Honeycomb by Joanne Harris (book series for 12 year olds .txt) 📕

shrugged and pretended to show no further interest. But the following day, at dawn, she saddled her pink pony and pulled on her coat of a thousand eyes, and rode in search of the Spider Queen, to ask for her help in finding the King.

The Barefoot Princess knew the Queen only by reputation. She knew that the Queen’s network of spies saw everything Above and Below, and that her web, which was so intricate that even she did not know all its complexities, had strands in all of the Nine Worlds. What the Princess did not know was how much the Spider Queen hated the King; how he had stolen her coronet, and how the Queen had brought about the death of his son, the Wasp Prince. All she knew was that the Queen was old, and wise, and mysterious, and that if anyone could find news of the King, she would surely be the one.

Of course, the Princess never thought to use her coat of a thousand eyes. The King had never told her its use, and the bees in its lining simply had orders to watch over her. And so she rode to the Spider Queen’s lair, and stood in front of the rust-red gate, and called to her:

“Your Majesty! I come to seek your gracious help in a matter of great importance!”

The Spider Queen watched her approach from her web. Time had not dulled her hatred. From afar, she had watched the Princess, and she knew how much the King cared for her. And so she welcomed the Barefoot Princess into her hall of spider-silk, and, through her veil of cobwebs, she listened in silence to her tale.

“So, you’re his adopted daughter?” she said. “I wouldn’t have thought it of him.” (In fact, she knew perfectly well the identity of her unexpected guest, having watched her from afar from the moment she arrived.)

Earnestly, the Princess explained that the Lacewing King was misunderstood. “So many people hate him,” she said. “And yet, he has been so kind to me.”

In her silkiest voice, the Spider Queen agreed that people were very cruel and unfair. “Never mind them, child,” she said. “I’ll help you—for a favour.”

The Barefoot Princess opened her eyes very wide. “What favour?” she asked.

The Spider Queen looked down at the coat of a thousand eyes. “That coat. Where did you get it?” she said.

“It was a present from the King.”

“Give it to me, and I’ll find him for you. You have my oath and my promise.”

The Barefoot Princess was reluctant to give up the King’s first gift to her. But although she loved the coat, she had no idea of its value. And so she took it off and gave it to the Spider Queen (the bees in the lining scolded and buzzed), and the Queen gave a slow and poisonous smile. She had no use for the bees, of course. But the eyes that the King had stolen from her were stitched into the fabric like gems.

She passed a white hand over the coat, releasing the bees with a word of command. The thousand eyes of her coronet fell into her silken lap.

Then she led the Barefoot Princess to a bed all draped in white silk, surrounded by gossamer curtains and covered with a thistledown quilt.

“Why don’t you stay the night?” she said. “I’ll comb my web for news of the King, and in the morning we’ll find him.”

And so the Barefoot Princess slept, while the Spider Queen thought hard. She had been very tempted at first simply to devour the Princess. But now she understood that the King actually cared for this human child, and her wicked old heart rejoiced at the thought that through her, she might have her vengeance at last.

And so she combed her web of dreams for news of her old enemy, and, through her coronet of eyes, she finally discovered him, sailing to a distant land. The Glow-Worm Chancellor’s dream had been at least partly accurate. The Lacewing King was in danger. And if the Queen was to have her triumph, she would need to find him before the fate that threatened him robbed her of her vengeance.

Meanwhile, the bees from the Lacewing King’s coat continued to guard the Barefoot Princess. Although they had lost the thousand eyes, they still had their orders. And when, in the morning, the Barefoot Princess awoke from a sweet and dreamless sleep, to find her new friend the Spider Queen ready to go on a journey, they followed the royal party as it set off in search of the Lacewing King; the Princess on her pink pony; the Queen in her funnel-web chariot drawn by a dozen red spiders; and the swarm of honeybees following behind them, towards the place where the Lacewing King would face his most perilous trial.…

43

T

HE

R

ETURN OF THE

K

ING

On an island, Worlds away, there was a tribe of people who lived under the shadow of a great black rock. Only one person lived in the light: he was the High Priest of the tribe, and he lived at the summit of the rock, crossing the line between light and shade by means of an intricate trellis of vines. The villagers lived in darkness and fear: food was never plentiful. But the High Priest lived well, enjoying the fruits that grew at his feet in the canopy of the trees, and sleeping all day on the sun-warmed stone.

And yet, his people were grateful to the High Priest for his work. This consisted of watching the sky and checking the sea for omens. No one else dared leave the rock, or had for generations. It seemed that once, many years ago, a King had discovered the island. The terrible King and his army, they said, had laid waste to everything, slaughtering the inhabitants and sending the few survivors into hiding under the rock. A hundred years later, the tribe