The Dragon and the George

Plot summary

Jim Eckert has a doctorate in medieval history and works as an assistant to a history professor at a Minnesota university, hoping to land an instructor job. He is engaged to Angie Farrell, who is pursuing a doctorate in English literature and works as a lab assistant for psychology graduate student Grottwald Weinar Hansen. During one of Grottwald's astral projection experiments, Angie disappears. To find her, Jim uses the same apparatus she was testing and ends up projecting his consciousness into a medieval fantasy world, where his mind takes over the body of a dragon named Gorbash. In that world, dragons call humans "georges," a term derived from the tale of Saint George and the Dragon. Two dragons, Smrgol and Bryagh, have taken Angie captive. Jim, despite being a dragon, manages to convince Angie who he is and tries to hypnotize her to send her back to the real world, but she refuses because she fears he would be left behind. They go to the magician Carolinus for help, but he demands payment in the form of Gorbash's treasure hoard, which Jim does not know where to find. Bryagh then kidnaps Angie and takes her to Loathly Tower. Carolinus tells Jim to gather companions for a rescue. Jim meets the knight Sir Brian Neville-Smythe, and together they set out to rescue Sir Brian's courtly love interest, Lady Geronde, from the villainous Sir Hugh. On the way, sandmirks attack them, but the talking wolf Aragh, a friend of Gorbash, saves them. Aragh does not believe Jim's story but agrees to join them anyway. They are later joined by the archer Danielle, the Welsh bowman Dafydd ap Hywel, and the outlaw Giles of the Wold. At Malvern Castle, while trying to rescue Lady Geronde, Jim gets wounded by Sir Hugh. When he recovers, he finds that Smrgol and Carolinus have joined the quest, though Smrgol is showing signs of a stroke and is not much help. Jim tries to go to Loathly Tower alone but turns back after running into more sandmirks.