Deciding to humor my guest, I explained to him that every magician on TV could do what he'd just done and asked to see something more impressive.

He tilted his head to the side and thought about it. And that's where he had been for the last few minutes, barely moving.

"Okay," he finally said, exclaiming it so loudly that it made me jump. "I think I can do something that cannot be explained another way."

"All right. You have my attention," I replied, half expecting this to be a card trick or something similar.

Arthur got up and backed away from the table. He stood there for a few seconds before the second napkin on the table also turned into a dove. This time I leaped up, knocking my chair over. My movement startled the dove and it flew upward.

With another flick of his wrist it turned back into a napkin. The paper fluttered down and back onto the table, now splayed out and messy.

Not sure what else to do, I picked up my chair and sat back down on it. Grinning in a smug way I didn't appreciate, Arthur also sat down.

"So, do you believe me now?" he studied me as if he was daring me to say no.

"There's definitely no way I can explain that another way. So... I'll roll with this for now. If you really are King Arthur, what's the goal? What are you trying to do?"

"Rule my kingdom I guess. The prophecy only said that I would return when I was needed. Apparently you need me." He shrugged.

"There's someone else on the throne, right now."

He nodded. I'd already told him that.

"Are there channels I can officially go down to prove I'm King Arthur?"

It was my turn to shrug my shoulders with no clue. "You'd be the first to attempt it so... no idea."

Neither of us spoke for a while as we processed this. Did I really believe this guy was King Arthur? Could a napkin be turned into a dove from that far away and it still be a trick.

I reached for the napkin in question, lifting it and feeling the texture. It was definitely a napkin.

Grinning again, he flicked his wrist and I was suddenly holding a dove in one hand. This time I didn't move, frozen to the spot and not wanting to startle the creature. It cooed at me and seemed to nestle into my hand.

"Can you turn it back?" I asked.

He nodded and did so. I lifted the napkin and brought it closer to my face. He had definitely done something extraordinary. As much as a part of me still didn't want to believe, there was no other explanation I could think of.

"So, do I have to call you your majesty, or bow or something?" I asked, not sure of anything the way I had been only ten minutes earlier.

"No. I think we're getting to know each other well enough that we can dispense with formalities. And I was never one to demand specific actions be done to pander to my ego."

I didn't respond. What did a person say to a king? Especially one your colleagues had arrested.

"Apparently, I do need a place to stay tonight, however. I don't know how a lot works in this world now. I could do with your help it seems."

"We'll find you something." I got up to leave, not sure what else to do at this point. I couldn't find him a place to stay while I sat here.

"Thank you. I appreciate your assistance and cooperation. It won't be forgotten."

I hope not, I thought as I walked out of the room once more.

Once again the officers came up, their curiosity stopping any of them from getting much work done.

"Don't you lot have something better to do?" I asked. "This one's resolved. He promises to keep the sword out of the public eye from now on. Seems foreign and doesn't know all the rules. We can slap this one on the wrists and let him go. I'm just going to sort him a place to stay for tonight and then we can stop worrying at all."

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One of the officers opened his mouth as if to argue with me, but chose to think better of it. I didn't give him a chance to try again, striding off toward my office.

After shutting the door, I sat down at my desk and exhaled. How had this happened on my watch? What was it about the weirdos that meant I was the one dealing with them?

There was no way to be completely sure he was King Arthur, the once and future king, but he could definitely do something funky with the magic. I also had a feeling that if I didn't get him sorted and settled somewhere that he was going to turn up again and irritate me even more. What was it about guys like this that had me so concerned?

I sighed and tried to think of solutions. The mental facilities weren't missing him, and he seemed sane enough if you ignored the King part of his story. The homeless shelters weren't somewhere I could send him either. Not with the sword. And if he believed it was excalibur I was certain that he wasn't about to let me keep it.

That left hotels, Airbnbs and hostels. All of which cost money. The cheapest was a hostel, however. They were basic, but if I got him a room by himself in one of those then it would technically fulfill the criteria for letting him go. I could pay for one night, have him promise to sort himself out and then leave him to whatever he chose to do next.

No sooner had I thought this sentiment then I knew it wasn't true. I couldn't leave him in a hostel room with no money, no friends and no way to keep the roof over his head. It was heartless and I'd got into this job precisely because I wasn't heartless.

Happily ignoring the stack of documents on my desk I began the task of phoning around all the local hostels. Many of them were full by this point in the day, especially the decent ones. The rest didn't have single rooms left, or somewhere he could use alone.

I kept trying, not sure what else to do until I'd exhausted the entire list. There was only one left to try that wasn't over fifty miles away and they were the least well rated. I looked at the photos and wasn't impressed. It definitely wasn't fit for royalty.

There was no other option I thought I could afford, however. Not on the day of and not in London. I called the last one, getting a woman with a strong accent I couldn't place beyond knowing it was Asian.

I asked the same thing I had everyone else, if there were any single rooms available, the words coming out of my mouth as if they were a well memorized script.

"Yes, yes. Many," the woman replied, not saying anything else.

"Perfect, I'd like to book one for my friend."

"Your friend should be here before eleven. We shut then and no space after."

After thanking her profusely and assuring her that he would be, I hung up and exhaled. It wasn't perfect and I was pretty sure he wasn't going to like it, but I'd found him a room and that meant I could send him there. No more waiting around at the police station and taking up one of my interview rooms unnecessarily.

It also meant I could take him there, pay for a night, maybe even two and wash my hands of the whole thing. Might not even need to take him there myself. Pretty sure that I could get the others to do it for me. They were curious enough and involved enough.

As I looked at the paperwork on my desk that I'd have to do if I didn't take him personally, my mind was made up. If it got me out of some of my work, I was going to take him.

Before I could get up to go tell Arthur the good news there was a knock on my door. I looked up as Stafford came into the room without waiting for me to grant permission.

"Have you seen the news?" he asked.

"No. What?" I asked, flicking my computer on so I could pull up the news and find out. At the same time my stomach churned. Normally when someone like me was asked to check the news because it was important, it wasn't anything good. Terrorist attacks, criminals and riots were the sorts of things my attention was brought to.

As I pulled up the news channel I usually used, Stafford came around my desk to stand to one side of me and then he crouched to be at a better level with my screen.

There was nothing of note on the front page that made me think I needed to see it, so I looked at Stafford for him to explain or guide me.

"The one about the collapsed burial mound," he said, pointing to a small news box half way down the right hand side. "It happened yesterday."

I clicked on the article he was suggesting and read it with growing dread. A burial mound said to have contained the remains of King Arthur, his treasure and possibly even Merlin, had collapsed.

There weren't a lot of details, but it had me concerned.

"Got to admit, impressive coincidence." Stafford looked at me, his eyes alight and a goofy grin on his face.

"You know I don't believe in coincidences."

"So you think he saw this and faked it?"

I sat back, considering the possibility. Could mean that he faked it, but it could also back up his claim. If he had been woken up by something and not dead. Shaking my head, I pushed the thoughts away.

"It doesn't matter. I'm dropping him off at a hostel in a few hours and then we can forget about him." I clicked on another article the first linked to, however. So I could read it later.

"Doesn't matter? We all know that we're all working in this department because we want answers to questions and none of us like to be thwarted. Too curious for our own good, and you're the worst one of the lot."

He wasn't wrong, even if I wasn't going to admit it aloud. I was far too curious and needed to know the answers to let this one go. If there was even a small chance this guy was telling the truth and was King Arthur, then I needed to know.