Thalia Stronghold looked down at the bound servant and winced. And he and his girlfriend seemed so nice. But if he’s the thief, how did it happen and where’s the ring? She looked intently at the tiny elf before them. And whos’ that? He seems, somehow familiar.
“Are you sure detective?” Drummond asked frowning. “Dylan’s worked here for the last three months and done a very good job. Besides, he really doesn’t strike me as someone skilled enough to swipe a magic ring from me and hide it. As far as I can tell, he’s not a spell caster or the like.”
In response, the tiny elf merely walked up to the man’s left boot heel, and bringing out a chime struck it. As the sound reached their ears, a hidden compartment in the heel opened and the ring tumbled out. Picking it up, the elf briefly polished the gaudy thing and then floated up into the air. He flew over to Drummond and held it out. “Your ring Sir Mage.”
Thalia looked over at the elf, something she had read in the papers last week prodding her. “Excuse me sir, I’ve been introduced to your companions, but not you. And I’ve never seen an elf like you before. What’s your race and name if you don’t mind?”
“I’m a Blur elf and my last name is Quickfoot.”
At this her husband’s face went white as if he had just opened a door into hell.
“Nurrim Quickfoot.... the Archimage?” he stammered out, obviously terrified of accidentally offending the tiny spellcaster.
Quickfoot sighed and then replied. “No, I’m William Quickfoot, a detective like Bruno and Wilma here. Nurrim’s my infamous uncle you might say.” Some color started returning to her husband’s face while Thalia looked on curiously.
“No offense taken Mage Stronghold. I am quite aware of how, shall we say, afraid of my uncle most mages in the know are. However, I am a gentleman adventurer focused more on helping people than blowing them up. So, you don’t have to worry about your house getting accidentally destroyed by a random experiment.”
Accidentally destroying a house? Thalia gave William a questioning look.
“Yes, it’s happened a time or two, though no one innocent was harmed, despite the destruction. My uncle’s wards of protection are quite strong. However, in my case, I prefer to use less, shall we say, destructive methods to reveal the truth. And speaking of such…”
“On it.” Bruno replied as he pulled out a white crystal and set it on the ground in front of them. “Activating truth field.” A shimmer of something passed over them as the stone glowed a gentle white.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Wilma walked over to the obviously terrified young man, her small height putting her head close to his as she addressed him. “You don’t have to be afraid of us luv. Unlike some others, we can recognize someone caught up in someone else’s schemes. But this stone will let us know if you lie. So, if you want you and your girlfriend to have a chance, you need to tell us everything.” She took out a small pad of paper and sat down on a tiny stool that popped out of nowhere. “Shall we begin?”
“Confirmation of field effectiveness first” William reminded her.
Wilma gave a tinkling laugh and pulled a small red sign out of thin air before looking at Dylan and explaining. “The truth field affects us as well so you can trust us when we say something or make you an offer. But first we need to confirm it’s working properly.” She turned back to the group and continued. “When I point to each of you, I want you to say the sign is blue. The gem will change color to red indicating you lied.”
She pointed to Dylan, who after a moment stammered out, “The sign is blue.” The gem turned red as expected and Wilma then went around the group starting with her fellow detectives. The gem turned red for all of them until she came to Drummond.
“The sign is blue.”
The gem stayed white causing Drummond to look at it blankly.
Thalia gave a sigh at her husband’s absentmindedness. “Dear, did you forget to take off your signet ring?”
“What? Why?”
“Remember, your father told you he had it enchanted to protect you from outside influences when we were courting. He wanted to make sure you really loved me and weren’t being magically charmed.”
“Yes, but what has that to do with….” He trailed off as he remembered the details of the enchantment. “Oh, right, it also stops people and spells from reading my mind which means it would stop most truth spells. Sorry, I’m still a little off my game with all that’s happened today.” He took off the ring. “The sign is blue.” This time the gem turned red.
Turning back to Dylan, Wilma continued. “Now that we all know only the truth will be spoken here, let’s get back to what we were doing. My agency is not out to punish you or make you a scapegoat. Since the ring has been returned and indeed, never left the mansion, in a sense a successful theft never occurred if Mage Stronghold decides to not press charges. So, it’s to your advantage to tell us everything if you want to receive mercy and not take the fall for whoever put you up to this. Also, whatever you tell us will be kept strictly confidential unless we are forced to go to trial or some such. So, you see, it really is in your best interests to be honest with us.”
Thalia watched with interest as the little gnome continued her questioning. She really is very skilled at putting people at ease and finding the truth. She looked over at the hulking half-orc and the tiny spellcaster. Quite a diverse team and very skilled I suspect. Drummond and I should use them if we need anything investigated in the future. She looked at her son. Perhaps a check on his fiancé, just to be sure? She glanced back at the tiny spellcaster who had settled on the door frame top where he had a good view of things. Related to one of the most infamous mages in the world. Hmm. I suspect there is a lot more to that one than he lets on. I wonder what other surprises he has in store. Turning back to the questioning, she considered what she was hearing and what she should recommend Drummond do with Dylan. What to do, what to do? Well, I did always like a good mystery and now we’re in one. She smiled.