She began to weep silently. He was her only hope of rescue, and she had not even asked his name.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Callum strapped on his sword and mounted his horse. He pressed his forehead to the saddle and put his hands to his face, hauling himself out of his deep pit of despair. Several days of beard growth prickled his fingers, and his eyes felt as though someone had thrown sand in them.
Was it intense longing, or hatred, which kept him upright as he turned his horse towards the castle gates and to his endless searching? Callum was but an empty shell. He rose each day and somehow pushed onwards in his search, burdened by guilt over his past folly. He should have been softer and more patient with Tara. Instead, he dragged her into marriage and his bed, driven by selfish desires. It was a punch to the guts that she had been stolen at a time when she had begun to care for him, truly care. In his heart, Callum knew he had failed her, and all he wanted was to see Tara one more time, throw himself at her feet and tell her he loved her.
His men were ready - silent and subdued around him. Bryce regarded him with concern, and Callum hated the pity he saw in his friend’s eyes.
‘We ride!’ he commanded.
A scrawny, filthy lad rushed out of nowhere and grabbed his horse’s bridle. The huge stallion snorted and reared up, but the boy did not relinquish his hold.
‘Release my horse, lad, before you get trampled,’ Callum shouted.
‘No,’ said the lad.
‘Do it now, before he crushes you or I beat you for your impertinence,’ snarled Callum.
‘Are you Laird here?’
‘Aye, what of it?’ Anger spurted at the lad for delaying him.
‘Then I have a message for you, and only you. ‘Tis from the lady, Tara.’
***
A while later, seated at the kitchen table, the lad had delivered his message to a stunned audience of Callum and Bryce. They turned away and spoke quietly and urgently.
‘It’s surely a trap, Callum,’ said Bryce. ‘They mean to lead you to that cottage and slaughter you in an ambush.’
‘Tis no lie!’ cried the lad. He had impeccable hearing for one so young and undernourished.
‘Quiet boy. Speak when you are spoken to,’ Callum commanded. ‘What is your name, and tell me true?’
‘Drustan, and I am not a liar. A beggar and thief, I may be, but no liar. That lady bid me come here in all haste, and I have done it, and it was a fearful long way, and my feet are bleeding with the distance of it. And she promised me all the food I could eat, and she gave me this as a reward.’
The lad produced Tara’s wedding ring from a grimy pocket and placed it on the table before him. Callum picked it up and turned it over in his fingers, his loss hitting him anew at the sight of it.
Drustan squirmed in his seat. ‘You can’t take it from me. ‘Tis mine. She gave it to me as payment for bringing the message.’
To Bryce’s surprise, Callum returned the ring to the boy. ‘Callum, do not trust this account. It could well be a trap to lure you in.’
‘If they were to send a messenger, do you think they would use one as ill-formed as him?’ he said. The lad shovelled pie into his mouth, gravy and bits of meat dribbling down his chin and onto his ragged shirt. He grabbed hold of it and sucked the food off.
In Drustan’s gaunt, rat-like face, Callum saw starvation and deprivation of the most acute kind. The lad kept eyes on him while he ate, eyes that were bright with cunning yet wearied from constant vigilance as if waiting for a painful blow to come and hoping to escape it.
‘The lady was bonnie like an angel,’ continued Drustan. ‘Is there more food, for she promised me all the food I could eat for the rest of my life?’ Then, without taking his gaze from them, he continued to talk as he stuffed more pie into his mouth. ‘But you should go soon, for they don’t treat her kindly. And I’ve heard the black rat talking to the other two. They plan to hurt her, I think.’
‘The black rat?’ said Bryce.
‘Aye, Stalker is his name, and he is vicious, though ‘tis the other one I am afraid of.’ The lad stopped eating, and his eyes became wide. ‘It’s the Devil as gives me the nightmares. I’ve heard tell, he cuts out the tongues of those who spill his secrets.’ The lad looked about the kitchen. ‘He can’t get in here, can he? And you won’t say it was me as told you where she is.’
‘Cuts out their tongues, does he?’ said Callum, meeting Bryce’s gaze. He patted the lad on the back. ‘No, lad. We’ll not tell, and the Devil will not live to hurt anyone ever again. Do you trust me to keep you safe, lad?’
Drustan nodded, and the decision was made. ‘Trap or no, I’m going,’ said Callum to Bryce. ‘If the Baron is there, I’ll kill him and end this criminal once and for all.’
‘And I intend to be by your side when you do,’ replied Bryce.