Beyond the Iron Gate (The Faery Meadow Book 1)
Chapter 25-Mer Folk

After about another hour of walking, they finally reached a small busy town as the sun began to rise on the horizon. The small wooden houses all had iron railings. The young fae ran around the busy streets freely with their arms reaching out towards the sky.

Most of them had pointy ears and...webbed feet. Their eyes were cunning and sharp. Elaine automatically found herself comparing them with mermaids, but they had no fins or tails. Plus they weren’t in water either.

“Lorcan what kind of fae are these people?”

“Most of the fae here are half mer. It’s said this area used to be a lake and their people evolved after a drought, but no one really knows their history. Mers don’t talk much. They’re very intelligent and...sneaky.”

Elaine narrowly avoided running into an older mer who was pushing a cart full of what looked to be some sort of black fruit. She thought this town might have been avoided by outsiders. After all, there were not many different fae here besides the mers.

They rounded a sharp turn, where fewer fae were scrambling around. There weren’t any more children where they were walking now. Every so often, a mer looked in their direction. Elaine averted her eyes, but she could feel their open stares on the back of her head.

Suddenly, Lorcan turned into an ally and she followed quickly after him. He seemed to be in a hurry. She was struggling to keep up with his long stride the entire walk through town. She rolled her eyes realizing they were going to have to go into another bar.

She wiped the dust-covered bar window with her cloak’s sleeve to get a better look inside while Lorcan walked up the rotting steps leading to the entrance of the bar.

When she could finally see through the smudged window she took note of the many mer people all crowded into the rather large bar room. The bar was surprisingly bigger than the one they were at before. She watched as they drunkenly raised their drinks and greedily gulped them down.

Elaine’s question was innocent. Lorcan’s heart panged with guilt as she spoke. “Well, I take it that this is the place then? Are we just going to grab something to eat and then go?”

“Yes, it is. I’m meeting someone in here too,” he answered, pausing before opening the bar door.

He seemed to be contemplating over something and Elaine wanted to know what. She was tired of the secrets and vague responses he liked to feed her.

She walked up the stairs when her stomach grumbled in hunger.

“Well aren’t we going in?” Elaine asked eagerly.

She thought she could really use a glass of water to quench her dry throat and perhaps a bowl of soup if the fae made any. She had to admit, she was a little interested to see this person he wanted to meet was too because the last person he met in a bar tried to kill them.

Lorcan turns around to face her. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FindNøvᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

He answered carefully after looking over his shoulder into the bar, “You’re staying outside this time.”

“Wait, what? I really could use a drink and I promise I won’t say anything. I can just sit at a table while you go talk to them.”

He scratched his head, “No. This time you’ll have to wait here and it might be a while. Besides, you’ll just get in my way.”

“Oh. Okay,” Elaine mumbled while gently kicking at a loose nail in the floorboard below her.

He pointed below to the right side of the steps. “Just wait out here for a bit. I’ll be right inside. Don’t talk to anyone. You can put your hood up, sit down there and make it look like your asleep or something.”

She thought getting a nap in might not be too bad, but there was no way she was going to fall asleep on the street outside the bar.

“Alright.”

“Thanks. I just think it’s better if you’re out here. In this kind of town, it’s better if you’re not in a crowded place like this.”

“You’re right,” she mumbled quietly. Lorcan for the door, but hesitated as if changing his mind.

A loud high voice pierced through the air and his attention left her. Elaine saw a tall skinny brunette standing by the door. She concluded she must be a mer when she saw her blue webbed feet. She wore a tight fitted long purple dress.

The woman spoke loudly with surprise while giving him a long hug, “Lorcan!” Lorcan didn’t hug her back and it made Elaine wonder how he knew the lady.

“Silvia,” Lorcan greeted her with a wide grin.

From what Lorcan had told her about his past, Elaine couldn’t remember him telling her much about his friends. She remembered Specs. Specs was Lorcan’s friend she knew.

She thought he probably had a lot of friends since he was part of the royalty like he told her. She was glad for him and hoped he wouldn’t be long. The mer lady shut the door behind him cutting off her view of them.

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