The twisted wreck of Gangolf's body drifted down the Serpe like a dead log in the water. The toxins in Jorst's saliva had mixed in to his bloodstream and were slowly working their changes upon him. Gangolf's twisted limbs slowly straightened, and the bite wound on hisbshouoder quickly scabbed over. Then he began to grow. His rapid growth would have been noticeable to anyone who had the habit of gazing at a pitch black river. Gangolf's arms and legs lengthened, his torso grew broader, his teeth and nails grew sharper and his hair grew all over. Gangolf had gone from a pudgy young lad to a hairy, bearded man, all in the span of a few minutes. The rapid growth had burnt his fat and had left him emaciated, although with a fair amount of muscle. He would continue to grow if his body had sufficient nutrition available.
Gangolf felt the brightness of the sun against his eyes, he sat up, blearily rubbing his eyes, thinking to the terrible nightmare he had. A strange beast had chased and mauled him, fleeing, he had fallen to his sure death, as all nightmares seemed to end. Feeling the sharp river stones under his palms he leapt up, that was no nightmare, he had truly been attacked! Looking down at the ground, Gangolf furrowed his brow, the ground seemed much further away than usual, as he examined his legs closer, he saw thick hair between through the rags of his furs. He looked over himself, taking in his corded lean arms and his pointed nails. Now sure he was in another dream, Gangolf lesuirely strolled over to the river bank, to drink from the clear waters.
"Yaaaarrgghhh!" The reflection of a cruel faced vagrant stared at him from the water. As he leapt away he realized, it was him! He was the vagrant. This nightmare grew worse and worse. Gangolf began to sob, screaming and wailing, why could he not wake from this strange dream. All he wanted was to wake in his cozy bed in his and mother's hut and to eat the porridge and honey that was his favorite.
The sobbing, panicked wreck that was the boy Gangolf and was now the Wier Gangolf stumbled to his feet. He was resigned to his fate. He would explore this strange dream and somehow wake. Making his way towards the large cloud of smoke on the horizon he attempted to his bearing. He could see Vang in the distance, with its distinctive pointed, curved peak. Why would he dream of the mountain that towered over his valley, and at such a distance from which he had never seen it. A sinking feeling began to grow in his gut. Lost in his musings Gangolf had arrived at his destination, spread before him was a sprawling city. Spanning the banks of the Serpe, the city straddled the river with many bridges and walkways. He could make out great towers of stone, vast palaces and ropes and small woodbriges linking all the buildings of the city, palace and ramshackle hovel alike. He realised, this was the city of Bayn! His uncles had told tales of it to him, after their trips down the mountain to sell cheeses and furs. Gangolf continued towards the great gates of the city.
"Halt!" The two guards in a light leather armour hailed Gangolf, one leered at him with a broken toothed smile while the other gave him a stern look.
"Get gone from here, Bayn has enough beggars of its own!" The stern guard stepped towards Gangolf.
"Bubut sirs, I'm no beggar, I'm from the village of Senke." Gangolf whimpered at the guards.
"Bahahahaha, you would've convinced us too, if we hadn't heard about the massacre at Senke from Lord Schlags man." The broken toothed guard said smiling at Gangolf.
"Huh, no it can't be." The sinking feeling grew in Gangolf's stomach and he began to sob. It was no dream, his village had been massacred by beasts and here was, alone and changed at Bayn.
"Stop snivelling and move along fool, a grown man has no business acting this way." The guards loomed over Gangolf, and poked and prod him with the butts of their spears.
"Hey, hey, he's one of mine!" A slimy voice called out, a squat man with thinning hair sauntered over to the two guards.
"Let him through." The man tossed a couple of silver coins to the guards and helped Gangolf up. Still holding his arm, the man led Gangolf in to the city of Bayn.
Gangolf meekly followed the strange man. The man wore a leather vest covered in strange trinkets, and a bludgeon hung at his side. Noticing Gangolf staring at it he chuckled and gave it a affectionate pat.
"Can't be too safe in Bayn." The streets of Bayn were paved with large flat stones, with a mess of humanity all about, wagons and livestock all mingled through the crowd. The smell was so thick you could feel it in your nostrils, strange herbs, exotic foods and the perfumes of the lords and ladies of Bayn all mingled in the hair. Walkways and rope bridges crisscrossed between the towers and tall buildings that thronged the city, creating a spiderweb that covered Bayn. There were stalls and stores selling things Gangolf had never even seen, let alone decipher the use of. The man dragged Gangolf down a series of alleyways, making quick turns and looking over his shoulder, the paving stones have way to gravel then to dirt as they moved away from the main streets of Bayn.
"Here." The man stopped at a door and pulled one of his trinkets from his vest. He slotted the key in the keyhole of the worn door and pushed it open, revealing a small room containing a bed, a chair, a set of drawers, a washbasin and an oil lamp.
"Now what in the world is a goddamn dead man doing snivelling at the city gates." The man sat down in the rickety chair.
"I know Senke furs, and those rags of yours are Senke for sure." The man continued.
"I'm Schwin, some Senke lads would do jobs for me once a while, the last job was a shitshow, prolly what led to the Wier hunt on your village." Schwin pulled out a pipe and lit it.
"Wier, is that what those beasts are?" Gangolf asked.
"Yeah, the better half of our lordships." Schwin chuckled.
"Though how you're alive is a mystery to me. Either you can fly or you were bit and they couldn't finish you off." Schwin sighed.
"You would've been better off eaten by those damn Wier son. Full blooded Wier don't like loose cannons like you running about, believe me you shouldn't have mentioned Senke." Schwin rubbed his bristly chin.
"What's going to happen to me?" Gangolf said fiddling with the ratty threadbare blanket.
"On account of me being involved in what happened, I'll look out for you, for now I want you holed up in here, eating all the food I send in, so you finish your transformation. We want to give you a fighting chance don't we. Keep calm, any mood changes might mean an out of control transformation." Schwin stood on moved toward the door.
"I'll be back in a week, I'm off to make sure those guards forget it was me who took the beggar from Senke." Schwin quickly darted out the door, the lock clicking shut as he left.
Gangolf stared in a daze at the knots in the wooden floor panels, what in the world was happening?