“The Shin-endigh have a way of motivating people.”
Their voices faded as they passed out of hearing range. Airborn? Had they invented some kind of flying machine? That could be devastating to the Kingdom. And Shin-endigh agents here? That meant Gyro would have to be extra careful not to run afoul of the elven secret police. Just knowing that they were here almost caused him to abort the mission entirely. There hadn’t been a reported case of an agent running up against one of them and coming out on top. They usually didn’t even come out of it at all.
Gyro swung himself up and over the wall, scurried across and looked down. The ground was lost in shadow below. Reaching under the light jacket he was wearing, he produced a small pistol wrapped in burlap. The burlap kept it from making any noise as he moved about. He checked the walkway, making sure it was clear and then placed the barrel of the pistol against the wall, just below the outside edge. There was a pop, about as loud as someone clapping there hands as he triggered it. When the pistol was pulled away it left an eye-bolt embedded in the concrete. Gyro replaced the pistol under his jacket. In a few more seconds, he had attached the end of the spool of cable that was hooked to his belt and swung himself over the ledge. Pressing a button on the spool, it began to play the cable out slowly, allowing Gyro to walk down the wall.
In no time at all, he had reached the bottom. Disconnecting the spool from his belt, he mentally marked the spot for his return trip. In the middle of the walled compound was his target, a huge building almost one hundred and twenty yards squared. Shrouded ventilation fans were set evenly along it’s walls. The one Gyro faced had a small door set in the east end. An overly-alert sentry guarded it. Perhaps he had heard that the Shin-endigh were on base. He was careful to move only when the guard was looking in the opposite direction, even though the shadows seemed to cloak him. The light tended to hamper infravision, but it did not totally blind it.
Once he was close enough, he realized that all but the loudest noises would be masked by the fans and the sounds coming from within. Muffled grunts and screeching could be heard coming from somewhere inside. The sounds made his ear hair twitch. Whatever was in there was extremely dangerous. That made it imperative that he find out what it was, since the elves were planning on using it against the Dwarven Kingdom.
Apparently the elves felt that the security of the outer wall, and the confidentiality of the bases location was enough. He could see no security other than the guards at the entrances to the building. The fan farthest away from the guard was the most logical insertion point. Moving silently, he made his way over to it. The fan was huge, with each blade being almost three gnomes tall. The shroud that covered it was just a square box, with six louver fins mounted horizontally across it. The box itself was probably three feet deep. The system was set up so that the suction from the fan would keep the louvers fins open. If the fan stopped there would be no suction and the fins would fall closed. All of them were connected by a bar running vertically down the center, ensuring that they all moved as one. The opening between the bottom fin and the edge of the shroud was just wide enough for him to squeeze through.
Gyro wasn’t comfortable standing next to the lazily spinning fan, but he had enough room to move around. Taking a small leather bag from where it had been attached to his back of his belt, he unrolled it. Inside were several different lengths of pry-bars. He selected one of appropriate length and wedged it in so that the fins were propped in the open position. That accomplished, he turned to look at the mechanism that was powering the vent fan. It was a simple chain and sprocket design, powered by an electric motor. Snapping open the hard leather case that was fastened to the interior of his jacket, he selected one of the four small vials that were secured in the padding within. A magnetic strip was attached to one side of the vial for securing it to metal. Gyro attached it to the inside edge of the chain and stepped as far away from it as the shroud would let him. The was the pop of breaking glass as the vial was crunched between the bottom sprocket and the chain. The acid stored within ate quickly through the chain, and it rolled off the top sprocket with a muffled thud.
Gyro waited almost a full minute to make sure no one had heard the noise above the other fans and the loud screeching within. No one came to investigate, so he climbed through the opening and dropped down to the catwalk just below. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but fear gripped him as he realized what the elves secret weapon was. Dragons. The entire building was lined with stalls and filled with dragons.
They were all young ones, and each one had a saddle strapped firmly between it’s shoulders. There was no doubt as to their purpose. Gyro Lash stood there with his mouth hanging open as the implications of it hit him. If they managed to tame these dragons enough for elves to ride them, that would give them the whole sky to fight from. It would severely cripple the dwarves ability to stop their advance. It might totally obliterate it. With the capability of flight they wouldn’t have to face their ground forces. They could just fly up and drop bombs on them. He had to report this as quickly as possible. If they were going to be airborne by the end of the month, then time was swiftly running out for all of Alongrid!