Free The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson

caught up in a new battle for freedom from domination by the Dark Powers, Smrgol. And it's going to be a battle that makes your set-to with the ogre of Gormely Keep seem unimportant. You can stand aside if you want, but you can do nothing to change what's coming."
    "Stand aside? Me?" Smrgol huffed. "What kind of dragon do you take me for? I'm with Gorbash—and with you too, Mage, if you're on the same side he is. Just tell me what to do!"
    "I am," said Carolinus, dryly. "Very well, Smrgol. In that case, you'd better get back to the other dragons and start making them understand what's at stake here and just where Bryagh, you, and Gorbash stand on matters. As for you—" he turned on Jim.
    "I'm headed for that tower, like it or not," said Jim.
    "Do, and you'll never see your lady again!" Carolinus' voice cracked like a gunshot. His eyes were burning once more. "Do it, and I wash my hands of you; and if I wash my hands of you, you've no hope! Now—will you listen?"
    Jim swallowed his immediate impulse to take off then and there. There might be something in what Carolinus was about to say. In any case, he and Angie would still need the magician's help to get home again, even after Angie was rescued. It would hardly be wise to make an opponent of Carolinus now.
    "I'll listen," he answered.
    "Very well, then. The Dark Powers have taken your lady to their tower for the very reason that they hope to draw you into their territory before you've gathered the strength to oppose them. They want you to come immediately to the rescue of the Lady Angela; because if you do, you'll be easy to defeat. But if you hold off until you've gathered the companions the watchbeetle indicated, it's they who can be defeated. Therefore, you're foolish if you go now."
    "But what'll they do to Angela—I mean, Angie—" said Jim, "when they see I'm not coming right after her? They'll figure she's no good as a means to stop me, and do something terrible to her—"
    "They cannot!" Carolinus snapped. "By taking the lady they've over-extended themselves, made themselves vulnerable. If they treat her any way but well, all who might oppose them—man, dragon and beast—will form a solid front against them. There're rules at work here; and just as if you go now to her rescue you will certainly lose, so if they harm their hostage they will certainly lose!"
    Jim found himself wavering in his firm intention to go after Angie at once. He remembered his earlier determination to figure out the system by which this world operated. If Carolinus was correct… and the magician was a very convincing arguer…
    "But you're sure she'll be all right if I don't get to that tower right away?" Jim asked.
    "She'll only be other than all right if you do go now."
    Jim gave in with a deep sigh.
    "All right," he. said. "What do I do, then? Where should I go?"
    "Away!" said Carolinus. "That is, in exactly the opposite direction which you would use in returning to the dragon cave from which you came."
    "But, Mage," put in Smrgol, puzzled, "away from the cave is exactly toward the fens and the Loathly Tower. And you just finished saying he shouldn't go to the tower—"
    "Dragon," cried Carolinus, wheeling on Smrgol. "Have I got to argue with you, now? I said 'away!' I didn't say 'to the tower.' The Powers give me patience! Have I got to explain the intricacies of Advanced Magics to every dumbwit and numbskull who flies in here, or don't I? I ask you?"
    "No!" said the deep bass voice out of thin air.
    "There," Carolinus said in a relieved tone, mopping his brow. "You heard the Auditing Department. Now, no more talk. I've got my hands too full as it is. Off with you to the dragon cave, Smrgol. And away with you, Gorbash, in the opposite direction!"
    He turned around and stamped into his house, slamming the door shut behind him.
    "Come, Gorbash," boomed Smrgol. "The Mage's right. Let me get you started in the right direction, then I'll leave you on your