Chapter 68 The City Of The Ghost

Chapter 68 The City Of The Ghost
The red dust finally started to thin out, but what Lila saw on the other side was not much better. The Rogue Camp was not a place of houses or tents. It was a city of trash and bone built into the side of a deep canyon.

Old pieces of rusted airplanes, broken shipping containers, and animal skins were tied together with thick ropes to make shelters. Small fires burned everywhere, but they didn't give off a warm, friendly light. They gave off a thick, black smoke that smelled like burning rubber and old meat.

As Kieran walked into the center of the camp, the shadows started to move.

Dozens of Rogues stepped out from behind the rusted metal walls. They didn't look like the pack members back at the Shadow Moon estate. These people were thin. Their hair was matted with grease and red dirt. Many of them had scars across their faces or missing fingers. They didn't speak. They just watched. Their yellow eyes followed the silver blanket on Lila’s chest, watching the soft glow of the baby inside.
Kieran’s legs were shaking violently now. Every time he took a step, his boot slid a little in the red mud. His skin had gone from pale to a ghostly grey. Lila could feel the heat coming off his body he was burning with a fever but his hands were as cold as ice where they held her legs.

"Kieran, put me down," Lila whispered into his ear. "You’re going to fall."

Kieran didn't answer. He just tightened his grip. His knuckles were white. He kept his head up, his purple eyes scanning the crowd, looking for a threat. He wouldn't let these people see him weak. Not yet.

The three Rogues from the storm led them to a large structure in the middle of the canyon. It was made from the hull of a crashed cargo plane. The metal was covered in strange paintings made of white bone-dust.

At the entrance stood a woman. She was tall, even taller than some of the men. She wore a coat made from the fur of a black bear, and her arms were covered in tattoos of ancient wolf runes. She had one eye that was milky white and blind, while the other was a sharp, piercing yellow.

This was Skar, the leader of the Dead Land Rogues.

"The Dark Alpha," Skar said. Her voice was deep, like a growl caught in her throat. She looked at Kieran’s bleeding side. "You look like you've been chewed up by a machine and spit out."

Kieran stopped. He stood as straight as he could, but Lila felt his muscles snap like overstretched rubber bands.

"We need... shelter," Kieran gasped. His voice was so thin it was almost a whistle. "And a healer."
Skar walked down the metal ramp. She didn't look at Kieran. She stopped in front of Lila. She reached out a dirty hand toward the silver blanket. Kieran let out a snarl, but he didn't even have the strength to show his teeth.

Skar ignored him. She pulled back the corner of the blanket just enough to see Leo. The baby looked up at her, his golden eyes glowing in the dim light of the canyon. Leo didn't shrink away. He reached out a tiny hand and grabbed one of the bone charms hanging from Skar’s neck.

The Rogue leader froze. A look of shock crossed her face, and then she did something no one expected. She bowed her head.

"The Thorne blood is strong," Skar whispered. She looked back at the crowd of hungry Rogues who were inching closer. "Back off! All of you! This child is not meat! He is a King!"

The crowd melted back into the shadows. Skar turned to Kieran.

"Bring them inside," she ordered her men. "And get the bone-setter. If the Blackwood dies in my camp, the SOC will burn this canyon to the ground looking for his body."

Two strong men stepped forward to help Kieran. The moment they touched his arms to take the weight of Lila off his back, Kieran’s eyes rolled into the back of his head. His knees hit the metal ramp with a loud crack.

"Kieran!" Lila screamed.

She scrambled off his back, her own weak legs collapsing next to him. She grabbed his face. His skin was burning hot, and his breath was coming in short, wet rattles. The wound on his side was no longer just bleeding; it was turning a dark, sickly purple. The metal blade from the robot had been dirty, and the poison was spreading through his blood.

The Rogues lifted Kieran up. He was a big man, but they carried him like he weighed nothing. They took him into the dark belly of the cargo plane and laid him on a bed of dry grass and old blankets.
A small, old man with a face like a wrinkled apple hurried over. He carried a bowl of green slime that smelled like vinegar and dead weeds.

"Move," the old man barked at Lila.

Lila didn't move. She sat by Kieran’s head, holding Leo against her. She watched as the old man cut away the rest of Kieran’s shirt. The wound was deep. You could see the white of his ribs. The old man started to smear the green slime into the cut.
Kieran’s body jumped. He let out a choked scream, his fingers digging into the dirt, but he didn't wake up.

"He ran too far," the healer muttered. "His heart is tired. And the metal... the metal was poisoned. It’s the 'Steel-Blight' the machines use. It eats the wolf from the inside."

Lila felt a cold hand wrap around her heart. "Can you fix it?"

The old man didn't look at her. He just kept working. "Maybe. But he needs a reason to fight the poison. Most men just go to sleep and never wake up."

Lila looked at Kieran’s pale face. He looked so different now. He didn't look like the scary Alpha who had locked her in a room. He looked like the boy she had fallen in love with a long time ago.
She shifted Leo in her arms. She took the baby’s small hand and pressed it against Kieran’s forehead.

"Fight, Kieran," she whispered. "You said you wouldn't let go. You promised."

Leo’s eyes flickered. A tiny pulse of gold light moved from the baby’s palm into Kieran’s skin. Kieran’s breathing slowed down, becoming a bit steadier, but he was still far away.

Skar stood at the door, watching them. "He saved you from the storm," she said. "But now the storm is coming here. General Vance has scouts in the canyon. They saw the Gold flare from last night. They know you are in the Dead Lands."

Lila looked at the heavy metal walls of the plane.

They were trapped.

"How long do we have?" Lila asked.
Skar looked up at the sky through the hole in the roof. "Maybe a day. Maybe less. If he doesn't wake up by dawn, you will have to choose, Thorne Queen."

"Choose what?"

"To leave him behind and save the child," Skar said coldly. "Or to stay and die with a ghost."
Lila looked at Kieran, then at her son. She felt the weight of the whole world on her chest. She had spent months running away from Kieran. Now, she realized she couldn't imagine a world where he wasn't standing between her and the dark.