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They come across the Bloodmouthed Terror as they are crossing the ridge of the mountain. It's the first one Leo and Cody have ever seen and an unusually big specimen too, according to Blaine. A huge, black and purple beast of twenty tons, with a crested back, a long snout and two sets of fifteen inches fangs. Extremely territorial, it acts aggressively right from the start, taking off from his nest and growling powerfully to warn them of their trespassing.
“This is all I needed,” Blaine grumbles, tightening the grip of his legs around Eamon's powerful neck to keep him steady. His dragon is restless, torn between the need of responding to the challenge of what is clearly another alpha and the will to respect his allegiance to him.
Leo pulls up next to him, on Shoneah, who's snorting small puffs of smoke. “The dragons are cranky,” he informs him. “Even Medhi is acting weird.” Medhi, usually the meekest of the three, is producing a disgruntled chirping and even Cody's soft words doesn't seem to have the usual soothing effect on him.
“He's the Terror,” Blaine explains, settling better on his mount. “It's fending them off and they don't like it.”
“But we don't want anything to do with it,” Cody says.
“It doesn't care. We're in its territory and it wants us out,” Blaine goes on. “But this is the quickest way. We don't have time to double back and reach the north-east passage. It's got to be this one.”
Shoneah snorts again, roaring softly. “So what do we do? We fight it?”
Blaine shakes his head. “No, we are in no condition. My leg is still sore and I don't trust your arm just yet. Besides, the Fire Gun is half empty. I don't have the firepower for a Terror, especially not one this big.”
The last hunt was rough. The nest they were supposed to clean up turned out to be an entire colony of Knobsnouts. If it hadn't been for Blaine's Fire Gun, they would all be dead. There were consequences, though. One of the Knobsnouts clawed Blaine in his right leg, tearing up skin and muscle. And as a result of a particularly effective sonar blast, Leo fell off Shoneah and landed badly on his right shoulder, impairing his weapon hand. They cleaned Blaine's wound and sewed it up, but he still has troubles walking properly. And Leo's wrist is weak and his hand shakes sometimes. So, it's not the greatest idea to face such a huge beast now.
“Can't we just pass by him?” Cody proposes as he pats Medhi on his head in an attempt to calm him down. He usually likes scratches and cuddles. “If he sees we're moving away, he might let us go.”
Blaine thinks about it, all the while keeping an eye on the Bloodmouthed Terror, that is now circling over them in a threatening way. “We have no other choice,” he says, eventually. “But we're not moving all together. It might see it as a group attack. We're going to fly a hundred feet apart. It will give us room to maneuver, just in case. If it goes south, we can take evasive action, so it won't be able to follow all three of us at the same time. Leo, you cover Cody. I cover both of you.”
Leo rolls his eyes, annoyed. He doesn't like to watch out for Cody – he strongly believes that if he's still so inefficient after almost a year of traveling with them, then he can stay home and train some more – but he knows better than voice those complaints. They all nosedive for a few feet and then right themselves to fly at a lower altitude. The Terror watches them closely for a few minutes, almost assessing the situation, but then it lets out an ominous growl, that makes even their bones tremble, and then it goes after them.
“Split up!” Blaine shouts, digging his heels into Eamon's neck.
The Bloodmouthed Terror is bigger than their dragons and the amount of air his wings move when it descends upon them bothers their flight pattern. Blaine is quick to grab one of Eamon's horns as he veers suddenly to avoid the current, but Cody falls off Medhi the moment his dragon starts spiraling down. He manages to grab one of the dragon's legs at the last second, but his screams draw the Terror's attention on him.
“Hey! HEY! Take it out on me, you evil creature!” Blaine shouts at the Terror as he and Eamon fly right past his face. “I'm the boss here!”
The huge dragon snaps his jaws at them, missing them by a whisker. It growls in frustration and then it decides to leave Cody alone to go after Blaine. Leo pulls up next to Medhi, which is having problems at stabilizing himself. Cody climbing up his leg and on his back again is not helping him, either. “Can you keep him steady?” Leo asks, annoyed as he watches Cody holding onto Medhi's scales and hoisting himself up. Cody would very much like to answer yes, just to take Leo off his back, but Medhi swirls dangerously, almost unsaddling him again.
Leo rolls his eyes again. “He can't find his current again, Sometimes I don't know who's more useless between you two!” He sighs, guiding Shoneah under Medhi. “Come on, lean on us!”
This is a very common procedure between dragons and their young – they have watched it several times – but it works with Medhi too as he can have the same problems dragon cubs have sometimes. Shoneah spreads his wings and become a steady surface for Medhi to stand on. While he's surely transported by Shoneah, he can easily spread his own wings and feel the current to understand how it works. At that point, Shoneah gives him a little push, then he detaches himself from him, so he can fly solo again. “There you go, moron!” Leo screams, distancing himself.
“Nobody asked you anything, Leo!” Cody screams back.
“For fuck's sake, stop bickering and come help me!” Blaine shouts at both of them as he and Eamon try to avoid the vicious attacks of the Bloodmouthed Terror. Leo flies at full speed, passing by Medhi so fast that the poor dragon almost loses his balance again. Shoneah goes around the two dragons fighting and breathes fire on the Terror to force him away from Eamon. The heat in the air is suddenly unbearable for a minute. “It was about time!” Blaine snorts, finally able to catch his breath as the Terror licks his wounds. “Can you not just bear with Cody for the time necessary to come out alive from this?”
“He's completely useless, Blaine!”
“At the beginning you weren't so helpful either!” Blaine retorts. And he's so annoyed that he makes the mistake of taking his eyes away from the beast for a second. The Terror attacks him head-on, slamming against Eamon's underbelly. The smaller dragon wails in pain and involuntarily unsaddles Blaine, who falls like a rock.
“Blaine!” Leo and Shoneah dive towards him. Eamon is spiraling down, wrapped in his own wings – not unconscious but surely hurt – and he can't save his master, so they will have to. Blaine is falling fast, but Shoneah is the fastest of the three dragons and he gets to him before he can crash on the ground. He grabs him by his bad leg, though, and Blaine curses loudly enough that it's pretty clear how many gods he's disrespecting. “Shoneah, pull him up!” Leo orders and, when the dragon literally flips Blaine over his shoulder to make him land on his back, he pats him between his horns. “Good boy.”
“He's not taking off,” Blaine comments, watching Eamon flap his wings and grunting. The dragon seems to be standing low on the ground. “He's got something wrong.”
“This is not looking good,” Leo says as Eamon slowly moves towards the woods to recover. “We need to go.”
The Bloodmouthed Terror circles around them a few times, but then he growls and goes for Cody and Medhi again. “Cody, watch out!”
Cody has seen the Terror coming, but Medhi can't move the way the other dragon does. He's a water-dragon, his wings are not supposed to move his body with such agility in the air. “He's not gonna make it,” Blaine whispers as Shoneah brings him and Leo closer and closer, seemingly not fast enough.
Leo moves without even thinking. He crawls on Shoneah's head, fighting against the wind that up here is almost too strong to keep his eyes open. “Leo, no! It's too dangerous!”
Leo ignores him. Standing on top of Shoneah's head in perfect balance, he grabs his bow from behind his back and aims at the dragon's head. In normal conditions, he would never miss the shot, but his hand is acting up. In releasing the string, his wrist bends unexpectedly, and the arrow goes in the wrong direction, barely pricking the dragon's densely scaled neck. The huge beast doesn't even slow down and it opens his mouth wide, ready to roast Medhi and Cody alive. There's no time.
“Leo, no!” Blaine shouts again, this time in horror.
“Shoneah!” Instantly getting what's in his mind, the dragon tosses him forward. It's a short flight from there to Medhi, but it seems to last forever. He doesn't hear Blaine calling his name or Cody screaming terrified. Everything around him slows down and all he can think of are the details. From up close, the mouth of a wild dragon smells disgustingly of blood and rotten food. Its breath alone could kill an army. And as he literally passes through his open mouth, Leo realizes that it could really snap him in two like a twig, and that's when his body moves, reacting faster than his brain. He grabs his bow and plants it deep between his fangs. The Bloodmouthed Terror tries to close his mouth and finds out that he can't. Scared, it starts trashing around and Leo has barely the time to push himself away from it and onto Medhi, before one of his big paws sends him flying.
Leo lands on Cody as the Terror howls in frustration, the bow keeping his mouth wide open. “Go! Go! Go!” He shouts, patting Medhi encouragingly on his side. Medhi retracts all his legs to make himself in a little ball, pushes himself to the limit. Shoneah pulls up next to him and, a moment later, Eamon takes flight from the woods, joining them.
They all lands ten minutes later, when they are sure the Terror is not following them. Blaine, quite obviously, is furious. “Are you out of your mind!?” He screams, sliding down Shoneah's side.
Leo was expecting this, so he sighs and turns slowly to him. He's about to explain himself – or at least try to – when Cody walks up to him and slaps him so hard that his face turns to the side. Then, he grabs him by his shirt and pulls him down into an aggressively passionate kiss. “You're a moron!” He shouts in his face. Then, he walks away, leaving Leo a little confused, but kinda smirking.
Blaine watches the whole scene in shock. Even his need of scolding Leo long and hard for the biggest scare of his life just disappears. “What the hell just happened?” He asks.
None of the kids answers him.