Mike tried for hours to get his legs to work all together. The front legs were sort of okay, he thought that he could walk on them if he had to, but his real legs were a loss. The human leg was a good six or seven inches shorter and the joints were all different now. They simply couldn't bend in unison.
Thinking for a few minutes, he decided to risk a bit more time in the water. If he could get his legs to work in unison, but leave his head and body intact, he thought there was at least a chance that he would find someone to help him.
There was also a chance that he could wind up a circus freak, or even as a full deer with more time in the water, but he was a dead man if he stayed like this.
Mike thought about how much he should change, and eventually decided to dunk himself down to the hips. It would mean that he'd have to stare at the ground to walk, but at least he'd be mobil.
He carefully climbed the stones up to the small spring, mostly careful not to fall in, and took a deep breath. He'd have to be careful not to slip. He put his deer foot into the water until he felt it touch the bottom, then took a deep breath and dropped his normal leg in, carful to brace himself with his forlegs.
The longer exposure felt different than the short bit that had altered him already. It was like a deep, deep massage. A wave of pleasure passed over him as his hips changed, and for a moment his grip slipped on the rocks, sinking him to the middle of his belly in the water.
Mike came out of that with a jolt and dragged himself out of the water. He rolled to the clearing and took deep breaths to clear his mind. It took a couple of minutes for him to survey the damage. Everything below his ribcage was a deer now. The legs, tail, russet pelt..
Udder.
Mike felt like crying again. The pool had turned him halfway into a doe!
Mike clamped down on his emotions. He didn't need that now. He tried to walk around the clearing and discovered that while it was uncomfortable, it was workable.
Mike was about to leave the clearing when he stopped and looked back at the pool of water. It would be easier to simply become a doe completely and worry about communicating with someone later. But would anyone wait to understand? And what if the water changed mind as well as body? Ty could laugh as he dropped foals in the woods for the next decade or more. At least now, he could try and find help...