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I look at the knights curiously, being careful not to send the wrong message. "What do you mean?"

"You just went out into the plaza as usual, then we lost sight of you! That's not uncommon, but what WAS uncommon is you not heading back to the castle by sunset!"

I look out the window of the inn. It really IS getting late... if the king is missing... I down the rest of my drink. "Ok, I need to be honest with you, as we won't get anywhere if we start keeping secrets. I'm not the king, I'm a shapeshifter, about the only person who knew that is the lovely bartender who pretended not to know. I dress like his majesty regularly for free drinks. That's about it."

The knights look at each other confused. "But... then..."

One of them raises a weapon. "You do anything to him? You holding him hostage?"

I hold my hands up. "I would never! Our kind don't waste time, if I were going to do anything to him I'd have done it AGES ago! We do our best to keep our secret safe!"

Another knight clears his throat. "So... why would you tell us?"

"Because I had two options: pretend to ACT like someone I'm not, taking on a task which I have no clue what to do, or tell the truth and offer my help. Believe me, I'm worried about his majesty too. Are the citizens aware?"

"They shouldn't be..."

I smile warmly. "Ok, I'm sure you all know that a panicked kingdom is bad. Here's what I'm thinking: allow me to take the throne just for the night, I won't make any decisions or anything, we just need to fool EVERYONE into believing the king is safe. Then, in the morning, I'll decide to 'have an adventure', and I'll search day and night for him. I won't rest until he's safe."

The knights look at each other, then nod. "We don't have much choice. We all need to trust each other. But we won't hesitate to kill you if we suspect any attempt at taking the throne for real. Understood?"

"Perfectly."

The knights escort me back to the castle. I make sure to eat well and get an early night's sleep. I'll need to be fully prepared for the following day. I look out the window of the king's chambers. "I'll risk my own life to save you, your majesty. I promise I'll do whatever it takes to get you back to your kingdom safe."

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Thank you for reading! More stories here!

[removed]

"Thank the Gods we found you, we thought something terrible had happened!" The knight, the one with the long mahogany hair tied back into a severe braid was not quite hysterical, but it was certainly relieved. I could taste it in the air between us, my tongue still forked for the moment. I sipped the ale, the one almost the same color as the knight's skin, focusing on the structure of my tongue, merging the muscle back together. Raising a gloved hand to the salt and pepper goatee the king favored, I wiped my mouth, trying to buy some time.

"Why would you think that?" I went a little deeper than the king's normal speaking voice and winced internally, hoping the knights were too focused on having found the King to notice my slip.

"Majesty, you do remember what happened the last time we lost track of you?" the second knight, the one whose skin was the color of freshly tilled earth with storm-cloud eyes asked, leaning forward. Her scent was inquisitive, a cat inspecting a mouse's hole. Her hand rested on the pommel of her sword, fingers ready to curl if I as much as breathed wrong.

"The incident with the Pleasure Gardens?" I asked, looking down, inspecting the nails of my left hand, seeing the flecks of dirt and blood trapped beneath them. "We did pay the Madam quite generously, and besides..."

"Sire, even if you can do what you want, you can't afford to lose even more of the public's good will. With the new elections for the High Council coming, you have to be on your best behavior," the first knight chided me. I let out a put upon sigh, one I had heard too many times to count. Both of the knights relaxed slightly.

I raised my left shoulder in a half-shrug. "Alright, alright, I will come back to the palace with you, just let me finish one more tankard of ale?" I pleaded. My idiot half-brother would have to be finished with the stable boy by then. Being able to take any form I liked had gotten him out of many troubles since my talent had manifested, but one of these days I was going to have to ask him to respect my time and my limits.

"Fine sire, but make it a quick one," the second knight all but commanded.

"You have my word," I promised, raising my hand, silently praying my half-brother would finish soon and that we wouldn't have yet another groom or squire in the palace, dogging his footsteps.

Suggestion: there is no king, and hasn't been in decades. The "king" everyone sees is just whatever shapeshifter most recently got caught pretending to be the king and got roped into running the kingdom for a while.

Moar?