The City of Fire and Shadows

Chapter 3

I sat lifeless against back wall of the cargo van, the scenes from the execution platform playing on repeat in my head. I couldn't believe what happened. In just the span of a day, I went from the peaceful refuge of Algonquin Park to almost being executed in the ruins of Canada's Wonderland - and watching my dad be murdered by the Vampire Prince. I felt a swell of emotions: anger, sadness, disbelief all rolled up into one messed up tempest of despair.

"I'm sorry about what happened to your dad," said Brendan. "No one deserves to die like that. We will avenge him one day."

I thought about what Brendan just said. Vengeance. I suppose it's all I had left. At that moment I swore to myself that one day, I would kill Prince Reginald. I don't how I would do it, but I would. Somehow I would.

"I suppose I should thank you for saving me," I replied. "Are you a paladin?"

"Yes, I am," said Brendan. "There's only two of us that I know of. Cailey and myself. We're the last remaining members of the Order of the Bear. I didn't think there were others, until we met your father."

Another paladin, huh? Brendan sure looked the part. He wore the same black and red canvas jacket with the bear emblem on the left side of the chest. It matched well with his short buzz cut hair and sharp facial features. Cailey looked the part too. As I glanced over at Cailey's reflection in the rear view mirror, she had a very serious face, with world weary features accentuated by soft brown hair tied into a messy side ponytail that made her look older than her age. She was quite attractive too.

"What happened to the rest of the paladins of the Order of the Bear?" I asked.

"When the Eternal Night began five years ago, all the adult members of the Order left to fight the vampires. They left Rebecca Juhász, the oldest of the youth paladins in charge of me and Cailey. But they never returned. She was only fifteen, and we were eleven. Three kids alone in Raven's Keep. We've come a long way since then, thanks to Rebecca."

"Raven's Keep?" I said.

"It's where we're going now," Brendan replied. "It's the home of the Order of the Bear. It was built by Gilbert Raven, a former First Paladin back in the 1800s. Today, it's not just the home of the Order, but a safe haven for 137 survivors."

"Give or take now that Audrey has joined us," Cailey called from the driver's seat. "We... also lost Rick back there. He was a good guy. He didn't deserve to die."

"We're getting close now," Brendan said.

As we exited from Albion Vaughan Road, onto a long dirt road, Brendan gave me a deeper explanation of Raven's Keep. As the historic base of operations of the Order of the Bear, Raven's Keep was built to withstand any attacks and to allow its defenders to survive for a sustained period of time. Raven's Keep was located in an isolated portion of the northwestern part of the Nashville Conservation Reserve, beside the Humber River and only accessible by driving along a long dirt road from Albion Vaughan Road that we just came from. While the dirt road to Raven's Keep seemed quiet, Brendan assured me that there were patrols, traps, and checkpoints ready to ambush any unwary invaders or trespassers. To prove his point, Cailey pulled out a flashlight and turned it on and off in a couple of rapid motions. Seconds later, we observed the same rapid on and off light flashes in the distance, clear as day in the darkness of the night. The van eventually came to a stop right at the keep's portcullis and finally Raven's Keep came into full view.

The keep itself was surrounded by a wall, each corner comprised of a tower, its battlements dotted with spotlights and manned by patrols and snipers. As the portcullis raised, we finally drove into the keep's courtyard, and I witnessed the odd sight of rows of tents, vehicles, a greenhouse, and various workstations dotting the landscape. There was noise and energy as people went about their tasks. But the keep was clearly the centrepiece of the entire courtyard, and was a stern building made entirely of stone, yet resembled a mansion more than a medieval fortress. In keeping with the clash of medieval and 21st century styles, the roof of the keep was even lined with solar panels.