Ben and the Spider Prince

by Angela Fish

  Ben sat very quietly, and after about ten minutes he saw a flash of colour on the other side of the stream. He sat up straight. Yes! There it was again! The kingfisher dived into the stream and came out with a little fish in its beak. It landed on a branch and seemed to be looking straight at Ben. Then it hopped to another branch and put its head on one side.

  Ben stood up slowly. He looked around and saw that his dad and Scoot were both sleeping, so he crossed the stream carefully. He stepped from one stone to another until he was on the other side, then he walked along the path until he was underneath the tree where the bird was perched. Ben whistled quietly and the bird looked down at him, then dropped the fish onto the ground. Ben went to pick it up, but when he stretched out his hand he felt a sharp sting.

  ‘Ouch!’ he cried. ‘That hurt.’ He thought there was a stinging nettle in the grass, but when he looked again he could see lots of insects buzzing around a small silver bush. He stepped back but the insects followed him. He was just about to hit at them with his hand when he remembered what Gran had read about the fern. It was silver and made from the breath of little green dragons. Perhaps these weren’t insects at all!

  Ben was a little bit afraid to use the rhyme this time. Even though the fairy had been angry with him at first she didn’t seem as scary as the dragons. What if they attacked him when he was small? Perhaps they wouldn’t listen to him. He looked up at the kingfisher.

  ‘Can you help?’ he called to the bird. ‘Can you tell them that I need seven leaves of the fern to save the Spider Prince’s life?’

  The bird dived down into the swarm of dragons. They circled around Ben’s head three times, then they disappeared into a hole in the tree trunk. The kingfisher flew to the bush and snapped off a small branch with his beak. He dropped it at Ben’s feet and flew away. When Ben picked up the branch he saw that it had exactly seven leaves on it. He took out some more dandelion leaves from his rucksack, and wrapped up the fern. Then he crossed back over the stream and lay down next to Scoot.

  He was so excited! He had found two of the ingredients for the magic potion, but he knew that the third one would be the hardest of all to find.

  10

  Scoot Gives Jess A Fright

  On Saturday morning Ben took his rucksack and went to sit under the trees at the bottom of his garden. He only had one more day to collect the seven tears and he really didn’t think he could do it. If Jess had come over to play he’d planned to bump into her so that she fell over. He’d hoped that she might cry. He knew that wasn’t a very nice thing to do but he wanted to help the spiders so much. He’d asked his gran if she could help, but she didn’t think her tears would count.

  He felt a tickle on his hand and he jumped. It was Lox. Ben told him that he didn’t have all the ingredients just yet, and asked how he could let Lox know if he did find them in time. Lox told Ben to come to the spider gate and flash his torch beam three times. The guards would fetch Lox straight away.

  Ben threw the ball a few times for Scoot but he didn’t really feel like playing. He sat with his back against the tree and closed his eyes. He felt a soft touch on his cheek. It came again and Ben opened his eyes. It was Jess.

  ‘Jess!’ Ben jumped up. ‘What are you doing here? I thought Kelly was coming to stay with you for the second week of the holidays?’

  Jess smiled at him. ‘She was, but we had a terrible argument when I was at her house and my mum brought me home. I wanted to come over before this, but I didn’t think you’d want to be friends any more. I wasn’t very nice to you, was I?’

  ‘That’s all right,’ Ben said. ‘I’m glad you came. What changed your mind?’

  ‘It was your gran, she rang my mum.’

  Ben grinned at her. He said he didn’t have time to tell her everything, but he did tell her about the three ingredients and asked her if she thought she could cry!

  She tried thinking about sad things but Ben was watching her so closely that all she did was laugh. Then Ben had an idea. He ran up the path to the kitchen and asked his gran to peel an onion for him. He wrapped it in a tissue and went back down the garden.

  ‘Here,’ he said, ‘this might help. Gran always cries when she peels onions. Let me find the tube that the wizard gave me to catch the tears.’ He opened his rucksack. ‘Oh no! They won’t fit in here.’ He held up the tiny tube. ‘Why didn’t it get bigger when I said the rhyme? Everything else in my bag did. It must be a magic tube.’

  ‘What can we do?’ Jess asked. ‘If it has to be seven tears, we need a bigger tube.’

  Ben scratched his head, then he looked at Jess and grinned. He knew exactly what to do, but would Jess agree?

  ‘Hold the tube, Jess,’ he told her. ‘What if I make you smaller so that your tears will be tiny and then the tube will be big enough?’

  Jess looked puzzled. ‘What do mean? How can you make me small?’

  ‘I’ll tell you all about it later,’ Ben promised. ‘Gran gave me the secret and now I can make myself, or anyone else, smaller and then bigger. It doesn’t hurt and it won’t take long. You just need to smell the onion and then catch seven tears in the tube. As soon as you’ve done it, I’ll make you big again.’

  Jess looked worried but she said she’d do it. Ben put the onion next to her feet and made sure that she had the tube in her hands. He said the magic rhyme quietly and did the actions. Jess watched him with her eyes wide open. Then she felt a tingling in her arms and legs and she felt dizzy, so she sat down quickly and closed her eyes. When she opened them she could see two very large shoes next to her. She looked up. Ben was a giant!

  Jess was very scared but she remembered what she had to do. She leaned against the onion and took a deep breath. She poked out her tongue. Yuk! She breathed in again and could feel her eyes starting to water, but there were still no tears. She tried twice more and finally the tears began to roll down her cheeks. She took the stopper from the tube and carefully caught seven tears. Then she put the stopper back.

  Ben knelt down on the ground and took the tube from Jess. He put it in his rucksack and he was just about to say the rhyme to bring Jess back, when Scoot dashed across the grass and picked her up by the hood of her coat. He shook her a few times and Ben could hear her screaming.

  ‘Drop that Scoot,’ he shouted. ‘Naughty dog! Give it to me now.’

  Scoot put his head on one side and looked at Ben. He didn’t understand. This was a new toy, wasn’t it? He ran around the tree three times, but when he saw that Ben wasn’t playing their usual game of chase, he stopped. He walked towards Ben with his tail down, and then he dropped Jess on the ground.

  Ben said the rhyme as quickly as he could and waited for Jess to feel steady on her feet. She was really crying now.

  ‘I’m so sorry Jess,’ he said. ‘I didn’t see Scoot behind the tree. Are you all right?’

  Jess sniffed and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. ‘I’m all covered in dog spit so, no, I am not all right.’

  Ben couldn’t help laughing. Her hair was all spiky and she looked like she’d been out in the rain. Jess pretended to be angry but after a while she started laughing as well.

  ‘I don’t know why I’m friends with you,’ she said. ‘You always get me into trouble, but we do have some fun, don’t we?’

  Ben told her that he had to call for Lox to come out, and said that she should sit down next to the tree. He didn’t know if Lox would come right out if she was there but they’d have to try. He lay down on the ground and wriggled under the hedge. He shone the torch beam on the spider gate at the back of the hedge and blinked it on and off three times. Then he wriggled out again and went to sit next to Jess. Five minutes later Lox peeped out from the hedge.

  ‘It’s all right Lox,’ Ben whispered. ‘This is Jess. She’s the one who helped me last year with finding the last piece of the spider gate, and she’s just helped me now. I couldn’t have done it on my own. Please don’t be afraid of her.’

  Lox came towards them slowly and tol
d Ben that it was all right for Jess to be there. He thanked her for helping Ben. Jess held her breath. She felt as though she was in a dream. It was so strange to hear this spider talking to them. She shook her head and just watched as Lox took the three ingredients. He told Ben and Jess to wait in the garden and ten minutes later he was back. He ran towards them waving his front legs in the air.

  ‘You did it,’ he told Ben. ‘You really did it. The wizard was so excited that he ran up the walls of the cave and spun a golden-coloured web all over the ceiling. Queen Aranya was crying and everyone else was cheering for you. The only one who wasn’t happy with you was Spindra, but we’re watching her very carefully.’

  ‘Who’s Spindra?’ Jess asked, but Ben said he’d tell her later. She rolled her eyes.

  Lox carried on talking. ‘The queen would like to thank you both but we don’t think it’s safe for you to come into the kingdom again. She asked if you could be in the garden after dark tonight? If you can, be here when the owl starts to hoot. We’ll be waiting and you won’t have to stay out for long. There are some others who’d like to meet you as well.’

  Lox ran back under the hedge. Jess pulled at Ben’s sleeve.

  ‘Oh boy,’ she said. ‘You have so much to tell me. I want to know everything NOW!’

  Ben laughed. ‘All right bossy, but we’d better go back indoors. I think you need to wash your face before anyone sees you. Then we have to think of a way to meet Lox and the others.’

  11

  The Barbecue And The Owl

  Later that day Ben and Jess were lying on the floor in the living room. They were looking at the book from the library and Ben was telling Jess about the things that had happened to him. He remembered what his gran had said about the secret so he didn’t tell her everything, just most of it. Gran had telephoned Jess’s mum and they’d agreed that Jess could stay the night at Ben’s house.

  ‘What are you going to do?’ Jess asked him. ‘How are we going to be able to go out when it’s dark?’

  Ben sat up. ‘Well, we could ask if Dad would do a barbecue for us, like he did for my birthday last year. It’s still a bit cold but it’s not raining. I could put up my tent near the tree and we could play at being explorers like before, but we wouldn’t have to go outside the garden this time.’

  Jess nodded. ‘What time does it get dark? What if the owl doesn’t start hooting until really late?’

  Ben went into the kitchen and asked his gran when it would be dark. She told him it would be about half past six. Then he went to find his dad who was cleaning the car. Dad said that they could have a barbecue as a special treat, as it was almost the last day of the holidays, and they could stay up a bit later as well. He and Ben found the camping light and then the tent and they called to Jess to help them put it up.

  At six o’clock Ben’s dad lit the barbecue and Mum and Gran brought out the food. Scoot had been shut in the house because he could be very naughty when the family ate outside, and always tried to steal the sausages. Ben and Jess helped with the plates, but they were so excited that they kept giggling together. The grown-ups thought it was because of the barbecue. Well, it was a bit, but Ben and Jess were thinking about who might be waiting under the hedge.

  When the food was cooked, Mum put two plates onto a tray and two glasses of fruit juice. Gran put on some bread rolls, some sausages and chicken, and then two muffins. Dad carried the tray to the tent and Ben and Jess scrambled inside.

  ‘There you are,’ Dad said. ‘Eat it while it’s hot. We’re going to eat in the kitchen. You can stay out for an hour, but come in sooner if you’re too cold.’

  Ben and Jess ate their food and drank some juice. They were just going to start on their muffins when Jess pulled on Ben’s sleeve. She put her finger in front of her lips.

  ‘Shhhh. Listen,’ she said. ‘It’s the owl. I can hear the owl!’

  Ben listened. It sounded as though the owl was right above them. They crept out of the tent and looked up. There he was, on a branch near the top of the tree. He turned his head and looked right at them with his big round eyes. Ben had never seen an owl as close as this before and he wanted to look at it for longer, but there was something swinging in front of his face.

  Ben jumped back. It was Lox. The spider landed on Ben’s shoulder and began to talk into his ear.

  ‘Everyone’s waiting for you,’ he said, ‘but they’re a little bit afraid to come out.’

  ‘Afraid? Why are they afraid of me? I helped them, didn’t I?’

  Lox said it was because Ben was now so much bigger than the spiders, but he did have an idea.

  ‘If you could use the magic again, then everyone would be happy. They’d like to meet Jess as well.’

  ‘What about Spindra?’ Ben asked. ‘I don’t want to be small when I meet her again.’

  Lox told Ben that the queen’s sister had been sent away, so she wouldn’t be able to hurt them. Ben sat down on the ground. He knew he could only use the rhymes seven times in his whole life, so he counted on his fingers.

  ‘Once when I went into the kingdom, once with the rowan tree fairy, and once to catch Jess’s tears.’

  If he did what Lox had asked he would have to use the magic twice more – once for him and once for Jess. That would be five times. He’d be like Gran, using up nearly all his chances in the first year, but he really wanted to meet Queen Aranya. He wondered if he could go on his own but then he felt mean. Jess was his best friend again, and if she hadn’t helped him he wouldn’t be here now.

  He told Lox that he’d do it, and asked Jess if she wanted to come. She looked scared but said she would. Ben said the rhyme for Jess, then for himself. They laughed at each other when they were small. Jess said that Ben looked like someone in the story about the people who lived under the floorboards of a big house.

  Lox told Ben and Jess to stay in front of the tent. He ran under the hedge and a few moments later he ran out again.

  ‘Come on.’ He waved to them. ‘They’re waiting at the entrance.’

  12

  Ben And Jess Receive A Present

  Ben and Jess followed Lox under the hedge. When they reached the spider gate it was wide open and Lox waved them in. They could hardly believe their eyes. There were glow worms all around the walls so it was easy to see what was happening. In the middle of the big entrance room was Queen Aranya. The wizard was next to her. Above their heads was a silver cobweb, and bouncing around in it was a tiny spider. It was the Spider Prince!

  Lox called Ben and Jess over to his side. ‘You can meet the visitors first, and then the queen will speak to you.’

  He turned around and Jess gasped. In front of her was the most beautiful fairy. She had golden hair, golden wings, a green and gold dress, and bright green shoes. Lox said that she was Tianna Rowan, the Fairy Queen of the Rowan clan. Next to her was another fairy who looked almost the same, but she had silver wings, a red dress, and red shoes. She was Shaylee Rowan, the Fairy Princess. The fairies touched fingers with Ben and Jess and fluttered their wings.

  Lox moved on to the next group and Ben’s heart began to thump when he saw who it was. Two green dragons stood side by side and were staring at him. When he’d seen them before they’d been small, but they had still managed to bite him. Now he was small and they looked enormous. He stood behind Lox, who said that they were Lulong Zeewang, the Green Dragon King, and Lulong Tyzee, the Dragon Prince. The dragons nodded their heads. As Ben passed them he could feel the back of his neck tingling from their cold breath. He noticed that Jess didn’t stand near them for long either.

  Then the wizard made a speech about how brave Ben had been, and Queen Aranya moved forward. She thanked Ben and Jess for helping to make the prince better and said that she had a gift for them. The wizard handed her a golden-coloured cobweb. It was the one that he had spun when Lox had brought him the three ingredients. The queen broke it and gave half to Ben and half to Jess. She told them to hold it out in front of them.

  The w
izard ran around in a circle three times then he held up his two front legs and waved them over the pieces of web. He said some words that Ben didn’t understand and the web began to glow. Jess was shaking as the web grew heavier and heavier. When the wizard stopped moving, Lox helped Ben and Jess to carry the pieces to the spider gate. They turned around and saw that everyone was waving to them, so they waved too.

  Back at the tent, Lox told them to take care of their gifts. The wizard’s magic had turned the cobweb into gold. It would only be small in the human world, but it was still something precious. He told Ben that he would come to the window sill the next night, when it would be the full moon. He thanked Jess again, then he ran back under the hedge and out of sight.

  Ben and Jess were very tired, so Ben said the growing bigger rhyme very quickly for both of them. They went back into the tent to look at their gifts.

  ‘It’s a bit like the spider gate piece,’ Jess said. ‘The one we found in the woods.’

  Ben agreed. ‘Yes, but I don’t think that was gold. What will you do with yours?’

  ‘I don’t know yet,’ she said. ‘I think I’ll put it somewhere safe until I’m older.’

  ‘Me too,’ said Ben. ‘Come on, we’d better go back to the house.’

  The next night Ben was in his bedroom at eight o’clock. Mum had said that he could look at his book for ten minutes, but instead he pulled back the curtain and looked for Lox. The spider was waiting in the corner, so Ben opened the window quietly.

  ‘Look up, Ben,’ Lox told him.

  There, high in the sky, hung the moon. It looked like a big golden balloon floating over the tops of the trees.