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Lox Asks For Help Again

It was the last day of February and it was snowing. Ben was looking out of his bedroom window at his back garden. He could see the sparrows pecking at the seeds in the bird feeder. It usually made him laugh to see them pushing each other off the feeder, but today he was sad. His gran, who lived with Ben and his mum and dad, was in hospital. She’d fallen on the stairs and had hurt her foot. She’d been in hospital for nine weeks, and Ben really missed her.

He thought about the adventure he’d had last autumn. The magpies had stolen and broken the magic gate to the spider kingdom that was under the hedge at the bottom of Ben’s garden. Ben and his best friend, Jess, had helped Lox, the guardian of the kingdom, to find the pieces of the gate. They’d been in trouble for going into the woods on their own, and Ben had hurt himself, but all that seemed like a long time ago now. He was sure that his gran knew a lot more about the strange things that had happened in the garden, and he wanted to talk to her about it.

Ben heard a scratching at his door and when he opened it his little black and white dog, Scoot, rushed in.

‘Hello Scoot,’ Ben patted the dog’s head. ‘What are you doing up here?’ Scoot wagged his tail hard.

‘Good morning sleepyhead,’ Ben’s mum came into his room as well. ‘The hospital have just telephoned and said that Gran can come home tomorrow. Jess’s mum said you can wait at their house when Dad and I go to fetch her. All right?’

‘That’s great!’ Ben clapped his hands and Scoot barked.

The next day Ben’s dad took him to Jess’s house. He was still a bit worried because his mum had told him that Gran would need to rest a lot and that she wouldn’t be able to walk properly for a while.

‘Don’t worry,’ Jess’s mother said. ‘I’m sure your gran will be right as rain very soon.’

Ben looked at Jess. ‘What does that mean? Right as rain. There’s nothing right with rain. It’s wet and you can’t go out to play.’

‘Suppose so,’ Jess said, screwing up her nose, ‘but if we didn’t have any rain then things wouldn’t grow. Then we wouldn’t have enough to eat and there’d be no water to drink and–’

‘All right clever clogs,’ Ben interrupted. ‘No need to go on about it!’

‘Sorry, Ben. Friends?’ Jess gave him a “thumbs-up” sign and he did the same.

‘I’m sorry too,’ he said.

At two o’clock Ben’s dad came for him. Ben was so excited! As soon as the car had stopped he jumped out and ran into the house.

‘Gran! Gran, where are you?’ he called.

‘I’m in my favourite chair,’ Gran called back.

‘I’m glad you’re home.’ Ben hugged her. ‘I want to talk to you about something.’

‘Thank you,’ Gran patted his back. ‘It’s good to see you, too. Now, let me get settled and maybe tomorrow we can have a long chat. There are some things I need to tell you too.’ She winked at him.

‘You mean secret things, don’t you?’ Ben’s eyes opened wide.

‘Maybe I do, Ben. Maybe I do,’ Gran said.

Ben didn’t think he’d be able to rest at all that night, but as soon as his mum put out his bedroom light he fell into a deep sleep. Then, just as the light was beginning to creep through his curtains, he thought he could hear someone calling to him. He sat up in bed and looked around. There it was again and it seemed to be coming from somewhere near the window. Ben jumped out of bed and pulled back the curtains. He nearly fell over when he saw who was there. It was Lox! Ben opened the window as quietly as he could and let the spider in.

‘Lox! What are you doing here?’ Ben bent down and tried to whisper so that his voice wouldn’t frighten the spider. ‘I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again.’

Lox looked up and tried to shout so that Ben would hear him. ‘I saw you quite a lot after you found the pieces of the gate, but you didn’t see me. I was afraid because there were so many people around so I stayed hidden. This isn’t really the right time for me to be out now, it’s so cold, but I need your help again, Ben.’

‘Oh, Lox. What’s the matter?’ Ben frowned. He wasn’t sure if he really wanted another adventure. He’d been quite scared last year when he and Jess had been lost in the woods.

‘The Spider Queen and the Spider Wizard were very grateful to you for helping us with the gate,’ Lox said, ‘but we have a much more serious problem now, and I’ve been sent to talk to you.’ He shivered and Ben could see how tired he was.

‘What is it? You know I’ll help if I can.’ Ben started shivering as well.

‘It’s the Spider Prince.’ Lox ran up and down the window sill. ‘He’s very ill. The wizard has tried everything but nothing’s worked. There’s one last magic potion to try, but the ingredients are hard to find. They work much faster if they’re fresh, but dried ones are all right too. The wizard had some dried ones in his store room but they’ve been stolen and–’

‘Stolen?’ Ben shouted out loud. Lox covered his ears with his front legs. ‘What do you mean? Who would do that? It couldn’t have been the birds again. They’re too big to go into your cave.’

Lox shook his head. ‘No, it wasn’t the birds. We think it was Queen Aranya’s sister. She’s always wanted to be queen, and she’s always causing trouble.’

‘Do you ever have a Spider King, Lox?’ Ben asked.

‘Yes,’ Lox said. ‘There are six queens in a row, but then the seventh leader will be a king. Each queen chooses who will be the next one in charge. It doesn’t have to be the eldest of her children though. She has to choose the one who she thinks will be the best leader. Spindra was the eldest daughter of the old queen, and that’s why she’s so jealous of her sister.’

Ben chewed on his bottom lip. ‘So she wouldn’t be very happy if I helped you. Do you think she would try to hurt me?’

‘She wouldn’t be able to when you’re the size you are now,’ Lox said. ‘We’d have to be careful if you became small again, like when you helped us with the gate, but there are many others who would watch out for you. The wizard’s magic can be very powerful but he really needs the fresh ingredients for the potion now. Do you think you can help us?’

Ben scratched his head. ‘I don’t know, Lox. What would you want me to do? I can’t go outside the garden on my own again. I promised my mum and dad. How quickly do you need to find these things? What are they?’

Lox stood up on his four back legs and waved the others around in front of him. ‘We think it’s best if you come into the kingdom and talk to the wizard. If you can’t help, he’ll understand.’

Ben shook his head slowly. ‘But how can I meet with the wizard? I can’t get into the cave when I’m this size, and I don’t know what happened to make me small the first time we met.’

Lox looked up. ‘Ask your gran, Ben. Ask your gran. Now, I have to get back. The wizard says he can’t cure the prince but he can keep him alive for a little bit longer. I’ll come back in three days’ time.’

Ben opened the window and Lox ran out and down the side of the house.