The frost of winter had bitten hard. The fires in the outlaw camp did little to ward off the biting cold, thankfully the Sheriff's men did not like patrolling the woods in a foot of snow any more than the outlaws did. In the season of Christian peace, an enforced truce appeared to coalesce in the bitter winter air.
In the caves below Sherwood Forest the outlaws sung songs, drank when they were able and waited for a thaw. Yughi was not content to sit and wait. He had a job to do and, in the first instance, he had persuaded Will Scarlet to make an introduction.
The two of them had made their way through the cave network under Nottingham and emerged nearby the city's Market Square. Yughi had not actually come within Nottingham city limits before and was mightily impressed at the size of the place. From looking around its streets and alleys he got the impression it was twice the size of Derby at least.
The two figures made their way up a hill to a church and then headed north a short way. At the summit of the hill, Scarlet gestured down a small street.
"Go down there," he said, "turn into the alley halfway down and walk along it."
"Is that where I will find him?" Yughi asked.
"Just do it," the thief said, an edge of annoyance creeping into his voice.
Yughi did not ask any more questions, he just did as he was told. This street was tight and went downhill, at the head of the street the buildings were spaced far apart, but the further down he walked the tighter space became, like walking down a throat.
The alley was very dark, the buildings almost touched walls only two storeys up. This was an urban thicket, the kind of place that Yughi would feel fine stepping over on the roof, but did not feel so good about walking down alone.
Taking a breath so cold that it still bit, even penetrating the scarf covering his mouth and nose, Yughi stepped into the alley.
After four or five paces he began to feel a prickle at the back of his neck. Someone was following him. Someone almost as quiet as he could be. If he did not have the eagle sense he would not even know they were there.
Another couple of paces and the pursuer came closer. Yughi wanted to leave no quarter. He himself had learned the art of the pickpocket but there was no exposed money pouch on his person, he was wrapped in a thick winter cape. That meant that this thief, for none other could it be, was intent on harming Yughi to claim his prize.
The thief did not know that Yughi was an assassin, maybe they wouldn't have bothered if they had known. That was even worse. The assassins did not harm innocents, only combatants, the skills of thievery employed by the assassins were in the service of retrieving information, rarely was there any need to steal actual money from people.
With four more steps, the thief was close enough. Yughi dropped his right knee swept his left arm up and over, stretching out, so his chest became a wide, flat surface. He hooked his sweeping arm around the thief's neck and dragged them down into the snow.
Off balance, the thief, a young boy barely beyond the age of ten, fell to the floor, shocked. Yughi was not quick enough to stop himself from placing the tip of the hidden blade to the boy's neck. On seeing that he had nearly killed a child he quickly pulled the blade back into his sleeve.
The smell of fresh urine steamed up from the snow as Yughi withdrew.
"Careful there, assassin," came Scarlet's voice from behind him. "I was just hoping you'd make an introduction, killing one of my brother's boys would not be a good one."
"He is a thief?" Yughi said, looking at the tiny, bird-like frame of the young boy.
"Times are hard," Scarlet said. "Don't feel too bad for him. He would have shanked you in the ribs without too much in the way of remorse." He turned his attention to the boy. "What's your name lad?"
"Never you mind, sir," the boy spat back, he seemed more confident with Will but he didn't let his eyes wander in Yughi's direction. Yughi felt an empty stirring of shame in his heart for nearly killing the boy. "Send me to the constable or send me to my grave, my name shall not be yours."
"Sensible boy," Scarlet said. "Don't feel too bad about getting wrong-sided by this one," Will gestured at Yughi. "He's a foreign sorcerer, one who rules over a sultanate of thieves. So you had no chance really. Do you know me, boy?"
"Should I?" the boy spat.
"You should," Scarlet said, his voice remained calm and even. "My name is Will Scarlet, and I used to run the nest of thieves in Nottingham before I found a heart and a cause, two things a thief should never have, except for his purse and his brothers."
"You're Hal's brother?" the boy said, something approaching awe in his tone. Then he recovered. "You're lying."
"I wrote the book on lying," Scarlet grinned. "You'll see. Want a coin? Take this to your master and tell us we'll be in the usual place." Will took a small battered coin from his belt and pressed it into the boy's hand. "Well, what you waiting for? Be quick about your business."
The boy scrambled to his feet and ran off down the alley. Will Scarlet turned back to Yughi.
"We had no chance of actually finding my brother," he explained. "We had to find a thief and send him back my sign. Then he'll come to us."
"So where now?" Yughi asked.
"There's a tavern, back there," Scarlet pointed back to the end of the alley where they had come from. "It's well known as a den of thieves. That's where we'll meet Hal."
Scarlet led the way. The tavern door was only about a minute's walk through the snow. When they arrived they found the door barred shut and the windows shuttered.
"What is this?" Scarlet asked. "The door of The Star's Fall is never shut to patrons."
"It was that way once," said a voice from behind them. "But now William has become sheriff the life of a thief has lost much of its joy."
Yughi and Scarlet turned to see another cloaked figure standing in the dark Nottingham night. The cloak appeared black in the moonlight but patches and repairs could easily be seen, the cloak gave the impression of being old and worn on a casual glance. On closer inspection, it became obvious that the signs of age and wear were additions to a much newer garment in better repair. The cloak was designed to appear like that belonging to a beggar, rather than actually be one.
The figure pushed back his hood to reveal a sharp, grinning face that bore more than a little resemblance to the features of Will Scarlet.
"Hal!" Scarlet cried. The barred door of the tavern was temporarily forgotten as the brothers embraced. A more sombre mood quickly reasserted itself.
"The Sheriff closed The King's Rest?" Scarlet asked.
"We still occupy the cellar, of course," Hal replied. "But the time when a man could slip a coin to a thief for services have passed, at least as of the last couple of moons."
"What happened?" Scarlet asked.
"The Sheriff bought the deed to the tavern," Hal said. "Raised the rent, Old Mick couldn't pay, the Sheriff shut the place down. Old Mick took to his bed and died."
Yughi looked up at a wooden sign nailed onto the window. It read 'For Sale'.
"The building is available for purchase?" Yughi asked.
"Where are my manners?" Scarlet said. "Yughi, the assassin, meet Hal Scathelock, my half-brother and Master Thief of Nottingham."
Yughi and Hal clasped hands in greeting.
"Not that my tenure in the post is much to brag about," Hal said. "I feel as if I am fighting a losing battle here." He looked up at the 'For Sale' sign. "The Sheriff has no desire to own a tavern of any sort, let alone one in the poor quarter," he said. "So he will sell it to anyone with the coin to buy it at three times the market value."
"Why not just leave it empty?" Yughi asked. "Or demolish it?"
"I'm sure it's just a matter of time before he does demolish it," Hal said. "In the meanwhile he's just leaving it like this, taunting us with our own inability to pay for it."
"Don't take this the wrong way," Yughi said. "But you are thieves are you not?"
"Thieving is a business, like any other," Hal said. "When all the money is going towards taxes to fund King Richard's Crusade there's less money out there for us to steal."
"So am I to take it, then, that this building is not actually for sale?" Yughi asked. "Is it just a way for the sheriff to express his own cruel satisfaction at having shut you down?"
"Aye," Hal said. "He outwitted us. The tavern was not for sale until the Sheriff had his men kill the old owner. Having no relatives the deed was put up for public sale and the Sheriff bought it.
"Having said that, if someone were to acquire the massive price that the Sheriff put on it he would have to sell it. After all, he put the signs up. I would love to see his smug face if I rolled up with a sack of coin but there just isn't the money about, not in the city, it's all locked up tight and too heavily guarded. We are thieves, not soldiers."
"Yes," Yughi said. "But you have some friends who are closer to soldiers and not thieves. What would you do for someone who got you the funds you required?"
"Anything I was able, sir Yughi," Hal said.
"Then that is what I must do for you," Yughi said. "Shall we get out of the street, gentlemen, I don't believe that any of us like to stand still out in the open for too long.