Hi Anton -- on May 18 2020 at 02:24, you wrote:

AS> Yes, no factual knowledge, but then do you explain the Past Simple
AS> tense in: "demon was held captive ,which would answer the
AS> interrogation of sorcerers." If the writer had still had the ring
AS> in his posession at the time of writing, whould not he have written
AS> "...demon is held captive, which will answer..."?

The writer is writing about events which have happened (past). We have
no idea what (if anything) has transpired since. In any case, to
suddenly shift from past to present would be quite jarring to the
reader. And also, the ring is (or seems to be from this fragment) a very
minor part of the story so who really cares about it's current location?
:-)

Cheers... Dallas

--- timEd/NT 1.30+