A palacesoared from the midst of them, or a sea-sculpted formation ofserpentine rocks.It didn’t matter which.Merou let Priddy choosethe way, between spires and outcrops and through the arch of awindow into a prince’s chamber.Ancient tapestries on the walls, orjust shifting colours of rock?Priddy could see both, then neither,as he closed his eyes and drew Merou after him onto a great tiltedmonolith, a fallen pillar covered with rich blankets or seamoss.
What is this place?
Nowhere.Just the sea floor.
Priddy’s eyes flew open.He’d heard Merou speak inside hishead before, but this was different, not to be lain at the door ofimagination.Direct answer to a question, so Priddy was speakinginside Merou’s head as well.You can hearme?
Yes.It isn’t usually the way.They can hear me,but...
They can’t answer back?Must be handy for you.Priddy grinned.He should have wondered whotheywere, how manylandlings Merou had borne off to his undersea lair.All he caredabout was the lithe strength enfolding him as he lay back againstthe pillar, the arm behind his head, the immobilising sweep of thetail.I see more than seafloor.
What...What do you see?
It mattered.Merou was watching him intently.Buildings.Bridges and towers—a whole city.Thenwhen I look again, there’s just stone.
It’s called Lyonesse.And none of your kind has ever seen itbefore, unless...The strange dark gazeopened hungrily.Oh, Priddy, stay herewith me.
He wanted to.He wanted to shed all the trappings of the upperworld.Suddenly it seemed impossible that he was still dressed inhis T-shirt and jeans.The storm of their arrival here should havestripped his clothes off him and taken a layer of his landling skinwith them too.He could barely send words to Merou anymore—onlyimages, desires.Naked.Held fast in thecoils of your tail.Opened like an oyster shell and fucked, onlyhow...
Merou burst into laughter.He twisted: moved fast as a minnowand peeled Priddy’s jeans off him, webbed hands supernaturallydeft.The T-shirt next, shucking him out of it like a bean from apod, and then, with a gesture so domestic that Priddy began tolaugh too, folding the garments and weighing them down with astone.Don’t want them to floatoff.
Will I need them again?
Oh, fine man, don’t tempt me.Don’t...
He pushed Priddy back against the rock, encouraging theinstinctive lift of his thighs to clasp round his waist.Drew backa little, caressing him:Look.See how I’mdifferent to you, and see how I’m the same.Don’t bescared.
I’m not.
Well, you ought to be.You oughtn’t to believe me when I saythat our blood—the blood of the Mer—isn’t capable of bearingdisease.That you’re safe with me.
But I do believe you.Priddy rubbedhis face against Merou’s neck, fearlessly kissing the place wherethe skin parted in a fronded slit.He chuckled, making Meroujump.It’s not like you’re spinning mesome pickup line in a bar.Show me how you’re the same as me.Showme how you’re different.
Differences first.Merou edged back far enough for Priddy tosee.The pattern of the scales across his belly wasn’t uniform.Atthe pit of his abdomen, the place where his upperworld legs hadonce begun, the mesh became intricate, like interlaced fingers orfeathers.He took hold of Priddy’s shoulders: arched his head backin a spasm of pain, deep-laid joy and release.The mesh blossomedopen, a sea-anemone burst, and there he was: human, the same, longthick cock fully erect and ready.Priddy reached down inwelcome.Look at you!
Strong lads have been known to faint at the sight ofthat.
Oh, you’re a handful.Not a record-breaker,though.
Not the size of it, you idiot!The arrangement.
Seems perfectly sensible to me.Andyet when Priddy took hold, he too had to fight a wash of vertigo:Merou was warm and shapely down there, but slick with some kind ofoil.You’re...slippery.
Well, what do you expect?I’m excited.We don’t leave all thework of lubing up to our women, you know—not like youlot.
Your women...Merou, am I gonna meet your enraged missus onthe harbourside some day?Or a crowd of them?
Listen to me.Merou cupped his faceonce more, offered him another of the life-rich kisses that sentsparks flying to the tips of his fingers and toes.I’ve taken you under the sea with me and breathedfor you.I can change from a fish into a man.Why do you assume ourreproduction is anything like yours?My closest contact with afemale is a brief explosion of my sperm over the eggs she’s justleft behind.
Priddy tried to absorb this.Don’tyou...
Yes, all the time, but it’s not connected to the way we makeour children.We only fuck for love.
Priddy surrendered.His white flag went up at the same time ashis answering erection—a total capitulation to this fantasy, toMerou in all his sweet strangeness.A merman’s tail was pushingbetween his legs, the fluke playfully enclosing and caressing hisfeet.Priddy relaxed his thighs, and the bulk between themincreased—oh, gently, reducing the scrape of the scales to aminimum, like sitting up against a drystone wall on a hot day andpleasantly scratching your bare spine.Granite and dry lichen...The thickness growing still, and growing, until at last there hewas astride Merou, riding the place where his hips would have been,feeling the brush like a whispered promise of the slick upraisedcock.Don’t stop, Merou!I only fuck forlove too.
Good.It’s the best way.
Priddy let go his desperate clasp of Merou’s shoulders.Heraised his arms and crossed his wrists above his head.He writhedto meet the push against his anus, lifted his pelvis on a surge ofthe sea.He was weightless, painless.Merou took hold of hisbuttocks, cradling one in each webbed hand, the sensationextraordinary.The tail—one band of hot muscle—lifted and pushed,and Priddy was filled in an instant.The couple of boyfriends he’dlet do this to him before became ghosts in his memory and vanished.Nothing in those awkward struggles bore a resemblance to this.Merou fitted inside him like a bud into its sheath—yes, as if he’dbeen there first and Priddy had grown around him, tight stickyhorse-chestnut scales dying to burst into life.Don’t thrust, he begged, clenchinghis thighs tight.I’ll come if you do.Oh,I’ll come.
