Prompt Fiction

PROMPT : COUNCIL

“The Council will see you now,” the secretary intoned, pencil poised over her clipboard. “The Artemis family?”

As a group, the robed figures of forest green rose and filed into the main chamber of the courtroom. They would have five minutes to make their case and it would be a close one.

The secretary walked ahead, her heels clicking on the shimmering tiled floor. “You will have a thirty-second introduction,” she informed them. “The doors will bolt and I will retrieve you after five minutes are up, after your case has been pitched.”

She nodded at the two guards at the door. The guards raised their ornamental spears and the great doors began to groan and creak. The secretary clicked her heels together twice, and perked a brow.

The doors swung open with great difficulty, allowing thin rays of light into the dark, dusty deliberation chamber.

“In you go,” the secretary smiled, thinly. “You have five minutes.” Her smile morphed into a smirk as the pencil in hand turned to black quartz and split into two sharp darts.

She flicked them at the guards with expert precision, standing taller as both bodies slumped to the ground.

“I don’t think you’ll need longer?”

“Call us on four minutes,” the shortest robed figure adjusted her protective bracelets. “What the Guardians have asked of us, will be done.”

(c) S. Harricharan