The Sons of Baroth

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 23

Fredas the 9th of Sun's Height 4E49

Karl gro-Baroth released another heavy sigh as he continued to go over the reports and documents that detailed what had been going on in the southern counties of Cyrodiil over the past few weeks.

It was barely halfway through the morning, but it felt like it was much later. He'd been at it since not all that long after he'd risen, had something to eat and then settled down behind the big desk in the office of Chorrol's Guildhall.

He'd already passed most of the previous day doing pretty much the same thing. For most of Turdas, he'd kept himself fully occupied with going over those documents and reports and trying sort out things in his head. He'd figured that if he went through it enough, some unexpected fresh inspiration would come to him.

If nothing else, he'd managed a gain a complete understanding of all the available information. That wasn't just about the obvious facts. It was also about reading between the lines and making some reasonable leaps. Still, he hadn't come up with any surprising new revelations or innovative solutions to the trouble at hand. By his reckoning, what was already in motion was probably the best way to tackle it all.

Turdas hadn't passed without interruption or distraction. During that morning, Francois Montrose had come upstairs to again offer his own observations of the situation in counties Bravil and Leyawiin.

He didn't really have anything useful to add that he hadn't already mentioned on Middas evening. Anything relevant that Montrose considered was either already in the reports, or else Karl had already thought of it himself.

Still, Karl did give him due credit for sending those Guild Fighters from Chorrol's guildhall to help out at Bravil and Water's Edge.

However, despite the Breton's best intention, it was obvious that he had nothing fresh to suggest at that time. Since there was nothing else urgent at hand, Karl suggested that Montrose look to furthering the ongoing training of Vinnus Odiil. Of course, that task did actually need looking to, but it was more about giving his acting second something useful to do that would keep him busy and out of the way.

A little later that morning, Monika Northwind had come up the stairs to speak with Karl. She'd also offered her own insights on the situation in the south, mentioning that she'd been providing Montrose with advice during his absence.

In a friendly manner, Monika prompted Karl for some detail of how his trip to the west had passed. He responded easily enough, telling her about Sentinel and Wayrest and some concerns over the current state of a few guildhalls that were in need of more Guild Fighters.

The big Orc required some gentle coaxing from Monika to get him speaking of how he'd gone with looking into the matter of an Orc called Uzgark gro-Baroth.

Without immediately going into all the detail, Karl told her that he'd learned that Uzgark was indeed the last son of Baroth, born not all that long after his father had disappeared in the north. He explained that everything pretty much tallied up and that he was as sure as he could be that he really was his brother. He even looked a bit like one of his older brothers.

With a little further encouragement, Karl went on tell her something of Uzgark's life in Ripwold as a fairly successful farmer, as well as speaking of his wife and two children. She'd seemed to have picked up just a slight touch of admiration or envy in Karl's voice as he described his brother's circumstances, but she made no open comment.

Only because Monika had directly asked why Uzgark's name had come up in relation to Orcish agitators in Wayrest, Karl offered some explanation of how that came about.

He also explained something of the advice that he'd passed on to Uzgark and Sharma. He briefly laid out his ideas for efforts to help the communities of the old Orsinium region to gain some sort of voice with the rule of Wayrest. Of course, he also added that it was really up to them to make it all happen.

Monika suggested that she might send word back to her brother, Edwyn. She figured that since he was serving on the Guild's Board of Associates in Wayrest, he might be able to offer some introductions, provided that those merchants of the old Orsinium region were actually able to get themselves properly organised, as Karl had recommended.

Karl accepted that suggestion in the spirit it was offered, but also said it might be better to wait and see, before calling on any more favours like that.

With nothing else important to discuss or look at right then, Monika volunteered to leave Karl to his own concerns and head back downstairs to continue training with Alex.

Karl returned to the task of sifting through the many reports and associated documents on his desk and kept at it for most of the remainder of that day.

By the time of his second morning back in Chorrol and the start of a second day of staring at reports, it really felt like he was just going around in circles. Everything still told him that what was being done was pretty much what needed to be done. He was just thinking that he might have come up with something else, but that wasn't really happening.

Karl's mind drifted to somewhat unrelated concerns. He figured that he was going to need to head off to the Imperial City some time fairly soon. Normally, he'd just be sending off reports on behalf of the boss. Of course, things had become a little different. Before, he wasn't actually the Guild Master of the Fighters Guild.

Even though the Fighters Guild operated with fair bit of independence from the Imperial Council, most of the funding still flowed from Imperial coffers. He knew that well enough and it did still factor into his thinking.

By his reckoning, he ought to be putting in a personal appearance at the White-Gold Tower as soon as it was reasonably possible and making the proper effort to put his own stamp on the role he'd taken on.

Still, he didn't want to look like he was turning up empty handed. He wanted to at least provide the appearance of bringing something useful to the table.

On and off in some general fashion, he'd been thinking on that all morning, as well as most of the previous day. Those considerations had remained just beneath the surface as he tried to focus upon the more immediate concerns of southern Cyrodiil.

Karl wondered whether his headway with matters in the west would balance against those things that had gotten out of hand during his absence. A message of success from Sentinel would go some way to lightening his mood in that area of concern. He didn't really expect to hear anything from High Rock for a while, but he still intended to mention his efforts to provoke the guildhalls of that region to reconnect with those that still held closer ties with Chorrol, and by extension, the direct influence of Imperial rule.

He'd pondered over whether the cooperation between the Guild and the Legion in counties Leyawiin and Bravil would be viewed favourably or if it would be seen more as a failing on the part of the Fighters Guild.

He did recognise that some of what was going in the south really pointed more directly toward Quaspas' management of Leyawiin, but he wasn't convinced that everyone would see it that way.

He supposed that Quaspas would have come out of it looking real good if his actions had actually led to clear success. Even if it had all started under his watch.

However, since he'd gone and got himself killed, none of that really held any lasting substance or political currency by that point.

Either way, Karl wasn't about to go directing portions of blame or praise in any specific direction. All he really wanted was to see that everything was moving toward proper resolution.

With no great expectation of intuitive revelation or divine intervention, he chewed on those thoughts for a while longer. No matter what came about, he still figured that he ought to get himself over to the Imperial City during the next week.

It couldn't have been all that far off midday as Karl's thoughts were suddenly disturbed by a creaking noise from near the wooden staircase separating his open office space from the common bunking area just below.

He noticed the Guild Porter, Dale Gavinus, quietly ascending the stairs. If it weren't for the creaking floorboard, he wouldn't have heard him coming. He was always surprised by the younger Colovian's ability to move almost silently in his steel armour. Even though Karl knew that it wasn't the case, he sometimes figured that Dale would've fit right in with those Penitus Oculatus spies that he'd occasionally heard of.

Though it wasn't at all necessary, Dale assumed an official stance, standing to attention with his hands behind his back and softly clearing his throat to ensure that he held Karl's regard.

Karl glared back at him in expectant silence, slightly annoyed that his porter wouldn't just act like anyone else that he served with in the guildhall.

After a further lengthy pause, Dale spoke up. "Guild Master, a message has just arrived by courier from the Bravil Fighters Guild." He produced the sealed message from behind his back and held it out.

Karl frowned as he looked at the message in Dale's hand. "From Sestius?"

"I have not broken the seal or examined it."

Karl reached across the desk to take the message from the porter's hand. With a passing sense of dread, he cracked the seal and opened the message. It was from Sergius Sestius, the head of Bravil's guildhall. He firstly frowned as he read through the first part of the message. It looked like a fairly lengthy report. Much longer than he expected. As he read further down, he raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. After a couple of muted grunts, he grinned involuntarily and released a soft chuckle.

"Guild Master?" Dale was still standing there across far side of the desk, looking on with an expression of attentiveness.

"Huh?" Karl hadn't looked to him directly, still looking at the content of the message.

"Will that be all?" The porter prompted.

"Yeah… uh, no. Looks like good news." He looked to the younger man. "Can ya see if ya can find Montrose an' send him up here?"

"Of course." Dale nodded curtly, before turning about to descend the stairs.

Several moments passed by before Karl noticed Francois Montrose coming up to the office. During that delay, he'd had the opportunity to read through the message several times.

Montrose immediately recognised that Karl appeared outwardly less stressed than the last time they'd spoken. "Dale said you wanted to see me. He mentioned news from Bravil."

"Yeah, just got this from Bravil. From Sergius Sestius." He held up the message.

"And it's good news?" The Breton prompted.

"Yeah, reckon so." Karl glanced at the parchment once more, but didn't need to go reciting the whole thing word for word. Instead, he went on to provide his second with a brief summary of the highlights.

According to Sestius' report, two major bandit camps had just been taken down in County Bravil. That was the main thrust of the report, but there was a fair bit more to it.

Sestius had advised that it had been the result of cooperative efforts between the Fighters Guild, the Imperial Legion and Rimmen's Regulators. That last part raised Montrose surprised interest in a suitable fashion.

It turned out that the Regulators had been tracking the troublemakers causing problems for trade coming to and from Rimmen. They'd found the encampment located about halfway between Rimmen and Bravil at about the same time that Legion scouts had identified a similar group gathering in the foothills by the upper reaches of the Larsius River. Added to that, the Regulators had encountered some of Sestius' people in the forest near the border. Leading to some sharing of some information of mutual interest.

Each of those circumstances had lined up neatly with the arrival of the Eighth and Twelfth Legion, after having been deployed to Bravil.

Turning the tables on the raiders, the Fighters Guild, Legion and Regulators had worked together to mount simultaneous assaults upon both encampments. The short version was that despite some casualties, they'd been perfectly successful at both locations.

Of course, that didn't mean that it was all over, but by Karl's reckoning it sure looked like a major move in the right direction. Montrose agreed openly.

Sestius' reported also mentioned that the Eighth and Twelfth Legion were next headed for County Leyawiin after those successes in County Bravil. That didn't mean that everything was going to go down the same, but at least they'd have numbers on their side.

The new Guild Master and his second both agreed that it seemed like the matter was well in hand, with some indication of favourable outcomes in sight.

Karl told Montrose to feel free to go spread the word with the other people of the guildhall. After all, it never to hurt to go spreading good news when it was on offer.

Reflecting Karl's improved mood, Montrose headed off back downstairs with a slight spring in his step.

Karl leaned back in his chair with a sigh. He'd noted the subtle shift in the light coming in through the open window to his left. It told him that it had to have passed the midday mark by that time. A passing feeling in his belly was telling him the same thing. He reached for his water flask and took a drink from it.

After receiving that report from Bravil, he was feeling a fair bit better about going to visit the Imperial City. The problems of the southern counties weren't over, but at least it looked like matters were in hand and some sort of end to it might be on the horizon.

With some of the weight of those greater concerns lifted just a bit, his mind idly drifted back toward that other thing that he'd looked into over the past weeks, that thing that had nothing to do with Fighters Guild business.

For decades, he'd been thinking that his father had just been a bit of an old bastard with no great sense of responsibility or honour. Sure, he might have been his father, but looking back, it seemed that he'd hardly seen him all that much during his first ten years. Then after that time, not at all.

After he'd lost his mother to sickness, it seemed that Fairbeard had been far more of a father to him than Baroth had ever really been.

Karl still figured that Baroth gro-Uzgark had never been the smartest of Orcs, but he'd never really been a proper rogue or scoundrel. At least not intentionally.

Up until just a couple of weeks ago, Karl had always just figured that Baroth hadn't really been much a father or husband. Again, he didn't really think of him as a villainous menace. Just a bit of an idiot with a gruff exterior. Maybe someone with some generally good intentions, but rather poor judgement.

That fresh information that Karl had only recently gained had gone some way to slightly altering some of his long held opinions of his father. He'd learned from his younger half-brother, that in the end, Baroth had died fighting for family and for the people of Orsinium. In spite of the many mistakes and missteps of his earlier days, that had to count for something.

Of course, that wasn't the only thing that Baroth had left behind. It was probably fair to acknowledge that the legacy of Baroth gro-Uzgark could be reasonably viewed as greater than the man himself.

None could argue against the respected contributions to the service of the Fighters Guild and the Empire made by his two eldest sons during their time.

Kurz gro-Baroth had served the Guild in Chorrol for all his adult life, standing alongside the Dontons, the famed Champion of Cyrodiil and Modryn Oreyn.

Lum gro-Baroth might have served the Guild slightly more sporadically during his younger years, but he rarely drifted far from his brother's side for too long.

Alongside Modryn Oreyn, both brothers had sacrificed themselves in service to the Empire, helping Titus Mede to bring unity to Cyrodiil during that terrible time of chaos. By extension, they played some notable part in stabilising what remained of the faltering Empire.

Karl's service to the Fighters Guild had become a reflection of that of his eldest brother. Just like Kurz, Karl had attained the same rank and status of second-in-charge at Chorrol's guildhall. He'd actually managed to pass the mark of having continuously served the Guild even longer than Kurz and then he'd finally gone that one step further than his brother, becoming the head of Chorrol's Fighters Guild and Guild Master of all the affiliated guildhalls of the Empire.

He paused on that thought for a short moment. So far, he wasn't so sure that being the Guild Master felt all that different from what he'd been doing for most of the past decade. At least, not yet anyway.

His thoughts turned to Uzgark and his family. He considered his younger brother's life in Ripwold as a farmer with his wife, Sharma, as well as their children, Yurma and Bator.

In some ways, Karl was feeling slightly envious of what Uzgark had. His own lot might have seemed more important in the general scheme of things, but he imagined that his younger brother's situation seemed like it certainly held it's own rewards. He figured it was far too late for him to expect anything like that kind of thing for himself. That ship had sailed long ago and left him behind. Still, he thought it was kind of nice to think that at least one of them got to have that kind of life.

He thought on that for a little longer. In the final tally of it all, he decided that each of the sons of Baroth had done well enough for themselves, each in their own way.

Listening to the distant murmur of noise coming from the plaza outside his windows, the big Orc released a wistful sigh. Since there was nothing too pressing on the books, Karl decided that he might finish up a bit early that day. He also decided that he might think about meeting up with Monika and Alex and going to have a meal in the Oak and Crosier Inn that evening. It had been a while since he'd done something like that.

~O~

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Afterword: If you made it this far, feel free to pass comment (whether privately or publicly). Special thanks to those that provided assistance and advice with this story, including those other writers providing comment via review or PM. Also, friends that acted as sounding-boards during development and revisions. Special mention for The Imperial Library and UESP websites for providing such a wealth of useful information. And of course, the folks at Bethesda for creating the detailed universe of The Elders Scrolls.

Additionally, I do recommend checking out some other stories by other authors on the 'community listing' on this site, "The Untold Tales of Tamriel".

... /community/The-Untold-Tales-of-Tamriel/113832/99/0/1/0/0/0/0/

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