The Whalers
Billie Lurk traversed the rooftops of the flooded district; here 'traversed' meaning 'teleported'. She wanted to put as much distance between herself and Daud as possible. Even now she couldn't believe he'd let her go. Looking down as she judged the distance of her next jump, she saw…something odd. A corpse, which, alone, was entirely common. But it was a corpse in an oddly white dress, floating on a piece of bracken and drifting aimlessly amidst the flooded water. Curious, and suddenly with all the time in the world, she let herself drop down to take a closer look.
Almost remarkably, the moment she lifted the form out of the water, the gunk and dampness slipped right off the fabric, leaving it completely pristine. Even more remarkably, the way the girl shifted slightly, and the slightly above water temperature of her form…
My god she's still alive.
._.
Emily woke with a stiff neck, a burning throat, and aches all over. She coughed violently, then opened her eyes.
"Take it easy. Whatever you've gone through, it doesn't look to have been pretty." Emily blinked and turned. She was laying by a fire on a broken and damaged mattress, and crouched beside her…
"Who…Who are you?" She managed to get out.
The woman seemed to hesitate. "It's…Meagan. Meagan…Foster."
Emily blinked, then "There was a boy. With me, a boy. Where is he?"
Meagan frowned. "A boy? You were alone when I found you." She reached forward and handed Emily something on a stick. "Here. Eat this and don't think too hard about what it is."
Emily complied. It was horrible, but hot. She had flashbacks to the last time she'd been in such a horrible position. This wasn't Granny Rags though, and the food wasn't helping her with her magic. "Do you have any Pierro's remedy?" She asked. "The blue medicine?"
'Meagan' chuckled. "Figured you'd ask that." She hooked a vial of it from her very practical looking belt and held that out too. "You know, most people who ask for the blue stuff have a very specific reason for doing so."
Emily froze, and reached up to her tiara, but Meagan chuckled and raised her hands peacefully. "Don't worry. It's still there. I did see you without it, though."
Emily's eyes widened again. "Relax." Meagan emphasised. "Here in the flooded district, that mark means one thing, and no-one wants to mess with the Whalers."
Emily had heard of the flooded district. The once proud financial district had been laid low by the plague, and was now home to nothing but weepers and lowlifes. "Whalers? Who are they?"
Meagan raised an eyebrow. "You aren't with them? Huh, not too surprising. Daud usually waits till a few years older than you to go grabbing kids off the streets.
Emily paused. She had been trying desperately not to think at all for the last few minutes, but that name… "Daud? Daud the assassin?"
Meagan nodded. "The very same. The most powerful assassin in the isles."
Emily looked down to her hand. The mark was invisible again, but she tightened her fist reflexively. "Where is he?"
Meagan gave her a look. "Look, I know it's none of my business what you do, but people don't look for Daud. Either he finds you or he isn't looking."
"He killed my…someone close to me." Emily didn't know how to explain what she wanted. She didn't know what she wanted even was. She just knew that a scene involving whaler masks, blood, and a man in a red coat had been haunting her dreams ever since that day.
Meagan sighed. "From here? Go to the old cathedral spire then keep going until you spot a big statue of the old Empress. Get that close and they'll notice you. But you have to realise; people who go after Daud don't come back. Rival gangs, royal guards, Overseers…"
Emily got to her feet. "What about witches?"
"Those too." Meagan responded, completely nonplussed. "People with marks like yours and people older and more experienced than you. What makes you think you're better than all them?"
There was silence. Then Emily was gone.
Billie Lurk huffed. "Well, she's got the dramatic exit down." She looked after her, towards the building she had spent so much of her life in. Watch out Daud. I don't know about better than the rest, but this one's…different. Thoughts of Corvo came to her and she shivered involuntarily. Without any logical way of knowing, she was certain he and this girl were somehow related. Could she be…No, that's ridiculous. Shaking her head to clear it, she gathered her things.
._.
Emily encountered the first 'Whaler' after a few minutes of travel, her black eyes spotting him from two rooftops away. The way he occasionally vanished from one roof and reappeared on another was unsettling, to say the least. But she steeled herself. This man could have been there when my mother was attacked.
She launched a grapple at him and yanked. With force belied by her age, he was pulled off the roof and out to over the water. The surprise didn't last long, a moment later and he appeared on a lamppost a few metres away, looking around with rapid head jerks. A moment later he spotted her, but she had already fired a pebble from her slingshot. He was gone again, and her black eyes spotted him on a higher rooftop pointing towards her with his wrist. She flicked hers and his shadow tripped him, a bolt flying from his wrist but going wide. He teleported again, this time to just beside her but high enough to correct himself and land on his feet. She didn't give him chance to reach for his sword. She grappled for his masked head, and slammed it into the floor. He lay still. A glance from her black eyes confirmed that yes, he was still alive, before she turned away and moved on.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is on. prepare for the segment I've been waiting to write since the beginning.