The Marble Tower

-13-

The next seven people that walked through the door were just as welcoming as the first two.

The first one to enter the room was on the older side, a decade or so younger than Charles. He had the menacing face and scars of the stereotypical thug. But Robyn knew better than that. Thugs came in all shapes and sizes. The big ones might be strong. But the small ones got away.

The next three came in within minutes of each other. The first one reminded him of Ryder. A pang of guilt sounded but he ignored it as he watched him and Charles embrace. Old friends. He made sure that he would remember that. The second was on the shorter side. He was clean shaven (except for a goatee that looked like he had put way to much effort into making the shape that it was) and was covered in tattoos.

The seventh person to enter the room was female. She was tall, but thin. He couldn't tell if she was actually super thin or she just gave the impression with the cloths that were way to big for her. Ignoring Charles completely she gave the room a quick scan and went to sit in the corner opposite of Robyn.

The next to people were obviously twins. Not only did they look the exact same with mops of red hair and skin that was paler than anyone else in the room, but they carried themselves in the same was and they both wore the same cloths and held their bags the same way. It was obvious that they had worked for that. They had an advantage if they looked the exact same, especially if authorities didn't know about one of them.

Now these...

Robyn thought. ...Are the ones who get away.

The only sounds were the clock ticking and the scrape of metal as the girl that had been there before him sharpening her knife.

Even though there was a table with elven open seats everyone was on the floor, against a wall, or in a corner, all a fair distance away from each other.

Charles glanced at the clock. Robyn followed.

Almost time.

A few minutes later Charles seemed to grow more anxious as the audible seconds ticked by.

Finally he stood up, motioning for them to do the same.

"Friends, neighbors..." he glanced around the room, "enemies." That summoned a few laughs.

Charles continued on with his speech, mostly about what they were doing, basic rules for staying with the camp, how they were going to get there, blah, blah, blah. Robyn wasn't really paying attention, and by the looks of it, no one else was either. And it didn't look like Charles expected them to.

But even then no one noticed the hooded shadow enter the room. Or the door swinging shut behind it.