To Have A Heart (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 7)

“Quickly.”

Mallory opened her mouth to ask Callum if he knew what he was doing only to find herself propelled forward by the old man, who threw her a dark look of warning. The crowd suddenly burst into life again. To her amazement, the sound of their lively chatter blocked ou

t the noise that came from Horace’s hooves as he wandered into the stable yard behind the doors.

No sooner had Horace stepped inside, the old woman closed the large doors and dropped an iron bar into place to secure them.

“Go through the door out back and you will come to another lane. Take a left at the end of the alley and you will find yourself on the outskirts of town again, duckie,” the old woman began without preamble. “They are waiting for you up ahead. You would be a damned fool if you carried on with that journey.”

“Who is waiting for us up ahead?”

“Melrose, of course.”

Rather than leave, Callum squinted at the woman, who seemed to know all about Melrose’s criminality.

“What do you know about him?”

“That he has this village in the grip of fear and has for many years. People tend to disappear whenever he has been here, you see? He is a nasty man, that one, and it is a damned fool who crosses him. The people who do invariably find their livelihoods are smashed, and their families disappear, all because that thug, Melrose, thinks someone has wronged him. Don’t challenge him. He will kill you if you do.”

“How long has Melrose been waiting for us?” Callum asked her.

“About half an hour, I should say. They – Melrose – has been asking if anyone has seen her,” the woman replied simply with a nod at Mallory.

“What about you?” Callum asked, raking the elderly woman with an askance look. “Will you face ruination for talking to me and helping us?”

The woman threw him a sad smile. “I have had my day. That blackguard can do what he likes. I have no family anymore. I am the last of them. I don’t have anything worth taking except my life, dearie. If that fiend wants to take that, well, I will damned well haunt him until he joins me.”

Callum nodded. “We are going to stop him.”

The woman looked doubtfully at him. “There are them who have tried.”

“Stay safe,” Mallory whispered with a smile she truly didn’t feel.

“Aye. You go on now and stay away from him.”

“How many of them are there?” Callum asked.

“He has a lot of men working for him,” the woman replied.

Callum didn’t press her. He wondered if she was educated enough to be able to count them anyway. She didn’t seem to be the kind of woman who would withhold valuable information like opponent numbers. If she wasn’t inclined to tell him it meant that she probably didn’t know.

Callum paused in the process of opening the gate. “Are all of Melrose’s men from the village?”

The old woman shook her head. “Anyone who tried to join that man would be drummed out of the village with their families faster than you could blink.”

To prove just how much danger the old woman had put herself in by opening the doors, loud banging on them began.

“Don’t answer that. We will divert them,” Callum whispered.

“Aye.” The old woman turned away before Callum could thank her.

“You do know that Melrose House has been raised to the ground, don’t you, and half of Melrose’s thugs cut down?” Callum called after her.

The old woman paused. For the first time, she looked at them with light in her eyes.

“Then there is a God,” was all she said before she resumed her journey into the building that circled the courtyard.

Before Callum led the way out of the yard, he waited until the woman was safely inside the building. Only when he heard the dull thud of the bolt being slid across the door did he then lead Mallory out of the yard. He knew they didn’t have much time before Melrose’s men would venture around the back and would stumble across him leading Mallory to safety.