Merlin's Daughters Page 7

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  Gwyneth returned to her palace and began to lay specific plans to protect her Realm when the Trouble came. She was fairly certain she would be elsewhere during the worst of whatever was to come, so she was careful to put together a team of Fairies to assist Gretel in doing everything they could to keep the Fairy Realm as safe as possible.

  She also increased the frequency of her communications with the monarchs of the other Realms in order to share intelligence and make plans for sending assistance where it might be needed. The Witch Queen agreed to send teams of Healers to reside in each of the other Realms where they would be welcome, except the Elf Kingdom, where female visitors would not be safe.

  The improved cooperation between the monarchs and increased contact between inhabitants of the Realms bore some immediate beneficial results: trade between the Realms increased immediately, materially benefiting everyone.

  Gwyneth and the Witch Queen lamented that it was sad it took an impending crisis to foster improved cooperation between the Realms. The two of them were moving in the direction of the kind of deep friendship females of every species seem to be able to achieve once or twice in a lifetime. Gwyneth was glad of that. She feared she would need the help of the Witch Queen, and any other friends she could find, in the coming years.

  Gwyneth did not take time to think about it, but her stature among the monarchs of the Nether World – which had always been very high – was significantly increased. Her prestige grew until she was virtually on a par with the Troll King, who had long been considered the wisest and most erudite of any monarch in Earths Realms. Gwyneth had long relied on the Troll King for the wise counsel of a deep-thinking philosopher. The situation facing the monarchs did not require (or even allow for) contemplation and reasoned arguments. It required action, and Gwyneth assumed a role something like to a female warlord, the driving force that kept the Nether World vigilant.

  Much had been accomplished: Excalibur was safely hidden away; Arthur was under Merlin's tutelage (Gwyneth tried not to shudder every time she thought about that); the Nether Realms were as ready as they could be for whatever the Black Fairy might throw at them. With that done, the inhabitants of the Nether World went about their business more or less as usual.

  Gwyneth missed visiting with the High Priestess of the Grail and with the Sorceress, but she enjoyed her budding friendship with the Witch Queen and she deepened her friendship with the Troll King. Her Fairy Messengers spread far and wide in the Human Realm, listening and watching. Spies from other realms did the same. The spies reported back to the monarchs, who shared the intelligence with one another. Some of the spies even teamed up and worked together seeking clues about the Black Fairy's whereabouts or intentions, but the Black Fairy remained hidden.

  For approximately a decade everything remained at an equipoise. It seemed that the entire Earth was waiting for Arthur to grow into manhood.