Chapter 1
"Your life has taken a turn, hasn't it Corvo…? It will get no easier from now…"
That mysterious, unnerving voice continued ringing in my ears during sleep, despite my greatest efforts to shut out any noise. I tossed and turned; my legs hung over the foot of this dingy, smelly mattress, and my hands brushed against the cold hard stone below. There was a distinct clattering sound nearby, and I sat up haphazardly to see the faint silhouette of a guard in front of my cell door.
"You should eat. This comes from a friend," he said, before shutting the gate and turning to walk away.
I felt my back crack as I barely managed to slide down onto the ground and crawl towards the only source of nourishment in what felt like weeks. I felt the warm golden loaf between my hands - the only welcome in my otherwise damp, rusting cage - before wolfing it down in less than a minute, surprising even myself with the speed of which one could eat. As my hands hurriedly brushed the silver platter for crumbs, I noticed that a small object seemed to gleam in the middle.
When my eyes had finally adjusted to the dark, I noticed that the object was a key. What's more, a letter had been carefully folded around it.
"Here is the key to your cell. Once you're out, head for the Interrogation Room."
Wondering if I had gone mad from the torture, I held the letter up and squinted at the words. It was written plainly and the words were unmistakable.
"…when the bomb goes off, run. Make for the river and lose yourself in the sewers…Good luck."
I could hardly imagine why anyone would want me alive at that point, but a key was a key. I reached through the cell bars and felt the opening of the lock just outside the gate; I turned the key in it, half expecting it to jam and reveal itself to be a cruel joke, but a distinct click proved otherwise. After checking the room for guards and seeing none, I hesitantly slid open the gate, wondering just how I was going to pull off my escape. I felt a jolt of energy as I realized the possibility.
"Hey, cut a guard for me, will ya?" said a gruff man in a nearby cell, inevitably a ruffian who had picked the wrong fight.
I looked around and walked towards a table with a few unattended coins and a guardsman's sword on it; brushing the coins into my pocket, I picked up the sword and felt its weight in my hands. It was sharp enough to kill.
"…all the nobles and rich men are to attend. Come to see the Lord Protector get his head cut off…" a prison guard's voice rang through the hall. As I heard footsteps draw near, I immediately retracted behind a wall and observed.
"Bah, they're worse than this lot," answered another heavier guard.
So there were two guards on duty. Sweat running down my brow, I wet my lips and peered around the corner. The two men were alone in the brightly lit hallway, but a suspended walkway a few meters in the distance quelled my ambition to make a run for it.
As soon as the lower watch guard in front turned his back, I snuck up behind him and snatched him into a chokehold. I struggled to keep his flailing body within my arms, as my energy had nearly been completely drained from days in captivity. Within seconds, the guard became limp and his body flopped onto the ground.
There was no turning back now; I swiftly dragged him into my cell and placed him in the middle, a message to be sent to all who would come searching for me later.