Rangers of Linwood (The Five Kingdoms Book 1) (2 page)

Tesni looked at Knives. He seemed distracted, and he had never been quite so short with her. Brushing it off as his shock at her first time getting caught, she shrugged and did as she was told, thinking over the day’s events as she drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 2

To the eye not trained to see such a thing, the castle at Linwood’s northernmost border looked like a pile of old ruins. It was exactly what the dark-haired High Elf liked. It meant that there were never any unwanted visitors. There was no such thing as a wanted one.

Now, Agrona summoned her prophetess. “The orb,” she said. “Will I ever be able to get it?”

“The orb is well protected by the Rangers of Linwood, my lady. They keep it under a tight guard should they ever find the missing princess.”

Agrona snorted. “If I even have a niece at all,” she said. “Everyone believes it, and I have my own suspicions, as well, but certainly someone must have attempted to claim the throne by now. Well, no matter. I shall find her first, and when I do, she will die, and I will finally have the right to rule. But tell me now, how long until my victory?”

The prophet went into a trance, her brown eyes turning a milky white. Her normally soothing voice became ethereal, almost echoing off of the walls as she spoke.

“When darkness covers the land, looking for guarded treasure, let evil beware the clever thief, for sharp wits give great pleasure. Such talent to steal both orb and throne, used by darker side, might be used by light, but all depends on what the thief should decide. Death shall come for warmth from the sun when dark spells taint the wood. Honorable, noble, loyal friend cannot stop the spilling of blood, but death may yet find himself shaken, for saltiest tears can awaken.”

The prophet’s eyes and voice returned to normal, then, and she looked Agrona in the eye. “Find the clever thief and convince her to join you,” she said at last. “If there is anyone who can get past the defenses of the Rangers of Linwood, it is she.”

“Oh, that narrows it down so much,” Agrona replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “That could be any member of the Thieves Guild. They are all considered extraordinarily clever in their own ways. Each has a unique skill set.”

“Yes, but only one of them is female,” the prophet said, “the one who goes by Wits.”

“Well, then we shall have to find a way to capture her, won’t we?”



Tesni was up early the next morning. Her intention was a quick, large score and to be back before any of the lads had a chance to outdo her. Besides, she wasn’t quite ready for any awkward conversations. Though she had spoken to Knives in confidence the night before, there were always ears open, and who knew how fast word had spread about her encounter the day before?

Unfortunately, Knives was awake before she was. “Wait a moment,” he said. “Before ye go out, I want to speak with ye.”

“What’s the matter, Knives?” Tesni asked, though she had an idea already of what was going on.

“I’ve been lyin’ awake all night thinkin’ about what ye said yesterday, Wits, about yer run-in with Arya Summerbreeze, and I’ve been thinkin’, maybe ye ought to consider her offer. I know they generally don’t take trainees under age twelve, but she wouldn’t’ve made the invitation if she didn’t think ye had it in ye to succeed.”

Tesni was confused. “Are ye kickin’ me out of the Guild, Knives?”

“No, Wits, absolutely not. I won’t force ye. Yer too great of an asset to us, and we’d be sad to see ye go, but…’ere.” He clasped a gold necklace around her neck. On the thin chain rested a round locket with the sun on the front, her name inscribed on the back. Inside the locket were a picture of a couple Tesni had never seen before and of a small baby. “Ye were wearin’ this when we found ye,” Knives said. “I kept callin’ ye Tesni ‘cause that’s the name on the locket, and then gave ye me own last name.”

“Oh, Knives…”

“Ye deserve better, Wits, and I love ye as me own, but yeh need to know that the choice has always been yers to make. I won’t force ye away, but yeh should give th’ Rangers serious thought.”

“Do yeh really think so, Knives?”

“Oh, aye, I do.”

“Then I guess I’m goin’ to th’ Rangers. But how do I find them?”

Knives smiled. “Probably a good decision, lass. As for how to find ‘em, just whistle when ye get out in th’ woods. Have ye had breakfast yet?”

“Aye, I finished off that sweet roll Arya gave me last night and had a bit of porridge,” Tesni said.

“Good girl, now go on. If yer goin’ to go to th’ Rangers, ye best get yer stuff and get goin’. Ye’ll learn all sorts of stuff with them that the lads and I could never teach ye.”

Tesni hugged Knives tightly. “I won’t be forgettin’ yeh, Knives, or any of the lads. Tell them goodbye for me, aye?”

“Aye, ‘twill be done. We’ll be missin’ ye, Wits, but Tesni Redleaf has a future beyond the Thieves Guild, and I believe the Rangers can provide it, especially Arya Summerbreeze. If yer lucky, she’ll mentor ye, herself.”

Tesni nodded, grabbed the small satchel that contained everything she owned, and ran out the door. She wouldn’t whistle so close to the cave, of course. She didn’t wish to alert the Rangers as to the actual whereabouts of the Guild headquarters. Instead, she ran deep into the woods, until she wasn’t quite sure where she was anymore, and she let out a loud, long whistle.

Almost immediately, a Ranger dropped down. Like Arya, he wore green pants and matching jacket with gold braid and crest, but his tunic was tucked in and he wore a leather belt. Where Arya had carried bow and arrows at her back, this one, his blonde hair only slightly darker than Tesni’s, had a sword at his, and a dagger at his hip. “Hello there, miss. I’m Ryder. How can I help you?”

“’Ello, Ryder. I’m Tesni. I be lookin’ fer Arya Summerbreeze.”

“Ah, Arya said you might be coming to join us. She didn’t say you were a bit younger than we usually take.”

“Aye, I’m only eight, but Arya said I ought to come to join the Rangers an’ leave bein’ a thief behind.”

Ryder smiled. “That’s alright. If Arya says you’re cut out for our life, then you’re cut out for it. We’re really not that far from camp.” He led her a little ways further down what Tesni could now see was a path. “Come, join our fire.”

“Thank ye,” Tesni said, smiling. The smile left as she looked around. Inside the large wooden fence that marked the parameter, she could see several tents on platforms in rows on one side. There was a large wooden building at the other end, and she could see a couple of much smaller buildings on one side of the larger one. In front of it was a platform. On the side opposite the tents, she saw stables, a small archery range, an area to practice sparring, and a forge. She also saw three rectangular buildings closer to the gates. In the center, there was a large fire pit, but…“Uh, what fire?”

Ryder laughed. “It’s a Ranger greeting. It means you’re welcome amongst us as a friend, and we will show you hospitality while you’re here.”

“And the first thing she needs to learn is how to speak correctly,” came a voice from behind them.

Ryder and Tesni whirled around. “Hail, Ranger,” Ryder said, laughing again.

“Hail, yourself, Ryder,” Arya said.

“What’s wrong with th’ way I talk?” Tesni asked.

Arya looked down at her. “First, I’m glad you decided to come and join us. Second, in general, nothing is wrong with it. However, we Rangers work with all levels of society, Tesni. You might have to work with anyone from your former mates to royalty.”

“
Former
mates?” Tesni asked, one eyebrow raised. “Yeh didn’t say I’d have to give up me friendships with th’ lads.”

Arya sighed. This was clearly going to be a long day, she realized as she massaged her temples. “Tesni, you are clearly a smart girl. You nearly had my purse, and I think you would have had it and been away if I hadn’t made up my mind so quickly. Do you
really
think the lads of the Thieves Guild will even acknowledge you after today? I can guarantee the secret knock has already been changed.”

“Why wouldn’t they? They love me, especially Knives. He… He gave me ‘is own last name, he did. An’ he knows I’m ‘ere. He told me to come. He knows I didn’t just abandon ‘em.”

Arya and Ryder gave each other a look. How were they supposed to explain the way of things to this young girl?

“Tesni,” Ryder said, “maybe this will help you to understand the decision you’ve made. You are now legal. Everything you do is now to be within the confines of the law. However, the activities of the Thieves Guild are not legal.”

Arya nodded. “Tesni, what was the thing you were afraid I was going to do when I caught you with your hand on my purse strings?”

Tesni bit her lower lip. “I was afraid tha’ ye were goin’ to hand me over to th’ guards, but ye didn’t.”

“No, I didn’t, because you’re just a child and I want to save you. But there’s my point. You’re on the other side of the law, now. What, in their mind, is there to keep you from turning each and every one of them in? What’s going to stop you from going to the authorities and telling them exactly where to find them?”

“Loyalty,” Tesni said. “Yeh don’t understand, Arya. If Knives thought ‘e ‘ad any reason to fear I might turn ‘em all in, or lead th’ guards straight to th’ cave, he would never ‘ave let me come, and not only did he let me, he told me to.”

“Tesni, I know more than you think about loyalty.” Arya knelt down, placing her hands on Tesni’s shoulders. Whether she needed to steady the girl or keep her from running, she wasn’t sure. “We Rangers are a family. Your skills will continue to be sharpened with us, and you will never have to worry about whether or not a secret knock has been changed or what will happen if you get captured.”

Ryder knelt down next to Arya. “I think what Arya’s trying to tell you is that you need to think about your future. Arya told me last night that you’re successful because you’re small and clever. You might never lose that cleverness, but you are going to get taller. You’ll grow in other ways, too, but that will be something for you to learn later. What is going to happen when you’re less agile, when you become clumsy as you enter your early adulthood because your body is changing and you don’t know what to do about it?”

“I… I didn’t think about it,” Tesni admitted. “I told Knives I’d come up with new tricks.”

“Or you could have been abandoned, become useless, and ended up in a brothel or as a tavern wench,” Arya snapped.

Ryder gave Arya a sharp look. “Was that really necessary?”

The woman just shrugged. “She has to know all of the possible outcomes. It’s better she learn the facts of life sooner rather than later so she can toughen up.”

“They would never abandon me,” Tesni said. “They wouldn’t. Knives wouldn’t let ‘em.”

With that, the girl took off through the woods again. She ran hard and fast, until she found her way back to the cave. She gave the knock, but received no answer. To her surprise, she found that the door opened easily anyway. She ran into the cave, calling for Knives and the lads, but still found no answer.

Nobody was there. Nothing was there. In the short time that Tesni had been gone, Knives and the lads had packed up everything and gone to a new hideout.

In tears, Tesni walked out of the cave, only to find herself right in Arya’s arms.

“I tried to tell you,” Arya whispered, stroking Tesni’s hair gently, trying to sooth her. “I guess sometimes you just have to learn the hard way.”

“I… I thought…thought they…loved me…” Tesni sobbed. “I thought…maybe…they trusted me… that they cared about me…”

“I know, Tesni, I, I know, but they also had to do what was safe,” Arya said, “and they chose their safety over giving you the ability to come back. But a Ranger? We never leave our own behind. Ever.”

“Yeh…ye’ll never abandon me?”

“Never,” Arya confirmed. She brought her thumbs up, wiping away Tesni’s tears. “Now come on home to the camp. You can share a tent with me until you’re old enough for one of your own.”

“Alright.”

“She had to see for herself?” Ryder asked when they got back.

“Aye,” Arya said. She pointed out her tent. “I knew you’d come, so I’ve already had an extra cot set up and a trunk put together for you. You’ll find everything that you need to set up your area of the tent the way you like it. It’s not much, but it’s home.”

“Thank you,” Tesni whispered.

As soon as Tesni darted into the tent, Arya turned to Ryder. “It wasn’t easy for her to accept. You should have seen the tears.”

“I saw how red her eyes were,” Ryder said. “I’m glad she came back instead of running back into town to wait for one of them to come in after a mark.”

“It’s better for her this way, no matter how hard it may have been,” Arya said. “I just wonder who’s going to end up mentoring the little firebrand.”

Chapter 3

Over the course of her first week with the Rangers, Tesni established a new routine for herself with some help from Arya, who woke her just before dawn each morning. Wake up. Make the bed. Have breakfast. Go for a jog, which Arya assured her would help her with her discipline and would get easier over time.