_Autumn is coming _I thought to myself as I clutched my tattered shawl and huddled back against the cold stone wall. Ever since my parents had passed away in a terrible coal mining accident just a few months ago, I had been living on the streets, sleeping in alleyways, begging and doing whatever odd jobs I could find just to survive. But now, having no shelter was becoming deadly. _Eventually, it will become too cold for me to sleep on the streets. But I have nowhere else to go…_

I shuddered at the thought of living in an orphanage. I knew from other orphans I had met on the streets that it was better to live alone in the alleys than to seek refuge there. They had escaped from there. The children in orphanages were worked to the bone like slaves. And since they didn’t have parents, there was no one to protect them from such harsh mistreatment. Even the dragons were treated better than they were.

_Clip-clop, clip-clop. _I perked up instantly, my eyes wide with terror. That was the sound of a dragon-rider, one of the king’s soldiers. Off they found me— I jumped and started to run the opposite direction. As I turned the corner, I skidded to a stop and ducked back into the alleyway—but not before another dragon-rider had spotted me.

“Hey, stop right there!” I frantically looked around for a place to hide, but the only thing I saw was a great pile of coal meant for heating the apartments around me. I hated coal, but beggars can’t be choosers. I dove into the mound and took care to cover myself as completely as possible. It was a good thing it was night and I had black hair and dark skin.

As the dragon-rider rounded the corner with a torch in hand, I scarcely dared to breathe. “Where did that urchin go?” he muttered. My heart pounded as he walked slowly in my direction. He walked toward me, past me, and finally away from me. Although he checked all the trash bins and trash heaps, he never once looked toward my coal mound.

Only once I was certain he was gone did I breathe a sigh of relief. I emerged into the chilly night air again. As I began to walk away, my foot hit something that was much larger than a piece of coal. As I looked down, my eyes went wide: it was a dragon egg!