Summoning Ocellus

A few days later, still a week or so short of hatching day, Tixi interrupted the old dragons while they were handing out missions to the young warriors. “Let us go on egg patrol!” she said. “I speak common, and Ocellus can turn into a dog to carry them safely.”

“Fine with me,” said the little dragon whose team had originally been assigned the task. “I hate going up to the surface.”

“The surface?” Ocellus said, unable to hide her sudden burst of excitement even from the little dragons that weren’t bonded to her emotions.

“Are you sure you can handle it?” the old dragon asked. “You’ll have to talk to many surfacers, and the wizard besides.”

“The wizard!” Ocellus said, even more excited.

“We’re taking my eggs to the wizard,” Tixi explained. “I want to make sure they get there safely.”

The dragon snorted. “Sentimental, but harmless. Fine, you can go…” he waved a claw, idly. “Remember to pick up a disguise. It’s better if you aren’t recognized.”

The first stop was to the hatchery, where the eggs from the last mating season were almost ready to hatch. Ocellus turned into a dog, and the little dragons working there dressed her up in a saddle with three sets of saddlebags, all six bags stuffed full of little round eggs – half the eggs in the hatchery were going to the surface, apparently. Tixi’s eggs were wrapped up tightly in a nice soft blanket, and set on top of the last bag to be fastened shut.

“Are all these eggs going to the wizard?” Ocellus asked.

Tixi flashed pride through the link. “No! Only mine.”

“The rest go to surfacers who’ll pay for them,” Ijj said.

Ocellus felt a little queasy. “You sell your children?”

“We can’t hatch them all ourselves,” Tixi said. “There’d be no room. Luckily, the surfacers find baby dragons cute, and they’re reliable enough to make good workers once they’re grown. Spreading them out through the population usually means they don’t find a partner when it’s time to mate, so it keeps our numbers down without everyone getting killed in battle.”

Ocellus thought there was an awful lot of empty space in the lair itself, let alone the storm drains as a whole, but it was possible there were other considerations. “Do you at least make sure they’re going to a good home?” Ocellus asked.

Rezzo stared at her. “How?”

“If you can tell if the surfacers who want to buy our eggs aren’t worthy, be sure to let us know,” Ijj said. “Bark twice for ‘mean’ and three times for ‘crazy’.”

“Alright, I’ll do that,” Ocellus said.

“Mine are going to the wizard, at least,” Tixi said. “I’m kind of jealous – can you imagine growing up in a wizard’s tower? I’ve never seen it, but I heard he has so many books! And he takes students from all over, and teaches them magic. And the tower has magic mirrors that answer questions and flying carpets that soar through the air…”

“And he’s not mean or crazy?” Ocellus asked.

“He always comes to visit the hatchlings,” Ijj said. “He was very polite when he visited us. He could tell at a glance that I was destined to be a dragon-caster, and Tixi would be a wizard.”

“He could kill all of us with a single spell, but he just laughed when I bit his ankle,” Rezzo said.

“And he’s always giving advice to the elders,” Tixi said. “Everyone respects him.”

“Is he… sentimental?” Ocellus asked.

“He must be,” Rezzo said. “He invests a lot more time in us than we could possible deserve.”

“But he’s not, you know, rude about it,” Ijj said.

“I can’t wait to meet him again!” Tixi said. “Egg duty doesn’t usually mean visiting his tower, but this time…” she patted the saddlebag with her eggs in it, then giggled and hopped a little. “I can’t wait!”

===

The shopkeeper was happy to lend them a disguise when they told him they were headed for the surface. Or maybe a package of disguises? There was only one package, although it was fairly large. They put on their tinted goggles and crept silently through the storm drain towards the market, which had the most convenient exits, Ijj and Tixi ranging ahead to take out any rats that got in their way, while Rezzo stayed close to Ocellus to guard the eggs in case anything came up behind them, since despite her training, she wasn’t stealthy enough in dog shape for them to be confident in remaining unseen.

Climbing the ladder to the surface was a production, since the metal disk covering the entrance wasn’t meant to be opened from below. Rezzo knew how to do it – there were holes in the base where spears could be braced to lever the thing up and slide it aside – but it was really heavy, and eventually Ocellus turned into a human – her largest form with hands – to climb up next to him and provide some extra strength, while Ijj and Tixi held on to the eggs.

But then they were outside! They were in a trash-filled alley, which smelled even worse than the storm drain (but nowhere near as bad as the actual sewer), with brick walls rising high around them to leave them in shadow with only a sliver of bright sky above, but it was still a nice change of pace. Ocellus used her base form’s horn to fasten the egg-harness to herself with her magic, before turning back into a similarly-sized dog, while the little dragons assembled their disguise.

It was a trenchcoat. The three of them stood on each other’s shoulders (Rezzo on the bottom, as the strongest, and Tixi on top since she was the one who knew the language) and hid inside a trenchcoat. The long sleeves dangled far past tixi’s claws, and her bright purple muzzle stuck out from underneath the hood.

“I don’t think that’s going to fool anyone,” Ocellus said, looking at it in dismay.

“It’s always worked before!” Ijj replied, his voice coming from the looming figure’s chest. Rezzo and Tixi shushed him, but Ocellus could feel Tixi’s utter confidence that he was right, and this disguise was impenetrable.

“Maybe I should wear it?” she suggested, but then what would she do with them? She wasn’t going to risk walking around the city on her own, even if a trenchcoat alone would be a good disguise for her otherwise naked human form.

Maybe she was just being dismissive of their efforts because she was a changeling? It was hard to compete with being able to physically change shape. She’d certainly seen ponies get away with some terrible disguises, and Rarity had a story about how she and her friends had covered themselves in a sheet with a few alterations, and passed as a dragon in the dragonlands.

So she walked behind them quietly as they navigated around some piles of trash and out into the market proper… where she immediately froze. There were so many people! It was like the crowd in the pub but filling the entire marketplace – crowds of humans dense enough that they’d have to wind their way through the traffic and hope others would move aside in turn. All of them talking, or near enough to generate the solid cacophony of voices that had been muted, or at least less recognizable, from the sewer or alleyway, but were now just barely understandable in little snatches here and there before they walked out of range or were drowned out by other people talking over them.

The three little dragons in the trenchcoat hadn’t hesitated, and Tixi had to kick and yell at the boys to stop and turn around to see what was wrong with Ocellus. Sure enough, they seemed to be blending into the crowd just fine – people would stare, but then move on, and if anything Ocellus was getting more strange looks since no other dogs were being used as beasts of burden.

“Sorry,” Ocellus hissed, as she steeled herself and walked out into the crowd. “It’s so loud, and so many…” She spoke in draconic, since it sounded more like the sort of noises a dog might make, if anyone overheard.

“And so bright,” Tixi hissed under her breath, but it was Rezzo who had the map and was acting as their feet, so aside from some drunken wobbling they headed purposefully towards their first destination.

They made it about fifty feet before an armored surfacer extended a spear to block their way. “Ahem.”

Tixi must have had a pre-arranged signal, because the trenchcoat came to a wobbly halt almost immediately. “Can help, officer?”

“I don’t recall seeing you around here before, ma’am,” the surfacer said. “Are you drunk?”

“Not drunk, just bright,” Tixi said. “So bright.”

“Riiight,” the officer said. “You looked like you were about to fall over.”

Tixi flashed with brief anger, and Ijj gave a small yip from inside the coat as she kicked him.

“Apologies,” Tixi said, “will do better. floating claw” The last was in the language of magic, and Ocellus watched the sleeve of the trenchcoat slowly rise, and swing towards the officer, who stared at it in confusion alongside Ocellus. The mystery was solved when a copper coin emerged from the end, floating in midair as the sleeve dropped back to the dragons’ side.

The officer stared at the coin, then took it and shook his head. “Just be more careful. I don’t want you – or anyone else – getting hurt.”

“See?” Tixi said in the dragons’ language, after they’d moved on. “The disguise worked almost as well as a magical charm. And I got to pay a bribe! Isn’t this exciting?”

“Bribes here are really cheap,” Ocellus whispered back. “Unless I’ve badly misunderstood the value of your money.”

===

Their first contact waved them into a nice, dark room – the family room of a house adjoining the market, with heavy curtains blocking the windows – and the little dragons were able to shed their disguise and rest their eyes a bit. Ocellus wanted to relax, now that they were out of the crowd, but while he was wearing fairly innocuous clothing and wasn’t wielding so much as a kitchen knife, something about him screamed ‘sketchy’ and kept her on edge.

The feeling seemed to be mutual. “I don’t recognize you,” he said, in the dragons’ language. “Do you have the eggs?”

“We do,” Tixi said. “Thirty-five of them this time, although three are for the Wizard. He made a special order.”

“That few?” He frowned. “We had a deal. You go through me. You aren’t holding out on me, are you?”

“The Wizard is an exception,” Tixi said.

“I don’t mean that, that’s fine, that’s the Wizard, there’s no accounting for wizards,” he said, waving it off. “But you normally have twice as many for me. Did you find another dealer?”

“We had to replace many losses this cycle,” Rezzo explained. “Adventurers broke into our home –”

“I fail to see how that’s *my* problem” the main replied, angrily. The little dragons cowered.

“It means they have fewer eggs to sell,” Ocellus said. “Is that a problem for you, or not?”

“You can talk,” he said, staring at her suspiciously.

“She’s a succubus,” Tixi said, using the common word. “Deal with us fairly or she’ll devour your soul.”

The man looked at Ocellus and narrowed his eyes. “That’s a succubus. Really.”

Ocellus had a brief notion to turn into a naked human and succubus all over him, but they didn’t really have time, and the thought of practicing her craft with this human in particular was fairly revolting. So she dredged up her sexiest voice from the depths of her infiltration training, and batted her big, watery dog eyes. “I can automatically take the form of your deepest desires,” she said, wagging her tail, “Why, what do you see?”

That got a laugh, which wasn’t exactly what she was going for, but she’d take it since it also got them out of there with a list of names and addresses – potential parents for the extra eggs. There were a lot more names than they had eggs, and as they traveled around (thankfully less crowded parts of) the city, all the people on the list seemed aggressively… normal. Families with children, older folks who seemed lonely, the occasional bright-eyed youngster excited just to hold an egg in their hands. The only stop Ocellus vetoed was the arena, where the beastmaster wanted to buy the entire remaining supply.

“But this is a good place isn’t it?” Ijj asked, after they finally noticed Ocellus’ barking and backed off to consult. “They’ll be taught to fight. Fighting’s a good trade!”

“He’s going to use them as monsters and get them all killed,” Ocellus insisted.

“I take good care of my monsters,” the beastmaster said in draconic, having apparently overheard. “Feed them, train them, heal them up between fights, unless they got their head chopped off or something.”

Ocellus and the beastmaster stared at each other, until Tixi spoke up, “We’re short on eggs this cycle, and there are a lot of individual clients who only want one egg each. So why don’t we skip the arena for now; we’ll have plenty of time to reassure ourselves that this is a good place to leave eggs before next time.”

The beastmaster didn’t look that disappointed. “It’s fine, I’ll just post for adventurers to bring in some live goblins or something. Variety is good for business anyway.”

Soon enough, they were down to the last three eggs – Tixi’s eggs, slated for the Wizard. His tower was a ways away, but they could already see it towering over the surrounding buildings.

===

Approaching the wizard’s tower wasn’t quite as easy as just walking towards it. While it was considerably taller than the other buildings, the three-story townhouses blocked their view when they got close, and all of the streets seemed to circle around it, or dead-end short of the grounds. They ended up having to ask directions and backtrack a little to arrive at the start of the Wizard’s Promenade.

If you judged by the buildings alone, it was the same as any other street, save for the tower clearly visible at the far end. That would be a feat worthy of legend, though – somehow managing to ignore the shouting, laughing, flashing spells, and young humanoid wizards in all manner of dress, undress, and sobriety.

Ocellus and the kobolds stood at the end of the street, staring at the spectacle, while the locals hurried past, carefully not looking.

“Hey look, Ocellus!” Ijj said, pointing a claw out of the trenchcoat’s chest. “Humans don’t need to wear clothes here.”

Ocellus and Tixi glanced over at the particularly shameless couple who were, in fact, not wearing clothes. Since the man had the woman pressed up against a railing and was quite energetically railing her, they weren’t the only ones who’d stopped to watch.

“They aren’t very good at it,” Tixi remarked.

“They’re not putting on a show,” Ocellus said. “You can’t judge their skills fairly when they’re focusing on each others’ pleasure…”

The man cried out and gave a few jerky thrusts, and the woman’s expression changed from pleasure and concentration to an angry scowl. “You asshole!” she said, hitting him in the head and shoving him off her. “I told you not to come inside!”

“I know, that’s why we’re out here on the porch!” the man protested, which just made her angrier.

“Okay, you were right,” Ocellus said. “They’re just bad at it.”

“Maybe you could go help her?” Tixi suggested, but Rezzo turned them away from the pair and started down the street. “Eggs first, right,” she sighed.

The street was a minefield of sticky patches and trash that probably would have been a lot more disgusting to people who hadn’t just come out of a storm drain, but he still made sure to step around the more colorful puddles.

The noise and chaos closed in behind them as they made their way towards the tower, shouting and screaming and arcane incantations coming from all directions. Including directly above. “Watch out!” was the only warning before a wizard came plummeting out of the sky, directly on top of Tixi and company. Ocellus leapt back to protect the eggs, but the kobolds were sent sprawling, Rezzo and half of Ijj exposed as Tixi got tangled up in the disguise and yanked it off them as she fell.

“Ooog,” the small young man said, flailing around as he tried to right himself. “I’m pretty sure feathers fall slower than that.”

“They broke our disguise!” Rezzo said, as he and Ijj stood back to back, staring around in a panic. “Run for it!”

“Wait for me!” Tixi squealed as they darted for the tower, her head poking out the hood of the trenchcoat while her arms and legs were hopelessly tangled.

The young man tried to grab her, so Ocellus leapt at him and pushed him back onto his butt… then realized that he was probably trying to help, and stopped with one paw set against his chest. “Um… woof?”

The man gestured, and Tixi lifted up off the ground and settled onto Ocellus’ back. He grinned at her.

“Thanks,” she said, and ran after Rezzo and Ijj, while Tixi clung to her back.

===

Everything was calm once they passed the threshold of the wizard’s grounds, the noise and activity from the approach fading almost instantly into the background. A couple of humans were quietly studying, but gave them barely a glance as the kobolds regrouped and Tixi untangled herself from the trenchcoat.

Ocellus turned and looked out through the gate in the hedge fencing in the grounds proper, which shimmered with some sort of energy field that she hadn’t noticed passing through. It held back the noise and muted the visuals, although she could still tell that the scene outside was chaos if she looked.

“I see you met my… students,” said a deep, fatherly voice behind her. Ocellus turned back around to see a grey-bearded human wearing what looked for all the world like Twilight’s Starswirl the Bearded costume, although after a second she noticed the bells had been replaced with tassels.

Tixi rushed to kneel before the wizard, but one of her feet was still caught in the trenchcoat’s hood, and she shook it vigorously until it finally fell free, then took her place beside Rezzo and Ijj. Ocellus looked at them, then at the wizard, who met her gaze with an unscrutable expression. After a second, she knelt as well, with her forelegs in the pony style, lowering her eyes to the ground.

The wizard patted her on the head, then scratched behind her ears as if she was a dog. It wasn’t unpleasant. “Far too many hopefuls arrive here, hoping to become my apprentice. So I give them instructional material – spellbooks like the one I let you borrow, Tixi.”

“It is very good,” Tixi said, in common. “I learn much.”

“Self-study is enough for anyone with talent and dedication to learn to cast spells,” the wizard continued. “Sometimes one of them impresses me, and I bring them into the tower as an apprentice, to benefit from personal attention and tutelage.” He laughed. “Not that any of this has anything to do with you. You have my eggs, I trust?”

Ocellus stood, and opened her saddlebag, revealing the last three, specially marked eggs.

“Hmm,” the wizard said, gesturing and levitating one into the air, where he spun it around to study it. “I suppose I shouldn’t expect any obvious changes at this stage.”

“What sort of changes are you expecting?” Ocellus asked.

The wizard levitated the other two eggs out of the saddlebags, and floated all three to a quiet robed figure that Ocellus hadn’t previously noticed was standing in his shadow. They placed the eggs in a padded box and withdrew into the tower.

“Tixi is already the result of generations of selective breeding,” the wizard explained, as this was happening. “I’m simply continuing the experiment, seeing if I can breed a more intelligent kobold.”

“They seem smart enough to me,” Ocellus said.

“I’m hoping to come up with a breed whose average intelligence is sufficient to excel at magical studies. Most people can’t manage to get their heads around arcane spellcasting, you see,” the wizard said. “Humans make it up with volume, but…” he glanced towards the gate, and the chaos outside. “They’re a bit… wild. Kobolds, on the other hand, are reliable enough that you can ask them to breed with a partner of your choice and bring you their first clutch of eggs, and they’ll actually follow through.”

Ocellus felt Tixi’s pride through the link, and tried to clamp down on her own unease. “Part of that may be their lack of sentimentality,” she muttered, unable to completely silence herself.

“Hmm,” the wizard replied. “And who are you? The kobolds were expected.”

“My name is Ocellus. Tixi summoned me from another world to be her familiar,” she explained, reverting to her true form. “A group of adventurers said that I’m a ‘succubus’, although in my native tongue I call myself a ‘changeling’.” She carefully pronounced the raw ponish word, which sounded strange among a string of common. “It’s a pun, meaning one who changes, or one who is exchanged for another, since we do both of those things.”

“Well you’re certainly not a succubus,” the wizard said. “I can’t see a kobold summoning one of those anyway. That’s more the sad fate of young wizards whose lust outpaces their good sense.”

Ocellus wondered whether to be disturbed or relieved at that revelation. Regardless, she had more pressing concerns. “I was wondering, do you think you could contact –”

“Enough,” the wizard said. “We shouldn’t speak out here in the garden. Tixi, Ocellus, come inside, I have a proposition for you. The rest of you can head home if you wish.” He looked them over, and concentrated for a second. “Ijj and… Rezzo?”

“Yep!” Ijj said, happy to be recognized.

“We’ll stay with Tixi,” Rezzo said. “The disguise won’t work with only two little dragons.”

“Hmm,” the wizard said. “Very well, you have the run of the gardens, then. Try not to bother my apprentices. Tixi, Ocellus, come.” With that last curt order, he turned and walked rapidly towards his tower. Tixi and Ocellus scrambled to keep up.