Chapter 13
She's in the bottom of the bottle
The tavern was loud and smoky. The crush of men was an overwhelming, throbbing mass of drunken debauchery. James and Much had taken Robin to the roughest tavern in Jerusalem's old city. If he decided that someone had to die then it was fair game here.
The table Much and Robin took over was dirty and scarred. The bar was rumored to have been here since the Romans and the floor looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the centurions had left. Much had carefully kept Robin's back to the stage. The last thing he needed was scantily clad women dancing seductively; women and lust were not where his master's head should be right now.
James made his way through the shuffling crowd with his arms full. When Much saw him he stood up and took the ales from him. James set the dirty bottle of gold liquid in front of Robin. "This is snakebite wine from the East. Much and I will be having ale and you will be drinking this. I told the barkeep to forget about the tiny glass he wanted you to drink it out of; you're not too good to drink from the bottle."
Much looked at James, suspiciously. "James, I don't doubt your judgment but is that a snake curled up in the bottom of that bottle? Is that really hygienic?"
James sighed. "Yes, Much that is in fact a dead cobra that has been preserved inside the wine; hence it's name - snake bite wine. It probably isn't hygienic but if Robin here gets through more than a quarter of the bottle I'll be surprised." James then settled into his ale and stretched out his legs – he needed to unwind after the tensions of the night.
Robin looked at James perplexed. "James I'm fine with the ale. This looks vile."
James looked at Robin in amusement. Uncrossing his legs, James set down his ale and leaned across the table to biff Robin across the top of the head. "Robin, tonight you will drink this bottle of horrid smelling, possibly poisonous and very unhygienic alcohol. You will then commence to pass out and allow Much and I to enjoy the rest of King Richard's gold. He gave us quite a lot and the ale is cheap. So shut up and drink. In the morning if you still remember how you got to the Holy Lands I will be surprised. I will also bring you back here to repeat the procedure on the barkeeps silver. Now uncork the bottle and kill some brain cells."
Following James's orders Robin uncorked the bottle and took a small sip of the wine. "Hey this isn't too bad, once you get past the snake at the bottom." Robin said surprised. He then commenced to take another very long pull of liquor.
Several hours later King Richard's gold was beginning to run short. The table was littered with ale cups and four empty bottles of snake bite wine. All three men looked the worse for wear and were singing marching songs in raucous and very slurred voices. As the last song ended Robin slammed his hand onto the table, rattling the bottles. Resting his weight on the table Robin attempted to stand. As he stood the room began to spin. Robin could handle spinning rooms if only they would spin in only one direction at a time. It seemed to him that the room was in fact spinning diagonally from behind his left ear, around the front of his face in one quick swoop, underneath his chin and then back up behind his right ear in a large circle. He was afraid that if the room didn't stop spinning soon he was likely to sick like he had been on the boat crossing from Greece to the Holy Lands.
"I have made an important decision, mates!" Robin declared shaking his right index finger. Oh, don't do that again, his index finger had split in thirds and was trailing itself across his sightline. "I don't love Noor. In fact I hate her. She is a sorceress and she has bewitched me. That wine you gave me tonight cleared my head James; I am free of the witch's spell."
Much and James raised their ale cups in salute. "Good Master, you are free of her and we no longer have to risk our necks about it," Much declared.
Robin raised the bottle of snakebite wine and returned their salute. As he put the bottle to his lips he realized that it was empty and the snake inside was staring at him. Its eyes reminded him of the way Noor looked at him. For an instant it wasn't the snake inside that bottle it was a vision of her. "I've decided," Robin stumbled backwards into his chair. Standing once more he waited for the room to stop spinning. "I have decided to go tell that horrid woman I am through with her! Coming lads?"
Somehow as inebriated as they were this sounded like a perfectly plausible idea to Much and James. Somehow they didn't think that perhaps Robin didn't need to face his lady love angry and drunk; especially when said lady love had a lion to set on him.