Beyond the Iron Gate (The Faery Meadow Book 1)

Elaine took a nervous step back and the man dropped his hand from her shoulder.

“Oh...w-well I was waiting for them actually.”

“Where are they now?”

“In the bar,” Elaine explained through a cough.

She really didn’t want to end up getting sick, but she was beginning to think she already was. She thought she should have just went in the bar and then she wouldn’t have gotten drenched.

A grim expression lingered on the faery man’s face. He took her hand taking him with her through the door behind the front desk. If Elaine wanted, she could have slid her hand out from his. However, she saw the glow of a fire in the room they neared and was already swimming in the warmth of the shop.

At the end of the hall was a big room. To the right of the room was a work area filled with heavy looking tools and iron bars sitting on top of a large black stone table. To the left of the room was a huge leather seat that seat and was the only seat in the room. The walls of the large room were a rusty red color.

In the center of the room was a large fireplace which was burning steadily. Elaine thought this fireplace must be why the shop was so extremely warm.

Why would he have a fireplace in the same room where he makes the iron? Oh, I bet that’s how he bends the iron...no wonder why he’s so sweaty, she thought.

He gestured toward a chair. “You can sit there.”

Elaine quickly sit in it not wanting to test him. Already, she could feel the prickly coldness vanish from her skin. The smoldering fire was quite comforting after all.

She smiled. “Thank you.”

Elaine watched him open up an old looking box on the other side of the room. He quickly took something out of it then he kicked the box back against the wall. The faery man was probably only a couple years older than her she believed and she wondered if he lived here too.

He showed her the rusty locket he held in his hand and when he walked over to her he dangled it in front of her face. “This will show you...where they are.”

He dropped it on her lap and she gently opened the locket hearing the click of the lock as it opened up. the locket was empty inside and she looked up at the ironsmith confused.

“Just wait.”

Slowly, the silver of the inside of the locket wavered. Elaine felt the cold surface of the locket gently. Her fingers were starting to become less numb as they started to warm up. Then she saw a tiny scene unfold in the locket. She was mesmerized by the ability of the locket and leaned in closer while the faery man hovered over her peering down into it too.

In the locket, Elaine could see Lorcan and Silvia were still in the bar. They were sitting at a long table with Silvia on one end and Lorcan on the other. She was shocked when she began to hear what they were saying.

“...yes I’ll get rid of it, I told you that already,” Silvia scoffed while combing a hand through her hair. They were both quiet for a moment. Then an evil smile formed on Silvia’s face as she picked at her nails. “It’s raining pretty awful out there. Looks like you’ll be trapped in here with us mers for a while.”

“It would seem so.”

“A few more drinks,” Silvia told a passing mer with a tray.

Elaine wondered how he could have forgotten she was still supposedly outside in the storm. Maybe he didn’t forget. Maybe he just doesn’t care. Elaine didn’t know. Lorcan took a long swig of his glass. Silvia turned her head back toward one of the windows at the front of the bar and smiled. She quickly looked away. A minute passed and a few mers walk up to their table. Lorcan started talking to two mers in deep conversation and Silvia started talking with another girl mer.

Elaine felt that she was apparently forgotten after all. She was glad and proud of herself that she found her own way out the rain. She didn’t need his help. She closed the locket.

She spoke quietly unsure how much or how little to tell the faery man, “Thanks. I’m afraid I’ve been...forgotten.”

Then she dropped the locket in his outstretched hand. He closed his fist around it and put it in his pant pocket.

“Well, I’ve probably o-overstayed my visit besides no one is coming for me,” Elaine’s voice wavered.

Lightning and thunder rattled the walls of the shop around them. Goosebumps spread over her arms like spiders and it wasn’t because of the cold.

“What is your name?”

“Elaine.”

“It suits you.”

“Thank you,” she said in a quiet voice. She watched him retreat over to the fireplace. “Well, what is your name?”

“Colt,” he whispered while looking at her.

“I thought fae are allergic to iron or something.”

“Most are.”

She remained silent listening to the sharp crackling of the fire and wondered to what degree iron could be harmful. She didn’t think it was much because in Bray’s home Lorcan and him had iron things like their stove. She began to debate whether to ask him or not about what kind of faery he was. Then she looked up from her lap to ask him just that.