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The pack was hunting.

Dietmar hurried after the rest of his fellow raptors; the grey shape of his former Captain led the five of them in a sprint down the main road, propelled by their strong legs and the thrill of the hunt. They ran until they'd reached the tall grass bordering Salford's farmland, and then stopped on the outer edge of the fields.

The saurial hunters took in the scents around them as they searched for their prey. Human-scent was heavy and fresh in the air.

Daymond hung back around the alpha, while Brian and Gerald hunted through the muddy culvert separating the fields from the town proper. Dietmar went off on his own, stalking through the tall grass and making his way towards the closest farmstead. This far outside the village, there was no kobold-scent to be found.

Pressing his snout low to the ground, Dietmar caught a strong human-scent almost immediately. He followed it into the rows of corn in front of him and carefully began to trace the meandering trail of scent.

Stalking through the cornfield, Dietmar found a fresh taste of the human-scent. It was... familiar, somehow. Yes; he raised his snout into the air and sniffed in more heavy breaths, feeling a muddle of memories and emotions as his raptor-instincts tried to sort out whose scent it was. Familiar, somehow... but he had no way to know who it was. He had no scent-memory from his time as a human.

The raptor took in another snoutful of the summer air. At least one of them was male and another female. No... two males and one female? Young, but mature; perfect for potential recruits...

Dietmar perked his tail up above the cornrows and gave a bark to alert the rest of the pack, before running to follow the lingering scent as fast as he could. It led him through a tell-tale tangle of trampled-corn, towards the door of the farm's barn. A faint light emerged from the hayloft above...

He rushed at the door, trying to push it open. The door stuck fast. Dietmar grasped the large ring-pull and tried to pull it open instead; the door stuck again with a metal clang. No doubt it had been barred on the other side...

Turning to see what his pack was doing, Dietmar saw Captain Benar sprinting towards a smaller door next to the large gate; Dietmar rushed to join him. The burly, gray-scaled raptor threw his taloned feet up as he jumped, sailing through the air; the small, flimsy entryway splintered and fell under his weight, buckling as it was torn from its hinges.

The elder raptor landed atop it, letting out ear-piercing shriek as he did. Reacting before even thinking, Dietmar jumped in after his alpha, skidding into the barn with his teeth bared and a powerful growl rumbling in his throat. He paced on the tips of his talons, the tip of his maleness excitedly peeking out from his slit as he looked at his future packmates. Yes! Two ripe, young males and a fertile female, just as he'd thought!

Even in the dim light of the barn's solitary oil lamp, he could recognize them all by look alone, his new eyes easily adapting to the flickering lantern's gloom. It was hard not know them to in a village as small as Salford, of course. The larger male was Fredden, a blacksmith's apprentice; the female was his girlfriend Mya. She worked as a barmaid at the Four Cart Tavern; Dietmar and the other militia often ordered drinks from her at the end of their shifts, and avoided any flirtation - Fredden was jealously protective of her, and he was built like an ox.

The last villager was a friend of Dietmar's, though; Jovi. Jovi was... well, he was hard to place. He was part-elf, for one thing; a quiet, shy and studious young male. Dietmar loved to borrow his books and listen to the stories he'd tell, both tales he'd memorized and sometimes stories he'd written himself. Jovi even had a knack for hedge magic. He dreamt of going to the nearby town and becoming an apprentice wizard...

"Grrrrrrrr!" Captain Benar growled from the door, backing up slightly from it, snapping Dietmar from his momentary reverie.

Things seemed to happen very fast as the frozen moment passed by. Mya let out a shriek of fright as she turned to see the creatures bursting into the barn, and Jovi went catatonic in fear.

The pair of raptors entered the barn and walked past Mya and Fredden, circling behind the refugees while growling and barking. They were soon followed by a pair of dinosaurs with identical coats of slick black scales and shining red eyes. All of the beasts sported huge erections...

"What in the hells are those!?" Mya asked, holding herself back against a thick support beam. "I thought you said you only saw little things attacking!" Mya said, averting her eyes from the lewd sight, but she couldn't help but notice that the black raptors had penises that seemed to writhe like agitated serpents!

"Kobolds *were* everywhere! I didn't see anything else like these!" Fredden shouted from somewhere in the hayloft, before jumping the eight-foot distance to the ground, barely pausing to recover before moving to protect his girlfriend. "*Oof*! Mya, get back, they look dangerous!"

"They're saurials... raptors... they're smart, dangerous and they hunt in packs and..." Jovi stammered. He was cowering behind a hay bale in the rear of the stable. "And... they live nowhere near here. And... and... those two are... I don't even recognize *that* subspecies! Looks almost... well, draconic..."

Dietmar gave a cheerful burble as he listened to Jovi's talk. The shy elf didn't look like much, but he was clever and a steadfast friend. Already Dietmar felt his member everting from between his legs, quickly growing hard as he thought of changing them all, making the pack grow stronger. He was already feeling up for another round of mating; his capacity in his new form was stupendous, and he loved it. He wanted to share what he was...

Dietmar slowly walked forward as the rest of his dragonhood slid from his slit, pumping up and erecting with each slow, measured step he took. He looked from Fredden to Mya and back again, walking a broad circle around them and displaying his crimson member. Unlike earlier, he felt little hesitation. The rest of his pack still smelt strongly of their mating, especially the dracoraptors, and he longed to repeat the experience.

"Tha' thing is hung like a bloody horse..." Mya said, shaking her head. She pressed herself firmly against the support beam behind her, going very still. "What're they doin'? They're not... not very aggressive..?"

"Oh, where in the hells did the militia go!?" Fredden shouted, trying to pull his girlfriend away from the wooden beam. "Mya, you should run up to the loft; Jovi and I will fight them off!"

"Wha-? No!" Jovi exclaimed, before hastily clarifying, lest he seem a coward. "I mean... they're not attacking us yet, so stop moving and see if they just ignore us! If you scare them they might pounce, and they can run faster than you!" Jovi said to the pair, leaning over the bale of hay he was trying to keep between him and the saurian creatures. The raptors circled, and one of them kept stepping closer to Mya, sniffing at the air.

Dietmar walked forward, Benar growling encouragement to him as he approached Mya. For the moment, Fredden stood next to her still and quiet, though his body was soaked through with the spicy heat of sweat and stress. Turning from him to Mya, Dietmar leaned his muzzle down and ran his snout through her long brown hair, smelling the soft, sweet, familiar scent of human-female. Fredden made a sound almost like a choke, but Jovi hushed him with a soft "Shhhh!".

Mya tensed completely the first time the raptor's snout touched her, but after a few seconds' panic, began to laugh as Dietmar's snout sucked and blew on her hair. "Oh... oh my... It's... heh, you're actually friendly, aren't you?" Mya said, sounding more hopeful than certain, working up the courage to pat his neck once or twice. The raptor didn't flinch or respond, and she relaxed; it was tame.

She'd once held a snake she found out in her family's garden, but the saurial's scales felt different from the serpent's cool, slick hide. The raptor's mottled hide was warm and tough, each scale a distinct plate.

"Ghhhhrrr..." Dietmar purred, as the young barmaid stroked his neckscales. His dragonhood throbbed between his legs, growing erect enough to slap against his belly. He really, *really* wanted to turn her first. It would be *so* nice to change someone gently for once, and not worry so much about hurting a fragile human. Though... when the need to rut was on him, he might feel differently. Worth trying, at least...

"Mya... if you're going to stay still, stay the hells still!" Fredden whispered to her from close by, clearly wondering whether to intervene. "Don't encourage the damn thing, it's..." His eyes flicked for a moment at its large member protruding under its belly. "It's a bit *too* friendly!"

"It's fine, Fredden!" she replied, meeting Dietmar's yellow eyes. The raptor didn't seem dangerous after all, and perhaps it was best to encourage it to relax, rather than risk startling or angering it. "You're... you're just a big, friendly thing, aren't you?" Mya said, laughing in relief as she rubbed Dietmar along his neck. Feeling bolder, she began to stroke the front of his snout.

Dietmar closed his eyes as Mya rubbed his sensitive snout-scales. She had big, rough hands for a female-human, but they felt so nice rubbing the glossy, smooth scales surrounding his nostrils! Dietmar let out a warble as his dragonhood twitched, shooting two quick squirts of dragon-pre right between his legs and onto the female's chest.

Mya leaned back against the post and screamed as the warmth landed on her nightgown, the hot, magically-infused fluids quickly soaking through her cloth dress. "Ewww... awww, aww, eeeeeeeeeeeeee!" she screamed, cringing and holding her hands up in front of her face. "Disgusting thing!"

Startled by the female's loud, high-pitched scream, Dietmar skidded backwards on his talons. Her wailing hurt his earholes!

"Hey! Get away from her you hellspawn!" Fredden roared, unable to abide inaction any more as he stepped forward to punch the raptor in the head, placing himself between the beast and Mya.

Dietmar's body knew what it was doing almost before he did; Fredden's punch seemed slow, clumsy. He turned as his friend was in mid-swing, catching the human's arm in his teeth. He didn't want to hurt Fredden, but if he was going to be a packmate he needed to know his place!

Dietmar gave the male's arm a slow, gentle bite, just enough to break the skin and let him know he was out of line. He gave a throaty growl of warning, then released the blacksmith-apprentice's arm.

"Ah-ah!" Fredden cried out as the raptor's sharp teeth cut into his skin, pulling his hand away with a jerk as soon as Dietmar loosened his grip. "It... it bit me! Run, Mya! I'll stop it!"

"Awk!" Dietmar chirped, growling threateningly as Fredden moved to strike out again.

"Fredden, stop! Don't... don't antagonize it!" Mya protested, staring uncomfortably at the large damp spots on her nightgown where the raptor's preseed had soaked in, and up at the other circling raptors between her and the door.

"I said stay *back*, my love! Run, it's the only chance!" he yelled to her, throwing a wild, violent swing at Dietmar. Jovi watched, aghast, unable to speak, merely shaking his head weakly.

Mya stood up, hesitant. "No, Fredden! I'm not leaving without you!"

"Yes, you are!" he replied, stepping forward to try and kick Dietmar away. "Up the ladder! Get to the loft and jump out into the hay pile, near the pens!"

In the back of the barn, Brian and Gerald looked one another in the eye and then slunk off into the shadows. None of the humans noticed, not realising that these 'animals' understood their speech perfectly..!

Dietmar swerved his head and swung his tail to dodge, giving Fredden another warning-growl. He was getting quite annoyed! Why was Fredden fighting!? Why wouldn't the impudent little male-human submit?

"I said go! Now" Fredden hoarsely yelled, walking backwards away from Dietmar, before suddenly picking up a loose plank from the floor. "I'll hold it off!"

Both Mya and Fredden ran towards the ladder leading up to the loft, but stopped short when they heard a threatening hiss from the pair of serpentine, black raptors guarding it. Fredden spun to see Dietmar following them. "Away, beast!" he shouted, taking a wild swing with his plank.

Dietmar yowled as Fredden connected with his snout, feeling a burst of pain in his sensitive nose-parts. He blinked, feeling wetness trickle down his snout. The smell was hot, metallic and made him feel a surge of ferocity. Blood. Blood! The human-male had drawn his blood!

Dietmar gave a low growl that rumbled deep in his belly, while his pack hissed threateningly at the male-human. "Rrrrawwk!" Dietmar replied to them. He'd deal with Fredden himself.

"Fredden, don't!" Mya cried, as Fredden pulled his improvised weapon back for another strike.

Dietmar watched the human ready his weapon, and gave a final warning-growl. Fredden was practically radiating male-scent, now. Sweat trickled down his brow, and his tanned muscles glistened in the dim lamplight. Well, they would see who the dominant male was...

The raptor took a slow step forward. Fredden took one as well to lead him, and swung at his head again. This time, Dietmar reared back on his legs and raised his tail, dodging the strike. Dietmar crouched low, and then in a surge of power sprang forward, using all the strength in his hindlegs to complete the standing pounce. He leaped right into the stocky human talons-first, knocking Fredden to the ground and pinning him underneath his feet.

"Gaaahh-gnh!" the human cried out, as he was carried to the ground. The raptor landed firmly on his chest, knocking the wind from his lungs. Mya screamed again and ran to the back wall, covering but unwilling to run far from Fredden.

Leaning low and growling right against Fredden's face, Dietmar kicked the wooden plank skittering towards the wall, and then pressed one of his taloned feet down right on Fredden's belly to hold him down. Lifting up a paw as he stood on the well-built young male, Dietmar pressed his other foot down around the male's face and squeezed it between his toes...

"Grrrrrgh!" Dietmar growled, holding Fredden's head between his foot as the human struggled to breathe. He picked the human-male's head up with his talons, and then slammed it against the hay-covered wood with a very satisfying 'Thunk!'. Dietmar saw another few drops of blood hit the floor from his injured snout, splattering as they stained the wood. He hissed and pulled Fredden's head back again, slamming it against the barn floor twice more before finally letting go.

Fredden wasn't moving very much anymore. For a moment, Dietmar felt a pang of worry. As tough as the human was, he was still just a *human*...

"Ghhnng..." Fredden groaned, stirring. "Thing is... faster than it looks..."

The raptor's weight pushed against him, in a crude facsimile of a hug. Tremulous burbles rumbled up from its long neck as it slid its sharp-toothed muzzle closer to his face. Almost worse, he could feel the slick heat of the reptile's erection! Fredden shuddered in disgust and grunted as more of its scaly weight pressed against him, realizing the beast was trying to pin him. He was still dazed from its earlier attack; he had to find a second wind...

"Rrrrr... awk!" Dietmar roared, lifting up his tail and wagging it from side to side as he continued to grind against Fredden's stomach and chest. The human struggled, pulling back another punch that hit Dietmar right on his bloodied snout.

"Kill you... beast..." Fredden mumbled.

"Fredden, stop!" Mya screamed.

"Rrryyaa!" Dietmar roared aloud as he shoved himself down on the male, shaking his muzzle sharply and head-butting Fredden on the top of his head. The muscled human replied by shoving his own head backwards in a swift motion, slamming his head right into the same spot on Dietmar's snout he'd been hitting before. Dietmar felt a spray of blood trickle from the front of his snout, and his eyes narrowed sharply. "Grrr..." he growled, tensing atop Fredden and showing his teeth and claws. He was done with warnings; if the human still wanted to play rough, they could play rough...

"Fredden, stop fighting it! It'll kill you!" Mya said urgently, trying to calm things down.

"It's... bloody... humping me!" Fredden replied, face dark-red with exertion.

"Well, let it!" Jovi said, loudly, intervening at last. "Would you rather it kill you?!"

"Hells, man! Why don't *you* bloody let it!" Fredden blurted.

"It's not after me! Be careful, Fredden!" Jovi reiterated, rooted to the spot. "I mean it! It's doing a threat display!"

Fredden, blood soaked in rage, heard him speak but didn't heed the half-elf's words. He struggled again to shove Dietmar off his back, only to feel a pair of scaly arms take hold of his wrists and shove them firmly to the floor of the stables.

Leaning forward, Dietmar pressed all of his weight down on Fredden's legs and wrists, trapping him against the straw. "RRRRRAAAAAGH!" Dietmar held the human in place as tightly as he could as he could, roaring in his face and preparing to strike...

"Ahhhh! Ahhh!" Fredden shouted, as the raptor's claws, talons and teeth descended on him all at once. He felt the beast bite him on the shoulder as it ripped its claws through his shirt and its talons through his pants. Fredden shook violently on the ground as the raptor's huge talons tore across his legs, shredding away his pants, undergarments and belt in bloody strips. Claws latched on to his shirt, rending the cloth and tearing away buttons. The raptor's muzzle then descended and bit down on his shirt, wrenching him from side to side until it tore half of the cloth away.

Finally, Fredden felt a stab of mind-searing pain, as the raptor bit down hard on his upper shoulder, digging both sets of teeth through his skin and into the muscle. He yelled once and tensed, waiting for the killing blow, desperately wishing he'd listened to Jovi and Mya earlier; this wasn't worth dying over!

Dietmar looked down at the dazed, defeated human-male with a smile, licking some of the human's coppery blood from his lips. A nice set of teeth-marks formed a bloody, broken circle of puncture wounds along the human's shoulder, and the rest of his skin was covered in blood, sweat and his own drool. He dug his foreclaws into Fredden's bare shoulders, and prepared to... to...

To do what? Something felt off in his head; instincts and orders and memories all blurred together. Dietmar stared down at Fredden's solid, handsome jaw and bloodied nose. The blacksmith's mop of brown hair and his broad brow were usually covered in a thin layer of soot where his mask didn't cover. Even though Fredden had washed earlier, Dietmar could smell the iron, ash and fire on the older male's body. It helped give Fredden a nice, strong male-scent. Arousing, even though it wasn't raptor-scent...

Arousing, because it could *become* raptor-scent.

The raptor felt a strange calm come over him, like a cool, soothing breeze. He laid himself down atop Fredden again, slower and gentler than before. His raptorhood was hard and throbbing from the thrill of aggression, but he no longer wanting to bite and claw the other male. Dietmar wanted to clasp and lick and love him; he needed to *change* the human-male. Fredden would understand everything once he was a raptor, too.

Dietmar slid his dragonhood between the male-human's legs without encountering any further resistance. He held himself there, softly and silently nuzzling Fredden. Dietmar pulled his raptorhood back, and then began to prod Fredden's limp penis with his 11-inch rod. The human-male gave a soft moan as his manhood was humped, one that Dietmar was sure only he could hear. He felt the male's shaft twitch and stir as it slowly stiffened against his dragonhood, and took that as encouragement to begin grinding his slick, ridged length over Fredden's maleness.

Fredden felt confused as felt his erection grow. The raptor's fleshy, odd-shaped member teased his cock in a way that seemed more deliberate and... calculating... than an animal was capable of, surely; how smart were these things? His strength was spent and he'd not the heart to face the beast's rage again, but still he groaned and strained against the raptor. He tried to pull his penis back from the raptor's phallus, but with the weight on top of him and the way his fighting instinct was fading, he was out of ideas... including ideas why his maleness seemed to be responding to the distinctly un-erotic stimulation, a strange tingle spreading over his exposed skin.

Dietmar felt Fredden's muscles grow slack and his penis hard as he frotted against the virile human-male, growing more and more aroused himself. The raptor gave bubbly purrs as he spewed pre-seed over Fredden's cock, and then ground it into his thick pubic hair. The tangle of coarse, dark-brown hair felt itchy to thrust through, and Dietmar was happy it was beginning to fall out of the male's skin. Before too long, the raptor felt the throbbing tip of his dragonhood press against nothing save smooth, heavy, hairless balls, slick skin, and the heat of Fredden's erection...

Growling rapidly as he ground his musk into Fredden's groin, the raptor felt his shaft start to twitch urgently. Sliding his cock back between the male's legs, he pushed between them and began frantically searching for the male's ass. Fredden may have sensed what was about to happen, because he began fiercely struggling again. But his struggles served only to let Dietmar wedge his legs apart, giving the raptor yet better access!

Dietmar was feeling the instincts of the rut and little else at the moment; he held Fredden down with his foreclaws as he positioned himself against the edge of the human-male's anus and shoved his slick, spear-shaped cockhead inside the other male in a paroxysm of animal lust.

"Gaaahgh!" the male grunted in pain and surprise, feeling the tip of the raptor's shaft spread his asshole wide as it entered him, throbbing madly. He would have cried louder, but the raptor was pressing him flat to the ground now, shivering...

"Ghroooo!" Dietmar bellowed as he came, sending thick ropes of seed shooting deep into Fredden's freshly-deflowered rump, while the human still screamed in shock and horror.

Fredden was beyond words as he felt the raptor's hot, wet, sticky mating-fluids gush up into him; gruesome, disgusting! The raptor's spurting member sunk in deeper, spreading his innards beyond all reason, painfully...

...was that really pain? Ack! Something... each time the seed spurted, something deep in his gut, something he'd not known was there, gave a solid twinge and spasm of sheer bliss up into his shaft!

What was... what was happening..?

He took a breath between yells and gave an unexpected moan of confusion instead; this felt... kind of good. Was this what Mya felt when he leant low over her, manhood pistoning into her sweet, squeezing depths...?

What the hells was he thinking?! This wasn't erotic! This was him being raped by an animal! He shouldn't feel aroused at the feel of the heavy, powerful reptile sitting atop him, plowing his ass wide and filling him with its seed... but...

He had to spread his legs, had to feel what that maleness was like deeper inside him, delightful ridges pressing through his clenched rear. Why was his manhood aching, harder than he could remember, the mushroom-head of his engorged phallus rubbing slickly against the beast's bellyscales?! Fredden let out breathy grunts that slowly became a constant, low-pitched moan of delight as more spurts of mutagenic cum shot deep into his guts, filling his innards until they were swollen with pent-up seed...

Heat flashed over the human's skin as he began to change with appalling speed. Fredden's belly hardened as his skin hardened into scales, forming a taut outline around the blacksmith's well-defined muscles. Thicker, harder scales began to grow up his shoulders and down his legs, bolstered by growing muscle and twisting bone. The back of his pants ripped to both sides as a massive, blood-red tail sprouted from his backside, growing out a full foot in mere seconds. The stubby limb quivered, held stiff against Dietmar's under-tail by its shocked new owner.

"Ahhhhh! Ahhhhhh!" Fredden screamed hoarsely, trying to wrest his hands free of Dietmar's foreclaws as his body burned, no longer pleasantly. He was unable to pull free from the rutting raptor.

"Mercy of Pelor!" Mya whispered in shock, covering her mouth with both hands as she watched her boyfriend's tail grow. The foot-long limb snaked from side to side between his legs as it lengthened, though Fredden's legs were growing, too. His muscular thighs grew even larger as more crimson-red scales pushed out along them, towards his feet. The scratches and gashes Dietmar had carved into his skin faded as he transformed; Mya swore she could even see the blood the raptor had spilt fade back into Fredden's skin before it changed.

Fredden was... feeling confused. His rapidly changing body *hurt*, badly... but the filthy, sticky heat soaking into his backside amidst the flow of dinosaur seed felt like the most sensual, spine-tingling pleasure he'd ever felt in his life. His maleness throbbed as his ass tingled and burned and *grew*, somehow shaping itself around the thick, slick piece of raptormeat still filling him with seed. It was a snug fit inside him now, instead of a painful one. Even stranger, the skin on his swelling buttocks was sliding across the wood, instead of abrading on the rough grain...

...And what the *hells* was this new body part he was moving, against the floor, between his legs? Why were his legs pained and cramped, the thick muscles growing as taut and hard as shaped metal? More growth flared through his body, expressing itself everywhere at once with each beat of his heart. The feeling was like being fed raw lightning, sending him into a fit of convulsions that were only held in check by the raptor's weight. Fredden gurgled for breath as his internal organs wrenched inside him, unable to comprehend what was happening. It felt as though all his limbs had been broken and numbed, but underneath the ghostly sensations he could feel them *swelling*, burning with impossible growth...

Dietmar pulled himself out of the rapidly growing male's tailhole, resisting for a moment the urge to knot Fredden and really show him his place. Besides, the other male was shaking too violently to mate with and he was nearly spent anyway. Dietmar felt his ridges pull on Fredden's spasming tailhole as he withdrew, until he freed his last ridge and a creamy gush of dragonseed spread across the male's short, broad tail. Dietmar stood up and let the last of his release leak down on Fredden's cock, hissing and chirping with contentment.

"Aaahhhhhh... rrraagh... rrghll..." Fredden yowled, his thoughts growing fuzzy and stranger by the second as scales grew up his back and neck, finally reaching his head. His jaw and face hurt He stared up into the slitted eyes of the raptor above him, mesmerized by what he saw in them and what he felt in his tailhole...

Dietmar stared back into Fredden's eyes, blinking and growling curiously as they began to glow faintly. Fredden blinked in confusion himself, trying to look for the source of the light. His eyes grew larger as his snout and muzzle pushed outwards, finally blinking open to reveal eyes that shimmered like molten gold, save for the reptilian slits in the very middle. Dietmar continued to gaze deep into the red raptor's eyes for some time, as Fredden shuddered and grew beneath him. His cock had grown as thick and long and a piece of firewood...

"T-that is... that is... not normal for, uh, raptors. Uh, not... not even saurianthropes... er, were-raptors..." Jovi stammered to Mya. "Someone or something is, is, is hitting this place with a... a... I don't know! A curse primeval? An artefact of legend? A..."

Mya was staring at the scene before her with slack-jawed horror, not paying the half-elf any mind, uncomprehending of what was happening to her boyfriend. "Fredden?" she asked, barely above a whisper. She wasn't sure she wanted him to hear.

Dietmar backed away from Fredden further, feeling rather proud of the dracoraptor he'd just created. Six of them now! And this new male was most impressive! Fredden had a thick coating of bloody crimson plates across all of his body save his underside, which was protected by leathery scales the colour of dead grass. A shock of pointed, spiny scales grew out from the back of his head and down his back and tail like quills on a porcupine, and the dracoraptor was easily sporting the most dangerous looking talons Dietmar had ever seen. They were dark black and serrated, like curved, obsidian daggers.

Moreover, Fredden had a fleshy titan lying against his bellyscales, a fifteen-inch dragonhood with a wide knot at the base and row after row of fleshy spines leading away from its flared, horselike tip. Dietmar shuddered and felt his tail involuntarily curl between his legs as he saw the tip of Fredden's dragonhood flex open and squirt a streak of preseed over its owner's belly, sending a hint of smoky-ash musk into the air. The red dracoraptor's internal testes were so large, Dietmar could see the bulging outlines of the globes beneath the thick, yellow-brown scales of Fredden's underbelly.

Fredden gave a growl as he scratched the back of his head against the floor behind him, the shocked confusion of his changes fading away faster and faster as instincts began to filter into his mind. The first of them was an urgent need to find and rut as quickly to possible- the male in front of him looked promising- but Fredden shook off the urge and tried to concentrate. He could feel the heat and the... the *smell* of another male - his snout flared- covering his hindquarters and maleness alike. He slid the underside of his tail upward to feel where the sticky warmth was the strongest, giving a slow growl as he felt more of the sticky dragonseed leak out from his tailhole...

The instincts made some things clearer. He remembered being bested in a male-contest, being taken and made to smell of the other raptor's musk as... as a punishment? Fredden felt something very much like shame sting him. Having to be put in his place by another pack-mate with the alpha's approval meant he'd done something against the will of the pack. Submission, submission was the only penance; to keep his teeth and claws and talons held in check while the other males reminded him of his station and upbraided him for his arrogance...

Wait. The pack? Why... why was he thinking like..?

Fredden turned his head and looked at Mya, crooning at the familiar face, "Rrrwwwl?"

"Fredden?" Mya said again, a bit louder. Her voice had an odd scratch to it, like she needed to clear her throat. Her chest did feel a bit tight...

She touched her chest, and then gave a soft cry. She could still feel some of the raptor-pre that had soaked through her dress. The flesh underneath was not only flat but... leathery, and muscular. She rubbed herself in disbelief, searching for the weight of her breasts or the sensitive points of her nipples, but found nothing but a warm, tingling coat of scales.

The woman stumbled forward, towards where Fredden lay. She sat down next to him and began to stroke his thick tail in disbelief, while slowly removing the top of her nightgown. Yellow-brown covered her chest down to her waist....

"Awwwwrrl?" the raptor replied, craning his head up to look at Mya. His giant dragonhood hardened slightly as he caught sight of the sexy underscales on his girlfriend's body, sending another trickle of precum spewing from the front of his cock.

Mya stared down at her own flat, scaly front, and then at the... raptor-thing... that had been her boyfriend. Her hands moved up to Fredden's muzzle, and she held it between her fingers as he purred to her. She took her hands away from his muzzle, and accidentally brushed past his erect phallus as she brought it back to her side. She froze, staring down at the enormous, flared phallus, still streaked with that other raptor's seed. Gods, the way he *smelled*! A memory from an hour hence came rushing back to her. She'd been kissing Fredden on their way to bed when they heard the alarm-cry sound, barely making it out of their home before it filled up with that strange gas...

"Fredden... are you alright?" Mya asked, looking straight into the dracoraptor's golden eyes.

The red raptor responded by gently licking her on the nose.

After a second's pause, she began licking him back.

Brian and Gerald slunk away from the darkness near the loft, approaching the mighty red male and his mate slowly. They circled around Mya and Fredden, giving guttural chirps of encouragement. From the doorway, Captain Benar replied with a similar cry, followed shortly by Daymond. They all knew the pack was badly in need of females!

"H-hey! Uh... raptor?" Dietmar heard Jovi whisper. He turned his head to see the half-elf slowly walking away from behind his makeshift hiding place, palms held open and low in a show of harmlessless. "I-I'm giving up peacefully!"

Good! "Awrk!" Dietmar yelped, walking over towards the back of barn. The hay piles here were even thicker; it looked as though one or two had been upset sometime recently, possibly in the panic of the attack.

"So..." Jovi said, as the raptor approached. Nervously, the elf took stock of the pack and his friends- one changed, and the other changing- before asking, "Are... are you going to take me, too?"

"Awwr..." Dietmar growled in the affirmative, nodding at the half-elf and licking the outside of his muzzle.

"Could... could I do it myself?" Jovi asked, in a sudden, panicked rush of breath.

"Awk?" Dietmar replied, confused. How could someone initiate *themselves* into a pack? The very concept was absurd, like trying to open a jar from the inside. Yet the frail, elf-blooded boy looked quite serious. And come to think of it, he'd barely managed to mate Brian without hurting them, and Brian had at least five stone on the slender half-elf...

Dietmar looked to his alpha for guidance, only to find Captain Benar and the others were paying far more attention to the happy couple. Mya was frantically licking and stroking the dracoraptor's broad shaft, as Fredden laid back against the wood and burbled in pleasure, talons curling and uncurling in pleasure. Dietmar growled in laughter; he'd left enough of his seed on Fredden's ridiculous-looking cock she'd no doubt finish her own change in short order.

Dietmar only turned back when he felt a slender hand on his right flank, pressing down on it. "Awk?" he asked Jovi, watching as the elf tried to push his hindquarters lower.

"Uh... could you lie on your back, like him? Please?" The elf asked, stroking Dietmar's neck, his voice low and husky. "I'll... I'll join your pack. But if you can understand me... please let me do it my way..."

Dietmar was surprised enough by the elf-male's boldness that he complied, flopping back against a pile of hay and spreading his legs away from his tail. His dragonhood was still firm, though the knot had deflated considerably and it was glistening with a sticky mess of infectious fluids.

Wordlessly, the half-elf began to strip off his clothes in front of Dietmar. The raptor couldn't help but notice that the elf-male's modest penis was already stiff and erect, up to its modest five inches. Unlike most of the villagers, Jovi's elven skin was almost untouched by the Summer, the same pale shade it had been all through the Fall, Winter and Spring. His body was lithe and pleasantly hairless- even around his maleness!- though the hair atop his head was long and parted gracefully around his pointed ears.

Taking several slow, deep breaths after he removed his clothes, Jovi kneeled between Dietmar's haunches, straddling the raptor's tail. The elf took a moment to brush the hair away from his face before he leaned forward and rubbed his nose against the inside of Dietmar's scaly thighs, breathing deep. The elf shuddered as he drank in more of the intoxicating musk, slowly pushing the saurial's legs apart and then taking a seat on the male's long tail...

Dietmar awkwardly laid down on his back, foreclaws folded against his belly while his powerful legs were spread to either side of him. His dragonhood twitched slightly, rehardening as he felt the half-elf's buttocks rub against his undertail. Jovi was staring at his dragonhood with rapt fascination. Dietmar felt the half-elf rub his face against it and gave encouraging purrs, quite enjoying the feeling of his wet cockflesh slapping against the young male's cheeks. But the next thing he felt was Jovi's tongue and mouth around the head of his dragonhood, and then slender fingers pushing past his slit-lips...

The sensation was incredible! The mammal's mouth was tight and oh-so *soft*; Jovi's teeth only tickled his ridges when he felt them against his cock. But the elf seemed possessed of a masterful faculty, rhythmically sucking and licking on the head of Dietmar's penis in a way that made the raptor's splayed hindlegs shake. Dietmar gave a warble of pleasure and laid his muzzle down to the ground, wondering where- how!- the half-elf knew to pleasure so well! Instincts told him he should be holding down the small elf-male, trapping him so that he couldn't escape from their rutting before he turned. For once, it was easy to ignore the animal urges.

But nonetheless, the pack was in rut. The smell of raptor-musk grew stronger and sharper in the air; more of the burning-ash scent he'd smelt on Fredden earlier, but also the swampy scents of Brian and Gerald and the masculine, strong musk of their alpha, Captain Benar. Mya and Fredden sounded like they were still mating together, but slowly the female-human's screams and moans were becoming deep, husky hisses and growls.

Dietmar idly wondered what they were doing, but found his attention wavering as Jovi continued to pleasure him, doing things that made the raptor shiver. He felt the lithe male finger the sensitive walls inside his slit until it was leaking slitfluids from all sides. Then, Jovi slickened his hands up with the stuff, and pressed two fingers against his tailhole. Dietmar shuddered powerfully as the elf pushed his fingers past his tailhole and began to tickle his rear-passage, at first with two but then three and four digits. Then, Jovi clenched his slender fingers into a tight ball, and began to shove his entire fist up the raptor's ass...

Growling, Dietmar came hard, bucking against the floor underneath him and rocking Jovi up and down on his tail.

Jovi shuddered at the first blasts of dragon-raptor cum entered his mouth, swallowing the hot seed as fast as he could manage while still stimulating the raptor's tailhole with his slitfluid-slickened fist. Dietmar's cock continued to twitch in Jovi's hands as he hungrily drank down the raptor's essence. The elf shuddered as he swallowed the fifth or sixth mouthful of the sticky dino-cream; his stomach began to churn, and he felt like his whole body was ablaze. Jovi coughed and gagged as a wave of butterflies swept through his too-full stomach, and backed off from Dietmar's cock just far enough to be sprayed full in the face by the raptor's musky, mutagenic fluids.

Jovi stumbled backwards on his feet, feeling his nostrils flare as draconic seed dripped out of the insides. He pulled Dietmar's cock lower with his hands, forcing the raptor to spray a hot, wet coating of seed over his elfhood and thighs...

Dietmar growled in lust as he watched the smaller male eagerly accept his place in the pack. The raptor knew he would make a wonderful omega. Like Fredden, Jovi seemed to turn very suddenly. He lurched towards Dietmar's laid-back form and nearly fell to the straw again before he caught himself on the ground, raptor-dragon cum drooling from his lips. Jovi licked his mouth clean, and Dietmar could see that the inside of the half-elf's tongue was long and forked, and his lips had turned a pale, blanched shade...

"Uhhhrr... I neverr tha't... I'd get to beh... a dragon..." the half-elf said, laughing to himself. His face was already stretching into a muzzle, and his lips had turned pale and hardened into lipscales. "But thisss isss... closh... enough."

His tongue flicked out past his lips, now bearing a distinct fork. Hissing with pleasure and flicking his swollen tongue into the air like a serpent, Jovi's eyes began to glaze over and he began to stroke himself. His hand moved quickly, aided by the lubricating raptor-seed coating his penis. Jovi stroked faster and faster as he was consumed by his changes, his body swelling, growing and twisting like the others before him. As his hand and elfhood became a blur of motion, Dietmar watched green scales ripple down Jovi's chest and belly, parting to form a slit around his cock and pulling the male's snug ballsack up into his body.

Jovi wavered on his feet as his thighs began to change, but managed to stay standing. Jovi began to stroke slower as his arms began to swell with muscle and green scales emerged all down his arms and cover his hands. "Rggh-kssss! Ssssooo... closssse!" he squealed, finally letting go of his hard, pale-pink rod when claws grew out from his fingertips.

"Awww-grrrh!" came a sudden surprise-cry. Dietmar whipped his head towards the source of the alarm, seeing that it had come from Fredden. He was still splayed out on his back, only now he was being straddled by a slightly-smaller, leaner male with the same crimson-red scales he had and small but growing cock with a flare at the end. Dietmar could only tell it was Mya by the long strands of dark hair that had fallen behind the grinning raptor.

The barn reeked of male-scent now, completely suppressing everything else. The rest of the pack were either mating with one another, or had hard members drooling between their legs as they watched the former female mount her boyfriend. Dietmar felt a bit of surprise and panic as he watched her cock grow thicker and longer- they needed a female to breed!- when another thought came into his mind. Did the pack *really* need a female? He could just keep converting humans, couldn't he..?

Dietmar turned to see his transforming male breathless, his cock bulging and beginning to turn a dark shade of red. Dietmar pushed his muzzle forward and gave the raptor's red flesh another lick.

Jovi looked down at his maleness, balancing on the back of his hindpaws as his cockflesh melted together, forming a fat, bulbous ball of sensitive crimson flesh as the other raptor licked at it. A look of horror came over the changing male's face, and a single, breathless gasp left his muzzle. His misshapen genitals began to slough apart in two directions, tensing and quivering and growing taller and thicker. They formed a pair of rather distinct, smooth shafts, jutting out from a fleshy, hard base...

"Rrrr..!? Rrr... awk?" Jovi cried. His long ears were disappearing, as was the hair that once covered them. Dietmar saw a thick shape slithering between Jovi's legs as he tried to stay standing; an emerald-scaled tail.

Dietmar watched Jovi waver on his hindlegs, now unable to stroke either of his hard erections, and immediately pressed his snout up against the pair of dragonhoods. The preseed leaking from them was earthy and wet, with a rich and cloying odour that lingered on Dietmar's snout. He looked up at Jovi and gave each of the shafts a long lick. The new dracoraptor's malenesses were nine inches long, not very impressive for a raptor- except for the fact there were two of them! Dietmar pressed his muzzle forward and began to carefully lick the thick, fleshy base that united Jovi's hemipenes, showing the smaller male how much he appreciated his twinned prides.

Mmmm... the other male smelled so good! His musk was so... clean, fresh, ripe, natural. Dietmar licked the base of Jovi's maleness again and again, and then rubbed his snout and muzzle up and down the lithe male's dragonflesh.

"Aaahhwrrlll... mmmmmmghm..." Jovi panted, moaning in lust as he finally fell down onto all fours. He saw his thumbs curl down into his palms and painlessly meld with them as he rested and tried to breathe. His lungs were so sore; talking strained them in a nearly-unbearable way. "Mmmmmrawk! Rawk!" he tried again. Maybe he should stop talking, just for a little while...

Dietmar rumbled in pleasure as he watched the lithe elf's limbs growing longer and longer, forming forepaws that nearly reached the ground. Jovi flexed his claws and examined his stunted fingers. His hands more closely resembled forepaws, now; the kind that looked like they would be quite comfortable walking with. The new dracoraptor stood on the front of his claws and the balls of his feet, with his tail curled low around his hindquarters as Dietmar sucked and licked his twin-shafted dragonhood. Dietmar could sense the doubly-endowed male was getting close by his barks and chirps. He started to slurp hard on one of the male's nine-inch members, letting the other firm piece of dragonmeat slap against his muzzle-scales as he sucked...

"K-ssssss!" The green dracoraptor hissed like a snake as he came, shooting a flood of musk-laden seed into Dietmar's muzzle. More of Jovi's cum sprayed against his muzzle and snout, filling Dietmar's muzzle with the overpowering scent of virile dragonseed. Dietmar let go of the shaft spewing into his muzzle and slurped up the other one, sucking on it until he had a muzzleful of rather tasty male-seed to swallow.

"Awwwrrrr..." Dietmar rumbled, moving his maw up and down to catch the last few spurts of release from between the dracoraptor's forest-green thighs, before licking up and down both of his hot, spear-shaped cocks. Dietmar made sure to lick his new packmate clean of most the stickiest fluids, but left enough of his musk on the other raptor's muzzle and underside it still marked the other male nicely. Jovi had made a small, lithe dracoraptor with forest-green scales and a snake's tongue. On all fours, he almost resembled an immense, predatory lizard. If his well-used dragonhood hadn't been totally spent, Dietmar would have been tempted to mate with the lean, sexy dracoraptor...

The former friends stared at one another in their new forms, almost as if seeing one another for the first time. Jovi and Dietmar licked each other for a few long, sensual minutes, muzzle to muzzle. But after a while, the sounds of Fredden and Mya's aggressive mating drew their attention.

Mya had ended up much like Fredden. He was a half-head smaller than Fredden, who was himself almost the size of Captain Benar. Both of the spine-backed raptors were hung like horses, sporting huge, flared members covered in flesh protrusions. The former female-human had his cock buried deep into his mate's ass, and was giving high-pitched growls as he slammed his muscular hips into each thrust. Mya knotted Fredden, and the males both came to thunderous, roaring climaxes. Knotted and buried deep in his boyfriend, most of Mya's first male-orgasm pumped into Fredden's tailhole, joining the mess of Dietmar's mating-fluids. Fredden's hindlegs shuddered, and then a veritable fountain of yellow-tinged dragonseed erupted from his thick cock, coating them both in ashen musk. Next to the happy couple, Gerald was savagely mounting his brother, while Daymond was only just presenting his raised tail to Captain Benar.

Too tired to even think of mating again, Dietmar walked past his rutting packmates to a trough of water in the back of the barn, leaning his muzzle down and taking several long drinks of cool water before lying down to sleep in a pile of hay. He'd been in almost constant heat since Kalaz had changed him, a time that felt like eons ago even though he knew it had only been hours.

Yawning sharply, he felt his eyes sag shut as he writhed back against the hay, using the back of his head and his tail to carve a nice hole in the straw to sleep in. He felt Jovi falling against the soft bedding and snuggling himself close against Dietmar's chest, but after that little else interrupted his sleep. His tail and Jovi's curled around each other as they felt the peace of slumber pull their scaly eyelids shut.

****

At the same time, in the far north of Salford Kalaz and Splinter-Tail were joined by a shadow as they walked towards the docks.

"Report!" Splinter-Tail barked, without meeting the assassin's eyes.

"Chieftain! We were sneaking back from the docks after we cut the boats loose. On the way, we found him meditating by the river," the kobold said, his muzzle-mask making his voice muffled and unrecognizable. "He was unarmed, and surrendered without a fight."

Splinter-Tail's assassins looked uncomfortable out in the open, and with good reason. They looked like bushes and muddy patches of grass come alive when they weren't hidden near the ground.

Indeed, the druid was standing on one of the docks overlooking the river north of town. He was a tall, lanky human. His hair and beard were white with age, and wrinkles covered his long, sagging face. Vaelas watched Kalaz approach with a sad, strange smile. "Hello Kalaz. It's been a while," the druid said, quietly. Simple rope bindings held his wrists.

"Hello Vaelas", Kalaz replied, in a low, hissing whisper. "It has been a long time indeed."

Vaelas nodded.

"Care to answer a question for me?" Kalaz asked, after a moment's pause. The druid's calm was almost unnerving.

"Mayhap. It would certainly depend on the question, and I have an odd premonition whatever you ask will be a most dire question indeed, Kalaz."

"It may be," the kobold said, his voice dry and curt. "I want to know which of you four schemed to kill Atridan. I want to know who is responsible for her passing. And I'm willing to do just short of anything to get that information."

"Oh? That is the mystery that drives you, kobold?" Vaelas said. He spoke very slowly, affecting a patience Kalaz did not share.

"One of them." the alchemist said. "Tell us what you know and we shall be-" he searched for a word, found it- "merciful."

Vaelas went annoyingly quiet for a time. "Why does anyone do what they do? Because they think it the best, do they not?" the druid said, sighing softly. "It was Sir Keston who presented the evidence of her misdeeds to us, but after that we all agreed she needed to die."

"I see," Kalaz said, biting his tongue.

Next to him, Splinter-Tail hissed and drew himself up to his full height. "Misdeeds!? Evidence? What 'evidence'?"

Vaelas lowered his voice as the kobold raised his. "Letters of correspondence between her and an un-named magus, filled with talk of dark rituals and vile reagents and the sacrifice of souls. We investigated further, we found so many... horrible things. The words of her servants damned her further. We knew she was preparing to cast off her living flesh, and..."

"You lie!" Splinter-Tail growled. "Falsehoods and recriminations! The bilious whimpering of a coward!"

Vaelas shook his head. "That is what we thought. It was Sir Keston who found the first letters, and Derwyn led us into the battle... struck the mortal blow..." he said, staring up at the orange-tinged moon hanging in the night sky, "But I spoke no objection. The living dead are the antithesis of nature; a falsehood personified. Life is a gift of nature, and that would be..." He shook his head. "It is hard to describe. Such things subvert the very fabric of the natural world, destroy it. They must be prevented; and so it was."

"You think Atridan planned to become a dracolich?" Kalaz asked, very quietly.

"No. I know she did", Vaelas said, solemnly. "Else I would not have acted. You may think little of me, but I will never take a life without a firm reason."

Kalaz glared back. "Yes, I recall the kobolds you evidently carefully considered before throwing your nature-magic around to kill them. Not so principled when it's convenient, I guess."

"They were defending..."

"They were innocent!" shouted Splinter-Tail, exploding at last. "You people... disgust me!" he continued, with a sneer. "So high and mighty, all nature-this and balance-that and greater-good-the-rest. Admit it! We were in the way of what you wanted, so you killed us!"

Vaelas was unmoved. "I saved those I could, but we had to fulfil our mission; they would have killed us had I not acted. Death, too, is a part of nature; nothing is truly lost, all is recycled and reincarnated..."

Kalaz again noticed that Splinter-Tail was twiddling his knife in his claws again. Splinter-Tail grinned wickedly. "Know what else is natural? Cats playing with a helpless mouse." He held the dagger in one hand, claws closing around the blade as if testing its weight for the first time. "I'm sure you'd be in favour of a little torture before we do the 'natural' thing and kill you for your crimes?"

Kalaz held Splinter-Tail by the arm, and shook his head. Splinter-Tail glared at him for a long moment, but this time, acquiesced easily. "Pfeh. Thankfully for you, Vaelas, it's not *my* decision", he said, bitterly, stepping away and throwing his dagger with some force into the ground at the Druid's feet. Vaelas flinched, but managed to remain impassive.

Kalaz frowned for a brief moment; Splinter-Tail was unpredictable when he was angry. His bloodlust might yet lead him to do something stupid. But, setting the thought aside for a moment, Kalaz looked out across the river's ford, at the fields on the far bank, and the small road that led to the nearby town, and beyond that, the local Lord's keep. Reinforcements would come that way sooner or later, he knew.

He pondered a moment before he spoke. "We need something to secure this crossing. I have something that will work quite nicely." The kobold said. He licked his teeth as he smiled, and asked, "What do you think, Vaelas? Maybe one of your old companions could have their bloodlust turned to more productive uses?" "Kalaz... what you are doing is wrong; terribly wrong..." Vaelas said, shaking his head slowly as he continued. "It is an utter perversion of the natural order; it is a reshaping of Fate and Nature into a form it was never meant to hold. Disrupting it is... like pulling the cards from a house of cards, sooner or later it will all come crashing down! You cannot possibly know the consequences of meddling like..."

"Yeah. So what?" the alchemist said, cracking a smile that the other kobolds shared. "I've seen you turn into a bear; hells, you even ate two of my good friends that day", he said, involuntarily glancing at Splinter-Tail, who had nearly been one of them. "I'd have thought you of all people could appreciate the value of a... different form."

"My powers are not the same as your corruption!" Vaelas protested. "Mine is a connection to nature! The gifts of a druid are *of* nature, they are a temporary gift, not... not this, whatever vile magic you're using!"

Vaelas' rant continued, genuine anger suddenly but slowly arising despite his efforts to suppress it. "The great irony is, I spared you, and your friend with the broken tail, because I refused to attack indiscriminately, and neither of you were a threat! If I'd been a less principled man and killed you both, this would not even be happening." He spat. "The irony is not lost on me."

"Pah!" Kalaz waved, dismissively, his own anger burning as well, the Druid's self-righteousness angering him enough that, for a moment, he considered letting Splinter-Tail do as he wished... "Enough of your self-serving stories!" Kalaz continued, at a shout. "If you'd never come to attack us, we'd never have come here, either, and even killing us all wouldn't have stopped the master from arranging his revenge! You made your choice, now you can deal with the consequences..."

The alchemist sprayed paralytic toxin over the druid's body, sending Vaelas collapsing to the dock floor with a wheeze.

"You want irony?!" Kalaz hissed, stepping over to the prone druid and giving his stomach a satisfying kick. "It was *your* transformation into a bear before my eyes that inspired me to try and replicate it... I may not have managed *quite* the same effects, but you must admit, I've advanced this art more than anyone before me!"

He smiled wickedly. "I've studied some of the nature-magic used by druids, and the mystical connection you claim to have to nature... and as a result, "I've prepared a special mutagen for you..." Kalaz hissed, bending low over the unmoving human form. Vaelas' eyes were not completely immobile, flicking upward to see what Kalaz was doing.

Kalaz pulled a large, oblong vial from his belt-pouch and began to unstopper it. "Master Zephiel taught me how to imbue my brews with ancient dragon-magic. It can do wondrous and terrible things..." The kobold said, now whispering only to Vaelas. "Like... reverse the bond that you have with the world. Be called upon by nature, instead of calling upon it for your ssstrength..."

As Kalaz whispered to the human, he slowly removed a large oblong vial from his belt and unstoppered it. Carefully setting the stopper down so it wouldn't roll between the gaps in the planks of the weathered dock, Kalaz gestured to Splinter-Tail over his shoulder. He paused as the other kobold approached, enjoying the thought of how Vaelas must be feeling, wondering what was to happen next.

"Get some of your men to help you, Splinter-Tail. For this to work, our friend here... is going to need to be submerged." He paused. "...Completely."

Splinter-Tail cocked his head curiously. "Won't he drown?"

Kalaz shrugged. "Maybe. Hopefully not, but it's a risk I'm willing to take..." he said, opening Vaelas' slack jaw and pouring the dark blue liquid in the vial into Vaelas' throat, hearing the gurgle as Vaelas swallowed some, and choked on the rest. No matter; it would all be absorbed, all function. It if worked properly, Vaelas would probably fare better if his lungs turned first.

"Grrrgh... n...sstop..." Vaelas managed to mutter weakly, the paralysis starting to wear off as Splinter-Tail and his two assassins grabbed him by the shoulders and ankles and began dragging him the few feet to the edge of the dock before setting him down; throwing him from that position would mean they fell in, too.

"Shut up, Vaelas!" Splinter-Tail spat, pressing his foot against the druid's side and pushing with all his might. Vaelas tried to stretch out a hand to catch himself; but he was too weak still, too slow. With a mighty splash, he fell into the cold, rushing water, his last sight of Splinter-Tail, grinning broadly and with such palpable malice he seemed far larger than his two-and-a-half feet. For almost the first time, Vaelas wondered what suffering he must have inflicted to provoke such hate.

Vaelas sputtered weakly as he sank into the powerful current, sinking like a rock, and he gave a sudden shudder of sheer terror as he realised he was too weak to swim, to stand, even to surface. He fell deep into the strong-flowing water his lungs and chest burning for air as he sank down into the murky black waters, bubbles escaping from his nose and mouth; a shout of panic escaping his lips as cold water started to flow into his lungs while his last breath of air slowly bubbled up toward the surface.

By the time he landed on the silt of the riverbed, his whole body felt like it was on fire. The agony, the fear of suffocation consumed him; even his robe felt like it was squeezing the life from his chest. He yearned for breath more powerfully than he'd ever felt before, more powerfully even than he could logically suppress; in reflexive desperation he took in a breath, but it was of cold water, not of air.

Vaelas felt lightheaded as a hot, tingling feeling spread through him, the cold water around him and in his lungs only just soothing the burn. Vaelas closed his eyes and felt his eyelids grow heavy, thinking only to rest for a moment.

One moment of rest became two, and then three, and then many more.

****

"...It didn't work, did it?" Splinter-Tail asked, in an almost bored, rather disappointed tone. They had been waiting ten minutes by Kalaz's mechanical watch, but Splinter-Tail trusted the complicated timepiece about as much as he trusted Kalaz's potions. Splinter-Tail knew nothing with that many moving parts could possibly be reliable.

"Of course it worked. It's dragon-magic..." Kalaz replied. "Give it time; Vaelas has to absorb a lot of magical potential from his surroundings."

"How? How much? At what rate?" Splinter-Tail asked. "It can't take long, surely; the others only took a minute or two."

"Magic doesn't work like that," Kalaz said, sighing and giving Splinter-Tail a pointed look. He hated talking to the Chieftain about magic; all his questions were unanswerable or nonsensical, based on the half-understood falsehoods of the layman. "I expected the process would go rather faster for a druid. Their connection to the natural world makes it easier for most forms of ambient magical potential energy to be drawn or pushed one way or the other..." Kalaz said, laying his parchment flat on the floor of the dock and beginning to double-check his calculations by moonlight.

"It should have taken about... three minutes?" Kalaz said. He looked down at the thicket of arcane shorthand he'd painstakingly worked through for weeks upon weeks, frantically looking for a misplaced symbol or some hint of a mistake. Maybe he'd misunderstood the connection to nature; maybe it was more hyperbole than he'd expected. Maybe he'd misunderstood the dragon-magic and how they'd interact... he was building assumptions on guesses, here, the margin for error was huge.

"Unconscious, at the bottom of the river..." Splinter-Tail mused, before adding. "How long can humans hold their breath for?"

"Oh, do shut up for a while; I'm trying to think" Kalaz replied, looking up from his work for a moment. "Not long, though, so no rush."

"I remember now; I think it is about a minute..." Splinter-Tail said. The kobold grinned as Kalaz met his eyes, before saying. "Well, then. Our first casualty. Though, admittedly, not the way I'd have chosen for him to go..." the kobold mused.

"I said, shut up! I'm trying to think!"

They sat in silence for a while afterwards. Aside from the distant drone of crickets and the rush of the river neat them, the night was quiet.

"What were you expecting him to become?" Splinter-Tail asked, after what he reckoned was another minute.

"A... river drake..." Kalaz replied, not looking up from his papers.

"Ahh... too bad. That would have been most impressive!" Splinter-Tail said, chuckling. His laughter cut off abruptly and he muttered, "Something isn't right..." followed shortly by "By all that's..! Let's get off the dock..."

The Chieftain and his assassins quickly and quietly skittered back from the wooden dock, but Kalaz was too immersed in working through his equations to heed the warning immediately.

Splinter-Tail saw the wood shake under Kalaz's feet. The kobold began to look down at the vibrating dock, but he *still* wasn't moving...

"What are you doing?! I said, get off the dock, Kalaz!" Splinter-Tail roared.

Kalaz turned, only belatedly realising that Splinter-Tail wasn't kidding around before a massive draconic muzzle burst through the water in front of the dock, followed by an explosive gout of water. As more of it rose from the depths, he could make out a thick, fish-like fin running down the back of the creature's head, and a pair of long, tentacle-like whiskers.

"What-the-blast-and-damn!" Kalaz stammered, falling back from the surface before the surge of water swept him backwards onto his tail. "By the Hells!" he shouted, as the ink bled from his waterlogged parchment.

"GGGHHRRRRRRLLLL..." the drake growled, setting the front of his enormous aquamarine muzzle against the edge of the dock. A pair of massive, wing-like fins rose up from the river, which the drake used to steady himself against the shallow but strong current.

"That is the largest river drake I've ever seen." Splinter-Tail remarked, laughing sibilantly at Kalaz.

"I... don't think that is a river drake..." Kalaz muttered, standing back on his feet and creeping towards the immense draconic creature resting its head on the dock. A faint memory stirred; a drake, certainly, maybe one on the next pages...

"... a... sea drake, I think..." he murmured, startled. He'd not thought that the potion would create a creature of such power! Or... had the potion failed, had the Druid taken on a new form using his shapeshifting powers?

Kalaz looked at the immense beast, and then at Splinter-Tail, who was staring agog at the vast drake. The ex-druid hadn't moved to attack... so it was probably best to assume the former case for now.

"Vaelas! Good to see you survived!" Kalaz said, in the most cheerful tone he could summon.

"AWROOOOO..." the drake bellowed, flapping it's enormous wing-fins against the water's surface and sending out a splash that sounded like a peal of thunder. He looked around at the kobolds- whom he now dwarfed- with a look of utter confusion in his deep-blue eyes. Vaelas held up his wing-fins again and craned his massive head from side to side to look at them, as well as the rest of his sinuous, snake-like body and tail.

Kalaz grinned. "Oh? Trying to shapeshift back? Heh, heh, hehahahahaha!" the kobold laughed, striding forward with a spring in his step as he made his way back across the pier. The whole edifice was creaking and pulled low towards the rushing water, but Kalaz felt invincible knowing that Vaelas was under his thrall. Near the end of the pier, the put a single hand against the drake's head and began to rub the wet, seafoam-green scales.

Vaelas closed his eyes, shivering visibly under the kobold's gentle touch. The sound of the great beast's breathing grew slightly faster, and he trembled again only for nothing to happen.

Grinning, Kalaz pressed his muzzle forward and kissed him between his enormous, closed eyes. They opened slowly thereafter.

"See? You're stuck... this is your new shape, Vaelas." The drake shook, as if trying to shy away. "...oh, and you're going to be *very* obedient from now on. Here, you see, you can't even withdraw from your new master's touch... ha, ha... hahahaha!" he cackled, relishing the sweet taste of revenge. The thrill of knowing the mighty drake would do whatever he commanded it to do- short of killing itself or it's friends- was intoxicating! Even Splinter-Tail had gone quiet, for once.

"Oh, and it goes without saying, you're going to do exactly what I tell you to do, without question or rebellion. Let me demonstrate..."

Kalaz stepped back onto the river bank, and held his arms up towards the heavens, like a prophet summoning the wrath of the gods. "Guard this river for Clan Arkan! Smash any vessels that try and cross- be they Elf or Human or any save our own!- but try to capture and not kill any who risk your wrath!"

The drake shook again, and gave a loud roar that sounded... sorrowful, mournful. Then, he gently splashed back down into the river, shuffled off the section of the ford, and swam into the middle of the river. Before he dove under the waves, Vaelas cast a look back at Kalaz filled with such horror and hate and sorrow that Splinter-Tail, for once, gasped and looked away, a feeling of sudden, great discomfort settling ever him. What had they done?

Kalaz laughed again, filled with glee, and lowered his arms. He turned to the Chieftain, smiling. "Oh, I've dreamed of that for so many years... Splinter-Tail, could you station a few of your Nightblades here to pick up his victims?"

The Chieftain nodded very slowly. "Very well, Kalaz."

Kalaz chuckled, though it almost got away from him and became another maniacal cackle. "Ha! Of course not, you saw how... docile he became. No, he knows exactly what he's to do, and what he can't do... delicious, isn't it? He won't bring any harm to our troops, and I doubt that anything the local Lords could bring to bear would so much as scratch his scales. All the better he doesn't seem to know his own tongue!"

Splinter-Tail did a double-take. "He... can speak like that!?"

Kalaz hissed in exasperation. "Of course he can speak! Drakes take to draconic as easily as we do, but their limited intelligence is usually an obstacle when it comes to the actual application of language vis-a-vis describing abstract concepts. Vaelas shouldn't have any problems, but for now... well, all he needs to do is listen, right?" the kobold added, with an evil smile.

The Chieftain returned his smile uneasily. "Yes. I suppose so." He turned to his nearby assassins. "You two! Stay here for now; I'll send relief troops from the square. Make sure..." he paused, not entirely sure what they should be doing. "Manage things, as best you can. And... be careful."

They started to move away before a shout from along the road attracted the pair's attention, as they reached the nearest buildings.

They looked up to see a rather larger pack of raptors moving towards them. After a moment of panic, Splinter-Tail relaxed. "Ah. Your... steeds, return." He did a double-take at them as they approached. "Great Kurtulmak... what in the world are *those?!" the kobold said, pointing at the spine-backed red raptors.

"Wait... those dracoraptors aren't... two reds and a green?" Kalaz remarked. "How... but..." His mind raced; a few black dracoraptors was to be expected, given how his reagents had been prepared. But this... "This is getting ridiculous; what in the hells did I do wrong..?"

"We're never going to fit saddles on those red ones... but I bet they fight well." Splinter-Tail said, looking the pair over. "They look pretty mean. Though if you don't mind my asking... you didn't seem this surprised to see the others, Kalaz..?" Splinter-Tail asked, quietly.

'Of course not!' Kalaz did not reply. He'd used black dragon essence when he ritually prepared his phallic mutagen! But he couldn't *tell* Splinter-Tail this, because the next question would be how he'd come to acquire a fresh sample of such a fantastically esoteric fluid so easily, and then perhaps comment upon the fact that Zephiel, their Master, whom they had sworn their lives and the lives of their Clan to was indeed a Black Wyrm who happened to live with them and perchance was there a connection..?

The seed had been a gift from the dragon; and Zephiel had been *quite* insistent that none of the rest of the Clan should know. Even Splinter-Tail.

"Well, you see..." he began, thinking quickly. "I'd have expected *some* draconic lineage to appear in certain... susceptible individuals. But, not this... widely. Two brothers? I can understand that. But this... menagerie... rather defies my reasoning..." he mused, hoping Splinter-Tail's lack of magical knowledge would make the Chieftain gloss over the inaccuracies.

"Ah. I see." Splinter-Tail shook his head. "It was entertaining for a short while, when I thought you knew what you were doing, but this is getting out of hand. How many more surprises? I'm growing weary of your 'experiments', Kalaz." Splinter-Tail said, darkly.

Me too, Kalaz did not reply. The lack of control was frustrating, especially after years of careful experimentation, research and calculations...

"Please tell me that they're... tame? Your 'training' potion's not mutated as well, I trust?" Splinter-Tail continued. "That you cannot predict their physical forms isn't giving me much hope that you know... how they'll behave."

Dietmar's maleslit was starting to feel uncomfortably snug again, though; his master's argument largely passed him by, even as a human he'd not understood a thing about magic, and was none the wiser for his new, personal connection to it. All he *did* know was that every half-hour or so, he was fully refreshed, like he'd never cum at all... and as horny as if he'd not had any action for weeks!

He stepped back a little, his slit bulging. There was a kobold beside him, he realised, one of the freshly-changed townsfolk, to judge by the residual air of human-scent around them, and the way he seemed to be clad in a torn pillowcase, like a toga, and carrying a meat cleaver like a sword.

That kobold, too, was sniffing the air, probably trying to work out what the source might be of the strange, musky, draconic scent. Dietmar's maleness slipped from his slit further as he noticed the kobold's crude clothing starting to tent.

Yes.

Need.

He raised a leg, displaying his growing maleness proudly. The kobold licked his lips, a little confused; Dietmar recalled how odd the new feelings of attraction could be, but perhaps the new-kobold just needed help getting over the strangeness!

The small reptile stepped forward, Dietmar's nostrils flaring slightly as he picked up the scent of kobold-lust; it was driving him to new heights of horniness, as he felt a small, scaly hand close around the tip of his dracoraptorhood, rewarding the little lizard with a spurt of preseed into its palm. Benar gave a bark that sounded like approval, but he seemed a little confused at the situation.

"Wh-?! Hey! Hey, you! Stop that at once!" Kalaz exclaimed suddenly, noticing what was going on. "You fool! He's still highly mutagenic, anything could happen!"

Dietmar felt the hand snatched away. "S...ssorry, sir..." said the kobold apologetically. I... I didn't... knnoooow... ooooh, I feel... kind of..."

And with a thud, he fell to the ground in a faint, the cleaver clattering away harmlessly, falling from the river bank into the water with a splash.

"Damn it!" Splinter-Tail shouted. "What's next, Kalaz? You have an antidote, I presume?" His eyes narrowed as he saw the alchemist hesitate. "...no?"

"I..." Kalaz began. "Well, he's freshly transformed, too. Maybe nothing will happen."

"Your creations are too dangerous to be let loose, Kalaz! Get these... things... under control, now! I'm still in charge of the assault force, and I'm putting my foot down, this has gone far enough! Those things are dangerous!"

"Only this one has the..."

"No excuses!" Splinter-Tail barked. Then he lowered his voice. "Get your house in order, Kalaz, or I *will* report this to Master Zephiel."

Kalaz looked at him for a long moment, a very ambivalent expression on his muzzle, fading slowly to anger.

"Dietmar! Eyes, now!" Kalaz said, grabbing Dietmar by his neck and pulling his head down. "Take your pack into... into that field, just here..." he gestured to a nearby livestock field, from which the troops had just finished emptying all the animals for transport back to Zephiel's lair. "...and *stay* there! No more mating!"

Dietmar gave a sound almost like a cross between a hiss and a whine. "No, I'm serious! I don't want any more unpredictable magical creations we don't understand running about! Keep yourself and the rest of the pack under control!"

"Awwwwrk!?" Dietmar barked. Why was he being told what to do? He wasn't the alpha! He understood that his seed might not be... working as intended! But if so, he sure didn't want a bunch of unpredictable mutagen they didn't understand backing up in his loins!

Especially not when he was so desperately horny again! He'd woken up with his throbbing erection pressed against Jovi's tailbase, and had nearly mounted the other male before Captain Benar had stopped their mating cold and had them march down to the docks as ordered.

"I... what? Is that a yes? Do you understand!? Shake your head, yes or no!!" Kalaz shouted.

Dietmar held his head still for a moment, defiantly, but couldn't resist feeling deeply ashamed at having provoked his master's anger. He began to nod his head, 'yes', as the rest of the pack obediently filed into the field.

Kalaz felt a little pang of sympathy as the creature gave a confused, pitiful warble. The kobold sighed, realizing that the former human had been indeed following his orders to the letter. "Look... I'll work on figuring things out first thing tomorrow. I'm going to save a few dozen of the best humans left for further experimentation, anyway. Your pack can have some of them, but it'll need to happen in a controlled setting. Understand?"

"Awp!" Dietmar chirped, trotting into the paddock as Kalaz closed the gate with a *click*, and strode away.

"We should make haste, Kalaz. Zephiel will be here soon. Let us hope that the device he entrusted to us functions better than your sorcery." Splinter-Tail said.

"It's not sorcery. It's..." Kalaz pointedly replied, before catching himself. Splinter-Tail seemed to make an abject point of forgetting everything he taught him of magic. "You are right. Everything should be ready for the... ha, the main event, by now."

The two kobolds shared a laugh together as they walked on, accompanied by the sound of long talons and tails scraping along the dusty road.