Hastened back with speed to tell the tale (7)
I believe the answer is:
narrate
'tell the tale' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'hastened back with speed' is the wordplay.
'hastened' becomes 'ran' (I've seen this before).
'back' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'speed' becomes 'rate' (both can mean pace).
'ran' back-to-front is 'nar'.
'nar'+'rate'='NARRATE'
'to' is the link.
(Other definitions for narrate that I've seen before include "Relay" , "Tell us the story" , "Chronicle" , "Relate, recount" , "'Recount, tell (7)'" .)