Eric: Why?... Why are you so desperate to die? You seem to go out of your way to do stuff that could kill you...
Eric said in a low voice after seeing the Gash, Tears welling up in his eyes. He can't think of any obvious reasons his son could have to want to die, so he's asking, hoping that Cashew will answer.
Cashew, however, wasn't even paying attention. He suddenly remembered all the dead people he saw in the cave, including the one Traumatized woman that the Goblins seem to have left alone. Remembering her, he jumped out of the chair he was in and ran off into a different room, coming back with a sheet of paper and a piece of charcoal.
Still being stubborn and refusing to admit he can speak, Cashew started drawing a map on the paper, starting off from the room he woke up in, then drawing the general path that he remembered taking before he ran into his father, also drawing the path his father used to carry him out of the Goblin Cave.
Eric watched as Cashew drew the map of the cave, wanting to be surprised, but isn't.
In the Room Cashew started in within the cave, Cashew started drawing an ugly stick figure Goblin next to it with an arrow pointing to the room, indicating goblins are in that room. He also drew a dead stickman next to the Goblin and an arrow pointing to the room, as well as a girl stick figure with a sad face and an arrow pointing to a corner of the room, the general area that the woman was in when he was still in the cave.
After finishing the drawing, Cashew handed it to his father and Eric seemed to understand what Cashew meant.
Eric: I see... So you came across a woman who was still alive in that Goblin Cave?
Cashew nodded in response, Eric started wiping away the tears on his face.
Eric: Why are you being difficult with talking? Last time the Royal Guards came here, I asked them about their kids since they all have kids, and they all said that 2 years old is a normal age for a kid to start talking, walking, and drawing. They said that their kids weren't capable of having conversations at 2, but their kids were capable of saying complete sentences by that age. As for walking, their kids couldn't fully run like an adult, but their kids were capable of crawling and walking in short bursts. So you have no reason to hide the stuff you can do, otherwise people will think you're under-developed.
Eric said all of this to Cashew, hoping that it would convince him to stop hiding stuff, which it didn't. Cashew remained silent and playing dumb.
Eric: well... *Sniffles* since you are being difficult, I can only make a guess on what this drawing means... I assume you want me to go save that woman you found in the Goblin Cave?
Cashew nodded in response.
Eric: I see... Well, unfortunately, I can't do that. It took a lot of convincing to even get the guards to let me go by myself, they wouldn't even think about going to help me save you, no matter how much i beg, convinced that you were already dead and me going would just be suicide. It would be even worse with this unknown woman you mentioned, as they could understand me wanting to go save my own son and all, but this unknown person you mention? No.
"I see... So you expected the other guards to risk their lives to help you save your own child, but you aren't willing to risk your life to save a different person's child?" Cashew wanted to say that, but the last time he spoke got him captured by Goblins in the first place, so he decided to keep it to himself, not bothering to write it either.
The woman Cashew saw in the cave wasn't a child, probably in her early 20's at the youngest, but it doesn't sit right with Cashew to not even attempt to help her. Which is ironic, since he didn't even look twice when abandoning her in that cave. Plus, for all he knew, his poison magic killed her, since he did plant a Poison Rune on the ground near the entrance of that room. Maybe the Poisoned air filled the cave and gave her a painful death. He won't know until he goes back.
Eric: The Gash on your head is bad-
Right as Eric started mentioning the Gash Cashew had on his forehead, the door swung open and Sara came rushing in and hurried over to Cashew, Silently crying and hugging him tightly.
Eric: Still refuse to do this in public, Huh?... You've always refused to show tears in public, nobody is gonna judge you for missing your son, you didn't need to wait until I brought him inside.
Sara was too busy trying not to cry any more than she already was, so she didn't respond to Eric's comment. Meanwhile, Cashew was feeling like he was about to die, a woman that tends to overpower farm animals was squeezing him, after all.
Sara pulled away for a moment and noticed the Gash on Cashews forehead.
Sara: No, my baby... *Eyes dart to Eric* Why the hell did you do this?!
Sara demanded an answer, picking up a wooden spoon and storming over to Eric.
Eric: No! I didn't do that! He had that already when I found him.
Sara: I'm about to give you a Gash just like the one he has if you don't answer the question.
Eric: My forehead is too thick, you won't be able to with a wooden spoon- Shouldn't we be trying to clean the Gash on his forehead instead of of testing whether the spoon will break first or if my forehead will break first?!
Sara remembering, rushes over to to start cleaning the Gash, Which hurts Cashew and he doesn't enjoy the feeling.
"Restoration Magic. I need to learn Restoration Magic so I can just heal up these types of injuries instead." Cashew repeated in his head, trying to distract himself from the pain.
...
The next day...
Last night was the most inactive night of Cashews life. After the Gash on his forehead was cleaned and dealt with, Sara refused to let Cashew go, afraid he would disappear again as soon as she stopped holding him, which is true, Cashew was planning to run off as soon as he was let go, but that never happened. Sara Held Cashew tightly the rest of the day and the entire night, it took her a half hour to finally let him go in the morning.
Eric Left in the morning for guard duty and Meredith never showed up like she usually does. Which is strange, she didn't even come by yesterday either. Sara refused to let Eric take him to the guard tower he usually works at, so Cashew was stuck at home for the first time in a while, with Sara watching over him.
We are 7 hours into the day and Cashew was never able to sneak off, not even once. Every time he would try and sneak off somewhere, Sara would be right on top of him, asking what he planned on doing.
Cashew was sitting on the porch, leaning against the wall, looking off into the sky, completely bored and wanting to go and practice his magic, or maybe go back to the Goblin Cave and see if the woman is still there and alive, "This would be more bearable if I could shoot of some spells until i pass out. Now that I can use Ice magic, which is more expensive than Water magic, I should try to cast Ice Ball until I pass out and Improve my Mana pool." Cashew pondered ways to improve his magic while looking for any chance he can get to sneak off, even if only for a minute.
Cashew watched his mother start dragging a horse into the barn. The horse in question had really pretty and shiny purple armor on it and it was several times larger than the horses he was used to seeing. The normal horses are only a tad bit shorter than Sara, but this one was so large, both of Cashews parents would need a stool or some sort of bench to get up on the horse.the saddle where the rider sits was higher up than Sara's head. This horse made all of the others look like Donkeys. Whats more is that there were 13 more horses nearby, all of them the same size as the first one, all tied up to trees as well as several large knights in heavy armor walking away from the horses. These knights make the horses look only slightly above average.
One of the knights, his armor was dark purple while all the other knights had light purple armor, the horses armor matched the Knights and the Knight with Dark purple armor approached Sara.
Knight in Dark Purple armor: Miss, you sure you don't need help? All these other knights are literally only here to spar with each other, im sure they wouldn't mind helping you out with their horses.
Sara: No need. If I accept your help, for all I know, I'll start getting lazy and rusty.
As she said this, the horse raised its front legs and kicked Sara in the chest, which she took very well, only stumbling back a foot before grabbing the Horses front legs while they were still up and dragging it into the barn that way. The Knight in Dark purple armor winced at the sight, extending an arm out to catch her if she was sent flying, which she wasnt.
Sara: Since you're offering to help, why don't you or one of your friends keep an eye on my kid for the time being? He seems to like wandering off now and I can't take my eyes off him for more than 5 seconds before he starts sneaking off somewhere.
She asked while pointing in Cashews direction, the Knights gaze followed her finger and he looked at Cashew, who looked absolutely bored with life right now, tapping his fingers on his thigh quickly to keep himself amused.
The Knight in Dark Purple armor called over one of his knights, a guy about the same size as him, but slightly wider, and asked the Wide Knight to make sure the kid doesn't run off anywhere, which he agreed to without hesitation or sorrow. Not wanting disobey his superiors orders. Immediately agreeing to watch over the kid and heading in his direction.
Cashew, who was daydreaming about how he would go about getting a book on Restoration magic, suddenly no longer felt the sun on his skin. Opening his eyes, and this massive man in heavy light purple armor was in front of him. The man was so tall, he couldn't even get on the porch without hitting his head on the roof of the porch, he simply approached and crouched down on the ground in front of the porch, bringing a hand closer to baby Cashew, as if he met a new dog and was letting the dog sniff his hand.
Cashew instantly shrunk himself down even more as the tall man's hand got closer, his eyes getting wider, unsure on if he should be scared and run away, the time it took for the man's hand to get closer seemed to take forever, as if time slowed down. Cashew spent that entire time wondering if the man thought he was food and was gonna eat him.
Wide Knight in light purple armor: Hi, little man. My name is Tarhil.