Robin: Inevitable War

In the Midst of Assassins

Robin's bag opened, and sunlight streamed into it through the trees, hurting his eyes. He had been brought into a large clearing where the assassins made camp. It was surrounded by large trees that must've been growing in the Ukrell Forest for over four hundred years, but their beauty did not betray their age. On one side of the camp, there was a break in the trees that revealed a massive cave mouth, one large enough to fit more than four hundred men in it comfortably. 

Robin wriggled out of the bag, and found himself in the middle of a ring of assassins. One of them, presumably the leader by the way she was dressed and how they respected her when she walked over, was a human with short, blonde hair and strong eyes that shone in a way of confidence. She started to speak when Robin looked up at her.

"We watched the king's men kill your parents and take you with them. Did you ever think of why they took you specifically, or why they had so many men guarding you on the way to Albrook?" she didn't wait for an answer as she continued. "You seem to have a strong magical ability. Using my own magic, I can read how strong others' magical powers are."

"The king of Vasleutov, King Umlaut, is desperate to find a magician that can help defeat the king of Stomia, King Hal. They are both competing for the same land, you see. We may be in King Umlaut's land, but we fight for King Hal. King Umlaut is a very corrupt leader, sending anyone that doesn't meet his ghoulish commands to their deaths. We are going to train you and take you directly to King Hal, that is, if you are as good as a fighter and a magician as I believe you will be. If not, well.... we won't have any use for you anymore, and we can't just leave you to wander the corrupt lands after what we teach you." She left the strong threat hanging in the air as she finished speaking.

"That was probably all gibberish to you, wasn't it?" she sighed. "You'll understand eventually."

She turned around and headed back to their hideout, followed by her companions. Two of the men grabbed his arms and started to drag him into the cave after her, their strong grip leaving painful marks on the back of his forearm. He was led into a dimly lit room and sat on a long, crescent moon type couch alongside a mix of redgiants and humans. Robin pulled his legs up and hugged his knees uncomfortably while the dozens of eyes inspected him, unsure of the new addition to their group.

Looking around, Robin could see that there were many different dark hallways leading away from the room, and when he looked back to where they had come in, he couldn't see the light from the mouth of the cave anymore. The leader and the bald man with the scar over his missing eye were standing in front of everyone, along with another man with wild blue hair stuck up by thick hair gel in spikes all along his head.

"As you all know, we have been instructed to find individuals that can help aid the king in any way. This one here," she said as she pointed in Robin's direction, "has a very strong magical aura for his age. I believe that if he is well trained in sword fighting and magic wielding that he will be able to accomplish a lot for us and the king."

The leader walked up to Robin, stopping just a few feet away from him. He wouldn't meet her eyes, unsure of how he was supposed to act around these deadly assassins and from the fear he could feel pulsing through his limbs.

After a few seconds of silence, she gently grabbed his chin with her thumb and index finger and pulled his face up towards hers, forcing him to look at her. He shivered as he looked into her deep, clear green eyes. Robin was sure that his eyes had turned almost as deep green as hers in fear of what was going on, and he tried to focus on anything else to make it seem like he wasn't as scared as he felt. It didn't work. Luckily, she dropped her gaze and let go of him. Spinning around, she walked back to where she was a few minutes ago and got ready to announce the names of her two closer comrades.