Old pain

Flora started sweating, a shiver went through her whole body from the sweat. Cold sweat. She swallowed the remaining spit inside her mouth and looked at mother.

"I…" She wasn't able to finish that sentence. I saw her sell some stuff to buy the clock we have in our dining room.

"What you? Why aren't you answering my question?" A jar of something in her hands, I saw two things inside. Like two… Eyes? I was looking at it, terrified.

"I had to…" She again stopped talking for a couple of seconds, she bought that clock, especially for my cause… She always wanted to know when I came back home to give me a punishment or anything like that. She really cared about me.

"What did you have to do! Answer!" She shouted and threw the jar right behind us. Flora was still standing, mother still hasn't allowed her to sit down at that point.

"I sold some stuff from there!" She said loudly, not screamed or shouted even. Just raised her tone from pressure.

"..." My mother just looked at her and held the armchair really strong, it was screeching from the force applied. "What did you sell." She asked again with that aggressive voice, almost as if it was about to shred her into pieces.

"I sold… It was a random golden necklace I picked up from up there. I'm sure it didn't belong to your mother or you! I'm sure of it!" Her eyes became glossy, she is very desperate. The heads of the animals in this room were all looking at her, it seemed as if all of them moved their heads.

"You stole from us! Even if it didn't belong to me or my mother or even the holy grandfather, as long as it's in this house you are not allowed to do anything with it!" She screamed angrily and the armchair shattered into pieces.

"I did it for…" She again stopped herself from further talking as she probably realized that punishment is inevitable.

"Come with me! I will make you remember this! And you, my darling, come with us as well." The whole time screaming and making faces but once she turned in my direction she made an expression of a caring mother. A very fake face.

We only obeyed her command, no words were said afterward. I only followed them as my mother thrust her nails into Flora's arm. She put a lot of strength into it, but not too much to break her arms. Still in this house but going to the cellar where I've never been. I was always allowed to go there but I never actually did.

The stairs down looked shallow and very old almost as if they were at the edge of breaking, spiderwebs, and no color on walls or anything. Just clear wood. The closer we were getting to the floor the lighter glow could be seen from probable torches. We sat our feet down on the stone ground of the cellar.

Many doors also made from just clear wood appeared in my sight. A long corridor with many doors, we were still just going in a straight line without concern about anything. The door we approached was made from metal and not wood, it luminated with the light of the torches. A lock and key right next to it in a small basket. Mother took the key and opened the door.

A table in the middle, pretty short table the size of a human. Handcuffs, swords, whips, and other dangerous objects resided on the walls. They all gave me a feeling that what will happen here won't be a good thing...

"Lay." My mother said with a completely emotionless voice.

"I…" Flora wanted to answer what mother said but was cut short.

"Lay!" She screamed and pointed at the table in the middle of the room. Flora again only obeyed, she came close to the table and slowly laid on it. I saw her body shiver from the cold wood on her back. Her maiden clothes embedded on the wooden piece like silk on human skin, perfectly fitting. "On the stomach." She added and then Flora in one and the same motion changed. My mother closed the chaining handcuffs, Flora terrified looked at me and made a small gesture with her head. Reassuring me that she will be okay.

I sat down on an old wooden chair in the corner of the room, looking at this horrific thing. My mother took a mace with spikes and in the same moment, veins started surrounding Flora's body. Her fragile small body on that table looked so miserable. I looked at all of this… Mother impaled Flora's back with those spikes. I heard those agonizing screams sinking through my mind, she took it away with the blood dripping from it. Her wounds healed in an instant, the broken bones merged together and everything came back. But the pain was still there as Flora didn't stop screaming, her clothes almost shattered into pieces.

Again the mace high in the air preparing to just fall down like a tool of justice on guilty humans. But she didn't do anything wrong… She just bought a clock to keep me in check. And now she is just being punished for that.

The swing fell down on the back of the almost naked woman. I heard the spine breaking but she still didn't lose consciousness, her screams buried in my mind. The sound was scary, I jumped from shock and even felt the pain on my own. Her blood was flowing down the ground and slowly coming under my legs. The dark liquid right under my chair, when I stared into it. It felt like a crimson void devouring my thoughts.

My mother started repeating the cycle of agony… Mace up, heal, swing, and screams. Repeat four times, five, six, seven. Then she stopped and Flora caught a breath even if her lungs got torn apart multiple times just now. My mother took a sword from the wall and the memory faded, with Flora's face covered in blood and all that pain expressing on her almost demonized face.

back at the cave with all of them around me. The memory now faded completely but I still remember what happened… She had to endure so much pain for me.

"And that's why goblins are so different from us." Marcus probably finished talking about the talking goblins. I didn't hear a single word, the memory completely took over my mind. God bless Flora's tormented soul.

"That was an interesting lecture, mister hunter." Matthew nodded and was still staring at Finn behind Bog, Marcus, and Estel already stopped. They were looking somewhere else. Probably at the big dark skinned man covering the goblin. "But how did a goblin end up here?" He added and stopped looking at them, his gaze instead wandered off to me.

"I saved him from getting killed by the royal knights. I heard him talking to them that he wasn't doing anything wrong and it made me save him. Why didn't they want to listen to him? Ask questions? They just wanted to kill him like a pig. Even if he is just a monster, if he can speak why won't you just listen…" He looked at Finn and smiled. "I opposed the royalty to save this fragile creature. For a goblin to be alone and not in a pack is already a stressing thing, adding that to the lack of knowledge of humans. How can he live? That's why I helped him. Of course, the knights easily overpowered me after a short fight, we were then sent to prison to the city and afterward, without too much thought they sent us here."

"I… I didn't wrong. I did good." Finn whispered with a small unsure voice.

"But even if he didn't. Why didn't they just kill him right away? I mean he is a monster and they let him live so long that someone came to rescue." Estel joined this conversation, I still felt out of place because of that memory coming back but slowly my mind came back 'here' as well.

"I don't know. Maybe they wanted to beat him to death with pebbles or something? I don't know what those royals have in mind…" Bog answered and looked at the ground pretty sad.

"Where was that?" Marcus asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Somewhere in the human continent. The closest city was called Cael'Athne I think. It was an elven city long conquered by humans. You are an elf you probably know."

"I do... But wait, we didn't introduce ourselves yet. I am Estel, the demon here is Marcus, the dwarf Matthew and the person who saved you, Hayden." A small gesture of gratitude came from the side of those two. Bog shook my hand and so did Finn.

"Thank you very much… If not for you, we would probably be already dead out there. Moving wouldn't keep us hot enough, I don't know how to repay you." Finn shook his head agreeing to what Bog just said.

"You don't have to." I quickly answered. They don't owe me anything, I just did that to avoid spilling blood that we could've just saved.