***
The three women watched Garrick with a careful eye, checking to ensure that he understood what they were telling him. He rocked back and forth, as he digested what they were saying to him.
“That’s not possible.” He shook his head in denial. “Tyrone is dead, has been for four years.”
“No, that is what Bart wants everyone to believe. The truth is, right at this moment, Tyrone is locked up somewhere in this castle, probably in the dungeons, but seeing as we can’t come out and ask, we don’t know.” Eve spoke slowly so that he had time to adjust. Garrick looked to Olivia.
“It’s true, Garrick, I was with him not three hours ago. Tyrone is alive but ...”
“Alive,” he whispered, wondering if he dared believe that it was true. “Alive,” he said a little louder. “ALIVE!” he shouted, his voice stronger, firmer, more like the Garrick of old.
“Now that is a way to get us all in trouble,” Azure hissed at him. Garrick looked guilty, and quieted down.
“Garrick, it’s alright, nobody heard, and yes, he is alive.”
“Oh my gods!” he cried, falling to his knees, as it finally crashed down on him. “I have betrayed my king.”
“Uh, can we do this at another time?” Azure snapped at him, as she cracked the door open enough that she could check the hall, before she closed it again.
“Girl, you remind me of someone,” Eve told Azure, and then she shook her head, and looked back to Garrick and Olivia.
“Azure is correct, we don’t have time for you to cry about all that you could have done, because if we don’t do something right quick, then we really will have a funeral to attend.”
“How long ago were they taken?” he questioned.
“Just over three hours ago,” Eve told him.
“Where were they captured?”
“They grabbed us when we came out of a secret tunnel made for the royal family; it came out in the lower dungeons. They knew that we were coming, how, we aren’t sure, but they were waiting. When the guards jumped the guys, Roderic pushed us back, and closed the door.”
“Smart man,” Garrick muttered, as things started flowing through his mind again, the fog of the past four years lifting from him. “Well, we need more help.”
“That is why Olivia brought us to you,” Eve stated. “We were hoping that you could help us rescue them.”
“The four of us, against several dozen of the king’s guards, we wouldn’t get anywhere near them,” Garrick sighed.
“Who are we supposed to get?” Olivia cried. “Bart made sure to replace Tyrone’s guards, and any that would be loyal to Grey, with his own men. Who knows where they are now?”
“If I know my men, not far,” Garrick told them. “I wasn’t the only one with questions regarding Bart’s account of Tyrone’s murder. I suspect that they are lying low, waiting for a sign.”
“Where?” Eve questioned. She knew that they were running out of time.
“Is Nolan still in charge of the stables?” he asked.
“He is, or at least he was, until I stole those horses from him when we saved Grey and the others from hanging,” Olivia admitted.
“He helped you?”
“Oh no, I did it all myself, but ...”
“Then he’ll be there,” Garrick told him. “Get me Nolan. He’ll know where the men are waiting.”