Yuko tied the taut rope to the stump. The palm tree it was attached to was bent far to the ground.

Yuko wiped the sweat from his brow and huffed from the exertion. He glanced from the rope to the nearby wall, then back to the rope. It looked like it would work.

He had spent most of the night making his way along the bottom of the wall, trying to find a weak point. The best one he’d found was this one. A makeshift catapult.

He’d had the idea before he had drifted off to sleep. In the morning he’d perfected the idea. He tied another rope to the tree at a specific length so it would stop the tree at an angle. The tree would suddenly stop and he’d go flying into the city.

He checked around himself again. There was grass under his feet and more palm trees around him. By his estimation, he would land somewhere in the palace gardens. From there he could find out where his sword was being kept. No doubt by now, there was quite the stir in the city with the arrival of Skah and the swords. The royalty would be involved too.

Yuko pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt a headache coming on. He took and breath and slapped his face with his hands. “Don’t give up yet! I’m almost there, I’m almost there, just do, don’t think, do.”

He climbed onto the top of the palm tree and rooted his feet onto the sturdy trunk.

Deep breaths, deep breaths, let the tension drain from the body, go with the flow, feel it, relax, you’ve flown a glider before, this is just like that, I know how to land, like a cat, like a cat, don’t worry, cats don’t die from falls, I won’t die from falls.

He stretched his neck and pulled his knife from its sheath. He twirled it around a few times, the familiarity of the movement calming to him.

Then, he reached back and cut at the cord until it started unraveling itself.

He briskly sheath the knife, shifted his feet, crouched tensed his legs and looked to the sky. The moment the cord broke, he would jump to increase the height.

The cord snapped, and he felt the tree trunk heave him skywards. His legs took a little of the shock, bending, but he had been prepared. His legs started rebounding into a jump as the angle of the tree shifted, as it did so, he shifted the angle of his jump directly upwards.

He heard the air whooshing past him build to a frightening roar. The palm branches above him were suddenly next to his face. His legs powered off the tree like a giant springboard.

His jump finished just before the tree’s whiplash was stopped short by the other cord. He felt his feet leave the trunk of the tree. He could see over the trees like a bird, there were soldiers patrolling the wall, but none near him as he’d timed it.

A thought struck through his mind. Am I stupid?

***

Skah walked beside Safira in the gardens. He marveled at their beauty and of all the flowers gathered together. Even in his wanderings he hadn’t see anything like it. Fountains burbled and there were plenty of trees to give shade from the sun. He also marveled how twelve guardsmen could move so easily behind them when the path was so small. Obviously, they suspected he might try something.

Safira looped her arm through his and smiled up at him. “Is that really all you know about Zaim? You fought him, didn’t you? You scar certainly proves that.” She poked at it and Skah grimaced, but also blushed a deep red at the same time.

“Heehee.” She drew closer to him. “Come now, what is his weakness? How did you defeat him? You have to tell me that much.”

“Ah, um…” What is she doing? She was acting so cold before, now she’s holding onto me with her soft arm. I can smell her perfume this close too. “Well, he almost got me, ya’know.”

She poked him in the side teasingly and laughed when he winced away.

Skah didn’t know if she was being flirtatious or enjoyed seeing him in pain.

“I disarmed him with my sword, okay? Its hot enough that it likely burned his hand a little through his glove. You know, even with it in its sheath I still get pretty hot just carrying it around.”

Safira poked his side again. “I think you’re pretty warm even without it.”

Skah was all too aware of the sweat that was building where their arms met. He made to pull his arm away but she resisted his movement.

“Um, er, I’m pretty thirsty, can we stop by one of these fountains for a drink?”

She glanced up at him. “I guess.” She led him to a fountain that was in the shadow of a grove of palm trees.

Skah felt the air grow cooler instantly when they entered the shade. Safira let his arm go and he picked up a golden bowl from the edge of the fountain. He studied its intricate etchings before dipping it into the water and slurping from it.

He turned his back to the fountain as he drank and gazed over the green lawns of the gardens. They were near the wall at this fountain. Vines crept up its sides and some of them sported flowers.

The guard that had been to Skah’s right in the throne room stood about three steps away and glowered at Skah. The other guards had fanned themselves around him and the princess in a half-circle.

As such, all of their backs were to the garden.

As Skah gazed at the scene he saw a person fly through the air, tumbling end over end sideways in an aerial cartwheel.

Skah splurted all of the water in his mouth into the face of the guard in front of him and dropped the bowl.

“Hahahahahaha! Hahahaha! Ow! Hahaha!” He clutched his stomach in pain as he doubled over in laughter.

The guard face that was now dripping wet in front of him was beet red in anger. Safira looked at him confusedly, then out at the garden, but the person had already landed by then and was out of sight.

The other guards looked about too and placed their hands on their hilts.

“What?” Safira snapped. “What is it that is so funny?!”

Skah took deep breaths. “That…has to be one of the funniest things I’ve seen. Hah hah!”

Safira took a handful of Skah’s hair and turned his tear-streaked face up so she could look at it. “What is so funny?”

Still suppressing his laughter, Skah pointed a finger in the direction he’d seen Yuko land. “If, if you’re looking for Zaim, heeheehee! He’s over that way! Hahahaha!”