Tower of Follies – Flash Fiction

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“So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm”, proclaimed the Queens herald.

But they all knew the truth. They would come to harm whether they did their duty or not. The only difference lay in how quickly the harm would come. The Queen cared not for their life. She didn’t give a thought to her subjects coming to harm. 

The only things she cared about was her wealth prospering, her power growing, her legacy and legend spreading, her monuments to rise and compete with the ancient marvels of the world. Hers would be the biggest temple, the highest tower, the grandest tomb.

Little did she suspect, hers would be the most spectacular assassination. Thought out and plotted by the greatest minds of the country. Impaled by the sacrificial bull. Crushed by falling marble. Interred in the fallen tower of follies. 

© RedCat

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Written for tonight’s Prosery: Doing our duty at dVerse. The prompt where we write prose inspired by a given line from a poem and not exceeding the word count of 144.

Tonight’s line is from William Blake’s poem ‘The Chimney Sweeper:’ In Songs of Innocence (1789)

So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm

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Image credits:

First image: Palais idéal, Hauterives, France from Wikimedia Commons.
Second image: Photo by Hisham Zayadnh on Unsplash

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