Upon his return to Sherwood Forest, it did not appear that the outlaws were necessarily as concerned about the events at Lincoln as Yughi himself.

"I'm sorry," Scarlet said. "But I can't see how some shady dealings around the Bishop have anything to do with us. Hugh of Avalon is not a friend to the outlaw band."

"Neither is he a friend to the Templar Order," Yughi protested. "I have seen this in the Holy Land, the Templars move in, they murder their way into control, then they take over."

"Lincoln, in this case," Alan a Dale chipped in. "They take over Lincoln, let them have it, I say. Lincoln is not Nottingham."

"Nottingham is currently in the hands of the Templars," Tuck said. "Or did you forget the Sheriff?"

"Whether he's a Templar or a teaboy is not my concern," Scarlet replied. "He throws his weight about and pushes good men's faces into the mud. That's all I care about."

"What if he does those things because he is a Templar?" Tuck asked. "Then, by association, you have a problem with Templars the same as my brother here."

"I am not committed to god-talk rambling moral arguments," Scarlet said, his tone sharp. "Either a man deserves to walk or he deserves to die in a ditch. When it comes to the Bishop of Lincoln and the Master of the Temple I would stick both of them with a short blade of preference, but where's the necessity? If one wants to pick off the other go to it, say I."

"That's because you are an ignorant cutpurse," said a voice from nearby, Marian. "It is because you have neither sense nor reason to direct your action."

"Why do we let her keep returning to this camp?" Scarlet asked as Marian came to join them. "She's the most vexatious woman I ever to have come within my acquaintance."

"That's because most other women you meet you pay for," Marian said. "I'm just saying out loud what those poor souls keep to their own counsel."

"So, Marian," Tuck said. "You agree that this Knight, Newenham, he's a problem?"

"William De Newenham is a snake, a rival of my father's," Marian replied. "Now he intends to move against Hugh of Avalon, a friend of my father's. It would be my wish to see this business ended with a loss for the Templars."

"So, for nepotistic reasons then?" Scarlet asked, his voice laced with mischief. "Hardly the noblest thing I have heard all day."

"Whether or not the parties concerned are involved with my family doesn't change the fact that a victory for Newenham will likely result in an ultimate loss for the outlaws," Marian said peevishly.

"I agree," said Robin, emerging from behind a tree where he had likely been standing all along. "Just because we can't see the gossamer strands that bind Newenham and the Sheriff doesn't mean that they don't exist. We need to ensure that the current status quo is preserved until such a time as we can undermine the Templar's control over this region."

The temptation for Yughi to interject with a comment about Ra's Will was strong, but he bit it back. If the scarab worked and the outlaws brought it into play on their behalf then surely the tide of battle would turn in an instant. After all Yughi, Robin and the others had done so much already, a little extra assistance, even from such obscure means would help.

Unfortunately, the opinion of the outlaws on ancient Egyptian artefacts was not one that centred around a belief in the efficacy of such things. Yughi found that the less he invoked his actual mission the better things tended to go around the campfire.

This mission to thwart Newenham did not merely present an opportunity to do some good, the Master of the Temple in London would surely have news of the artefact's whereabouts. This was information Yughi was determined to wring out of Newenham before the Templar felt the sharp cut of the assassin's blade.