Read Online The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson - Free Book Online

must be paid for, in proportion! Why, I wouldn't have done what this wooden-headed Hansen amateur of yours did without having built up ten years' credit with the Auditing Department first; and I'm a Master of the Arts. He's pushed his debit right to the breaking point—it can't go any further."
    "How do you know?" asked Jim. "Why, my good teaching assistant," said Carolinus, "isn't it obvious? He was able to send this maiden of yours—I assume she is a maiden?"
    "Well—"
    "Well, well, call her a maiden for form's sake. Academic question, anyway," Carolinus snapped. "The point I'm making is that he was able to send her back completely, body and all; but he only had enough credit with the Auditing Department after that to transport your spirit, leaving your body behind. Result, you're an Imbalance in the here and now—and the Dark Powers love something like that. Result, we have a nice, touchy situation—now that I look a little deeper into it—ready to turn things here very much for the worst. Hah! If you'd only been a little more clever and learned, you'd have realized you could have had my help without paying for it with that ulcer exorcism. I'd have helped you anyway, just in order to help myself and all of us here." Jim stared at him.
    "I don't understand," he said, finally. "Naturally not—a mere teaching assistant like yourself. All right, I'll spell it out. The fact of your appearance here—yours and this Angie's—has upset the balance between Chance and History. Upset it badly. Imagine a teeter-totter, Chance sitting on one end, History on the other, swinging back and forth—Chance up one moment, then Chance down and History up. The Dark Powers love that. They throw their weight at the right moment on a side that's already headed down, and either Chance or History ends permanently up. One way we get Chaos. The other we get Predictability and an end to Romance, Art, Magic and everything else interesting."
    "But…" Jim found himself drowning in a sea of words, "if that's the case, what can we do about it?"
    "Do? Push up when the Dark Powers push down. Push down when the Dark Powers push up! Force a temporary balance and then hit them head on—our strength against their strength. Then, if we win that final battle, we can set your situation to rights and be back on permanent balance again. But there'll be trouble, first."
    "Look here, though—" Jim was beginning.
    He was about to protest that Carolinus seemed to be making the situation out to be far more complicated than was necessary. But he had no chance to finish his sentence. Just then a loud thud outside the house shook it to its foundations; and a dragon voice thundered.
    "Gorbash!"
    "I knew it," said Carolinus. "It's already started."

Chapter Five
    He led the way to the door, threw it open and strode out. Jim followed. Sitting on the path about a dozen feet from the door was Smrgol.
    "Greetings, Mage!" boomed the old dragon, dipping his head briefly. "You may not remember me. Name's Smrgol. You remember that business about the ogre of Gormely Keep? I see my grand-nephew got to you, all right."
    "Ah, Smrgol. I remember," said Carolinus. "That was a good job you did."
    "He had a habit of dropping his clubhead after a swing," Smrgol explained. "I noticed it along about the fourth hour of the battle. Left himself wide open for just a second. The next time he tried it, I went in over his guard and tore up the biceps of his right arm. After that it was just a matter of finishing."
    "I remember. Eighty-three years ago. So this is your grand-nephew?"
    "I know," said Smrgol. "A little thick-headed and all that—but my own flesh and blood, you know. How've you been getting along with him, Mage?"
    "Well enough," said Carolinus, dryly. "In fact, I'll venture to promise this grand-nephew of yours will never be the same again."
    "I hope so," Smrgol said, brightening. "Any change is a change for the better. But I've bad news,