Realms of the Dragons/First Flight

"First Flight" is a short story by Edward Bolme included in the 2004 anthology Realms of the Dragons.

Summary
Serreg, an archwizard under Lady Polaris in Delia, studies a blight which seems to hit all the land the floating city passes above. After deducting that the blight is a magical spell coming from under the earth, Serreg goes to investigate, but is no match for the phaerimm he finds there. While fleeing for his life, his prayers are heard by Targus, who grants him a dagger of polymorphing, with which he slays the phaerimm, polymorphing randomly several times in the process. Finally, he is polymorphed into a dragon, and with his superior intellect understands that each time he used the dagger it polymorphs him into something random. As a dragon, he is now unconcerned with mortal matters such as the plague, so he tears the dagger (which was morphed into a claw) from his body and claims it as the start of his treasure hoard.