“I hate it here.” A long whine followed after Farre spoke that complaint out loud. Larisa started to notice that the shortest one of the three of them was also the loudest. It was surprising, because in contrast to what Larisa experienced before with Farre, it would make her believe the opposite. Instead, as the three women trekked carefully through the dense vegetation, Farre seemingly couldn’t help but constantly complain about this and that. It was starting to irritate Larisa. Ha’na seemed to be in her own world so it probably didn’t bother her as much. Though, she loved to ask an awful lot of questions and Larisa couldn’t help but answer.

“Oh! Larisa! Larisa! What is it?” She would say as she pointed to some dried basilisk’s droppings.

“That’s droppings.” She would answer and Ha’na would make an astonished face and then start to look for something else to ask about.

On one side, it didn’t bother Larisa as much, simply because she preferred this ecstatic and less fearful Ha’na to the one she saw when they entered the jungle. Or the one she saw when she took care of her burn.

Speaking about the burn, Larisa had to have the other two women help her dress the wound. It was not as bad as it felt, thankfully. Still, Larisa couldn’t use her right arm much. That meant she was less capable of protecting the two women. The thought filled her with anxiety and trepidation. She didn’t want to lose them. She just started to feel like a part of something. She liked not being alone.

“How’s the arm?” Farre asked at one point in their journey, as they stopped for the night at another place. One that was closer to their destination - Larisa’s cave.

“It hurts. I can’t do much.” Which was true. Sometimes when Farre whined out a complaint, Larisa felt like doing the same but about her arm. It itched and it burned, and every slight movement Larisa made felt like someone poured liquid fire over it all over again. She thought she was pretty resilient to pain, but this felt like something different. The only parts of her arm that were fine and didn’t hurt were her scales. They seemed to be somehow immune to the fire that burned through her. Shame she didn’t have more of them, then this wouldn’t have happened.

“Sucks.” And that was the input from Farre. But Larisa didn’t need to hear soft and gentle words to feel like Farre cared. The Essence spoke for her. It conveyed to Larisa that Farre was worried and felt pity towards her. Maybe that’s why Farre didn’t like the necklace? When she didn’t wear it maybe she felt she didn’t need to speak how she felt all the time?

Ha’na on the other hand, acted as if Larisa was incapable of doing anything. As if her injury made her armless and legless.

“Let me help you with that.” She’d say, for example, when Larisa’s job was to gather sticks for the wooden frame. Or another time, when they came upon a stream and used it to wash themselves. She would offer help with divesting her of her furs and leathers which Larisa wouldn’t have a problem with, normally, if the question wasn't said in a pitch too high and with demand too strong.

She acted as if Larisa was a thing without a head and that irritated the blond woman. She was a strong hunter, a capable survivalist and a knowledgeable herbalist. She wasn’t a child.

“I can do this.” She would often say, and most of the time Ha’na respected Larisa’s wishes, but still, Larisa wished for the injury to heal faster.

One night, when the Moon hid herself behind the high canopies of the trees, little shining lights started to dance in the air around their camp. Larisa immediately knew what that meant, but others were not as knowledgable and reacted with wonder instead of alertness.

“What is this?” The two women asked and Larisa answered.

“Hajki, or wisps.” After that response, Ha’na tried to touch one, but Larisa dragged her close to her chest and unsheathed her dagger. She wasn’t as good with her left hand as with her right but she had to try.

“Come closer, Farre.” Larisa called the red-haired woman, who listened quickly. The other women knew that Larisa had to be trusted in such situations.

“What’s wrong?” Farre asked with rising alertness. When she saw that Larisa had her dagger out, she took out hers as well.

“These wisps eat corpses. They follow the bialrys.” Larisa explained. The beast was an expert ambusher, like most of the predators in this place.

“Wait.” A panicked exclamation flew from Ha’na’s lips. “You mean the White Tiger of Hal-Vitash Jungle? That’s supposed to be a myth.”

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“A what now? Speak in plain for the uneducated, please.” Farre told Ha’na.

“Not now. The beast is near.” Larisa shut the conversation down. There was no time for distractions. She could feel where the wisps originated from. To the east of their camp a subtle train formed and the Essence in the air brimmed with earthly and dark smells. Two aspects which bialrys used for hunting.

Larisa has fought with the beast twice and both times she ran away when the opportunity presented itself. Its hide was too thick, its movements too fast and worst off all, the beast was smart. It never chose a prey it could not beat and considering that there were three of them, the beast had to think it had a chance against them all. Larisa's mind turned and somersaulted with ideas on how to survive this encounter. Maybe if she was alone and with a good arm, there could be a possibility of escape, but that was not the case. There were two people that she wanted to live and an arm that was currently useless. Larisa felt hopeless.

“If this is the White Tiger, I don’t know what to do.” Ha’na said from under her chin. Larisa didn’t want to repeat the same thoughts she had out loud.

“Where’s the metal box? You put it down somewhere, right?” To Larisa’s left, Farre spoke out hurriedly.

“There.” Larisa pointed to where she put it down. It was close to where the trail led.

“We could use the scale to scare the beast off. If it burned you this badly then it for sure will work on this beast.” Farre explained as she moved towards the metal box, but Larisa’s hand on her arm stopped her.

“That’s where the beast is.” Said Larisa.

“Oh.” Farre stopped in her tracks and repeated. “Oh.”

“Well, what now? The beast is supposed to be unbeatable!” Ha’na snuggled herself closer to Larisa as she whispered panically.

“I’ll get the box, but someone has to distract it.” Farre offered. Larisa’s instinct was to say no but she couldn’t think of a better solution. The wisps were coming closer to the ground and the earth in the Essence was getting thicker. It meant the beast was preparing to pounce.

Larisa pushed Ha’na behind her and took a step towards the beast. She believed she could evade the pounce.

“Stay close to me.” Larisa said to Ha’na. If she left her alone the beast might prioritize her as the weakest prey and attack her. Larisa couldn’t have that.

“When the beast goes after me, you should run for it.” Larisa said quickly to Farre, who nodded with focused eyes and clenched jaw. The Essence around her was full of determination, but also potent with fear.

Larisa shuffled her feet closer and closer to where the beast was perched. The bushes and other vegetation were dense and proved to perfectly block the bialrys’ white fur.

When her step took her further than the previous ones, a shift was felt in the Essence and the leaves rustled. The beast was in the air.

Larisa had but a second to observe the bialrys. It looked as it did the previous times, with fur white as the clouds and stripes dark as midnight sky. The fangs in its jaw were at full view and Larisa thought they would be able to pierce her as easily as it was to put a stick in mud. Humongous paws with sharp and mean-looking talons were outstretched towards Larisa’s and Ha’na’s tender flesh.

At the least possible second, she took a step to the side. The beast missed, but it was quick, so Larisa had to prepare herself again. She could feel Ha’na at her back, squeezing her undershirt tightly.

She could hear laboured and fearful breaths, but she wasn’t sure if it was her or Ha’na that were the source of them. It didn’t matter, because the beast turned faster than Larisa thought possible. The Essence shifted again, and the wisps started to sit down on Larisa’s shoulders, ready to feast on her dead flesh. But as she readied her feet and outstretched her dagger a terrible shriek came from the beast.

The bialrys turned around frantically and Larisa was able to notice how its back was suddenly caught on fire. The source of the fire laid down in grass under its feet and burned a perimeter around the edge of the dragon’s scale.

The beast tried to roll around in the grass but it was futile. The fire set deep within and spread around the whole body of the bialrys. Its paws and fangs tried to strike at the perpetrator of this attack, but the flames blinded the beast and the smoke that rose from its burning flesh obfuscated the beast’s and the women’s vision.

There was a minute of pained and panicked hissing, and then the beast fall down quiet.

It was dead.

The air got soaked again in the red scale’s potent Essence and the previously abundant earthiness left the premises. The wisps scattered towards the bialrys’ corpse and Larisa wondered how she survived the encounter with the red scale when the beast like the bialrys didn’t.

“Quickly! We need to hide the scale!” Ha’na pulled Larisa closer to where the dragon’s scale was laid out. Smoke was coming up in the air from around the ground it lay on. The water in the dirt bubbled and steam was raising high into the air with a smell of burning grass. Larisa gripped her dagger tightly and tumbled the scale towards the discarded metal box with its tip. There, she saw shaking Farre standing with her eyes wide open and breaths coming in and out faster than was healthy.

The scale tumbled into the case easily enough. Ha’na quickly closed it and the women sat down tiredly on the untouched green patches of grass. They watched with fear and wonder as the bialrys' corpse seemed to disappear quickly before their very eyes.

“We live.” Farre said quietly and with wonder.

“Yes, we do.” Ha’na agreed with the sentiment.

Larisa nodded and wished that fights didn’t have to end like this every time.