Rangers of Linwood (The Five Kingdoms Book 1) (15 page)

They mounted up and ran into town as fast as they could. All the way there, Ryder prayed to Harena that he and Liam had been wrong.



“Well?” Tesni asked. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Alright, you’re right,” Aeron said. “You are absolutely correct. I work for Agrona. My job was to seduce you, wed you, and get you pregnant, then just leave you as if we were never wed, leaving you disgraced and unable to train.”

“And just what was the purpose of that?”

“It was to make you desperate enough to turn to Agrona for help. I would have been here waiting for you, ready to tell the truth, that you and I were legally wed, as soon as you got the orb.”

“Well, it didn’t work, did it?” Tesni frowned. She was unsure about what to do at this point. She wasn’t in an extremely high tower. She could probably escape if she tied enough things together. But how was she going to keep Aeron from sounding the alarm? She didn’t want to kill him.

“Oh, it will work,” Aeron said. He rolled her over and pinned her down, taking the knife from her. “The knife was enchanted so that if anyone other than myself handled it, Agrona would be alerted to send her guards in.”

At that very instant, four huge men burst into the room. They tied Tesni down, and Aeron grabbed a small vial that she hadn’t noticed before. He uncorked the vial and forced her mouth open, pouring in the pearlescent pink liquid.

It tasted sweet, but Tesni knew from experience that anything provided by Agrona could not be good for her. She spit it out, right into Aeron’s face. “Get off of me,” she growled.

Aeron slapped her across the face. “You are about to learn what it means to know your place.”

“I know my place. I am a Ranger of Linwood!” Tesni cried. She kicked the two guards at her feet square in the stomach, causing them to double over in pain. The other two guards tightened the ropes at her wrists, lest she punch them, as her hands were in the perfect place to hit the spot on their bodies that would cause the most pain.

One of the guards tilted Tesni’s head back. Another plugged her nose, forcing her to breathe through her mouth. Tesni separated her lips only, breathing through her teeth. A third guard came up, squeezing on her jaw, forcing her mouth open all the way again, and Aeron grabbed a second vial of the potion that Agrona had set out as a backup.

The potion ran down the back of her throat, and Tesni found that she had two options. She could swallow and accept whatever consequences it brought, or she could choke on the vile liquid and possibly die. As she started to gag, she began to fear that she would throw up.

Then an idea came to her, and she swallowed. She waited a minute, and she did not feel any different. She had a theory as to what the potion might be for, but she had no desire to actually test it. Instead, she continued to make herself gag and cough. She thought of every disgusting thing she could, including what Aeron was planning to do to her.

Tesni’s stomach began to churn, and she saw Aeron and the guards back away. One guard loosened a rope, knowing what would happen if she threw up on her back, and she took advantage of this. She shoved Aeron off of her and threw up all over his face and chest.

As she looked at the pearlescent pink froth that she had brought up out of her stomach, she knew that she had accomplished two things. The first was that she had managed to get Aeron off of her, and he wouldn’t be getting back on for a while. The second was that she had managed to get whatever it was out of her system before it really had a chance to work.

She slugged the nearest guard right between the legs, sending him to the ground, and untied her other hand. As the other guards came near, she did it to them, as well. She used the time it bought her to untie her legs, and she ran over to the window.

She was a good twenty feet up, she estimated. She made the jump, tucking and rolling with the impact. She could already feel the bruises developing, but she didn’t care. She sprang to her feet and ran.



Tesni was nowhere in the city of Linwood. Liam, Ryder, Arya, and Rowan had searched everywhere, and could find no sign of her or Aeron. Now, as it approached noon, the four of them sat at a table in the inn, planning their next move. It was clear to them that they were in Agrona’s grip, somehow. How Tesni and Aeron had been taken together, let alone why they were alone together that late at night, remained a mystery to the four of them.

They ordered roast vegetables and mead to quell their hunger. The innkeeper also brought out a fresh loaf of hearty rye bread and a pot of butter.

“Has it occurred to any of you that Aeron works for Agrona?” Rowan asked at last.

“Now I know you’re jealous,” Liam said, “but that boy is as good and honorable as any of us here. In fact, how do we know that it isn’t Tesni that works for Agrona? How do we know that the constant attacks and kidnappings aren’t just to make her look innocent so that she could get the training she needs to steal the orb for her mistress?”

Three pairs of eyes all turned and glared at Liam, clearly not pleased with his suggestion. Ryder started to growl, but Arya placed a hand on his shoulder. “Liam, you know Tesni as well as we do, and you know that she would never work for Agrona.”

“You are treading on dangerous ground indeed, Liam,” Ryder said, “speaking about my daughter like that.”

Liam held his hands up, palms out, in defense. “Alright, alright, calm down,” he said. “I didn’t mean anything by it. All I meant was that we can’t assume anything and start claiming that people are working for Agrona based on arbitrary reasoning. Rowan made the claim about Aeron simply because he’s jealous. I was illustrating how a similar claim could be made about Tesni, not actually accusing her.”

The other three at the table seemed to calm down at this, but Rowan was still convinced that he was right, and he continued to glare at Liam. “You’re right,” he admitted. “I am jealous. I have been planning to court Tesni for six years, and then Aeron arrives at the camp and just takes her like an owl swooping down on a helpless field mouse.”

Liam snorted. “I would hardly call Tesni helpless, and I wouldn’t let her hear you use that metaphor, if I were you, or you might be the mouse gotten by the owl.”

Arya shook her head. “To be honest, so long as Tesni is the owl, I don’t think Rowan really cares,” she said, a smirk gracing her lips.

Rowan just sank down into his seat, blushing. First Ryder, then Liam, and now Arya? Was he really that obvious?

The door to the inn flew open, then, and a form stumbled in. It was early winter, and the form, a young woman by her shape, surprised everyone, for she wore no traveling cloak. She wore boots, but only a ragged and torn shirt and a pair of pants. Her long blond hair hung over her face, and she fell, shivering, in front of the fire.

Though they were still concerned about Tesni and Aeron, Ryder, Arya, Rowan, and Liam ran over to the young woman to see if they could help. “Are you alright, Miss?” Liam asked.

“I’ve been better, Liam,” the young woman said, revealing her face. All four of them fell and hugged Tesni, recognizing her voice.

“What happened?” Arya asked. “We woke up and you and Aeron were both missing.”

Tears pricked at Tesni’s eyes. “I don’t know if Aeron is coming back or not,” she said. “He convinced me to run off with him last night, to elope-” At this, Ryder and Liam shot a knowing look at each other. “-and the priestess that he took us to turned out to be Agrona. He knew. He admitted it to me. He told me the whole plan.”

With that she spilled the entire story to them. By the end of her story, she was in tears. “So…you’re not pregnant?” Ryder asked, relieved.

Liam just shook his head at his friend and commander’s stupidity. Rowan bit his lower lip. Arya glared at Ryder. Tesni just looked mortified. “
Atar
! No! How could you even think that I would be that stupid?” With that, she burst into tears all over again, crying even harder than previously.

“I’m sorry, that came out wrong. I’m just really glad you’re alright,” Ryder said, stumbling, unsure as to how he could fix this situation. He was fairly certain that he couldn’t make it worse. But then, he could be wrong.

“And so the first thing you do is make sure I’m not pregnant?” Tesni asked, still crying.

Arya sighed. “Ryder, just stop talking right now.”

“But…”

“Ryder, if I were you, I would do what your wife says,” Liam said, patting him on the back.

Rowan managed to prove himself more skilled at maneuvering through the rough waters that were a teen girl’s emotions. He took Tesni’s hand and rubbed circles with his thumb on the back of it. “Is there anything at all that I can do to help you to feel better?” he asked.

Tesni blinked through the tears at Rowan. She realized quickly how sweet he was being and that his concern for her well-being was genuine. She sniffed. Her friend was likely seeing her at her worst, and yet he was still there, ready to comfort her. From her position in Arya’s arms, she gifted him with a small smile. “I don’t suppose any of you brought an extra cloak?”

Without a word, Rowan pulled his own cloak off and handed it to her. “None of us brought an extra one,” he said as she wrapped it around herself, “but you are more than welcome to use mine to cover yourself up with and help to preserve your modesty.”

Tesni looked down. “I guess I was giving everyone a better look at my body than I really wanted to give,” she said, the blush creeping into her cheeks.

“It’s alright,” Rowan said. “It’s not your fault. He was going to force himself on you. We are here for you, no matter what.”

As Ryder watched this scene, he had trouble believing that his protégé was getting through to his daughter better than he was. Yet, at the same time, he could find no real reason to be surprised. After all, if Rowan was as in love with Tesni as he believed him to be, there was no reason in the world for him to not be able to calm her.



Tesni feared that Aeron would have been following after her. She also disliked being out in public with her shirt so torn. So it was that they returned quickly to the camp, Tesni sharing a horse with Arya.

Tesni’s fears were confirmed when they got back to camp. As they dismounted from their horses, Aeron ran up to her, looking concerned for her well-being. “Tesni! There you are! I thought the plan was to meet up back at camp when we escaped. Where did you run?”

Tesni slapped Aeron hard across the face. With the exception of those who were with her, the rest of the Rangers gathered looked on in shock. They wondered what had happened between the two young lovers. “Don’t you even try to act so innocent, Aeron Windrunner.” She advanced towards him as she spoke, forcing him to back up. “You lied to me. You convinced me to elope with you against my better judgment and you handed me over to Agrona. You beat me, drugged me, and attempted to rape me. There is not a single good reason for me to ever trust you again.” With that, she slammed her fist across his face, breaking his nose and causing three teeth to fall out.

At this point, Ryder grabbed his daughter from behind and lifted her up in the air. “Alright, Tesni, that’s enough violence for today,” he said. “You can finish yelling at him later.” Though he didn’t say it yet, he was proud of her. Six years of training were clearly showing, as the girl had managed to escape her situation with little more than a badly torn shirt and some nasty bruises.

Not that he would ever stop coming to Tesni’s rescue if he thought she needed it.

He could see Liam dragging Aeron to Enid as he took Tesni back to their tent. The girl was struggling, kicking, and screaming. She landed a backwards kick, forcing Ryder to drop her, and she ran after Aeron, gouging his face with her finger nails.

Liam pulled Aeron away. Enid stepped between them. Ryder grabbed Tesni again. With Arya’s help, Ryder got her into the tent, where the girl once again collapsed into angry tears to the point that they feared she would make herself sick, aware that she had already done so that morning. Eventually, she cried herself to sleep. Arya laid a blanket over her step-daughter and protégé, and she and Ryder moved out of the tent to discuss what to do.

“Did you teach her that backwards kick?” Ryder asked.

“You know I did,” Arya said, a smirk gracing her lips.

“My shin still hurts,” he admitted.

Arya laughed. “Good. That means she implemented the technique correctly. It’s meant to leave an enemy in pain. I’m just sorry she used it on you.”

“Yes, well, she was in a state of extreme anger,” Ryder said. “After what Aeron did to her, I can’t really blame her.”

Arya frowned. “Therein lays our problem. Tesni is the darling of the camp. Nobody is ever going to deny that. However, Aeron got here, first, and, from what I can tell, told everyone that they ran away to elope and were captured together, and that they tried to escape together but were separated.”

Ryder snorted. “Don’t tell me anyone believes Aeron’s version of events.”

“Ryder, the camp is split between them! On top of that, Liam has said he plans to vindicate his protégé. Half of the camp is sure that Tesni is telling the truth. Half of the camp is sure that Aeron is telling the truth and that Tesni is suffering from buyer’s remorse after her actions led to her getting into trouble.”