Johniee soon found herself muzzled, hobbled, and lead slowly out to a large field, containing mostly cracked earth and small, prickly plants. One of the men began leading her around in wide circles around the field. Suddenly, Johniee's unfamiliar legs tripped on something, and she fell to her knees.
Suddenly she felt a burning sensation across her back and bottom, and lurched forward, startled. "No, you stop when I say stop." shouted the man from behind her. He actually WHIPPED me... Johniee realized. Automatically she started to protest, but produced only a loud bellow. The only result was another lash with the whip. Fighting back tears, Johniee lurched forward on the path the man indicated. The worst part was that her bellowing didn't even sound to her like any language. It sounded like nothing more than noise. Animal noise.
After several hours, Johniee was finally lead back into the palace; into a barn-like building where she was tethered. She was tired, hungrly, and utterly humiliated. Her rump still smarted from where she had felt the whip many times during the day, almost always because she was still clumsy in her new body. As the men had led her back, they had been noding to each other in a pleased sort of way at how easily her training was comming along.
Well, if nothing else, I've gotten a bit more used to this body. She thought to herself. Of course, I'd rather not be staying in it any longer than necessary...
Utterly famished from the day, Johniee looked aroud, but the only thing that looked even remotely edible was a trough full of green shoots. Well, I suppose that with the way this day has been going, I shouldn't be too surprised... Johniee thought to herself. With a resigned sigh, she began shovelling them into her mouth with her trunk.
You'd think that these things could taste a LITTLE better... She thought. They ARE elephant food, after all. Unfortunatly the shoots tasted almost exactly like they looked: About one step better than chewing leafy twigs.
Trying to ignore the taste, Johniee instead concentrated on the novelty of having a trunk. It felt extremly strange and unfamiliar. Like picking things up with the side of his nose. She was glad that no men were there to whip her when she dropped things; it took quite a bit longer to get the hang of using her newfound trunk than it had to learn to walk.
At least now I have the hang of this body a little better, thought Johniee. Now I probably won't get whipped quite as much. It galled her to realize that she was submitting so easily to traning... Especially training on how to be a good animal. But it was obvious that she did not have a huge amount of choice; the men would whip her if she didn't obey, and there wasn't a huge amount she could do about it.
I suppose I could try to run away. She thought. I'm SURE that the guards and handlers arn't expecting me to do anything that intellegent.
But on the other hand, where would I go? The stone is here, and that's probably my only way back. She stomped a foot in frustration. I don't think I want to go through the rest of my life as part of some elephant herd in the wild.
