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As Corvo blinked colours back over his sight, the strange shape that had shined bright yellow through the Void revealed itself to be a hawk. Corvo didn't stop to look better at it until he'd shoved himself into the closest corner, where the Whalers on the other side of the street wouldn't see him, and by then the bird was already looking at him. Corvo was not an expert on falconry by any means, but he found it extremely strange that what looked like a healthy hawk would be in an assassin's hideout in the middle of the city. And shouldn't its head be covered, in order not to strain its eyes?
The bird was looking straight at him. Corvo looked right back for a moment, then blinked the Void again over his eyes and looked to the floor. If the hawk started stirring, Corvo would have to stop time to get what he'd been forced to look for. He hadn't recovered enough for a prolonged use, but he had even less strength to fight anyone, least of all someone else with abilities granted by the Outsider. Or whatever Daud was.
The hawk didn't even move its wings. It just kept looking at Corvo from its perch beside a bed. Must be Daud's, Corvo thought, as the clothes lying orderly on the chest at the foot of it indicated. At least, he thought so. He hadn't seen any other red coat in the district, among the patrolling Whalers.
Corvo glanced at the hawk one last time, then concluded that he couldn't do much to stop it from calling attention to him except killing it, so he focused entirely on the two figures he could see standing under the loft. He'd got a glimpse of the room from the exterior, not enough to draw up a plan, but enough to know that he'd have to move fast in any case. He didn't know where the key was, but the Whaler had said that Daud kept it, so either a pocket or his desk were the safest bets.
Corvo hoped he wouldn't have to ransack the room. He wouldn't have enough energy to channel the Void for long enough to keep time still as he did, and he didn't want to risk having to confront Daud directly.
Curse Samuel and the Loyalists. He didn't have time to let the poison run its course. Emily was the Outsider knew where, alone and scared. He had to get that key as fast and with as little effort as he could. The confused, swirling dark thoughts of the past eight months had to wait.
He could always come back after Emily was safe on the throne. He knew where to find Daud, now.
This time, he would be ready.
The hawk still hadn't made a sound when one of the figures below broke out of the regular pattern of their movements. Corvo cursed his luck and shoved himself even more out of view, hoping no one would come up.
"Sir," someone said while the person below stepped closer to the other one. Corvo thought they both were now standing around the desk he'd seen, but he didn't dare move to look at the room below with his own eyes.
"Yes?" someone else answered in a clipped voice. The hawk shifted on its perch, the movement creating ripples in the sepia air around it, but the two people below didn't hear. Corvo turned back to them, heart beating fast at the sudden noise.
"Dusk is approaching," the first voice said. Corvo thought it sounded hesitant, but the whaling mask muffled the voice and hid the tone. It wasn't important anyway. Hopefully dusk would bring the two people out of the room to dinner or whatever the Whalers did at night. Corvo could only hope.
"I know," replied the other voice. Corvo narrowed his eyes, but the yellow mass under the floor wasn't any clearer. Still, the second person didn't sound like they wore a mask. Could it be—
There was silence for a long moment, then the first voice spoke again. "Maybe you should send someone else to the Waterfront, sir."
Corvo tamped down on the wave of hatred that rose in his chest.
It was.
"The Lord Protector is where we want him," Daud said. Corvo took his sword from his pocket but didn't unfold it. He couldn't risk it, he repeated to himself. He couldn't risk it. Emily was Void knew where. He needed to find her before anything else happened. He needed to keep her safe.
The hawk was still watching him.
Corvo replaced the sword.
"The hole won't be enough to trap him, if he really has been touched by the Void," the other voice said, rising as a challenge against the faint echoes of water and falling debris somewhere out in the street. "He'll—"
Daud interrupted. "We will deal with the Lord Protector," he said, tone brooking no argument and stressing the first word. Corvo wondered, for just a moment, who that "we" could be. The Whalers, had to. "You spread the word. I want double sentries tonight, but no one is to intervene if they see him. You won't be able to stop him. Am I clear?"
"Sir, even without—"
"Am I clear?" Daud repeated, enunciating each word with the finality of an order.
The other voice didn't answer for a moment. Below Corvo's feet, the two shapes didn't move.
"Of course," the Whaler said after a long silence. He was gone the next moment, that accursed noise accompanying his disappearance.
Daud was left alone.
Corvo waited. The hawk shifted again on its perch. Daud's yeallow shape didn't move for a few minutes still.
"Dusk," he muttered at last, and Corvo saw his silhouette turn to look outside the opening that granted access to the walkway outside. Then, with a noise of disgust, he turned again and leaned over his desk. The click of an audiograph machine made its way to Corvo.
"Eighteenth day of the Month of Hearths," he said with brisk efficiency. He must keep an audiograph journal, Corvo thought with a spark of surprise. Audiograph cards weren't cheap, and even with just an entry a day… But probably he stole them from one of the rich houses. Or Parliament. "Coleman's squad is still watching Brigmore Manor. Feodor might have found a way inside, but he wants to confirm it before making any plans. He hasn't seen Lurk yet, but he's on the lookout for her. Quinn is scouring the city for a boat capable of evading the quarantine, but it still seems like Stride is the only way. I want to hear her report first, but I'll probably need to send Thomas to find the plans for Coldridge." He paused for a moment. "You've been inside. If you can provide him with any information, he'll relay it to me."
Corvo forced himself not to shiver, instead frowning at the phrasing. That was not a journal but a message. To who? No one had ever escaped Coldridge before him. A guard, maybe? A former prisoner? But then, why would Daud share details of his operation in the same audiograph?
"But that can wait," Daud's voice continued from below. "Ardan and Kent found a boat adrift on one of the canals on the Waterfront today. The Lord Protector was inside, poisoned but alive. He was briefly awake but not lucid enough to talk, probably not even to understand what was happening. Rapha says it's the poison just as much as a long time with not enough food and the fact that he has been running himself ragged these past two months. She thinks he'll recover with enough rest."
Corvo glared to the floor but acknowledged all of it, even if with more than a doubt. He knew he wasn't at his best and that was as much Coldridge's fault as the Loyalists' having been unable to procure enough food without arousing suspicion, and running all over the city to find Emily and undermine Burrows' position hadn't helped, but this Rapha had been wrong on his condition. He didn't need rest. He could hold on until Emily was safe back at the Tower with him. He'd rest then.
"I had him put in the whale oil deposit on the Waterfront. Akila and Rulfio will lead you there when you ask. I don't know what happened to him, but he'll tell you." Another pause, then Daud sighed. "He has the Mark on his hand, yes. I'm sorry." The audiograph machine clicked again and Daud took a step back from the desk.
Corvo realised he was gritting his teeth but didn't stop. He wouldn't talk. Not with Daud nor one of his men. He wouldn't have told them anything even if he hadn't already escaped. Not even if they'd broken his legs like the dead Overseer's in the other well. Not even if they'd left him to starve.
He hadn't talked in Coldridge. Nothing Daud could do to him would even come close.
"Another dusk," Daud muttered from the floor below.
Corvo glanced out of the window and saw that the sun had, in fact, already disappeared behind the buildings. It would be dark soon, and then he could hopefully make his move. Even Daud had to sleep, sooner or later.
Yet Daud anticipated him, walking away from his desk and crossing the open space in front of the corner he'd made his. Corvo closed his hand, ready to blink away or stop time, but Daud's back proceeded further, out of the double doors leading to the rest of the floor.
Corvo waited for a moment, watching his retreat through the Void, then carefully surveyed the rest of the room. No one was inside, and the Whalers on the gutted building on the other side of the street had all left save for two, who wouldn't see him if he was careful.
Corvo walked out of his corner, passing close to the hawk, which didn't move save for its head following him, and began descending the stairs with careful feet. The wood didn't protest much, no noise that would be audible from outside, but Corvo didn't quicken his steps.
He walked to the desk first, ignoring the documents and the plans strewn all over the floor. He wasn't there to know what Daud was planning or why he'd be interested in the old Brigmore Mansion out in the Mutcherhaven District. He was there only to find his way back to Emily.
There would be time for everything else later.
A key hung from a hook on the back of the desk. He frowned at the simplicity but didn't wonder about it. He took it, hoping he wouldn't have to come back to look for another one, and stepped out from behing the desk. One last look through the Void confirmed that no one was watching him and no one was in the corridor outside the open doors, but going out on the walkway would be quicker, entering through the window he'd found earlier directly into the room with the chain down into the basement more direct, so he walked up to the hole in the wall.
A noise stopped him. Steps, muted but making his sight ripple with every footfall, from the loft above his head.
Corvo cursed, frozen for a moment, how could he not have heard the accursed blink noise, but he didn't have time to think anything else.
A growl came from behind his back, too full to be from a wolfhound, too threatening, and for a moment Corvo's wits abandoned him and he turned instead of blinking down to his only escape route.
The wolf growled again, advancing on sure feet on the ruined floor, teeth bared in a snarl.
For one single, insensate moment, Corvo wondered where in the Void Daud had found a wolf on Gristol. Then his hand ran to his pocket and his sword unfolded with the familiar series of clicks.
The wolf advanced again, still growling.
Corvo raised his hand, shifted his stance, readied his sword.
The wolf lowered on its haunches, prepared to jump.
"Stop!" a voice thundered from the side. The wolf didn't relax, but it did turn to look at whoever had talked.
Bewildered, Corvo did the same.
At the foot of the stairs, dressed in a Whaler red coat, Jessamine met his eyes.