Chapter Text
Captain Alexi Mayhew stood with her back leaning up against the wall, trying to shift some of her weight off her feet. Today was the 15th anniversary of Empress Jessamine Kaldwin's assassination, and Alexi had been working since the early hours of the morning: commanding the City Watch, directing aristocrats towards the throne room, and making sure Lady Emily was prepared for the celebration. Now she stood in the empty hallway, watching the entrance to Lady Emily's chambers as well as the entrance to the secret imperial safe room. Alexi wasn't on edge like she usually was - these sort of events were easy compared to any regular day on the job. The worst she'd have to deal with today would be drunken aristocrats, a walk in the park compared to the gangs and murderers she normally faced.
Suddenly, screams erupted from the throne room. Alexi jumped to her feet immediately, her hand instinctively went to the hilt of her sword, ready to charge into the chaos. She hesitated and took a deep breath. She knew that whatever was happening could be handled by the half dozen City Watch guards she had positioned in the throne room; not to mention the legendary Royal Protector, Corvo Attano, was there. Before she could make up her mind, she heard footsteps and saw Captain Ramsey heading towards her with the Empress. Lady Emily seemed barely conscious, her arm draped over Ramsey's shoulders.
Alexi called out to Ramsey from across the hallway, "Captain Ramsey! I heard shouting, what's happening? What happened to Lady Emily?"
At the sight of Captain Alexi, Ramsey dropped Lady Emily and straightened himself up - he wasn't expecting anyone else to be up here.
"I asked you a question, Captain." Alexi said, raising her voice.
Technically Ramsey had seniority, but she didn't care. All she wanted to know was what the hell was going on and why the captain had dropped Lady Emily like that. Alexi wanted to run over to her, make sure she was safe and breathing, but she didn't dare to take her eyes off Ramsey. He hadn't drawn his sword yet but Alexi had the sneaking suspicion that the second she turned her back on him he would stab her. And then she noticed it - the Lord Protector's weapon, held firmly in Ramsey's right hand. It didn't look like much folded up, but Alexi knew how quickly it could be extended and how sharp its blade was.
At the sight of Corvo's sword, Alexi hopped backwards landing in a fencer's stance with her sword drawn, "Step away from the Empress!" she shouted.
Ramsey didn't have enough time to draw his own sword, if he even tried it Alexi would have run him through without a second thought, so instead he flicked his wrist and extended the blade of Corvo's weapon. Captain Ramsey might have had a chance against anyone else, but he wasn't used to the oddly balanced folding blade, and Alexi was a master swordsman. She made quick work of him, dashing his sword aside and stabbing him cleanly through the chest.
After dispatching Ramsey, Alexi quickly turned her attention to Lady Emily. "Majesty! Are you okay? Where's Corvo?"
Emily opened her eyes and Alexi helped her get to her feet. "Alexi, there's a coup underway. My father's been… imprisoned."
Alexi nodded her understanding, "We have to get you out of here. We should get to the safe room."
Emily nodded and retrieved her signet ring and Corvo's folding blade from Ramsey's body. Then she and Alexi walked to the bookshelf on the other end of the hall where Emily used her ring to open the secret entrance to the safe room. Once inside, Alexi strode to a table that held a pistol and a box of bullets.
She handed the pistol and half of the bullets to Emily, "Lady Emily, I understand the Lord Protector taught you how to use this."
Emily took the pistol and attached it to her belt, and put the bullets in a pouch on her jacket where she could quickly access them. Alexi took the rest of the bullets and dumped them into her own pouch. Her gun was strapped neatly to the back of her belt.
Emily walked over to a safe and began filling another pouch with coins. She grabbed two gold bars, tossing one to Alexi, "We're going to need money if we want to survive," she said.
After they had stocked up on supplies from the safe room, Emily turned to Alexi, “Where do we go now?”
“There was a message from a ship’s captain by the name of Meagan Foster earlier today. She claimed to have important information for your father. Maybe she knows something and is willing to help.”
“We can take the rooftops to the docks, that should let us avoid most of the Grand Guard and City Watch that are no doubt searching for us.”
Emily led Alexi across the rooftops of Dunwall, towards the docks. “I spend time on the rooftops whenever I want to be alone,” she explained.
Alexi pretended she didn’t already know this in order to spare Lady Emily any potential embarrassment. She worked closely with Corvo to insure the Empress’s safety, of course she knew about her secret nightly excursions.
Soon they were overlooking the docks. There were two guards patrolling along the water. Emily gestured for Alexi to come closer, “Follow my lead” she whispered before jumping off the roof of the building and landing on top of one of the guards and quickly slitting his throat. Seconds later, Alexi came crashing down on top of the second guard, plunging her sword into his back.
“That must be the ship.” Alexi said, pointing at a boat sitting in the water about 30 feet away from the docks.
“We’ll have to swim for it” said Emily, as she dived into the water and began swimming towards the ship. Alexi followed suit, struggling to keep up with her Empress, but soon they were both climbing over the side of the ship. As they climbed onto the main deck, they came face to face with Meagan Foster, who was leaning against a wall of the bridge, smoking a cigarette.
“Lady Emily,” Meagan acknowledged, raising an eyebrow at the two women’s soaking clothes. “It looks like Sokolov was right. Where’s the Lord Protector?”
“There’s a coup underway, me and the Captain barely escaped with our lives. My father was imprisoned by a witch named Delilah,” Emily explained. “You know Anton?”
“I’m a friend of his, we were down in Karnaca when Sokolov discovered a plot related to the Crown Killer murders. We were on our way to warn the Royal Protector when something happened.”
“Where is he? What happened?”
“I’ll explain everything, but first let’s get you two dried off and set course for Karnaca – it’s a two week trip.”