Catrina had managed to lose everyone else in the rush, and had barely even noticed. She followed the familiar figure, wriggling through gaps and scrambling over walls to keep up. When the figure got down from his horse, nobles and scholars immediately surrounded him, babbling on about this and that. Catrina followed, silent as a shadow, until the figure made a motion with his hand, and the crowd dispersed. He went into a guarded, nodding to two soldiers who stood at the entrance and saluted him. Catrina went over the wall to follow, bypassing the guards entirely.
She heard the man sigh and laugh as they left the crowd behind, and followed him, creeping behind the rose bushes. The odd tickle of familiarity nagged at her skull as she tried to think of what to do. Finally, she took a deep breath, and stepped out from behind the bush to greet him.
The man stopped in his tracks, and stared at her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
Catrina didn't respond.
The man frowned, and a pair of fingers tapped on his sword. Then he seemed to make up his mind, and walked past her, making a wide arc.
"You should get out of here. It's my private garden. No one else is allowed here unless I invite them."
Catrina stood frozen as the man passed, because for the first time she had got a good look at him.
He had red hair, red as flame and spiked in smooth tufts around his head, and green eyes. He was tall, and broad, and had a very commanding hair around him. And he was wearing a crown.
When she met back up with the others, Catrina was in tears. She found Lily and Hafros first, but refused to explain until they had returned to the scholar's rooms. They found the others, went back to the tower. Then, Catrina calmly explained them that there was no way they could talk to the last of them.
"But why not?" the priest protested, all disbelief.
"Because e's the bloody king!" Catrina shouted back at him. "We can't take 'im!"
She rounded on the scholar "You said we're from a'nother world. And we've been tryin' to get back. But we can't take the King back!"
Aderyn was the first to pick it up "The entire kingdom would go to bits."
The scholar protested "Come now! Even if he has do brothers or sons, there are plenty of cousins in line for the throne!"
Hafros grumbled worriedly "Those transitions can get rocky though. And he is a good king, you have to admit. Even us sailors know that. Doesn't seem like we'd be doing something good, taking him away."
The priest broke in "But it's what we need to do! It's a command from God!"
The room broke into arguing.
Finally, the scholar shut everyone up by shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Shut up shut up shut up shut UP!"
"Is everything all right?" a voice asked from outside the door.
The scholar stalked over and stuck his head out.
"If you don't leave me alone," he said "I'll dissect you and replace your head with that of a newt."
He slammed the door in the hapless bystander's face, and stalked back to the group.
"All right." He said, in a much lower tone. "The first thing we need to do is make sure that it wasn't a mistake."
Catrina protested "I know what I saw!"
"I know. But maybe he's a visiting prince or something. We need to make sure."
"How to we do that?" Lily asked.
"We go to court." The scholar explained. "I haven't been in ages, but I'm allowed to go. And we don't even need to go inside the throne room. Just get a solid look at him from the balcony, or such."
Everyone thought about this, and slowly they agreed. Aderyn and the priest both put on cloaks and hoods, just in case, and the priest in particular bandaged up his face to further hide his features. The court was held as usual that evening, and they all crept like a particularly motley group of shadows to what the scholar assured them was the best peephole on the court functions. He knew all of the passages, he proudly boasted, and this was definitely best.
The king was on his throne, surrounded by advisors and nobility. He chattered with them easily, waving his hand occasionally in dismissal or approval. Musicians played in the wings, and a court fool cavorted about in front of the throne, making a general fool out of himself.
They all exchanged glances among themselves.
"Well?" Catrina asked "That's him. Do you all recognize him too?"
They all nodded, and Catrina felt queasy.
"What are we going to do?" she asked.
No one seemed to have an answer. They made their way back through the service passage, in poor spirits. They were so wrapped up in their own thoughts that they didn't even notice the court fool until they ran right into them.
Lily was the one that actually made contact, and the spindly man went tumbling over backwards something awful, though he did manage to land on his feet. Lily squeaked in surprise, and started blathering apologies, as the priest helped the man up.
However, when the jester was standing, the priest found he couldn't extract his hands. The fool's white glove gripped his hand like a vice. Yellow eyes stared into his, and the clown's mouth, painted red as a wound, opened in an uncanny smile.
"So you've all made it."
The priest extracted his hand with a hard yank, and went tumbling into the rest of his companions. The fool laughed.
"I must admit, I didn't expect you all to get here this quickly. It's only been- what, three months?"
"What are you talking about?" Hafros asked, trying to sound gruff.
The jester laughed again "Oh of course. You probably can't recognize me right now. Still all muddled with the extra memories you have now. Let me give you a little hand."
He snapped his fingers, and it was as if the motley man had taken off a mask. Very suddenly it was a monster standing in front of them: a monster in the guise of a laughing jester. The priest blanched and backed up, muttering prayers and crossing himself. Hafros clutched at his pendant, Catrina went backwards hissing loudly. The jester laughed.
"I must admit, you've all done a very good job to gather up like this. But you do realize that you're stuck here now, don't you?"
The scholar shook his head, trying to seem defiant "There are people who will take the king's place, if he disappears. The kingdom will be fine even if we all leave."
The fool raised an eyebrow and cackled in delight "Do you really think that's what's stopping you?" he clapped his hands "Well, why don't you come to court proper tomorrow? You can say hello to the king, and tell him all about your little quest, and then you'll all live happily ever after, right?"
He cackled again, and then he was gone.
"I didn't just imagine that did I?" the scholar asked. He was fidgeting, and his fingers were twitching. "You all saw it too right? The evil clown?"
Aderyn put her hands on his shoulders, patting him protectively.
"It's fine. We saw it too. Some kind of monster I guess, just like you said: he sent us here."
The scholar nodded hastily. "Yes. Yes that was definitely him."
He cast his eyes about the group "If the devil man isn't the one who sent us here, do you think maybe there are other enemies in this world? They say there's a duke on the other side of the kingdom who drinks blood. I wonder if he's one."
"What do we do?" Hafros asked.
"That's the question, isn't it?" the scholar said, laughing.