At safety’s end PART2

Above the sound of Skinner's singing was the burbling of another river they had stopped by to take a small break. They drank water and refilled their water bags. They had been on the move for five days without eating or drinking.

Cronan stood beside Rue with their knees hidden in the river. He guided her on using her telekinesis to lift a ball of water from the river and move it through the small circular mouth of the water bag.

She could collect a ball of water with immense concentration but when it came time to alter its shape to be thin and flow through the small opening, it deformed and fell splashing water into their faces.

It was her third try but she was persistent to get it right. She focussed to lift the water again. Her father laughed every time they got splashed but it did not dampen her spirit. It was happy laughter.

Ezra sat on the grassy bank with the rattlers grazing around him. He watched the both of them from his distance. He looked away to continue refilling his daggers with red poison.

He failed to get the memories of his mother teaching him how to grab a Slapfish from their aquarium at home. She would laugh just like Rue's father whenever it slipped from his grip and gave him a painful slap in the face with its fin before falling back into the water.

His face showed clearly without the hood. His blank expression got stern as the muscles at his temples tightened trying to force back tears. He hung his head further until locks of his neck-length hair moved to block his face so no one noticed.

An unusual hum started to get louder coming from above the treetops. Roshar was with Dayrue looking out for anything that could attack while the others rearmed themselves and refilled water bags.

They saw when a large flying bug half the size of the average body with eight clawed arms flew down to stop behind Skinner's head. He was too busy humming and cleaning his boots in the loud river to notice it.

The creature's wings were rather silent which did not add up to the hum that was still getting louder.

Dayrue signed, "It seems to like his singing so don't disturb him."

Roshar positioned an arrow in his bow and aimed it at the bug.

One by one more of those bugs started to appear until there was a flying swarm crowding the air above them blocking out most of the blue sky.

The rattlers stopped feeding and Ezra looked up only once before he shot to his feet. Rue lost her concentration and the ball of water broke from its shape before splashing into the river. Cronan pulled out a sword and Skinner stopped singing as he lifted his head slowly to become aware of the dangerous situation above his head. He froze once he sensed something else behind him.

He knew Dayrue was looking out and having too much faith in her mastery skills he had let his guard down. He knew she couldn't be hurt and so she was getting back at him he thought. With little movement he made his eyes search for her with bitterness and a frozen twig halfway out of his mouth.

The creature's sharp claws moved to slice the back of his neck. The arrow shot from Roshar's bow to pierce through its body and it hit making a big splash into the waters. When the splash hit Skinner his feet darted several steps back until he was out of the river and on the bank.

The flying bugs started shrieking and flapping their wings so fast to create a noisy and terrifying confusion. They flew down towards them and began to attack with their sharp claws.

The six assassins grabbed up their gears and scurried away with their rattlers trying to lose them.

One swept down to snatch the quiver on Roshar's back but Dayrue sliced it in half before it could. Slime from its body slid down her sword.

Roshar was careful not to waste his limited arrows on oversized bugs in their thousands, and so landed hard blows with his spiked knuckle gloves. His fists effortlessly tore holes into their sides to become covered with slime once he pulled them back out.

The bugs grabbed up two of the rattlers. Ezra spun two daggers to get lodged in their heads so their body crashed to the ground and the rattlers broke themselves free from their grip.

The bugs began to spit burning liquid down from the air at them. Sizzles and steam rose from the ground and holes started to burn into their mantles.

After running across cleared lands for hours and failing to lose the swarm that chased behind them in the air, they suddenly stopped their spit attack to fly calmly.

Skinner's voice began to break through the faint flaps as Dayrue roughed him up with her hands grasping tight onto his mantle under his neck.

She motioned that he would continue to sing until they lose them since it was his singing that attracted them.

It was terrifying as the thick cloud of flying creatures stayed above them in complete silence and continued to follow them. Dayrue would poke Skinner from behind with the edge of her sword whenever his voice got too low causing the bugs to get unsettled.

Skinner's voice began to crack until it went out suddenly. His wide opened terrified eyes looked back at Dayrue. They realized he had lost his voice.

The vicious swarm attacked again, but luckily they were close to the thick sky-reaching stalks that marked the border. They had to slash away sharp claws reaching down behind their heads to yank their hoods back while dodging the acid-burning spits.

The load's exterior and thick armored flaps on top of the rattlers shielded them. Soon they zipped past the assassins to disappear into the crowded stalks. After them, Ezra was next to reach the trees and chopped down several vines in the way allowing the others to follow. Soon the dark greens crowded on both sides as they stamped on leaves and leaped over rocks.

They noticed the bugs did not follow them as their wings did not allow them. After realizing this they stopped their hurried pace to regain their breath.

Skinner dropped to his knees, his head lifted to face the green heavens, and his mouth opened wide to let out a painfully silent shriek.

He held his neck and began to cough. He had lost his voice temporarily. Dayrue gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder before they continued to move.

It was a dead silent journey through the trees. Whenever he signed he kept forgetting to snap his fingers to get their attention. Even worse since he was leading with his two swords to clear the path his hands were pretty occupied.

He was beginning to feel Dayrue's struggle.

Once they cut through the webs to step out of the tall greens, they stood still in the area between it and giant blue glowing boulders. They were on the grey line, and beyond those rocks was the territory filled with danger.

"Stay close," ordered Cronan as he took out a sword and jammed it between the space between the far-stretching boulder wall while using his protracted claws on the other hand to start climbing.

The others followed behind along with the rattlers whose legs allowed them to stick to the surface as they climbed.

They were just seconds away from entering the second Domain and already Rue's heart began to chase.