Yet the older Nidhogg’s rune was unavailable for weeks now and Bodya’s every attempt to communicate with the rest of his family had crashed against a wall of indifferent silence.
He had even tried to ask Jiera’s Council to contact his kin on his behalf but the Elders were too busy dealing with the crisis to waste their time with a family squabble. Bodya’s reputation was already in the gutter for staying so long in Garlen while Jiera fell apart.
The news of his contribution to establishing the Kingdom’s outpost of Darmoq made him nothing short of a traitor. The Council members answered his calls only because they had to.
Bodya was still a member of the Awakened Council and they were grateful for his role in dealing with Thaymos the Eternal Fortress. Yet they kept their answers curt and short when they realized he asked them for help instead of offering it.
Bodya was left with no other choice but to go check on Vothal in person.
“Shit!” When he arrived in front of the entrance to the Nidhoggs’ lair, he found out that the stone arc had collapsed. Digging through the ground revealed that the defensive arrays had been altered and the safe paths he knew were now full of traps.
After sending messages via the amulet and transmissions via earth magic requesting a meeting, Bodya explored the area for days before giving up. No one showed up, which meant that the Nidhoggs not only had changed the location of the lair’s access points but they were also avoiding him.
At that point, Bodya had gone to the nearest cities of the Wild Empire, looking for a reliable source of information about his family.
“Nidhoggs?” Echoed Pakon the Orthrus, the lesser Fenrir mayor Laska. “They are a bunch of odd and reclusive fellows. When the monster tides appeared, the Nidhoggs were a dependable ally, but after they suffered a few casualties, they stopped sending us reinforcements.
“May the Great Mother curse them. No offense, lad.”
“None taken.” Bodya had altered his appearance to pass for a member of a different nest. Those who didn’t know his energy signature would never recognize him and with his thick Jieran accent, no one doubted he was a local.
“I wouldn’t have bothered you, mayor, if my patriarch wasn’t worried about our cousins. They have stopped answering our calls and I’ve been sent here to make sure they are alright.”
“Tell your patriarch that your cousins are more than alright.” Pakon replied. “They can allow themselves the luxury of being cruel assholes. Otherwise, they would have never exiled two able-bodied Nidhoggs.”
“Two? I know only of the traitor, Bodya.” His voice was full of regret, but the mayor interpreted it as shame for the stain on the Nidhogg bloodline. “Has anyone else defected for Garlen?”
“No, nothing like that.” The Orthrus shook one head while the other kept reading the security reports he received from the nearby cities. “You’ve heard about the fall of the Eternal Fortress, right?”
Bodya nodded for him to continue.
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like having Garleners on my backyard as anyone else but I give credit where credit is due. Those damn colonists did one thing right. After they got rid of both the lost city and the monster tide that empowered it, our situation improved significantly.
“The remaining lost cities keep themselves away, probably fearing they would end up the same way. The monster tides are too busy slaughtering each other to fill the void left by the Black Tide to bother us, which is also good.
“Between our strike teams and the Garleners whittling the single monster hordes, the Council has finally regained a semblance of control over the region. All of this would have never happened if old Nidhogg Vothal hadn’t warned his traitorous grandchild in time.
“Yet that old fool of Forrn branded Vothal as a traitor as well and banished him.”
“Are you serious?” Bodya couldn’t believe his own ears.
“I know, right?” Pakon scoffed. “The boy may be an opportunistic bastard, but how can you blame a grandfather for protecting the hatchling he raised? Especially after all the good things that came out of it and the Great Mother’s speech?”
The Orthrus was so outraged that both his heads barked insults at Forrn.
“Like it or not, the Great Mother returned to Jiera, to us, because of the Garleners. She protected us and killed our enemies while that useless piece of shit of Fenagar hides somewhere boasting how much he knows and doesn’t share!
“Tyris tried to teach us a lesson in kindness and the Nidhoggs are spitting in her face. If you ask me, they are just pissed off their precious forefather is as useless as a fart in a storm. No offense.”
“None taken. My tribe shares your opinion.” Bodya said, giving Pakon a demonstration of his fluency in Tyris’ universal language. “Where can I find Vothal? I want to offer him hospitality.”
“Damn, kid. You are good.” The Orthrus had a thick Paclean accent due to lack of practice. “Are you interested in a position as teacher? I need people like you to spread the Great Mother’s language and honor her.”
“Thanks, but no. What about Vothal?”
“He lives here. I’ll assign you a guide to bring you to his house.” A snap of his clawed paws summoned a Shyf. “Fair warning, Vothal will never leave. Even in exile, he’s loyal to his clan and refuses to share any of his bloodline legacy.”
“Then why do you give him hospitality?” Bodya asked.
“Because he’s a hero and we can use all the help we can get.” Pakon replied. “Also, because we are not stupid Nidhoggs. When the Great Mother speaks, we listen. We recognized the truth of her words and are trying to change.”
“None taken.” Bodya gave the Orthrus a deep bow of gratitude before the mayor once again realized the rudeness of his words and followed the Shyf.
“Damn. Sorry, kid!”
The feline magical beast led Bodya to Laska’s lowest level. It was situated right above the mines and aside from security guards, no one lived there.
“Just to be clear, the mayor gifted Vothal a nice lair in the residential district.” The Shyf explained. “The old Nidhogg refused and moved down here to be left alone. Please, even if he refuses to move to your colony, try to knock some sense into him.
“Vothal should be proud of himself, not ashamed.”
Once they arrived in sight of a large circular opening in the ground, the Shyf turned back and bid Bodya goodbye. As the Nidhogg approached, he released small pulses with earth magic to announce his presence.
The ground started to rumble and by the time Bodya reached the entrance, a colossal snake emerged, giving him a hateful welcome.
“How many times do I have to say that I want to be left alone?” In his Nidhogg form, Vothal was close to 25 meters (82′) long. His body was covered in brownish grey scales streaked yellow, orange, and blue all over.
Several straight bone spikes came out of his forehead in a shape that would have reminded someone from Earth of the frill of a triceratops.
