ToI: Nexus Rescue

   The Wind Pixie crouched on the office roof, teeth gritted as he extracted a jagged shard of rock from his left arm.
   "Smack and whack it all, that did not go well," he muttered, delicate wings fluttering anxiously over his shoulders. He glanced back at the courtyard, at the Gnargoyles that had he had just barely escaped from.
   The armored warden marched back and forth, head swinging back and forth as he searched for his escaped prey. The Wind Pixie ducked back away from the edge, antennas twitching.
   They knew which side of the courtyard he was in, and now nearly all the guards were in between him and the cells. If he tried to get to them, they'd see him in an instant. He could fly for the portal, but he hated the idea of abandoning his mission, leaving those poor imps imprisoned here.
   His wings fluttered again, nearly lifting his clawed feet off the ground.
   "Smack and whack it all," he repeated in a mutter.
   Then something glinted in the portal, and his eyes snapped back to it. Reinforcements from the Immortal Realm?
   A claw appeared through the portal, followed by a huge, silver reptilian body. A Draygoon, armed with a sword strapped to its side, slipped fully through the portal, apparently unnoticed by the busy guards.
   The Wind Pixie studied the newcomer from his distant perch, wondering if such a creature would provide him with good distraction. Then there was another movement in the portal, and the Draygoon's golden-scaled companion appeared, three fire-tipped arrows already set to his bowstring.
   Even across the dark expanse of the courtyard, the Wind Pixie could see this second Draygoon's savagely ripped left wing. His eyes widened.
   "It can't be..."

   Azac glanced at Yarshale, concerned his boisterous friend would reveal them to the Nexus' inhabitance, but Yarshale seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. They had been warned, this would be a quest on which combat was to be avoided at all costs.
   The Gnargoyles seemed distracted, wandering around on the other side of the courtyard. Azac recognized the warden from what Rune had said, ordering the guards with barked orders and pointed fingers, and wondered what it was they were all riled up about. Training exercise?
   "Come on," whispered Yarshale. "Let's get the imps out of here."
   Azac nodded, moving as quietly as he could towards the cell blocks. He winced every time his claws clinked against the rock, and wished for once that he had worked to become stealthier. Couldn't be helped now, though.
   Yarshale was no better, even though he had only two feet touching the stone at any time as opposed to four. Both Draygoons were very thankful the guards were so distracted, otherwise there was no way they would have gone undetected this long.
   They reached the first cell block in moments, so close as it was to the portal. Azac carefully drew his sword as Yarshale explained the situation through the door to the imps in a hasty, whispered conversation.
   "Careful for the Angel!" one of the imps whispered back nervously. "I heard a commotion earlier, but Fluffy didn't get involved. He's still hanging around somewhere, I'm sure of it."
   Azac weaseled his narrow sword into the crack between the door and the wall, gritting his teeth as he prepared to cut down. There was no telling if this would work or not, and the noise was sure the catch some attention.
   Yarshale tensed, watching the guards warily with his arrows still held ready.
   "Go."
   Azac drove down at the lock with all his strength, and though his un-impressive sword didn't cut through the bolt, something in the lock mechanism definitely broke. Loudly.
   Several Gnargoyles turned to look at them. Half a heartbeat later, before Yarshale could even release his arrows, one of them cried out, "Intruders at the cells!"
   "Blast," Yarshale snarled, letting off his first volley at the quickly approaching guards. The Gnargoyles dodged out of the way, far more nimble then the possessed store goods the pair had faced last. Azac threw his body against the door of the cell, and the weakened lock gave out entirely, swinging open against his formidable size and weight.
   "Go!" Azac yelled to the imps inside, then whirled on the Gnargoyles, sword raised.
   Only one group on the way to the portal, and they had been found out.. Azac hissed to himself, highly displeased with this outcome.
   And then a blue lightning bolt fell from the ceiling, slamming into the foremost Gnargoyle with a flurry of transparent wings.
   "I don't like being ignored!" shrieked the strange little being, driving two tiny daggers into the Gnargoyle's neck. "And break my neck if I'm wrong, but Firebrand Vade just stumbled clumsily into my quest, and I've still got three matches to pay him back for!!"
   Azac was confused by this strange declaration, but Yarshale's response was far more dramatic. His jaw dropped, and he stood frozen for about two seconds before blinking forward through space towards the newcomer.
   "Kheth?!" he screeched, head-butting the next-nearest Gnargoyle viciously. "You have got to be kidding me!"
   "You can't fight them," Azac muttered, darting forward after Yarshale. Bones the Warden was fast approaching, and not even with the (Azac thought he might be a Wind Pixie) stranger helping, there was no way they would emerge from this fight victorious. "Yarshale, get back! We have to retreat!"
   "He's smart, Vade!" the Wind Pixie declared, much to Azac's relief. "This was a terrible idea!"
   Azac and the half-a-dozen Gnargoyles reached Yarshale and the Wind Pixie at the same time, and for a moment, Azac was caught in a deadly fence of incoming claws. Then he darted back towards the shadows, his unnatural speed taking him out of range just in time. He had the Wind Pixie by one shoulder, had dragged him along, and to his relief he saw Yarshale has used his own roguish speed to get clear as well. The Gnargoyles were bewildered for the moment, confused as to where they had gone, but the warden was already looking around, eyes narrowed evilly.
   The Wind Pixie, barely as tall as Azac's chest, looked up at him with a rather unnerving smile.
   "Hi there," he said. "Let go."
   Azac complied, and the Wind Pixie fluttered his wings, rising easily to eye-height.
   "Right, here is the plan," he said seriously. "You and Vade are way faster then me, so keep the guards after you, and keep moving. I'll head for the cells. Go!"
   There was something very weird about this Wind Pixie, so far as Azac was concerned, but the plan seemed solid. And there wasn't time to argue, Gnargoyles were already heading for them.
   Azac hefted his sword and leapt forward, darting in front of the charging group. The Gnargoyles were fast, dangerously so, but Azec managed to stay just ahead of their attacks. His elusiveness seemed to enrage them, and they pressed the attack angrily.
   As soon as Azac thought they were firmly fixed on him, he retreated. Not to escape, but to draw them away from the cell blocks. Glancing over his shoulder, he could see Yarshale doing the same with the other group of guards, taunting them verbally as only Yarshale would.
   "Is that what you call guarding prisoners? Hah! You didn't even know there was a portal right into your compound, did you, lame-brains? Hey, you, with the big claws. You're fat!"
   The Wind Pixie had reached the second cell block, and was levering at the lock with his daggers. From his frustrated movements, it wasn't going too well.
   Then a Gnargoyle claw slipped past Azac's defences while he was distracted and ripped three gashes down his chest scales.
   Azac screeched in pain, dodging to one side. Another Gnargoyle was there waiting for him, deadly claws at the ready.

   Yarshale heard Azac screech and quickstepped out of range of his own pursuers, drawing a pair of arrows from his quiver. He wished they would flame, just because he liked the way flaming arrows looked in the air, but even that was close enough to magic to be dampened by the Nexus.
   He let off both arrows at the Gnargoyles attacking Azac, then leapt away again. His arrows were quickly dwindling, and he doubted he'd have the chance to retrieve any here.
   "You guys are a waste of arrow!" he called out to the Gnargoyles, lifting one hand to feel the contents of his quiver. Eight more arrows. They had to speed things up.
   And what in all the sand of the desert was Kheth doing here?!
   He flashed over to where his old acquaintance was struggling with the lock.
   "Sorry, buddy. Good plan, but we're moving too slow," Yarshale said, and Kheth hopped back with a flutter of wings and an angry scowl.
   "This lock is not playing nice," he said, then tensed as Yarshale's raptor-talon slashed past his face.
   Yarshale had jumped up in the air, his one good wing pushing hard against air to give him a moment of lift, and brought one foot up even with the lock. A moment later he fell, incapable of keeping to the air, but the added momentum added enough force for his one raptor-like claw to slash through the lock.
   Kheth hesitated only a moment, looking at Yarshale with a subdued expression, then snapped himself out of his thoughts and shouted at the imps inside the cell. "Come on, get up and head for the portal. It's on the north wall, just beyond the first cell block!"
   Yarshale quickstepped away again, though the urge to stay and ask Kheth for some answers was strong. Now was not the time or place, however. And they still had one cell to break into before they could make an escape.
   A shriek filled the air the moment he neared the solitary cell, to which the Gnargoyles replied with eager shouts. Yarshale skidded to a stop mid-quickstep, momentum causing him to pitch forward onto the ground, as a large white creature dropped out of the shadows of the ceiling.
   "Great," he muttered, picking himself back up hurriedly and collecting his spilled arrows. "Why can't there be a single danger we get to avoid?"
   Fluffy the Angel landed, crouched low on its winged arms, on the top of the cell, clearly daring in its own way for anyone to approach. Yarshale glared at it, then glanced around for anything that might give him an idea.
   Azac was on the other side of the courtyard, engaged in hit-and-run combat with three Gnargoyles and bleeding heavily. Not going to be of any help. The other Gnargoyles were moving to stop the escaping imps, hindered by Kheth as he tried to hold them all up. The small duelist was doing remarkably well, but the Gnargoyles were too strong for him to take on so many at a time.
   That gave Yarshale his idea.
   "You're cousins with a pillow!" he shouted at the Angel, unsure of whether or not Fluffy was sentient or would be able to understand him, but feeling required to toss a taunt at him anyway. Then he quickstepped towards the fleeing imp line, the world blurring around him at the speed of his movement.
   Kheth didn't even look when Yarshale appeared as if by magic next to him.
   "Please tell me you're not giving up on that last cell," he said, teeth gritted as he blocked an attack from a Gnargoyle. Yarshale ducked under one claw-slash and jabbed forward with his bow, smashing it into the face of the Gnargoyle attacking him.
   "Nope. I just can't take on that fluffy angel thing. I'm not exactly the best at--"
   His bow cracked as he tried to block an attack with it, and razor-sharp claws racked down his side. He bit back a scream, smashing at this new attacker with his tail.
   "Close fighting," Kheth finished for him, glancing at the lurking Angel on their last objective. "Stay alive, Vade."
   The Wind Pixie was off, zipping across the courtyard towards the final cell. Yarshale retreated against the pressing Gnargoyle attacks, for all his speed barely keeping their deadly claws away from him, but he spared a glance after his old acquaintance anyway.
   Kheth hit Fluffy like a blue bullet, fighting with all the power of a creature far larger then himself. Yarshale's old ally had tapped into the core of emotion-driven energy berserkers feed off of, becoming a deadly force that took even the terrifying Angel aback.
   Kheth's familiar, almost deranged laughter filled the air, unnerving even Yarshale who had heard it many times in the past.
   It brought back memories, it really did. They didn't call him the Raging Whirlwind for nothing.

   Azac had slipped into a steady routine of slash-block-run, maintaining a stalemate against his opponents, but blood-loss began to slow him down. It would be only a matter of time before he slipped up, let another blow hit him, and that could prove deadly.
   Then that crazy laugh reached him, and both he and his attackers froze for a moment. The Gnargoyles looked across courtyard, where the Nostaku was snapping and snarling at the much smaller Wind Pixie recklessly facing it head-on.
   "That's insane," one of the Gnargoyles growled in astonishment. Azac agreed.
   Then there was a loud clang, and Yarshale ran out from behind the solitary block, imps hard on his tail. The Nostaku, intensely fighting the Wind Pixie, made no move to stop them.
   Azac dashed away from his own fight, now intent on only one thing. Breaking the Gnargoyle line between the remaining imps and the portal. He gritted his teeth, each step painful now, but they were so close now.  
   Yarshale was unarmed, his bow shattered in two from some hard blow. Azac twirled his sword, wondering how he alone could possibly get past six hulking Gnargoyles, including the warden.
   He never had to figure it out.
   "Incoming!" shrieked a fairy-voice, and the Wind Pixie dive-bombed towards the Gnargoyles, the Nostaku right behind him and enraged. Azac dove to the side, just barely avoiding a swat in the face from Fluffy's tail, and then it and the Wind Pixie hit the prison guards.
   Chaos erupted.
   Yarshale ran up and stopped to help Azac up, the imps darting past them to continue for the portal.
   "Come on, we have to get out as soon as possible," Yarshale panted, bleeding from the side even as he tried to help Azac. "Kheth won't be able to keep them occupied for long."
   "I can't wait for you to explain this," Azac replied, then had to stop to fight back a wave of dizziness.
   "Once we're out," Yarshale promised. "Come on, we just have to get to the portal."
   Azac ground his teeth together, took a deep breath, and followed Yarshale. Neither had the strength to use their full speed, and had one of the guards up ahead been concerned with stopping them, there would have been no contest.
   Thankfully, they had other things on their minds.
   Then...
   Daylight. Imps, lying about panting for breath and cheering. Azac blinked, not remembering stepping through the portal.
   I must have blacked out for a moment, he thought to himself. He glanced back at the portal, saw Yarshale behind him flat on the ground, clutching the claw wounds on his side.
   No Wind Pixie.
   Then Azac blacked out again.