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

“I’m so glad you think so,” she said. “In fact, I’ve brought someone to see you.” And with that, she indicated something that hung from the top of the crow’s nest. It was the Barefoot Princess, tightly bound in spider-silk, with only her face, feet, and hands showing from beneath the cocoon. Around her, the swarm of honeybees that had once adorned the King’s coat buzzed and scolded helplessly.

The Spider Queen saw her enemy flinch, and felt an exquisite pleasure.

“Your ward was so eager to find you,” she said. “Your ward—or is she something else? Your daughter? Maybe your granddaughter?”

The Lacewing King just looked at her with eyes as cold as starlight. And yet, he knew that the Spider Queen had finally found the way to his heart.

“I brought her here to find you,” said the Queen in her silky voice. “And of course, for you to watch as I feed on her delicious young flesh.” Shifting to her spider Aspect, mandibles clicking hungrily, she started towards the crow’s nest, moving deftly along the ropes, singing a little song under her breath.

“Long ago, and far away,

Far away and long ago—”

In his bubble, the Lacewing King fought and struggled to escape.

“Don’t waste your time,” said the Spider Queen. “That bubble is made from sea-spider silk. It’s as flexible as steel and virtually unbreakable. It’s certainly strong enough to contain any Aspect you choose to take—a swarm of bees, for instance.”

“Please. Can we talk?” said the Lacewing King.

The Spider Queen’s smile broadened. She perched herself on the yardarm, swinging her legs beneath her skirts, looking down at her prisoner.

“Of course we can,” she said warmly. “In fact, I was rather hoping we would. Maybe you’d like to start with a threat. Then, we’ll move on to the pleading.”

“The girl is innocent,” said the King. “Let her go, and then we can talk.”

“An innocent?” said the Spider Queen. “I can smell your blood in her. Your lying, thieving, treacherous blood. Your warm, delicious blood—”

“Please,” he said. “Just let her go.”

The Queen pulled a face. “Call that pleading?” She moved a little closer to the Barefoot Princess’s cocoon. Inside, the Princess struggled, but she could not free herself. “You owe me more than that, my Lord. You lied to me, deceived me, stole from me, humiliated me. Blood is what you owe me.”

“Then take it,” said the Lacewing King. “Take my life, but spare the girl.”

The Spider Queen laughed. “But I don’t want your life. I want you to be sorry.”

“I am sorry,” said the King. “What else do you want from me? Do you want my kingdom, my crown? Take them. Only let her go.”

“Do you mean it?” said the Queen.

“More than anything,” he said.

The Spider Queen gave a long, sweet sigh. “That’s all I needed to hear,” she said. “Honesty from you, at last.” And, reverting to Spider Aspect again, she opened her massive jaws and prepared to bite off the Barefoot Princess’s head.

But just as the Spider Queen picked up her prey, there came a cry from the spider-ship’s bows. Turning, the King saw the Dragonfly Queen, in her armoured chariot, drawn by twelve of her Dragonfly Guards. Her silk-and-titanium bow was drawn, the dart pointing straight at the Spider Queen.

“Unhand your prisoner,” she said.

The Spider Queen put down her prey. “This is none of your business,” she said. “I have no quarrel with you.”

But before the Dragonfly Queen could reply, the sea began to boil at her feet, and something began to emerge from the waves. It was the conch-shell chariot of the Queen Below the Water. Beside her lay the armour and helmet of the Dragonfly Queen, and her escort was twelve of her Undersea Guards, their tentacles raised in a strong-arm salute.

The opal eyes of the Queen Below came to rest on the Lacewing King. “Return my prisoner at once,” she said, addressing the Spider Queen.

The Dragonfly Queen looked scornful. “Your prisoner, or your spy?” she said. “Lady, this man is my prisoner. I demand you return him to me.”

The Spider Queen gave a dry hiss. “My claim is older than yours,” she said. “His blood is mine, and mine alone.”

And so they argued, the three of them: the Spider Queen and the Dragonfly Queen and the Queen Below the Water. All three felt they had a claim on the life of the Lacewing King: one for spying, one for theft, and one for failing a forfeit in a game of Truth or Dare.

The Lacewing King let them argue awhile. Then he said, “If I might speak?”

The three Queens turned to stare at him.

“Much as I hate to contradict three such noble ladies,” he said, “I feel I ought at least to respond. My Lady the Dragonfly Queen,” he went on, “ordered me to bring her the head of the Queen Below the Water. Well, here it is, as I promised her—although I have chosen to leave it attached to the body of the Queen. That completes my forfeit. As for you, my Lady,” he went on to the Queen Below, “I promised you I would end the war if you met the Dragonfly Queen face-to-face.”

“End the war?” said the Dragonfly Queen, staring at the Queen Below.

“Face-to-face?” said the Queen Below, staring at the Dragonfly Queen.

The Lacewing King nodded. “Whatever your feud, it is fear, and not hate, that has kept you apart for so long. But with mother and daughter together again, how can the war continue?”

And as they faced each other at last, the two Queens finally understood the truth behind their rivalry. Two profiles; one young, one hardened with time; two pairs of opal eyes, each with an identical line of doubt between the arched and delicate brows—

“Daughter?” said the Dragonfly Queen.

“Mother?” said the Queen Below.

“This is all very touching,” said the Spider Queen from the high ropes. “But when you’ve both finished catching up, I have an execution