All Dead Lie Down

by Alan Spencer

Many years passed. Peace had settled on the kingdom. But there was something growing in the darkness, a menace that threatened to destroy everything Corvo has ever worked for. And, for the first time since he had put an end to two rebellions, the Outsider came to visit him. For what? Another contract.

All Dead Lie Down

-1-

Spilled Blood

Corvo Attano walked into the room, with an easy, confident stride despite his age and found Robert Austin practicing swordsmanship against one of the soldiers of the Royal Guard, which he had personally picked. He couldn´t quite remember the name of the man dueling against Robert, and that bothered him. It made him felt old. And he was old, on his way to having fifty years, but being reminded of it was unpleasant. Heh. When had he gotten so squeamish?

Robert sidestepped a slash that had headed for his throat, locked blades with his opponent and, in a series of quick moves, managed to disarm him. The Royal Guard gave a stared gasp, but couldn´t do anything to stop it. The practice sword flew, landed on the ground, rolled and came to rest when it hit a table. Such a sight was reassuring. Oh, sure, Robert was out of breath and he had obviously exerted himself just by fighting one man, well trained as he was, but still, it was reassuring. It wouldn´t do for the next Lord Protector to lose even a single fight, even if said person didn´t know he was even considering it.

They heard him approach, and turned towards him. A look of surprise showed on their faces, but just for moment. They kneeled before him.

"Rise." Corvo said. His voice was rough, rougher that it had ever been before. They did so, and stood to attention without moving or asking a single question, their left arm behind their backs and the right hand over their heart. He tilted his head towards the Royal Guard who name he still couldn´t remember. "You may go, now."

"Yes, sir." He said, and moved briskly out of the room, leaving him and Robert alone. Corvo walked up to the desk, and picked the Royal Guard´s fallen weapon, returned and stepped back until his back touched the wall, without taking his eyes off of Robert.

"Come at me." Corvo said, curtly. Robert hesitated, but just for a moment. He kicked the ground, covered the distance between them in instant and swung his practice sword with all his streght. Corvo parried the attack aside without breaking a sweat. He was old, but his intensive physical training and the Outsiders Mark had kept him in such a physical condition that it was almost like not time had passed at all since he put down two rebellions in quick succession. Corvo took advantage of his broken guard, and slashed at Robert´s throat. The Royal Guard quickly stepped back, avoiding the attack and launched one of its own. He locked blades with Robert, analyzing his movements

Robert was fast, perhaps the faster swordsman in the Royal Guard. There was force behind his strikes, too, even though they didn´t face him much. He was talented, in the prime on his life and, under his tutelage, he would go very far, without a doubt. Still, if he went all out now, he couldn´t even get to make one more attack. He just couldn´t compare to him, back what he had started as Lord Protector, at all. To be fair, though, that wasn´t the other mans fault. If a suitable replacement meant someone of skill comparable to his, he couldn´t find anybody to take his mantle. It was not pride, merely reality. Even before the Outsider had gifted him with his mark, he had been beyond the capacities of most humans.

Corvo ducked beneath one of Robert´s attacks, and hit it on the hand gripping the sword. He yelped in pain, and dropped the wooden sword.

"Sloppy." A single word rolled out of his lips, but it was enough to get Robert to look ashamed. "You telegraphed your attacks far more that you used to. I would have ended this match in less that a minute, if I wanted to."

"I...I have been practicing here since this morning, my lord. I am really tired."

"It doesn´t matter. A real enemy will not wait until you catch your breath, and order your thoughts. To be a good soldier, you must always been prepared to battle and win." Corvo said, dismissively, and assumed a defensive stance.

"Is not just that. You are too fast, too powerful, too... everything. Even if I hadn´t not fought once in all of today, I still couldn´t have beaten you. Who could?"

"You be surprised." He answered, remembering curling up into a ball in the sewers of Dunwall after branding the Lord Regent with the Heretic´s Mark, a bullet wound on his gut, bleeding all over the place, twitching at every sound and scared of every shadow, waiting. Waiting to see if he would live, or die. It had be far for the last moment where he had a close brush with death, in those far too long days where everything he had ever know had been pulled out under him, time and time again. "Take the sword off the ground, and lets fight again."

Robert held his gaze for a moment. Corvo wondered what the guard was thinking about. Maybe that his word had been right, and he should have really be better prepared, especially since he regularly fought against the Royal Guards. Or maybe just that he was being a know it all, and that he was going to show him how it was done. Robert had talent in droves, but he had always been a prideful little bastard, so it couldn´t surprise him. It was one of the few bad habits Corvo hadn´t not yet pruned off of him. Then again, Robert had his reasons for it, so he had never aggressively tried to correct that problem. He had just hoped that age could show that the word worth was meaningless, that worth, real worth, is what you made by yourself, so being the third son of the famous and prestigious Austin family didn´t have to tied him down for life.

"Yes, my lord." Robert said, knelled and picked up the sword. He put a defensive stance, and waited. Good. He was being more prudent. Corvo rushed at him, and launched a blow with all of his streght. Robert parried it, stepped aside and his sword lunged towards his throat. Corvo ducked beneath the attack, without missing a beat. He was better now, much better. Still not enough, though. He took advantage of an opening, and quickly disarmed him. Robert almost growled in frustration.

"Again." Corvo said, curtly. Robert picked up the sword, and they resumed the fight. They were like that for white a while. He disarmed Robert nine more times before he had to cut it short. He would have liked to get on with it until Robert couldn´t stand, but Empress Emily Kaldwin, The Wise, was giving the new year´s speech and, as her Lord Protector, he had to be present. It was not terribly important, that much was true, but it wasn´t something he could miss either. "Stop."

"B-But, my lord..." Before he could correct him, Robert blurted out: "Sorry, I... I got so caught on this that I forgot about it, my lord."

"Its not problem." Corvo answered, even though it really was, and set the wooden sword down. "Lets just go."

He turned, and walked towards the door without looking back to see if Robert followed him. At the next moment, he heard his steps just behind him. While walking through the corridors, they were joined, without a word, by the rest of the Royal Guard. Corvo lifted his left hand, and examined the Outsider´s Mark by the light of the lamp on the ceiling.

He had not see the Outsider again, since the Loyalists-ironically- betrayed him and left him for dead. Through all the years, Corvo had always wondered why the mark hadn´t disappeared. The Outsider didn´t have a stake in anything of this mortal world, he knew that. Otherwise, he could have just struck down the Lord Regents Reign by himself. No, what the Outsider wanted was not peace within Dunwall, or righting wrongs, only interesting things. And for years, Corvo hadn´t done anything remotely interesting. Dunwall had quickly entered a Golden Age under Emily hands, guided by his own. Corruption still existed, of course, and it was far for crime free, but there hadn´t not been any mayor accident since that bastard had been send to Coldridge prison, his reign of terror ended. So, why?

It was questions like it that often kept it awake at night, and made it think that he had missed something, that trouble was brewing out of his sight and the happy life he had lend for eleven years would start to fall apart. He could have been happier if the Outsider visited him once again, even if only once. Ah, but there was no sense in worrying about it. Look for it in the court, in the streets, whenever he had a free moment yes, but he had to accept that things out of his control could go wrong. He wasn´t old enough to have forgotten that lesson.

They went to Emily´s chambers. He took a step forward, and knocked. No answer. He knocked again, lightly, hiding his discomfort. The memory of his dear Jessamine being killed, and Emily being kidnapped right before his eyes, while he was held still by means he couldn´t understand had never really banished. That was part of the reason, but the most important part was that...

"Just a moment, Corvo." Her soft, clear voice calmed him down. Just as well. He had been about to break down the door, and since-thanks to his training and part because of the Outsider´s Mark- he was hearing the rustle of clothing... Well, it would have been pretty awkward, to say the least. He heard her light footsteps approaching the door one second before she opened it. "Corvo!"

He regarded her fondly as she came up to him with a big smile and arms raised to the sides. She was wearing a white dress, with a matching skirt that came down to her knees. Similar to what had been her favorite dress eleven years ago, but not identical. God. She looked so much like her mother... that had always be so, but since Jessamine had been killed the resemblance was almost unbearable for him. He hugged her, and drew her to his chest. The guards most certainly felt awkward, but didn´t say anything about it. After a few moments, they drew apart. She walked ahead of the group, and he walked by her side, like always.

He looked down at her, at her sunny little face. What kind of expression would she make, he wondered, if he told her that, since that day eleven years ago, he had been carried around her mother´s heart of his pouch? He hadn´t no proof of it, but it made sense. Is not that the Outsider had crafted an object that revealed secrets, but that he had bound the soul of somebody who knew the vast majority of secrets in Dunwall. That´s why the Heart hadn´t told him anything when he used it on the upper commands of the Loyalists; because it didn´t know they were planning on betraying him, it didn´t know anything but what she had know before her death. That´s why it had reacted in anger to Daud, her killer.

But more importantly... what face would she make if he told her that he, the man she had considered her father figure for so long, was really her father? Could she bring herself to forgive him, after all? Everybody he had know told him that he was everything to Emily, now that her mother was dead, but they didn´t know. They didn´t know about the pain of betrayal, how being dishonored and left for dead felt. It happened to him, and everything he had ever done had been forgotten. And when he came back, nobody bothered to apologize. He knew that kind of pain better that most, and how it could change a person. So, he wasn´t so sure of it himself. Not sure at all.

Ah, he shouldn´t really stop beating himself up over this. There had been... circumstances. And he couldn´t change the past. Of course, all of that was leaving aside another big issue: he couldn't´t never be sure it was safe to tell her. In the Royal Palace, even the walls had ears. Jessamine and him had guarded the secret of their involvement as best as they could, which, considering that Jessamine had never married so the common assumption was that he was Emily´s father, wasn´t not much. But still, nobody could confirm it. It wouldn´t do to reveal it, even after all this time. They couldn´t drag Emily out of the throne, but it would create discontent, and the last thing Dunwall needed was more discontent.

Corvo tried to turn his mind away for those issues, with only mild success. They reached the empty main hall. Emily sat on the throne, her arms resting on each side, her legs close together. He stopped just to her right. The Royal Guard formed two lines, one of the wall of the left and other on the right, with their weapons draw and held up at chest level, completely still. They waited a few moments, then there was a squeaking sound and the main door opened. The room was quickly filled out. All of them were looking forward, towards Emily, towards the wise Empress who had leaded the kingdom to Golden Age from the ashes of two rebellions.

"We lingered, despite everything." Emily said, with a regal tone that stabbed deep at his heart. She was so much like her mother... "It has been eleven years since my loyal Lord Protector, Corvo Attano, was framed for the murder of my mother and left for dead. It has been eleven years, since the usurpers were strike down by his blade. Eleven years since the Loyalist faction, who dared to betray him, were brought to justice. Eleven years years, since Dunwall was on the verge on the destruction by the rat plague. And here we are, alive. Lingered. Like I hope we linger eleven more years, and eleven more years after that, and more and more. Dunwall will linger forever."

Corvo tensed. He had heard something, like boots hitting against glass. It was soft, too soft to be heard. Whoever did it was a true professional. But the sound couldn´t escape his senses, reinforced by the Outsider powers. He made a snap decision, and looked upwards, towards the spider lamp hanging from the ceiling, and he saw him. He was garbed all in black, with a mask similar to the one he saw Daud´s minions wearing. An assassin. The man went for his belt. Corvo stepped in front of Emily.

"And... Corvo?!" Emily spluttered, surprised. He grabbed her by the shoulders, and threw her aside. A shot rang out, hitting it close to the heart. The bullet went cleanly through him. He gasped, spitting out blood, put his left hand over the wound. The audience was screaming in surprise, panicking and running away, but he didn´t care. He didn´t care about the people of Dunwall at all, just about his daughter. So what mattered was putting the assassin down for good.

He raised his right hand, the one which held the Outsider´s Mark, towards the lamp. Time stopped. Not just a metaphor, time truly stopped as he concentrated in using Blink to get in the top of lamp. He disappeared, and time resumed its course. The assassin swore under his breath, and jumped down. Corvo jumped after him, hit the ground hard, rolled and got to his feet without missing a beat. With all the people running around for the exit, it would be harder to navigate the room. He clucked his tongue, and used one of the banks as support to jump over the crowd. He stopped time again, and used Blink to teleport himself in front of the assassin.

He jumped back, startled and went for his sword. But by then, it was too late. Corvo used Bend Time Two, and took off his gun. When he pointed it had his earth, time resumed. The time limit hadn´t passed, and he hadn´t dispelled the effects. His eyes narrowed. This was one of Daud´s minions. Of course. He had left him alive like an idiot, when he had a perfect chance to kill him, because Emily needed his help and he couldn´t waste time but dammit, he should have foresee this. He had escaped under the noses of all of his minions, without leaving a single trace of his escape, so of course the prideful bastard would come from revenge. The only question was, why now?

The assassin batted away his gun with a strike of his sword, while he was distracted. It rolled away, came to a stop when it hit a bank and it discharged towards the ceiling. Corvo jumped ten meters back, narrowly avoided an attack that would have tore off his neck. When he landed, he felt like his wholly body was on fire. He tasted blood on his throats. He looked down on himself, from a second. The wound looked bad. He wasn´t a medical expert, but it really looked bad.

Not a problem, he told himself. Not a problem.

He swallowed the blood clotting in his throat. Is movement precession was going to go down, but it didn´t change anything. He was going to kill the assassin, kill all of them and then make an example of Daud, so Emily would be safe. He swallowed the blood clothing in his throat. He took a step forward, and kicked the ground. In a heartbeat, he closed the distance between them and swings down his sword with all of his streght behind him.

The enemy parries his attack, and manages to push him back. Corvo´s vision spins twice, and he barely manages to not puke. He parried the enemy´s attack with great difficulty. This shouldn´t be happening. It was just a bullet wound. This seemed more... more like that time, when the Loyalists poisoned his drink and left him to die. It had to be that. Ah, dammit. He had to finish this, now.

He launched four fast attacks, aiming for four different vital spots. He parries his first three attacks, but the sword hits him the four time, drawing a red line across the assassin´s guts. He can see the enemy´s entrails hanging out, inside only because the assassin has a hand over his wound and is pushing them back. If the other man has any fight left it him, is just the fading spark of a dying man, so there is nothing more. This is it. He raised his sword one last time, and drove the sword through the assassins heart. He died in instant.

Corvo pulled out of the sword and, taking a deep breath, he feel to his knees. His vision throbbed red, and the bleeding had only worsened with the battle. He may have bitten more that he could check, this time. Ah, no. He couldn´t die yet. Not yet. He dragged the assassins corpse towards him, and took off his mask, just to check. It wasn´t anybody it knew. He stood up, shakily and stumbled toward´s Emily.. She was looking at him in horror and with tears in her eyes. It made him fell like a bastard.

The Royal Guards, who had not done anything through all the fast commotion, went towards him to support him. He accepted their help, despite himself. He hated to admit, but he needed it badly. Robert peered out at him. He looked sickly pale, and was sweating heavily, so much that his hair was damp

"We have to bandage him, now."

"Poison." Corvo breathed out. His voice sounded so weak that he hated himself. "The bullet... there was poison, inside. Or coating it."

He saw the Royal Guards growing alarmed, even through their masks. He paid no mind to it. He had to stay conscious. If he worried about needles things, he would pass out right now. And he couldn´t. Dying meant leaving Emily sad and alone. That couldn´t happen. He heard light footsteps, coming towards him and then he saw her, right in front of him, crying. The Royal Guards stopped, not knowing what to do, since it was the Empress herself who was blocking the way. She was trying to say something, but her broken voice couldn´t let her say anything intelligible.

"Its all right, its all right, Emily. I am going to be okay." he raised a hand, and softly patted her hair, vaguely remembering running his hands through Jessamine´s long, flowing air. "So don´t cry. You are strong."

Corvo bit his lip. His words didn´t sound comforting. Even to him, he sounded like somebody who was dying and had accepted it. But his mind was huddled by the poison, so he couldn´t come out with anything better. She nodded, and hugged him around the waist, burying her head on his chest, just like she did years ago. When she drew apart for him, he saw her dress stained bright red with his blood. Oh. He hadn´t even thought of that. How funny. Emily wiped her tears with the back on her hand. Her eyes were puffy and red, but at least it was an improvement.

The guards dragged him away from her, towards the Royal Physician´s study while he tried to fight the urge to just lay down. Their voices were close, but as time advanced they seemed to drift away from him. His vision blurred. It was getting hard to even stay on his feet, but his pride couldn´t allow his men to drag him like dead weight while he still could stand.

His vision spun again and he passed out.

Corvo opened his eyes, and beheld the clear blue sky of the Void. It wasn´t a dream. It didn´t hurt anymore, and he could clearly felt that he hadn´t a bullet wound anymore, but it wasn´t a dream. He knew that clearly. The Outsider had come to see him, once again. Things were more serious that he though, if it was here. He sat up on the cold, hard ground and looked around for it. He wasn´t there. It appeared that he was going to have to look for it first, like always. Damn, it should be more serious. He hadn´t no time to waste. Even with the Royal Guards protecting her, Emily could still be in danger.

He stood up, and walked up the stairs. Wind blew strongly, blowing back his coat. He didn´t feel any fear. Even if he fell, he wouldn´t die. The Outside couldn't let it. He ascended to the top of the isle and there it was, with its arms crossed beneath its chest, dressed in the same clothes it always appeared to him, looking like not a single day had passed since their last meeting.

"Corvo." it said. Its voice was the same, too. The mark in Corvo´s right hand light up. It burned, but it was bearable. "You are here, once again. Dying, betrayed by your own people. Is like nothing changed at all, even though it has be eleven years since then."

"I don´t have time for this, just tell me clearly why have you called me here."

"If you are impatient because of what could happen to Emily Kaldwin, don´t be. I can assure that she isn´t not being attacked. Still, let´s move on. Our time together is limited, so I am going to tell you straight away: you won´t survive the bullet wound."

"What?" Corvo breathed. It was one thing to fear his own death,, but having the Outsider confirm was an entirely different matter. He shook his head. "Why should I believe you?"

"You don´t have to. I am not here to force anybody´s hand. I am just going to tell you what I know, and let you decided for yourself." The Outsider uncrossed his arms. His expression turned serious. "The bullet wound is not grave, but The Royal Physician doesn´t have an antidote for the poison in that bullet, nobody has one. So you will die."

"I see." he answered, flatly. It didn´t make sense and, really, the Outsider hadn´t not reason to lie to him from the beginning. "Then why I am here? Do you enjoy gloating about how I am going to die, or what?"

"No. I am offering you a choice. There is an another world in a different dimension.." Corvo tensed at that answer, but he didn´t say anything. The mere concept of another dimension was mind bending, and kind of terrifying, but he needed to hear this. "A cataclysm is approaching it. Events are spiraling out of control, and the people are sent on the way to tear their own world apart. But you can prevent it. If you chose to try, I will heal your wounds. If you don´t, then you can die here. Chose, Corvo. Chose."

"That´s not much of a choice."

"But it is a choice, I didn´t lie. I find lies rather... unpleasant."

"...How I am supposed to save a world from its destruction by myself? I am but one man, and I am not young anymore."

"You won´t be alone. There is a group of people there who don´t believe in their local religion, but in me, and they have be told about my mark and the things related to him. If you tell them that you are Corvo Attano, they will readily help you in your quest. Is not any different for before, isn´t it?"

"Fine, I accept. But can I at least say goodbye to Emily before we go?"

"Very well." The Outsider said, and snapped his fingers.

Corvo waked up, and was immediately aware of the pain on his chest. He grimaced, and opened his eyes. He saw a white ceiling and Sokolov, the Royal Physician, leaning over him with a scapel in hand. He looked down on himself, for a second. His shirt was missing, and the bleeding had stopped. Still, he looked like a mess. Sokolov noticed him, then.

"You are awake. Uh, well. I gave some Elixir to stabilize you, but you aren´t safe. I need to cut you open to extract the bullet. Don´t move much, and tried to bear with it."

Corvo raised his hand, and wrapped it hard around Sokolov´s hand.

"Emily."

"She is fine, don´t wo..."

"Bring her to me."

"I understand your feelings, but your treatment takes precedent. This is serious, Corvo. You could easily die."

"That was an order." he said, tightening his grip on the other man´s hand. His expression strained with pain, and he had to bit back a scream. "Do you understand me?"

"Yes." Sokolov answered. Corvo let go of his wrist. The physician turned away, and went out of the room. He listened until even the sounds of his footsteps faded away, breathed deeply, aid down on the bed, and waited. Soon enough, the door opened again and Emily strode into the room, this time calm and collected. Sokolov wasn´t nowhere to be seen. Emily got to his bedside, and grasped one of his hands between her own.

"What is it, Corvo?"

"Don´t look at me like I am dying. I told you I will live." he said, patting her head again, almost wishfully. "Is just... I have to tell you something. I have to go now, to a faraway place. I don´t know how much I remain there."

"Does it... does it have to with... with that?" she pointed with her head towards his gloved right hand. The Outsider´s Mark-the true one, not mere drawings- was invisible to anyone but other mark bearers, but he had told her about it, how it looked and the truth about the Outsider. She had only believed him because the Outsider itself had visited her in her dreams, nearly eleven years ago. Corvo nodded. "Oh. So I guess I can´t convince to not do that."

"No. Is not that I don´t want to stay, Emily. I love you. I love you so much... But that´s why I need to go. I will die because of the poison if I don´t. It told me so itself."

"Ah..." she was close to crying again. He could see it clearly.

"Listen to me, Emily. Listen." he puts his free hand on the top of hers. "That person who just tried to kill you is probably connected to Daud, in someway. He wasn´t marked, like me, so he has to be connected to him. Or maybe someone acquired the same ability as Daud, I don´t know. But make them look into that, okay?"

"Okay." she said, a little bit more firmly, and nodded. "Okay, Corvo."

"Also... Things are going to get bad, quickly, but they will get better one day. Trust only the Royal Guards, Sokolov and Piero, but even then, don´t trust them enough to not doubt them. You are so small... People will try to take advantage of you, twist you for their own purposes. Don´t let them."

"I won´t."

"One... One last thing. You can´t take these people lightly. Mercy is a virtue only the strong can afford, and you are not strong. Emotionally and politically strong, yes, but you have no ability with the blade, with poisons, with stealth. So be firm, harsh. Be what you need to be to survive."

"But you..."

"I did bad things too, Emily. Havelock told you as much. I took the easy way, at times, because I was protecting something greater that myself, something greater that the lives of other people. Yes, I also at mercy, but mercy in the battlefield is as great of a burden that to kill. Knowing that by not putting your enemies down they would come back later for revenge, hurt your love ones or simply jeopardize your mission for any reason... is a great burden. Only those who can dealt with the consequences should have mercy. And those people... those assassins... they don´t deserve mercy from you, Emily. They don´t want it, either. They are not going to change. So... promise me..."

"I promise."

"That´s good." he signed, and closed his eyes. "I be going now. See you later; I love you."

"I love you too, daddy." His heart stopped. That was the last thing he heard as he was dragged down into the darkness, the Outsider´s Mark burning brightly in his right hand.

When he opened his eyes again, he was standing on top of that small isle again, like his talk with Emily had been the dream, instead of this. The Outsider was in front of him, floating two or three feet above the ground, held by a liquid darkness that extended behind it. Corvo didn´t care. His mind was still working furiously over Emily´s parting words. She didn´t know, she couldn´t. It had taken him by surprise, like that drawing she had made of him with the word daddy sketched over his head, but she couldn´t possibly know.

"Did she know?" Corvo asked, before he could think better of that. The Outsider raised a single eyebrow.

"Is that what you are so concerned about, Corvo? I know what she knows, of course, but it really doesn´t matter. She do anything for you. I heard your conversation with her, and saw those eyes of her, shining with determination. It wasn´t an empty promise, Corvo. She kill if you tell her to kill, she will have mercy if you tell her to have mercy. Is as simple as that. She is your daughter, and she loves you more that her own life. More that she even loved Jessamine. I know it."

"Why?"

"I visited her dreams quite frequently, ten years ago. I didn´t have any interest in her whatsoever, she was just a small child. That whole business was just a byproduct of my interest in you, Corvo. She was afraid of me, very much so. But her first concern wasn´t for herself, but for what could happen you. Is it not proof enough for you? Either way, shut up." The Outsider said and, when it finished, it extended its hand towards him. "Let´s go, Corvo. Time is a luxury we can´t afford, in these kind of cases."

Corvo took a step forward, and grasped The Outsider´s hand. They both disappeared in an instant.

Author's Note

This won't get an continuation. At least, not by me. Anybody can go ahead and write a continuation, if they want; just PM first, so I can read the story and kept track of it.