Djaq tried to settle down for the night, listening indulgently while her new friends, everyone of them drunk on ale from Tom and Ellery's wedding feast, carried on their drunken conversation.
Allan, she knew, was drinking to numb the pain he felt over his brother Tom's death. Robin seemed to be wanting to blot something out of his mind and heart as well, but Djaq could only guess it was his feelings of failure and remorse for having been late to the hanging. Will had begun drinking to celebrate his boyhood friend Tom's wedding, but continued because the wedding reminded him of a life he could never live, and his lost loved ones. Little John was drinking because he was missing something, or someone. And Much...Much was drinking because there was plenty of ale.
"Lucky Tom!" Allan shouted, then shook his head, realizing he'd said his brother's name. "The bridegroom, I mean," he clarified, angrily. "Damn! Wish I was with a woman now!"
"You're with Djaq," Much hiccupped. "Apart from being one of the lads, she'sh a woman."
"You don't even know what I mean, do you? You ever even kissed a woman?"
"I kissed Ellery," Much boasted.
"I'm not talkin' about kissin' the bride! That doesn't count."
"For your information, Dunderhead," Much bragged, "I kissed Ellery earlier today, or, more to the point, she kissed me. On the mouth, I might add."
"Probably just foolin' the guards," Allan guessed correctly. "Damn, I want a woman!"
"You've got us," Much reminded him. "We're all brothers here! Oh! Sorry! I shouldn't have said that!"
Allan winced, then downed another tankard of ale. "Come on, everybody!" he recovered. "'Fess up! How old were you, the first time you tupped a woman? Me, I was the ripe old age of thirteen."
"Liar," Little John growled.
"Naw! It's God's Truth! I was workin' in a knight's household, and his wife took a shine to me. Yeah, she was friendly! Not bein' funny, but so was her daughter! I had a great time workin' there, 'til the knight found out! Had to run outta there, with my bare bum glowin' in the moonlight!"
"One day, Allan," Robin said longingly, "you'll meet someone special, and fall in love."
"Oi! I'm always in love! Whatever woman I'm with, I love her!"
"I mean really fall in love," Robin told him, his eyes bleary. "Then, you'll yearn for her as you've never yearned before, but trust me, she'll be worth the wait."
"Wait? Ya mean-"
"I mean you'll wait until you're man and wife, and then," Robin sighed heavily. "It will be torture and bliss, waiting for her, but you'll be happy to do it, because she's so perfect."
"Yeah, right. Any woman I'd have to wait for, isn't perfect."
"You don't understand," Robin sighed. "You've never been in love."
"How old were you?" Allan asked Robin. "Come on, I got you all beat."
"I'm not saying anything," Much declared. "I'm not saying anything! He was twenty-one," Much told everybody, ignoring Robin's drunken attempts to shush him. "We were in Acre, horrible place, and he learned, incorrectly, I think you'll find, that Marian had married that foolish fellow, Martin of Aylesbury. Robin was devastated, sort of like he is today, for some reason, and this large, loud, laughing soldier I didn't care for, named LeGrand, took him off to a brothel, and got him drunk and...I'm not saying anything!"
"Nice one! Your first time, and you had to pay?" Allan snorted with laughter. "John...what about you?"
Little John's lips curled into a smile. "Seventeen. Lass called Megan. In the hay fields."
"And she never walked the same way again!" Allan snorted. "What about you, Will?"
Djaq perked up her ears, and watched Will Scarlet blush as he stared down into his nearly empty tankard.
"What?" Allan asked in a disbelieving tone. "You never...? I don't believe it! Tall, strong, good lookin' lad like you?"
"Not everyone's a sex crazed Dunderhead like you!" Much scolded.
"Well," Allan grinned. "Time to remedy that right now! Who's up for a little excursion to Gropecunt Street? I know some lovely ladies, who'll-"
"No!" Will insisted, blushing. "I don't want to, Allan!"
"Aw, nothin' to be afraid of! Easier than fallin' off a log." To Djaq's amusement, that is exactly what Allan did, at that precise moment.
Not seeming to realize, he picked himself back up, and continued hounding Will. "Come on! I'll be fun!"
"He said no, Allan," Robin told him.
"Aw, let him speak for himself!"
"I don't want to!" Will repeated. "I believe what Robin said, about...about someone special, being worth waiting for."
"Well, if you won't go, how about Much? Come on, it's time you were initiated into some of life's pleasures. Do you good! Loosen all the knots in your belly! Might make you easy to live with, even!"
"You are revolting! I...I...won't go!"
"Nobody's going anywhere tonight," Robin sighed. "Sorry, Allan, but it wouldn't be safe. All we have, lads, are our dreams."
The face he lifted from his tankard was one of the saddest any of his gang had ever seen.
"Master, what's wrong?" Much asked.
"It's...it's Marian, Much," Robin told him, tragically. "I've lost her."
"No, Robin! You saved her, remember? You got her the necklace, just in time, I might add! Be thankful you weren't late, for once!"
"I was late," Robin told him. "Gisbourne...Gisbourne got there first!"
"No, he didn't," Much assured him. "That's it! You've had far too much to drink! I knew it! I knew you'd start moping over Marian, if you drank too much! Now, lie down...go to sleep, Robin. I assure you, everything will look brighter in the morning. That's what my mother used to say. Lie back down. That's right. Now, close your eyes, and think about the breakfast I'll fix you in the morning. Good. Goodnight, Robin."
Turning to Allan, Much scolded, "See what you did?"
"Oi! What did I do?"
"You upset my master!"
Allan, grieving for his brother, felt he had taken enough from Much. Hoisting himself onto unsteady feet, he challenged, "Let's have this out, now."
"You forget, I've been trained to fight! I was in King Richard's army!"
"Yeah? Is that where they taught you to scream like a little girl?"
"Scream? Unbelievable! For your information, Bug Eyes, I do not scream!"
"Stop it! The pair of you!" Little John bellowed. "Everyone, bed!"
Djaq smiled, as the men, Much grumbling noisily under his breath, lay down upon the hard ground, to try to get some sleep.
Despite the tragedies of the day, she had something lovely to dream about tonight, though she scarcely understood what it was, only that it involved a tall, hazel eyed carpenter, whose intelligence, bravery, and idealism impressed her more every day.