Rangers of Linwood (The Five Kingdoms Book 1) (18 page)

Thinking fast, Tesni flipped her legs up around the zip line to stop herself. Then she let herself drop the three feet to the ground, spreading her feet apart to avoid the panel in the floor that she spotted just before releasing her grip on the rope. She blasted the five targets in the room and turned to the rope to climb out of the pit. It, too, was trapped.

This was a trap type she had never encountered before. Embedded within the rope were tiny blades. Always the clever one, however, Tesni gingerly picked up the bottom of the rope and slid it through her bow, raised the bow handle up to about the height of her chest, and then she wrapped the rope around and dropped it through again.

She twisted the bow around and pulled, testing her weight on it. With a smile, she walked her way up the wall, twisting her bow as she went to keep the tension taut and shorten it so that she could climb.

When Tesni got to the top, she untangled the rope from her bow and dropped it back into its original position. She pushed on the exit door and walked out.

Arya was waiting there for her with a smile on her face. “You did very well, Tesni, for your first run. There is definitely room for improvement, but overall, you did well.”

“What was my score and time?” Tesni asked.

“You took one hour, twenty-one minutes, forty-one seconds, and scored a ninety-three. It really is respectable for your first time,” Arya said. She eyed Tesni’s injuries. “I would say that cut on your arm played a major part in your slower time. What room did you sustain that one, in?”

“The eighth,” Tesni said. “A knife got me. Also, an arrow got me on the leg in room two, but it just barely grazed me.”

Arya took Tesni to Enid, who just shook her head and bandaged Tesni up. “You got yourself a little banged up on the bow course, didn’t you?” Enid asked.

“Just a little,” Tesni said, “but Arya said that I did well. My score was ninety-three, and I did it faster than the average time for trainees at my level.”

“Well, that place where your right leg got grazed should heal up in a couple of days. Your arm, however, is a fair bit worse,” Enid said, stitching the wound carefully. “I suspect you lost more blood than I would prefer. Are you dizzy at all?”

“A little lightheaded,” Tesni admitted.

“I thought so,” Enid said. “Well, you had to use it to complete the course, but you need to rest it for at least two weeks to let it heal all the way. That means you won’t be doing any bow training during that time.”

“It’s alright,” Tesni said. “There are plenty of other things that I can do before then, like refreshing my knowledge of plants or disarming traps.”

Arya ruffled Tesni’s hair. “I’m proud of you,” she said. “Not only did you do well on the bow course, but you’re handling the news of your temporary restrictions well.”

“It’s only two weeks,” Tesni said. “I can handle two weeks.” Her eyes strayed across the camp, where Ryder was monitoring Rowan on the traps course, before her ears caught a discussion between Fiona and Branwen.

Branwen came over to them, having spotted them. “Arya, can I talk to you for a moment?” she asked.

“Of course,” Arya said, leaving Tesni with Enid.

As Branwen and Arya walked off, Fiona ran over. “What do you suppose they’re talking about?” Tesni asked.

“Probably about me,” Fiona said. “I don’t understand it. She has been acting strange for some time, ever since those bandits attempted to attack us six months ago and she was injured, forcing me to fight them off myself.”

“What were the two of you discussing before you came over here?” Tesni asked.

“I had this dream last night,” Fiona said. “I was going down into these ruins out in the middle of the forest, and it was like a large underground maze. I eventually found myself in a room filled with treasure, but the entire room was filled with water, and in it was a fuath.”

Tesni frowned. “Everyone knows that they don’t exist.”

“There was definitely one in my dream, whether they exist or not,” Fiona insisted. “Branwen says that there are such ruins about two miles from camp, where a fuath is rumored to live. She and I were discussing whether or not it would be wise to investigate, so I assume that’s what she’s talking to Arya about. All I know is that I feel like I have to go.”

Tesni looked skeptically at the older girl. “I doubt it’s wise to be driven by what one sees in a single dream,” she said at last. “That’s what I think Arya would say.”



Despite Tesni’s prediction, Arya advised Branwen to take Fiona there. Fiona and Branwen arrived home late that afternoon. There had, indeed, been a fuath in the ruins. Fiona had pierced its heart with one of her knives, killing it instantly. The treasure that the fuath had guarded was brought into town and all of the money earned from its sale was distributed to the poor.

Ryder and Rowan had also gone into town that afternoon. The innkeeper had asked Ryder to come because Cliona’s possessions, which had been more than anyone had known, were finally freed from the courts, who had held them in trust since her death until Tesni had turned sixteen and, therefore, legally old enough to inherit.

“I’ve finally brought your inheritance from your mother,” Ryder said.

“So they finally realized my sixteenth birthday has past, have they?” Tesni asked. “I didn’t think she had even left anything of value until you said you were going into town, today.”

“Be glad they released her things to you at all,” Ryder said. “There has been a lot of debate, recently, about raising the minimum age to inherit to eighteen. The judge had been waiting to see if anything would go through and be approved by the ruling council.”

Tesni sighed. “So what does a former lady-in-waiting turned tavern wench leave her daughter?”

Ryder and Rowan hauled the trunk down from the back of the cart and set it down in front of her. “Look and see,” Ryder said.

With trembling hands, Tesni pushed open the lid. A gold and crystal headdress sat on top, diamond shapes covered in filigree and connected with gold chain, crystals at the center of each one and hanging from the chain itself.

Tesni set it on her cot and pulled out the dark blue silk gown that sat beneath it. The neckline was off the shoulder. The bodice was lightly boned. The long sleeves belled out about halfway down, ending in handkerchief hems. The skirt ended with a short train, and the train, sleeves, and bodice all had gold embroidery of leafy vines.

“These are beautiful,” Tesni said, “but I don’t know when I’m ever going to wear them.”

“Perhaps one of these days we’ll finally have a king or queen again,” Ryder said, “and then you can wear it to their coronation ball. The Rangers are always getting invited to things like that.”

“We have never been invited to a fancy ball in the entire time since Arya brought me here,” Tesni said.

“Well, we used to, until about twelve years ago,” Ryder amended.

Tesni smiled and turned back to the trunk. There was more jewelry, including a necklace, earring, and bracelet set that matched the head piece, as well as a silver ring clearly made for a man to wear. Three more dresses filled the trunk, and at the bottom of it all, there was a letter.

My darling Tesni,

For six years I have searched for you, and now, as I lie here, dying, I know that it will be another six before you read this letter, because it is going into the trunk, for you to read when you receive your inheritance, hopefully when you are sixteen. It is my fondest hope that your father finds you quickly. I have written another note to go to him if he does not come to hear my request for him to find you.

You must have many questions about me. I know that I have questions about you. I wonder if you are safe. I wonder if you have grown up into the beauty I always suspected you would be. Will you become a Ranger, like your father? Will you find true love? By this point you must have your fair share of suitors and your pick of all the young men of Linwood, if your father will even allow them near you.

Well, dear, here is everything you must want to know about me, and if I leave questions unanswered, then you can ask your father. I am sure he will be able to tell you.

To start off with, your father and I were not married. I know that seems wrong, but it’s true. He was deeply in mourning, and I took advantage of that, even though I knew that he would never truly be mine. That is not to say that I never hoped. I even purchased a silver ring to give him should he ask for my hand, and I hope that you will someday give it to your own lover.

I was a lady-in-waiting to Her Majesty, Queen Rhiannon. More than that, I was her favorite, for reasons you must uncover on your own, for your own safety. Know this. There was a princess born to the king and queen who reached adulthood. I knew her well, as I aided in her hiding from Agrona, and she had a daughter the same year I gave birth to you. Find her, and you will find that you are greatly and justly rewarded.

Like most, I did not trust Agrona. However, the night you came, the midwife was busy, and Agrona herself delivered you. The cord was around your neck, and she saved your life. This is the only good that can be said about her, perhaps the only good that she has ever done.

Yes, I loved you. I still love you and miss you dearly. I would do anything to see you once more, but I know that it is impossible, for I know that my final hour is at hand. I can only hope that whoever took you in raised you well.

Your mother,

Cliona

“I wonder what she meant about your safety being on the line,” Rowan said thoughtfully.

Tesni looked up. She had not even realized that she had been reading the letter aloud. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “However, she has confirmed what many have long speculated.”

“Aye, she has,” Ryder agreed, “but why charge you, specifically, with finding this lost princess and her daughter when nobody else seemed to know anything about it?”

“And why was she the queen’s favorite?” Tesni asked. “And why would it be unsafe for her to write the reasons down? It could simply be that they were close in age or shared certain favorite activities, and those are innocuous. I can’t think of any reasoning unless…”

Her eyes locked with Ryder’s, then, and then with Rowan’s. It was clear that they were wondering the same thing. “No, it can’t be,” Rowan said. “She said that she knew the princess well, and that she had a daughter born the same year, and charged you with finding her.”

“Aye, but how could your mother be so sure of a great and just reward?” Ryder asked.

Tesni examined the parchment closely, looking for clues. “
Atar,
might I have a bit of diluted ink and a cloth?”

Ryder raised an eyebrow but nodded, fetching some ink made of poke berries, some water, and the cloth. “I don’t know what your plan is, Tesni, or what you spotted, so I will let you dilute the ink to the strength you think you need.”

Tesni just nodded and started to work, diluting the ink in the water to about half strength. Then she took the cloth and used it to rub the diluted ink over the paragraph that spoke of Cliona’s life as a lady-in-waiting. Before her eyes, the indentations that she had seen became visible numbers, one through seven. “I was…the…princess…” Tesni read, going in order, “you…her…daughter.” She bit her lower lip. “I was the princess, you her daughter,” she repeated, her voice shaking.

“There’s one way to know if she wrote the truth,” Ryder said softly, “that is, if you want to know.”

“Well of course I want to know,” Tesni said. “Otherwise this question is going to hang over my head. I mean, if I don’t find out, for sure, and she’s telling the truth, that does Linwood no good. If she’s lying, or I just misinterpreted those marks, then I have a quest and a duty to find the real princess and her daughter and set her on the throne.”

Rowan rested his forehead on hers. “Yes or no, no matter what, nothing will change how I feel about you.”

“I know,” Tesni said. Then she kissed him.

Rowan was just starting to deepen the kiss when Ryder cleared his throat. “Come on,” she said. He, too, wondered about the contents of Cliona’s letter. If Tesni had interpreted what she found correctly, it meant that he had seduced a princess, and his daughter was destined to rule. If she hadn’t, then just what was the woman thinking telling Tesni that it was up to her to restore the princess to the throne?

He led them to the bow course, where Tesni frowned. “
Atar
, I’m not supposed to be on the course again today. I took a knife to the arm, and Enid wants me to rest it for two weeks.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Ryder said. He opened up the door. “Maintenance,” he commanded. Automatically, all of the doors opened.

The three of them moved easily through the course. When they got to the final room, Tesni saw that having the course under maintenance conditions meant that there was a rope ladder going down and another to climb up the opposite side. As they climbed down, Ryder led them to the end of the zip line.

Ryder pointed out the two traps in the room. “Arya told me how you got up the bladed rope,” he said, “but what you did wasn’t necessary. This one,” he said, pointing to the one Tesni would have hit had she just kept sliding “opens up a second rope, and this one,” he said, pointing to the one on the floor, “everyone thinks is a trap, but it’s really not.”