The splotch of gray on the horizon proved to indeed be a city as Jason slowly approached. It seemed that he would be forced to relinquish any hopes of modern comforts, though. The city had significant wooden walls surrounding it, decked out with what must be watchtowers. The wood was bleached by the sun, but looked to be sturdy nonetheless. So I'm in a pre industrial world at the very least, he thought. That probably wasn't ideal, but as long as he could find a warm bath, then he could probably work through any other problems. Maybe he could even leverage his education to become rich and famous. Even that idea wasn't enough to excite him.
"You…"
But Jason silenced the bird with a stare. He didn't want to hear anything it had to say.
As he got closer, he could see there was a road of sorts leading into the city, though it might more accurately be called a trail. In fact, Jason wasn't sure that his initial assessment of this being a city was quite right. The walls were plenty impressive, but the dirt path devoid of traffic and the near absence of any buildings visible over the wall made him think that this must be more of a village. The one building that he could see did look to have a tile roof, but it wasn't really that tall.
One thing that struck him was the complete absence of farms or ranches in the area. He hadn't passed so much as a single shack in the hour he had spent running and then walking here. He angled towards the road, and the open gate that led into the town. It was tough to see from a distance, but he was sure that some of the villagers or perhaps soldiers in the watchtowers had seen him. By the time he approached the walls it was obvious that he was being watched and pointed at. Jason tried to ignore them, hoping that this didn't mean trouble for him.
"Please…"
"One more word and I'll shove you in a box and bury it in a hole." The stupid bird hadn't said anything the whole time he was coming here. Why was it suddenly trying to talk? A part of him knew that it probably had some useful information for him, but he didn't want to follow anything the sparrow said. If he had to be here then he would make his own destiny.
The city was built on a huge hill that anywhere else probably wouldn't have even been considered a bump. Perhaps there would be farms on the other side of the walls, but even then they would have to be fairly distant. The flat landscape allowed Jason to see far into the distance, but he still saw nothing. There was a single guard at the gate, looking decidedly unintimidating. He didn't even have a sword or uniform. Was he just a random villager or farmer?
The bored expression on his face quickly turned to interest. This town must not have very many visitors. He walked out a short distance to greet Jason, but stopped in his tracks before Jason had gotten anywhere close. Jason continued walking, wondering if this was some kind of formality, but as he approached the man, he saw that the man was shaking visibly. His eyes shifted from Jason's face to his scarred arms rapidly, but not a single word came out.
"May I enter?" Jason asked, feeling uncomfortable. What language did these people speak anyway? Surely the sparrow would have made sure that he could understand whatever language they spoke here before it summoned him. Still, the man didn't move. His legs shook, and his features which proclaimed him no older than fifteen or sixteen were filled with terror.
"First time on the job?" Jason asked again, trying to sound comforting. What was with this kid? "I'm just going to go in if that's ok with you. I've been walking for a while and I'm tired."
The words weren't entirely true. He wasn't particularly tired. Maybe he should be being a little more cautious, but he just didn't really care anymore. He started walking forward, but the boy managed to recover, running back into the walls and grabbing a spear that must have been resting against the wall. Great, Jason thought, one more reason to not want to be here.
"Maybe we should come back later," the sparrow said in his mind, suddenly breaking its silence.
Jason had been thinking roughly the same thing, but hearing the sparrow say it pissed him off. He didn't want to be here in the first place and if he was stuck in this world he wasn't going to let a bird guide his life. Maybe the boy would just run him through and put him out of his misery. The thought brought what must have looked like a twisted smile to his face, as the boy shuddered. "I'm just going to go on in if that's ok with you," he said to the boy, and began walking again.
He walked straight through into the town, the boy aiming his spear at him the whole while, but not moving an inch. Jason nearly brushed against the tip as he walked in and he could here the boy's ragged breath and see pure terror in his eyes. What could he possibly be seeing to put him in this kind of state and why didn't he at least do something to stop Jason? He didn't though and Jason let out his breath as he walked past the boy and into the village.
He counted to five then ten waiting for the boy to come up behind him and run him through, but he didn't. Was that what Jason wanted? Either way it seemed he wasn't going to be stopped.
The village couldn't have had more than a thousand residents, but the wide main road was bustling with people and business. Shops lined either side of the streets, most of them with products displayed right along the street. He had evidently come on a market day. Still, it seemed strange that he hadn't seen a single person outside of the walls before. Many people operating temporary stalls were obviously farmers come in to sell crops. There was something about this town that didn't quite feel right. Anywhere with this much business and trade going on should have had more going on outside the walls too right? But, Jason had seen nothing that was remotely man made.
Jason walked slowly trying to get a good look at what all there was. He didn't have any money so he wasn't sure what he was going to be able to do about food. He could always try to work for a meal or something. He wanted to curse the sparrow for putting him in this situation, but he didn't want to look like a crazy person talking to a bird. Who knew if talking birds were common in this world.
There was a steady shift in atmosphere as he walked. Maybe visitors were more unwelcome than he had thought. He hadn't walked far before he could hear whispers. Then people began to stop what they were doing and glance at him. Jason caught some of their eyes as he surveyed the town and was alarmed at their reactions, though that was nothing compared to the villagers.
Most who looked at him acted like they had seen a ghost, frozen in terror or even dashing away into one of the buildings. Even that was tame compared to some. One woman dropped a giant clay jug of water she was carrying, and ran into one of the shops without looking back at the broken jug. A little girl pointed at him and he was about to wave at her when her father saw what his daughter was looking at. The huge man let out a squeak of terror as he scooped up the girl and ran off without a word.
Within a minute there were very few people still on the road, most of them merchants who didn't seem to have anywhere to go. To a person they kept their eyes away from Jason as if he might murder them with a glance. Something was definitely wrong here. He looked over his shoulder to see the sparrow flying a ways behind him, but he still didn't want to talk to it. There wasn't a sound in the whole village now anyway, so everyone would hear.
Without any other ideas, Jason turned towards one of the merchants that was still out. He sat on a rickety stool, facing the wall away from where Jason stood not moving an inch. He may not even have been breathing. Despite everything, Jason had to force down laughter at the image. Back in his world, the man could have just pulled out his phone and stared at it, but here he looked absolutely ridiculous. He didn't even have a book out to make it look more natural. Deciding to test his luck, Jason approached the man and cleared his throat to get his attention.