Chapter 5 - Childhood IV

Chapter 5 - Childhood IV

With Eamon gone, life at the Wycliffe land became dull.

Evelina started to travel with her father to meet nobles her age. Lady Isolde got closer to Rowan. The youngest lord was only 5 years of age, so there were a limited number of activities he could do. Lady Isolde decided she would teach and shape Rowan even better than she had done with Eamon.

Bryn focused his efforts on learning all he could from his father while helping out with the livestock at the farm. When the livestock did well, Lord Aric was happy. No better plan than leaving the Lord of the land happy. He and Sylas focused on the fields.

Freya was the first one to comprehend the impact of Eamon's departure.

With Evelina and Lord Aric traveling, Lady Isolde and Rowan were the only two family members at the house. Lady Isolde believed she had failed Eamon. He didn't understand the difference in social level and the appropriate treatment servants deserved. She was hellbent on engraving such teachings on Rowan.

It all started with demanding Rowan to be rude to the servants. Everything he did or said should be even worse when directed at Freya. Isolde had mixed feelings about Eamon's relationship with the fauns. They were a constant reminder to her that Bryn had stolen the last two years she should've had with her son.

After a few months, the house got news of Eamon's acceptance into the Royal Knights Academy. It was a moment to celebrate, but it was also another weight on Isolde's back. She was certain now that her son wouldn't be back for many years.

Lord Aric was the happiest member of the family. A future Royal Knight opened many possibilities for the Wycliffes. Their status would rise by having a family member attend the academy. With the news, his traveling arrangements and meetings increased even more. Evelina's hand even started to get coveted by many young nobles.

Lady Isolde now had to take care of the land, while he had the mission to find their daughter a proper suitor.

With time, the whole farm started to change. Sylas now had to report to Lady Isolde. In time, she started to ask for Bryn to be present. Her goal was to hear something wrong and lash out at the young faun.

As the Lord stayed less and less around the farm, Lady Isolde's behavior got worse. The Maid's Chief started to answer for any and every mistake others made during their jobs. She was already a terrible person to the staff, but now she started to go crazy.

Lady Isolde didn't make it easy. She changed the patterns of the table or rooms every other week, without telling anyone about it. Then, when someone misplaced anything, she would start screaming and humiliating the person.

Alone, Lady Isolde's or the maid's chief was enough to create a horrible work environment. Combined, they created the feeling that going to work was worse than dying for some. Both the Lady and the chief started to take joy in being extra hard on Freya.

The rest of the staff never had anything against her. When the situation got worse, they abandoned the idea of helping or supporting her. Afraid, that if they did anything, the target would change for their backs.

With Lord Aric's absence, the months started to pass as if they were years.

When insulting was not enough, Lady Isolde started to throw things at the fauns. Books, rock, pieces of rock, or whatever was on hand. If whatever she threw broke, she would blame the faun for not getting hit the right way and breaking an item.

Lady Isolde said the new day-to-day was the best way to educate Rowan. She was right about one thing, after a few months, Rowan started to increase his disgust about the staff. The Maid became his play toys and the guards became personal butlers. The fauns became his target practice.

Bryn's life had made a complete one-eighty degree before he knew what to do. The earth he experienced had ended such absurdities many years ago. His resilience was strong, at first, from the challenges he faced as an executive. But nothing can prepare you to live as a slave.

As time passed, screaming lost its effectiveness. Throwing things at the staff was not as entertaining. Lady Isolde implemented a new punishment method. Whenever someone did anything offensive, she would set random lashes on the person. The morale around the farm was terrible.

Different groups started to form around the farm. The guards were responsible for security and hunting, so they were never punished. The leader of the guards was the one implementing the punishments decided by the Lady. It created a clear gap between the guards and the rest of the staff.

After one year, the land was very much the same, but the farm was a different place.

Lord Aric only looked at reports, he was not at the farm for long periods at a time. If the numbers and reports were good, he would go straight for another trip. No one dared to speak up, since he would soon leave, and they would have to deal with the Lady's wrath.

Bryn started to change during the last year. His hopes and dreams to use the knowledge from earth to improve their life were now a fairy tail. All he could focus on was surviving. His parents, who loved him with all their heart and soul, were being treated like trash or worse. He became Rowan's sandbag. Rowan's strength was no joke. A few times Bryn had his fingers broken while they were playing.

Over time, Bryn's mind circled a new never-ending circle.

"In my past life, I helped develop the healthcare system. It took my energy and dedication to create, but also ended up taking my parents' lives. When I decided that enough was enough, it was too late. Now here I am at another crossroads. I need to get stronger, but this body does not develop fast enough. I have to break the cycle. It was too late for my original parents, but I'll find a way to save Sylas and Freya." He thought.

After another half year passed, Bryn decided enough was enough. He waited for Lord Aric to return from one of his trips. When the Lord arrived, he told everything. All the mistreatment that Lady Isolde and Rowan were distributing to the staff.

At first, Lord Aric was static. He couldn't believe what he heard. His first reaction was a slap in the faun's face for lying about his wife. After telling Bryn to leave the house, Aric went straight towards Isolde. He had to understand why would the faun create such fiction.

Reality hit hard on Aric. Isolde told her husband about the guaranteed way to educate Rowan to be a good noble. A noble who understood his position of power. She went on about how they had raised Eamon by spoon-feeding him and how she wouldn't do the same to Rowan. How the servants and the fauns had stolen Eamon's last two years. How Aric hadn't seen Eamon for weeks at a time and whenever he did, Eamon would only speak about his faun friends.

Aric had some remorse about the fact he was not as present as he should have been while raising their family. Her words were crafty and ingenious to leverage these feelings to her side.

"The fact that Eamon passed the Royal Academy was pure luck... We almost let our son fail. Can you imagine if he had spent the last two years with you and me? He would be the best cadet in the kingdom. Still, we raised him to 14 years old and his teachings held strong. Even after 2 years with a lesser species..."

"There is no way they would misguide our son on purpose, what would they gain from it?" He asked.

"I never said they did it on purpose. But how can a lesser species not get in the way of our teachings? All they did was to lower his bar, day in and day out. We got so lucky that he passed the exams, I don't know what I would do if he didn't. It would have been our fought, for letting him treat fauns and servants as his equals." She answered.

At this point, Lord Aric's insecurities as a father were growing as poisoned weeds. Lady Isolde knew how to control her husband. He was a kind man, but naive to the meters of the heart.

"Tell me one famous and important noble family who treat their servants as equals? NONE, I'll tell you." She complemented.

"But there is no reason for the treatment to be so harsh, is there?"

"How dare you say something like that? Our son is now a Royal Knight Cadet. You know, as well as I do, that our family's status increased by leaps and bounds because of it. And you are telling me that they shouldn't get punished for trying to ruining his chances?"

If Bryn or Eamon were there, both would go insane about the way Isolde was twisting the story. It was thanks to Bryn's guidance that Eamon improved so much in the two years before his admission. Lady Isolde was able to turn everything upside down.

By the time she finished with Lord Aric, he was fuming. Closes fists over the table.

"How could they not tell me my son was spending so much time with the fauns? Who do they think they are to steal our time together with our son? Those servants deserve punishment. The fauns shouldn't even be here anymore. Sylas helped with the farm, but that is nothing compared to Eamon entering the Royal Academy. I would give all my livestock and more for a spot there." Aric thought.

"Enough. I understand why you did what you did. You are correct, my love. I was naive to believe Eamon should have more free time. If he didn't get accepted, I don't know what I would do. Blaming myself would be too late..." he said.

"Don't you worry, dear. I know what to do."

"I trust you. You keep taking care of the land. I'm almost able to get Earl Thornebrook's second son Adrian to marry our baby girl."

"What?! I thought you were only able to meet with viscounts, how did Earl Thornebrook and you meet?"

"I haven't met him yet… But when I got to the viscount's castle, Adrian Thornebrook was also there on a mission from his father. The rest was all you and Evelina. He was love-struck by her beauty and manner. After a few days of talking, he decided to invite us to the Earl's house for us to meet with the Earl. That is why I'm back early from our trip. We'll have to prepare."

"That is amazing, dear. I'll prepare our baby girl, it would be an amazing present for us to marry her to an Earl's son."

While the two were talking, Bryn's mind was going crazy. He knew the risks of telling Lord Aric about the farm's situation. At the same time, all interactions he had with Lord Aric were logical. He was not an emotional person, and he didn't seem to mind the difference in species. Also, Eamon had to learn his manners from someone, and judging by Lady Isolde's ways, he inherited it all from Aric.

"It has been hours since I told the Lord and nothing. All I can do now is wait. Should I have done it?" Bryn thought.

Sylas and Freya knew their son's plan. They were afraid for Bryn's safety if things went sideways. No one would be able to protect them if the Lord did nothing to prevent the punishments. Both trusted Aric's judgment, but they had lived many years more than Bryn. They knew that whatever a Lord said was the truth for a servant. What Bryn lacked was the experience of a dictatorship rule.

Lady Isolde asked for Bryn to come to the study. She and the lord were waiting for him when he arrived. Bryn could tell something was not right.

His experience could tell that the body language from Lord Aric was not apologetic. His eyes were fierce, sitting against the table with his fingers intertwined.

"You are now seven years old, am I right?" Aric asked.

"Yes, my Lord." Bryn answered, lowering one knee to the ground.

"Only seven years old and you believe you know better than Lady Isolde on how to treat our servants?" He asked.

"How can Lord Aric not see what she is doing? She has destroyed in only two years the environment he spent his life building. The farm has gone from a farm to a slave camp. I must think of something, I have to try and salvage the situation." Bryn thought.

"For your insubordination and for trying to plot against my wife, I wanted your head on a splatter. Lucky for you, my wife asked me to be merciful to you. She will decide on your punishment."

"But my-" bryn tried.

"Don't you dare speak, faun. You are lucky I was in a forgiving mood. I know it is not that you fought for being born a lesser race. You should accept our decision with happiness. I saved your life, but it does not mean you won't receive punishment... Ten lashes every week for the next year should do the trick." Lady Isolde interrupted him.

When they heard the punishment, Freya and Sylas got up from their knees.

"Lord, I beg you to have mercy. He is just a boy. He had no idea what he was saying." Sylas begged.

"Please, Lord Aric, he is seven." Freya said.

"You are right, he is a child. You should have educated him better. You two will get half his punishment as well. But I'm not senseless. If you wish, you can decide who will get Bryn's lashes, him or one of you. From now on, your family gets 15 lashes a week until Lady Isolde decides it has been enough..."

"Also, your family lost your animal privileges. No more chickens or rabbits for you until I say otherwise. Now leave, your lashes will start tomorrow." Isolde said.

It all happened so fast. Bryn didn't realize the consequences of his actions until they were already on their way home. The new world was simpler than the earth he lived in many ways, but it proved to be much more savage.

The walk home was a sad and quiet one. During the past two years, Freya knew that they should have done something to stop the harassment. Sylas did too, but neither dared to do anything. Bryn was the only one to speak up and try to change the predicament all the servants were facing.

Bryn's mind was going back to his parent's last moments on earth. In a way, his actions too were responsible for what happened to them. If he was closer, he could have helped faster. All the "what ifs" started to run around his mind. Self-doubt and guilt from before were piling up with today's events.

Once again, he was analyzing the situation. He didn't have as bad as his mother or father, but he still felt he should do something to stop the harassment. The more he considered all the ways he could have done to deal with the situation, the sadder he got.

"I can never help them, be it on earth or here. All I do is to cause trouble for my parents." Bryn thought.

As his eyes started to fill with water, few words left his mouth.

"I'm sorry. I thought that Lord Aric was a better person. I never considered he would believe her over the truth. Because of me, we will suffer even more now!!" Bryn said.

"Don't you lower your head. We will suffer more, yes. But I'm proud of you. You have a kind heart, son." Freya hugged her son.

"I don't care what punishment they come up with. Today, you were braver than I was. Nothing could make me prouder, as a father and as a faun, than seeing you stand up for all servants and our fate. Remember, son, it does not matter what they do to our bodies. If your mind stays true to your values, they will never win." Sylas complemented.

No words could calm the storms in his heart and soul. Sylas and Freya were his parents now. He used to forget that many times. Seeing them protect his spirits even in a moment like this was even more infuriating.

That night, the only one smiling was Lady Isolde.

The next morning came like any other. Sylas and Bryn walked side by side to the guard's station near the mansion.

Lady Isolde and Rowan arrived not much after them.

Guards were preparing the stage where servants got their punishment. The sturdiness of the wood and the locks on the cuffs, all had to be perfect.

"For insubordination, the fauns will receive 15 lashes every week. The punishment is for the family, any faun can receive it. Guards, from now on 15 lashes every 7 days. Sylas, who will get the first ones today?" Isolde asked.

Bryn looked at his father and said, "Dad, it was my mistake, let me go there."

"Don't even think about that. I'm your father, I should have protected you then, the only thing I can do is to do it now."

Without saying anything else, Sylas walked up with his head held high.

Bryn would never forget the scene that followed. His father, chained with arms opened and back turned to Lady Isolde.

His eyes were looking straight into Bryn's.

As their eyes met, Sylas whispered and Bryn's world stopped. Everything turned black and withe. No sound apart from his father's voice.

"Be strong, son. We must be strong."

His voice faded in the background of the thunderous whip lashing at his back. With every lash, Bryn's face turned colder. His rage grew, and his resentment for the Wycliffe's turned into hate.