Dishonored

Chapter One: Death of an Empress

The pain was burning… intense… the smell of his own flesh sizzling under the red-hot iron poker filling the air… but Corvo Attano remained silent. This was not an easy task; gritting his teeth and pulling against the wrist and ankle restraints with all his might, while turning his head side to side… anything to take his mind off that damn poker. Then, just as quickly as it had begun, High Overseer Thaddeus Campbell, the one supervising this latest interrogation, snapped his fingers.

"Almost smells like supper." Campbell scoffed, stepping into the light as the guard backed away. "This may very well be your last chance, Corvo… sign this confession, and the pain will stop."

This deal had been offered time and again over the past six months, since Corvo had been dragged into Coldridge Prison, and as tempting as it was at times to sign his damn confession just to get a break from the suffering, it was the only thing keeping his execution at bay. The confession was false, of course; a document detailing how he had very cleverly killed Empress Jessamine Kaldwin in cold blood, kidnapped and hidden away her daughter Emily, and then somehow allowed himself to be caught at the scene of the crime.

"Go to hell, Campbell!" He spat, making sure to get plenty of blood on the confession in the High Overseer's hand. "You know damn well I didn't kill Jessamine!"

"Ah, my dear Corvo." The High Overseer replied, almost chuckling as he wiped the drop of blood from his cheek. "Truth is a matter of perspective… guard, the meat is still undercooked."

Again with the poker, freshly heated in the nearby furnace, and pressed down in the same place on his body, while Corvo gritted his teeth. It wasn't always like this for him in Dunwall, though… six months ago he had been a man of importance… Lord Protector to the Empress, herself. Trusted to embark on a months long journey to the different provinces making up the Empire of the Isles, because honestly… Dunwall needed help.

There was a plague ravaging the city… a terrible plague that was carried by a new kind of rat that had entered the city, possibly stowing away onboard ships from foreign lands. This aptly named Rat Plague was causing deaths by the hundreds, most heavily in the less affluent parts of the city. Work had started on a cure, but lacking facilities and funding for such an undertaking, the Empress had sent him on a diplomatic mission to get help from the surrounding provinces.

His mission was a failure, however, maybe because Corvo wasn't really a diplomat, or maybe because people in general were stubborn and selfish… either way, the response he had bene given was that the city of Dunwall was going to be quarantined; essentially blockaded until the plague had either been eradicated… or there were no more people around to spread it. Needless to say, it was not good news that he was bringing to the Empress… the last time that he would see her alive.

"All right, Campbell, that's enough." A new voice said, causing the guard to back off as its owner walked into the interrogation room. "We both know he's not going to sign it… a Lord Protector would have to be tougher than that… guard, give us a minute."

This man, with his shaved head, and overelaborate dress, was Hiram Burrows, former Spymaster to the Empress, who had immediately assumed the title of Lord Regent, after Jessamine's death. He had been there when it happened, as well… posing for a new portrait, while Corvo, carrying the Empress's ten year old daughter, Emily, in his arms, walked up to the terrace atop Dunwall Tower for their meeting.

Emily had met him at the locks, which brought small ships up from the ocean to the tower's entrance, and after giving him a kiss on the cheek, was content to be carried while questioning him intently about his latest voyage… stopping the questions only long enough to comment that she didn't think Hiram's portrait looked anything like him. After that, he had delivered the bad news, tried to comfort the Empress… and then Corvo wasn't really sure what happened.

"Look, Corvo, you know there was nothing personal in this, right?" The Lord Regent asked half-heartedly. "The Empress is dead, little Emily is hidden away, and tomorrow you are going to be executed before all of Dunwall… but it's all for a good cause."

Right, a good cause… that was what any sick person said when trying to justify their actions, and Hiram… he had the same look on his face as he described how he was going to be a kind of shepherd for the weak people of Dunwall… as he did when placing him under arrest six months ago. Everything had happened so fast; one second he was talking to Jessamine, and the next there were these… people wearing gas masks like the ones used for whale oil processing… and they had just appeared like magic.

At first, he had been able to fight them off, regardless of the freaks vanishing every time he was about to kill them, only to reappear from behind with a strike of their own. After a few seconds, they vanished entirely, but giving only a moment of respite before someone else appeared; a man dressed like the others, but without a mask, and he did… something… some kind of glowing energy from his hand that lifted Corvo off the ground, and held him there like a puppet dangling from strings.

Completely unable to move, he was forced to watch helplessly as the assassin grabbed Jessamine by the throat, kicking little Emily to the ground while forcing her mother to bend over backwards on the guardrail. With a sword in his other hand, the assassin held the Empress down while plunging the blade all the way through her chest up to the hilt… ripping it back out a second later, and pushing her to the ground like discarded trash.

As for Emily, the little girl was running to her mother, when the assassin grabbed her, scooping her up with one hand, and then vanishing like the others… finally releasing Corvo from whatever that energy was that was holding him. The Lord Protector collapsed to the ground, and although weakened from the experience, managed to crawl over to Jessamine, holding her… just as her faithful Spymaster showed up with a squad of the City Watch.

"The people will declare us heroes for delivering justice to you, Corvo." Campbell added, stepping forward again. "Then, not only will we be the ones who caught Jessamine's killer, but when we reveal that little Emily has been rescued after months of searching… this city will fall at our feet."

"You nearly sunk our plans, showing up a day early like you did." Hiram said, that same smug look on his face. "But having you, the Lord Protector, take the fall is far better than the man we were going to frame… of course, he had to die anyway, but like I said, it's for a good cause… guard! Take the prisoner back to his cell!"

Weakened and shocked from seeing the Empress murdered, Corvo hadn't had the strength or the speaking ability to defend himself against Hiram's perfectly timed accusations, so the City Watch had detained him. Placed in chains, and dragged from Dunwall Tower like a common criminal, he was immediately taken to Coldridge Prison, where after the guards took their time working him over as a kind of repayment for the Empress… he was tossed into a cell, and every day was the same after that.

This time was no different; the guards coming into the interrogation chamber, freeing him from his restraints, only to drag him out into the corridor before working him over again. One of them clubbed him in the head from behind, another pushing him to the cobblestone floor, while the rest began their usual regimen of kicking and stomping him until they either got bored, or their legs got tired… whichever came first.

But even as the beating continued, his thoughts were not for himself, but for Emily. The poor little girl had to watch her mother butchered like an animal, and then she had been taken away to… he didn't even know where. She was probably scared, though, wondering why he wasn't coming to get her, and there was no way for him to explain to her how badly he wanted to. Of course, there was no way out of Coldridge Prison… at least, no one had ever escaped from there before… leaving not a lot of room for hope as the beating finished.

"Doesn't look quite so pretty now, does he?" One of the guards laughed as they picked him up off the floor. "Lord Protector, my ass… he's nothing but a common knife-man."

"Piece of garbage!" Another one yelled, slugging him in the stomach while two more held him up by the arms. "This one's for the Empress!"

Slugging him again, this time in the face, Corvo was dazed so badly that at first he didn't realize that the guards had started dragging him again. Down the corridors they want, with the former Lord Protector's feet dragging behind him, until they finally reached his cell… where they roughly tossed him inside. There was a loud clang as the barred door slammed shut, followed by the click of a turning key, but at the moment Corvo was more concerned with the loud thud from himself landing face-first on the stone floor.

"Enjoy your last night alive, scum." One of the guards said as they all walked away. "You've got a big day tomorrow."

Spitting up some more blood as he slowly rolled over onto his back, and groaning with pain for every inch, Corvo remained where he was as the hours past… or was it minutes? Always difficult to tell from within a cell with no windows. Well, hours or minutes, eventually he closed his eyes, only to have them open again upon hearing the familiar click of a key being turned. The strange part about it was that there were no angry guards coming in… just the sound of a single set of footsteps moving farther away.

Again, trying to roll over, he had to rub his eyes, making sure that he was not hallucinating. For his cell door was now hanging open about an inch farther out than it should have been. But who would have unlocked his cell and just left it open like that… and more importantly… why?