Interlude:

The lord regent

"Drink up." Stated High Overseer Campbell, passing the whisky to the lord regent. "And tell me again what you saw."

Hiram Burrows laughed, before downing another glass. "Oh, it must be troubled times old friend. Not only do you believe my reports will be more accurate when drunk, a politician is trying to convince a man of the faith of a demon's influence!"

Campbell sighed. "Look, it was a stressful day, everything was in uproar, it's understandable if you mistook-"

"NO!" Hiram interrupted, slamming down the drink. "I know what I saw, old friend, so listen well. The girl fell unconscious the moment I told her she had stabbed her mother, and she began twitching, her one hand smoking as though being burned. Then, I heard the music from your overseer stop, apparently because a swarm of rats from nowhere attacked him! But that wasn't the worst of it, no, for the moment the music stopped, she sat up! Her eyes were unfocused, irises black, and she began speaking with someone who wasn't there! I tried to snap her out of it, but she didn't hear me, and when the rats burst into the room, she fired some horrible thing from her palm and it carried her out through the window. I saw a symbol glowing on her hand, and it was the Outsider's mark alright, I can see it now, clear as day!"

Campbell rested his hand against Hiram's shoulder. "Calm down man! If you're right, I will have to send Overseers to all the suspected places of Outsider worship throughout Dunwall. It is there her powers will grow, and the stronger she becomes, the bigger threat she poses. You know what happened to the last person the Outsider marked, you ordered him to kill an empress!"

"Sshhh!" Hiram urged, looking around the room in Dunwall tower. Their voices had been steadily rising, but he couldn't let his secret slip out in drunkenness. "No." He replied, almost at a whisper. "She can't become another Daud. But we will have to find some way to bring her back here, or else she will destroy us."

Campbell looked down in thought. "…Maybe we shouldn't bring her back here."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we know rumours will spread claiming the young Kaldwin to be a budding witch. What if we speed them along? If Emily were hunted and killed by my overseers… What would be between you and the throne?"

._.

The street rat

Thomas deposited his loot in front of Griff, the 'fence' for Bottle Street, his home. A string of copper wire, a bottle of hemlock essence, and a kingsparrow feather. He had also found a phial of Sokolov's elixir, but he was keeping that to himself. With the plague spreading and turning a sixth of the neighbourhood into weepers already, anything that provided some protection was helpful.

Griff looked at it, nodded, and began counting coins from his pocket. "This ain't as much as you normally bring me."

Thomas shrugged. "Security's been tightened since that craziness at Dunwall Tower, (which they still won't tell us about, by the way), and that was, like, two days ago. That mad genius Sokolov's getting a bunch of his defence tech implemented, they're hooking up a wall of light just between here and the posh district. Hey, Didja know I was just leaving that place when the empress got shanked?"

Griff looked up and grinned. "Oh? Visiting your bird again?"
Thomas pouted and stuck out his tongue. "Emily's not my bird! I'm 10! And she's probably empress right now! I don't even care about her that much, I just find it funny that-"

Suddenly, speakers crackled to life. "Attention Dunwall citizens. Once heir to the throne, Emily Kaldwin, has murdered the Empress and escaped Dunwall tower through the use of dark magic bestowed upon her by the Outsider. Guards are advised to use lethal force to prevent further witchery, and civilians are urged to come forwards if they can provide accurate information on her whereabouts."

Thomas' jaw dropped. "She…no…I gotta…"

Griff looked at him in amusement. "Not your bird, huh?"

._.

The loyalist admiral

Admiral Havelock paced violently around the Hound Pitts pub, muttering darkly to himself. "I don't believe this. Hiram Burrows? Lord Regent? This is ridiculous…"

Beside him, Samuel took a puff from his cigarette. "I'm more worried about that young Emily."

Havelock sighed. "True, all this talk of her being a witch… How are we going to get her back on the throne if everyone thinks she's worshipping the void?"

Samuel shrugged. "If you need me, sir, just let me know."

Havelock sighed. "Thank you, Sam, but I'm not sure a river man will be much help. I need to gather those in positions of power. Overseer Martin might be willing to help me, the younger Pendleton brother, and I'm sure that technician I met once would help; the one who got kicked out of the university, what was he called?"

"Pierro, sir, Pierro Japlin." Samuel stood straighter. "With respect, sir, I may be more useful than you think. I know people, in the gangs and on the streets. I know you think the lord regent has Emily locked up somewhere, but if she is out on the streets, I can help you find her."

Havelock walked over and clapped the old boatman on the shoulder. "You're a good man, old friend. We need to get the empress on the throne, with the right people backing her. Otherwise, this city will fall so far into chaos; we won't be able to bring it back."

The dishonoured protector

Burrows.

You requested a dead empress and a captured child. Yet you neglected to tell me about Corvo, and therefore I lost a good man. In that, we both failed, and so I will not request more money for the inconvenience. But this talk of a witch-daughter interests me. You want her out of the way, which I understand. Rest assured, if I find Emily Kaldwin, you will not see her again.

Daud.

Signing the paper with a flourish, Daud handed it to one of his assassins, who promptly vanished to deliver the letter in a suitably unnerving way, such as right into the lord regent's pocket without him noticing.

Flexing his fingers, Daud walked through his base in the flooded district to the prisons, where he entered The Room. Contained within, locked in restraining stocks, was Corvo Attano. He had already almost escaped. Twice. Daud crouched in front of him, and he lifted his head, eyes blank.

Carefully, deliberately, Daud removed his glove and showed the symbol on his hand. "Do you see this?" He asked. Saying nothing, Corvo nodded.

Daud continued. "This is what makes me the most dangerous assassin in the isles. Some of its power bleeds out to my subordinates, allowing them to perform the magic you have witnessed. On a side note, they will kill you if you attempt to escape again." He put the glove back on. "And yet. Despite being attacked by several of these teleporting, well equipped assassins, you held them off until I arrived, and even killed one. Even I couldn't stop you until I dropped you a dozen feet and injected you with three sleep darts while I froze time."

Corvo's lips twitched upwards in a grim smile.

"You have impressed me, Attano. And so I am giving you a chance." An upraised eyebrow was the only response he got. "The world is changing, Corvo. The Outsider is pulling out all the stocks to make things interesting. Plague runs rampant in the streets. People are carving runes and charms from whalebone, turning to the Outsider for power, and he gives it to them, even as it drives them mad. They aren't like me. Or young miss Kaldwin."

At the mention of Emily, Corvo jerked in his restraints, straining against them on reflex. Now Daud was wearing a grim smile. "Of course you didn't know. Your precious little empress has been marked by the Outsider and hurled out onto the streets, alone and afraid."

Corvo had stopped resisting, and was now staring directly at Daud, hanging onto his every word.

"My chance is this. You will help me find the shrines to the Outsider formed by the city's desperate citizens, and you will help me neutralise those people who may begin to be dangerous. In return, when your path leads you to Emily Kaldwin, I will leave her in your care."

Corvo waited a good few seconds, before opening his parched mouth and speaking. "Why me?"

Daud smiled. "One, because of your impressive display in defence of your empress. Two, you have an artefact crafted by the outsider from the body of an empress specifically for that purpose, it's a dead giveaway."

"The new empress' subjects are rats…" came the lamenting voice of Jessamine Kaldwin, and Corvo gripped The Heart as it pulsed to the bone charms nearby.

So this concludes the prologue part of this story, and yes, i'm leaving Corvo the heart. let's face it, if you were a ten year old wandering around with the voice of your dead mother, you'd probably go insane. Then again, next chapter, who knows who she's going to encounter? Review with comments, advice, or story suggestions, and prepare for the next chapter on sunday. See y'all!