The Needlehole Mysteries

The Treason of Forumshire

Part 3

Eldo stared at Odo for a moment while he tried to process all the information he had received. A wealthy businessman was murdered with a weapon that he had helped create. “Do you think Otho was killed over business?” Eldo asked. “Maybe by a rival, or even someone within his own operation?”

“I don't know,” said Odo. “But that's what I'm worried about.” He lowered his voice conspiratorially. “There are a lot of people who would like a piece of the action. Many people stand to benefit from this death. I want you to figure out which of them did this.”

“What's that you said, Odo?” came a voice from just around the corner. Eldo looked up in surprise to see a young, finely-dressed Hobbit stride into view. “I thought I heard someone in here, but I wasn't expecting you,” the newcomer explained. “What are you doing in my father's parlor?”

Odo shifted uncomfortably. “I was just looking for a second opinion on the mystery. I'm sure you can understand my concern, Lotho...”

The younger Hobbit narrowed his eyes as he examined Eldo. “You must be the ex-Inspector who's been all over the news,” he said. “I recognized you from your picture in the paper.”

“It's nice to meet you,” said Eldo, extending his hand. Lotho ignored the gesture.

“I need to discuss business with my partner here,” he said, waving his hand in Odo's direction. “We have a lot to deal with, especially since I am still discovering the full extent of my inheritance. You can wait outside until I'm done with Odo.”

Odo had a miserable look on his face but only managed to shrug. “Run along,” Lotho said dismissively.

Eldo nodded stiffly and made his way out of the hole. He fumed internally his teeth at this Lotho's attitude, but displayed no outward sign of his feelings. Once outside, Eldo let out a long sigh and sat down on a bench near the road.

He saw a group of burly, rough-looking Hobbits on the other side of the road, loitering around a parked cart. The group wore what appeared to be combat dress, though there was nothing indicating that they were official uniforms. Alone, one of them might have seemed to be a hunter, but together the group seemed out of place on the rural village street.

Eldo rose and walked slowly down the street away from the late Otho Burrowes' hole and the strange Hobbits across the road. He soon rounded a turn in the road and approached the town center of Nobottle. A normal-looking assortment of shops, inns, and houses were before him. A large hall stood at the end of the street and a sign outside declared it to be the Town Hall of Nobottle.

“How dare you demand that I pay?!” The loud, indignant voice carried far over the village. “Do you have any idea who I am?” Eldo glanced over and noticed a beautiful elven woman standing in front of one of the inns, berating the hapless innkeeper who stood before her. A small crowd had gathered in the doorway. Behind the woman was a well-muscled and well-oiled man who was wearing very little.

“I'm terribly sorry Miss, I mean Your Majesty, but rules are rules and I'm sure you can understand that...” The innkeeper's voice trailed off hopefully, and a pleading look came into his eyes.

The elven woman turned up her elegant nose. “Rules are rules, and one of the rules of being the Queen is that my subjects owe me accommodations and allowances.”

“The Admin himself has decreed that all Hobbits of Forumshire have rights and that no one may infringe upon the rights of another regardless of social station!” one of the Hobbits in the inn yelled through the open door. “You have no right to oppress this person!”

“How dare you?!” yelled the Queen. She straightened up with an offended look on her face. “I don't want to hear another word about that self-proclaimed Admin holed up in his precious little Tower. Lese-majesty!”

Eldo fought to stop from laughing at expression on the Queen's face. He knew of the Queen of Forumshire; Admins came and went, but the Monarchy was forever. That was the mantra taught in grade schools throughout Forumshire, or at least it had been.

The Queen and the innkeeper continued to yell at each other as Eldo moved closer. He tried to slip unobtrusively behind the innkeeper as he walked past the building, but Queen Tin spotted him.

“Detective Inspector! Stop right there,” she commanded. Eldo was taken aback by the change in the Queen's voice, which grew deeper and more commanding when she gave an order. He stopped abruptly and turned around.

“You are Detective Inspector Eldorion of the Forumshire Police, are you not?” asked Queen Tin in her normal voice.

Eldo stared at her in confusion. “Er, I'm not a police officer anymore,” he muttered.

“Oh right, of course. How could I forget?” said the Queen, touching her forehead dramatically. “I recognized you from the paper, DI, and we have need of your knowledge of the law here.”

The innkeeper looked about as confused as Eldo felt. “Of course, Your Majesty,” said Eldo. “But I'm afraid I don't really understand what it is you want.”

“It is true that the Monarch is exempt from the normal laws of Forumshire, is it not?” Queen Tin asked in an aloof tone.

“Uh …” said Eldo. “Look, if there is a dispute, I'm sure everyone can resolve it by just talking rationally. Not to say that anyone here is irrational!” he added quickly, with an uneasy glance at Beren's gleaming muscles.

“Just answer the question,” Queen Tin ordered imperiously.

“I haven't read up on that part of the legal code in quite some time,” said Eldo, “but I believe there are numerous special laws regarding treatment of the Monarch. But there are also rules governing economic activity. If there's an outstanding debt, it must be paid one way or another.”

Queen Tin pouted for a second, but quickly brightened up. “Very well! Beren, pay this innkeeper his fee and then we'll be off.” Beren grunted and opened his man-purse to slowly count out the appropriate amount of money.

“Detective Inspector,” called Queen Tin. “A word over here,” she said as she gestured to a bench on the far side of the road. Eldo shrugged and walked across the road to join her.

“What can I do for you, Your Majesty?” he asked.

“I just wanted to say that I'm a huge fan!” said the Queen with sudden enthusiasm. “I followed the story about your adventures in Bree-land and your trial every day in the newspaper. Forumshire needs more heroes to fight against those who tried to oppress us in the past!”

“Thank you,” said Eldo. “Uh, I didn't realize that I'd inspired anyone. But I'm glad I did.”

“Things have gotten so painfully boring since the war with the Dark Planet,” Queen Tin said with a slight whine. The Dark Lord went off to lick his wounds and spend his time beating up on provincials on the other side of the sea. And our Admin has spent so much time in his Tower that no one's seen or heard from him in a year!”

Eldo looked at the Queen oddly. “The Admin gave testimony at my trial just a few days ago,” he said. “Although it was by palantir,” he said, thinking back.

“Did he really?” Queen Tin asked curiously. “How strange.” Suddenly, she turned around. “Beren, are you done yet? We need to keep moving!”

“Yes, dear,” rumbled Beren in his slow, deep voice.


Sgt. Herring felt a wire dig into his neck and a thick pair of arms close around him. His eyes darted from the cart where Nora still lay sleeping, but he could not turn his head to see his attacker. His heart began beating furiously even as he felt himself running out of air. His knees began to sag...

...and then the Fjordlandian reached back to seize his attacker and flipped him bodily through the air to crash to the ground at his feet. The wire scraped across Ringo's neck, drawing a line of blood, but the air flooded back into his lungs. Sgt. Herring straightened himself and spun around to face the woods. Several more masked Hobbits were rushing towards the road.

“You boys didn't think you could take out a veteran of the Fjordlandian Military and a master of the Trollslaass school of martial arts so easily, did you?” shouted Sgt. Herring. “JAEVLA STOR SIIIIILD!”

He ran towards the nearest attacker and decked him with a quick jab to the solar plexus. Spinning around, Sgt. Herring kicked out the knees of the next ruffian. Leaping forward, he was nearly struck in the head by a club, but he hit the ground low and rolled to the side. From his position on the ground Sgt. Herring leaned back and kicked forward with both feet, flattening his assailant.

Only one ruffian now remained, and he kept a cautious distance. Sgt. Herring stood up and assumed a fighting stance. The ruffian gathered his courage and moved forward, throwing two quick punches, but Sgt. Herring dodged them and flattened the man with a mighty punch to the head that sent him flying backwards several feet.

Breathing heavily, Sgt. Herring ran back to the cart. Nora was awake but groggy. She clutched her pocket crossbow and blinked rapidly, trying to discern what had happened. “Ringo, is that you?” she called.

“Yeah, it's me,” Ringo called back. Once he reached the cart he leaned against it and panted slightly, but he kept a careful eye on the prone bodies lying at the side of the road. “Those thugs jumped me while I was stretching my legs. Are you okay?”

“I'm fine, it's you I'm worried about,” Nora said, leaning over to look at Sgt. Herring. “Did you get hurt?”

“Please,” laughed Sgt. Herring. “I got a bit scuffed up when I hit the ground but I'll be fine. These guys were amateurs.

“We should get out of here,” Nora said. “Do you think-”

Before she could finish, a rushing noise like a hurricane filled the air, and a dark shadow replaced the sun. Both Hobbits looked up in alarm at the sight of a massive dragon descending towards the ground. They pointed their pocket crossbows upwards.

“What the hell is going on?” Nora yelled over the noise.

Suddenly, they noticed that a small girl was sitting in the natural seat where the dragon's neck joined its body. She held her hands in the air and seemed to be yelling something, but Sgt. Herring and Nora couldn't hear the words. The dragon landed on the road several hundred feet away from them in a large cloud of dust. Once the dust settled, all they could see was a woman carrying a girl on her shoulders.

“...The hell?” Sgt. Herring asked faintly.

“Do you two need any help?” the woman called out. “I'm sorry we didn't get here quicker after I saw the fight, but there was a thermal updraft and we had to circle around a bit in order to land.”

“Did that make any more sense to you than it did to me?” Sgt. Herring muttered to Nora.

“Nope,” replied Nora, whispering under her breath.

Soon, the woman was only 20 feet or so from them, and she placed the girl she was carrying on the ground. Sgt. Herring noticed a strange tattoo on the edge of the woman's neck before she adjusted her collar, hiding the markings from view.

“My name is Kafria, and this is my daughter, Squach,” she said, gesturing towards the little girl. Squach was peering at the bodies on the ground with a curious expression.

“Stay away from them, Squach,” warned Kafria. “Now, are the two of you okay?” she asked, looking back at Sgt. Herring and Nora.

“No, I took care of them easily enough,” said Ringo. “By the way, I'm Sergeant Ringo Herring of Skattykatzenfjord.

“Nora Herring,” said Nora. “No relation,” she added with a quiet laugh.

“You wouldn't be the Herrings from all those news stories a while back?” Kafria asked curiously.

“I don't know what news stories you mean, but the answer is probably yes,” Sgt. Herring said with a wry smile.

“You shouldn't be traveling on this road,” said Kafria. “We live nearby and there have been too many of Otho Burrowes' ruffians marching along this road to count. They're going from the Burrowes Group's holdings around Dwaling and Scary west towards Needlehole, or beyond.”

“Otho Burrowes?” Nora asked curiously. “I've never heard of him before.”

“He's one of the wealthiest Hobbits in all of Forumshire,” explained Kafria. “And he's infamous for taking all sorts of unsavory types into his employ. He has one of the largest private security operations around despite the fact that he has no one to protect himself from.”

“That sounds rather ominous,” said Sgt. Herring with a frown. “Why is he moving so many of his men?”

“Who knows?” said Kafria. “But everyone is on the move – even us. An emergency meeting of the Forumshire Council has been called. As the Mayor, I have to be there by the end of the week.”

“What's the emergency?” Sgt. Herring asked with concern. He had familiarized himself extensively with Forumshire politics during his time as a police exchange officer, but had been out of the loop since the Bree-land incident.

“Nothing, probably,” said Kafria. “But only the Admin can call a normal meeting. Since he's been out of sight for the past year or so, the only way for the Council to convene is if two or more members agree that there is an emergency.”

“What happened to the Admin?” asked Nora.

“That's as much a mystery to me as it is to you,” Kafria said with a sigh. “We can talk more about it later, but for now, we really should get off the road.”

“I understand what you mean, but all we have for transportation is this cart,” said Sgt. Herring. “It's not exactly rated for cross-country trips.”

“Don't worry,” said Kafria. “Squach and I can give you a ride.”

“Meaning no offense, but on what?” said Sgt. Herring incredulously.

“Didn't you see when I landed?” Kafria said with a mysterious smile. She backed away several paces before removing her coat and turning around. Her backless dress revealed a massive and intricate dragon tattoo spreading from the tail on her lower back to the snout and fangs over her shoulders and neck. The tattoo shimmered and shifted, and in a blaze of light, Kafria the woman was replaced by a massive dragon.

“What in the name of Eru's massive-” began Sgt. Herring.


Odo's face paled as he listened to Lotho's words. A cold sense of dread had settled in his stomach and he was feeling rather ill. Still, his business partner continued to speak, outlining the changes to their plan that would have to take place.

“V-very well,” stuttered Odo once Lotho had finished. “You're right, it's the only way.”

“You're not going to chicken out on me now, are you, old-timer?” chucked Lotho, playfully elbowing Odo in the ribs. Odo made a noise that could be compared to a kitten's mewling and jumped backwards.

Lotho laughed. “Let's go. We don't have much time left, so we need to start moving.”

Odo nodded silently and followed Lotho out of the smial. Outside, in the bright sunlight, a veritable battalion of Lotho's security guards were assembled. Some distance down the street he could see the unmistakably striking figures of Queen Tinuviel and her Herculaen companion, Beren. For some reason, they were accompanied by his erstwhile private investigator, Eldorion.

As the three grew neared, Odo heard Lotho emit a sharp hiss of breath. Looking nervously to the side, Odo saw his partner's eyes narrowed and a dangerous look on his face. Shaking his head, Lotho cleared his expression, though he still looked rather unpleasant.

“Your Majesty,” Lotho announced grandiosely. “We were just making our preparations to depart. I trust you are ready?”

“Honestly, Lotho, you can be such a slave driver,” Queen Tin said dismissively. “I accepted your offer to protect me on this journey, but I don't need a nanny. I have Beren after all.” She leaned over to give her companion a kiss on the cheek. “Besides, I just ran into someone I recognize. I trust you all know of DI Eldo from the papers?” she said brightly.

“Yes, actually, we met earlier today,” Lotho said through a forced smile. “I believe he came here with Odo, whom we were supposed to meet in Needlehole.”

“I was just making a quick business trip, Your Majesty,” said Odo, wiping his considerable forehead with a handkerchief. “The good Inspector was just helping me with a certain small matter.”

“Yes, about that,” said Lotho, glaring at Odo. “I believe you had something you needed to tell the good Inspector.”

“Oh, y-yes!” Odo said, jumping slightly. “Eldo, I need to return to Needlehole with Lotho and Her Majesty, but I want you to stay here and complete your investigation and report. I'll receive it at my manor in one week.”

“Sure thing,” Eldo said immediately, although he looked at Lotho and the security guards with a suspicious eye. “I don't have any money for accomodations, though.”

“Not to worry, I have a purse for any and all expenses right here,” said Odo, passing a jingling bag of money to Eldo. “Use as much as you need. But now I think we really do need to go,” he added with a sidelong glance at Lotho.

“It was wonderful to finally get the chance to meet you, Detective,” said Queen Tin with a warm smile. I trust that we will meet again soon!”

Eldo nodded and waved as the group departed. Soon he found himself standing in the middle of the street in Nobottle, alone and carrying nothing but the purse Odo had given him. Shaking his head, he turned to walk down the street towards the inn where he had met Queen Tin.


That night, Eldo sat in his room with a quill and sheaf of parchment to begin writing his report. He had borrowed the writing implements from the innkeeper, who was very grateful for his comments to the Queen earlier. Eldo recorded everything he could remember from his examination of the dead Hobbit's parlor, but he soon ran out of material to write.

“What the hell am I supposed to do here for a whole week?” Eldo wondered aloud. He supposed there may have been witnesses, so asking around with the villagers might take up a day or two. What to do after that was a bridge he would cross when he got there.

Eldo put away his unfinished report and snuffed out the candle. Not long after he had crawled in bed, while hovering on the edge of sleep and wakefulness, he heard a voice calling his name.

“Come back tomorrow,” Eldo mumbled through a yawn.

“I can't do that,” said the voice. “You had better wake up, because in 60 seconds an assassin is going to come through your bedroom door.”

Sorry for the delay in posting this. I'm not entirely happy with this part; I tried to condense a fair bit of set-up and character introduction in order to set the stage for the meatier stuff yet to come. I added the cliffhanger bit since otherwise this part would have felt too short to me and not really had much of a resolution. Anyway, I hope that the next update will come quicker. Hope.

Trollslaess!

(It should be Trollslåss or Trollslaass though, just to be picky. Trollslaass might also make it sound like an old name, since it's just 100 years or so since we we started using the letter å instead of aa.)

Thanks Amarie; I wasn't sure what the non-diacritic version of a-with-a-circle-over-it would be. My keyboard doesn't have any diacritics at all (lol America) and I was too lazy to find some to copy and paste. I'll change the spelling to Trollslaass though. Based on what you said I think it works best.

OOOOHH!!! exiting!!
can't wait to start illustrating (but not a very smart idea at the moment, english exam coming up monday :S)

JÆVLA STOR SILD!!!!

huzzah for Ringo Nora and Eldo, great story.

Loved it Eldo! Although, I'm not to sure Beren will.....

MAN PURSE!!!!!!!!!!!

btw.. why did I ever worry aboyt Ringo's safety.. he's like a very agile, powerfull bull, though controlled.

Norc wrote:

Man purse! And they sing too, like Beren does. Add Orwell and we might have our very own Forumshire Glee club!



But what first came to mind was Joey's Man's bag!

looks like I'm not that good at studying :S, but this one is an old one, really. Just haven't uploaded it until now. I guess it is when Agent Nora and Sergeant Ringo has/is leaving Ambassador Amarië's house and Agent Nora is.. well, grumpy. I know it says "vaguely elfin features", but Amarië isn't a hobbit!

The Sergeant pulled up the pony cart and the duo jumped to the street. Once they reached the door, Sgt. Herring knocked loudly. In less than a minute it opened to reveal a bespectacled woman with long, wavy brown hair and vaguely elfin features.

I look a bit Cumberbatchy! Sweet!
Again, I love the expressions and the energy! So much going on there.

One minor crit Norc the text says Amarie is bespectacled- you forgot her glasses. Small point I know to pick on but it is an illustration, important to notice the details in the text.
Having nit-picked I would like to add I think this is one of my favourites of yours. Its absolutely superb work.

I am sure, when you get your hands on the extended edition, you'll find that she had her assistant clean her glasses at that moment. It just had to be cut out of the official version because of time.

woo-woo Amarie! Wowser! Liking the look.....

Pettytyrant101 wrote:One minor crit Norc the text says Amarie is bespectacled- you forgot her glasses. Small point I know to pick on but it is an illustration, important to notice the details in the text.
Having nit-picked I would like to add I think this is one of my favourites of yours. Its absolutely superb work.

i didn't know what bespectacled meant.. and either way, if she is "elf-like" she wouldn't really need glasses.. she's probably just a hipster (though maybe reading glasses, she does read a lot of notp) or as Amarië pointed out, her assistant may be cleaning them xP or she just forgot them, just like Orlando Bloom forgot his contacts ..

but I'm glad you guys liked it ^^

I did suspected it might be a language thing Norc (and your english is very good, there are plenty of native speakers wouldnt have known what bespectled meant either, its not a word in much common use really, although its a good word, I like it. )

It's a very good word, I'll use it frequently when time and opportunity allows it

That's an awesome drawing, Norc! I think it might be my favorite of your TNM illustrations so far. I love getting to see these; thanks!

Also, for what it's worth, I based Amarie's description on her avatar (hence the glasses), but I love your version!

glad you didn't base Agent Nora on my avatar :S

fixed it

Those drawings are brilliant!

I agree! But where is the next chapter so we can get some more inspiration? Nope, not behind here...

Because Eldo is being lovely I've gotten a sneak peek at the next chapter. And what is going to happen is - no sorry, I've been on my computer for too long, I'll go an illustrate