Rangers of Linwood (The Five Kingdoms Book 1) by LeAnn Anderson Read Free Book Online Page B

orb,” the guard said, eyeing Arya’s blade carefully.
    So that was why Arya and Ryder had such an uneasy feeling about the woman. It was Agrona. That didn’t explain why Tesni felt so uneasy. Perhaps Agrona just put out a general aura. Perhaps Tesni was just picking up on Arya and Ryder’s tenseness. The girl was good at that, a regular empath if ever there was one.
    “We have reason to believe she has someone very dear to us held captive,” Arya said. “A girl with blond hair and blue eyes is who we’re looking for. She might also have a man with black hair and green eyes.”
    “The thieves. You speak of the thieves,” the guard said. “Yes, the man is in the dungeon. He’s been tortured. But the girl was smart. She agreed to join Agrona and spent last night in a soft bed, surrounded by luxury.”
    Arya felt her heart break. Could Tesni really have abandoned everything she had taught her so quickly? Even Knives, she knew, had tried to teach the girl some honor. Angrily, she slit the guard’s throat.
    Ryder arched an eyebrow. “Arya…”
    ”What?” she snapped.
    He winced. “I know you’re upset, Arya, but think about things from Tesni’s point of view. Imagined, for a moment, that you are a scared eight-year-old who has just figured out that you were absolutely right to distrust this woman claiming to be your mother, a woman you probably haven’t seen in four years, and you have no memory of what your mother looks like because you have no memories of your past at all. You have been offered the choice between a cold dungeon and regular beatings until you either submit or die, and submitting immediately and living in luxury, guaranteeing to keep you alive long enough to be rescued. Which do you choose?”
    Arya bit her lower lip. “You’re absolutely right, Ryder,” she said at last. “Tesni is clever. She would have weighed out the options, thought about which one would give her the best chance of escape, and taken it.”
    “Aye, but Agrona would have taken care to reduce her chances of escape in case that was what Tesni was thinking,” Ryder added.
    Arya eyed the ruins carefully. She could now see that they were not, in fact, ruins, but an intact castle. “So she would have put Tesni up in that tower, probably at the top, with guards,” she said at last.
    “Right, and Knives is probably down in the dungeons. We know what to expect out of dungeon guards, so let’s go down and rescue him, first. Then we can go up and get Tesni with all three of us able to fight.”
    “If he’s able to fight,” Arya muttered as they snuck into the castle, leaving their horses outside. Carefully, they stayed in the shadows, their eyes and ears open. They moved down the stairs and into the dungeon, silently slitting the throats of the guards they found.
    “Alastar? You in here?” Arya called out.
    “That you, Arrows?” Knives responded.
    Arya moved over to the cell that the sound was coming from. She knelt down, pulling out her lock picks. “Oh, Alastar…” she whispered, seeing the condition he was in.
    “Don’t go worryin’ ‘bout me, Arrows. I’m alright. It’s Wits I’m worried ‘bout. She begged Agrona for a night to think about it, earned ‘erself a night in the life Agrona was promisin’ ‘er in th’ process. I think she was gettin’ as much time as she could for th’ two of ye to get ‘ere ‘fore she ‘ad to give the old witch an answer.”
    Arya smiled. “She certainly did earn her nickname, didn’t she, Alastar?”
    “Aye, she did,” Knives said.
    “Come on, then,” Arya said, finally popping the lock. “I’ve got Ryder with me. Let’s go rescue Tesni.”
    Knives walked out of the cell, stretching as he did so. “I think the inn in town is better. This place has got cramped quarters, a bad tempered hostess, and naught but cold gruel to serve th’ guests.”
    Arya barely contained a laugh at the bad joke. “Ryder and I think Tesni is being kept at the top of the