Glyph 003

Every Monday, I’ll be posting snippets of a story I wrote called Glyph. It’s rough and unfinished but should be entertaining. Here’s part three.

Talisman knocked twice on the large door of the meeting room with one of his rocky knuckles. When the door opened he thought that the room was dark. The darkness shifted position and Talisman found himself staring eye-to-chest with an enormous man. Talisman looked up at the chiselled jaw of a harden soldier, but also noticed the immaculately neat hair and designer glasses. What the man was wearing was also a paradox. It had all the fine tailoring of an expensive business suit with what looked like all the protection of military-issue bulletproof body armour. That’s when Talisman noticed the two sleek semi-automatic pistols in tactical thigh holsters made of fine Italian leather to match the briefcase being held in the man’s right hand.

Damn, thought Talisman, a Paladin. This only made things more difficult.

Paladins were originally the name for a royal guard. It then became the term for a warrior priest and in some cases a knight with some magical talents. These Paladins are neither righteous nor magical. They are employees of the Paladin Security International, highly trained bodyguards and security personnel with law degrees from some of the world’s top universities. They can act as a private military and legal representation, often at the same time. They understood all the loopholes of the legal system and often shot you through them. Those they didn’t need to terminate, they buried beneath litigation. No wonder the Portfolio Direktor was so clean if he had Paladins flanking him.

“Welcome Mr. Talisman”, said the Paladin with a deep Oxford accent. “My name is Mr. Barrett and I represent Paladin Security, Political Division. Direktor Kelman will see you now.”

Talisman entered, moving around the impressive frame of Mr Barrett. The door was softly closed behind him.

Copyright 2010. Pete Newcurator. Newcurator.com