76th of Season of Water, 57th year of the 32nd imperial era

Half an hour later, all six second realm and three third realm members of the Salamandra clan had gathered in the audience chamber. Newt sat on the throne, half-listening to Steward Brave's rant about improper behavior, but most of his focus was on comparing the strength of the two factions.

On average, four awakened working together could match the power or someone exactly one realm higher, meaning matching their layer, but in the next realm.

The power distribution between the factions was much more even. True, Newt's side had two mages and a mageknight at the third realm, but the other faction's six mages were all at the peak of the second realm. Stronggrow and Marrow could fight two against three and win, or two against four and stand their ground. Meanwhile, Newt had to achieve a decisive victory and intimidate the rest, otherwise, blood would flow, and the two men loyal to Newt's father might perish.

Was I too rash? Newt wondered, but it was too late for doubt. If he let the other faction achieve another political victory, the window of opportunity would disappear, all because of his hastiness.

"While we are merely branch family members, we are still a clan," Steward Brave spoke with righteous indignation. "The patriarch cannot make decisions about the clan's resources on his own. He has to consult the elders, and then the council will decide on how to distribute the resources."

He opened his mouth to spew more nonsense, but Newt had heard enough. It was time for decisive action, not for words, and he stood from his throne.

"The potions I gave my tutor and Captain Marrow were my own, personal possessions, products of my efforts in Hailstown, not of family wealth." He stepped down the stairs, towards the two groups of mages, facing the treacherous steward as he headed for the larger group. "I have broken no clan rules, even if you call for clan law to be upheld I cannot be judged. But I agree, clan law needs to be upheld."

Brave's face remained calm, but Newt knew someone within the crowd had a volatile personality, so he shot Chamberlain Rocky a venomous glare.

"The clan needs to rid itself of cowards and traitors. The patriarch can be removed, assuming a vote of distrust passes amongst the awakened of the clan. Prey tell me, Rocky," Newt intentionally omitted the title to further provoke the man as he moved dangerously close to him, almost physically getting in his face. "In which session did you vote my father incompetent? Or did you vote to betray him and discard the family traditions, which you seem to be trying to use to snatch the crumbs and leftovers of my meal?"

Rocky's face turned crimson. He opened his mouth to argue, but Newt wouldn't let him. He had the man trapped and only needed a minor push before he exploded.

"Silence! Your better is speaking."

Rocky flared with mana, flames forming about his hand as he moved to strike Newt, but he was merely a mage, his movement four times slower than a knight's or mageknight's. At the first hint of pretext, Newt lashed out. Mana flowed quicker through his body than it did through Rocky's, the chamberlain's slap was yet to land, when Newt's open palm, shrouded in rock and flames struck his abdomen.

"You dare raise your hand against your patriarch?" Newt shouted, his heart beating like mad as Rocky smashed back-first into the hall's painted wall.

The other members of the traitorous clique bristled up, ready to fight, but none dared make a move.

"Newstar." Brave cleared his throat, but Newt wouldn't let him speak. The man was a demagogue with years of debate under his belt, Newt could never out-speak him.

"Silence!" Newt shouted. "When I first left the mine, you went to explore the whole complex to find where I got the manarium from. You want resources? Go in there and dig. You want me to give you something? Deserve it! A complete stranger had invested more time and effort into me within the first week of getting to know me than you did in sixteen years. Have you no shame?"

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Newt suddenly found himself screaming. He had lost control over his emotions and all of his suppressed anger erupted.

"Bravo!" Stronggrow clapped his hands, breaking Newt's tirade and helping him regain his senses. "Well said, Newstar."

Brave drew a breath to speak, but Stronggrow kept talking, using the imbalance in power. "And you are correct to have called this meeting. As Steward Brave so verbosely pointed out, the clan, this kingdom, and our glorious empire all have laws and rules we must obey. In breaking the rules, we bear consequences."

Newt could sense his teacher's anger dwarfed his. While Newt was enraged because of his parents and the treatment he had suffered, the man who raised and helped educate most of the people gathered in the room had suffered a much deeper betrayal.

And while Newt was a helpless commoner at the time, Stronggrow was at the peak of the second realm, yet just as impotent to salvage the situation.

"Captain Marrow," Newt removed the pressure from his guilt-saddled teacher. "What is the punishment for treason?"

"Betraying the crown is punishable by summary execution." The man's voice was cold as he glared at the traitors. "But clan law is more lenient. Capital punishment is reserved for murderers, while traitors who aren't kinslayers face banishment or severing of their right hand."

Three of the men grabbed their right wrists with their left hands. Losing a limb came not only with the pain and disability, but with a social stigma they could never recover from. Clan law varied from family to family, but a stumped arm sent a message to every awakened who interacted with the offender.

"Please show leniency, Patriarch," Logan, another cousin Newt disliked, said. The man wasn't evil - he was spineless, spineless enough to follow the majority into rebellion even without getting anything out of the whole affair.

Newt knew his father had hated the man because he was a coward, and father's distaste rubbed off on the son. But that cowardice came in handy, with Logan ready to flee, and Rocky sprawled on the floor, the traitors wouldn't dare attack them.

"Very well," Newt nodded, returning to his father's throne. "As the acting patriarch of the Salamandra family in my father's absence, I banish Brave Salamandra, Rocky Salamandra, Logan Salamandra…"

New listed the names and the crimes of his clan's inner council before ordering them to leave the castle by sundown.

Newt waited for protests, or an attempt at rebellion, but none came. Wounding Rocky and showing the traitors some mercy instead of forcing them into a corner gave them a way out, and they took it, albeit with little grace.

"Our families are innocent. Can they remain within the clan or do you plan to illegally exile them as well?" Brave glared at Newt, and despite knowing the traitors' descendants could cause trouble, they really were innocent before behaving criminally.

Newt opened his mouth to speak, but Marrow spoke first.

"The patriarch has the right to evict anyone from the clanhold, as long as he pays out the value of their properties."

It was a tempting thought, spending several dozen first realm crystals to get rid of the nuisance forever, but he had better use for the manarium.

"They may stay," Newt said slowly, still considering his answer. "As long as they obey the clan law and don't act against the family's interest, your descendants are free to stay."

Newt expected gratitude, but found nothing but resentment in the eyes of his former clansmen. He had a feeling they would cause more trouble for him and the loyal members of the clan, but other than murdering them in cold blood, there was little Newt could do.

And if someone sent an imperial investigator to look into those murders, saying he did it to stave off future danger would see him locked up, and his clan would fall apart completely.

"This isn't the end of it," Marrow stated the obvious once the six men left the room, two of them carrying Rocky between themselves as the wounded man took unsteady steps.

"They might realize the error of their ways," Stronggrow said, ever the optimist.

Newt shrugged. "I will still need to leave, but the two of you need to be strong enough to overpower them should they attack. I don't think they will do anything as obvious, since it would get them shackled as criminal slaves, but I wouldn't put it past them to hinder us out of spite."

Stronggrow's shoulders slumped, and despite his realm, the man seemed unsteady on his feet.

"They were good boys. I studied with some of them, taught the others, and they never seemed evil."

Newt considered his teacher's words. Brave and the rest didn't seem evil. Selfish, short-sighted, and spoiled for certain, but they weren't evil. They neither murdered nor abused beyond a certain point of suppressing their opponents. They had Marrow and Stronggrow locked up, but never tortured them.

"I don't think they are evil," Newt said slowly. "It's just that our goals differ. They would destroy the family for their selfish goals, while we would sacrifice ourselves for the family. At some point they gave up on our community, and they might even resent us for our views, but I don't think they are evil."

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