Night had fallen by the time Yughi recovered from the blow to his head. It felt as if someone had tried to cave in his skull with a mallet; which may, in fact, be exactly what had happened.
He was somewhere dark engulfed in the stink of wet earth and damp wood. He could hear the crackle of a fire and low voices nearby. Yughi had to wonder why it was he was still alive. It was possible that his own act of mercy, merely knocking his attacker out, was responsible. He quickly dismissed this idea, there had to be more to it.
"Where is he?" came a voice from near the fire.
"We put him in a cage, just inside the low cave," was the reply.
"And you didn't harm him?" the first voice was inflected with urgency.
"John placed a goose egg on his pate," the other voice replied. "That aside, no."
"Let me see him," the first voice said. There was the sound of approaching footsteps. Light flooded the cave as a sheet covering the entrance was moved aside. Yughi winced, the cave was steeped in darkness, the sudden flash of firelight was too much at once, refreshing the thud of pain through Yughi's skull.
Two figures stooped to enter the cave but Yughi could not make out their features in the darkness. One was large the other much slimmer.
"Why is he in an animal cage?" the larger figure asked.
"We don't take prisoners," the other figure replied. "This was the best we could do."
"Do you know me?" the large figure asked, approaching the cage. "My name is Robert Stafford."
Although the pain in his head did not significantly lessen, Yughi felt the fear in his stomach loosen its grip.
"I know you, Rafik," he said.
"If you are one of our order," Stafford said. "Then you will know that nothing is true."
"Aye, brother," Yughi replied. "I know that and also that everything is permitted."
"Let the man out of this cage, restore to him his freedom and his dignity," Stafford instructed his companion.
"Shouldn't we wait for Robin?" the other man asked, a note of uncertainty in his voice.
"This isn't Robin's business," Stafford answered. "It's mine. And I say, let my brother out."
The slighter figure came forward to the cage undoing a latch and opening a door at the front. He reached forward carefully and used a dagger to cut Yughi's bonds.
Yughi clambered out of his cage and tried to stand up. The roof of the cave they were stood in was very low so he had to hunch his shoulders a little.
"That's better," Stafford said. "Now leave us alone, I need to talk with my brother."
"This man don't look like no monk I ever saw," the slight figure grumbled and retreated from view.
"Excuse my friend," Stafford said, as the slight man trudged off in the direction of the campfire. "He has never left England and does not know the robes of a monk of the Holy Land."
"It is I who should apologise to him, Rafik," Yughi replied. "I blundered into your wood like a thief. I should have been more careful."
"Aye, but you have a crack in your skull. So, the price is paid for that misdemeanour," Stafford said. Yughi could not make out the man's features but could hear that the Rafik was smiling.
"I have been sent by Al Mualim," Yughi said. "The Templars have brought an artefact here with the intention of delivering it to a man called William de Wendenal. Do you know of this man?"
Stafford laughed then, although Yughi could not imagine that he had said anything funny.
"Know him?" Stafford barked. "Yes, I know him, the men in this camp all know William de Wendenal. He's the very reason we're all sitting here."
"He is?" Yughi asked. "How so?"
"Because the dog in human form who goes by the name William de Wendenal goes by another name as well," Stafford explained. "We know him better as the Sheriff of Nottingham, and we have, to a man vowed to stand against him, and against Prince John and their evil plan to usurp the one true King Richard while he is away on his crusade."
"If the Templars have brought to him their relic," Yughi said. "And if it can do what the legends say, then it is vital that we get to it first."
"Why?" Stafford asked. "What dark magic do the Templars wish to weave that could snatch England from its true king's grasp?"
"The relic is a scarab, an ancient jewelled artefact from the Nile Delta," Yughi explained. "It is known as Ra's Will. It is said that the possessor of the relic will possess the knowledge and power to turn the tide of any war, no matter how small his army, no matter how outmatched they appear to be. The stories say that Ra's Will is how Cleopatra made the Romans bow their knee."
"Impressive yarn," Stafford said, his tone was not urgent. "I doubt it is more than that. When I was in the Holy Land I sat at table with Templars. They're arrogant, and in their arrogance they are gullible.
"Any tuppeny conjurer can tell them a saucy tale and they'll believe that the Ark of the Covenant is a cheap wooden casket embossed with that all-holy motif: the hindquarters of an ass."
"Al Mualim does not believe Ra's Will to be a deception," Yughi said. "This is all I know."
"Where are you from, brother," Stafford asked. He pulled a pipe from his own cloak, put it between his lips and retrieved a tinder-box after it.
"I was born in Byzantium," Yughi replied. "Why?"
"So you're not a native of the Holy Land," Stafford said. "I think that's a measure of how seriously Al Mualim is taking this business."
"My father was Wallachian," Yughi said. "When you see me in the light then you will note that I could pass for one of your countrymen. Al Mualim considered that an advantage in this mission."
"Whatever you choose to believe," Stafford shrugged. "After all, nothing is true, so all faith is folly in its own way."
Yughi wanted to protest that this was not what the words meant, but he bit his tongue. He suspected that Stafford tried to bait people as a matter of course. Yughi should not allow himself to be diverted into some philosophical discussion when there were more pressing matters to be addressed.
"All I know is that my mission is to prevent the scarab falling into Templar hands," Yughi said. "Surely we are united in our cause, even if we disagree as to the strategy."
"Aye, and while you're tracking down your mystical trinkets," Stafford said. "We could do with a hand training some of our new recruits. I can only do so much."
"I would be happy to lend my assistance," Yughi agreed.
"Right you are then, let's get out there so the others can get used to your face then," Stafford said. "Robin should return soon, you'll want to meet him."
"Who is this man?" Yughi asked as they stood. "Is he your master?"
"We are assassins and we are outlaws," Stafford said. "What man can be our master?"
"A master assassin commands his brothers, we strike at the Templars with their guiding hand," Yughi replied.
"You're too obedient to be an assassin, surely," Stafford said. "Or is it that you're too obedient to be an outlaw. I must confess I confuse the two more and more these days."
Stafford didn't wait for a response, he moved the skin hanging down over the cave mouth and stepped out into the forest. Yughi was finding this man's company to be quite challenging. Stafford appeared to approach upsetting the status quo to be some sort of personal mission.
Yughi blinked once more in the light outside. It was only once he too came out of the cave that he realised how dark it was inside. The light from the fire and several torches, sticking out of stakes in the ground, did not provide much light. The contrast to the Stygian gloom of the cave was enough to make Yughi's eyes water.
When he had blinked away the tears from his eyes the scene resolved. Several men in simple clothes sat around a central campfire. They talked, ate, drank and joked amongst themselves.
Ranged around the camp Yughi could see, propped open, flat canopies covered in scrub, dirt and leaves. Below them were pits, lined with wood and stone, beds made of straw lined up within like dormitories. This was how the outlaws evaded detection. When the lids were down no one would see the sleeping men protected under the ground.
Yughi wondered if this was Stafford's idea, he turned to ask his companion. The question died on his lips. Stafford was dressed in the robes of a Monk, his head shaved close to his smooth pate. Scanning the crowd around the campfire Yughi quickly picked out the two young outlaws he had tracked earlier.
"You..." Yughi said. "You're Brother Tuck."
Stafford shot Yughi a puzzled glance.
"I go by that here," he said. "It is customary for outlaws to choose other names than the ones given us at birth. What's it to you?"
"You sent those two," Yughi said, he gestured in the direction of the two youths. "You sent them to die in the inn where Miles Godfrey was stationed."
"To die?" Stafford asked his eyebrows shooting up. It was the first strong reaction that Yughi had seen from the man. Attacking his reputation would appear to make the man bristle. "I did no such thing."
"You're an assassin," Yughi said. "You should have known that there was no way that those two boys could get to Miles Godfrey, yet they swore that you had dispatched them on such a mission."
"I told them, clearly," Godfrey said. "That as an outlaw your first duty was to your own safety and that of your brothers. Outlaws are few and too many would love to see us hang to be disrespectful of our own lives.
"Those two don't have a great deal of sense to spare. I told them where Godfrey would be and made it known that our lives would likely be a lot easier if he were no longer alive. What they did next was their own decision.
"You see an outlaw does as his heart tells him. If an outlaw is stupid enough to get himself killed on a fool's errand then... well, maybe he wasn't an outlaw after all."
"That is unacceptable," Yughi said. "In the Holy Land, the Crusaders would, equally, love to raze Masyaf to the ground. They do not, for they know that the assassins have discipline and, in numbers, would defeat them in battle. If we just let our brothers run around without any kind of leadership they... well, there would not be an order of assassins."
"You're having some difficulty with this, aren't you, son?" Stafford said, leaning in close to put his face near to Yughi's. "We're assassins but these people, they're outlaws, so they live like outlaws. I am not going to interfere in that."
Before Yughi could form a sensible response to this there was a general murmur from the crowd. A horse came out of the shadowed forest at a canter, following a wide trail that was not quite a path. The rider wore a green hood and martial clothes of green leather. His resemblance to an assassin dressed for war was more than passing.
"Robin's back!" someone called. As if that were a cue the outlaws shifted from their position to gather around the rider.
Robin stood up in his stirrups, raising his head above the gathered crowd. He waited for the murmurs to stop before he addressed the crowd.
"Brothers!" he cried and his voice rang clear around the camp. "I have been out today scouting our enemies forces so that I could form a plan that would allow us to strike out.
"We have a long task ahead of us. This land will not be safe until King Richard is safely back upon his throne. We are outlaws, sure enough, but we have nobility. We are the guardians of this country's crown.
"Tomorrow the Sheriff of Nottingham will know that it is not some rabble of vagabonds who stands against him, but an army with strength and cunning. Get good sleep men, because, by God, tomorrow you will need all of your wits to enact the plans that I have made."
This speech caused some excitement. After a cheer had swelled and subsided from the gathered outlaws they disbanded making ready to sleep in their dormitories.
"Come on," Stafford said to Yughi. "I'll introduce you to Robin."