Nedoma peaked his head around the corner of the inn. Seeing no immediate threats, he darts across the paved street to the other side, where he leans up against a house and looks once more from his new vantage point. The goblins are certainly done with whatever they had been doing towards the rear of the village and are now beginning to fan out. They move from building to building, gleefully running around with their spoils of battle as they search for more goods to steal, leaving fires behind in some of the buildings. In what is certainly a defenseless village, the goblins do an excellent job of taking all that they can from Ayrith.
Nedoma stops looking and begins to reconsider the idea of going. Getting caught out at this point will lead to him only being swarmed and butchered like a cornered animal. Even trying to outrun the goblins when caught would likely prove futile, as it would only bring them closer to the inn where Jana and Emi currently reside. Suddenly, a moment of self-reflection hits Nedoma. I've been really overthinking things all day. Let's make this easy. Go. Don't go. Nedoma peaks around the corner once more. He notices that the goblins don't seem to have quite begun to reach where his house was located. Go. He moves into a lunge, as if to begin breaking into a sprint. Yet just as he began to show determination in his decision to go, he lurches backwards into his position behind the building once more. He pauses for a second. Safer if I go behind all the buildings. Avoiding the main street, he runs behind the series of houses. One after another, he quickly falls into a cycle of checking for goblins, and then dashing behind the next home. Soon enough, he finds himself about to dash to the next home, before realizing he had already arrived at his desired destination.
As he slowly creeps up to the window in his parent's room, he feels a sense of nervousness over all the possibilities of what peaking in might reveal. But as he attempts to look through he is not able to ascertain the presence of his parents in their room. The dirty coating of the window and his own shadow blocking the sunlight combine to make it difficult to see. Nedoma briefly recalls being told to clean the windows before he shakes the thought and realizes he will have to go inside to get a better look. Prodding the window proves that it was locked, meaning he would either have to break the window or go through the front door. Despite the chaotic situation within the village, he worries about making to much noise from breaking into his own home and decides to take the door.
As he steps along the exterior wall towards the front of the house, he takes one cursory glance to determine his odds of being spotted. He finds that the goblins had been much closer than expected, raiding just a few homes down from where he currently stands. He figured the odds of him being spotted were quite large. Yet his desire to find any hint of the location of his parents overwhelmed his sense of cautiousness which had been ruling his decisions throughout the day. In a quick motion, Nedoma leapt out from the side of the building. He made a mad dash for the door, disregarding whether or not anything had taken notice from him. As he reached the door, a moment of panic forms at the thought of the door being locked, but it gracefully opens when he pulls on the handle. As the door swings out, in a single motion he enters his house and yanks the door behind him. Yet just before the door would hit its frame, he abruptly slows down to avoid making any loud noise. He places the crossbar to lock the door, figuring that nothing good will be entering the home after him.
The home gives off an unwelcoming feeling to Nedoma. As he enters his room, the first thing that catches his eye is his bed which sits in the corner, neatly made. Looking around he spots no sign of any non-human creature having been here. He steps out toward his parent's room, whose door sits closed. Standing in front of the door, he briefly knocks on it's wooden exterior. “Mom, dad, you there?” Having more than once abruptly opened the bedroom door only to reveal a sight no child ever wants to see, he instinctively replicates the lesson burned into him. Hearing no response, he cautiously opens the door. In the faint light, he makes out his parents bed which occupied the center of the room, as neatly folded as his own was. Nedoma scans the ground, dreading the thought of seeing spots of blood or perhaps something far more sinister. Yet the room looks as plain as it always did. As he steps out to check both the kitchen and the closet, the reality becomes clear: they are not here.
As he thinks about what to do next, he finds himself absentmindedly walking back into his room once more. Seeing his own dresser, he is reminded of the family carrying numerous belongings and wonders if he should try and take some spare clothes with him. Deciding that would be to large of a burden, he starts wondering if there are perhaps some valuables that he should try taking. “Where did mom and dad keep our money..?” he pondered aloud. As he returned to his parent's room and began to look around for a secret stash of coins, he felt a chill as he felt goblin-like for doing so.
Thwack! As Nedoma jumped at the sound a second Thwack could be heard. “Shit.” he whispered. “I took to long.” A dread sense of “is this the end” began to fill him. Cornered in a home with who knows how many goblins at the door, the repeated sound of knocking remind him of the scene at Jana's home earlier that morning. Yet out of the corner of his eye, a ray of light shined. Well, it had always been shining there. Looking at the window, Nedoma saw his best chance of survival as he darted towards it. Unlocking it and pushing upward, the window creeks open. As fresh air tinged with the smell of smoke come into the room, he grabs onto the frame and sticks his legs through the opening. Pushing himself through, he returns to the same spot as when he had first arrived. As Nedoma looks back into his parent's room, he silently mutters to himself “See you soon,” as he races off back to Jana.
After having been so vigilant on the way to his house, Nedoma surrendered himself to simply sprinting forward as he made his way past all the houses without any caution. As he finally reached the house parallel to the inn, he made a quick check before darting across the street. His muscles tense up as he opens the door, preparing himself in case any goblins had made their way in here. Yet as he enters it appears just as it did when he had left, as though the room had been frozen in time. “Jana!” Nedoma says in what could be described as a loud whisper. “Are you there?”
Jana peaks her head above the counter. “Nedoma!” She stands up and runs to him, grasping his sword-free hand. A hint of worry is plastered over her face. “You didn't find them?”
Nedoma shook his head. “No... No signs of them there. Everything was as neat as mom normally makes it.” As Jana looked about to say something else, Nedoma interrupted her. “It's fine. I'm sure they...must have already left. Like we should be. The goblins will catch up to us if we don't move fast. We have to go. Let's grab Emi and get out of here.” Nedoma begins to move towards the counter before Jana stops him.
“Wait, tie this back around your waist,” she says as she hands him back his sack. As he attaches it once more, he feels a slight difference in weight but decides not to ask. He walks over to help lift Emi up. Her head is covered much more thoroughly now, pieces of cloth coil all around the top of her skull. She appears almost lifeless as they lift her up. As they both support Emi, Jana clutches onto the hatchet in her free hand while Nedoma grips the sword in his. Preparing themselves as they push past the doors to the inn, they slowly move across the the edge of the street until they find themselves walking on a dirt road. As they move past a small post with the word “Ayrith” carved into it, they begin their final steps in their escape from Ayrith.
