Well, the good news was he was still alive.
The bad new... He and the Lad where stranded on a inland almost completely surrounded by whirlpools and good only knew what else. Considering the fact they discovered the ruins of a once- apparently mighty- civilization deeper inland, Samuel knew long term survival was possible. He should have been ecstatic, it was obvious they could easily survive here once they rebuilt on of the ruined homes.
Yet something else nagged at the boatman.
The boatman had traveled all over the land, searching out every nook and cranny.
Yet all the skeletons he discovered- despite having ragged clothes one would expect over a long period of time- didn't so much as have a scrap on their bones, ruling out signs of a struggle. All the bodies had a strange symbol on their clothing that labeled them all from the same tribe of people which led Samuel to believe they had all been apart of the same family. No stray bullets planted with the ruins or nearby trees, no rusted blades hidden within the grass. No signs of sickness, let alone a plague like Dunwall had suffered through. Peeling back a layer of tree bark showed the plantation had suffered from no airborne or water sourced poison.
So how was it, Samuel pondered, that a whole tribe of hundreds maybe ever thousands of people ranging from infants to the elderly, seemed to have all simultaneously died one after another?
A sense of dread and paranoia clawed at his mind as alarm bells screamed at him; something wasn't right here. He was overlooking something, missing something of importance.
Yet for the live of him, Samuel just figure out what.
"Samuel, I fount us a suitable home."
Suitable wouldn't exactly be the word Samuel would use but it was in better condition then most of the others so it would have to do. Repairing what they could would be a hassle that would have to wait for dawn's first light though as it was getting dark, too dark to even see a hand directly in front of your face, and fast.
"We need to locate the safest room. We'll barricade ourselves in for the night."
A sound of confusion left Demarcus.
"Huh? Why? There's plenty of space and rooms."
"I would rather not take any chances."
After all, the bodies didn't appear to be physically harmed but he clearly recalled the gorges indented deep within the stone walls, doorways long since missing their doors, visible rooftops and street ways- there was no way in The Abyss those where natural let alone part of the design.
Samuel spends the night sleeping underneath his invisibility cloak, not quite trusting the boarded he and Santiago- who had rejected his offer to use it- had used to bar the window and doorway. The Boatman honestly doesn't know what happened here but he knows the dangers of the ocean and those scarce islands located within it.
" -boarded a ship to Redmoor but it was sunken midway by the Leviathan."
A heavy sigh left The Royal Protector at the news. Really, he should have expected it. Samuel had always held the Devil's Luck be it good or bad while the Outsider never seemed quite capable of causing issues for his own entertainment. The dark haired man wouldn't be surprised if the Deity was behind The Royal Boatman's disappearance just to start a war.
"Now that I think about it, there was another man wearing crimson asking about this Samuel about ten days ago."
Dark eyes darted quickly towards the merchant.
"Describe him."
Daud.
There's no doubt in Corvo's mind of who the man searching for Samuel was after hearing the man's description.
The Bastard who murdered Jasmine in cold blood had been here not too long ago searching for Samuel. No matter how much he racks his brain, Corvo finds it impossible to imagine a positive reason for the murderer to be inquiring about the boatman. Matter of fact the only reason the Royal Protector could think of involved another body, belonging to someone else he loved, laying within a pool of their own blood.
Ten days ago.
He had almost a two weeks head start on them.