to their pace and to her dismay she saw Marco smiling menacingly at her. Slowly, inch by inch, he steered his horses closer. She pulled tightly on the reins but it was no good, the van tilted into a ditch on the side of the road. As she sat there stunned, she heard Marco’s cruel laugh as he whipped his horses and they took off at an alarming rate, the wagon bouncing behind.
‘What the blazes …?’ Mara muttered, appearing beside her. ‘You all right, girl?’ she asked.
‘I think so. It was Marco, he ran me off the road,’ she shook her head, pointing ahead to where his wagon had veered off the lane and was heading north.
‘Bloody man,’ Mara shouted, shaking her fist at him before leaping down and patting Ears. ‘There’s a good boy,’ she crooned. ‘Many a pony would have bolted, but not Ears,’ she told Colenso as she jumped down beside her. Together they studied the van. It was well and truly stuck, with both nearside wheels embedded in the ditch.
‘It’s no good. We’ll never get that out, so we’ll have to leave it here and walk,’ Mara said, unhitching the pony. ‘Get someone from Grampound to come and help us shift it.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Colenso murmured.
‘Not your fault. That madman should be locked up.’
‘But why would he do such a thing?’ Colenso persisted.
‘A proud man, is Marco, and you spurned him, didn’t you? Asked you to be his new assistant, didn’t he?’ Mara added, seeing her frown. ‘His ego wouldn’t allow rejection, see? Illusionaire Extraordinaire, indeed. Come on, Ears,’ she said, taking hold of his bridle.
‘So what does he do exactly?’ Colenso asked.
‘Makes things and people disappear,’ she said grimly. ‘Literally.’ Colenso shuddered as they began walking. As if to add to their mood, the sun disappeared behind the clouds that had gathered.
‘Typical,’ Mara muttered. ‘Going to rain now. Still, I guess it’ll wash some of the dust off us.’
They hadn’t gone far when they heard hooves and the rumble of wheels. Spinning round, they saw Big Al waving to them from his wagon.
‘What caused that?’ he asked without preamble, drawing to a halt beside them.
‘I was taking a nap in the back when Marco tried to run Colenso off the road,’ Mara told him, her eyes narrowing to dark slits. ‘Wicked, he is. Time someone put a stop to his trickeries.’
‘Agreed,’ he nodded. ‘You all right?’ he asked, turning to Colenso.
‘Yes, except for landing Mara’s van in a ditch and losing sight of the others,’ she muttered, feeling foolish.
‘Soon fix that. When we get to Grampound, I’ll send Titan and his pal to retrieve the van and you can catch up with your kumpania. They’ll no doubt have a fire going and be brewing up some concoction in their cauldron,’ he laughed, holding out his hand to take the bridle from her before helping them up. Then, with Ears trotting behind, they continued their journey.
The rain was falling in big fat drops now, the leaden sky merging with the moors. Thankful to be under cover, Colenso sat back on the seat. Big Al and Mara had their heads close together and were muttering but she couldn’t hear what they were saying. All she could think of was that malicious grin on Marco’s face. The man was mad.
✳
‘Tinks and I are going to see if we can get some offcuts of leather from the tannery before we leave,’ Mara told Colenso. Despite their eventful afternoon the previous day, they were up early and were enjoying their first cuppa of the day. ‘I noticed old Ears’s rein is getting worn when I was leading him yesterday.’
‘It didn’t take Titan and Tory long to recover your van, did it?’ Colenso asked, amazed at the speed with which it had turned up. By the time they’d arrived here, the rain had stopped and the kumpania were cooking chitties over the yag. Colenso still marvelled at the way everyone pulled together, for by the time they’d finished supper, the men had not only recovered the van but set it up alongside the others.
‘Told you Big Al had things organized, didn’t I?’ Mara told her, winding the red scarf around her curls.
‘Jago doesn’t see things that way, does he?’ Colenso asked.
‘No, but then he doesn’t like paying out for anything he deems unnecessary,’ the woman replied. ‘Talk of the devil,’ she added as there was a brisk rapping and the door opened. ‘Let yourself in, why don’t you.’
‘Morning to you an’ all, Mara,’ he grinned. ‘Hear you girls had a spot of bother on the road yesterday.’
‘That Marco had better not show his face, that’s all I’m saying,’ Mara growled.
‘Blimey, that look would scare me,’ he replied, pretending to cower. ‘I’m going to see what delights Karla’s making and I thought you might like to come with me,’ he said to Colenso.
‘I’d love to,’ she cried, excited at the prospect of meeting his sister and seeing how the confections were created. ‘If that’s all right with you, Mara?’
‘See you at the fairground in Truro then. Don’t forget to call in at the post office on your way through, cos you never know,’ she winked.
‘What might you never know?’ Jago asked as they rode through the little town waymarked Probus.
‘If there’s a letter waiting for me,’ she admitted, excitement bubbling in spite of her worries that there might not be. ‘And if there is, I shall need to purchase a card and stamp,’ she added, staring at him expectantly.
‘My, it’s busy today,’ he murmured. Colenso stared at the empty lane ahead and sighed. Getting money out of the man obviously wasn’t going to be easy. She’d have to devise a strategy, she decided, sitting back and looking around.
The air was fresh after the rain and she breathed in deeply. They were crossing a river now and as two swans glided down, her thoughts turned to Kitto. Would he have found some way to reply to the card she’d sent?
Before long they drew up outside a little cottage on the edge of Truro. Although it was small and quite run-down, it was on a corner plot and when she followed Jago round to the back she saw that an outhouse of some sort had been added.
‘Hello sister, dear,’ he called brightly, pushing open the door and beckoning Colenso to follow him into the steam-filled room. A woman in her thirties, dark hair piled messily on top of her head, white apron covering her dress, looked up from the big pan she was stirring. ‘I’ve brought Colenso here to meet you.’
‘Yer’ve brought a girl home, Jago? Well I never,’ she exclaimed, nearly dropping her spoon into the mixture. ‘’Tis good to meet yer, dear,’ she smiled warmly at Colenso. ‘I’d like to say any friend of my brother’s is a friend of mine, but sadly that’s not always true.’
‘This is Karla,’ Jago said, looking uncomfortable. ‘Learn what you can from her and I’ll be back later.’
