Hello there! It's the Author. Terribly sorry for the delay. School takes priority. However, reviewing encourages me to keep writing, so make sure you do that!
Also, the romance will take a while to come. Sorry about that. -K
Chapter 3, Part 1: A City in Ruins
Emily groaned as she woke up. That voice again had spoken to her after she'd passed out from the emotional exhaustion of the coronation. It was dark and hollow. It felt like touching metal after a frigid rain. It had echoed through her sleep with the emptiness of… of a void. No One didn't even seem man or woman this time. It was a huge, empty noise that somehow formed words, and called to her through sleep.
No One knew a lot that he wouldn't tell her. He knew Corvo, he knew about the coronation, he knew what had happened and why the ceremony had been cut short.
Emily needed to find some way to pin No One down, so that he would answer her questions. Like why she couldn't remember his face the moment she woke up.
She felt certain that No One had a face. But the details slipped away the more she tried to focus on them.
Emily groaned in frustration, and flopped over in bed. But it was hot. Far too hot. She could hear the fire the maid had started crackling heartily in the fireplace, and the comforter had finally dried and warmed her as she'd slept. All in all, Emily desperately wanted a glass of water. She also was torn between the desire to rip off the blankets and to snuggle deeper down into them.
Darn it, she was thirsty. Too thirsty to enjoy the softness of the sheets. She inched slowly closer to the edge of the bed, and to the bellrope that would call a maid to bring her water. But her body didn't seem willing to cooperate. Moving an inch took her breath away, and her eyes were to heavy to see where she was going.
Emily cracked an eye open and groaned. The bellrope was still well over a feet away. More effort would be needed if she was going to have a maid bring her water.
Despite the fact her head felt like lead, she lifted it and looked sleepily at the rope, then looked at the side table next to the bed.
And there was a pitcher full of water and a glass sitting right there! A maid must have brought it while she slept.
That still left the matter of actually getting to the edge of the bed. Emily just didn't have the energy to get there. Her eyes closed, she gave a gentle huff. Then she groaned again and shoved her torso off the bed. She scooted out from under the comforter and crawled over to the edge of the bed. She lifted the pitcher and poured a glass of water. The pitcher wobbled in her exhausted hands and spilled. Emily set the pitcher back down, drank her water, then used one of the numerous pillows to sop up the water that had spilled over the side table.
Her task complete and her energy burned up, Emily promptly fell back onto the mattress and dozed off. As she dozed, she thought she heard the gentle clicks of a door opening and closing. The next thing that happened, Emily was waking up, the sensation of just waking from heavy slumber.
She still felt rather drowsy, but this was now caused by oversleeping. She forced herself up and out of bed, and clapped her hands to her cheeks to try and hurry along the waking process.
Emily looked back to the side table, and groaned in disappointment. When she'd spilled the water earlier, she'd spilled it onto the bedclothes the maid had brought, and she could still see dark water stains on the fabric.
Emily gave the bellrope a strong tug, and then curled into a plush chair in front of the fire while she waited for a servant to answer the summons.
Ash she waited, Emily stared into the heart of the flames. Beyond the mystery that was No One, there were other matters that she knew she had to think about now that she was Empress. She knew about the plague; had seen it close and personally in the Golden Cat. She had screamed every time a rat had managed to wriggle its way into her room.
There hadn't been that many rats in the Hound Pits. Callista and that quiet young woman who stared longingly at Piero and Pendleton's manservant had made sure there were no rats anywhere to be found in the bar or in her tower. That had been nice.
But the rest of Dunwall was not so lucky. She knew the city was sick, at least a quarter of the population was dead or a Weeper. She'd heard that over the com speakers during the six months she'd spent at the Golden Cat. Dunwall needed a cure – Sokolov had made fair strides in making a vaccine, but they needed something that could bring back those who wandered alleys with blood running from their eyes.
She also knew that Piero also had a formula that helped against the plague – she'd seen him give Corvo vials of the shimmering blue fluid before Corvo would leave to complete some task given to him by Havelock.
But the two natural philosophers had gone into hiding after Corvo had departed for the light tower to save her from Havelock. Samuel and Corvo had spent a day scouring various parts of the city, but no sign of either men had been discovered yet. Without them, there seemed small hope of staving off the plague's rampage.
What could she do? She was just a little girl. She wasn't ready to be Empress… She couldn't…
"Lady Emily?" Emily looked up and saw the maid Liz enter the room.
"Yes, hi. Um, I spilled water on the bedclothes the other maid brought me. Could you please bring me something to wear?" Emily asked.
"Of course, my Lady. I'll be back momentarily with a dry outfit for you to wear." Liz said with a bow. Before Liz left the room, Emily remembered something and called out to her,
"Wait! What time is it?" Liz paused and turned around to address Emily.
"It is a quarter after 10 in the morning, the day after your coronation, my Lady. Now, if you'll kindly excuse me, I'll be right back." Liz bowed again, and left. Emily leaned back in the chair, stunned. A quarter after 10? The day after her coronation? Heavens!
It made sense though. She'd slept fretfully the night before the coronation, No One's voice doing nothing to help her rest. Then she'd been woken at five to finish the alterations on her coronation gown, be dressed, and have her face painted. Then that frightful ordeal that'd had Corvo locking her in the bedroom after the coronation. She'd honestly been worn out.
But that did remind her that she'd fallen asleep with her face painted. She reached up and touched her lips, but when she examined her lips, there was no rouge on her fingertips. Perhaps a maid had come in and washed her face while she slept. Emily certainly hoped that if she were to examine her pillows that she wouldn't find powder and rouge all over the fine fabric.
There was a knock at the door and then Liz came in with a set of white pants and a white blouse over one arm. Emily stared at Liz; something about the woman seemed familiar.
Liz quirked an eyebrow as she gestured for Emily to step into a pair of underwear.
"Is everything alright, Lady Emily?" Liz asked distantly. Emily blinked, and realized she'd been frowning as she'd examined the maid.
"Oh. Um, how long have you been at the Tower, Liz? I don't remember you working here before… mother… but you seem familiar."
Liz didn't look up as she struggled with a button on Emily's blouse.
"I don't imagine how you'd recognize me. I only started about two months ago. Mr. Burrows needed new maids before he was sent to Coldridge, and for whatever reason, I was retained here when you were finally found and returned to the Tower." Liz stated as she held out Emily's small jacket. "It's beyond me, really," Liz continued as she tied the collar of the jacket. "I'd have thought that Lord Corvo would have insisted all servants that had served Mr. Burrows be removed from their posts and new servants hired. But all of us have stayed. Not that I'll complain." Liz finished as she buckled Emily's shoes. Standing up, she started to leave.
"Lord Corvo asked to be notified when you had awoken. He'll be in shortly. "Liz said then bowed to take her leave.
Emily nodded, acknowledging Liz's departure. As the door shut, Emily turned back to the fire. She was almost certain she'd seen Liz before she'd returned to the Tower. But where?
"Lady Emily?" Corvo didn't knock. He just walked in. He looked tired. Had he been up all night?
"What's going on Corvo?" Emily asked. Corvo stood before her at attention. He didn't take a seat, even though there was a very nice chair right next to him. Had he always been this tense when mother was alive?
"Some people from outside the city tried to stop your coronation. They blame your mother for the plague, and fear that you, as her child, will suffer from her failure as well, and the plague will travel throughout the empire." Corvo certainly didn't mince words. Of course, he'd always been like that with mother. A tutor had once told her that Royal Protectors had the liberty of being blunt whereas advisors and diplomats did not.
Emily wasn't sure how to respond to this news. She remembered the day mother died, and Corvo had brought the news that no one would help them find a cure. No one would send food to feed the homeless wandering the streets, no one would let their natural philosophers leave their hometowns to study. She remembered how sad and frustrated mother had been.
And what could she do? She was a child. How could she find a cure? How could she tell others that she would be a good Empress?
"Lady Emily?" Corvo's voice broke Emily's thoughts.
"Corvo, what should I do?" She asked desperately. Corvo sighed, and began to pace before her.
"With Piero and Sokolov gone, our only hope is that the academy of natural philosophy has been researching the plague." Emily frowned.
"Mother said they were a lot of cowards and stuck up pricks." Corvo looked at her, horrified at her language. But he didn't tell her to mind her tongue, surprisingly.
"They have resources. And Sokolov left notes behind, in his penthouse. With those, it could be possible to at very least produce a vaccine. And if the natural philosophers would open their doors, they could use Sokolov's notes to expand on the original recipe to create a cure for the weepers." Corvo said.
But there was also the matter of the people who'd tried to stop the coronation.
"What about the people at the coronation?" Emily asked. Corvo took a deep breath.
"I don't know their identities. Yet. But I'll find them, Emily." Corvo promised. Emily nodded.
"Good. And when you find them, kill them."