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

When she pulled it off to inspect it, she found it was gold and studded with pink gems.
    She put it back on as she felt another presence enter. She didn’t know where she was or how she got there, and she desperately hoped it was Arya or Ryder, come to save her.
    Her hope was in vain, however. Instead of Arya, Ryder, Knives, or even Enid or Fiona, Agrona had arrived. “What are you doing here?” Tesni asked.
    “I’m here to talk to you,” Agrona said a little too sweetly.
    “Did you bring me here?” Tesni asked.
    “I did.”
    “Why?”
    Agrona moved closer, causing Tesni to step back in fear. “Oh, now don’t be scared. This is your dreamscape. I can’t hurt you here.”
    “Then what do you want?” Despite Agrona’s assurances, probably false, Tesni was very scared indeed.
    “You have a curse on you,” Agrona said. “I put it there, myself. You feel fine, here, but back in the Ranger camp, you lie in a deep sleep, unable to wake up, fighting just to breathe. You’re going to slowly get worse until your third sunset in this condition, when you will die.”
    “Why?” Tesni asked again. “Why curse me to die?” She could feel tears threatening to fall. Her birthday had been only a week ago. She was barely nine. She had so much to look forward to. She was looking forward to when she was twelve and could train with the Rangers. Not now, though. Not with this curse Agrona had placed on her.
    Agrona gripped Tesni’s chin. “Because I want you to work for me,” she said. “I am more than willing to remove the curse. With your permission, and only with your permission, I can call your body from the Ranger camp to my castle, where I will remove the curse, but you have only until your third sunset, and it is noon on your first day already.”
    “I won’t help you,” Tesni said. “I won’t. And Arya will figure it out. She and Ryder are really smart. So are Enid, and Fiona, and Alastar. They’ll figure it out. They’ll find a way to remove the curse.”
    “Are you so sure?” Agrona asked.
    “They’ve probably already figured out you put the curse on me,” Tesni replied. “I fell onto some feather mattresses. They’re really soft. The pit the rope that broke crosses is less than two meters deep.”
    Agrona stared hard at Tesni. The girl only stared back, defiant of this woman who would not take no for an answer. Neither was inclined to give in to the other. Tesni would never agree to steal from those whom she had come to love. Loyalty meant too much to her. Agrona would never give up seeking what she wanted, what she believed belonged to her.
    “I shall come to you at sunset tomorrow to see if you have changed your mind, you foolish girl,” Agrona said at last.
    “Come if you like,” Tesni said. “It makes no difference to me if you enjoy my dreamscape or not, for as you said yourself, you cannot hurt me. Nightmares cannot hurt me, either, and that is all you are. I shall not be here at sunset tomorrow. I shall be up and about, tending to the horses, because by this time tomorrow, I will have been rescued.”
     
    
    Ryder had been called out of camp as, just after breakfast, a messenger from town had come, begging that Ryder follow him to the inn, as one of the women working there wished to see him, and that it was urgent.
    The woman’s name was Cliona, and ten years prior, she had been, for a few brief weeks, Ryder’s lover. Despairing of ever gaining Arya’s affection and in grief over the recent death of his father, Ryder had gone into Cliona’s arms. She had been a servant at the palace at the time, a position that had only ended upon the untimely murders of the king and queen.
    As soon as he arrived at the inn, he inquired about her and was directed to the room upstairs where she had been allowed to make her home so long as she worked there. He was not prepared to find her lying in bed, clearly very ill.
    “Hello, Ryder,” she said, her voice weak.
    “Hello, Cliona,” he