Assassin's Creed: Outlaw - Book One

A Rough Counsel

Yughi slept near to Stafford in one of the pit-hides at Robin's encampment. He had not slept easily since leaving Greece, almost a month ago. The relief of having attained his destination meant that he now slumbered deeply and awoke refreshed.

He was eventually awakened by the sound of shouting nearby. Some of the argument that prompted Yughi's waking had folded into some instantly forgotten dream. The first thing that Yughi consciously heard was:

"Caution be damned, Robin! If we let these bastards pick us off one by one how long before people desert our cause? We can't leave Will behind, not if we give a damn about anyone following us here."

"No one is suggesting that we leave Will to his fate," Robin's voice. "What I am saying is that it will profit us nothing if we lose five men to rescue one."

"But at least then the men will have a choice," thundered the loud voice of Robin's challenger. "They will know that they have brothers who will not abandon them. It will make us stronger by more than three pairs of hands."

Yughi found himself, again, on two sides of a debate. He decided it would be best to let his presence be known. He got up and quietly lifted the lid of his pit. The other three outlaws he was sharing with slumbered on oblivious.

The sun was rising over the forest, gold light dappled the floor of the camp. Robin stood near the site of last night's campfire arguing with another man. The other man was huge, possibly the tallest man that Yughi had ever seen.

He was dressed in a hodgepodge of vaguely military garb: a studded leather tunic with heavy shoulders, leather bracers, tall, black leather hunting boots, green leather breeches and a domed metal helmet that looked like a cheaply constructed imitation of an old Roman helmet. A long sword hung at the man's waist and a quarterstaff was slung over his back.

Yughi believed that many men would be intimidated by this giant's stature and aggressive manner. Robin appeared to be taking the man's bluster in his stride.

"Listen to me, John, listen carefully," Robin said. "No one is abandoning Will Stutely. If I have any part in it the Sheriff of Nottingham will not be hanging anyone today.

"There is no sense, however, in racing forward, waving our swords when it is well known that the Sheriff has pulled in soldiers from Yorkshire, Derby, even as far as Cheshire. If we are to do this then we will use our brains as well as our brawn."

"You've changed since the day we first met," John said. "There was a time when your passions were hot, like mine. Now you play games with people's lives, you would rather think than do something. That is not how these men came to be here, not with thoughts, with actions."

"Maybe," Yughi said, inserting himself into the argument. "I could provide some assistance."

"Who is this?" John demanded, squaring up to Yughi; towering over the assassin and staring down at him.

"He is Yughi, of Brother Tuck's order," Robin said. "And you will show him the respect due to any of our brothers."

"You don't look like a monk to me," John said, his voice dripping with scorn. "Are you like our weak-livered leader, a thinker, or do you have some fire in your guts?"

As John asked the question he gripped the front of Yughi's robe and pushed the assassin backwards heavily, hoping to make Yughi lose his balance.

Yughi was ready for the big man though, he tucked and rolled backwards, coming up off his knees into a forward pounce. He hooked his hands around John's head and used his feet to push back off the big man, forcing the giant to stagger back.

The assassin flipped in the air and landed running. Before John had a chance to react Yughi jumped, rotating his hips and striking John in the side of the stomach with his knee. This forced John to double up in pain. Yughi lost no time. He jumped upon John's back and wrapped his arms around John's neck.

From here it would be all too easy to choke the life out of his opponent, not something Yughi wanted to do. He applied a fraction of the pressure he would usually bring to bear.

"You wish to test me further?" he said, biting the words off into John's ear. "Or is this demonstration enough."

John gripped at Yughi's arms but the light pressure Yughi was applying was making John's breathing difficult. In a sudden and unexpected burst of strength, John bucked backwards, letting forth a bellowing roar and falling back towards the ground.

Shocked, Yughi felt pain explode in his torso as the giant slammed him into the ground. Yughi lost his grip on John's neck and the gigantic man rolled away, got onto his knees and then stood up.

John stomped over to stand over Yughi, fury in his eyes. Then, in a second, the fury melted. John threw back his head and laughed.

"You're a sneaky one, that's for sure!" he said to Yughi. "I am well pleased to count you as a brother."

With that, he offered Yughi a hand up off the floor.

"Now," the big man said. "You offered to help us recover our own lost friend, Will."

"Tell me what the problem is," Yughi said to John and Robin. "I will tell you how I might offer my assistance."

"The problem is that on a recent rescue mission the sheriff's men surprised and captured Will," Robin said.

"Our brother didn't go down without a fight," John added. "He bested two of our enemies before they captured him."

"Unfortunately," Robin concluded. "The sheriff used Will's actions as an excuse to sentence him to execution, beyond the regular rule of law. The judgement was summary and did not take place in a court of law."

"The circumstances are details, Will is a prisoner of war, this action is no more than escalation," John said.

"You don't understand," Robin said. "This assumption of power over the life and death of other men is something the people of England have fought for, many years since. This sudden reversion to "rule by might" is a terrible precedent, a move backwards for all the causes of freedom."

"The important thing is that our friend is to be killed, the whys and wherefores are no more than details," John said angrily.

"No," Yughi said. "Robin is right. I have seen it myself in the Holy Land. The Crusades began as a means for men of gross religious power to assert that power over those in the Holy Land. The Templars have turned that hammer to their own ends and increased its force. The war for greed and power fails in its own shallow motivation. The Templars make such wars more dangerous, for they imbue base motivations with higher purposes.

"When a Templar takes a man's hands they do not seek to crush his heart, they seek to win it."

"So?" John thundered. "What does any of this have to do with the life of Will Stutely. He must be liberated. Who cares why this should not stand? All that matters is that it shouldn't."

"Absolutely," Yughi said. "But what the assassins have learned in the Holy Land is that there is a time for stealth, then there is a time to make your presence known."

"What are you saying?" Robin asked.

"It is not enough that we merely liberate your brother," Yughi said. "We must make an example of the Sheriff and those who stand with him. We must make him look foolish, powerless. If we are to win the war, then we must undermine not just the Sheriff but who people believe the Sheriff to be."

"And how are we to do that?" John asked.

"By being more than outlaws," Yughi said. "We shall also be assassins, one and all."