The Marble Tower

-18-

Robyn didn't mention the strange sighting to anyone. He was sure that it was nothing. As far as he knew it was one of his campmates heading into the woods to use the bathroom or something. So to the rest of the camp it never happened as they left the forest and came across their first town the next day. They were officially in Zyden and now had to be careful. So even though there was a small inn. They still slept in their tents when night fell. But before they left Charles sent Draco to go get some more supplies while they packed up.

Robyn didn't like being around people he didn't know. Especially if he knew that he wasn't supposed to be there. It seemed a few others felt the same way. But the ones that didn't keep their heads down held their chins high, which made them, look even more suspicious than their cloaks, camp, and appearances already did. It was no secret that people from Lidia spent more time working hard hours out in the sun. Almost everyone had a tan in the camp. And it was obvious that the ones that didn't have one had a lot of money back home (though he suspected that Xavier had actually come from Zyden because it was obvious that he didn't), but even then their hair had always been darker than most people from Zayden, and usually shorter, even Mira's hair only fell to her shoulders. And these were just the things that popped. Lidians were usually taller and thinner (another point that supported his Xavier theory).

And these things were ever present amongst the group.

This was probably why when they stopped for lunch (in a town that was bigger than almost any in Lidia. It was nothing compared to the Capitol, but it could be argued that the Capitol was the only town in Lidia) Charles separated them into three groups. All of the helpers went ahead with Draco. Charles took Mira, Xavier, the thug, and mystery girl. The twins, Raquel, Richard, and Robyn followed behind.

It had been two days since the forest and they were only a day away from the castle. It was strange having the mountains loom over them. Robyn didn't like how they rose up and interrupted the sky. He was used to small rolling hills and being able to see for miles. Even with all of the time that he had spent with the gang in the capitol, he could still climb onto the roof of the old (and very small) inn that they had claimed and he could still look around and see for miles. Even in the capitol there weren't that many people. But here there were way to many sets of eyes on him, way to many buildings, way to many people.  The mountains cast a huge shadow over them and behind him the forest loomed.

He felt trapped.

And he didn't like it.