The Empress & The Gunslinger

Chapter 1 - Emily Kaldwin, New Surroundings

After several days of travelling away from Dunwall, in search of a peaceful life away from ruling an empire, Emily was starting to feel exhausted. She had ended up in a small town called Valentine in New Hanover. It was very different to what she knew. She was used to tall buildings with paving stones laid on the ground, grand guards parading around the streets to protect her and what was left of her family; oh how she missed her father Corvo.

She stood at the top of this small strange town where she saw nothing but mud. Her expensive empress clothing and her leather boots made only for an empress were about to be completely covered in the mud she saw ahead of her.

With one deep breath she began to slowly walk down this dreadful town, wet mud covering her boots. As she passed residents of the town they all stopped to stare at her. Yes she wasn't dressed like them she was dressed like someone with a lot of money which made her stick out like sore a thumb! She passed a Sheriff's office, a gunsmith, a bank, a saloon which she believed to be a bar, a grocery store and finally a hotel! She climbed the wooden steps towards this hotel, looked over her shoulder to find everyone was still watching her before entering into the establishment. Behind the counter was a small jolly fatman who gave her the biggest welcome.

"Well hello there, Miss! Welcome to Valentine! May I say you look exhausted, starved and lost?" The jolly fatman said.
Emily didn't know how to respond to the gentleman. She placed her hand on the back of her neck, moving her head from side to side, pressing her lips together, and looking at this strange man. "Erm... No I'm not lost I'm actually looking for a place to stay for the night" she responded.
The man noticed her accent, noticed she was well spoken and clearly not from these areas especially from the way she was dressed. He looked at her up and down. "I don't mean to be rude but you do have money don't you?" Emily looked at the man in shock "Yes of course I have money on me I'm not homeless!" Little did the man know she owned and ruled an empire and had plenty of jewels hidden away in her tower back in Dunwall. "Great, I have a room spare for you, room 204, it will be $25 a night, $30 to use our baths and if you're hungry you can head on over to the saloon just outside" The man replied.
Emily put her hand inside her pocket and pulled out $25 and placed it on the counter for the man. The man turned around and reached into a cupboard behind him and grabbed the key to room 204. Handing the key to Emily he took the $25 off the counter. "There you go Miss, what name shall I put in the book." He asked her. Emily paused. She wasn't sure if giving her real name was the right or wrong thing to do but seen as though she wasn't running away from the law she decided there was no harm in giving the man her real name. "Kaldwin. My name is Emily Kaldwin." The man proceeded to write her name in the book.

Emily headed towards the stairs to her right, climbing the staircase. She noticed an arrow pointing right for room 204. She headed right down the corridor. She could over hear other guests in their rooms; clearly the walls were very thin! She put the key to her room into the lock and turned the key. She turned the door knob and pushed open the door. It was a small room with a single bed, a fire, a dressing table, a small wardrobe and a tall mirror in the corner. She had a small bag with her with a few belongings in that she began to unpack. A picture of her father and mother placed onto the mantel piece of the fire place. The few clothes that she had with her she placed in the wardrobe. She pulled out her diary and began to fill in today's events. Describing the place she had ended up. It wasn't fit for an empress but that was someone she didn't want to be in this new town.

It was 9.35pm. Since her arrival she found herself eating a stew in the local saloon and paid the man $30 to have a bath before retiring to her room and getting dressed for bed. She pulled the sheets back before dimming all the lights in the room. Once her curtains were closed she climbed into bed in hopes of a peaceful night's sleep.

3.00 am Emily was woken up by the sounds of heavy gunfire in and around the establishment she was in. She could hear men shouting, people screaming. What was going on she wondered. She jumped out of bed and ran to the window, peering out from the curtains. She saw maybe 5 or 6 horses outside, 2 men shooting anyone who challenged them outside the establishment.
She looked at the outsiders mark on the back of her hand, asking herself whether or not she should use her powers against these men but instead she decided it was best to play the role of an innocent tourist and keep those powers to herself. Barricading her door shut with a chair she hid under her bed in the hopes that they wouldn't come barging into her room.

20 minutes had passed and the gunfire seemed to have stopped but she could still hear the men inside the building. All of a sudden a loud bang came from the other side of her door followed by a deep,raspy man's voice "Hey Marston! This doors shut, wanna give me a hand?" another deep voice followed "Sure, Arthur!" Another set of footsteps could be heard outside the door "On my say so we barge towards the door" One of the men said. "Ready?....ONE TWO... THREE". Two men barged their way into her room, snapping the legs of the chair that was keeping the door shut. She watched their feet move around her room, searching her belongings. "There's someone here Marston" "Yeah and it looks like a lady!" One replied dropping Emily's delicates to the floor. "Hey Arthur maybe we should take these stockings back for Uncle!" The other man could be heard laughing. "That's the closest he'd get to a woman."
After searching the room, one man walked out while the other stood in the doorway. Emily couldn't see his full face, she could only see up to his nose.He was a tallish man, well built, and dressed in dirty cowboy like clothes with stubble around his chin and upper lip. Emily had been under the bed that long that her back was starting to ache from the position she was in. She very slowly moved her position when the floorboards underneath her creaked. The man turned back in towards the room and marched towards the bed. Emily placed her hand over her mouth in shock. She saw his feet move to the bottom of the bed and before she knew it two big strong hands grasped her tiny little ankles and the man dragged her out from under the bed. She threw both her hands up to surrender,scared that he was going to kill her "PLEASE PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" she begged.The man had her pinned to the floor with a gun pointed under her chin. This was it she thought to herself. This was the moment Emily Drexel Lela Kaldwin was going to die and no one would know.