Myths of Power

Joseph opens his eyes. He shakes his head trying to remove the mental cobwebs after the previous skirmish. He is laying on a small bed covered in roughly made quilts. He starts to get up but is blasted by a wave of pain coming from his ribs. "nmph.. oh, that's going to last a while."

"Yes, it will." comes a voice from a darkened corner. Joseph flitches in reaction causing another wave of pain. "Careful. Your ribs are only cracked, but if you keep moving like that, they will become worse."

The voice was soft and soothing, but somehow also had a hint of coldness around it. "Who are you? Come into the light were I can see you."

A woman walks out of the shadow. Joseph was expecting it to be Karen. "My name is Meyliss." She is thin and pale skined. Her blonde hair lay long agaist her side and waves with her movements. The most striking part of her is her eyes. As she stepped into the light, Joseph could see, even in his current state, that they changed from pure white to sapphire blue and were quite striking in their own respect. "Was this the same woman who beat me senseless?" he thought. She didn't appear strong. In fact he wouldn't have guessed she could take on a child, let alone a trained lycanthran warrior. "I must keep an eye on this one."

"Who you keep your eye on is you own business, Wildmane."

Joseph is stunned for a moment before realizing her true nature. "Stay out of my head Vampire and I'll make sure...nmph...not to take yours off." Joseph forces himself to a sitting position. "You're quite the fighter, although you don't look it."

She smiles and assists him in standing. "It helps when my kind has a minor telepathic ability. I could counter your movements as soon as you thought of them."

He looks down at his bindings. "Let me guess...Karen did these bindings? She never could get them right."

"I'm sorry. I haven't treated injured ribs for some time now..." Karen stands in an open doorway. Joseph looks at her and then past her.

"They'll need to be redone. As always, you never make them tight enough."

"I'll take him from here, Meyliss. Why don't you get some sleep." Karen starts to unravel the bindings and Meyliss disappears into the shadows.

"So where have you taken me, Karen? We aren't in the tavern anymore?"

"The 'Anchor' isn't going to be safe for a while thanks to you."

Karen rebinds his chest. "Tighter...Your bodyguard..what was her name?"

"Meyliss."

"Meyliss... didn't exactly calm things down. How, and why, the hell did you get yourself mixed with a VAMPIRE bodyguard?"

"It's a long story that we don't have time for..Is that better?...Suffice to say that we owe each other our lives."

"Yes, thanks. You didn't answer my first question.. Where have you taken me? I did have others with me, you know...Do they know where I am?"

"Stop worrying." Karen opens a foot locker and pulls out some clothes. "We are safe and yes... I did know there were others. Leland is kind of hard to miss. " A sarcastic grin crosses her face. "Who's the other one? I don't think I've met her before?"

Joseph measures himself up to the clothes placed before him. "No, you wouldn't. (where did you get such ugly taste in clothing?) She's his daughter."

"Daughter?! Hmm, I never thought Leland would be up to being a father."

"Personally, I don't think he is up to it. There's some very bad, very old blood between them. He tries his best."

"Really? Why's tha..."

Meyliss steps into the room from seemingly no where and cuts Karen off mid question. "There's been a disturbance in the marketplace, near the dock...a dozen guards going after a lycanthran..."

Joseph turns to Karen in anger. "Karen.. if they've done anything to Leland or Celine I'll..."

Meyliss steps between them and ,relatively gently, pushes Joseph back with a hand. "Your friends are safe. It was not them that the guards were chasing."

Karen places a hand on Meyliss' shoulder. "Are they safe, Meyliss?"

"Yes. Our contact saw the large one rescue the lycanthran and she gave them shelter before they could be seen."

Karen places both her hands behind her head in thought. "Let me see. Our only contact down that end would be.."

Meyliss interrupts. "Old Lady Harens..."

Joseph looks shocked. "Lady Harens... she's still alive?!"

"Hard to kill a noble of the clan, Joseph. Follow me. We'll take the sewers to her house, it'll be safer.