The players ran.

I ran behind them. I knew they were going to kill me as soon as they were safe, but the dragon had killed two of the players already. I might be able to use them as a shield to get Michael free.

The dragon burst out of the cave in a spray of fire and rocks. It was fifty feet long, with the tail being fifteen feet of that. It was a brown dragon, I had read something about the color of the dragon gave it a special ability, but I couldn’t remember what they were. As it flapped its big wings and rose into the air, it reminded me of a flying semi-truck.

“RUN! DRAGON!” The archer screamed as we approached the camp.

The other players turned to run.

“You aren’t going anywhere!” Mouse screamed. "We can take a dragon!”

The players didn’t listen, they ran.

I pulled out my sword and ran to Michael. I cut the ropes on his wrists and grabbed his backpack.

“Where are you going?” Mouse’s voice squeaked “It’s just one dragon!”

I ripped the map out of his hands. I kept my sword pointed at him.

“You won’t get away with this.” He glared at me.

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Screams came from up the road. The roar of the dragon followed.

“You have a bigger problem.” I backed up to Michael.

Mouse looked up the road. He turned back to me. "This isn’t over.”

I watched him leave. Instead of running towards his men, he took off up the side.

I didn’t sheath my sword until I couldn’t see him anymore.

I helped Michael to his feet. "Are you okay?”

He tried to speak, but he only whimpered.

“I’ll get you out of here.” I said

The Dragon roared again.

I helped him shuffle. "Hopefully before he finishes with them.”

Michael nodded.

We moved slowly up the path. I stopped a few times to make sure we weren’t being followed. Michael couldn’t put any weight on his left foot, so it was more like we hopped the whole way.

We made it to the cave and walked through the illusion. Mei jumped to her feet and helped me lay Michael down.

“What happened?” She asked

“They caught him.” I dropped his backpack net to mine. "They used his map to track us.”

Mei opened her spell book and flipped to a white rune. She started tracing it onto her left arm.

“You rescued him?”

“Yes.” I bobbed my head. "Actually, I woke up a dragon. It ran them off.”

“A dragon?” Mei stopped what she was doing and looked up at me. "Really?”

“Yep.”

“What color?” She turned back to her runes.

“Brown.”

“Impressive.”

I watched her work. I finally felt like I had done something right.