"Iris, why don't you come with us to get the water?" Marian suggested to the new girl. Iris nodded and gathered the water skins surrounding her.
"Can Jaq come too?"
"Why?" Elenna asked, her eyebrow raised in question.
"Really!" Kittie agreed. "Most of those guys see this as a 'woman's' duty."
"We'll make him carry the full skins back," Iris told them. The women shrugged and motioned for Jaq to join them.
Some of the men in the camp teased her for going with the women, but she smiled and called back to them, "Hey, I don't see you surrounded by four women!" The men turned red and went back to what they were doing. "So. What are we doing?"
"Filling the water skins," Elenna answered.
"Ah… and I get the honor of carrying them back," Jaq finished, grinning at Iris. "You love volunteering me for stuff, don't you?"
"I live for it."
That's too bad. Some day I'll volunteer without you, and then you'll have nothing to live for."
The women reached the river and began filling the water skins. Jaq and Iris quickly got bored and began splashing each other. Eventually all five of them were in a water war, making more noise than they probably should have. The sheriff's men were able to sneak up on them and capture them before they even noticed that someone was there. They were brought back to the sheriff, who quickly un-gagged all of them, to see if he could get them to talk.
"Start talking," he ordered.
"Really?" Jaq asked, a mischievous glint in her eyes that only Iris noticed.
"Yes! Speak!"
"It all began when I was really young," Jaq announced. Everyone turned to look at her. "My parents didn't want a second child, so they locked me in a closet. But then I picked the lock and climbed out. I looked around the room in which I found myself, immediately noticing that it wasn't my living room. King Jareth was there, and he had this really ugly little baby with him. Even the goblins didn't really want to touch him. But the goblin king was sitting there as regal as ever and- "
"Enough!" The sheriff bellowed. "What are you blathering about?"
"A dream I had the other night. It gets better, though. Then I was in this boat and- "
"Silence!"
"But you told me to speak!"
"About Robin Hood!"
"Well you didn't say that, now did you?"
"What do you have to say about Robin Hood," he finally gritted out.
"He's male…"
"Milord, I believe the young man is crazy."
"No, but I was crazy once." Iris snorted.
"You were?"
"Yep. They locked me in a room with padded walls."
"Really?" The sheriff was intrigued now.
"There were rats there."
"Rats?"
"Rats? I hate rats. They make me crazy. Crazy? I was crazy once. They locked me in a room with padded walls. There were rats there. Rats? I hate rats! They make me crazy! Crazy? I was crazy once- "
"Lock them in the dungeons!" The sheriff bellowed, his face purple with annoyance.
… … …
"I'm bored," Kittie complained.
"Those guards are looking at us funny," Iris commented, shooting the guard another look and seeing him leering at her. "Jaq, make them leave."
"'Kay. This is the song that doesn't end! Yes it goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because this is the song that doesn't end!" After five more rounds the guards got annoyed and left the women on their own. "Problem solved."
"Jaq?" Marian asked quietly. Jaq turned to face her. "You have a very light voice for a man." Jaq's eyes widened as she looked to Iris for help. Iris just shook her head at her friend. "Are you really a man?"
"I guess all fun must end someday, huh?" Jaq asked rhetorically. "No. I'm 100 female."
"But when we met you, you said…" Kittie trailed off.
"I said I wasn't a boy. Then I told you my age. I never actually said I was a man."
"But you let us believe that you were."
"I have more fun with guys. People expect too much of girls, and I didn't want to be put in that category… so…."
"I suppose that makes sense…" Elenna mumbled.
"I always suspected that you were… not quite what you appeared to be."
"I know. That's why I started saying that stuff the first day. Now, even if someone does find out, I'll have proved myself enough that they won't make me do the girly stuff just because I am a girl."
"What do you mean, 'If'?" Marian asked.
"You won't tell them, will you?" Jaq asked quickly, eyes large.
"I won't… on one condition."
"What's that?"
"You tell me what your real name is."
"It's Jaq." It was obvious that none of the women believed her. "It's short for Jaqueline. I just always liked the nickname better."
"I won't tell anyone," Marian promised. Elenna agreed. Iris and Jaq looked at Kittie, waiting for her answer.
"So long as I get to be there when Robin finally finds out, I don't care who knows or doesn't know."
… … …
It was late that night when the women heard something from the hallway leading to the dungeon. They looked at the entrance, all of them dropping to a fighting stance. Slowly, a figure slinked into the room, it's lithe frame almost invisible in the shadows of the room. It finally stepped into the light, revealing Robin Hood. He held up a hand for quiet and unlocked the door. He then ushered the women out of the dungeons. Back outside were Little John, Much, Will Scarlet, and Alan-A-Dale.
Kittie smiled softly at Much, who returned it just as slowly. Jaq smiled secretly at the two's secret romance. Marian and Elenna ran to their respective husbands, and John held his hand out to Iris. That left Jaq and Will to walk back to the camp together.
"So how was it?" Will asked once they had started their trek back to the forest.
"How was what?"
"Your… time in the dungeons."
"Pretty fun, actually."
"Fun?"
"Yeah. I got to annoy the sheriff and the guards. They were sick of listening to me and left; that's why Robin didn't have to go through many guards."
…
"Are you okay, Iris?" Little John asked.
"Just a little tired. I couldn't sleep in that place."
"I could… carry you, if you wanted."
"That would be… nice." Iris answered around a yawn. Little John stooped and lifted her into his large arms.
…
"Are you alright?" Much asked.
"I'm fine. That was actually pretty funny," Kittie answered.
"How so?"
"Jaq annoyed the sheriff so much that he started turning purple. He locked us in the dungeons before he could even question us about the camp and everything. Then… he started singing this song about a song that never ends, and the guards got annoyed and left."
"Wow."
"Yeah…"
… … … … …
A/N: Okay, I'm ending it here because my arm is getting tired. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm going to try and work with the official characters more in the next chapter. Please review and let me know what you think!
Thanks to:
Mary Sue Police: If that was a joke, sorry; not very funny. If it wasn't a joke, you don't have to read this. I'm not forcing you to read my story, an if all you can say about it is 'ugh', then you may as well just be polite like everyone else who DOESN"T WRITE A REVIEW! I have had a bad week, and having someone who isn't even willing to sign on criticize the work I do in my downtime just doesn't help. If you don't have something helpful to say, you can just stay quiet. I don't need reviews that badly.
cowgirlnm-1: Yeah, I hate those types of "outs" too. I guess you've nmow found out. I hope you like how I worked it out. Thanks for the review. Yours made me feel better!
Spader: I updated as soon as I found time... It seems to be hiding from me these past few weeks... Thanks for the review!
Heather: Thanks so much! That was actually a real conversation between two of my friends... Most of the dialogue between Iris and Jaq was taken from my friends... Their conversations are just too funny!
