Firefly Light

Chapter 7

News of General Kondo's attempted attack upon the king and his resulting death spread like wildfire through the city of fifty thousand and into the surrounding country, towns and villages. In an era when local news was the only news, this event was huge. Hamilton boasted two newspapers and the Otanies allowed total freedom of the press, although the press could be very aggravating, especially for the children of the royal family and any attempts at private lives that they tried to have. Royalty and news, rumors or even lies about them, as the old British tabloids knew well, sold papers. Only the king, the Field Marshall and Colonel Manheim were authorized to make any statements to the press, but there were always leaks and the events in the staffroom had been witnessed by many eyes.

The headline the day after the incident for the Hamilton City Free Press screamed in huge red letters, "GENERAL KONDO KILLED DURING ATTEMPT ON KING'S LIFE! King saved only by the fearless and fiercely loyal Field Marshall Mitchell's split second actions!" The one for The Royal Evening Star shrieked "HEROIC GENERAL TURNS TRAITOR DURING STAFF MEETING! He attempted to kill our defenseless, unarmed king, whose life was only saved due to the amazing Diana Mitchell's instantaneous reaction! She reportedly dispatched the highly dangerous General Kondo with only two sword moves before anyone else in the room could even react!" The stories covered almost the entire front page and both were continued in large articles inside the papers.

This certainly wasn't the type of press that Joseph wanted to see when he read the papers the next day, but it did make Diana look like a superstar, so he was ok with it. Despite his throbbing headache, he chuckled at the ".... our defenseless, unarmed king...." line. As he recalled his sword was on his hip....but considering his inadequate reaction at the time, he might as well have been unarmed, so he would let that go. With his authorization, Manheim had released the information about the departure of the members of the Kondo clan planned for the next day in time for it to be included in the story carried by the Evening Star so the event would not catch everyone by surprise.

Morning found the courtyard just inside the main gateway alive with people well before 9 o'clock. Manheim had the area flooded with white and gold uniforms and kept the crowd back out of the courtyard center, where the members of the Kondo clan gathered with their animals, equipment and supplies. They looked somewhat defeated, but still defiant. Some of the women and all of the children, however, appeared very unhappy and frightened. During his life Samuel Kondo had managed to form a sizable faction and was a member of a large extended family. He had hundreds of relatives and close supporters, and thousands of regular supporters. Still, it was one thing to be enraged at your king and another to be angry enough to reject your oath of loyalty to Otania and the crown and walk away from your country forever. The world wasn't a nice place and it was well know to be tough and dangerous out there. Exile could very well mean death.

Although Philip had pleaded with every one of his people who would listen, in the end only a total of seventy three men, women and children elected to follow him out into the wilderness. The rest had quickly reaffirmed their oaths to the king when Manheim's men showed up at their doors to determine whether they were leaving or would remain loyal Otanies.

Just before 9:00 AM Joseph Otani, Diana Mitchell and Victor Manheim entered the courtyard and walked through the cordon of Praetorians up to Philip Kondo and his lieutenants. The crowd grew quiet in order to catch what was about to be said.

"Is everyone here and are your people ready to leave, Philip?" asked Joseph, without any real expression. Kondo replied in a growl that his brother Gregory and his family had not arrived yet. They would not leave without them.

A moment later Gregory Kondo was allowed past the cordon and approached them. He walked up to stand beside Diana and looked at Philip. "My family is not here because we are not going. I am not going. I have been against this from the beginning. We have to do what is right, brother. What father did was wrong. He attempted to kill the king! We have been taught to respect authority and are pledged to protect and obey it, even though we don't always agree with it. It was within the king's authority to take the actions that he did. I have taken an oath to defend Otania and the crown and to honor its laws. I will not go back on that oath, not even for you....or Father."