Balgruuf's Journal #5: Ulfric's Ax

  • I walked heavily across the Great Hall, buying time before reaching my father to decide exactly what I was going to say.  Frothar, the elder of my younger brothers, noticed me dragging my feet up the steps and ran to me.  I reached out to clasp his hand, and he made as if to take it, but then jerked his hand back to sweep his hair out of his face.  “I thought you had left for good,” he mused.  “But you keep showing back up to lick father’s boots.  Good job!”  He tensed, ready to run, waiting only to see my reaction.  Without speaking, I turned away from him and continued my march across the Hall.  My brother has always known how to get a rise out of me, but that day, I had bigger things on my mind.

    When I finally stood right at the foot of my father’s dais, and Irilef and Avenicci had fallen silent and stepped aside, I still was not ready to draw Ulfric’s ax out of my pack.  Father watched me silently, his eyes travelling across my armor.  I sensed he was noticing details he had not seen last time I was here.  I waited for his acknowledgement.

     “What progress have you made on that job for Farengar?” he asked me.

    I had forgotten all about that task, and for a moment, I felt the urge to make an excuse, but then reminded myself I was not a child anymore, and I was here on a Man’s mission.  “Father… who’s side are you on?”  The question was blunt, but when it came right down to it, it was the question Ulfric had sent me to ask.

    “Side?” he mused, slowly. “ I am on the side of Whiterun.  Some would say I owe allegiance to the Empire, and should throw in my lot with General Tullius.  That may be true.  Others would say that I owe allegiance to Skyrim and to her people, and should side with Ulfric.  That may also be true.  The time may come when I must raise my sword for one side or the other.  That time has not yet come.”

    I considered his answer as carefully as I could.  I wanted some flash of insight to strike me; I wanted to suddenly see the wisdom in my father’s answer.  Yet it seemed that he was telling me he was putting off taking a stand until he could determine which side would emerge victorious.   Where I searched for wisdom, I saw only cowardice.  Without further hesitation, I drew Ulfric’s ax from my pack and presented it to my father.  “Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak of Windhelm offers you his ax.”

    Now my father leaned forward.  He looked me in the eyes, not bothering to glance at the ax.  His jaw clenched and his nostrils flared.  Such a glare might have made me crawl when I was a child, but I held my ground and met his gaze.

    “So, you have cast your lot,” he said, sounding like a thunderstorm building across the plains, “With Ulfric.  In your thirst for adventure and glory, I doubt you have thought this through.  What will you do, I wonder, when he orders you to attack Whiterun?  Will you lead the first wave?”

    The question chilled me. I answered his challenge with my own.  “Will it come to that?” I asked.  “Or will you take this ax?”

    The Hall was silent as we stared at each other.  There might have been no one there other than the two of us.  Finally, he reached out his hand and grasped the ax just below the head, taking it from me and laying it aside without ever taking his eyes off mine.  “Go back to your liege and tell him I accept his ax for now.  But we have a tenuous peace, at best.”

    I nodded and turned on my heals, aware as I marched across the hall that everyone, from Irilef to Frothar, was watching me intently and silently.

    “Balgruuf!” my father bellowed at the last moment.  I paused with my hand on the door.  “If you raise your sword against the citizens of this city, you are not my son.”

    I walked out without looking back.

Comments

2 Comments
  • Guy Corbett
    Guy Corbett   ·  January 27, 2012
    I love the conflict in this. In his own mind and between his father. It felt as though he couldn't really say how he truly felt. Ive a feeling theres more to come between these two. Excellent writing again Piper  me like
  • Ponty
    Ponty   ·  January 26, 2012
    Great work Piper! Looking forward to the Siege of Whiterun!