It was no more than two hours later that Yughi scaled one of the watchtowers that surrounded Mammesfeld town. It felt good to be acting and moving like a true assassin once more.
Yughi also felt more ease in his heart that he had forged a link between Robin and John in this matter. In the short time that he had shared the presence of the two men the relationship between them had shown itself clearly. Yughi could easily tell that these were men who had called themselves brothers for many years.
Like all familial bonds, whether inherited or chosen, there was bound to be friction. John and Robin had developed in different directions. John Little, the names reversed to give his outlaw title, was a man of passion from his head to his toes. He fought like a battering ram, seeking to overwhelm a foe with force.
Robin, on the other hand, displayed a tactical mind that was more like an assassin. The outlaw chief understood that a force inferior in numbers must employ different tactics in order to win the day. Thus the rift between himself and John had come into being.
The way of the assassin mirrored this, a way of prudence and passion. Too much prudence and one became distant, cold. Too much passion and one became an easy target for a mighty foe; a heart on a sleeve was easy to pierce.
In this matter, the liberation of Will Stutely, there was a simple chance to combine these facets of the assassin's way. As such there was a chance to heal the rift between these two brothers also.
The Sheriff had stationed a single guard on the watchtower. Yughi dispatched the man with his hidden blade. As always there was a necessary pang of regret in such an arbitrary kill, but these moves were necessary when engaged in the battle for freedom.
In the arena of war, the time for words had passed. Your enemy must be killed swiftly, decisively. Even so, the assassin must never lose sight of the compassion inherent in such a casual act of murder.
Yughi had never developed a taste for killing. He tried to avoid death wherever possible. What an irony, then, that he should have devoted his life to an order whose name was whispered, a ghost story for soldiers. The assassins killed silently, and without remorse.
From the watchtower, Yughi could see across two rows of houses to the town square. Peering down the inside wall of the tower Yughi could see a protruding stone boss near enough parallel to the rooftops of the houses beyond.
Before beginning his controlled descent Yughi took a moment to perch on the wooden lintel running across the inner edge of the tower. He opened his senses and took in all the streets and houses as far as his eye could see.
All assassins were expected to master such tricks of reconnaissance. Only those with the eagle sight could take in the finer details; Yughi felt that the sight was a boon of his own blood he could not fully explain. He regarded himself as a man of peace, but his own blood gave him the gifts of war.
Passing into the peaceful frame of mind of an assassin at work Yughi swung himself down off the ledge and scaled downwards towards the protruding boss below.
Once there he used the purchase to spin and leap across the street to the rooftop opposite. In the Holy Land, the forces of the Crusaders and the local sultans had stationed men on rooftops, knowing that this was an environment the assassins favoured for transport.
One concern that Yughi had voiced before the outlaws had come forth to this place was that none of the outlaws was as proficient in climbing and navigating the rooftops as he was, he felt that this would mean the outlaws may have difficulty gaining entrance to a walled town. Both Robin and John had assured him that this would not be an issue.
Time was short, so Yughi had not pressed the matter. The dedication to the mission did not lessen his curiosity as to how it was that the outlaws planned to gain access to Mammesfield Square in sufficient numbers for the plan to be executed.
As Yughi picked out his route to a position hidden above the gallows, where Will Stutely was to be hanged, Yughi cast his eye over the gathered crowd. The townspeople had come in force to watch the Sheriff of Nottingham's idea of justice.
Jumping across an alley between two buildings Yughi could see that this execution had attracted far more interest than he had guessed. The streets of the town played host to a tightly packed throng of people come out to see the events unfold. Some of these people had to be from the other surrounding towns.
If the plan was executed as expected then this would be a good thing. No clearer message could be sent about the strength of Robin Hood's outlaws. Yughi hoped that he had correctly estimated the complacency of the Sheriff and his men. A defeat in this public show would wound the outlaws in more ways than just physically.
Yughi had not taken his station for too long when a cry went up, followed by a sudden hush in the assembled crowd. A passageway through the crowd to the gallows was formed by soldiers and Will Stutely was brought forward, surrounded by guards. Following on behind, proud, stately was William de Wendenal, the Sheriff of Nottingham.
The party stood up on the stage before the gallows. Will Stutely was placed front and centre, the outlaw brought low for all the crowd to see. The silence of the crowd deepened. In the moments before the Sheriff opened his mouth Yughi scanned the crowd once more, spotting Little John near to the front, wearing a rough leather hood to hide his features from scrutiny.
Yughi picked out a couple of other outlaws in the crowd. The feeling of being involved in an assassin's mission was eerie, it was as if the Brotherhood had come forth from Alamut to be with him in this far away foreign land.
At that moment Yughi felt in his heart that this plan would work. The moment of peaceful faith passed as the Sheriff addressed the assembled crowd.
"People of Mammesfield, you have lived in fear for too long," he announced, his broad, flat voice appearing to add to the thick, heavy atmosphere in the square. "Since Richard left to attend to his foreign affairs it has fallen to us, those he left behind, to carve order and justice from the brooding anarchy left in Richard's wake.
"Outlaws stalk the lands, they steal the bread from your mouths, they lurk in the shadows, their intent nothing more than the dissolution of this proud kingdom. Well, no more."
The sheriff's voice was deepening in intensity, his tone measured and deliberate. His speech was like a tale told to a small child. It had a lilting, hypnotic quality. It was another thing that Yughi had learned to hate, this sing-song delivery of rhetoric was a trick originating in the Templar training camps.
Devices of speech, such as those employed by the Romans, were intended to harness the stupor of a crowd and bend it to the speaker's will. Mobs could be forged into weapons by effective use of such devices.
The weak spot of such a manipulation was in the reliance on rhythm. A disruption to the beat of the seductive speech could flip an entire crowd at once, as the assassins had learned to their benefit.
"This one, Will Stutely," the Sheriff continued, "one of the outlaw band that even now huddles together for safety in the forest of Sherwood, stands before you now. He is accused of treason against the true ruler of this land good Prince John. He is accused of the murder of the Prince's good and noblemen.
"In such desperate times, and with no one present to take his side I have taken an executive decision to present him here today to be rightly and justly hanged.
"This is the fate of one outlaw, this is the fate of all outlaws and all those who help or harbour them," the Sheriff intoned darkly. "This is the new England, this is the Prince's justice, and this is the fate of all those who stand against the new rule of law."
"This is not law!" Will Stutely cried. "This country is not peaceful under Prince John. There is a war raging. In a war men fight. If you were a man, Sheriff then you would not stand there spouting pretty words, you would meet me in single combat. The victor would show who ruled this land."
The Sheriff, smirking in smug superiority, approached Will.
"That is what you outlaws believe in, is it?" he asked, his tone still flat and cold. The crowd was tense, silent, waiting for some sort of climax or resolution. "You believe we should beat each other like savages, that would please you well, would it?"
Will said nothing, he just fixed the Sheriff with a stare equal parts fury, fear and sadness. Even from his perch way above the square Yughi could see the young man quivering upon the stage.
"That's not how we do things any more," the Sheriff said, dismissively. "This is law, this is order. To serve the common good, William Stutely, you will now be hanged by the neck until you are dead. So say I, the Sheriff of Nottingham, acting as the tool of the rightful ruler of England good Prince John. May God show mercy upon your worthless soul."
The Sheriff stood back as an executioner in a cowl, accompanied by a pair of guards took Will Stutely to the noose and affixed the rope about his neck.
Yughi leaned forward, the moment was at hand. He thumbed four throwing blades from the sash that crossed his body at the front. He held them lightly in the palm of his right hand in the way that he had learned.
Each would be thrown individually, pushed by the heel of his palm in between his thumb and forefinger. All four should appear to fly at once. The throwing knife was the deadliest form of surprise when used properly.
As the moment of the plan came closer time appeared to slow. The final seconds before the lever was pulled and the trap beneath Will's feet gave way had the appearance of lasting for hours.
The latch clicked and the wooden floor beneath Will Stutely gave way. At precisely that moment Yughi threw his blades. One cut the rope that was intended to hang the unfortunate outlaw. One struck the executioner in the head, the remainder took down the guards to either side of the executioner.
The knives thrown, Yughi swung down from his vantage point and leapt onto the cross beam of the gallows. He was dimly aware of the sudden excitement in the crowd below, but his mind was now all about the mission.
He dropped from the crossbeam, gripping the wooden beam with his gloves and using the momentum to swing him forward on the gallows stage. By the time he had landed four guards had come forward to head him off but Yughi could deal with them.
One swung his sword out for Yughi but the assassin blocked the swing with his hidden blade as he drew his sword. He stabbed the first guard through the chest with a practised counter strike as his left hand pulled the dagger from its sheath on the back of his belt.
He spun the second guard around and used him as a shield as a third guard stabbed at Yughi, accidentally skewering his colleague in the process.
Yughi shoved the corpse of the second guard into his unwitting killer and used the drawn dagger to swiftly cut the throat of the fourth guard. Finally, Yughi spun on the ball of his foot, retrieving his sword from the chest of the first guard and swung the blade round cutting up under the third guard's chest even as the confused man had managed to throw off the corpse that had landed on him only seconds before.
As Yughi continued to spin he replaced the sword and dagger in their sheaths and began to run. The four guards had intended to protect the Sheriff. Seeing the assassin, William de Wendenal had taken to his heels and was even now pressing his way through the gathered crowd, trying to get into his carriage.
As Yughi made ground, reaching out for the back of the Sheriff's robes he saw danger emerge from the crowd. One of Robin's men, known as Scarlet, was coming close to the Sheriff's position, his own sword drawn.
In a second Yughi had deployed a smoke bomb, the thick, choking smoke obscuring the scene from normal view. Using the Eagle sense Yughi grabbed the Sheriff.
"This way!" he said to the Sheriff and pulled him out of the crowd, down the side of the gallows stage and into an alley to the side of the stage.
In the confusion, the Sheriff failed to spot the difference between friend and foe. All the Sheriff knew was that one way lay certain death and that Yughi was leading him in the opposite direction.
Once Yughi and the Sheriff were out of immediate danger the Sheriff stopped and pulled back away from his unlikely rescuer.
"You!" he said, looking at Yughi with eyes full of fear. "What do you intend?"
Yughi did not answer, he merely struck the sheriff, rendering the man unconscious. He stowed the sheriff's slumbering body in a nearby outhouse. This done he scaled a nearby building and headed back to the Sherwood Forest hideout to meet up with the outlaws.