I ran and ran and ran. As fast as I could go without tripping.

I have to get to the dragon, I must, I must, I must! My brother will perish without treatment and I can’t let that happen. Won’t let it happen.

There it was, the kingdom. Just a few miles away. I could make it. Never mind the cramps forming in my stomach.

I heard a whine. It was unbearable, one of something in agony. It made all my sad feelings surface up, and then I saw it. It was a red fox. It seemed to be laying in agony, like it knew it had very little time left on earth. It gave two loud, long barks, before laying its head back on the ground. It blinked slowly.

I stopped and stared at it. I knew I should get going though. My brother was more important.

“I already have a small chance of getting us a trip, you know they won’t reserve a trip for two kids and a fox.” I told it as if it could understand me. I was mainly telling this to myself, to make myself feel better for leaving it.

The red fox only blinked slowly. It didn’t need me to tell it that. It knew. It blinked slowly, looking on from where I’d come, paying no attention to me or my sympathy.

“Oooohhhh,” my brother moaned, clutching his stomach. He blinked slowly too, moving in and out of consciousness.

I had to keep moving. But I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving that fox to die.

“Screw it! Come on, you idiot little thing!” I picked up the fox. He was heavier than I thought he would be, but I lugged him into my wooden wagon along with my brother. In the back of my mind I kept thinking about the rabbies that thing could give my brother, but if we made it to where we needed to go, that wouldn’t be a problem.

I kept running, down the dirt path that led to the kingdom. I heard old, fragile-sounding flaps, as if someone was waving a book up and down in the air very slowly. Then I saw it, a big red dragon heading for the dragon port in the kingdom. If I made it to him, we wouldn’t have to wait. I sped off as fast as my legs could carry me, that dragon had to become our ride!

I dashed through town, past all the gasps, wide eyes and open mouths. The cobblestones pounded under my feet as I ran with all my might to the fields in the back of the castles.

The dragon port was a field lined with trees that made a lane for dragons to land in, deliver cargo, and fly off again. Though the kingdom I lived near was average in size, it only had one dragon port, so the maximum amount of dragons that could land at a time was one. If I didn’t catch this one, it could be hours to days before the next one landed, and that fox (and possibly my brother!) didn’t have that long.

My stomach was killing me! But I knew the pain wouldn’t die down quick if I stopped, so I kept running. There was the dragon port! I was almost there.

A shadow appeared above me and I suddenly felt cold. I looked up in time to see the dragon flapping right above us, each wing motion rushing air towards us. It felt good, the wind in my short, curly hair. If only my stomach wasn’t in so much pain I would’ve enjoyed it more.

I got to the port just as the dragon landed in between the trees. The ground crew immediately came with gallons of water for the probably weary flier while others looked on his back to check for supplies or other things he might have brang. After a second they slid off the wings with nothing in their hands. Looks like the dragon didn’t even need to be unloaded! A free flight! Now I had my mind set on this ride. My brother will get to the land of the light, and it will be on the back of that dragon!

I had never been to the port before, so I didn’t know if you just hopped on or waited somewhere or… never mind, I’d figure it out.

I was about to go in between the trees and head to the ground crew to ask for a flight, when the king approached me.

“Going somewhere, young’n?”

Oh no. not when I’m this close.