Hisahshenikk wandered a long time through desert and plains, his native territory. His first view of trees disturbed him, though at first he thought it was just a mirage in the heat waves. That he was used to. What he was not prepared for was so much lush foliage. It was downright licentious. All that green should not be concentrated in so dense a crowd. Mountain shrubbery he was used to, and green places around water, such as streams and oases, but this was entirely too much.      For a moment, he sat there, considering what to do next, whether it be to destroy the forest or ignore it entirely and move back to the desert, when suddenly the wind shifted. He caught the distinct scent of a sentient, which put every nerve on alert. They were close, and there were many of them. The wind shifted once again and he was left essentially blind to their presence, but he knew which way they'd been. After a moment stalking silently in their direction, he could make out the sounds of their activities. They were very close.      The sharp pain in his hindquarters, followed by a spreading numbness up his spine, caught him completely off guard. The last thing he remembered before stumbling to the ground unconscious was the scent of those sentients returning, and a tall, bipedal figure emerging from the too-green forest. ***      Keilam leapt a fallen log, enjoying his romp through the woods around his family's territory. On earlier excursions, he'd taken special care in selecting the area, marking the trees and ground here and there with his people's language, so he knew his route was taking uphill now, towards the head of a river, where the water was fresh, clean, and cold. It was a hot day; a good swim would help cool him off, and it'd be a downhill trek home, so he wouldn't be overworked and exhausted for his usual evening activities.      He, too was surprised suddenly, though this time it was by a sudden blinding pain in his foreleg as he landed. He tumbled headfirst to the ground, and, though normally he would have been worried that his antlers were still intact, this time his concern was for his leg. It felt broken. What idiotic k'd had dug a denn in his territory?! And behind a log no less where they must've known no one would be able to see it were they leaping over it as he just had!      However, even a quick glance at his foreleg proved otherwise. This was no k'd denn he'd landed in, but a purposefully set trap. A metallic set of jaws seemed to be clamped about his limb, and try though he might, he could not move it. This was bad.      A rustling in the bushes just ahead of him would prove just how bad it was. He smelled them, at last. Mages. Very, very bad. ***      It was dark in here, Blazerunner thought dimly as he lay on the floor of his denn. Wait, this didn't smell, or feel like his denn. At all. The floor was hard and completely level, and there was the distinct smell of… oh no…      He sat up and opened his eyes, the horror of the last twenty-four hours returning in a flash of memory. His denn had been attacked, though the mages hadn't seemed at all interested in what he heard they usually wanted… the lead buck and doe were all but ignored as they tried to defend their denn, even the kittens were overlooked. It seemed as though they'd actually taken the time to single him out, and no matter how hard he fought, or other fought with, and then for him, the faceless mages had captured him.      A shudder or pure terror ran down his spine at the stories he'd heard of other k'd that had been taken. The horrible experiments performed on them, until they were no longer even sane.      A noise outside his cage made him jump, and he shivered again, petrified. There was a Saurokk in the cage next to him. It seemed to be asleep, so he chanced a quick glance around. There was a Miir in a larger cage on his other side, and several other cages with other creatures at the far end of the room. The fact that his closest neighbors both still seemed to be asleep and he was awake was probably thanks to his high metabolism. Or maybe he'd just been caught and drugged first.      All he knew for sure was whatever plans these mages had for such a variety of species couldn't be good ones. ***      The next day and night all three were kept drugged, a mage returning every hour or so to be sure no one woke up unscheduled again. In fact, when they did awaken, they did so at the same time.      And oddly enough, in the same place.      Owww, my head.. Keilam thought blearily, to be joined by another thought of Where am I? and What happened? almost simultaneously.      Wait a minute… A rush of adrenaline surged through Hisahshenikk's system, and he sat bolt upright and shrieked angrily.      "Who's there?!" Blazerunner demanded, frightened.      He regretted it almost at once when his query was answered first by staggering pain coursing through every fiber of his being, then by an actual verbal answer, coming from his own mouth, though most definitely not in his own voice.      "You are, idiot, be quiet and stop moving." Keilam muttered.      That grumpy and confusing comment was followed instantaneously by an irate hiss and his ears flattened of their own accord.      "What iss it?" Hisahshenikk growled.      For a moment, he... they?... sat there in stunned silence, listening to the emptiness of their cell. Then the horror began to dawn on Blazerunner, and he shivered, sending waves of pain through his body. Keilam slowly looked down, hoping to see his own hooves, even his own broken leg... sharp draconic talons flexed on the cold stone floor.      "AH!" Both Keilam and Blazerunner exclaimed in unison, and sat up, Blazerunner desperate to see his own body. For a moment, he was relieved to see his own flame-streaked shoulders, but then he shuddered again. Three pairs of wings folded tightly against his back, and the fur didn't extend farther south than his spine and haunches, though there was a bit of an unfamiliarly colored tuft adorning the tip of his new, draconic tail.      Hisahshenikk was infuriated to see the fur, and even more so when he discovered that his precious hind hunting claws had been replaced by a pathetic set of cloven hooves He could also see that his fine, sharp beak and horn were missing, lost to whatever blight had befallen him.      Sickened by their state, all three were noisily ill for a moment, then collapsed in a shivering heap on the hard stone floor of their prison.      Of all the experiments the mages had performed on his kind, Blazerunner thought, why did this one have to be his fate?      Keilam mourned his beautiful, fit body, his life at home, his future battles he knew he could win, his chance at a long, happy life.      The third mental presence just hissed quietly to himself. Hisahshenikk was livid. They'd pay for this curse. They'd all pay.      In the background, a soft bubbling of confused impressions played itself out. Well, at least there were three of them, the NC thought, and that made them happy enough. They didn't mind looking different, to them it was just a new way of Flying.