Chapter 69 The Shadow At The Door

Chapter 69 The Shadow At The Door
The inside of the cargo plane was freezing. The metal walls groaned as the wind outside tried to peel the skin off the canyon. Lila sat on the dirty floor, her back pressed against a rusted crate. She held Leo so tight that she could feel the tiny, steady heartbeat of her son against her own chest.

Across from her, Kieran was struggling to stay alive.

The old healer was gone, leaving only a bowl of stinking green medicine and a pile of bloody rags. Kieran’s skin was no longer grey; it was turning a bruised, sickly yellow. Every time he breathed, it sounded like he was pulling air through a wet sponge. The "Steel-Blight" was moving fast. It was a poison made to kill wolves, eating their healing power until there was nothing left but a shell.
Lila reached out and touched his hand. It was as cold as a stone in a river. She tried to rub his fingers to bring the warmth back, but he didn't move. He didn't even flinch.

"Kieran, you said you wouldn't let go," she whispered. Her voice broke, and a hot tear fell onto his cold cheek. "You promised Leo. You promised me."

Suddenly, the heavy metal door of the plane creaked open. Skar walked in. She wasn't wearing her fur coat anymore. She was wearing leather armor covered in sharp metal spikes. In her hand, she held a long spear made from the leg bone of a giant beast. Her one good yellow eye was wide and sharp.

"They are here," Skar said. She didn't whisper. The word hit the room like a heavy rock.
Lila felt her stomach drop into her shoes. "The SOC?"

"Scouts," Skar barked. "Four of them. They are at the mouth of the canyon. They have those robot dogs—the Scent-Hounds that can smell a drop of blood from a mile away. They found the trail of his silver fur and the smell of your Gold."

Lila looked at Kieran. He couldn't even lift his head. If the scouts came in now, it would be over in seconds. They would kill the broken Alpha and take the baby.

"Can you hide us?" Lila asked, her voice shaking like a leaf.

Skar let out a dry, mean laugh. "This is the Dead Lands, Queen. There is nowhere to hide from a Scent-Hound. They will find this plane, and then they will call the heavy jets to finish us. If we don't stop them now, this whole camp will be a graveyard by noon."

Skar looked at Lila’s hands. "Can you fight? Or is the Thorne Gold only good for making pretty lights?"

Lila looked at her palms. They were covered in dirt and dried blood. She tried to squeeze her hands into fists, but she felt empty. Her body was still recovering from the birth. She felt like a lamp with no oil left in it.

"I... I don't know," Lila said.

"Then learn fast," Skar said. She reached into her belt and pulled out a short knife made of black stone. She threw it, and it landed in the dirt right next to Lila’s foot. "The scouts will be at the gate soon. My men will try to stop them, but those hounds move faster than any man can run."
Skar turned and walked out, the metal door slamming shut with a sound that echoed through the plane.

Lila picked up the black knife. It was heavy and cold. She looked at Leo, who was watching her with his big, golden eyes. He wasn't afraid. He looked at the knife, and then he looked at his father’s pale face.

Lila stood up. Her legs felt like they were made of jelly, but she forced herself to walk to the small hole in the side of the plane. She looked out at the canyon.

The red dust was settling, and she saw them.
Four men in black armor were moving down the rocky slope. They moved with purpose, their guns held tight against their shoulders. In front of them, two metal dogs were sniffing the ground. The hounds didn't have skin. They were just wires, gears, and steel, with glowing red eyes that scanned the rocks.

One of the hounds stopped. It looked directly toward the cargo plane. It let out a high-pitched beep, and its red eyes began to flash.

"They found us," Lila whispered.

She turned back to Kieran. She had to do something. She couldn't let them take him. She couldn't let them touch Leo.

She knelt next to Kieran and grabbed the bowl of green medicine. She didn't know if it would work, but she smeared the rest of it over his wound. Then, she took Leo’s tiny hand and pressed it against the cut.

"Leo, help him," she begged. "Please. Use your light."

The baby looked at the wound. He didn't understand the words, but he felt his mother’s fear. He squeezed his tiny eyes shut. A soft, warm glow began to come from his tiny palm. It wasn't the big explosion of Gold from before. It was a small, steady light, like a candle in a dark room.
Kieran’s body jumped. He let out a long, pained groan. His eyes didn't open, but his fingers twitched in the dirt. The black veins of the Steel-Blight near the wound seemed to pull back just a little bit.

"Keep going, Leo," Lila whispered.

But outside, the sound of fighting started. Lila heard the Rogues shouting and then the loud, metallic growl of a Scent-Hound. One of the hounds was already inside the camp.
Lila grabbed the black knife and stood by the door. Her heart was beating so hard it hurt her ribs. She was terrified. She was a mother who had just given birth, trapped in a tin can with a dying man and a baby.

Suddenly, the metal wall of the plane let out a loud bang.

Something had hit the outside. Lila heard the scratching of metal claws on the cargo plane's skin. The Scent-Hound was climbing the side of the plane.

The sound moved toward the roof. Lila looked up. There was a small hatch in the ceiling, held shut by a rusty metal latch. The scratching stopped right on top of it. The metal started to bend. Dust and rust fell from the ceiling, landing on Kieran’s face.

Lila stepped over Kieran, holding the black knife up. She felt a spark of heat in her chest. It wasn't just the Gold power it was a mother's rage. It was the feeling that she would rip the world apart to keep her child safe.

The hatch gave way with a loud crack.

The metal dog dropped into the plane. It landed on its four steel legs, its red eyes locking onto Lila. It opened its mouth, showing rows of spinning diamond-teeth. It let out a sound like a heavy machine.

Lila didn't wait. She didn't scream. She jumped.
She slammed her weight into the hound, pushing it away from Kieran. The metal was freezing and sharp. The hound snapped at her arm, its teeth grazing her skin, but Lila didn't let go. She drove the black stone knife into the gaps in the hound’s neck wires.

The hound thrashed, throwing Lila against the wall. She hit the metal hard, her head spinning, but she stayed on her feet. The hound lunged again, its eyes glowing a deep red.
Suddenly, a massive hand reached out from the shadows.

Kieran’s hand.

He wasn't standing. He was still lying on the dirt, his eyes barely open, but his arm had shot out like a spring. He grabbed the Scent-Hound by its metal throat. His knuckles cracked as he squeezed the steel.

The hound whirred and sparked, trying to bite his arm, but Kieran didn't let go. With a roar of pure pain, Kieran slammed the hound’s head into the floor. He hit it again. And again. The metal crushed under his strength.

The red eyes of the hound went dark. The metal body stopped moving.

Kieran’s arm fell back to the floor. He was gasping for air, his chest heaving. He looked at Lila, his eyes cloudy and full of fever.

"Lila..." he choked out.

"I'm here, Kieran! I'm here!"

But more footsteps were coming. The SOC scouts were right outside the door.

"Open up!" a soldier shouted. "We know you're in there, Thorne! Give us the asset and we might let the wolf live!"

Lila looked at the dead hound, then at the door, then at Kieran. She felt the gold light coming back to her hands. It wasn't a tiny spark anymore. It was a white-hot flame.

"They called my son an asset," Lila whispered. Her voice was cold. The fear was gone.

She looked at Kieran. "Can you stand?"

Kieran grabbed a rusted crate and pulled himself up. He was shaking, and he had to lean against the wall to stay upright, but he gave her a small, bloody nod.

"Then let's show them what happens when they touch our son," Lila said.

She kicked the crate away from the door and threw it open. The bright light of the Dead Lands rushed in, and Lila Thorne stepped out into the fire, her hands glowing like the sun.