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

a plan, and he was not quite unprepared. He left his seat on the flower throne and looked down from the edge of the cliff. Far below, he could see the realm of the Queen Below the Water. He knew she was as ruthless as the Dragonfly Queen herself; an ancient, cunning ruler, with as little tolerance of spies as her cliff-top counterpart. Her undersea guards were armoured things with massive, crushing teeth and jaws, armed with brutal whips that were made of hundreds of drifting tentacles. Their jaws were twice the size of their heads, and they were always hungry. They could smell an intruder a mile away, under or over water, and they were sworn to protect their Queen from her foes in World Above.

But the Lacewing King had arrived at the court of the Dragonfly Queen alone and unarmed; and during the course of their drinking game, he had already managed to make her discard her weapons and her armour. Now he quickly slipped them on: the feather-light armour; the helmet. Then, before the Queen could protest, the Lacewing King took a deep breath, and dived from the top of the cliff into the ocean far below.

The armour fitted him perfectly. The helmet, light as a soap-bubble, but strong as a piece of tempered steel, contained enough air for a minute or two. This was all he needed; and, making for the forest of weed that surrounded the pale-green palace, he set about making things ready for the second stage of his plan.

First, he took off his armour and hid it in the forest of weeds. Then he added the war helmet on top of the suit of armour, and with his last, precious breath, he swam for the pale-green palace.

As he had expected, the Undersea Guards were quick to sense an intruder. They came after him almost immediately, with tentacle whips and weighted nets. The Lacewing King did not resist, but allowed himself to be taken. His air was almost gone by then, but from the cliff-top he had seen that the undersea palace was built upon a number of hollow chambers, like a honeycomb in shape, many containing pockets of air. It was into one of these chambers, larger than the rest, that the Undersea Guards dragged the Lacewing King, and threw him, gasping, before the throne of the Queen Below the Water.

For a moment the Queen looked down at him from her throne of coral and pearl. Her lidless eyes shone like opals; her hair was silver as the sands. Even without his crown and retinue, she recognized the King at once, and, like her counterpart, was convinced that he was a spy for the enemy.

“Do you know what I do with spies?” she said in her silky, watery voice.

The Lacewing King stood up and bowed graciously to the Queen Below. He knew his position was dangerous, and that his reputation was no better in the Undersea than it was elsewhere. Over the course of his long reign he had made a great number of enemies; and he guessed that the Queen knew half-a-dozen rulers, at least, who would have paid any amount of gold to get their hands on her prisoner.

But he had been hatching a plan ever since the Dragonfly Queen had suggested her game of Truth or Dare; and now, it was time for the next stage.

“My Lady, I am no spy,” he said. “The Dragonfly Queen took me prisoner. I managed to escape with my life, but my ship and my crew are lost. And yet, I have information that can help you defeat the Queen for good; information that—for a price—I would be willing to share with you.”

The Queen Below the Water looked sceptical. “What price?”

The King replied, “A ship of my own, and safe passage out of these waters.”

The Queen Below considered this. But she did not trust the Lacewing King. “I think this is a trick,” she said. “Look me in the eyes and swear that you were not sent here to take my life.”

The Lacewing King felt a tremor of fear, knowing that he was still under the influence of the Dragonfly Queen’s truth serum. But if he refused to speak, he knew the Queen would kill him. And so he looked into her eyes, and said:

“My Lady, you are right. I was sent here to kill you. But also believe me when I say that I can end this war of yours, alone and without bloodshed.”

The Queen Below the Water looked into the eyes of the Lacewing King. She was suspicious, and yet she could see that the King was telling the truth. How could both his stories be true? How could he not be lying?

“End it how?” she said at last.

“You must meet the Queen face-to-face, unarmed and unaccompanied. I have already persuaded her to give up her helmet and armour.”

The Queen Below the Water laughed. “Do you expect me to believe that?”

“I hid them in the weeds,” said the King, “not far from your palace. Have your guards search, and they will find them.”

The Queen Below was troubled. His story was incredible. And yet, her people had suffered so long that she would have done almost anything to put an end to the Dragonfly War.

“This is some kind of a trick,” she said.

“Yes,” agreed the Lacewing King, still under the spell of the truth serum.

“Explain,” said the Queen.

The King shook his head. “If I told you, it wouldn’t work.”

The Queen Below grew angry. She turned to her thick-jawed, tentacled guards, standing by the entrance to the royal chamber. “Take him to the dungeons,” she said. “Leave him in a coral cell. Then go and search for the armour he claims he hid away in the weeds. Let’s hope—for his sake—you find it.”

And so the guards took the Lacewing King to the honeycomb of cells that formed the base of the Queen’s undersea fortress. These were made of