her father and Arya. Surely they would come and save her. When again she refused, the lashes started again, but Tesni had no idea if it was another set of ten or not. After the twenty-second lash, she blacked out from the pain.

  

  This time, Ryder and Arya were much quieter about entering Agrona’s stronghold. They waited for the changing of the guard and slipped in while the guards at the door were not looking. Certain that Agrona would not show Tesni luxury, this time, they moved silently in the shadows and darkest areas of the castle, moving towards the dungeon.

  It was there that they found her, hanging, facing the wall. They could see where the skin of her back had been ripped apart by a whip. One had even managed to land across her face. The stool that must have at one point supported her looked as if it had been kicked away, likely in her own futile attempt to get free.

  The sight made Ryder’s blood boil. Very carefully, he lifted her by the legs so that she might lie over his shoulder, on her stomach, to keep from further irritating the already angry lacerations crisscrossing her tender flesh. Arya reached up and unhooked the ropes, brought out her knife, and cut the bindings away from Tesni’s wrists.

  Again, they wove their way through the shadows and past the guards. Arya had to slit a few throats to get them all safely out, but it was worth it.

  As gently as he could, Ryder placed Tesni across his horse’s back. He swung up into the saddle to help keep her in place, and then he and Arya took off at a speedy gallop, both for the needed speed and for the simple fact that it would be a smoother ride for Tesni.

  They arrived back in the camp shortly after nightfall, and Ryder took Tesni straight to Enid’s tent. “You found her?” the healer asked.

  “Damn straight we found her,” Ryder said. He and Arya got Tesni onto a cot, still face down, trying to ensure as much comfort as they could.

  “She was whipped, most likely in an effort on Agrona’s part to get either information or cooperation,” Arya said. “Do you have a salve for it?”

  “No, but I can make one quickly,” Enid said, getting out various herbs. She placed some agrimony, yarrow, comfrey, and calendula into her mortar and ground them together by hand. She then heated some oil and beeswax in a small pan and added the herbs, stirring carefully. As soon as it w
as all well mixed together, she poured it all into a small bowl.

  As she let it cool, she turned to cleaning the wounds. Once they were clean, she spread the salve over Tesni’s back and then covered it all with a clean, dry cloth.

  “How quickly do you think she’ll heal?” Ryder asked.

  Enid gave a small smile. Ryder was starting to get as bad as Arya had been the first time Tesni was injured. “With the comfrey added, she should be able to get up and walk within a week. She should be able to at least sit up by tomorrow evening.”

  “Good, good,” he muttered, more worried than he was willing to let on. “You’ll wake Arya or me if something happens?”

  “Of course I will,” Enid said. “Go get some sleep, both of you. Let Tesni rest. As soon as something changes, I will come straight to your tent and wake you.”

  Ryder nodded and left the tent with Tesni. As they walked, Arya broached the subject that had been on her mind all day. “Tesni needs to learn to protect herself, better.”

  “Aye, she does. If Agrona is going to keep trying to find a way to force her to steal the orb, then she needs self-defense lessons, and immediately.”

  “Actually, I’ve been thinking about this all day, when we weren’t trying to evade Agrona’s guards, and what I was thinking was that perhaps we would start her formal training early.”

  “She’s just turning ten,” Ryder said, a little confused. Never had Arya requested early training for a potential Ranger. There was a reason they didn’t start training until the age of twelve. In the more than a hundred years Ryder had known Arya, never had she spoken of bending the rules.

  “I’m aware,” Arya replied. “However, she has already done very well on the ropes course. She admitted to me that she has it memorized. I know you’re worried about the safety issue, and I’m also pretty sure that you’re worried about what the other Rangers will think, that perhaps you’re simply showing preference and favoritism to her because she’s your daughter.”

  “I suppose I am,” Ryder admitted. “It’s so hard to draw the line and find that balance between giving her what she needs and avoiding the cries of nepotism that are sure to follow if I show too much favor where her future training is concerned.”

  “Ryder, every Ranger in this camp, at all levels of training, have seen the attacks on her that have happened over the past two years. They know that Agrona is targeting her and that her very life is in danger. They love seeing her on the ropes course. Some of them have already asked me if I’ll be taking her as my protégé or if they can put in a request.”

  Ryder snorted. “And what have you told them?”

  Arya smiled. “I have made it quite clear that when her formal training starts, that girl is mine to mentor. The shock value is, quite honestly, rather entertaining.”

  “You have always refused to take a protégé in the past,” Ryder reminded her.

  “Aye, but that has changed. My point is, though, that it may be a good idea to go ahead and get her started. Quite honestly, my love, if you weren’t her father, I would only ask your permission as a formality, and then start training her no matter what you said, in secret if you had said no.”

  “But because I’m her father, my permission suddenly matters more than the mere fact that I am, technically, still your commanding officer?” Ryder asked in a teasing tone, trailing kisses down her jawline and neck, nearly to her collarbone.

  “Don’t you pull rank with me, Ryder Greenblade,” Arya said. “You know it never works, anyway.” Whether she was joking or not was hard to tell. She was too busy melting into her fiancé’s arms, and the sudden hitch in her voice betrayed exactly what his lips were doing as they danced over her skin.

  “Oh, aye, I’m aware,” Ryder said. “I have been acutely and painfully aware since before you earned your bow, not just of that, but of everything about you.” He captured her lips with his, then, and scooped her up. “Come, Arya. While the night affords us excellent opportunity to steal time to talk or just enjoy each other’s company, we will do Tesni no good if we are not well-rested ourselves. She needs time to heal before she begins her training, even with you as a mentor.”

  “So it’s agreed?” Arya asked. “Tesni will begin her formal training early so that she can better defend herself against Agrona’s attacks?”

  “Aye, it’s agreed,” Ryder said, carrying Arya into her tent.

  Chapter 11

  “How is it that you are so much more level-headed than Arya is?” Enid asked Ryder the next morning. “Your daughter lies in my tent, still healing, not even awake yet because of the infection that was allowed to enter her body, and yet it is Arya who hovers nervously when she is not attending to her duties.”

  Ryder thought for a moment. “I’m not sure what answer you expect from me,” he admitted. “Perhaps Arya’s maternal instinct is stronger than my paternal one because she has been nurturing her relationship with Tesni longer than I have my own. Or perhaps it’s because I’m used to allowing my emotions to show, and so I’m able to better reign them in, while Arya has spent so much time building up a wall between herself and everyone else, that she can’t stop herself from worrying now that she has finally allowed herself to love.”

  “’At least you’re allowing her what she needs,” Enid said.

  “Tesni? Or Arya?” Ryder asked.

  “Both of them,” Enid said. “You’re giving Tesni the time she needs to heal while not hovering over me and making my job harder, because if there’s hovering, I can’t always get to my patient. As for Arya, it has long been my theory that a little passion and romance has always been exactly what she needed, so long as it ended well, and the fact that the two of you are to wed is proof that it’s going very well indeed.”

  “Another part of it is that I trust you,” Ryder said. “You are the best healer in all the five kingdoms, Enid. If anyone can save my daughter’s life, it’s you. If there is something I need to know about her health, I trust you to tell me.”

  It was then that they heard the whimper. Immediately, Ryder’s senses were on alert, and Enid started heading back into her tent. The whimper was quickly followed by a blood-curdling scream, filled with pain, and Ryder very nearly knocked Enid down trying to get to Tesni.

  When they got inside, Fiona was sitting up in complete shock, mildly hyperventilating. She had clearly been asleep when it had happened.

  Tesni was in tears, begging for something, anything, to make the pain go away. Enid removed the cloth from her back and began rubbing on the salve, this time with the addition of white willow bark. She and Ryder helped the girl to sit up, then, and gave her some white willow bark tea, sweetened with honey.

  “It hurts so much…” Tesni whimpered. She winced as a salty teardrop entered the wound on her cheek, causing an increase in the pain.

  “I know,” Ryder said, smoothing Tesni’s hair. “We found you with more than two dozen lash marks on your back. They’re still healing, so you need to be careful about how you move, alright?”

  Tesni nodded, tears still in her eyes. “Are you hungry, lass?” Enid asked. She was rewarded with another nod.

  “I’ll go and get her something to eat,” Ryder said.

  As he was exiting the tent, he crossed paths with Arya. “She’s awake?” she asked.

  “Aye, she’s awake, and still in a good deal of pain,” Ryder said. “However, she is hungry. I am on my way right now to get her something to eat. Will you join me?”

  “Of course,” Arya said. “And on the way, we can reassure Branwen that the scream didn’t come from her protégé.”

  

  Tesni watched as her father left the healer’s tent. She sipped the tea that Enid gave her, careful not to move her back too much.

  “I’m glad you’re awake,” Fiona said, drawing Tesni’s attention away from the tent flaps.

  “I would be more glad if it didn’t hurt so much,” Tesni admitted.

  Enid chuckled. “You scared Fiona’s wits right
out of her,” she said. “Fiona was sleeping, herself, and when you woke up and screamed, she yelped, sat bolt upright, and just stared at you with the widest eyes I’ve ever seen.”

  Tesni started to laugh, but then thought better of it as the pain coursed through her back again. Fiona just blushed. “I suppose I was a bit funny looking.”

  “A bit?” Enid asked. “Fiona, dear, you looked as if you were about to jump right out of your skin.”

  All three of them were laughing, then, though Tesni was careful about it, keeping to quiet giggles. That was what Arya and Ryder arrived to find when they came back with some bread and some vegetable broth for Tesni.

  “Thank you,” Tesni said, dunking the bread in the broth to make it easier to eat.

  “You’re welcome,” Ryder said, smoothing her hair again. He wanted to hug her, but he didn’t dare, considering the wounds on her back. He didn’t want to rip them open again and cause her more pain. “Do you remember what today is?” he asked.

  “It depends,” Tesni said. “How long was I unconscious, this time?”

  “We brought you home the same day you were captured, yesterday,” Arya said, “So just overnight.”

  Tesni smiled. “Then it’s my birthday. I’m ten, now.”

  “Aye, you’re ten, now,” Ryder said. “Tesni, Arya and I had a long talk last night.” He picked up the package, wrapped in cloth, which he had brought in with him. “We were unsure about whether or not this would be an appropriate birthday gift, but Arya convinced me that it’s perfect for you.”

  “What is it?” Tesni asked.

  Ryder handed the package to her. “Open it and find out.”

  Arya took away the food that Tesni seemed to have forgotten about, suddenly, and Tesni took the package. Carefully, slowly, the girl removed the small blanket that Ryder had used to wrap the gift in. Inside, she found a training jacket.