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Journal Entry 21
Master tells me he has to go to Starfall City soon. He has some business there. When I asked him if I could accompany him, he started acting a little strange. He told me that he needed me to remain behind and look after the Tower while he was away.
He wouldn’t tell me when he was leaving, or how long he’d be gone for. I suppose I shall find out soon enough. It’s a little unusual, and I’m disappointed that I cannot go with him - I have never seen Starfall City before, and I want to - but I’m sure Master has his reasons for asking me to stay behind.
I am sure I shall see it eventually. It’s likely more crowded than any place I’ve been before so I might not be too comfortable there. Even though the majority of the people who live there have magic, so I wouldn’t be out of place, or in any danger.
In the meantime, Master has been insisting I continue with my project when I’m not practising or studying. I have observed several of the townspeople since I finished observing Arrow-Wood farm, but few of them have caught my attention, or have quickly made me retreat with their rude comments and threats towards my Master.
I have little interest in attempting to befriend a person who thinks the town should kidnap Master from his Tower in the night and burn him at the stake in the centre of town. Not that any of them would get passed Master’s spells on the door and the windows.
Villager Observation 4 - Jackson Hill
I came across an Inn, not far outside of town recently. It is called the Hog and Heifer. I didn’t know it was there before. It seems popular amongst the townspeople. Master says it the only Inn in the area; the next closest Inn is a place called The Mad Warrior’s Rest, about a three-day journey away.
I’ve found it’s a good place to observe the townspeople - most of them anyway. A number of them are the types I don’t want to interact with - suspicious, distrustful, judgemental. One of the people who is there frequently - I have come to discover he works there - is a man named Jackson Hill.
Jackson Hill is not the friendliest of people. He is a big guy - very muscular. His attitude is surly, irritable. He doesn’t talk to people much, and when he does, he has very little to say, and most of the time, he just grunts. After a little while of observation, I have learned how to differentiate between his grunts.
Out of curiosity, I followed him one evening, after he’d finished working at the Inn for the day - after he’d chased out the last of the miners and farm hands who drank away most of their wages at the Inn, and the Innkeeper had insisted she could manage the rabble that remained. It appears he lives alone in a small cabin not far from the Inn, away from the town. Much like Master and myself, in the Tower on the far side, though his home is a lot more ominous looking than Master’s Tower is.
During the day, he works at the Inn, chopping wood, cleaning out the stables, and just, in general, doing the harder or messier tasks that the Innkeeper won’t do. If he minds, he doesn’t seem to say anything about it. Or perhaps he gets paid enough for the work that he doesn’t care.
During the evening, and late at night, he seems to do other things. In one of my late night wanders - when I couldn’t sleep due to nightmares - I spotted him roaming the forest with a bow and a quiver of arrows. The next morning, when I arrived at the Inn to continue my observation of the place and the people who frequented it, I noticed two deer, and a few rabbits waiting to be butchered.
I do not think that Jackson Hill is the kind of person I feel safe approaching. Everything about him just screams dangerous. I have an odd feeling that he knows I am lingering near the Inn; every now and then, while he is working outside, I notice him stop what he is doing, and look in my direction.
I know he cannot see me, hiding in the trees, but I get the oddest feeling that it doesn’t matter to him. If he had his bow, I am certain he would shoot me.
I am quite glad that Master was the one to find me wandering the woods when he did. I do not think I would fancy meeting Jackson Hill out in the forest, and now that I know he is out there, especially at night, I shall make an effort to avoid him as much as possible. I intend to set up simple detection spells out in the forest, to try and get a feel of where he hunts, but to do so, I need to get something to ensure the spells only detect him.
It would be of no use to me if a deer or a rabbit set off the spells, after all.
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