The first flickers of memory confused the buck. It raised its head and sniffed the air - scents of the seven does and three fawns were close, with vaguely familiar scents of trees, dirt, grass, and other odors. But there was something else. The arrangement of trees, the open meadow, even some sounds of a nearby creek seemed familiar to him in a way that was difficult to comprehend. Then another scent - that of humans, many young humans, came over the breeze. The buck snorted, shuddered, and Angus was suddenly awake.
For just a moment, the former boy was startled to find himself on four hooves instead of two feet. Then experiences of being a buck rose up in his mind, not quite clear memories, but enough impressions were there to fill in the gaps. Angus twisted his head around and looked at his herd. The fawns were all his, and three of does were also pregnant. He had fathered six children. Well, offspring. They had survived and grown, though one doe had been lost to a poacher during the cold time... winter.
His ears flicked, picking up the faint voices of boys. Scouts, he realized, back in the camp where he had been - how long ago? Curious, he ambled cautiously towards the noise. It was warm, and the trees were in full leaf. Late spring or early summer, he guessed. A year. A year since he had come out to take a piss and ended up as a stag. It was even close to the same time, middle of the darkness - night. There had been something else as well - the lights! His vision did not work as well as human sight, but the flickering points of glowing color were visible to him, floating ahead closer to where the camps would be. If he focused his hearing, the musical sounds of the fae also came into focus.
Were they going to change others? Turn other boys into beasts? He probably had not been the only one last year. Perhaps one of the does he now had as a harem had once been a human. Memories of his human life continued to return, and he spent a long while grazing with the herd. Even distracted, his stag's instincts was aware of the approaching humans long before they came close. He could have bolted with the herd - in fact, those animal instincts were telling him to do that now. But he held still and quiet, watching the spot in the trees where both the sounds and a growing number of flickering lights told him some Scouts would soon appear.
Less than two minutes later he saw the shapes - two boys, probably older Cub Scouts or Webelos from the apparent age. One appeared to be Asian, the other a pale blonde. The Asian boy carried a camera and though they were clumsy and noisy as they moved, it was obvious they thought they were being stealthy. Somehow, neither boy seemed aware of the rainbow of fae that rode on their heads and shoulders. The boys stopped and whispered excitedly when they saw the herd.
One of the lights floated over to Angus, and he felt a moment of fear that they might dull his mind again. [Hello, former human. You have served the forest well. You can exchange forms with one of these humans and go back to your old world, or gain new additions to your herd. They will both join the forest whatever your choice.]