Into That Wild Blue Yonder

3. Out of Darkness

Colm sat cross-legged with his eyes closed atop the easternmost warehouse in the yard, diligently listening for any disturbance in shadowy world below. The guards trudged along tiredly below, complaining about late working hours but lauding the overtime and hazard pay from their overseer. The wind whistled as it blew through narrow passageways and cracked doorways, carrying with it the usual stench of uncleaned, heavily trafficked spaces.

No moonshine graced the earth tonight, as stormclouds ruled the sky. Colm thanked the moon for taking leave tonight, as the cover of darkness would make his work easier by letting him stick to the shadows even after combat inevitably began. The lampposts outside the city relied on magic to run, casting only a faint glow meant to reveal movement but not detail. The governess didn't want to run electrical lines outside the walls as it posed a risk to the infrastructure.

Colm opened his eyes, now fully adjusted to the darkness of the night. The guards naturally stuck to the lighted areas, despite how that actually made it harder to look into the darkness on the warehouse roofs, almost as if they intended for Colm to steal his target. The only real challenge at this point was finding the item; the rest would be a walk in the park.

He noted a total of fifteen guards scattered about the warehouses tonight, presumably more than normal, and had to assume more would accompany the shipment. Jerry indicated that the item would arrive late in the evening, giving Colm just enough time to figure out each of his final little details before it came. The little details always made or broke his jobs, however small they were.

With that time, he slid quietly off the rooftop and swung into a high window up onto the rafters, just above the downward-facing lights. The same two guards sat in this room now as did earlier, in the same spot, looking at the entrance of the room. Quiet as a mouse, Colm bounded across the rafters and to the main office of the warehouse.

The door was locked, but it posed no issue for Colm. He placed his finger against the lock and pressed forward with just a little bit of energy, sending a magical shockwave through the lock just large enough to push the primitive parts into place for him to open the door. Few people cared to study fundamental magic; that was why Colm stuck to it back in his learning days in the mountains.

"Cheaping out on locks didn't pay," Colm muttered to himself. Complex locks were often built to defeat this method of picking today.

Colm silently closed the door behind him and searched the office. Manifests cluttered the top of each desk, some with dates clearly long past. Colm scoured through them for anything that might indicate what he was looking for. All he could find was a manifest for that night with a strange mark of a colorful, four-pronged star with a decorated center-circle. Everything else on that manifest was blacked out.

From the office, Colm snuck a peak at the layout of the lights in the warehouse. They were all built the same way in the same format, so it would help him in his assault. There was one central light, and a light by each of the corners of the room for a total of five exceedingly low-quality lights. Taking out just three would render a half of the room dark enough that Colm would be able to operate efficiently and subdue the guards if necessary.

With at least part of his information gathered, Colm exited the office and returned to the rafters, then back outside and to the roof. As he climbed up, a flash of lightning and the loud roar of following thunder dominated the night sky, temporarily taking away Colm's dark vision.

"Drat," he cursed the sudden surge of light.

While the metal rooftop wasn't ideal, Colm's boots had rubberized soles, so barring a direct hit on his rooftop or himself, he figured he would be safe from death by lightning strike. Probably. He maintained his position to watch for movement. Staying on his feet, Colm kept his profile as low as possible and looked out over the horizon to see if he could spot any movement.