Aleena looked up from the latest book she'd been reading when Celos walked into the middle room from the bedroom several hours later. "I'll never get this stink out of my armor," he complained.
"It was a woman," Aleena said, ignoring his whining. She shifted a lantern to shine light in the open chest.
Celos stopped and followed the light into the chest. He saw robes that were folded neatly. "Hardly proof. Wizards often wear robes. I've seen them at court."
"These aren't a man's robes," Aleena said. She held up a small item of cloth that resembled a small rag with a string nearly a foot long attached it. "There's other clothing in here."
"What's that? A bib for a baby?"
Aleena snorted. "The string goes around a woman's thigh. It's for a woman's monthly—"
Celos held up his hand. "You've proved your point. What else have you found?"
Aleena tried not to enjoy her mentor's flushed cheeks. Or at least not visibly. She glanced at the books surrounding her and sighed. "Much of it is beyond me. Arcane texts I have no interest or understanding in. There are books on herbs and minerals. Components, they call them, and what properties they have to help wizards do magical things."
"Useless," Celos muttered.
Aleena bit her tongue. All knowledge was useful, even if it wasn't practical to her. She shrugged the matter aside. "There are many books in his room on animals and even his own diaries on experiments he conducted."
"The dead man?"
"I believe so. He was a wizard, Therion. He experimented on the animals, trying to turn them into powerful beasts. He controlled them, but they were never good enough for him. And they could never breed on their own."
"So that tells us something, at least," Celos admitted. "He was the source of evil corrupting this forest. But what of the, um, woman who killed him?"
"I haven't found anything about her yet," Aleena admitted.
"I wonder if she's still around, or a visiting sorceress from another realm?" the knight mused.
"Based on her books versus his, I suspect she was an apprentice."
"An apprentice? How can you know this?"
"Smaller bed, no privacy, and she had books describing roots and bugs compared to his. Some of his books have text that swims across the page before my eyes and makes me want to purge myself. She had none of that."
Celos grunted and glanced at the closed door to the wizard's bedchamber. "So why would she kill him and where has she gone?"
"There's more," Aleena said, drawing his attention back.
"Of course there is," Celos sighed.
"His journals tell of a nymph and a warrior."
"Hardly appropriate reading for a servant of Leander," Celos scolded.
Aleena rolled her eyes and shook her head. "It's not that kind of a story! Well, it is, but he doesn't recount that part of it."
The knight's brow furrowed. "Then what does it say?"
"He tells of how the forest became corrupted in the first place, by the nymph who loved a man and refused to let him go. I think he escaped, or perhaps he died. Whatever the case, she pined away for him and sought to bring him back or something. I got lost in his notes. What I'm sure of is that he felt her spirit was still her and she'd learned how to twist nature to her own ends. He wanted to harness that power and learn about it. That's why he came here, and that's the source of the army of aberrations out there."
"They're still out there," Celos confirmed. "More than ever. Growing closer to the cabin, too."
"Their master is dead," Aleena said. "They must suspect but aren't quite sure."
"Why do you think that?"
"Because we're still alive."
Celos snorted. "No unwholesome beast will spill my blood!"
"Just as no minion of dark forces could slaughter the true and faithful of Leander?" Aleena asked.
"Rightly so!" Celos boasted.
"Sir Celos, need I remind you of how many of our brothers fell during the battle of Dragonsgate? Would you find their resolve or faith lacking? Even Sir Amos's heart nearly failed him."
Celos let his glare settle on her until she began to doubt the wisdom of speaking out. When she glanced away, he spoke. "If your body should falter, it is a weakness of the flesh, not the spirit. Leander's faith requires that we put our duty forward first. You may love, you may fight. You may seek to do a great many things in life, but chief among these must be your faith in Him."
Aleena was captivated by the gleam in Sir Celos's eyes as he spoke. "Even if death is our only recourse?"
"That is when the need for faith is greater than at any other time," he counseled. "It's not merely for those who have not felt Leander's blessings, nor is it only to boost the morale of our own brothers who may be shaken. We must put our faith first to strengthen our own spirits. One day our bodies will fail us. It will happen to us all, but our hearts must have the strength to endure. Without the purity of spirit, our lives will have been for naught."
Aleena bowed her head and nodded. "Thank you, Sir Celos, for this lesson. And forgive me for questioning you."
Celos nodded. "I suspect we could all use a challenge from time to time. Take our situation as an example. If you can find a means of dispatching these creatures without wading through mud and cutting them apart one at a time, I would be a fool not to listen to you."
Aleena smiled. "I'd never dare to call you a fool."
Celos chuckled. "You might not call me one, but I know you well enough to know you'd think it!"
Aleena gasped but found she had nothing to come back with.
"Now put your head to those books and find what you can of this nymph. If the wizard's creations came from her and she still lingers, perhaps we can put her to rest and end this corruption once and for all."
Aleena nodded. "I may question your decisions at times, but your wisdom is without fault."
Celos offered her a smile and then moved to the kitchen to check on the wizard's creations that surrounded them. Aleena jerked her eyes away from him and searched the piles of books she'd accumulated. She took a pensive breath and grabbed a book on the top of a pile. She frowned when she saw it was named The Order of the Dragon, and set it aside. Beneath it she found something far more promising. The new book was titled Tales of the Fairy.