The flapping of large, leathery wings echoes through the courtyard, and dust whips up into whirling devils where the gusts collect in corners. Annalei glances up, squinting in the sunlight. A large reptilian body blots out the sunlight, and she suddenly finds her feet have left the ground, and she's being whisked away under the cover of a nearby roof eave.

Xeraxes looks down at her, dark pupils growing wider in the shade. She's featherlight in his arms, a small burden for one so large and strong. He sets her down gently on the ground, for once not the terrible tyrant he so often tends to be. "Please, princess. Stay here, out of the way. Get your men inside, they won't be of any help if they're burned to a crisp." James runs over to her side, catching Xeraxes words as the dragon draws away from them. Annalei is lost in a sea of her own emotions, but still manages to look James in the eye, and nod to do as Xeraxes said.

James calls the men to them, and their dusty faces all gaze out at the scene playing out in front of them. Xeraxes stands alone in the courtyard, waiting with steely resolve. They hear the roar of the circling foe ring out again, and murmurs fly up amongst the men as a great emerald beast dives directly for the courtyard. It reopens folded wings at the last moment, its body shrinking and dissolving into the body of a man.

He looks young, younger than Xeraxes by far, possibly even younger than Annalei herself. His sandy blonde hair is wind-tousled between two ivory horns. His emerald eyes are such a rich shade, they glitter like jewels in the distance. Annalei is surprised to see Xeraxes even towers over those of his own kind, as the young dragon in question appears to not be much taller than Annalei herself.

"King Xeraxes, the Black Flame, I claim my right of combat." The green-eyed boy stares up at Xeraxes, his jaw set firmly, determination rolling off him in waves.

Xeraxes sighs deeply, then his loud voice booms across the courtyard, echoing off the stones, making the younger dragon flinch away. "Who is it that claims this right?"

"Lord Veridix, son of the Duke of Aquiline Heights." He announces, trying his best to look brave. Annalei can't help but wonder what strange event is happening in front of her eyes, and leans over to James, the words between the two dragons fading into the background.

"What exactly are they doing?" She whispers.

"I'm not sure, but I think that little one just challenged Xeraxes. I cannot fathom why a much younger dragon would attempt to take territory from a much older, much more established one, but that does look like what's at play." James pauses for a moment, considering. "In all fairness, princess, a week ago I wouldn't have told you dragons could shape-shift. Most of the dragons I've ever seen have been dead ones." He shrugs, turning back to the exchange. Annalei feels the uncomfortable pull in her gut of uncertainty. Surely, no matter how human they seemed, dragons were just beasts in the end. At least, that's what she wants to believe.

An agreement between the two must have been reached, for the younger dragon twists himself around, his wings morphing and growing as he flaps into the air. Tail, talons and maw of steak-knife teeth are quick to follow, and he wings out over the ramparts of the castle. Xeraxes breaks into a run behind the young dragon's retreating form, charging towards the stairs that lead up onto the castle wall.

"I'm following him." Annalei announces, then sprints after Xeraxes, a startled James close on her heels.

Xeraxes pauses on his way up the stairs, locking eyes with Annalei for a moment. He blows out a quick puff of steam in frustration, but carries on. Annalei takes it as an unspoken approval of her actions whether it is meant to be or not. She's just behind Xeraxes when he reaches the top of the ramparts and climbs the battlements, leaping into the thin air.

She reaches the spot he leaps from gasping. A black mass blocks out her sight for a moment before a large, black dragon rises into the sky in front of her. Xeraxes wheels through the air, twisting towards the green dragon circling idly above them. The gusts from Xeraxes' wings nearly flattens James and Annalei to the stone floor. The pair look up, watching as the two beasts pirouette around one another in an intricate dance.

Annalei realizes what a rare sight she's being visited with as the polite distance between the two dragons is closed with a slash of claw here, and a snap of jaw there. "A real dragon fight!" She shouts between the fevered roars of the beasts above. Perhaps it is her youth that drives her excitement, for she smiles so brightly, her blue eyes clouded with an excitement James hasn't seen on her face since her first jousting tournament. She's practically glowing with her budding investment, and James' brow narrows in frustration.

"We should get down from here. They may come closer than we'd like." He reaches out to grab her hand and take her back down into the courtyard, to where he can keep her safe, when she climbs up the battlements to sit down on their precarious edge and get a better view of the fight overhead.

"The little green one is half Xeraxes' size. There's no way he's gonna come out of this on top, I wouldn't think." She's ignoring James entirely now, enraptured with fight. He sighs deeply, twisting his fist into the bottom of her shirt in case he needs to yank her off at the last moment.

"No, I don't think he will either. Xeraxes looks like he's toying with him." He points at the black blotch in the sky, great wings carrying it lazily in an ever closing spiral towards the smaller dragon. Both green and black scales glitter in the sunlight.

"Hmm, maybe. But why? Why not just end it now?" Annalei asks.

"Sometimes it's best not to underestimate your opponent. He's judging how fast the green one will tire. See, there. See how much more effort it's taking the young one to hold his position? He'll either have to retreat, or eventually be forced to land. I'm sure at his lighter weight he could outpace Xeraxes outright, but if he's tired, Xeraxes could get his claws into him." James explains calmly, examining the fight more closely, with a careful, analytical eye.

Annalei did notice it seemed the younger dragon was tiring quickly, as he tried to flap his wings back and forth over themselves, hovering in place not unlike what she'd seen some small birds do. Xeraxes continues circling, vulture-like, his wings beating only occasionally. He clearly had the experience the younger dragon lacked. Every time he narrowed his path, Xeraxes would take an experimental snap at some vulnerable part of the other dragon, then flutter away quickly when the smaller would lunge at him in turn.

The emerald beast must be growing frustrated, desperate, or both. He lets out a streak of orange-yellow flame as Xeraxes nips at him again. A shrieking roar makes the very air around them shudder. Annalei startles, and nearly loses her seat on the battlement. James reaches up with his free hand and steadies her. "Okay, you've seen them breathe fire, can we go back down now?" James asks.

"Oh, but it just got exciting! Look!" She gesticulates wildly, pointing at Xeraxes' black form. James follows the line of her pointing finger, watching Xeraxes fly nearly vertical, straight up into the clouds, then folding his wings and plummeting swiftly towards his foe. Ebony flames pour from Xeraxes' gaping jaw, blanketing the other dragon in swaths of black fire. The younger dragon yelps, folding his own wings to avoid Xeraxes, and landing roughly on the ground, rolling in the dirt to extinguish the fire clinging to his scaly hide.

"I...I didn't know they could burn each other like that. I thought they were fire-proof." James mutters.

Annalei doesn't hear him, as she leans dangerously forward over the edge, to catch what she assumes will be the end of the fight. Xeraxes lands on the ground with an earth-shaking thud, and reaches for the green dragon as he tries to scramble away from him, scorched and bleeding from several shallow gashes. Xeraxes wraps his five-fingered forepaw around the young dragon's tail, dragging him underneath his own body. He hisses violently in the other dragon's face, pale pink tongue lolling out of his mouth, dripping with saliva. Annalei shudders involuntarily. It reminds her a little too much of the disastrous dinner, and she knows exactly how intimidating that behavior can be. Xeraxes releases the young dragon, allowing the other beast to scramble to his feet and gather his body under him enough to get his wings open and fly away yet again. Xeraxes lets out a triumphant chuff, then bounds up from the ground to land on the tower next to Annalei and James.

For a brief moment, Annalei finds herself staring into a jewel-orange eye larger than her own head. She feels the urge to reach out and touch the coal black hide, next to the eye, where scales don't grow and the skin looks velvety-soft. She blinks, and the eye recedes, her hand still outstretched until she feels the warm palm close around her wrist. Xeraxes holds her hand inches from his own russet cheek. She notices a scuff-mark on his cheekbone, slowly reddening as time passes. He gives her a rare, lopsided grin. "He caught me with his wing. I misjudged the distance a little. No need to worry about me so much, princess."

"I wasn't worried about you." Annalei snaps, ripping back her hand from him. "Why'd you let him go?" She asks, curiosity demanding to be satisfied.

"Well, it's not like he came here to steal my castle. No, this was...a little more ceremonial than that." He frowns struggling to find the words he's looking for. "It would be like... a coming-of-age ceremony for your kind. It's a way for young dragons to prove themselves, that they have the courage to face down an enemy much larger and stronger than they, should they ever need to, in order to defend what they call their own."

"Oh." Annalei mutters to herself. "Why didn't anyone ever tell me about this?" She wonders mainly to herself, lost in her own doubts and misgivings. She'd grown up believing dragons were only beasts, and beasts of the worst kind. She'd been taught that they were smart enough to plan and scheme, but not nearly as intelligent as humans, with society and culture. Now, she knew they had coming-of-age ceremonies, albeit more brutal than her own 16th birthday had been.

"It would seem you may have more to learn about dragons than you thought." Xeraxes whispers into her ear, stirring up the tiny hairs against her neck with his warm breath, then stalks off down the ramparts.