Best Laid Plans of Dragons and Men

Izagor was curled up into a ball and sleeping on the opposite side of the bed—even the simply act of looking at her made Mason feel uncertain and confused. He hopped off the bed and went to the bathroom to wash himself up. He went into the shower and let the water blast him clean. The reduced dexterity of his paws caused some trouble when he tried to grab a toothbrush, but eventually he got himself all cleaned up. All the while he was thinking through what had happened the previous night, replaying the memory in his mind and trying to analyse it.

What had they done? He wasn't a virgin who had never before tasted intimacy, yet none of his previous experiences compared to what he had felt with Izagor. The intensity, the passion, and even those delightfully pleasured sounds she had made—he wanted more of it, but she was a dragon! She was a dragon with the body of an attractive human female, but still a dragon nonetheless! He'd just bedded a dragon, and it had been the best damn sex of his life. He didn't know how to feel about it or what he really wanted.

By the time Mason was done, he found Izagor awake as well and standing by the window, peeking through the curtains at the darkened street outside. He wanted to say something to her, but the words just didn't come to him. Izagor stayed just as quiet; they both exchanged minor pleasantries and quickly discussed their plan for the day, but no words were passed about what had transpired between them. In silent, unspoken agreement, they both would need to take some time to think about what they'd done.

Izagor washed herself up, then she'd reluctantly pulled on Mason's clothes (which were somewhat dirty) and went downstairs to pay for the hotel room. The hotel receptionist was already sitting at the front desk, looking far more ready to face the day than she was. "Good morning. Is everything alright?" he asked her.

"Yes...I'm just...wondering if I should regret some things I've done..." Izagor paid the hotel's fee and returned the key, then she headed back upstairs.

Mason opened the door to let her in. They opened the window and stepped out onto the balcony. Mason was wearing the leather harness from yesterday's smuggling trip, and Izagor climbed onto his back. As the sky started to glow with the light of dawn, they took to the skies for home.

--

They didn't talk much over the course of the hour-long flight, yet this silence felt natural and easy. Neither Izagor nor Mason tried to force a conversation; instead, they watched the rolling hills pass below them as they sky slowly came alight.

For Mason at least, it was very different seeing the landscape from above compared to seeing it from ground level. He was in a familiar region now, being so close to home, and soon his house came into view. His home was in a small forest running along the coastline, connected via a dirt road to the nearby town of Klosk Harbour. It was just a simple cottage located a few hundred meters inland from the ocean, but this was where he had lived for the past few years. "Home again," he said, as he landed in the garden which was overgrown with tall grass and wildflowers.

"So this is where your territory." Izagor slid off his back. "Do you live alone?"

"Yes. I sometimes stay in the in the Royal Academy of Magic when I'm working on more complicated projects with other sorcerers, but this is where I go to relax at the end of the week." Mason walked up to the front door and took out his key from the harness he was wearing.

Izagor turned around slowly, taking in the quiet atmosphere created by the forested trees around them, and the wind blowing in from the coast. "This is nice. I can smell the ocean. You have a nice house."

"Thank you. I bought it cheap just a few years ago; I've been thinking of renovating or even rebuilding the place, actually. I have a plan all drawn up, but I just haven't gotten the time." Unlocking the door, Mason strolled into his home and beckoned Izagor in. The sun was already rising, producing enough brightness that he didn't bother to light a lantern. "Welcome to my humble home. Sorry that it's a bit of a mess, but I wasn't expecting a guest. This is the main room, bedroom over there, kitchen there, and my study is there."

Izagor walked into the living room and looked around briefly. The place smelled of paper and wood, and it seemed quite tidy and minimalistic, almost to the point of looking barren. "Alright, so...how do we do this? How do we change back?"

"It's a simple plan. I'll summon the demon Kurzadakathan again and have him make a new transformation crystal. Come to my study—I do all my work there. I have a summoning circle in there too."

Mason headed into one of the adjacent rooms—the room was split into two. On one side was a desk covered with stacks of paperwork and various writing implements, while the other side was completely empty except for a couple of large concentric circles marked on the floor. Izagor sat on the cushioned chair behind the desk, while Mason picked up a thick stack of documents. "This is one of the copies I made of that transformation spell. I...uh...can't exactly hold a pen with these paws, but since the contract has already been written that doesn't matter."

"What should I do? I can't read those things," Izagor said.

"You don't need to do anything; I've done this many times before. Just sit back and watch the show." Walking to the other side of the room, Mason pointed a paw towards the two concentric circles on the ground. "The inner circle is the actual summoning circle which will create a portal to the otherworldly plane, while also acting as a defensive barrier which will contain the demon if it tries to act in a hostile manner. The outer circle is a separate obscuring enchantment which prevents the demon from seeing anything else in the room. It's not truly necessary, but it's extra security. I like to take that precaution just to make doubly sure the demon doesn't get to see any other contracts it's not supposed to." He took a deep breath, expecting it to be one of his last spent in this draconic body. "Are you ready? I'm going to summon Kurzadakathan."

Now that the moment was almost upon them, Izagor found herself even more conflicted than ever. Of course she wanted to go back to being a dragon, but at the same time she felt like she would miss her human body, and she would very much miss Mason when she flew off. "I...I'm ready. Let's change back."

Mason nodded solemnly. He glanced to a poster stuck to the wall, which contained the standard list of instructions for summoning a demon—he had memorized how things worked until he could do it with eyes closed, but looking to his list helped him get into the mood. Though he had summoned demons countless times before, he had never done it as a dragon, and the flow of magic through his body felt subtly different from usual.

The sorcerer stepped into the perimeter of the outer circle. He sat down on his haunches and raised a forepaw to point at the inner circle. "Kurzadakathan! Accursed Destroyer, Twisted Fiend, Being of Nightmare and Deceit! From the Otherworldly Plane, I thus invoke thee."

Izagor held her breath as Mason said the ritual words. She leaned forward over the desk, anxious to see what the summoning would look like...but nothing happened.

"Hm. Did I say that wrong? Uh... Kurzadakathan, I thus invoke thee!" Mason repeated, but still there was nothing, so he tried again using an ancient magical language which was preferred by certain sorcerers (mostly the elitist snobs). "Kurzadakathan. Kurzadakathan. Kurzadakathan. Vanokepo cica tella delliriz simat cica. Kurzadakathan. Vigta."

But still nothing. Mason's neck crest drooped flat and he turned to Izagor. "This...this isn't working for some reason."

"Is it me? Should I step outside...?" Izagor suggested, wondering if her presence was interfering with summoning spell or perhaps Mason's focus.

"No, it can't be you. Usually I get it right on the first time, but after six calls? Something else is wrong. The circle isn't even glowing. There's no energy transfer at all." Mason tilted his head. "Can't be the summoning circle, and it can't be that the otherworldly plane is suddenly closed for business. Even the local overworld flux can't interfere with a summoning circle of this classification. So it must be something with my magic? But I...oh I get it. I think I understand."

"What's the problem?"

"The summoning circle is calibrated for my body as a human. It won't respond to my magic while I'm a dragon. The problem is obvious when you consider the dimensional differential equations—they won't sum to zero." Mason shook his head. "It's a bit of a paradox—I can't use my circle until I transform back, but I can't transform back until I use my circle."

"So what do we do?"

"Let me just think about this. Maybe I could modify the circle and recalibrate it? But that would require fully recalculating the wavefunctions since the general solutions are no longer approximately valid."

Dragons used magic intuitively by channelling their willpower to focus the power that ran through their blood; in comparison, humans used verbal spells, special hand gestures, and some even used wands or staffs to access the realm of the arcane. Therefore, Izagor wasn't sure what Mason was talking about. "And...can you do that?" she asked.

"It's not impossible, it's just the sort of thing which the academy would devote an entire research project to. If I had ten weeks and a couple of graduate assistants helping me, then sure I could recalculate this summoning circle to work for a dragon. But that's far too long. There has to be a simpler way." After some consideration, Mason realized the simplest way forward. "You have to do it. You've got a human body, so the circle will accept your power."

Izagor wondered if she had misheard. "What? Me? I'm not a sorcerer! I can't do it."

"You can. All you need to do is say the same words I did, then talk to the demon and get it to carry out the contract. The two main challenges in sorcery are drawing the summoning circle and preparing a proper contract that is rigorous and unbreakable—I've already done both for you."

This sudden idea—that she would need to be the one casting the spell—made Izagor uneasy. "Are you serious? You want me to summon a demon and deal with it? That's human magic!"

Mason nodded. He walked over to the desk and put the contract down. "Exactly. You're a human right now, but I'm not. I'm completely serious about this. Summoning is much easier than you think. I'll be right here outside the outer circle—you'll be able to see me, but the demon won't. The only catch is that the contract has to be written by you for it to be valid, so you'll need to copy my documentation onto fresh pieces of paper."

"Mason, I can't read human runes or script!"

"But you can write, yes? Then just use your natural language—dragon speak or whatever. The demon will understand it as long as you do. I'll read off this contract and explain to you everything so you can write it down."

Looking over the thick sheaf of paper, Izagor wasn't convinced. "All this? That would take us days, if not weeks to transcribe and copy all that over."

Mason took one single sheet of paper from the top of the stack. "Alright, maybe you could just copy over the executive summary. I've summed up all the important parts of the contract, and there's a minor clause here which requires new contracts to follow previous similar contracts if ambiguity is involved. Here, take this pen. I'll just read out the summary to you, and you pen down the words. We can do this."

Working together, they started copying over the demonic contract. Izagor had to write slowly, moving the pen in deliberate strokes as she grasped it with her dextrous but untrained hand. Speaking calmly and slowly, Mason went over the whole contract with her, explaining what it did, as well as the requirements and failsafes it included. It took them almost a whole hour just to copy over the two paged document, translating human written language into the flowy characters of draconic script. Looking back over the contract she had just created, Izagor felt that her writing was ugly but still barely readable—draconic characters were meant to be written with smooth strokes of the tail, not by a pen clutched in the hand of a near-illiterate human.

Mason had her read out the contract and explain to him what it did, just to be sure she had done the copying correctly, then he nodded and gestured for her to step into the outer circle. "I think that'll be sufficient. Let's try this again. I'll be right here beside you just outside the circle—the demon won't hear or see me, but you can. I'll talk you through the process."

Izagor stared at the contract she was holding, then she turned to Mason. "What do I do?"

"Summon the demon, then order it to carry out the contract. It might try to threaten you or coerce you, but stay firm and ignore it until it agrees to carry the contract. Once the contract is signed, the demon will draw some energy from the circle, create the crystal, and return to the otherworldly plane. At no point should you offer it information or promises of any kind—just insist that you want this contract carried out."

"Ok, ok." Izagor crossed her hands and steeled herself. She stepped into the outer circle. "I can do this. Let's do this! What was the spell supposed to be?"

"Raise your hand towards the inner circle," Mason said.

Izagor raised her hand, and suddenly a surge of magic rushed out of her body. The circle began to glow, with the inscriptions written into it beginning to shimmer and shift. "Is that normal?"

Mason remained outside both circles. "It's normal. That's the summoning circle energizing by taking some of your magic so it can create the defensive wards which will contain the demon. Now when you're ready, just say the demon's name—Kurzadakathan. Pronounced as ker-zah-dah-kah-than."

"Kurzadakathan," Izagor said, and instantly the summoning circle flashed in response. Tiny motes of light appeared inside the circle, floating around like dust.

Mason nodded his approval. "You've done it. The demon is coming. Just remember what I told you—no new deals, no bargaining, just the contract exactly as written."

The light flecks began to spin and swirl as if caught in a whirlpool—they coalesced and collapsed into a sphere in the centre which glowed like a miniature sun. Beams of energy shot out from this glowing sphere, spinning round and round like a lighthouse sweeping across the room. Izagor found the sight beautiful yet otherworldly.

Suddenly the sphere of light became a sphere of flesh—Kurzadakathan took the appearance of a gigantic, horrible-looking, bloodshot eyeball which floated in the air. The beams of light swept together into a single particle beam focused directly on Izagor, tracing her movements even as she tried to avoid it. The summoning circle stopped the beam before it touched her. "Is that supposed to happen?"

Mason didn't even blink. "It's normal."

"Ok..."

"He's trying to kill you. Typical demon behaviour."

"What?" Before Izagor could clarify further, the giant eyeball stopped firing the particle beam and rolled itself passive-aggressively. Then abruptly everything went dark and there was a figure in the middle of the inner circle, sitting on the floor with legs crossed—Kurzadakathan the demon.

Compared to the spectacular display of light, Izagor found the demon almost underwhelming—it looked almost like an ordinary human in every aspect, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and pants that were completely black. "A new voice calls me, and I answer." Kurzadakathan looked up and stared at Izagor. "I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting. Your summoning circle is most impressive. What is your name, mighty sorceress?"

Mason spoke quickly before Izagor could say anything. "Don't answer that. Demons can instantly discern the names of mortals—he's testing you to see how much you know about summoning and how cooperative you're going to be. Just order him to sign the contract. Let the edge of the paper pass into the inner circle."

Izagor felt incredibly unnerved by this whole activity, but Mason's advice helped calm her down—she didn't turn to look at him, but knowing he was standing right behind her gave her strength. She raised her hand, holding up the demonic contract she had written. "I have a contract for you to sign."

Kurzadakathan smiled, but the gesture showed a few too many teeth. "I see that, Izagor the Brown, I see that. Come let me take a closer look." The demon took the paper from her and peered over it. "My, what strange handwriting you have. This is the language of...dragons...? Yes, dragons. What an interesting choice. Many sorcerers like to use the ancient language of magic, but writing a contract using the language of dragons is not something I see very often. Ah, and I see what this contract is for! I see why you wrote it so—it is only fitting that you would learn the writing of dragons if you want to turn yourself into one." The demon flipped over the paper and read the other page. "Why would you want to turn yourself into a dragon?"

"Don't answer that either. You can threaten to banish Kurzadakathan if he doesn't want to sign the contract," Mason said.

"I'm not telling you that. Sign the contract or I'll banish you," Izagor told the demon.

Kurzadakathan was still sitting on the floor, cross legged. He tilted his head in amusement. "Will you really? So impatient! I'll sign if that's what you want. I see you've specified a payment of...four morts of energy from the circle. How boring! I can get energy from anyone. Why don't we trade in information? Surely you know that information is far more valuable commodity. Would you like a free sampling?"

Izagor crossed her arms and tried to look insistent. She didn't know exactly what a 'mort' was, but Mason had said earlier that it was just a unit of magical energy. "I'm not telling you anything. The contract says four morts, so...so that's what it's going to be."

"Really? Is that what you want?" Kurzadakathan snapped his fingers and suddenly a pen appeared in his hand. He placed the contract down on the floor and put his pen on the line, but he didn't sign it just yet. He started twirling the pen around his fingers, then suddenly he pulled back his hand but the pen remained in place, spinning in the air. "That's not what I see in you, though. Your soul is so complex—I see many things in it, things which even you may not know. I can see that this particular contract is of particular, personal, importance to you, not merely some hired work done for gold or favour. But yet I also see something else—your desire is conflicted. What do you really want?"

Neither Izagor nor Mason said anything, and the demon smiled again. "Young sorceress, I can see insecurity in you. You don't like your body as it is, so you wish to change it because you think it will be better if you alter yourself into another form. Yet...you have other desires too. You are attracted to someone, and you worry that in changing your form you might lose any chance of him being attracted back to you. Am I reading you right?"

It took all of Izagor's effort to keep her face still, and not to glance behind her to see Mason's expression. "The contract...says...it says you can take some energy from the circle. That is the payment."

"That's what it says, but that's not what you want. No, you don't just want a transformation crystal; you also want information on whether to use it. I could tell you what you want to know—does your acquaintance like you for who you are, or for what you are? Will you be happier using this crystal, or not? Is your body that important to you, or is love?"