"Oh?"

"I have questioned almost everyone that was in the castle the day the arrow was fired at my Queen, and so far everyone seems to have an alibi."

"So now what do you intend to do? Do you have any other ideas or are you just giving up?" said King Belos, not happy with the lack of results.

"No, My Lord. I intend to find out who tried to kill her, but…."

"But what? You have something else in mind?"

"KIng Belos, you have instructed everyone to give me their complete cooperation, and they certainly seemed to, but I feel that I can be much more effective if I was allowed to use some of my own interrogation techniques."

"What do you mean, your own techniques?"

"Well, among my — many skills, I know of certain pressure and nerve points on the body that can produce a variety of reactions. One such technique I call, for the lack of a better phrase, a Nerve Pinch. In the neck there are two vessels carrying blood to the brain. And by using this Pinch, I am able to cause the muscles surrounding these vessels to constrict, causing the flow of blood to the brain to be cut off. Knowing that he may die within the space of thirty or forty heart beats has persuaded more than one enemy to tell me all he knows."

"So you want to use this Pinch to question everyone again?"

"Not everyone. But there are a few I still have suspicions about."

"And you're sure you can undo this Pinch, and no one will die?"

"It's easier to take it off than it is to apply it. Trust me, I have been using this for many years. The only ones who have died from it were the ones I deliberately let die."

"I'm still not sure if I like the idea of you tempting The Fates with the lives of men who may be innocent."

"My Lord, just as the Royal Physician has knowledge of certain poisons that, when used in the correct dosages, can produce a cure, so do I know just how to use this correctly."