The Paladin's Shadow; The Tale of the Wandering Warrior and the Clean Town

Credits; Petra,
"So where do you want to start?"  Said Shad as he sat down in the chair next to hers.  "I've scanned through most of the official works and they all refer to them as 'fairy tales' and 'boogey men meant to scare young nieldic children." 
"Sounds like we should start with fairy tales then. Since apparently that's the only place they're known to exist."  Petra reached over to the stack of fairy tale anthologies and lifted the first of the many tomes from the top.  Just as she opened it, Shad plucked it from her hands and opened it to a dog-eared page. 
"I went through and marked the pages before you got here.  You just focus on the details, I'll do the reading." 
"Ok."
Shad cleared his throat and began to read.

Once upon a time, there was a wandering warrior.  He was as clever as he was brave, and his skill was matched only by his virtue. 
"Kept birds I'm sure." Petra quipped. 
"Shush."
One day as he journeyed he found a town unlike any other.  Hidden deep in the Shadowmurk, it was clean and polished.  The warrior felt that it was his obligation to investigate the cause of this uncharacteristic quality, found in no other town of the Shadowmurk.  He found a solid stone house just off the market, and after making inquiries he determined that it was the home of a leading citizen, a wealthy landowner.  The Landowner invited him to spend the night, so that he could fully explain the nature of the town.  The warrior warily accepted the invitation, for the mystery was more than he could bear to resist. 
That night the house's master introduced him to his young daughter, a bright and beautiful young maiden.  It was not the first time the warrior had been presented with such a temptation, but he graciously humored them and strolled with the maiden about the town.  And as they strolled he noticed that, alone amongst all the town, her clothes had worn and were stained with time and toil. 
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Petra,
"Yes?"
"No, I was just reading."
"You read my name?"
Shad looked back at the page and inspected it carefully.  Petra tried to shuffle about in her chair to get a view of the book but found that her legs had moved into his lap and for reasons she wasn't willing to confront she had no interest in moving them. 
"Yes, I did.  But it seems like something slipped into the text.  Like someone enchanted it later."
"Well go on, What's it say?"
Petra,
"You already read that part."
"Shush and let me read."
Petra shushed and sat up as best she could, which involved keeping a rather tight grip on his waist. 
Petra, I want you to pay close attention to the story and stop intterupting..........And when the time comes, I want you to remember who you are, and what I've taught you.  And bring..him..home tomorrow, I'm sure I'd love to be properly introduced. 

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

So the warrior pulled her into a secluded, dark part of the town and asked her where no one else could hear.  "Maiden, why is one so fair as you garbed in the oldest of clothes while the clothes of even the meanest barkeep in town are more spotless than when first they leave the seamstress care?"
And she replied, "I am a foolish and clumsy girl, and only I of all the town have spilt our stew and wine.  Only I have torn my gown upon the cupboards and wine racks, because all the others are more deft of hand and foot than I."
Now the warrior was no fool, and knew that not by clumsiness alone could anyone explain the difference.  But he gazed into the maiden's eyes and saw that she did not lie knowingly.  He told her to wait in the stables with his wolf, and went back up to the house himself.  He was greeted by the master of the house.  But the master no longer wore his gilded robes and spotless sandals, but waited naked on the step. 
"Sir, cover yourself; you dishonor your people."
"Dishonor?  You and your kind speak of honor, but you forget to honor any but yourself.  Where have you taken my fair maiden?"
"She awaits my return, but first I wish to know why your town is clean as it is, rather than tainted by the muck and vines of your neighbors?"
"To better lure in travellers such as yourself.  For we are the hunters of men, and a warrior like yourself shall sustain me for a thousand years."  And the man leapt.  As he did the light struck him and the warrior saw him as he was; a beast with claws like daggers and a ring of teeth lining its gaping maw.  He snatched his blade from his side and he struck the beast.  It bled cobalt and stumbled to its knees.  And as it bled a murmur parted its carnivorous throat.  "My brothers shall hunt you down for your actions.  The Chori-Sada shall revisit your act of war upon the Nielda tenfold for five generations of the gods and in those days our blood lust shall not yet be sated."
So the warrior took the maiden and fled.  And he told this story to all who would hear it.  But when the King of the North stretched out his left hand to see if the stories were true, he found no town, but only an open clearing, and the skeletons of a thousand hapless travellers crushed and shredded as though by the maw of the nightmare. 

"Don't sound to threatening to me."  Petra said as Shad closed the storybook and set it aside.  He was quiet for a while before he turned towards her. 
"Not for the wary warrior who knew to fight at least.  But for the maiden who was trapped in the town, or the travellers they ate, they were unstoppable.  The girl never even knew she was surrounded by them.  And they were clearly capable magicians, besides having a natural affinity for illusion.  They aren't dragons, I'll give you that, but that doesn't mean they aren't threatening."
"So what do we look for?"
Shad shrugged and motioned at the other books.  "Keep reading, maybe we'll find more."  But she could see that he'd already begun formulating a plan.